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Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Springer London Berlin Heidelberg New York Barcelona Budapest Hong Kong Milan Paris Santa Clara Singapore Tokyo
Transforming Organisations
Through Groupware Edited by
PETER LLOYD and ROGER WHITEHEAD
, Springer
LOTUS NOTES
IN ACTION
Peter Lloyd 11 Granville Road, Barnet, Herts ENS 4DU, UK
Roger Whitehead 14 Amy Road, Oxted, Surrey RH8 OPX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Transforming organisations through groupware: Lotus Notes inAction. - (Computer supported cooperative work) 1. Workgroups - Data processing 2. Louts Notes (Computer program) I. Lloyd, Peter II. Whitehead, Roger 658.4'036'0285'5369
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Transforming organizations through groupware: Lotus Notes in action 1 Peter Lloyd and Roger Whitehead, eds.
p. cm. - (Computer supported cooperative work)
ISBN-13: 978-3-540-19961-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4471-3052-9 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4471-3052-9 1. Work groups-Data processing-Case studies. 2. Lotus Notes.
I. Lloyd, Peter, 1953- . II. Whitehead, Roger, 1946- . III. Series. HD66. T73 1996 650' .0285' 46-dc20 96-5192
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms oflicences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agen cy. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
© Springer-Verlag London Limited 1996
The use of registered names, trademarks etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
Typesetting by Fox Design, Bramley, Guildford, Surrey Printed by the Athenaeum Press Ltd., Gateshead, Tyne and Wear 34/3830-543210 Printed on acid-free paper
Foreword
First, my congratulations to the editors for assembling one of the most interesting and diverse range of Lotus Notes-based case studies I have seen anywhere. You, the reader, will find them both complete and thought provoking.
The diversity exhibited illustrates the breadth and scale of Notes' commercial success. You will find cases ranging from public to private sectors, and vertical line of business applications, such as banking, transportation, manufacturing, education and the information industry itself. Not surprisingly, you will also find a completely global perspective with organizations from every corner of the world represented.
Time spent by the reader in understanding the benefits companies are reaping, both in qualitative organizational value and in real and tangible quantitative financial benefits, would be well invested.
The past six years of market experience with Notes has catalysed an investment now exceeding half a billion US dollars, in what has truly become the industry standard in integrated messaging and groupware. It was of course this, and the market leadership of Notes, that prompted IBM's $3.6 billion dollar tender and, now historic, merger with Lotus -the largest to date in the history of our industry.
The messaging and groupware space will undoubtedly represent the strategic battlefield in the software arena. The relational database system sponsored the move to largely Unix-based distributed client-server -based computing in the 1980s. The "occasionally-connected" world of highly mobile, networked computing of the 1990s will be won or lost in large part in this pivotal software dimension. It is, at the same time, an area both of tremendous strategic implications and of great complexity.
"Notes in Action" is a fitting phrase, capturing precisely the spirit of a whole new class of strategic business applications. It is a phrase that warms the hearts of the thousands of dedicated Lotus professionals who created this whole new software category and continue to make contributions every day.
JeffPapows Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lotus Development Corporation, Cambridge, USA
Preface
This book represents a concentrated body of knowledge on what it takes to get real gains from implementing Lotus Notes within an organization. It approaches this by presenting a variety of case studies from a range of organizations. As is characteristic with the use of Notes, there is a distinctly international flavour to the case studies. They come from industries as diverse as manufacturing, consulting and education. While there are some common themes, each organization has chosen to apply the technology to their business needs in unique and innovative ways. Each has found that the challenges to implementation can be significant, but so can the rewards.
Readers of this book who themselves are looking to bring tangible benefits to their organizations through the use of Notes will find a wealth of insights. But before we get into the specifics of these, it is worth taking a little time to understand why Notes has been heralded as a breakthrough software product.
The demand by companies everywhere to rapidly collect, analyse, organize and disseminate a wealth of business information has been dramatic. Much has been written in business publications about the so called knowledge economy - how companies in the future will derive competitive advantage through the careful management and exploitation of organizational knowledge and intelligence. Today, com-panies have been used to having systems to perform certain business transactions such as payroll and accounting. Many have extensively utilized personal computers to assist with individual tasks. But until recently there has been little technology available to enable the efficient and effective sharing of a vast array of business information across organizations.
Notes has been viewed as a pioneering product because it has focused directly on providing a means for managing the diverse flow of information within organizations and between organizations. This is information that is stored in people's heads, on their desks and in their personal computers, and as such is difficult for others to find and take advantage of. In the simplest cases this may be a report or presentation that many could use. In more complex cases it could mean building the
viii Preface
collective wisdom about certain customers that can be shared and kept current by sales people around the world.
As the case studies in this book clearly demonstrate, there is no end to the range of different challenges that can be tackled using Notes. This is a tribute to the creativity of the users, but also highlights a number of the flexible attributes that Notes brings. Beyond its ability to link people together across geographic boundaries, Notes allows teams of workers to design and build their own tailored applications. The simple fact that users get to decide what information to collect and share, and how to view it and present it, explains much about why the product has gained such popularity with business people. Additionally its renown has stemmed from the speed with which applications can be developed, not months and years, but often days and weeks. This factor has contributed to the high return on investment that many users have reported.
As one hears about the many advantages that Notes has brought organizations, it is easy to get carried away and believe that it is a cure for all business problems. Of course, business people and technologists alike know that there is often significant hype associated with new technology products and what they can do. As readers of this book will find, successful applications of Notes are those that have overcome a number of technical and non-technical challenges. Careful attention to a diverse set of issues is the key.
In my own work, I lead the implementation of Notes at Coopers & Lybrand and have consulted to many organizations who have decided to use Notes. Also I have had the opportunity to meet and exchange stories with many users from around the world through my role as President of the Worldwide Association of Lotus Notes Users and Technologists (WALNUT). From my experiences it became clear that treating Notes as if it were a familiar technology, such as a transaction processing system or a spreadsheet, was not going to work. For example, many notable failures have been recorded where the product has been implemented as if it were a new spreadsheet or wordprocessor. At the most fundamental level, we must recognize that the shift from traditional technologies to group-enabling technologies is a major change, and one that demands new innovative deployment approaches.
Those people that have been most successful have all embraced Notes as a new class of technology. They have linked the technology to specific business functions that they want to do really well, such as collecting and sharing knowledge about key customers, competitors and markets. They have applied fresh thinking and creativity in order to do things that were not possible before, rather than simply automating what is
Preface ix
already done. They have developed high performing teams by linking groups of people together across great geographical distances for such complex tasks as product development. They have kept mobile workers in touch with key events while travelling and have developed electronic links between customers and suppliers to share key pieces of information.
There is nothing easy about setting-up a technical infrastructure to support the needs of thousands of professionals around the world. Getting people to share their knowledge and insights isn't always straightforward either. Certainly there is much to learn about adopting a new type of technology in the workplace. It requires close attention to the technical challenges. But more than this it demands that the people issues be addressed consciously and from the beginning. For many companies this is the first time they have had to deal with a high proportion of their employees being linked together in a vast electronic network. Educating people in how to use and take advantage of group technologies is very difficult when there is no frame of reference to compare against.
As the reader will find, many have crossed these and other barriers, finding ways to bring real value to their organizations. The case studies in this book present a host of innovative ways that Notes has been used. More importantly, they provide the stories on how the technology has been applied to bring about important changes.
Gary Clare President of WALNUT
Boston, USA
x Preface
There are two ways to learn - by your own mistakes or, better, by the mistakes of others. This book provides a third - learning through the experiences of others. The editors have found and passed on over 20 stories from a diverse set of sources around the world about the implementation of groupware (most successful, some not so successful).
The timing could not be better. With estimates that by the millennium there will be some 20 million groupware users worldwide, there is a real need now for new and potential users to see how others are maximizing their investment in this mission-critical software.
With over 200 corporate members, Lotus Notes Users Europe is all too well aware of the value of case studies. The most often heard request from members of the user group is, "What are other people doing with Notes?" To the hard-pressed IT and business professional struggling to reduce costs, compete globally and get to market faster and having to achieve "more with less", this useful book offers over 20 instances of companies where groupware does work.
Nothing succeeds like success. I hope that this book will enable you to make your groupware implementation even more successful than those inside its pages.
Michael Chapman Pincher, Head of Operations, Lotus Notes Users Europe, London, UK
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the following groups of people. The sequence is not significant, as each person's contribution was essential for this book to come into being:-
• my co-editor, Roger Whitehead, for his partnership;
• my publisher, Beverley Ford, and all at Springer-Verlag for their perseverance;
• my commissioning editors, Colston Sanger and Dan Diaper, for their foresight;
• the UK Computer Supported Cooperative Work Special Interest Group, which has now become Team IT;
• all the chapter contributors and the people inside the companies and organizations profiled for being willing to share their experiences;
• my contacts at Lotus Development who have given me considerable assistance, including Jeff Papows, Michael Zisman, Nan Johnson, Judith Tracey, Paul McNulty, Nigel Thomas, Debra Thompson, Jim Dinsdale;
• my PA, Janet Lynch, who has bought order to chaos;
• Ray Ozzie for creating the product, Notes, and Jim Manzi for his faith in it;
• Gary Clare of WALNUT and Michael Chapman Pincher of Lotus Notes Users Europe for their encouragement and preface contributions.
This book is dedicated to my wife Ruth - my soul partner on life's path.
Peter Lloyd
xii Acknowledgements
As befits its subject matter, this book is the result of a group effort. My co-editor, Peter Lloyd, and I are deeply indebted to all those people who kindly contributed case studies. We are also grateful to the case study organizations for their agreement to being portrayed, like Cromwell, "warts and all". Our thanks go in equal measure to those who preferred anonymity; the evidence of their experiences is just as valuable.
We are also grateful to Peter Bowyer of InSite Computer Technology, for reading the draft of Chapter 1 and suggesting some corrections and clarifications.
The main contribution, though, has come from Peter, whose brainchild this is. It is only through his tireless enthusiasm and persuasive powers that the range of case studies presented here covers such a wide spectrum. Like a champion truffle hound, he has sniffed the air for clues to which the rest of us are insensitive and has not rested until he has tracked down his quarry.
My job was simpler. Figuratively speaking, once Peter had delivered the delicacies he had unearthed, I merely cleaned them, sliced them and incorporated them into the dish you see before you. For a finishing touch, we then added garnishes from Jeff Papows, Gary Clare and Michael Chapman Pincher. The result is, we hope, something that you will find attractive, appetizing and sustaining.
Bon appetit!
Roger Whitehead
Contents
Foreword............................................................................................... v
Preface.... ........................ .............. ..... ... ........... ...... ..... ........... .... ............ vii
Acknowledgements ............................................................................. xi
Contributors ......................................................................................... xv
Lotus Notes - An Introduction ................................................. 1
2 Making Use of the Case Studies ................................................ 11 Chapter Summaries ................................................................... 16
3 Lotus Development: Team Room - a Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams ..................................... 23
4 ABB Asea Brown Boveri: Supporting the Multi-cultural Multinational......................................... ....................................... 39
5 AmBank: Managing Client Relationships ................................. 46
6 Ambouw BV: Stalled Pilot at Dutch Wholesaler ....................... 55
7 Arthur Andersen: Virtual Visioning - Lotus Notes Enables Arthur Andersen to Create its Future ......................................... 63
8 Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption ................ 70
9 Cemex: Shifting Attitudes Between Staff and Customers ........ 80
10 Cleer University: Distance Learning Institute Resistant to Notes .......................................................................................... 89
11 GM Europe: World's Largest User of Notes ................................ 95
xiv Contents
12 Henley Colege of Management: Developing a Global Business School ........................................................................ ;.... 101
13 mv (UK) Limited: Sales Force Management ............................ 109
14 Intel Corporation (UK) Limited: Ten Critical Success Factors for Notes Adoption .......................................................... 113
15 KLM: Business Excellence System ............................................... 120
16 Lloyd's Register: Quality Assurance: Quality Management Begins at Home ...... ....................................................................... 131
17 Macmillan Distribution: Goingfor ISO 9000 ............................ 138
18 Thomas Miller & Co: From Information to Imagination ........ 144
19 Mission Energy Corporation: Global Project Management Over Value-Added Network ......................................................... 152
20 MTW Schiffswerft: Shipbuilder Cuts Paperwork and De lays ..................................... """"'"'''''''''''''' ........... .................... 155
21 Pfizer: From Sales Automation to Business Automation ......... 159
22 Ports Association of West Africa: Award-Winning Management Information System .............................................. 164
23 PrimeGest SpA: Group Memory Transforms Italian Fund Management Company ................................................................ 171
24 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.: Linking Up PlayStation Partners .................................................................... 177
25 Vision Associates Inc.: Notes Everywhere ................................. 183
26 Young & Rubicam: Improving Productivity with Workflow .... 188
Contributors
Howard Almond Research and Development Director, Pavone Informationssysteme GMBH, Friedrich-List-Str.67, D-33100 Paderborn, Germany Tel: +49 5251 524310 • Fax: +49 5251 524311 E-mail: [email protected]
Colleen A. Burke Arthur Andersen, One International Place, Boston, MA 02110-2604, USA Tel: +1617 3304123 • Fax: +1617 345 5497 E-mail: [email protected]
Gary Clare Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P., One International Place, Boston, MA 02110, USA Tel: +1 6174783034 • Fax: + 16179510822 E-mail: gary_clare.c&[email protected]
Paul Cole, Psy.D. and Eunice C. Johnson Lotus Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA Tel: + 1 617 693 3938 • Fax: +1 617 693 8383 E-mail: [email protected]
Eric Darr Assistant Professor Strategy and Organization, The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management, Box 951481, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481, USA Tel:+13108255292. Fax:+13102063337 E-mail:[email protected]
Robert Dent Triangle Computer Services Ltd, Triangle House, Ringwood Road, Ferndown, Wimborne, Dorset BH22 9BP, England Tel: +44 1202596000 • Fax: +44 1202596001
xvi Contributors
Gloria Flores, Javier Bitar, Dr Lafred Vieira and Mitch Kirschner Business Design Associates, Inc., 1420 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 280, Alameda, CA 94502, USA Tel: +1 5108141900 • Fax: +1510 814 0700 E-mail: [email protected]
Hiroshi Fujimori Locus Corporation, 6-1-4 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 101 Tel: +81-3-3837-8030 • Fax: +81-3-3837-8037 E-mail:[email protected]
Fenella Galpin, Computer-Mediated Communications Manager, and Professor David Birchall, Development Director Henley Management College, Greenlands, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 3AU, England Tel: +44 1491 571454 • Fax: +44 1491 571635 E-mail: [email protected][email protected]. uk
Tom Harley and Sharon Cotter Vision Associates, Inc., 44 South Broadway, Suite 500, White Plains, NY 10601, USA Tel: + 19144214404 • Fax: + 19144214427 E-mail: [email protected]
Professor Clive Holtham Bull Information Systems Professor of Information Management, City University Business School, Frobisher Crescent, Barbican Centre, London EC2Y 8HB, England Tel: +44171477 8622. Fax: +44171-477 8880 E-mail: [email protected]
Dene Isherwood Intelligence Systems Applications Development Mgr, 2150 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara CA 95052-8119, USA Tel:1 408 765 1667 • Fax:1 408765 1966 E-mail: [email protected]
Stephen Ives Ives & Co, 5 Avro Court, Ermine Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE18 6YA, England Tel: +441480433919 • Fax: +441480413099 E-mail: [email protected]
Contributors xvii
Peter Lloyd Frontiers, 11 Granville Road, Barnet, Hertfordshire EN5 4DU, UK Tel: +44 181 4493656 • Fax: +441814414316 E-mail: [email protected]
Ronni Marshak Patricia Seybold Group, 148 State Street, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02109, USA Tel: +617 742 5200 • Fax: +1617 7421028 e-mail: [email protected]
Jackie Mullen Piazza Tanucci, 1, 50134 Florence, Italy Tel/Fax: +39 55 482990 E-mail: [email protected]
Susanna Opper President, Susanna Opper & Associates, 297 East Road, Alford, MA 01266-9756, USA Tel: +1413 5286513 • Fax: +1413 528 0734 E-mail: Susanna Opper@Opperyan@Notes Net
JeffPapows Lotus Development Corporation, One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA02142, USA Tel: +1617 693 8254 • Fax: +1617 693 6131 E-mail: [email protected]
Robert W. Phillips, MSc., ACIB Strategic Information Systems Consultant, 24, Micheldever Road, London SE12 8LX, England Tel/Fax: +44 181 2653206 E-mail: [email protected]
Shala Phillips Director of Marketing, WorldCom, 1001 Fannin, Suite 2000, Houston, TX 77002-6709, USA Tel:+17136506522. Fax:+17136503331 E-mail: [email protected]
xviii Contributors
Michael Chapman Pincher Lotus Notes Users Europe, 32 Redcliffe Gardens, London SW5 OBQ, UK Tel: +441713700302 • Fax: +44171 2592248 E-Mail: mcp@ingug@lotusint
Eelco Ploeger De Maatstaf BV,Alexanderplein 9, 1018 CG Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tel: +31204212130 • Fax: +31 204212659
Beverly Stonehouse Senior Consultant, Team Technologies Ltd, Burford House, Leppington, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7WW, England Tel: +441344485700 • Fax: +441344485701 E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Ceri Thomas Director, The Performance Management Group, 36 South Western Road, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex TW1 1LQ, England Tel: +44 181 8924281 • Fax: +44 181 8922377
Mark Turrell Imaginatik, Davinia House, 137-149 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7ET,England Tel: +44171 3368110 • Fax: +44 171 3368099
BaharUttam President, Synetics Corporation, 540 Edgwater Drive, Wakefield MA 01880, USA Tel: + 16172459090 • Fax: + 16172456311 E-mail: [email protected]
Roger Whitehead Office Futures, 14 Amy Road, Oxted, Surrey RH8 OPX, UK Tel: +44 1883 713074 • Fax: +44 1883 716793 E-mail: [email protected]
WalterWijn Consultant, EDS Technical Products Division (Europe), Noorderlaan 147,2030 Antwerp, Belgium Tel: +32 3 5406226 • Fax: +32 3 540 6755 E-mail: [email protected]
Lotus Notes - An Introduction Roger Whitehead
Lotus Notes is the most successful groupware product in the world. Since its launch in 1989, more than 7,000 organisations have bought a total of over 3 million licences. These organisations range from one-person businesses to huge multinational corporations with over 50,000 licences each. They have employed the software for an astonishing range of purposes. Providing simple electronic mail, allowing inter-group discussions, keeping track of customer enquiries, managing litigation correspondence and creating electronic policy guides are just a few of the uses to which Notes has been put. The list is almost endless.
