ECM Best Practices – Green Support

Enterprise Content Management Solutions
– Remote and Mobile Employees

Many of today’s business discussions revolve around the fact that providing select employees with the ability to work from home, in a mobile environment, or otherwise more independently, is a positive factor towards fostering conservation and a “GREEN” initiative.  Considering the integrated component benefits of a well conceived and implemented Enterprise Content Management System (ECM), with the right employees selected for a remote work environment, this green initiative can also promote a highly efficient and productive business environment.

Employees that successfully work from home or on the road as much as they do in the office are likely characterized by desirable core competencies.  This is nothing new and these strong employee qualities have always been required of the person working independently from constant co-worker and management relationships and support. 

Successful remote employees are oriented towards achieving results, and as such, as a group they can be described as being self-motivated, self-disciplined, and as self-sufficient as their supporting infrastructure will allow them to be.   “Remote” employees very often maintain a strong client focus and spend a lot of time working at client sites, communicating with clients, and seeking new clients. 

In order to give the successful remote employee the best opportunity to be as productive as they can be, and promote an organization’s green initiative,  that organization can develop the information management and communications infrastructure that fosters collaboration and information self service.  This also prepares an organization to address the current business trend towards more remote employees.  This developed business structure can also support instances where employees are able to work, but have to do that work away from the office due to illness, convalescence, family emergency, transportation problems, etc.

In addition to the infrastructure, it is important to implement a training program so that these resources are known to the remote employees and they are well trained in making the most of them.

The following are among those driving guidelines that support effective mobile and remote employees:

• Digital information and content are increasingly pervasive and require well developed broadband technologies and services.  Remote employees must be provided with required independent information access and research needed for commercial, client, and business awareness.  ECM Benefits contributing towards a green initiative and remote employee support include:
  • ECM – Customer and business information access through web based document and image management
  • ECM – Research and document re-purposing through web based document management
  • ECM – Work and transaction processing continuation through web based workflow processing
• Group and teamwork oriented communications channels are instrumental to effective and collaboration between the remote employee, clients, co-workers, and management, and to providing effective remote presentation resources.  Integration of Collaboration Management and web based meeting services with compatible ECM systems provides a productive team environment contributing to a focused energy and natural resource conservation effort.
• Businesses (and individuals) must effectively communicate on the move and be supported by personal mobile communication technology and web services.  Personal mobile devices now provide a technology that not only communicates between people, but also communicates information to people using compatible web based Enterprise Content Management systems.
• Data submission and resolution tool resources allowing for information communication and independent problem solving must be provided to the remote employee dependent upon business type and objectives.  Digital Forms Processing and Management systems, a major component of many ECM systems, can provide effective solutions.

Neil W. Lindsey
Project Manager / Senior Business Analyst
ImageSource, Inc.

Attend the following GREEN oriented sessions at
NEXUS 2009, November 2nd, 3rd, 2009, Bellevue,
Washington

Finding the PR Value in your Green ECM Technology
Reducing Your Organization’s Cost and Carbon
Footprint Through Inter-Office Scanning
Economical & Environmental Benefits of eForms

Mister Rogers and Project Management

Once in a great while a speaker tells you something that sticks with you, and really helps you improve your game. Several years ago at a Project Management Institute dinner I heard Carl Pritchard tell a story that has helped me many times.

Early in Carl’s career he had a job hosting a local radio show. He periodically interviewed writers hawking their books. Now, authors can be egotistical individuals with a need to be pampered. Before the interview Carl would go through a routine to make sure that they had their drink, a comfy seat, and whatever other “strokes” they needed to be happy.

One day he was interviewing none other than Fred Rogers—that’s Mister Rogers to most of us—who was on a book tour. Carl was prepared to be unimpressed. I mean, how uncool is it to be a radio show host in your twenties interviewing the host of a sappy kiddy show?

When Fred Rogers came into the studio to get set up for their 45 minute interview, Carl started going through the process of making sure he was taken care of: “Here’s your seat, Mister Rogers. Can I get you something to drink, Mister Rogers?”

At this point, his guest stopped him. “Carl,” said Mister Rogers, “I’m fine. My concern is what you need. My question is where would you like to be in forty five minutes?”

He had asked a question that cut to the core issue and showed his empathy: What is it that you need during the course of this interview?