Notes is popular not only for its inbuilt capabilities, but also as a vehicle for other companies' software and services. Lotus has encouraged 'third-party suppliers' and 'independent software vendors' to write new software, or convert existing software, to run on Notes. Sometimes these are generic offerings, such as decision support, workflow or quality management systems, and sometimes they are aimed at 'vertical' markets, such as accounting, education, hotels, law, medicine and transport.
Lotus has mostly sold Notes through distributors and resellers, who have typically provided implementation and training services in addition to the software itself. Often, these resellers have written their own Notes applications, too. The result of this sales policy is that there are, so far, over 8,000 Notes Partners from whom the potential user can buy products and services.
Other suppliers have tried to compete with Notes. There have been, for example, more efficient electronic mail products (one of them being Lotus's own cc:Mail software) and more comprehensive document management products, but none matches its all-round capabilities and its range of uses. Also, these competitors nearly all lack Notes's other trump card, its application development capabilities. Most user organisations have written their own Notes programs, or tailored prewritten ones, to suit their own particular needs. Simple applications can even be written by ordinary users (although one would not expect them to be able to cope with company-wide systems).
Notes, then, occupies three niches:
• it is a piece of groupware, capable of self-contained use; • it is a platform for third-party offerings, which extend its use; • it is an applications development environment, which refines its use.
Examples of its use in each of these three guises appear in the case studies that form the major part of this book. The rest of this chapter consists of a brief explanation of the technical aspects of the software.
2 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
(The reader wanting a more detailed exposition of Notes's capabilities will find a growing range of books and magazines available from booksellers. Alternatively, advice can be obtained from either of the two main user groups - WALNUT in America and Lotus Notes Users Europe in Europe. Their staff will be happy to direct the reader to sources of advice, in paper or human form.) Refer to the list of contributors, pages xv-xviii.
History
Lotus Notes is the brainchild of Ray Ozzie, an American software designer. His background in the computer industry, and the kinds of system he used when studying computer science at university, led him to the belief that there was a need for software that enabled collaborative working. He envisaged a product that would combine electronic mail with on-line conferencing. He also intended from the beginning that users should be able to build their own applications.
Ozzie managed to get Mitchell Kapor interested in his idea. Kapor was the founder and, at that time, chief executive of Lotus Development Corporation. With Kapor's help, Ray Ozzie set up Iris Associates in December 1984. The company had just one customer - Lotus - and one product - Notes. The first version of this was launched in December 1989.
The close relationship between Iris Associates and Lotus Development was cemented in May 1994, when it was bought by Lotus. Iris retained its separate identity and was still responsible for developing the core Notes product. Just over a year later, when IBM bought Lotus, the retention of Ray Ozzie's expertise and vision was a primary factor in the deal.
At the time of writing, Notes was still on Version 3.3, with Version 4.0 expected shortly. The bulk of this chapter deals with the earlier versions, noting the changes that come with Version 4.0 where relevant.
The Notes Database
Notes is built on an integrated database management system. Unlike 'relational' database products, which are the norm in multi-user computing, this system is optimised for handling multiple data types. It can store and retrieve free-form and tabular text, numerical data, graphs, images, video and sound, in any combination. A Notes server can hold as many separate databases as its disks have room for, each database being up to 1 gigabyte (1,000 megabytes) in size. (Version 4.0 increases the maximum size to 4 gigabytes.)
A Notes database holds items of data as electronic 'documents'. These documents comprise a series of completed 'forms', which can be designed by users. Forms consist of a static background on which are arrayed a set of data 'fields'. Fields are the containers for the items of information and can be of any size, within the overall database limit. They can also contain instructions, such as formulae. The same selection of fields is used for all the documents within a database. Thus, the data management hierarchy in Notes is database, documents, forms and fields.
All these entities can be exchanged among users' machines. Notes does this with a technique called replication. This is the reciprocal copying of databases, in a peer to peer fashion (several relational database products can do master-slave copying
Lotus Notes - An Introduction 3
but their makers find the Lotus method harder). Each receiving machine is updated with the changes on the other machines since the last copying process, and vice versa.
What is copied, and how often, is under the user's control. In Version 4.0 of Notes, that control can be down as far as field level. This will allow great reductions in database size, network traffic and processor loads compared with earlier versions, in which entire documents have to be swapped. Replication allows Notes to be used as a document management system, keeping track of upgrades and distributing latest versions around the network.
Replication can take place between servers and from server to client machine. Notes is designed on client-server principles, allowing the client (typically a desktop or portable computer) a measure of autonomy from the server (typically a large or multi-user machine). Users can thus work either over the network into the shared databases on the server or direcdy on databases held on their own, client machine. The latter method is referred to by Lotus as 'disconnected mode' working. It is a particular feature of Notes.
Connection
Notes works on a wide range of clients and servers, and can use most industrystandard network protocols. Figure 1.1 shows all these elements in schematic form.
~
~ -.J () ~ ~
X·Termlnal Workstallon Macintosh
8Ox86 8Ox86 Unix 6.0.4+
MSW1ndows OS/2 XUb
Motif Finder
NetBIOS, IPX/SPX TCP/lP,VlNES, x. pc, AppIeTgIk SNA X.25, etc.
L...8Ox_W:_i:_Jo_~----, I~: II ~ I ,-~_o_ve_~_~_LM.....J = Expected In 1996
8Ox86+/ DEC Alpha
Figure 1.1 Lotus Notes connection scheme.
Fl B
There are Notes clients for Apple Macintosh, Intel-based personal computers (running Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95 and IBM OS/2) and Unix workstations running OSF/Motif.
One of the network protocols shown on the diagram is X.PC. This allows clients to connect to servers over dial-up telephone, for the exchange of databases. (Hence
4 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
the Lotus joke that as soon as their travelling employees get into their hotel room, the first thing they do is replicate.) While slower than doing this over a local network, this does allow the itinerant user to stay in touch with affairs at head office or elsewhere.
Notes servers will run on IBM OS/2, Microsoft Windows NT Server (on Intel and, in 1996, DEC Alpha processors), Novell NetWare (as a NetWare Loadable Module, or NLM) and a variety of semi-proprietary Unixes. They include those from Hewlett Packard, Sun, IBM, SCO and, in 1996, Digital Equipment. There is a server for machines running Microsoft Windows 3.1/3.11, but this will drive only Windows clients. All the other servers will work into any client.
IBM has announced that Notes will run on its AS/400 minicomputers. At the moment, it does this by means of add-in cards (FSIOPs), which carry an Intel 486 processor running OS/2 and Notes. Later, Notes will be ported to OS/400, the native operating system for these machines.
Appearance
Users can view all of the database entities - documents, forms and fields - in a variety of ways. The highest level at which they can do this is called the workspace. This shows all the databases held on a machine or remotely. Figure 1.2 demonstrates the standard workspace that is used on all versions of Notes (the workspace for Version 4.0 has changed slightly from that shown). The display metaphor is of a
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Bume.s P...... Procb:l ,,. .. n I 1'li.<nL«inn
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Figure 1.2. Notes workspace (Version 3.0).
Lotus Notes - An Introduction 5
series of six fIle dividers ('administration', 'documentation', etc.). Each divider, or workpage, has within in it a series of square icons. Each icon is a database, and carries on it the name of the database, an identifying picture and, in the small window in the centre, the number of unread documents within the database. There is no theoretical limit to the number of databases that can be held on a workpage.
If one of the database icons is clicked on, using a mouse, it opens to disclose a view of the contents, as in Figure 1.3. In this illustration, the window at the front
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Lou. t~cto •• Food/To Taki On III:ros:>fU EllS Lx ..... ; lloi 'IJ!'",,_ LCl.n Fl'IJ:'UC-'l-O U';E XL 'q TEC~HuLOGY"
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rlu :t111"'~
flo'"". ~""'.:t"":I.
Letu .. U!:cori"l """0. To y,..·Jjjoo-J·'O'm .... d "Ite/3CO"'''I; Ir)ll" Lot...,· :'..;eae,.," LLlu;;: S. $<y1\o1 ~~l'" .. :.:t' r"Jl~S" a<4;'w ... , rUI P~itl!:l
Figure 1.3. Database view (Version 3.0)
shows a list of document titles, organised into date groups. This list is called a view. Each view is a made up of a selection of fields, arranged in a chosen sequence, each field being displayed as a column heading. Thus, in the example shown, the user is seeing the various news items in a simple view of data and title. Another view could, for instance, show all the news items in date order within company referred to (AT&T, Lotus, Sky tel, Synoptics, etc.).
Views can be standardised for each database and can also be defined by each user. They allow different aspects and dimensions of a database to be exposed and examined.
Applications Development
A database is defined by the forms used to create the documents within it and the views of those documents. What's more, in Notes, to design a database is to design an application - they are the same thing.
6 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Designing forms can be done using the built-in Notes editors and, usually, an existing form as a model from which to work. (Notes is supplied with sample forms or templates for this.) Figure 1.4 shows a blank form, with some fields completed.
Lotlls Noles - [untilled)
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Figure 1.4. Lotus Notes form.
A substantial amount of productive work can be accomplished using databases designed this way. For more complicated applications, such as those that refer to external data sources, Notes designers tend to work with graphical tools, such as VisualEdge and ViP (Visual Program). Some programmers work directly with the Notes application programming interface (API), which is written to using the C programming language.
Application development is possible only with full versions of Notes. The Express and Desktop clients that were launched in late 1994 and early 1995, respectively, will work with applications and allow responses and electronic mail, but cannot do applications building.
Users can automate the handling of documents using the Notes macros feature (called 'agents' in Notes 4.0).
Communications
Some Notes forms are designed to allow responses. With these, when a user receives a document from another user then a separate form, reached by a pull-down menu, can be used to reply. The main application of this is in what Lotus calls 'discussion databases'. These are the equivalent of a forum on CompuServe or a conference on a bulletin board. Database views show these messages (that is, documents), with their associated responses below them. Responses are indented from the original message, with responses to responses being indented further.
Lotus Notes - An Introduction 7
Electronic mail in Notes is another kind of form, kept on a separate database. Unlike other databases, though, this can be reached either by opening the database icon or directly, from a pull-down menu. The mail database is replicated around the system like any other, along with the Notes user directory ('Name and Address Book').
Until Notes Version 4.0 (which is described below), Notes mail sent a copy of every message to every recipient, even for mailing lists. This is wasteful of network and storage resources compared with the more usual method of sending just a 'pointer'. It is one of the reasons why many organisations with Notes also have cc:Mail. This can be integrated with Notes at the user interface and can exchange messages at the server.
Security
Notes controls access to databases in several ways. First there is a system of identity (ID) files, which can have password protection. These flIes, which are small, are electronic certificates that identify each user. Unless their certificate is recognised by the server, the user cannot get on to the system.
Notes then manages access to each database through access control lists (ACLs). Each user is given one of seven designations, ranging from 'No Access' through 'Author' (who can read all documents, but edit only their own) to 'Manager' (who can change virtually anything, including the database structure, and control the access list).
Additionally, users can optionally encrypt incoming and outgoing messages. (Encrypted signatures are also possible, but add no real security beyond that of the ID file.)
Other Features
From Version 3.0 of Notes it has been possible to do free-text searching across databases. Notes uses a search engine supplied by Verity Inc. for this. Large databases can be indexed and then searched, using Boolean commands. Users not familiar with these can instead do a kind of query-by-example.
Documents within a database can be connected to each other using DocLinks. These are icons that are put within fields on associated documents. Clicking on the icon in one document leads to the other document, and vice versa. (In Version 4.0, DocLinks can also be any area or word within a document field.) DocLinks are useful for explanatory and reference material, like hot links on Web sites or links within the help pages of Microsoft Windows.
Workflow is possible using Notes but, until Version 4.0, it was of a rudimentary kind. By using macros and routing tables, a form can be despatched around the network according to changes in time or state. For more complex workflows it is necessary to use add-on products, such as Action Technologies' ActionWorkflow (see the Cemex (Chapter 9) and Young and Rubicam (Chapter 26) cases).
8 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Add-Ons and Integration
As well making a system ideal for third-party suppliers to port their products to, Lotus itself uses Notes as a platform for products. The first of these was LN:DI (Lotus Notes: Document Imaging), known as 'LINDY'. This was announced in June 1992 and resulted from a collaboration between Lotus and Kodak. It lets Notes users integrate images from external sources into Notes documents and mail messages.
Other Lotus add-ons and accessories include:
• Phone Notes -lets people with touch-tone telephones access Notes and play back messages.
• Fax Server - allows Notes and cc:Mail users to send and receive faxes from their workstation.
• NotesView - a graphical network management tool, based on Hewlett Packard's Open View software.
• Video for Notes- allows video clips to be incorporated into documents.
• Realtime Notes - for video conferencing. This uses the Intel ProShare system.
• Notes Reporter - for extracting information from Notes databases and packaging it into tables, worksheets, fIles and so on.
• InterNotes Web Publisher - dynamically links Notes databases with World-Wide Web pages, allowing two-way updating.
• InterNotes News - gives two-way access from Notes to Usenet groups.
• Network Notes - a service which allows organisations to offload the management of large Notes networks to a telecommunications supplier. Lotus is collaborating with several other telecommunications authorities around the world (including BT, Deutsche Telekom and NTT).
The variety and rate of introduction of these new products has increased since IBM bought Lotus. It is keen to integrate Notes and cc:Mail with its own wide range of products. IBM also wants to gain market share for Notes in the face of competition from Microsoft and from the Internet.
Notes Version 4.0 (released January 1996)
Lotus Notes Version 4.0 represents a radical change in the nature of the product. Some of the changes it introduces have already been mentioned - field-level replication, changes to the workspace, the use of 'agents', more efficient mailing, more varieties of DocLinks and better workflow.
Another change is to the user interface. This now conforms with current industry norms and is shown in Figure 1.5. After a database icon is clicked on from the workspace, three main windows can be seen. On the left is the Navigator, which shows document folders as well as database views. The chosen view is shown in the upper right pane, and the selected document within it is displayed in the lower pane, which spans the screen.
These windows can be separately resized and moved. Documents and folders can also be moved around freely, in a drag and drop fashion. The Navigator can be set up to show material graphically, such as maps and diagrams.
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NTERNAT
Lotus Notes - An Introduction 9
o N A l
Figure 1.5. Notes Version 4.0 user interface.
Applications development has been made easier. Notes now comes with a full API for every type of client (previously, it was there only on the OS/2 and Microsoft Windows clients). Version 4.0 is compliant with Microsoft OLE 2.0 to aid integration with other Windows software. As has already been noted, macros in Version 4.0 are now called agents, and can be created using a simplified editor. In addition, a new graphical programming language, called LotusScript, is built into Version 4.0. This is compatible with other market-leading, graphical design tools.
Version 4.0 is compliant with Microsoft MAPI (Messaging API) and the XAPIA Common Messaging Calls (CMC) standards, which means that it will be able to exchange mail with any MAPI or CMC-compliant desktop or e-mail product. Version 4.0 also comes with two optional mail transports - X.400 and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol- the de facto standard for Unix systems).
With the further addition of a connector, or gateway, to cc:Mail, Version 4.0 becomes Lotus Notes/cc:Mail Communications Server, or CommServer. This acts as a hub both for Notes and cc:Mail clients, translating messages between those two formats and synchronising Notes and cc:Mail directories.
The Future
Lotus Notes Version 4.0 is just part of a series of new products and architectures coming from Lotus and IBM. Together they are changing the nature of Notes and taking it into new areas of computing and communications activity, especially on the Internet. If carried through well, these changes will turn Notes from the most
10 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
successful groupware product in the world into the most successful inter-company information management product in the world.
Jeff Papows, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Lotus Development Corporation, presents below his vision for the future of Notes and of groupware in general.
"Lotus Notes R4 has been shipped to an eagerly awaiting market and customer base. Its significance will take some time to understand but its impact will not be modest. We have long understood this to be our last release in the long competitive vacuum left us by Microsoft. Further enhancements in mobile user support, ease of use, worldclass e-mail, programmability, scalability and overall cost of ownership will continue to accelerate tremendous growth and competitive advantage for the community of Notes users.
The term groupware will become eclipsed by the synonymous phrase, 'Integrated Messaging and Groupware', as the market comes to understand the meaninglessness of one without the other. The criticality of the all-important infrastructure on which these 'mission critical platforms' will reside will be better understood.
The ever-growing mass of document-centric, unstructured applications centred on Notes will increasingly encompass the tremendous value of the traditional datacentric, relationally-based applications.
The advent of powerful end user and server-based agents and the range of Lotus and IBM, as well as third-party products, that dynamically connect these stores on a programmable and event-driven basis will offer incredible returns on investment.
The market phenomenon that is today the Internet and the World-Wide Web will afford Lotus a further opportunity to co-opt value for its Notes customers. Notes' integration with the Web through InterNotes, and the R4 Web Navigator, make the value of this tremendous information resource more secure, pervasive and manageable."
Making Use of the Case Studies Roger Whitehead
The 24 case studies in this book represent the cumulative experience of hundreds of Lotus Notes practitioners and thousands of users. What can one learn from these people's achievements? How can one put it to use in one's own situation, whether proposing to use Notes or some other kind of groupware?
There are a few elements that recur, such as the need for support from senior managers, for careful planning, for involving users and for plentiful training. There is nothing surprising about these, perhaps, but that does not diminish their importance. In those cases where things have not gone well, one finds that at least one of those elements is lacking.
What is remarkable is that these common elements should be so few. There is a great diversity of intent, approach and application to be seen in these cases. This diversity is greater than some writers would have us believe is compatible with success. It points to the likelihood that there is no single planning and implementation method that is universally applicable. The evidence in this book is that 'best practice' is, in fact, contingent upon the organisational and national characteristics that obtain at the time.
This fmding, that there is no one best way, may run counter to the expectations of some readers. It definitely contradicts the advice given in many textbooks and consultancy reports. These tend to be rooted in one particular culture, to which their authors are often oblivious.
Because the case studies in this book have been written by people intimately involved in the respective projects, these cultural variations have not been fIltered out. For example, if one were to compare the Sony case (Chapter 24) with almost any of the American cases, one would see in the former a greater sensitivity to social expectations and hierarchical norms. It is in complete antithesis to the 'shoot from the hip' approach so often seen in the West. This is not to say that the Sony case in necessarily superior in any way, just different - and relevant to its culture.
There are other appropriate dimensions to difference beside that of national culture. Two that are dealt in this chapter are investment motive and the prevailing view of the organisation. These are presented as aids to the analysis of the cases and, by implication, as aids to the reader's understanding of their own organisation.
Investment Motive
As these cases bear out, it is sometimes hard to find out what people had in mind when they first decided to use Notes. But, if the underlying motives for a proposed
11
12 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
investment can be made clear beforehand, there is a better chance of finding out whether the investment is really needed. Also, if a post-implementation audit is the normal practice in the organisation, identifying investment motives before the project provides a useful baseline.
Whether it is to be in Notes, some other form of groupware or even a computeraided design system, there are four primary motives for investing:
• to do things cheaper, reducing the cost of outgoings such as manpower, materials or services;
• to do things better internally, improving organisational capability by introducing greater control, making better decisions or making fewer errors;
• to do things better externally, improving performance in areas such as customer support, delivery times or product quality;
• to do new things, enabling innovation in structure or approach.
In addition, there are three other motives that may apply:-
• to do what is mandatory, such as meeting audit or legal requirements (for example ISO 9000);
• to improve the infrastructure for other activities or investments, such as install-ing a new network;
• to improve appearance, by enhancing corporate image.
These motives can apply in combination, they vary around the organisation and they change with time. Their relationship to each other can be illustrated as a cyclical model. Figure 2.1 illustrates this. The first four motives usually arise in the sequence shown. As an organisation becomes experienced with the use of groupware, so it tends to move through the sequence.
INWARDS OUTWARDS
INWARDS OUTWARDS
Figure 2.1. Virtuous circle.
Making Use of the Case Studies 13
Cost saving is a commonly the first objective for new systems. In some organisations it stays as the only objective.
Then, having made their savings, most organisations look to groupware that helps them improve their internal operations. They wish to create a smoother organisational machine. They wish to be better internally.
Both these sets of motives are inward-looking. Businesses tend to look outwards in their thinking about systems only later. Typically, their first objective then is to improve dealings with customers and trading partners, so being better externally becomes important.
After that (and seldom as a starting point), organisations wish to apply systems to doing something new. They may have been inhibited in this beforehand because the systems did not allow it or were too expensive. Often, it was because the organisation simply did not think of these new methods or arrangements.
The innovative phase does not finish the matter. The cycle starts again, with innovations being consolidated and cost-cutting resuming its former importance.
Underlying these four main reasons are the concentric rings of:
• mandatory ihvestments, those which are imposed upon the organisation, typically by a government, regulatory body or trading partner;
• infrastructure investments, e.g. support operations, new servers and new backup arrangements;
• appearance, which is not often acknowledged but applies whenever an organisation invests in order to impress customers, trading partners or employees; it is often found in combination with other motives.
As well as being an investment model, the virtuous circle is a model of organisational learning. Organisations' motives change as a result of their experience in using groupware and in response to increasingly outward and forward-looking thinking. Even when going 'round the loop' again, companies know what to expect and get through the different phases quicker, sometimes collapsing them.
The final point to be made is that a project's or programme's measures of success should reflect the investment motives. If a cost-cutting exercise were to be assessed on its innovative value, the result would be as meaningless as using a cost-saving arithmetic to judge whether faster time to market was worth it. The same holds true for project justification - the method should fit the motive.
Organisational Model
The case studies are rich in accounts of the relationship between technology, business and people. A widely used model for examining this was developed by the consultants, McKinsey and Co. A variation of it was used by Richard Pascale (one of its developers) and Anthony Athos (Pascale and Athos, Penguin Books, 1982). In their case they were making international comparisons; it is equally useful for inter-company comparisons.
The model, called the 'Seven-S' model, is shown in Figure 2.2. Its components are:
• Strategy - 'the plan or course of action leading to the allocation of a firm's scarce resources, over time, to reach identified goals'.
14 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• Structure - what is on the organisation chart. • Systems - the formal procedures, processes and reports that are in use, and the
machines that operate or support them. • Staff - the main categories of personnel within the firm. • Style - how senior managers behave; also includes the company culture. • Skills - the capabilities of important personnel and the firm as a whole. • Superordinate goals and shared values - 'the significant meanings or guiding
concepts that an organisation imbues in its members'.
Staff
Soft
SuperordInate Goals
Hard
Strategy
Figure 2.1. The Seven-S model of business.
Style
Systems
Pascale and Athos describe strategy, structure and systems as being 'hard' elements, the others as 'soft'. The first three - 'the cold triangle', in their description -are susceptible to analytical, quantitative, logical and systematic investigation. The two authors regard these as the ones emphasised in the American business culture, while the others are frequently stigmatised as being soft-hearted and unscientific.
The contrasts suggested by this model are borne out by the contrasts, in both content and language, between the case studies. Some are rich in behavioural and cultural detail, with no more than sufficient attention being paid to the mechanics of the system in use. Others are the reverse. In these, the system or the product is the star, with the user organisation merely being the backdrop and people being no more than bit players.
As with the other dimensions, neither organisational viewpoint is intrinsically superior to any other. If the user organisation is peopled by technological determinists, they will expect the system to reinforce that view of the world. They will want their consultants to share it, too.
On the other hand, if the company's Weltanschauung emphasises intellectual curiosity and political sensitivity, as in the PrimeGest case, it will want similar sensitivity in their groupware consultants, internal or external, and in the way the system is introduced. (One of the unheralded strengths of Lotus Notes is its cultural plasticity. It can generally be made to look at home in most situations.)
Making Use of the Case Studies 15
The Cases Presented
Following this chapter is a table summarising the case studies and acting as a guide to the content of the ensuing chapters. The table contains details of each organisation, the type of applications of Notes and an outline of the case.
Except for the case from the Lotus Institute (Chapter 3), the chapters are in alphabetical order of the organisations' names. The Lotus case is first partly because of its origin but mainly because of its content. Like the others, the process they adopted is of interest and their findings yield valuable insights into the application of groupware in general.
Not all the cases are as complicated or as long as the Lotus account. In some, the projects were still in progress at the time of reporting. These still had useful evidence to report.
In two of the cases - AmBank (Chapter 5) and Cleer University (Chapter 10)the identity of the organisations have been concealed behind pseudonyms. These cases are still worth having, especially for the lessons learnt of how projects can go wrong.
A Note on Style
We have adopted the following principles and conventions throughout this book.
1. Wherever possible, we have kept to the general structure and style of each case history, as originally supplied by its contributor or contributors. We felt that this was important in preserving the feeling of personal testimony that was evident in so many of the cases. Also, as readers work through the cases, this variation should provide them with refreshing changes of pace and approach.
2. We have standardised on the British usage of the English language, such as terminology, spelling and punctuation.
3. Where a word or expression has different meanings in British and American usage, the former applies. For example, in Britain, 'regular' means taking place at constant intervals. It is not used here to mean normal, ordinary or average.
4. The one exception to this is the use of 'billion' to mean one thousand million, instead of its original British meaning of a million million.
S. We have removed almost all the current vogue terms and expressions in the computer industry. We feel that only those readers closely involved with computing would understand them and that, anyway, their continual use is tedious and distracting.
6. The editors and the publishers, Springer-Verlag, acknowledge all trademarks.
Reference
Pascale R, Athos A The art of Japanese management. Penguin Books, 1982.
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orti
ng g
roup
an
d p
erso
nal
info
rmat
ion
man
agem
ent f
or
exec
utiv
es. T
hat w
as s
ucce
ssfu
l, so
it h
as s
prea
d N
otes
int
o th
e re
st o
f the
org
aniz
atio
n. T
he b
enef
its
incl
ude
bett
er e
mpl
oyee
le
arni
ng, f
ewer
mee
ting
s an
d c
ost s
avin
gs.
Cem
ex is
the
fou
rth-
larg
est
cem
ent s
uppl
ier
in th
e w
orld
. It
uses
IT
as
a w
eapo
n to
mai
ntai
n it
s po
siti
on a
nd to
red
uce
its
cost
s be
low
thos
e o
f its
nea
rest
com
peti
tor.
The
cas
e de
scri
bes
a pi
lot
proj
ect i
n w
hich
Not
es w
as u
sed
wit
h a
wor
kflo
w p
rodu
ct to
im
prov
e ac
coun
t co
llec
tion
pro
cess
es. I
t dis
cuss
es c
hang
es i
n at
titu
de a
mon
g st
aff a
nd
cus
tom
ers
and
the
deve
lopm
ent o
f a
diff
eren
t re
lati
onsh
ip b
etw
een
them
.
Cle
er U
nive
rsit
y is
an
inst
itut
e o
f hig
her
educ
atio
n th
at p
rovi
des
dist
ance
lear
ning
. It i
ntro
duce
d N
otes
int
o it
s P
edag
ogic
al
--
--
---
------
----
--
I
~ '" Co :;,
\C
C
Xl a. ~ :::T
111
f"I '" Xl ~
c a.
~. -.....
Chap
ter S
umm
arie
s con
tinue
d
Cha
pter
O
rgan
izat
ion
Whe
re?
Typ
e of
app
lica
tion
man
agem
ent;
gro
up
cale
ndar
11.
GM
Eur
ope
Eur
ope
Info
rmat
ion
shar
ing
12.
Hen
ley
Col
lege
U
K
Info
rmat
ion
shar
ing
and
of M
anag
emen
t re
trie
val
13.
IDV
UK
U
K
Sale
s fo
rce
man
agem
ent
I L
Out
line
of C
ase
Tec
hnol
ogy
Uni
t, on
a p
ilot
bas
is, t
o he
lp w
ith
grou
p co
mm
unic
atio
n an
d to
pro
vide
a c
entr
al r
epos
itor
y of
in
form
atio
n. It b
ecam
e cl
ear
that
, alt
houg
h e-
mai
l was
pop
ular
, th
e in
form
atio
n su
pply
app
lica
tion
fou
nder
ed b
ecau
se it
did
not
of
fer
any
proc
ess
impr
ovem
ents
. The
Uni
vers
ity's
man
ager
s ar
e pr
ocee
ding
no
furt
her
wit
h N
otes
.
Hav
ing
mad
e su
bsta
ntia
l cha
nges
in
its m
anuf
actu
ring
pr
oces
ses
in p
ursu
it o
f qua
lity
and
per
form
ance
obj
ecti
ves,
the
auto
mob
ile
com
pany
Gen
eral
Mot
ors
look
ed to
the
ass
ocia
ted
cler
ical
act
ivit
ies
as a
sou
rce
of f
urth
er im
prov
emen
ts. I
t de
cide
d ce
ntra
lly
to u
se N
otes
as
its m
ain
soft
war
e fo
r in
form
atio
n sh
arin
g. T
he c
ase
desc
ribe
s th
e pi
lot i
nsta
llat
ion
of I
Not
es, i
n Z
uric
h, a
nd th
e re
sult
s of
its
wid
espr
ead
adop
tion
.
Hen
ley'
s 'd
ista
nce
lear
ning
' MB
A d
egre
e pr
ogra
mm
e is
lon
g-es
tabl
ishe
d an
d fo
llow
ed w
orld
-wid
e, b
ut is
mee
ting
incr
easi
ng
com
peti
tion
. To
mak
e it
mor
e at
trac
tive
to s
tude
nts
and
to
redu
ce m
anpo
wer
cos
ts, t
he c
olle
ge d
ecid
ed to
use
Not
es f
or
cour
se d
eliv
ery.
The
cas
e de
scri
bes
the
deve
lopm
ent,
cont
ent
and
use
of t
he s
yste
m. I
t re
port
s th
e re
acti
ons
of s
tude
nts,
tuto
rs
and
adm
inis
trat
ors.
IDV
is p
art o
f the
Gra
nd M
etro
poli
tan
grou
p an
d se
lls w
ines
an
d sp
irit
s in
Bri
tain
to c
lubs
, pub
s an
d of
f-lic
ence
s. It
had
a
besp
oke
Not
es a
ppli
cati
on w
ritt
en to
hel
p re
fine
res
ourc
e al
loca
tion
, red
uce
pape
rwor
k an
d im
prov
e co
mm
unic
atio
ns
betw
een
the
sale
s fo
rce
and
the
back
-off
ice
staf
f. T
he c
ase
desc
ribe
s th
e ap
plic
atio
n an
d its
use
.
-'
00 ~ ::J
V
I 0- 3 3'
IC o .a .., ::J
Vi' l!;
0'
::J
VI :;! a c IC
:::
r G
l o c u :;; .., in
Chap
ter S
umm
arie
s co
ntinu
ed
Cha
pter
O
rgan
izat
ion
Whe
re?
Typ
e of
app
lica
tion
14.
Inte
l U
K
Dis
cuss
ion
15.
KLM
Roy
al
UK
an
d I
rela
nd
Sta
ff m
anag
emen
t; q
uali
ty
Dut
ch
Air
line
s
16.
Llo
yd's
Reg
iste
r U
SA a
nd U
K
Qua
lity
man
agem
ent;
Q
uali
ty
cust
omer
cas
e A
ssur
ance
m
anag
emen
t
17.
Mac
mil
lan
UK
Q
uali
ty m
anag
emen
t D
istr
ibut
ion
Out
line
of c
ase
Thi
s ca
se is
in
two
part
s. T
he f
irst
par
t bri
efly
des
crib
es h
ow
Inte
l U
K, a
mic
ropr
oces
sor
mak
er, h
as u
sed
Not
es a
nd s
ome
of
the
bene
fits
it h
as d
eriv
ed f
rom
doi
ng s
o. T
he s
econ
d pa
rt g
ives
th
e N
otes
pro
ject
man
ager
's a
sses
smen
t, tw
o ye
ars
on, o
f wha
t is
requ
ired
to a
chie
ve s
ucce
ss w
hen
inst
alli
ng a
nd u
sing
Not
es.
The
Dut
ch a
irli
ne, K
LM, c
alle
d in
qua
lity
con
sult
ants
to h
elp
it
exte
nd a
n ex
isti
ng p
erfo
rman
ce m
anag
emen
t sys
tem
to c
over
qu
alit
y m
anag
emen
t iss
ues
as w
ell.
It u
sed
the
Eur
opea
n F
ound
atio
n fo
r Q
uali
ty M
anag
emen
t sys
tem
as
its
mod
el. T
he
case
des
crib
es t
he c
reat
ion
of t
he N
otes
-bas
ed w
orkf
low
sys
tem
at
the
hea
rt o
f the
app
lica
tion
and
the
init
ial r
eact
ions
to it
.
LRQ
A is
a s
ubsi
diar
y o
f the
Lon
don-
base
d L
loyd
's R
egis
ter
of
Shi
ppin
g an
d ce
rtif
ies
com
pani
es s
eeki
ng to
att
ain
the
ISO
900
0 qu
alit
y st
anda
rd. L
RQ
A's
own
perf
orm
ance
fell
shor
t of t
he
idea
l, w
ith
freq
uent
del
ays
in t
he is
sue
of c
erti
fica
tes.
The
cas
e de
scri
bes
how
the
com
pany
intr
oduc
ed N
otes
to
help
it m
anag
e cu
stom
er c
ases
. It
repo
rts
on in
itia
l sta
ff re
spon
ses
and
on th
e pl
an to
spr
ead
the
syst
em w
orld
-wid
e.
Mac
mil
lan
Dis
trib
utio
n is
par
t of t
he M
acm
illa
n P
ubli
shin
g gr
oup.
It s
ends
boo
ks to
boo
ksho
ps, n
ewsa
gent
s an
d ot
her
outl
ets.
The
com
pany
wan
ted
to a
chie
ve I
SO 9
000
cert
ific
atio
n,
as p
art o
f its
phi
loso
phy
of c
onti
nuou
s im
prov
emen
t. It
bou
ght
a qu
alit
y m
anag
emen
t pro
duct
that
run
s on
Not
es. T
he c
ase
desc
ribe
s th
e se
lect
ion
of th
e so
ftw
are,
wha
t it c
over
s an
d ho
w it
ha
s be
en u
sed.
I
s: '" "'" 5· \0
C
II>
I\
) S.
~
:r
I\)
() '" II
>
I\) ~
c 0- n;.
II>
.... 10
Chap
ter S
umm
arie
s co
ntinu
ed
Cha
pter
O
rgan
izat
ion
Whe
re?
Typ
e of
app
lica
tion
18.
Tho
mas
Mil
ler
UK
In
form
atio
n sh
arin
g;
info
rmat
ion
retr
ieva
l
19.
Mis
sion
Ene
rgy
Mai
nly
USA
R
emot
e w
orki
ng;
proj
ect
supp
ort
20.
MT
W S
chif
fsw
erft
G
erm
any
Pro
ject
man
agem
ent;
(B
rem
er V
ulca
n)
docu
men
t ret
riev
al
21.