Carl was taken aback by this question from Fred Rogers. For the next few minutes they discussed what the host would like out of the interview, rather than pampering the guest. The interview that Carl had been unexcited about, went very well. At the end of forty five minutes he was genuinely sad to see his new friend, Mister Rogers, leave. You can bet that Carl’s tone about Fred Roger’s book during the interview was much more positive than if he had gone in with his initial attitude.

Now imagine that we applied the Mister Rogers principle to these situations:

• A Project Planning Kickoff Meeting where the Project Manager asks various stakeholders: “Where would you like to be at the end of this project?”
• An early sales call where the Account Representative asks the prospect, “Where would you like to be at the end of this process?”
• A contentious call with a customer over a problem where the tech support representative asks, “Where would you like to be at the end of this call?”

You may not be able to take the customer exactly where they want to be, but if you hear it in their words you have a much better idea of their target and can work toward reaching it. Not to mention just asking the question lets the other party know that you do have their interests in mind. If you don’t ask, you’re guessing at what they truly want and they’re wondering if you care at all about their needs.

I’ve found this tool to be particularly useful in defusing conflict during a project. If I stop a contentious discussion, and ask “Where would you like to be….” I can get to the core of the matter and try to work out a solution that meets both the needs of the project and the needs of that individual. At the very least, I give them a chance to air their concern.

As Carl Pritchard illustrated in the story about his experience interviewing Fred Rogers, if you want to have a beautiful day in your own neighborhood, stop and ask the question, “Where do you want to be?”

Guest Blogger Dennis Brooke is a former Program Manager for ImageSource and Optika. He currently manages systems development for Naverus, a leading edge provider of performance based navigation services for the aviation industry (www.naverus.com). He will be speaking on Enterprise Web 2.0 and Project Management at Nexus 09 (www.nexusecm.com) Nov. 2-3 in Bellevue, Washington. Reach him at dennis.brooke@comcast.net.

  

Embracing Client Budgets in Meaningful Ways

Setting the “Fixed Bid” model of funding projects completely aside for a moment, let’s talk about the “Time and Materials” model of project funding in relation to project management…

In these difficult economic times, the realities are that budgets for funding projects, particularly new implementations of technology, have become more scarce. When they are available, they are often smaller than what might have typically been allocated for a given organization even 2 or 3 years ago. Many clients that might have historically embraced a fixed bid model for project funding are considering the time and materials model as an alternative for any number of reasons. Again, setting aside the wisdom of those choices, it is a reality that we are seeing more frequently.

Another importat dynamic in this equation as partners and project managers is that even in a T&M engagement, there is often a cap on the funding for the project, which may or may not be sufficient to do the project properly from a consulting vendor or a “best practices” perspective.

The unspoken choice that we have as project managers for these types of projects is whether or not we truly embrace the client’s budget in a meaningful way. The short, easy path is to simply carry on with planning and executing the project the way we would normally in a well funded fixed bid effort, and when problems do occur, to simply blame it on the fact that the client doesn’t have the funding to ‘complete’ the project properly. While this may be an accurate statement, and you may have performed due diligence in planning and execution (up to that point), in the end it serves neither yourself or the client. If your project is not completed, or is completed in haphazard manner, the benefit sought by the project is lost, the relationship with the client is damaged and no one wins.

We have to understand that our clients constraints and limitations are our own by virtue of our current relationship, and our desired long term relationship with them. Once we are truly reconciled to that fact, we should seek ways to meaningfully embrace the budget to accomplish the overall goals and objectives of the project. Consider the following possibilities:

1) Have open and honest dialogues with the project sponsor and key stakeholders about the potential shortfalls in the budget. The message that you want to communicate should be clear. You both need to have a realistic understanding of the limitations of the budget. That being said, they should know that you are conciously and proactively working with them to find creative ways to make it work for both parties within those limitations. By setting these expectations properly, everyone will be more engaged in the process.

2) Fully assess the internal resources that your client can make available for the project. Be creative in how you engage these resources. Be willing to stretch their normal experience boundaries and give them a growth opportunity on the project. Their growth opportunity if properly managed can be an effective way to complete necessary tasks and to take vital project dollars for your teams and use them more strategically in areas of the project (e.g. development) that are more important to the end game.

3) Work with your end users to figure out creative ways to address training. Be open to models other than conventional classroom training which might require significant time (and expense) to develop courseware and curriculum. Consider rapid development of “Cheat Sheets” focused only on the specfic tasks that users will need to complete their jobs. Consider incorporating ‘train-the-trainer’ models into the customers Change Management plan.