Pfi
zer
Hos
pita
l In
itia
lly
UK
E
-mai
l; w
orkf
low
; P
rodu
cts
Gro
up
info
rmat
ion
dist
ribu
tion
; in
form
atio
n re
trie
val
---
---
----
-----~--------
Out
line
of c
ase
Tho
mas
Mil
ler
is a
n in
sure
r of
ship
ping
. Its
hea
dqua
rter
s ar
e in
th
e C
ity
of L
ondo
n b
ut
it o
pera
tes
arou
nd th
e w
orld
. The
co
mpa
ny h
as a
ppoi
nted
a g
roup
dir
ecto
r o
f inf
orm
atio
n w
ho,
amon
g ot
her
thin
gs, h
as i
ntro
duce
d N
otes
as
an a
id to
sha
ring
ex
pert
ise.
The
cas
e de
scri
bes
the
back
grou
nd to
this
app
roac
h an
d ho
w it
fits
int
o th
e co
mpa
ny's
ove
rall
phi
loso
phy
of
orga
niza
tion
al le
arni
ng.
Mis
sion
Ene
rgy
is a
pow
er-s
uppl
y co
mpa
ny, b
ased
in
Cal
ifor
nia,
w
ith
empl
oyee
s th
roug
hout
muc
h o
f the
wor
ld, m
ostl
y w
orki
ng
on p
roje
cts.
It b
egan
usi
ng N
otes
for
tea
m c
oord
inat
ion
and
com
mun
icat
ion,
bu
t di
scov
ered
the
cost
and
dif
ficu
lty
invo
lved
in
run
ning
its
own
netw
ork.
The
cas
e de
scri
bes
how
Mis
sion
E
nerg
y sw
itch
ed to
run
ning
Not
es o
ver
a va
lue-
adde
d ne
twor
k an
d di
scus
ses
the
bene
fits
of t
his.
MT
W i
s a
ship
buil
der.
It h
ad b
egun
bui
ldin
g a
new
cla
ss o
f ve
ssel
and
was
usi
ng a
sta
ndar
d pr
ojec
t man
agem
ent p
rodu
ct to
I
help
the
pro
ject
con
trol
tea
m in
its
wor
k. T
his
resu
lted
in r
epor
t-in
g de
lays
and
exc
essi
ve p
aper
wor
k, so
a N
otes
-bas
ed p
rodu
ct w
as
used
in a
ddit
ion.
The
cas
e de
scri
bes
how
this
was
int
rodu
ced
and
its e
ffec
ts o
n gr
oup
com
mun
icat
ions
and
info
rmat
ion
supp
ly.
PHPG
is a
gro
up o
f co
mpa
nies
wit
hin
the
Pfi
zer
phar
mac
euti
cal c
orpo
rati
on. I
t wis
hed
to s
impl
ify
sale
s fo
rce
repo
rtin
g pr
oced
ures
and
to s
prea
d cu
rren
t sal
es i
nfor
mat
ion
mor
e qu
ickl
y. P
HPG
int
rodu
ced
Not
es a
s a
com
bine
d e-
mai
l and
w
orkf
low
pro
duct
, usi
ng a
Not
es c
onsu
ltan
cy to
wri
te a
bes
poke
ap
plic
atio
n. T
his
is n
ow b
eing
intr
oduc
ed th
roug
hout
Eur
ope.
T
he c
ase
stud
y de
scri
bes
the
proj
ect a
nd it
s re
sult
s.
'" o ~
QI " '" 0' 3 s· lO o .a Q
I " ~. 0· " '" ;J (3
c: lO
::r
G\
(3
c: -c
:E QI ro
Chap
ter S
umm
arie
s co
ntin
ued
Cha
pter
O
rgan
izat
ion
Whe
re?
Typ
e of
app
lica
tion
22.
Por
ts o
f V
ario
us W
est
E-m
ail;
info
rmat
ion
Wes
t Afr
ica
Afr
ican
cou
ntri
es
dist
ribu
tion
; kee
ping
tr
ack
of s
hipp
ing;
di
scus
sion
23.
Pri
meG
est
Ital
y In
form
atio
n re
trie
val;
in
form
atio
n di
stri
buti
on;
grou
p m
emor
y
24.
Son
y C
ompu
ter
Japa
n D
ocum
ent r
etri
eval
; E
nter
tain
men
t co
ntac
t man
agem
ent;
In
c.
exte
rnal
e-m
ail
25.
Vis
ion
Ass
ocia
tes
USA
R
outi
ne r
epor
ting
; in
form
atio
n re
trie
val;
ex
tern
al e
mai
l; I
nter
net
publ
ishi
ng; d
iscu
ssio
ns;
grou
p m
emor
y
Out
line
of c
ase
The
Por
t Man
agem
ent A
ssoc
iati
on o
f Wes
t and
Cen
tral
Afr
ica
(PM
AW
CA
), ba
sed
in L
agos
, Nig
eria
, rep
rese
nts
port
s in
17
Wes
t an
d C
entr
al A
fric
an c
ount
ries
. It w
ante
d to
impr
ove
com
pute
r cap
abil
itie
s th
roug
hout
the
regi
on. A
Not
es-b
ased
p
ort
man
agem
ent i
nfor
mat
ion
syst
em w
as f
irst
int
rodu
ced
in
Gab
on. T
he c
ase
desc
ribe
s th
e sy
stem
req
uire
men
ts a
nd
ca
pabi
liti
es, a
nd s
ome
of t
he is
sues
of w
orki
ng in
sev
eral
Afr
ican
co
untr
ies.
Pri
meG
est i
s an
inve
stm
ent f
irm
tha
t man
ages
spe
cial
ized
fund
s fo
r cl
ient
s. It
rel
ies
on
up-
to-d
ate
info
rmat
ion
on
sto
cks,
mar
kets
an
d ec
onom
y on
whi
ch to
bas
e it
s de
cisi
ons.
Its
rese
arch
di
rect
or in
trod
uced
Not
es, u
sing
a s
peci
alis
t res
elle
r to
wri
te a
be
spok
e ap
plic
atio
n. T
he c
ase
repo
rts
on th
e or
igin
s o
f the
pr
ojec
t and
how
it h
as a
ffec
ted
grou
p be
havi
our
and
wor
k st
anda
rds.
SCEI
pro
duce
s vi
deo
gam
es m
achi
nes
for
the
hom
e an
d
laun
ched
a n
ew p
rodu
ct, t
he P
layS
tati
on. I
t use
d N
otes
to
help
it
man
age
its c
ontr
acts
, and
dai
ly c
omm
unic
atio
ns, w
ith
over
200
in
depe
nden
t sof
twar
e m
aker
s (w
hose
pro
duct
s ar
e vi
tal t
o th
e su
cces
s o
f the
mac
hine
). S
CEI
has
now
intr
oduc
ed N
otes
for
ge
nera
l us
e an
d h
as l
inks
to
trad
ing
part
ners
. The
cas
e de
scri
bes
the
prog
ress
of t
he p
roje
ct a
nd
its
effe
cts.
Vis
ion
Ass
ocia
tes
is a
n in
form
atio
n se
rvic
es c
ompa
ny. I
t in
trod
uced
Lot
us N
otes
to im
prov
e co
mm
unic
atio
n am
ong
its
cons
ulta
nts
and
to a
llow
them
to s
tay
up to
dat
e o
n c
ompa
ny
and
proj
ect
mat
ters
. At f
irst
, the
y w
ere
requ
ired
to
use
Not
es f
or
expe
nses
rep
orti
ng a
nd fo
r eq
uipm
ent i
nven
tory
upd
ates
. The
I ,
~ Co
::I
10
C
Xl Q.. ... ':T
(1)
("\
III Xl )t;' c: a.
~. .... ...
Chap
ter S
umm
arie
s co
ntinu
ed
Cha
pter
O
rgan
izat
ion
Whe
re?
Typ
e of
app
lica
tion
26.
You
ng &
Rub
icam
U
SA
Wor
kflo
w;
grou
p co
mm
unic
atio
ns; g
roup
m
emor
y
Out
line
of c
ase
,
cons
ulta
nts
now
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Background
Lotus Development: Team Room -A Collaborative Workspace for CrossFunctional Teams Paul Cole and Eunice C. Johnson
The development of Team Room originated in a project to improve the performance and quality of work life at Lotus Development Corporation. It was begun by Jim Manzi, then President and CEO of Lotus. (Lotus Development is now a whollyowned subsidiary of the IBM Corporation. Further information on Lotus the company and on Lotus Notes is given in Chapter 1.)
The Cross-Organisational Taskforce, one of several teams in the project, assessed the efficacy of cross-organisational teams in Lotus and recommended improvements. The task force brought together managers from the product development, sales and marketing, human resources (personnel) and information systems functions. They were augmented by members of Lotus Institute, a research and consulting group at Lotus that studies the organisational aspects of workgroup technology.
There were three phases in the work of the cross-organisational group:- analysis and recommendations; application and education development; and implementation. At the time this case study was written, the group had nearly completed the second phase.
Phase one began with asking a number of work teams within Lotus about their experience working across organisations. From these observations, and prior research on groupware adoption, it became clear that most cross-organisational teams lacked effective technological support. Although they coordinated their efforts through meetings, phone and electronic mail (e-mail), they felt that improvement was necessary.
Meetings were still the primary mechanism for communication across the entire group but they were difficult to organise. Teams were becoming more geographically dispersed and individuals were having to balance competing demands from other teams they belonged to.
In response to these pressures, e-mail was becoming the principal vehicle for sharing information and coordinating action. Teams used e-mail for brief messages, updates and as a distribution mechanism for documents. They used the telephone mainly for quick question and answers, for updates or for further discussion and clarification of e-mail messages.
23
24 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The volume of e-mail had become overwhelming for some team members. Many noted difficulties with sifting through messages of widely varying importance and subject matter. The opposite problem was also in evidence - too often teams could not find, or were not aware of, the existence of needed information. Either they had not been included on an e-mail distribution list or the information was located in unwieldy, inaccessible databases.
Despite these limitations, e-mail remained the primary electronic environment for active collaboration. Many individuals were accustomed to it and were confident that others were reading the messages they had sent. They were unsure of the alternatives.
Teams also used discussion databases and document libraries within Lotus Notes. They found that discussion databases were most helpful for communication external to the team, but of limited value on getting things done within it. As a result, the use of discussion databases tended to be peripheral to the primary work interactions of the group and were used as adjuncts to meetings.
Workflow applications and tracking databases within Notes were useful for specific tasks, but were often viewed as being too limited for the varied tasks and work styles of knowledge workers.
Armed with these observations, the Cross-Organisational Taskforce chartered a group to define and create the Team Room application. This was headed by members of the Lotus Institute, and included representatives from human resources and information systems.
The Philosophy Behind Team Room
The approach to application development of Team Room differed from others that had preceded it in Lotus. These had not shared its focus on both technical and social analyses of team requirements. The team put a psychologist in charge, ensuring that knowledge about individual psychology and group dynamics informed the application.
We did not, as is usually the case, prescribe a technology-based process into which teams would have to fit their work. We knew that the application should mirror the ways in which teams work, not dictate those ways. It should also be adaptable enough to allow for individual and team differences, while still including the essential elements for successful team transactions.
The goal was to develop an electronic workspace which served the general communication needs of a team, was easy to learn and use, and at the same time supported greater effectiveness. Our belief was that teams should be able to create and easily modify their own electronic work environments.
Team Room was built on several key assumptions:
• that open communication and broader access to information leads to increased levels of involvement, shared knowledge and commitment in teams;
• that visible communication, based on the shared access of Notes databases, is a better environment for team communication than the private model embodied in e-mail;
• that having one common, coherently-structured place where information is communicated and stored facilitates and simplifies team communication.
Lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 25
Design - Six Principles
Principle 1. Adaptability should be a central design criterion. Teams develop their own culture and ways of doing things that change through time. Also, the individuals on a team have personal work styles that may vary considerably.
Practice - Team Room can be modified by users, allowing a team to use its own language and organisation of information and to modify it when needed. This extends to individual team members, who can access differently, according to their own preferences or work roles.
Principle 2. Work and communication in teams includes individual sub-group and whole-group tasks, and can be private as well as public. (Notes databases typically support only group communication, requiring individuals to shift to e-mail for private or individual communication.) Team members should have control over their individual work, and the timing and method of its distribution.
Practice - Team Room has the ability to make documents private as well as directing them to individual team members.
Principle 3. Team members need access to general team information and knowledge, as well as being able to focus on information immediately relevant to their specific tasks or interests.
Practice - Team Room includes a personal workspace. This enables team members to access only the information referenced to them.
Principle 4. People tend to approach new technology with a set of expectations and a mental model which is shaped by their prior technology use. We felt it was important to use the existing models of e-mail and discussion databases with which Lotus Notes users were familiar.
Practice - Team Room extends the discussion database model and is tightly linked to e-mail. Team members can choose how they access information, bye-mail or directly within Team Room.
Principle 5. People are reluctant to learn new technology without there being some visible and immediate benefit to them. Ease of use is, thus, an important requirement. Users should be able to use the application easily and be able to learn the advanced features as needed.
Practice - Team Room allows different modes of use, from simple archive and discussion to complex team collaboration. It makes possible a new role, 'Team Room Facilitator', to help manage the continual adjustments between the team and the technology. As a team member this person assists the team in determining the 'whys and hows' of Team Room.
Principle 6. Teamwork includes both the coordination of activities towards a common objective and a set of explicit agreements about working together. In electronic environments these agreements represent a shared information model, which has two parts - a common set of expectations for how and when to use the medium, and an agreement on the language, meaning and organisation of the information.
Practice - Team Room provides a 'mission page', which is used to provide a structure for the application and a context for this communication. Guidance about using the application is incorporated in Team Room.
26 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Team Room Described
A Notes discussion database consists of messages that are entered either as a main document or as a reply to an existing document. A 'thread' of messages represents a conversation. Team Room builds on this model by adding additional forms of communication.
Users can select different communication types for their documents. These include 'discussion', 'action request', 'meeting announcement' and 'reference document". A team member, for example, may use the reference document type for posting a sales presentation with questions and answers.
Team Room sorts information both by category and by communication type. The team chooses both. Figure 3.1 illustrates the different communication types and categories being used by one team.
Subject [Author - Last Modified] COAOHNG DESIGN
Actior. HI (liflSlUHII
eJ Buqs & Enhanccncnts D
* (!I
* (!I * CJ * D * eJ * D * D
Reference Doc. • TR System Documentat ion · DRAFT OUTLINE [Stephen Ski • Data e.(change matrix for TeamRoom [Stephen Skidmo'8 - 0
GUIDANCE SYSTEM HELP SYSTElI1 IMPLElilENTATION PROJECT MANAGElI1ENT RESEMCH
Figure 3.1. A view expanded
There is one document form in Team Room, which is used for all types of communication. Figure 3.2 shows this. (Editors' note: Lotus Notes databases are collections of documents or forms. Their design is a fundamental part of the design of the application.)
The first field on the form is for selecting a communication type. The second is for selecting a category of information, such as sales or product development. These two are the required fields by which information is sorted in the views.
Several optional fields are available - 'For', 'FYI' and 'Due Date'. These allow team members to direct information to others on the team, and provide additional ways to view information in the database. Documents can also be made confidential to one or more people. This allows team members to work on draft materials in the application, controlling the time of distribution.
Lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 27
Docum"nl - IOdir
Communicnlon r
... . C~81JOrie8 ... .
For r
/
FYI
;r Putphc ..
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Subject riC', d;:o Q :-cn:1:-.:::~;:o cn :I -:: n:1l~ line r
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Figure 3.2. The Team Room document form.
The two primary views on this information are Personal Work Space and Team Work Space. They are similar in structure, but in the Personal Work Space (see Figure 3.3) team members see only the communications directed to them and the documents they have created.
In the Team Work Space, individuals can see all documents that are not private. This allows team members to avoid information overload and helps them concentrate on information relevant to them.
DBl Team Room
Mall .c.ompose Refresh Unread ~dit Mode Arrange Icons
..J Show !!nrea d
..J Show S,erver Names
Z. Team Work Space 702 1· Due Dates & Events
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4. Recent Activity file Cabinet
Help
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Figure 3.3. Personal Work Space view.
TRWOII V3.7.3 r
28 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The secondary views are Due Dates and Events, Recent Activity and File Cabinet. The first allows team members to view the information which has had due dates or milestones assigned to it. This provides a means for a team leader to keep track of time-related activities.
£~ Mission
Mission: Find new technology to support team work
B,Vhen:
Team Name:
T earn Leader:
Team Room' F acilit.;lltor:
Coach:
Team Practices: D Vi~·.· D.?t:.il; 0"1 P~r'l~ip;,r't Ro "s
Team Members: D Cr:·~t'J or "'odll~ FN::Or.;, ;:rclll,,;;
Categories
Team Practices: D "of !?\" [!?t311;; en Cd !?!j01l!?;'
Ke,wOfcis: Research; Project Management
Team Practices: W "of 11'1" [(ot311$ cn Communl(:"llcn Ty~Eo~
Ke,.ords: Action; Brainstorm; Meeting
h Event •
Team Practices: D VI"'.I DH311, on ::'.'?n:s
AutoFile Docs:
• S,~tem Settings
Figure 3.4. Details of the Mission Page
Lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 29
::n:o=, eel .:." 1".lcOl Rupolo Co' 25 l'kI',' ':'5
Name' MarY Smith
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Auto Notify by Communication Tvpe Notify me of new docl.l'l1ents with these Communication Types i1 1 am isied in the For field:
o Action
o Meeting
otify me of new documents with these Ca1egories if I am listed in the For field ; I
Figure 3.5. The Participant Profile
Auto Notify I Notify me 'Nh, create docur 10 MarySm
Recent Activity displays documents chronologically, By scanning this view, team members get the pulse of the latest action at the team level.
Team members file documents that are only needed for reference in the File Cabinet. This keeps the active views from becoming cluttered and reduces overload.
A team can easily set up and change the categories and communication types by filling in a Mission Page, of which there is one for each project objective. As Figure 3.4 shows, this has fields for the basic team information: categories, communication types, participants and events. This information is then automatically available when composing new documents.