4) Be thoughtul when developing your QA\Test plans. Be open and flexible as you work closely with the stakeholders and end users to determine what the true success and acceptance criteria should be. It’s easy, particularly with software development projects, to spend a large amount of time and budget on properly performing Quality Assurance, System Integration Testing and User Acceptance Testing. Seek to find the balance between the overall budget of the project, the anticipated ROI for the customer, and what is reasonable and prudent given the technical complexity of the software that is being developed. This is also an area where the first item comes into play. If you are proactive in engaging client resources early on in the project, you may be able to turn a large part of this effort over to them, and help to reduce the budget.

5) Be diligent in recognizing the difference between genuinely flushing issues out in discovery, and eating up project dollars while your team sits and watches clients sort out their internal decisions and differences. Don’t get caught up in internal politics that can consume large amounts of time and budget with meetings that don’t necessarily require your attendance or participation.

Again, it’s easy to say, “The client didn’t have enough money to do it properly”, particularly if you have done ‘good work’ on the project. The scenario where everybody wins is when you creatively work together and find ways to complete the project successfully, and meet the budgetary constraints of the project by thoughtful planning, management and leveraging the client staff and end users in a manner that gives them opportunities for growth and a deeper sense of ownership of the solution.

Gene Eckhart

Program Manager

ImageSource, Inc.

Basics of Consulting for the ECM Project

Many organizations look for expert assistance in a quest to justify, plan, and develop the concepts for an Enterprise Content Management system (ECM) or smaller departmental system using this technology.  A provider of these services needs to have demonstrated expertise regarding consulting services focused on the application of the entire breadth of the disciplines associated with Enterprise Content Management.  General business process or management consultants seldom have the experience necessary to provide the requisite resources.  The solutions addressed by the consultation project need to focus each client’s objectives and how they may have to be addressed by the professional application of a combination of:

• Document Management
• Document Imaging / Image Management
• Digital and Physical Records Management
• Digital Asset Management
• Business Process Management and Workflow
• Reports Management (ERM / COLD)
• Content Addressable Storage
• eForms Design, Library management & business processes
• Legacy system and database integration for data sharing (i.e. SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft)
• Legacy system integration for image enablement of third party applications
• Digital signatures and data encryption
• Large Document Viewing Enhancements
• Data capture technologies & custom document and data capture management
• OCR/ICR/OMR & bar code reading
• Data capture from Digital forms and Web forms
• Web Publishing & Content Management
• Web based information delivery systems
• Network Fax Systems and capture
• Collaborative Portals and resources
• File conversion, document migration, and scanning services
• Application Development and Programming Services for Custom Requirements

Consultants need to be able to actively provide expert participation and guidance in analysis to determine requirements/objectives, develop and validate goals and expectations, and apply capabilities of technology for application concepts, business processes, and design at the workgroup, departmental, and enterprise requirement levels per objectives. 

Consultants need to provide resources to advise and direct on project aspects such as technical design specification for hardware, ECM software platforms and components, the network infrastructure, conversion and migration of document information, the training program and facilities to be utilized. 

A consultant’s roll can consider numerous other ECM specific factors such as performance standards, operational and functional objectives, ROI analysis, Change Management considerations, and others which frequently need to be addressed, researched, analyzed, documented, and presented to the client when . 

ECM Consulting Services should also be able to address and provide guidance on the following when generating documentation to the client in the form of a Consultant Report, a Project Charter, and/or a subsequent full Project Plan with design detail:

• Current process documents and flows of work
• Project Scope Planning, Definition, and Management
• Definitions – Process Re-engineering to Technical Opportunities
• Project Deliverables Definition
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) at the Project Plan level
• Conversion and Migration Services Requirements – Deliverables
• Standard and Advanced Training Curriculum Planning and Management
• Quality Control Strategies and Planning
• Project Cost Estimating Costing

Application Design for Project Standard Deliverables as well as Architecture Engineering Analysis and recommendations.  These can include conceptual to detailed Design for standard and custom system components and design details for:

• system configuration, and all standard software modules
• document/image capture including information capture considerations for workflows and business processes
• planning, design, and development for web-based resources
• interfaces and integrations with legacy systems as required by objectives
• Activity Definition, Sequencing, and Predication Planning
• Risk Identification and Management Planning
• Duration Estimation with Project Schedule Development and Control (Microsoft Project) when developing Project Plan level strategies plans.
• Project Team Development and Management with Resource Planning
• Communications, Information Distribution, and Performance Report Planning

The consulting organization may bring multiple experts to guide and participate with the client in the discovery and analysis process. Consultants, no matter what their expertise in a particular vertical application, should remain open to a client’s specific goals and interests and not automatically apply past experiences to the specifics of what solution a new client will need.  There should be an initial concentration on specifically defining business challenges, phased implementation priorities, and evaluations of the best opportunities for initial success. This process leads to business solutions that integrate with a client’s standing technology investment and unique business culture, and result in real returns if managed professionally.

Find out more about ECM Strategies and Project Planning at NEXUS 2009

Neil W. Lindsey, Project Manager
ImageSource, Inc.
www.imagesourceinc.com

The Communications Factor in Managing Project Expectations

Setting and managing Project expectations requires more than documenting a concise definition of what will be delivered, when it will be delivered, and how much it will cost.

One important factor is the establishment of a comprehensive and bilateral Project Communication Plan that takes into consideration the participation of all project stakeholders.

Effective communication allows discovery and management of unrealistic expectations or misconceptions. It also provides an effective conduit for consistent reaffirmation of the established project goals and timelines.

The plan may include less frequent, but highly valuable, Project Team and Stakeholder Forums – where incremental successes throughout the project lifecycle, as well as new project opportunities, can be highlighted and discussed along with other appropriate information.

A well thought out and open communication plan can make the difference between a project that is judged as a failure, and one that is widely acknowledged as a genuine success.

“Special thanks to Neil Lindsey for his valuable input”

Robert Hughet, PMP
Senior Project Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

  

What Type of Search is Right for You?

For many functions in the organization the full text “Google” like search capability found in most document management systems may be useful.  For others, it’s not sufficient in providing the business value.  Here’s some situations that may help determine what is right for you.

A business professor once said “There are three core functions to any process… 1. Procurement of Materials 2. Conversion of Materials and 3. Distribution of those Materials.  All other functions only support these three”.  In translation, these three things can map to any function found in business for any department (Sales, HR, Information Technology etc.)  It seems that when analyzing any business process, this old adage always comes back and discussing search in the enterprise is no exception.

When looking at search it’s helpful to see both sides of these functions for document management.  Documents either “drive the process” as a core function, or documents are ”driven by the process” as in a supporting role.  The differences are not all that hard to see.  Document that drive the process are directly related to the three functions above 1. Procurement 2. Conversion and 3. Distribution.  Documents that are driven by the process may be everything else.

Vouchers, Invoices and Checks are all documents that drive Purchasing.  Service Orders and Proof of Delivery are documents that drive Operations.  Purchase Orders and Service Contracts drive sales. 

On the other side, Marketing Literature  is driven by Marketing.  Brochures are driven by Sales.  The company Calendar is driven by HR and Inventory Reports are driven by Operations.  These documents support the functions of their departments.

A less technical way to look at this dichotomy is ”gotta have that document now” and “gee, this looks like what I’m looking for”.  When designing a search architecture, this is one of the basic questions you can ask yourself.

Documents that drive the business process tend to require a discrete index field search.  This is because the user is typically looking for the one document they need, and they need it quick.  A Sales Order for a customer service representative or an Invoice for a purchasing manager.  These documents also typically already have a structured meta-data component already designed for them before the document management system is in place.  A Sales Order Number field is always generated for Sales Orders and an Invoice Number Field always has an Invoice number.  This is true before or after a document management system exists.

Documents that are driven by the process are less structured in nature.  Marketing Literature, Progress Reports and the Employee Vacation schedule to name a few.  The user is typically looking for some information that could be in one, or many of these documents.  Could an employee figure out if Memorial Day is a company holiday by finding the wrong documents to their search?  Like last years vacation schedule?  Probably so.  If this is the case, a full text content search may prove successful.

Documents that “drive the process” answer questions to a search that only that one document can satisfy.  What items were billed for Invoice # 123456?  What date was Employee #78910 hired?  Who signed for Proof of Delivery #34567?  In these cases, a discrete index field search is required.

 

John Moffitt

Systems Engineer

ImageSource, Inc.

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