The Mission Page also has space for a team members to record their 'ground rules', which is the set of explicit agreements about how they will use Team Room. It thus provides a structure for organising the work and communication of a team, but without imposing a rigid process on a team,
Team Room gives the team leader control over the Mission Page to reflect his or her role in defining the team and directing its efforts also. A team is encouraged to designate one of its members to be the Team Room facilitator, who can also set up and change the Mission Page. This role, modelled in part on the system administrator or moderator of computer conferences, assists in shaping the technology to the work and processes of the group.
In addition to the mission, each team member completes a personal profile (Figure 3.5). The profile includes basic information about team members and allows individuals to customise Team Room to their own ways of working.
A team member can choose to be notified via e-mail if specific types of documents are entered into the Team Room or the documents come from a specific individual. When team members read the notification in e-mail, they can click on a document link and jump directly into the document in the database. This feature provides an
30 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
CJ General Usage D Team Leader CJ Roles &. Responsibiliti es I!I How to complete the Mission Statement CJ Team Members CJ Getting Started I!I Definition of Views CJ Entering Informat ion I!I Retrieving Information I!I Setting Advanced Options CJ Team Practices CJ Team Room Facilitator I!I Roles &. Responsibilities I!I How to enter a Team Member profile I!I How to enter a Sub-Team c:. Search &. Replace Procedure ~ 11.11+,..., t:";Ir. D .... ~ ..... f"'\....It, ... n
Figure 3.6. The Help/Guidance Index
important bridge to e-mail and allows users the choice of working from either e-mail or Team Room.
Technical help in Team Room is augmented with a guidance system (Figure 3.6). The guidance system describes how to set up and use the application. It describes the types of work processes that can be used and how to manage the change required in using the Team Room. It also allows teams to limit their investment in initial training, by giving access to the educational information when they are ready to learn.
Introducing Team Room to Pilot Teams
The Team Room designers selected ten pilot teams (three of which are detailed later in this chapter), on the basis of the interest and commitment shown by their group managers. Where possible they chose senior teams, so that their use of Team Room would attract interest from others in the organisation.
Also, the designers tried to vary the types of teams. The result was that the selected teams included senior managers, temporary work groups and task forces, standing committees, sales teams and product development teams.
A coach was assigned to each pilot team, to work with the manager in planning and setting up the application. The coach generally conducted an introductory session with the pilot team. This included an overview of the Team Room application, some brief training and a discussion about how to use the application for the work
lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 31
of the team. Subsequent coaching sessions were set up with the individual team members. The coaches were available bye-mail and phone.
Team members could compose opinion or enquiry forms directly from within the application. These, which often included design suggestions or usage questions, were e-mailed to a database for the development team as well as to the coach. He or she responded to any team member's problems. Coaches held periodic meetings with the team leader or team room facilitator of the pilot teams, and conducted review and problem-solving sessions with the teams.
Experience 1: The Worldwide Sales and Marketing Team
The Worldwide Sales and Marketing Team is one of three pilot teams whose experiences this case study describes. (The other two are the Next Generation Product Development Team and the EDF/GDF Account Team.) This team was created in late 1994 to deal with globalising the sales and marketing efforts at Lotus. It consisted of ten senior executives. One member was based in Europe, another in Japan and a third in Singapore. The rest worked at Lotus headquarters.
Most of these executives travelled constantly. In its first three months, they worked together bye-mail and telephone, combined with frequent travel. After several months, it was clear that the international members of the team wanted to be in closer touch with all that was happening at headquarters. Corporate staff was in favour of doing what was necessary to help.
In late November 1994, the Senior Vice President (SVP) sent out e-mail describing the Team Room and telling the staff that the application would become their primary means of communication, rather than e-mail. He had worked with a coach and one of his staff members to set up the application and was very enthusiastic about its use.
In the first weeks, the SVP used the application heavily for updates and general requests for the staff. His use waned after several weeks, as there was limited use by the team. Two months later, the team met for a brief training session in, and discussion of, the purpose of using Team Room. They reached agreement about how it would be employed and began using the application.
Some members of the team received coaching over the next few weeks, but several of the international members did not. Soon after Team Room was introduced, the team also began having a telephone conference call meeting every two weeks.
The Worldwide Sales and Marketing Team used Team Room primarily for updates and discussion. The application also augmented the fortnightly voice conferencing meeting. There was some use of Team Room as a way to raise awareness of issues, and to make financial updates, media reports and corporate data available for review and revision.
Members of the team reported that the use of Team Room made it much easier to handle timely requests across time zones. The group used it to communicate to everyone information that had previously been available only to the manager.
Those members located at headquarters, having easy access to each other, found less value in Team Room than did the international members. The application was used regularly, but less intensely than had initially been planned. Team members reported that it helped to keep the whole team informed and provided a means for international members to have more input on issues. It was not, though, used for all staff communication, especially those that were critical or time-sensitive.
32 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Experience 2: The Next Generation Product Development Team
This team was assembled in early 1995 to develop new products and services for Lotus. While exploring possible business models for new products, the group was looking for new ways of working. "We were trying to move quickly, not have things fall through the cracks, yet we also wanted to encourage information sharing, involvement and a sense of informality;' explained the manager of the team.
There were ten members of the team, with plans to grow rapidly in the next few months. It had moved into traditional office space at Lotus, but had taken all the partitions down. This left a large open space with couches and tables in the middle around which offices were ringed.
The team hoped to avoid creating layers of management by encouraging people to assume initiative and maintaining a high level of information flow. Several of the managers had used Team Room in earlier pilot groups and were interested in using it to support the new group. They wanted something with more structure than a discussion database in order to track actions and issues, as well as document the development and direction of the team.
Two managers iIi the Next Generation Product Development Team shared the role of Team Room facilitator, setting up the database and posting early documents. The team was introduced to the application in a staff meeting, where there was an initial discussion of the why and how of the application. There was little coaching of individuals after the team introduction, but the coach worked with the Team Room facilitators to establish basic processes.
After a month, one of the managers suggested that they use Team Room to keep track of progress toward milestones and log major activities of team members. He put together, with the help of the coach, a procedure for team members to post and update their key activities and actions. In a staff meeting he introduced the process and worked with the team to reduce the number of categories and communication types to make the application easier to use.
The Next Generation Product Development Team used Team Room primarily as a repository for information and documents they felt were important as common reference. These documents included background information, planning documents, presentations, product specifications and meeting minutes. Despite initial excitement about Team Room, the team made little use of it for regular communication, although some people put their own work plans or lists of open actions in a document so that others could view them.
When face-to-face contact was not possible, the team used e-mail. Several team members stated they were confident that others would read e-mail, but were unsure about others' use of Team Room. They were concerned about missing something.
Experience 3: The Electricite de France et Gaz de France Account Team
The EDF/GDF (Electricite de France et Gaz de France) Account Team was an outgrowth of an internal initiative launched in late 1994 in the European sales organisation. The aim of this was to improve coordination among the separate lines of business that were selling into enterprise accounts. There was particular concern that Lotus service offerings were not being well represented at the enterprise level.
Lotus' account manager for EDF/GDF pulled together a team of 15 people from across the company who were involved with the EDF/GDF account, either directly or in significant supporting roles. The team agreed to a single operating principle
Lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 33
of total visibility. Every contact should be noted and communication around account issues should be completely open.
Although 12 of the team members worked in Paris, they were functionally dispersed and several team members were in the United States. In addition, the percentage of time each member devoted to EDF/GDF varied from as little as 2% to as much as 25%.
The EDF/GDF account manager, who was familiar with Team Room, wanted to use it to discuss strategy, share information and solve problems. Most members of the team had not seen Team Room, but all agreed that an electronic tool was crucial and the team made a commitment to use it. The account manager set up Team Room, importing existing account-related documents, and arranging for replication around France and to Lotus Headquarters.
He chose Team Room over an existing sales management database because Team Room allowed him to create a structure that mirrored his own approach to the account exactly. There was no formal training of Team Room members, but the team room facilitator, an influential team member, was very knowledgeable about the application and championed it.
Team Room was used as the primary communication vehicle by the EDF/GDF Account Team. Over the first six weeks of use, an average of between five and ten documents and comments were entered daily. Topics ranged from troubleshooting of technical problems, to rumours about key account influencers, to goals and objectives for different facets of the account. The account manager used Team Room almost daily.
Many remarked that having a single special place to look for information was helpful. One member called Team Room the pulse for the project, which promoted timely and efficient action. «If you put a documenUn the right place, for you and others, they can find it and act on it right away:' he reported. Another team member stated it made them more efficient with their time and more effective with their knowledge, and allowed them to coordinate their work without additional management procedures and overhead.
Lessons from the Pilots
The different modes of application usage by the three teams represent a continuum of interaction. At one end, Team Room was used as a peripheral information source; at the other, it was a team's primary communication medium.
Our initial study of the 10 pilot teams indicates two key factors in determining a team's use of Team Room - group context and implementation approach. The group context factors include leadership, perceived need and degree of change required. The implementation factors include consensus on purpose, process and expectations, critical mass of use in the initial phase and the support and direction available from a champion or Team Room facilitator.
Group Context
As we look at our pilot teams, we see over and over again that a team leader's belief in the value of Team Room is a crucial element in a team's use of the technology. If a team leader uses Team Room to discuss important issues facing the team, the
34 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Team Room gains legitimacy. The leader's behaviour establishes a norm which either encourages or discourages the use of the application.
In the Sales and Marketing Team, the manager's commitment and direction was fundamental to getting the application used. In the case of the EDF/GDF Team Room, the leader's strong commitment helped team members get in the habit of sharing information in Team Room so naturally, that using e-mail no longer felt appropriate. The manager of the Next Generation Product Development Team used Team Room as a common archive and with no push from him, the habit of e-mail remained the norm for discussions in the group.
A team's use of Team Room is also dependent on a perceived need and expectation that it will solve immediate problems for the group. In practice, we have found that this perceived need derives from four related conditions - interdependency of individuals' work, alternative communication mechanisms, the value placed on openness and shared knowledge, and degree of change required or committed to.
In the case of the Worldwide Sales and Marketing Team, each team member had his or her own region or business. Coordination of the work did not require using Team Room. However, the team's strong interest in everyone's involvement and in the importance of shared knowledge led to active use of the application.
By contrast, the level of interdependency was high in the EDF/GDF Account Team, since the team had been formed to share knowledge and interact consistently toward the customer. There were few alternative means for communication and coordination, since geographical distance prohibited regular meetings. Also, e-mail was viewed as an unsatisfactory alternative for keeping the group well informed.
The use of Team Room for EDF/GDF was part of a larger change to improve account coordination and, therefore, the team was prepared for the change of using a new communication medium such as Team Room.
For the Next Generation Product Development Team, physical proximity and e-mail provided a viable alternative to using Team Room. Using it for active collaboration required too great a change. Given the existing alternatives, the change outweighed the perceived benefit.
Implementation Approach
The observations to date suggest that implementation of Team Room depended on three factors - team consensus, critical mass and available support. Implementation of a new technology typically focuses on developing adequate skills in users. We found that equally important were the degree of consensus in the team on the purpose of using Team Room, the process for using it and expectations about etiquette and frequency of use.
Key questions for team members were:
• What kind of communication should be in Team Room versus other communi-cation media?
• What will be the common language used in Team Room? • How will information be categorised?
The early phase of implementation establishes patterns of use which influence later usage. Involving a 'critical mass' of team members, particularly the formal and informal leaders, creates a belief in. the importance of using Team Room. The application does not become an effective communication media if the entire group
Lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 35
does not use if. An early involvement of important people reinforces a shift in the group's communication norms toward use of the application, and becomes an incentive for other team members.
Strong support and direction from a champion or the Team Room facilitator was an important success factor. The facilitator is responsible for advocating the use of the system, for helping to establish Team Room etiquette and for coaching others informally. He or she also made sure that technical concerns were addressed.
Ensuring that one person on the team, the Team Room facilitator, was technically knowledgeable reduced the initial investment in training. That way there was always an internal 'expert' available for help. This allowed for incremental implementation. As team members learned enough of the technology to use it and as they adjusted to its use, they were ready to learn more. We found that encouragement and assistance from within the teams was important to the teams' success.
Team Room use in the Sales and Marketing Team did not 'take off' until the group met to discuss the application - what specifically it would be used for and how it would be used. That discussion centred on the kinds of information individuals wanted from others, how the information would be categorised and what communication types would be used. The team also discussed a schedule for inputting routine reports and their expectation of accessing the database at least several times a week.
The agreements reached in that meeting allowed team members to feel confident about using the application as a new means of team communication. Their prior lack of agreement was a more significant barrier to use than individuals' unfamiliarity with the technology. After the meeting, the whole Sales and Marketing Team began using the application which provided the necessary critical mass.
Although the EDF/GDF Account Team had little formal introduction to the application, both the leader and the team were strongly committed to using it. The deep involvement of a number of core members of the group created the critical mass necessary to attract the remainder of the group.
In this case the Team Room Facilitator championed the application and informally helped other people learn how to use it. This active role, along with the regular use by the team leader, established the norms for use in this group.
The other two groups also had champions who believed in the value of the application and continually encouraged its use. In the Worldwide Sales and Marketing Team, it was the European sales managers. Representing the other geographically dispersed managers, they convinced the manager to use a staff meeting for training and planning how to use the application.
In the Next Generation Product Development Team, the champion was the general manager responsible for operations. He pushed the group to use the application to monitor critical actions and milestones, rather than use it just as a repository for documents.
Having previously preferred other methods of communication the Next Generation Product team was ready to use Team Room more actively for keeping track of progress after two months of use. The team discussed how Team Room could be used and agreed in principle to use the application in this new way. (At the time of writing it was not clear whether the team will, in fact, use Team Room for more active task management.)
One of the design assumptions of Team Room was that, when required, teams should be able to switch from using the application in an archival or discussion mode into a more active mode of use. This adaptability minimises the initial change
36 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
imposed on team members and requires them to learn only the aspects of the technology they are using. Further investigation is needed to understand how teams shift between these modes of use and what conditions are necessary for it to come about.
Considerations in Using Team Room
The teams that benefited most immediately were those that were geographically dispersed, highly interdependent (or having high needs for information sharing) and who valued open communication. As the descriptions of the teams' behaviour suggest, the benefit derived from Team Room needs to be balanced by the learning and change required to use the technology.
We observed three problem areas in the pilot phase of Team Room - insufficient benefit, lack of consensus and inconsistency with group culture. One team started to use Team Room, but stopped when it realised there was little immediate benefit to be gained from it.
In several cases there were mixed benefits from using Team Room; they were not equal for all team members. We noticed that, frequently, a manager would want Team Room as a consistent communication medium with his or her staff, but there was no reciprocal staff need for more information or communication with one another.
In another case the need for improved communication was felt by the geographically dispersed team members, but not by those centrally located. A third case was of the communication requirements for the team being primarily with individuals outside the team, so that improved team communication was not required.
Members of pilot teams sometimes had inconsistent assumptions about the use of the application. These different expectations led to frustration with the system and undermined the team's confidence in.it. Team members in one case were uncertain if others were regularly reading the database, so they gradually reverted to phone or e-mail messages.
These teams did not have agreement on use, nor did they spend enough time in the initial phase of implementation deciding the whys and hows of Team Room. Team Room requires teams to review and decide on group communication practices, which can be a barrier for some teams.
Team Room conflicted with the culture of some pilot teams. In these teams, it was introduced with the implicit belief on the managers' part that the technology itself would improve communication. The team members, by contrast, hoped they would get more feedback on ideas, increased input from peripheral individuals or that a team would take more joint responsibility for issues. These things did not happen.
It was clear that when the introduction of Team Room did not change the basic communication patterns of the team, the system was perceived as the problem, rather than the underlying lack of trust or cooperation in a team.
One issue consistently remarked on by team members using Team Room as a primary communication medium was the transition from e-mail. The transition was perceived differently by different individuals. Some saw it as leading to information overload ("It's additional work"), some greeted it with uncertainty (''I'm going to miss something") and others with confusion ("It's not e-mail, it's not a discussion database, it's not workflow").
Lotus Development: Team Room - A Collaborative Workspace for Cross-Functional Teams 37
The public nature of Team Room represents a significant shift. Team Room users often say that at some point Team Room 'clicks'; they suddenly understand what it means to work in a collaborative workspace. Further study into the transition from e-mail is required.
The Benefits of Team Room
While it is not possible to anticipate all the benefits that a collaborative workspace might provide, we can comment on the three clear benefits observed by both the authors and the participants of the 10 pilot teams.
1. Adaptable access methods to information give team members control over the ways in which they view information, as well as defining what information is important at what time. This is a shift for individuals accustomed to wrestling with an ever-growing private e-mail fIle. "I'm not bombarded by information, yet I have access to information I may need", said one team member. A team leader described Team Room as, ''A place where everything is for this team. It's a bit like home. It's not always neat and things get cluttered or put away in the basement, but I know they are there:'
2. Another benefit of Team Room could be described as team building, but is more truly about meeting people's needs for psychological connection and contact. "When I am reading messages in Team Room I hear the voices of people on the team. That never happens in e-mail:' said one person.
The sense of the psychological presence of others while a person is working alone greatly influences team effectiveness and is frustratingly difficult to achieve. Team Room seems to be heading in the right direction. "I have a sense that we're all together:' stated one team member, while another said that, "At your desk you know there's a group." This feeling facilitates the sharing of ideas: "In e-mail I won't send out some ideas to a wide audience, yet I'm comfortable putting them in Team Room and seeing if people want to read them."
Technology on its own can not create trust or the capacity to work in unison, yet Team Room supports the open communication and willingness to help others that characterises the best 'high performance' teams.
3. Team Room also increases a team's efficiency with regard to new team start-up, decision-making and use of face-to-face meetings. A marketing manager said, "It helped us come together faster. Seeing the views of others helped us get to know each other more quickly. It was like having a coffee pot that the group hung around."
Team decision-making is often hampered by less than full participation of the whole team, resulting in decisions not being fully supported by everyone. Also, team members are often involved in decisions but may not be familiar with all the issues. One senior manager said, "When I go to meetings we don't spend as much time catching up since I have already read people's comments on a number of issues." Decisions were quicker, he said, because there had been lengthy discussions beforehand in Team Room so, "I felt that I had already participated so I was more ready to go along with the decision".
Team Room also improves the quality of decisions and of input. Another user reported, "In a meeting I don't always have time to think about what I want to say
38 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
or there isn't time to contribute:' He went on to say "In e-mail, I'm in dispatch mode, while in Team Room I can be more thoughtful and focused:'
Conclusion
By building on the standard functionality of Lotus Notes, we have been able to develop a collaborative workspace rather than a team database. Incremental increases in the features of a discussion database have resulted in significant increases in functionality for teams. 'Elegant in its simplicity' was the compliment which best captured the spirit of Team Room.
Team Room, for us, has been a first step in using Notes to build truly collaborative, team environments, which provide both the freedom and the structure people need to work effectively.
The Contributors
Paul Cole is a senior research manager at the Lotus Institute, responsible for the research and development of Team Room. Eunice Johnson is a research assistant.
ABB Asea Brown Boveri: Supporting the Multi-cultural Multinational Mark Turrell
Background
«There are very few multi-cultural multinationals; the truly global multi-cultural company does not yet exist", said David de Pury, co-chairman of ABB Asea Brown Boveri, at the 1994 management symposium at University of St Gallen, Switzerland. Nevertheless, ABB comes closer than most firms to being a truly global organisation. It was formed by a merger, in 1988, between Asea of Sweden and Brown Boveri of Switzerland. The majority of its production and most of its sales are from outside its domestic markets. There are four different nationalities represented on the eightperson board, and the executive committee is made up of eight people from five different countries. English is the corporate language and all financial reporting is done in US dollars. In 1994, the group had a turnover of nearly US$30 billion and employed over 200,000 people.
There are two principles driving multi-cultural multinationals - innovation and technology. A multinational organisation can no longer rely on one culture for innovation and must treat subsidiaries as more than just sales or manufacturing facilities. Technology is making the world smaller, speeding up the pace of competition and increasing the flow of knowledge to competitors.
The Economist (1994) carried an article which suggested that, to be successful, a multinational must combine three basic goals:- to be responsive to local demands; to exploit knowledge on a global scale; and to strive to produce and distribute goods as effectively as possible. These goals are achievable if the global firm takes advantage of regional innovation and uses technology to improve communications.
ABB would agree with the author of that article that the keys to success are good communication and effective coordination. As this case study shows, these also happen to be the two main contributions that well-implemented groupware can make.
Radical Corporate Structure
ABB competes in five industries, which it calls Segments:
• power plants; • power transmission and distribution; • industry and building systems;
39
40 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• transport; • financial services.
These Segments are split into 45 Business Areas. Each of these is responsible for global strategies, business plans, manufacturing and product development. Local managers are responsible for operations in each country, in line with the relevant Business Area.
The world-wide scope of ABB's operations adds another dimension. The company is divided up into three Regions - Americas, Europe and Africa, and Asia Pacific.
Some 1,000 independently-incorporated companies and over 5,000 autonomous profit centres provide the foundation for this matrix of Segments and Regions. Percy Barnevik, president and chief executive officer of ABB, implemented this structure to combat bureaucracy and promote responsiveness. He feels that the profit centre approach heightens the sense of ownership among the group's 200,000 employees.
Each profit centre is made up of around 50 people and in most cases is headed by a management team of five people. Almost all the profit centres have their own profit and loss statement, their own balance sheet and their own assets. They also serve customers directly.
Tom Peters quotes Barnevik as saying that the ideal would be to independently incorporate the profit centres, which would serve to make their focus clearer still, but the legal complexities involved make this unrealistic.
Having profit centres makes ABB more manageable and more responsive to the customer. Barnevik calls ABB 'a multi-domestic corporation' and has designed its structure to make the best use of economies of scale and of its core technologies, while not losing the advantages of being in local markets.
Customer Focus
ABB has a continuing programme of radical change, called 'Customer Focus'. This is based on the belief that the customers' needs are central to the company. It consists of a collection of initiatives built around three major elements - total quality management, supply management and cycle time management.
There are Customer Focus teams and groups set up across the five Segments and their component functions. They issue and implement the Customer Focus programmes. Each individual company also has a Customer Focus Manager, whose duty it is to implement programmes.
An example of a Customer Focus initiative is the T50 programme in ABB Sweden. This aimed to halve the total cycle time - take order, design, engineer, make and ship - for all products. As part of the programme, ABB Sweden changed its structure from specialist departments to 'horizontal' product divisions, of 30 to 100 people each. It then further reduced those into 1O-person 'High Performance Teams'.
Initially, the Customer Focus programme concentrated on the continual improvement of internal operational performance as a necessary step to meeting customer demands. The next stage was to 'move the customer into the centre of the company', basing operational and strategic decisions on what the customer needs. This puts employees, and ABB's suppliers, in closer touch with customers and improves the way information is shared.
ABB Asea Brown Boveri: Supporting the Multi-cultural Multinational 41
The Imperative for Groupware
Although these structural changes enabled better information sharing, the company was still not able to exploit fully its accumulated knowledge capital. There had to be some additional means of sharing information, exchanging ideas and capturing and storing knowledge so that it would be accessible to anyone in the company.
Around that time the first groupware products were beginning to appear on the market. When the directors of ABB found out what groupware could do, they realised that it could satisfy the company's need for better coordination and greater knowledge sharing.
ABB wanted to have just one product that it could use throughout the company. At the time, Lotus Notes was the only integrated groupware product on the market. In addition to its information sharing capabilities, Notes's technical characteristics suited ABB's requirements. The company liked the fact that it was designed for largescale implementations, complied with industry standards and ran on a wide range of operating systems. (ABB had users on Windows, Apple Macintosh and Unix machines.)
One member company,ABB Combustion Engineering (C-E) Services, had already piloted Notes in the USA. The pilot had yielded decreased cycle times, faster time to market and better service quality. One of the best pilot applications was for keeping track of complaints.
Before committing itself to Notes, ABB made an extensive analysis of what the software required in order to operate and what it might contribute to the company. Also, some senior managers were involved in various international Notes projects and learnt for themselves about the potential benefits of groupware.
Introducing Notes
Of the 200,000 employees worldwide at ABB, 80,000 to 100,000 are in white-collar jobs. The company regards all of them as potential Notes users. It does not want to restrict the software's use to managers or particular Business Areas.
In 1991, there were 200 pilot users in the US, mainly in the Power Generation Segment. By the end of 1993, there were already 5,000 users within the Segment.
The success of the Power Generation implementation persuaded other senior managers in ABB to accept Lotus Notes. All the Segments are now starting to use it, in all Regions. The company expects to have 25,000 Notes users around the world by the end of 1995.
Notes implementations in ABB are usually top-down, with managers focusing on the business need. Once they have decided to use Notes, they typically want the next level down to use it too. They also want their subordinates to be active in developing applications to solve problems at a Business Area level. Ideally, individuals within Business Areas will champion or promote Notes.
Not all Business Areas are introducing Notes the same way. The corporate information systems function has set down frameworks and standards for this, but some Regions, such as Britain, were ahead of the others, already having advanced Notes installations and plans of their own. Resolving such differences between regional and segmentary policies is a continual process in ABB and applies just as much to groupware.
42 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The speed of introduction of Lotus Notes also varied among the Regions.ABB in America, the first Region to get Notes, has a clear vision of what it wants to do with the software. Britain and Germany are also enthusiastic for Notes. Both countries have devoted substantial resources and effort to implementing it and have formulated clear groupware strategies.
Other countries have been slower to adopt Notes. They are beginning to come round to the idea of using it, as they begin to realise the business benefits it brings. Some Regions are almost forced to use Notes in order to participate in global team work.
Rationalising Systems
Before adopting groupware, ABB was a fax-driven company. Facsimile transmission was enormously popular and was the favourite way of distributing information quickly and reliably. However, faxes caused many problems, such as the difficulty of handling long documents, inadequate quality for some forms of data, dealing with distribution lists, and their high overall cost. In all, the fax was not a very productive way of distributing information to a wide, diverse population.
Similarly there was a desire to move away from electronic mail. With many thousands of personal computers, hundreds of different networks and more than a dozen e-mail systems, it was an administrative nightmare to cope with mail traffic. Also, users were beginning to suffer from information overload.
Lotus Notes proved to be superior to both these methods. Notes combined e-mail with other data-sharing and message-routing capabilities and was easier to deal with than fax. Users now regard it as an integral part of their office environment.
ABB's corporate information systems function is starting to set standards for personal computer software and is attempting to limit the number of different e-mail systems in the organisation. The company urgently needs people to communicate effectively. Isolated, often incompatible, e-mail packages are an obvious barrier to this.
This rationalisation will not be easy. According to Wolfgang Vogt, ABB Product Manager for Lotus Notes, "If you want one email system, you still get three ... if you want three mail systems, you get nine ... "
Reporting - The Double-edged Sword
Some parts of ABB use Notes mainly as a tool for reporting information upwards to senior managers. The power transmission and distribution Segment in the USA has done this, as has ABB Kraftwerke, in Switzerland.
Typically, the top demands information from the next level down and specifies that it be supplied through Notes. That level, in turn, demands it from the next level and so on. It is a simple method for ensuring the use of Notes - but produces compliance, not enthusiasm.
The matrix structure of ABB means that it makes sense to facilitate reporting across Business Areas and Segments using groupware applications. However, the company culture allows people to decline taking part in using reporting applications and, as new workflow-type functionality is added to the system, so the culture
ABB Asea Brown Boveri: Supporting the Multi-cultural Multinational 43
proves to be quite resistant to change. Sometimes the gap between the way people work and the way they are supposed to work is just too great and the system fails.
Managing Notes
ABB is a very decentralised company, with a high degree of autonomy for the operating companies and profit centres. There are almost no centralised functions at ABB and thus there is a lot of duplicated effort. ABB accepts this situation because it allows the operating companies to be more responsive to local conditions. This way they can promote the idea that ABB is a domestic company - wherever it may be.
There are two central systems. The first is ABACUS, the financial reporting system, use of which is mandatory. It allows the board to have up-to-date access to financial information. Lotus Notes is the other. ABB now realises its dependence on a common communications infrastructure and has made Notes its standard communications product.
The information systems (IS) function is also decentralised, with most operating companies and profit centres having their own IS teams. What central IS functions there are have been split into four main centres around the world - Windsor (USA), Mannheim (Germany), Baden (Switzerland) and Vasteras (Sweden). They also act as Regional Notes Service Centres, offering consulting advice on application development and administration assistance when needed.
Corporate IS coordinates some issues, such as standards, security, the corporate network and Lotus Notes. ABB sees it as imperative to have close control over the communications infrastructure, to ensure a reliable work environment. This philosophy of control only extends to technical aspects and not to the business usage.
Wolfgang Vogt explains, "This is a market-driven implementation, like a marketplace with players in the marketplace - Corporate IS sets the frameworks." By setting the responsibilities and duties for people using the network, Corporate IS acts as the regulator of this market place.
In a company as de centralised as ABB there is a risk that groupware could go out of control if there were no mechanisms in place to restrict the freedom of users. The approach ABB has taken is to define implementation principles, which layout responsibilities and duties for those involved with Notes, whether support staff or users.
First, there is a clear differentiation of responsibilities for Notes within the IS function. Corporate IS is in charge of the underlying corporate network, setting standards and security. ABB Notes Product Management, part of Corporate IS, focuses on defining standards and levels of support, as well as benchmarking and performance monitoring. It also coordinates any decentralised application activity which spreads across geographies and Segments.
Regional and National Support Centres look after and operate the common Notes infrastructure and provide expert support to the ABB companies. The operating company IS functions look after and support the Notes environment in their own organisations, relying on the Service Centres for higher level support.
ABB's marketplace philosophy is underlined by the way support is organised. The control of the common Notes infrastructure gives IS a degree of monopoly power in 'the market', but businesses have freedom of choice in end-user support
44 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
and application development. The Notes Support Centres have to compete against outside suppliers for internal ABB business.
Another core principle of Notes support is cross-border teams. Groupware requires a lot of effort from many different people if it is to be a technical success and the expertise needed to solve problems comes from allover ABB.
On the technical side, the ABB Notes Support Team is made up of experts from the operating companies and the Regional and national Notes service centres. The focus is on information systems architecture and on operational and support issues. The Notes Support Team defines the service levels for the local infrastructures and for the ABB Notes network corporately. It is responsible for developing the 'Base Service Packages', which detail the types of support given to users and user groups.
Involving Users
It is also important to get active user involvement in the planning process to ensure that Notes continues to be a business enabler and not merely another misaligned IT system. At ABB, user participation is encouraged in a number of ways, including user groups and groupware champions.
The ABB Notes Forum is made up of key promoters of Notes in ABB. Participants come from the Segments and the Business Areas, the Regions and the countries, from large project groups and from the different business functions. The group meets two or three times a year and concentrates on the practical business application of groupware.
Among its tasks are the selection of core processes with the potential for Notes treatment, monitoring the progress of important applications, driving joint application development and reviewing the concepts developed by the Support Team.
One way of moving Notes into the operating companies is for IS to target individuals who are willing to act as advocates for groupware in their organisation. Often the best people to do this are the Customer Focus Managers, who concentrate on customer service. Once these managers realise that Notes can be effective in improving customer support and keeping track of problems, they soon become ardent Notes champions.
The information systems function facilitates the use of Notes in organisations by offering additional services on a project basis. This may involve feasibility studies, process re-engineering, application development or project management. IS can also assist in training and in installing groupware. In doing this they must compete with outside suppliers, in line with the marketplace philosophy.
Groups who adopt Notes for a particular application must abide by the rules set for groupware. This can be tiresome for business owners and so they can 'outsource' these duties back to IS. For example, IS defines the requirements for putting applications on the corporate network. The business owner might not want to carry out the associated obligatory tasks, such as database maintenance and administration, and therefore contracts with IS to do them instead. (From the point of view of the Notes Support Centres, this activity is seen as'insourcing'.)
The framework approach used by IS reduces the possibility of groupware anarchy, while giving users sufficient freedom to take advantage of the capabilities of Notes. By resisting the temptation to take full control of Notes, Corporate IS has
ABB Asea Brown Boveri: Supporting the Multi-cultural Multinational 4S
positioned itself as being the prime enabler of technology to support the business. It has adopted the role of market regulator.
Conclusion
ABB's structure is evolving to cope with the demands of being a multi-cultural multinational in a highly competitive global marketplace. A key facilitator for that change is the use of computer technology to support communication. The flexibility offered by groupware gives ABB the opportunity use it company-wide for exploiting its knowledge.
'Buy-in' at board and senior management level eased the introduction of Notes into ABB. The continuing success, on the other hand, results from the businessdriven nature of the implementation and from the support of the IS Centres in ensuring a stable working environment. Notes is now seen as a corporate resource, rather than as a tool or an infrastructure.
The company's marketplace concept of systems management combines the need for regulation with the desire for flexibility and responsiveness. Internal competition forces the information systems function to be more customer focused; the implementation principles mean that it concentrates on delivering services to the business users.
Without Lotus Notes, ABB's challenging organisational structure, and also the structure of internal IS, would be difficult to put into practice. As Wolfgang Vogt says, "You cannot decouple groupware from the organisation".
References
The Economist (1994) The discreet charm of the multicultural multinational. The Economist, 30 July. Peters T Liberation management.
Background
AmBank: Managing Client Relationships Robert W. Phillips
AmBank is a pseudonym for an American bank that is a market leader in corporate and institutional global banking. Though its roots lie in commercial banking, it is a leading player in investment banking, corporate finance, foreign exchange, options and other derivative products. Ambank's London office is pivotal to its international investment banking strategy and is one of its largest offices. London provides financial services to major international corporations operating in Europe and the Middle East.
These services are, principally:
• To provide innovative ways to meet clients' financial and business objectives. For example, these may be to reduce the cost of raising international finance or to reduce the risk profile of their financing strategies.
• To provide efficient and innovative worldwide transmission and investment of funds, in the form of deposits or marketable instruments, employing information technology (IT) as an enabling tool.
The London branch is also an important participant in international foreign exchange and money markets, especially for the more complex products. Most products and services are marketed globally, in close coordination with the head office.
AmBank's target client groups are major commercial companies which have an international perspective, financial institutions (including other banks) and other institutions which have substantial international financing. There are approximately 1,000 clients in Europe and approximately 2,000 prospects.
These clients usually make their buying decisions at or near board level and only after careful analysis of many options. They expect bankers to behave as consultants, rather than as sales staff. Bankers are there to provide expertise, based on in-depth experience of the international financial markets.
Products vary widely. Some are very 'transactional', being simple and fast moving. Foreign exchange trading is a good example, as it depends on constantly changing rates. At the other extreme, many products are very complex, with a long life (such as a lO-year currency swap) and involve a long buying process.
In recent years there have been a number of external factors that have had an significant effect on the bank's business:
46
AmBank: Managing Client Relationships 47
• IT and worldwide financial deregulation have made fmancial markets truly global. Financial services, especially to multinational companies, can and must be delivered irrespective of national boundaries.
• The worldwide recession has reduced the overall demand for financial services, especially for many of the products marketed by the bank. Clients' financial management priorities are now to reduce risk and to cut costs. They are doing these things either by reducing administrative costs or by simplifying the supply chain.
• All banking involves risk. Traditionally this was thought to be a bank's risk on a client. Nowadays, however, many banks are potentially a greater risk than the major companies, as many have learnt from the BCCI and Baring collapses.
Competition is forever intensifying and the demands for good intelligence on existing and potential clients, both internal and external to the bank, is vital. Despite this increased competition, however, working in partnership with other banks has become increasingly important.
AmBank's major competitors in Europe are other major US banks and a number of European banks, such as National Westminster, Deutsche Bank and Swiss Bank Corporation.
The Marketing Process
The current approach to managing customer relationships is based on the bank's long-standing belief that it is in the relationship banking business. The relationships are generally complex, with a number of products being sold from different offices.
Every customer and important prospect is assigned to a banker. He or she is responsible for the overall relationship, wherever in the world it is conducted. Bankers are assigned on a group basis, so, for example, the banker for Ford is based in the US head office. In this instance, there is also a banker in London responsible for coordinating the relationship in Europe. The opposite would be the case for a European company with business in the US.
The main objective of the banker is to identify opportunities and to pass them on to the relevant product specialists. The banker needs to maintain contact at the highest level in the company and to manage the overall relationship. This includes organising the appropriate marketing resources to meet opportunities when they are identified. In London, there are 14 bankers who have prime responsibility for the relationship management process.
Another important group is the product specialists. These people are responsible for marketing a specific product or group of products to a group of customers. Their groups are generally different from the bankers' customer group. There are six broad product areas, some of which are in turn subdivided.
In London, there are approximately 50 product specialists with marketing responsibilities, excluding traders and credit staff. They work on specific business opportunities or 'deals'. Negotiating and executing deals is known as the deal process.
As well as the relationship managers and product specialists, there are a number of bankers in American offices who work on European customers' activities in the United States.
48 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Each client relationship is serviced by a team comprising a banker and product specialists, collectively referred to as the 'client team'. The size of the team depends on the range of products which the client is already buying or may potentially buy from the bank.
When a business opportunity or 'deal' is identified, it is normally the primary responsibility of a product specialist, with whom the banker works closely.
Where potential deals are especially complex or involve a financial package of two or more products, such as a loan and a currency swap, then the banker often assumes overall responsibility. The banker uses his or her knowledge of the client to help to put together the deal in such a way as to maximise the chance of winning it. He or she ensures that negotiations with the client take place at the highest possible level, normally with the financial director or chief financial officer.
The team working together on a deal is referred to as the 'deal team'. It is normally composed of members of the client team, but additional outside product specialists may join. Other senior managers may join as well to assist on the most complex deals, either in negotiations with the client or else to secure the necessary internal approvals to do the deal.
Neither bankers nor senior bankers have any traditional line management responsibilities for product specialists. Client teams and deal teams therefore function collaboratively under the overall direction of the members of the Senior Management Team in London. This group, which has responsibility for marketing and sales, comprises the general manager and the senior managers responsible for each major product area, such as service products, treasury and derivatives.
Critical Issues and a Strategy
In 1992, the general manager of the London branch, with the support of his senior colleagues, set out a list of needs that had to be met if the business was to prosper. These needs were for:
• Turning information on clients into intelligence and insight: information was costly and time-consuming or impossible to collate. Asking clients for information that had already been provided to other staff could harm the relationship.
• More effective profIling of clients to assess their potential for particular products: 'soft' information on clients, such as buying attitudes and financial policies, was not maintained in a systematic manner. The bank was vulnerable to losing that knowledge when bankers left.
• Better teamworking to exploit cross-selling opportunities and to make the marketing process an effective team process: as products became more complex, the necessity of specialisation made it difficult to transfer knowledge gained in one team to other units dealing with the same client.
With intensifying competition, it was essential to marshal the appropriate skills to close a deal rapidly and efficiently, irrespective of where that expertise was based. It also meant that marketers had to be contactable, whether in the office or on the road.
Another problem was that certain product groups had traditionally operated quite independently. This meant that opportunities to win deals by working effectively together were missed.
AmBank: Managing Client Relationships 49
Under the leadership of the general manager, the London office decided that a two-pronged approach was required to meet these needs. The first was to continue an existing programme of organisational and cultural change, particularly involving bankers and product specialists. The other was the establishment of a computer system for sales and marketing. The two approaches were closely linked.
Organisational and Cultural Change
In the late 80's the European branch network was closed and all marketing in Europe was centralised in London. The general manager at that time put into action his vision of the kind of organisation he believed was essential for success. There were three main elements to this:
• Ensuring that bankers and product specialists 'related as peers' and that the performance review method recognised the value of teamworking.
• Stressing the role of client teams and deal teams in negotiations with clients and internally. .
• Promoting coordination and communication across departments and product groups, without any fIltering by management. The intent was to weld client and deal teams together and so break down hierarchies and promote a network form of organisation.
These actions were a major factor in bringing about a substantial improvement in financial performance. However, in early 1993 the general manager responsible returned to head office and his replacement saw things differently (this matter is discussed later).
Sales and Marketing Information System
The bank had invested little in IT to support the relationship management and deals processes. In 1992, senior managers in both London and head office came to the same conclusion - that applying IT to the processes offered real potential for competitive advantage.
That year, head office had initiated a project called Banker Workstation, later changing its name to Customer Workstation. Intended initially only for bankers, it aimed to:
• gather information about the relationship between the bank and its clients from a wide variety of existing computer systems;
• provide tools to analyse the profitability of deals and relationships.
The tools were not aimed at client or deal teams, but rather at the needs of individuals, especially the bankers. Head office considered electronic mail and voice mail to be adequate to support communication and coordination.
London felt that this system did not address its critical needs, especially its organisational objectives. So it set up the Sales and Marketing (S&M) project in late 1992, beginning with a number of brainstorming meetings across many product groups and several follow-up meetings. A broadly-based user group directed the work, set priorities and met regularly.
After an extensive review of a number of proprietary packages, the field narrowed to Lotus Notes and Oracle, the latter being head office's preferred system.
50 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The users liked Notes' strengths in the manipulation of 'soft information', but recognised that it had a relatively weak database engine. Notes met head office's stipulation that it should be able to work alongside the Oracle modules of the Customer Workstation, which had been built to head office's design.
Oracle, although having a very good database engine, was not good at handling soft information. Also, compared to the combination of Notes and cc:Mail it had limited links with other mail systems and was unable to replicate information for the nomadic worker.
London became convinced that Notes met its strategic business requirements, but had to sell the idea to its head office colleagues. After negotiation, head office agreed that the Notes project would be regarded as a limited prototype from which useful lessons could be learned. These would help future development by head office of a company-wide system, based either on Notes or Oracle.
The view in London differed. There it was seen as a working pilot that would become operational in London. This fundamental difference in perspective continued to affect the project throughout its development. (This aspect is also discussed later.)
To help it with the S&M project, the London branch engaged a Lotus Notes consultancy (Ives & Co) which specialised in sales and marketing systems. The consultant and the bank agreed that the system would be jointly developed. It was developed through a number of prototypes, which were demonstrated and tried by the user group before it adopted the final system.
Table 5.1 sets out the order of events in the introduction of the system.
Table 5.1. Events in the introduction of the S&M system
Date(s)
Sept. - Nov. 1992 Dec. 1992 - March 1993 April 1993 June 1993
July 1993 Sept. 1993 Dec. 1993 Dec. 1993 - Jan. 1994
March 1994
June 1994
July - Aug. 1994
Feb. 1995
Evaluation
Activities
Determination of draft business requirements Evaluation of alternative software Selection, by London, of Notes as the preferred tool Joint project initiated. Team drawn from the consultants, London's IT dept and two business units Business requirements revised and updated First prototype reviewed by user group Second prototype delivered and used by pilot group Evaluation of system by head office. Decision to continue development and to review again in July 1994 In production; 25 staff in London, mainly bankers, trained in stages over three-month period Extended to second office in London; also provided to staff when out of the office Second joint evaluation with head office, which confirmed the success of the system. Decision to improve interconnection between S&M and head office systems and also extend it to New York In use in New York
By December 1994, Ambank had evaluated the Notes-based sales and marketing system against the original criteria,which were from three points-of-view - technical, user and management.
AmBank: Managing Client Relationships S1
Technically, Notes proved to be an acceptable basis for S&M, and provided suitable interfaces with other systems. However, acquiring the technical skills of integration with Oracle and achieving reliable links between Notes databases had been more complex than was anticipated.
The users' views were gathered by means of a survey in July 1994, with follow-up interviews. They varied according to the user's job. Bankers, for example, found the major benefit to be easy access to information and intelligence that was previously written on paper, sent by electronic mail or never actually recorded. They also liked being able to quantify clearly to management their accomplishments, such as calls made to clients and deal results, without spending scarce time preparing a special report.
The bankers had mixed views as to how effectively S&M supported communication and collaboration with client and deal team colleagues. This was partly because only a few product specialists were directly using the system daily at the time. However, it was mainly because bankers felt that competing methods of communication, such as meetings, phone calls, faxes and electronic mail, could not be replaced by the new system.,
Predominantly, the system was used by bankers to do the same tasks as previously but with different software. The link between S&M and cc:Mail was found useful and simplified the recording of client calls and conversations. Conversely, the client profiling module, which had originally been considered critical to the system's success, was little used.
As with most new systems there was a broad range of attitudes, from the extremely enthusiastic to the sceptical. Two important leaders of banker teams had limited interest in the teamworking and collaborative aspects of the system. Their interest lay mainly in its potential use to monitor and control subordinates' activities, which was a significant negative factor.
Support staff accepted the system easily because it enabled them to do their existing work more effectively and to improve coordination with their banker colleagues. It was not seen as a threat to their employment, since it did not appear to be imposing any top-down change in their working practices.
The product specialists did not use S&M widely. Their enthusiasm in 1992, when the original vision was being communicated and developed, dimmed during the prototyping and pilot stages. There were several reasons for this.
• The new general manager did not wish to be seen as a strong advocate of the project. He had seen certain previous IT projects fail because they were conceived solely to meet senior managers' desires to control and monitor the sales process without regard to the relevance of the project to the sales staff themselves. The effect of this attitude, however, was that staff no longer saw the S&M project as a key part of the original vision of winning more business through better teamworking.
• They had been disappointed by other systems that the IT staff had claimed would be the answer to their needs.
• They found it hard to devote time to a project where the direct benefits for them were expected to be over a year away.
• Other systems provided by head office were in place, or under development, to support the selling process for their own particular products. In many cases the capabilities of these systems overlapped considerably with S&M (although they were less suitable overall).
52 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• By December 1994 the product specialists in only one department had become direct users of the system because of technical difficulties in linking across offices and operating systems.
Without clearer commitment from senior managers and support throughout all relevant product areas, most product specialists did not use the system a great deal. They occasionally used it to find out client intelligence gleaned by bankers from clients, but they seldom entered much information on the system themselves.
The sales and marketing system had been intended to support a set of organisational and cultural objectives. The first of these was that coordination and communication should be promoted across departments and product groups without any ftltering by management.
Between 1990 and 1992, the general manager at the time led the way:
• He set up weekly marketing meetings. These were chaired by a banker, with all bankers and product specialists being able to attend. New initiatives and important deals were discussed, as were ideas for future business. This promoted interaction acro~s departments and coordination and a sharing of ideas outside the meetings.
• The business as a whole became increasingly project and team based, without a significant hierarchy. For example, at one time the general manager had most bankers, the S&M project manager, six senior managers and two support staff reporting directly to him.
• Staff numbers in London were kept the same. Planned increases in market share in some niche markets were to be met by increasing productivity. This strategy met with general support - it assured people's jobs, at least for a year or two, and offered the prospect of higher bonuses.
• Bankers received continuous training in the latest product developments. This increased their credibility with clients and their ability to pre-qualify clients for particular products. Also, their relations with product specialists improved since they were seen being more effective in generating potential deals.
However, from 1993 onwards, the new general manager adopted different methods:
• Marketing meetings became more formal. The general manager took over the chair and only the bankers and the product manager for each product group attended. The meetings reviewed a report of deals in progress (produced from S&M) and set and reviewed 'shared goals' - quantifiable targets for bankers and product specialists to work to achieve together.
• A hierarchical organisation structure reappeared, with a vertical reporting structure. For example, bankers reported to a team leader who in turn reported to the general manager.
• Although the marketing strategy basically remained unchanged, the focus was on expense cutting. The balance of power tipped slightly towards product specialists and away from bankers. Pardy this arose from a reduction in the number of bankers and an increase in the number of product specialists.
The second main organisational objective was that bankers and product specialists should treat each other as equals. To reinforce this, the method of performance review should recognise the value of teamworking.
There was a change in the performance review process in 1992 in an attempt to make it less rigid and mechanistic, but it was ineffective. The culture of investment
AmBank: Managing Client Relationships S3
banking, especially in American banks, means that personal success is measured almost entirely in money terms. This, combined with budget control at the workgroup level, caused rewards still to be heavily weighted towards individual, not team, performance.
The third objective was to promote the idea of the team and to stress it throughout negotiations with clients and internally. This was generally successful. Internal reports and company newsletters acknowledged that deals are won by teams. Bankers normally gave clients a good understanding of the client team structure.
Performance Objectives
In addition to the broader objectives set out above, the S&M system was expected to deliver a set of straightforward performance improvements:
1. To provide accurate and timely information on deals, for specific times and over set periods: this is the top requirement of the current general manager and is needed for the weekly marketing meetings. S&M enables bankers to keep their own deal records up to date and provides them with detailed reports on various bases.
2. To help to win more deals and to generate more revenue: it is still too early to determine this as there is insufficient intelligence on clients and too few users.
3. To improve the quality of intelligence on clients through profiling, particularly their suitability for new products: this was a major objective at the outset and was set by the previous general manager. Neither the current general manager, nor the banker team leaders, consider it significant. Consequently it has been used only by a few bankers and product specialists (who are, nevertheless, finding it useful).
4. To enable teams to coordinate more effectively: until more staff are using S&M, it will not be possible to determine how effectively it supports teamworking.
5. To enable staff to be more productive: S&M has improved the productivity of bankers to a modest extent, but no more than the use Lotus Organiser, a group diary introduced six months earlier. A greater productivity impact is expected once the system is available more widely.
6. To support mobile working: it has helped some bankers to work effectively at home in the evenings and weekends and also on some business trips.
7. To counter competition: this is unlikely. Some major competitors are known to have Notes-based client management systems that are comparable to S&M.
Conclusion
The technical evaluation of the sales and marketing system was generally satisfactory. Bankers and their support staff were satisfied, even though the vision of better coordination with other team members had only been partly realised. At the time of writing, not enough product specialists were using the system to know whether it was meeting their needs.
The management evaluation raised many important issues. The organisational objectives, which had been the original reason for S&M, changed radically between
S4 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
1992 and 1994. In 1992 it was seen to be an 'agent of change'. It was intended to support a vision of London as a networked organisation, with intensive communication at all levels in a cooperative culture.
By 1994 the organisational objectives were more conventional, being more concerned with control and traditional management methods. S&M was now seen to be primarily a system which enabled more accurate recording, review and analysis of deals. The original aim of turning information on clients into intelligence was no longer of high priority to senior managers.
The potential benefits that might have accrued from the system declined significandy between 1992 and 1994. On the basis of the revised, and more limited objectives, the project was considered a success. Should management come to believe once again in the earlier vision, then S&M would be well placed to support it. It was built, using Notes as the tool, to support that vision.
Further Reading
Holland C, Phillips R. The impact of groupware on relationship management. In: Proceedings of the 11th IMP conference (International marketing & purchasing), Manchester, 7-9 September 1995, vol 1, pp 624-641
Ambouw BV: Stalled Pilot at Dutch Wholesaler Eelco Ploeger
Background
Ambouw BV is a wholesaler of hinges and locks in the Netherlands. It buys its products from various manufacturers and sells them to retailers, who in turn sell them to their customers. Each customer's building that needs to be secured is treated as a project. Ambouw BV usually coordinates the different activities in a project by making 'locking plans' and delivering the goods to retailers. These retailers install the hinges and locks in the building.
The company employs 27 people, including its general manager, and is divided into the following departments:
• administration and accounting (one person); • computing services (one person); • secretariat (two people); • public relations and marketing (one person); • documentation (one person); • purchasing (two people); • sales (six people); • sales office (five people); • key workshop (five people); • warehouse (two people).
These departments all report directly to the general manager.
Group and Group Process Before Notes
All employees work in one building. Everyone uses the same means for communication - meetings, telephone, paper memos and internal mail.
Everyone in the sales, marketing, purchasing and documentation departments, as well as the secretariat and the general manager are involved in customer projects. An important activity in these projects is the tracking of business contacts. With a frequency varying from occasionally to daily, everyone in this group of people needs to know what activities have been undertaken for which business contact. These departments together constitute the project work group.
The members of this group are involved in numerous processes:
55
S6 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• The marketing and sales departments are responsible for gaining new customer projects
• The sales department is responsible for executing projects. This includes making proposals; sending brochures with product information; preparing locking plans; selecting and ordering products from manufacturers; selecting, contacting, and selling to retailers; coordinating the implementation of the locking plan.
During a customer project, the sales department keeps the general manager informed about the state of the project so that he can watch over its quality.
• The purchasing department is responsible for selecting manufacturers and buying their products at the lowest price possible.
• The documentation department keeps brochures about Ambouw BV's products for issue to the sales department, retailers and customers.
• The secretariat handles the correspondence with customers and suppliers.
All the information with regard to a customer project is filed in a paper project file. There is no standard for which papers should be included in this file. A typical project can contain:
• data about the customer for whom the project is done; • data about the retailers involved; • drawings of the customer's building; • the locking plan; • brochures or information about Ambouw BV's products used in the locking plan; • copies of the proposals made to both the customer and retailers; • copies of orders to manufacturers; • visit and telephone reports.
Within the project group there is a subgroup comprising the sales, marketing, documentation and secretariat departments. This group administers documentation about Ambouw BV's products to customers and other contacts, as follows:
• The sales department gives customers product documentation when it visits them on sales calls
• The customer requests information about these products • The documentation department keeps track of the available documentation bro
chures, and orders new brochures if necessary. • The marketing department decides, after consultation with sales, which
documentation is needed. • The secretariat handles mailing and filing.
Another sub-group consisting of sales, marketing, purchasing and secretariat can be recognised. This issues proposals to customers and follows up on these proposals. The sales department presents the final proposal to the customers, but before this can be done the contents of the proposal need to be verified by marketing and purchasing. Again, the secretariat handles mailing and filing.
Ambouw BV: Stalled pilot at Dutch Wholesaler 57
The people in all of these groups have a number of resources available for the support of their jobs:
• A computer system stores production data, which is available to everyone with a terminal.
• Three personal computers are available to the secretariat for processing correspondence with contacts.
• Employees in the sales department have access to a number of computerised tools for designing locking plans.
Before the project, about half of the employees of Ambouw BV had worked with computers; however, none had ever worked with graphical user interfaces on personal computers.
Motive for Change
The following bottlenecks existed in the processes of the three groups before the Notes project:
• Tracking business contacts: - required data about contacts were hard to retrieve from the existing paper
files; - not all the data that was needed was in the files; - some data was stored in multiple locations, causing inconsistencies; - there was little insight into the composition of the collection of business con-
tacts (manufacturers, retailers and customers). • Managing documentation:
- there was no dear record of what brochures had been sent to which customer; - finding the right documentation took a lot of time; - brochure stocks were uncontrolled.
• Putting forward proposals: - no overview existed of what proposals had been forwarded to which contact; - no procedures or rules were used for the follow-up on proposals made; - searching product/price combinations was a time-consuming activity; - proposals were not uniform in appearance or layout; neither was there any
support for creating a proposal layout; - the routine of retrieving customer data and rewriting this data onto the
proposal document was a tedious chore.
To resolve these bottlenecks, the general manager set up a project which he started with the computer manager, Mr Sweden. This project had four objectives:
• improving cooperation between people of the different departments; • introducing one central system for sharing commonly-needed information; • providing better support of daily operations; • providing a software bridge for transferring information to and from the exist
ing Ingres database.
58 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Project Course and Method
A number of possible methods to resolve these problems were evaluated. The first was to assign someone the task of managing all corporate 'soft' data, such as proposals, documentation, and proposal and project data, as well as disseminating this information to the people who needed it. This idea was soon abandoned, since there was no one available who could perform the task quickly without mistakes.
Instead, a computerised solution was looked for. The first option was to develop a tailor-made system especially for Ambouw BY. It was soon apparent that the cost of this option - in both time and money - would to be unacceptably high.
The company then evaluated a number of off-the-shelf software packages. The available electronic mail packages could not do all that was needed - in particular, they were unable to organise documents sufficiently well.
Two possibilities remained - WordPerfect Office (now Novell Group Wise - Editors) and Lotus Notes. After having seen demonstrations of both packages, Ambouw BV chose Lotus Notes. It would provide the central availability and sharing of information, as well as support for daily operations. Other factors were Notes' ability to be customised according to the user's wishes, its potential to support workflow management, and Lotus' clear commitment to its product.
From the point of view of the computing services department, the project plan was to initiate a Lotus Notes pilot project that was to be executed by IBM. The IBM Notes Team was responsible for defining, building and implementing Notes applications according to the requirements stated in the previous section.
Mr Sweden's involvement in the project was to align the various project activities to one another and to gain experience in the working as well as the maintenance of Notes. He also put together a pilot group of participants.
This pilot group consisted of:
• Ambouw BV's general manager; • two employees of the sales force; • two employees of the sales office; • one marketing employee;
• a secretary; • a documentation room employee.
The composition of this rather hybrid collection was based on the premise that every department involved in the bottlenecks to be resolved should be represented, but the pilot group should not be too large in order to keep the costs of the project down.
Ambouw BV's computer manager expected that everyone in the pilot group would get a personal computer with a graphical user interface and a connection to a LAN. Notes release 3.0 and word processing would be installed on the system, with a fax gateway to enable the faxing of Notes documents.
Three Notes applications were planned to be developed - contacts, brochures and proposals. According to Mr Sweden, these activities were expected to result in the establishment of one central system for information sharing and improved support of daily operations. These were part of the original objectives of the project.
From the point of view of the users, expectations were rather vague. Before the project, they did not have a clear view of what the innovation would mean to them. Mr Sweden had presented a project plan to them in written form, which outlined
Ambouw BV: Stalled pilot at Dutch Wholesaler 59
the bottlenecks in Ambouw BV's processes, the choice of Notes and the planned proceedings of the project.
From the information in this project plan, most of the pilot group members understood that Notes would enable them to share information via a computer network. None of them, however, knew in advance what applications could or would be developed. In general, a wait-and-see attitude existed among the pilot group members.
The Start
IBM's plan was to perform the project in two phases:
• first, a definition phase with the objective of identifying Notes applications to be built;
• second, an implementation phase with the objective of building these applications and installing them in a personal computer and LAN environment that was to be set up as well.
From the start of the project, it was clear that Notes release 2.1 would be used, since release 3.0 was not then available. The implementation phase would include the training of users as well as their assistance by IBM.
The IBM Notes team did not verify the analysis conducted by Mr Sweden. Its leader began by getting acquainted with Ambouw BV's business and market, quickly zooming in on the problems identified by Mr Sweden. The team did not investigate whether these problems truly existed or if there were more urgent problems.
This definition phase concluded with a 'Scope of Work' document. This contained the definition of three Notes applications, for contacts, brochures and discussions. A solution for improving the management proposals appeared to be impossible within Notes release 2.1. Ambouw BV and IBM decided that the development of this application would be postponed until release 3.0 was available.
Functional designs of the other applications were included in the Scope of Work document. In these designs, the applications were modelled in terms of databases, views, and information components. However the document, did not contain any trace of how these application definitions had been created. Neither did it contain any models of the group or its work methods.
The Scope of Work document did contain a detailed description of the method of approach for implementation, the second phase. It therefore served as a plan for that phase. Control over implementation activities was to be by the project leader, an IBM employee, in conjunction with Mr Sweden.
In designing the agreed applications, IBM used the programming tools bundled with Notes is shipped with. Mr Sweden evaluated the applications during their development.
Some of the users commented on the earlier versions of the applications. However, four of the current users said that they had not seen the applications until they were to be trained in their use.
The Notes applications that resulted were:
• Contacts. This served to maintain general data about contacts such as name, address and contact people. It was also a tool to: - create, file and view visit reports; - keep track of feedback from contacts to these visits;
60 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
- keep track of requests for proposals that contacts have made; - keep a log of faxes that have been sent to contacts. In Notes parlance, it was a 'tracking' application.
• Brochures. This helped documentation keep track of the stock of documentary brochures. The documentation department could periodically update the database contents with new stock items and new stock quantities. The rest of the group could then view the contents of the database when they need to send documentation to contacts. This was a 'reference' application.
• Discussion. This allowed users to make comments about various topics, such as tips and tricks for using Notes, exchanging experiences with the system and establishing rules for the use of applications. There was no restriction of subject matter.
• Help and Policy. This was a book of guidelines. It served as a framework for working with the other applications for the benefit of the users. It also acted as an electronic reference manual about the Contacts and Brochures applications.
• E-mail and Fax._Every user got a Notes 'personal address book', enabling them to send memoranda electronically to any other user. The Contacts and Brochures applications were 'fax-enabled', using a fax gateway from Notes, so that any document in the databases could be faxed directly from the desktop.
During the development of this set of applications, a number of technical difficulties arose:
• the general manager's notebook personal computer and modem could not operate together with Notes. He therefore left the pilot group.
• It took far longer than planned to get the fax gateway into operation. This problem was not treated carefully by IBM.
• Salesmen did not get the expected ability to call the centrally located server from remote locations.
Implementation began as soon as the applications were completed. The company's computer services department was responsible for setting up the LAN and installing operating system software on the customers' personal computers. As soon as these activities had been completed, IBM installed the Notes server as well as the applications.
The next step was a training session for the pilot group members. This was the first occasion for most of them to see Notes and its applications. The training included:
• an introduction to the LAN; • the use of personal computers and the working of OS/2, the computer operating
system; • an introduction to Lotus Notes; • a demonstration of Notes and the Ambouw BV Notes applications; • exercises in using Notes and its applications; • exercises in using the Notes mail function.
This training was given to the whole pilot group in one session and took a day. Shortly after the training, the head of the sales office left Ambouw BV. He had
been a promoter of Notes within the company and after his departure the use of the system decreased.
Ambouw BV: Stalled pilot at Dutch Wholesaler 61
Implementation was not formally finished until two weeks after the training. IBM helped users learn how to operate the system during these first two weeks and Mr Sweden took over afterwards. (A six-month support agreement by IBM was included in the project.)
The final planned activity was the evaluation of the project. This evaluation was never performed. Two of the system's users feel that an evaluation is not yet appropriate, because in their opinion the project has not been finished yet. According to them, the part completed so far was merely a pilot, an opinion shared by Mr Sweden.
Group and Group Process After Implementation
The Contacts application is used most frequently by the secretary and by documentation department. They use it as an address list and for sending faxes.
Salesmen continue to make their visit reports and proposals with WordPerfect instead of with Notes. These word processor documents are printed and put into the same paper project files that were used prior to the Notes project.
One salesman says that, since his work is organised in projects in which more than one business contact is involved, he would like to have all project-related information filed together rather than all contact-related information. He feels that this mismatch is the reason for the salesmen's poor use of the application.
The Brochures application is used regularly by most users. The documentation department uses it to manage the stocks of different brochures. Paper stock administration has been replaced by the application.
Other users say that they use the Brochures application to check which documents are available before ordering the dispatch of brochures. Even so, they feel that some brochure descriptions in the database are not adequate, making it necessary to apply to the documentation department personally. Generally both parties benefit from using the application.
The Discussion application and the Help and Policy application are only rarely used. None of the interviewed users feel that they contribute to their jobs.
The Notes mail function is used almost every day by most users. People say they find electronic mail a pleasant means of communication, and they very much value the possibility of attaching non-Notes documents to electronic memos. Most users see as a handicap the fact that not everyone has a Notes connection. Broadcasting a message through email reaches only eight people; the others can be reached only in the 'old-fashioned' way.
The fax function in Notes is used by most people. They find it convenient and easy to fax a document from the personal computer without having to print it first. They like the way in which fax messages are automatically recorded and logged.
There is, though, one major disadvantage - the lay-out on the screen differs from what is printed on the fax. This causes additional work, which bothers the secretaries the most, since they do most of the faxing.
Evaluation by the Company
Mr Sweden feels that the bottlenecks that existed before the project have not been removed, except for the bottlenecks in managing brochure stocks. In his eyes, the project is a failure.
62 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
He feels that the following factors could have caused these generally disappointing results:
• The departure of the head of the sales office. • The hybrid composition of the pilot group appeared to create two different ways
of working among people in the same department. According to Mr Sweden this fact eventually resulted in a decreased use of Notes.
• The technical problems encountered in the design stage caused a certain amount of distrust in Notes, which led to a decreased use.
In a future Notes project, Mr Sweden would like a number of things to be treated differently:
• Either select one business process and build one application to support this process for all people involved in the process, or develop a complete set of applications and connect every employee to the Notes network.
• Ask the system's users what they want to see done differently or renewed (this will make them feel involved), but do not let them participate in designing applications; that is not their job.
Users within Ambouw BV would like to see that in another project all employees get a Notes connection. Also, the users have requested a better overview of the possibilities of Notes, as well as an explanation of the purposes and the long-term strategy with Notes.
Author's Conclusions
The results of the project at Ambouw BV are as follows:
• Only the Notes e-mail and fax functions are regularly used and judged an aid in people's work
• With one exception, work methods have not really changed - salesmen still work in the same way as they used to and bottlenecks have not been removed.
• The exception is the documentation department, which now keeps track of the brochure administration with Notes instead of in paper flies.
The cause of these poor results lies in the analysis phase. Mr Sweden had analysed what information about business contacts was lacking, but neither he nor IBM investigated how that information could be produced without causing additional work.
It would appear that Mr Sweden had too much of a data-oriented point of view with regard to the business contact bottlenecks. IBM, for its part,had too much of a technology-oriented way of thinking. It focused only on the definition and realisation of Notes databases. Neither party considered how people's daily work would change or could be changed so that appropriate information got to the right places. Had participants in the project been told about what would change for them, they could have given their opinions at the design phase. The fact that the Brochures application fitted the work of the documentation department was more through luck than judgement.
The composition of the pilot group was artificial. The users were picked from departments in such a way that the natural work groups were split in two. This obstructed the adoption of new work methods, because the old work methods had to remain in effect for the sake of non-users.
Arthur Andersen & (0: Virtual Visioning Colleen A. Burke
Background
The Arthur Andersen Worldwide Organisation (AAWO) is the largest professional services organisation in the world with 1995 revenues of $8.1 billion. It consists of member firms,- operating from over 360 locations in 76 countries. As part of the AAWO, these firms have over 82,000 personnel providing professional services to clients.
Arthur Andersen is the business unit of the AAWO that provides audit, business and tax advisory and speciality consulting services. The Arthur Andersen & Co., Societe Cooperative is the coordinating entity of the Worldwide Organisation.
The firm has always believed in adapting its services to the changing needs of an increasingly global marketplace. A cornerstone of Arthur Andersen's success is the continuous update of its global strategic vision. As part of this strategic process, in the summer of 1994 a programme was designed to envisage and create the future. Global participation in this programme was enabled by the application of groupware, resulting in the virtual visioning described below.
The firm has been one of the earliest large users of Lotus Notes, having purchased 20,000 copies in December 1991 and an additional 40,000 copies since.
Creating Our Future
Early in 1994, Dick Measelle, the firm's managing partner, asked for representatives from around the world to participate in a strategic visioning project. Called 'Creating Our Future', its purpose was to 'envision what Arthur Andersen must be and what it must do to stay ahead of the rapidly changing global business environment and continue to advance the Firm's position ofleadership; One hundred people were nominated, representing almost every stratum of the professional organisation, diverse regions of the globe, and the many practice lines (vertical areas) within the firm. In addition, contributions of outside experts were woven into the process. These included futurist Charles Handy, financier Walter Wriston, technology forecaster Daniel Burrus, and corporate strategist Russell Ackoff.
Creating Our Future was designed around three meetings. The first was held in June 1994, at the Arthur Andersen Worldwide Organisation's Center for Professional Education, in St. Charles, Illinois, USA. The second was held a month later, in Berlin, Germany, and the third was held in Singapore in August. The choice oflocations held a metaphoric message for a vision that would break through walls (Berlin),
63
64 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
experience the world from the perspective of emerging markets (Singapore), and remain firmly grounded in the tradition, the values and the integrity of the fIrm (Illinois).
The global nature of Creating Our Future posed a daunting communications challenge. How would 100 busy professionals from allover the world become a purposeful community able to articulate a shared vision in so short a time? How would they even begin to respond to their initial assignments, in which eight teams each with members spread across the world interactively develop scenarios for the year 2005? Although the participants had access to e-mail, and to voice mail and fax, it quickly became obvious that these technologies were inadequate to meet the many-to-many interdependence of the task.
One of the participants, Bob Elmore, was the worldwide director of a division that had been implementing groupware applications for seven years and which had selected Lotus Notes as its own groupware application. At the first Creating Our Future meeting in Illinois, Elmore recognised the global communications challenge and proposed the discussion and knowledge-sharing capabilities of Lotus Notes as a solution.
Elmore had such confidence in his consultants that he volunteered to get every member of Creating Our Future up on a Lotus Notes sharing application in one week. Even he admits his offer was impulsive, especially as he promised to deliver all this with no budget!
The Skunkworks
Having made the promise, Bob Elmore returned from the fIrst Creating Our Future meeting and quickly put together an unfunded (,skunkworks') team of groupware specialists - John Kogan, Chris Andrus and Lisa Wybranowski Kelley.
At fIrst, the team expected to be able to make use of AA OnLine, Arthur Andersen's firm-wide Lotus Notes sharing application which, at that time,had reached the beta test stage of development.
But the AA Online developers turned down the 'opportunity' to risk their carefully planned implementation through a premature response to the crisis demands of a special interest group. Looking back, Elmore's groupware team concedes that the AA Online developers made the right decision. (The firm-wide AA Online application has since been implemented most successfully.) At the same time, though, the rejection meant that they were suddenly faced with designing and implementing a Lotus Notes application from scratch.
The goal was clear - to supply, by the end of one week, members of the Creating Our Future team with valid Lotus Notes identities, access to a personal computer if they did not already have one, and access to a personal Notes coach.
The groupware 'skunkworks' team developed the application overnight, making it user-friendly and in close alignment with the unique needs and the evolving nature of the Creating Our Future tasks. They also recruited a world-wide network of volunteer Notes coaches, each of whom took responsibility for training one or more members of Creating Our Future. From a standing start in June, the effort had 51 participants up to speed in time for Berlin in July and a total of 85 trained for the Singapore meeting in August.
Unable to move the formal organi,sation fast enough, the groupware team creatively navigated the internal infrastructure, relying, in their terms, on the three
Arthur Anderson & Co: Virtual Visioning 65
essential Cs: 'Collaboration, Communication, and Coordination'. To coordinate and communicate their activities, and the activities of the coaches and technicians worldwide, the groupware team created a tracking application which stored and summarised the status of each participant's computer equipment and training. The application also provided a source of data for performance measurement, status reports to senior managers and to the Creating Our Future participants.
The groupware team looks back on this accomplishment with pride, knowing they pulled off something really important - outside the traditional structure and against expectations. This small team is quick to admit it relied heavily on colleagues around the globe and on the AA OnLine design team.
Although the latter group had not been prepared to risk a permanent introduction of its own knowledge sharing application, it was nonetheless generous in its support of the Creating Our Future team.
Leading by Example
The first contributor to the Creating Our Future discussion database was Dick Measelle himself. Although he was comfortable with the use of computer technologies, he had never before typed in his own messages in a discussion database. And his first message was surprisingly informal, all in capital letters and with no punctuation.
This set the tone for everyone else. The message within his message was that 'it's more important to share ideas than to hold back because you do not have the time to present your ideas in polished form, perfecdy typed and perfecdy worded.' As Creating Our Future participant, Brenda Wisniewski, observed, "If he had gone in the other direction, people would have thought that a sharing message in Notes had to be flawless, that it had to be corrected and perfected by an executive assistant. His actions sent a clear message that what matters is that you are sharing, not how pretty your message looks." Dick Measelle's gesture may have seemed simple but, in the view of the groupware team, it was pivotal. They saw it as opening the door to creativity, vulnerability and meaningful sharing.
Learning to Use Notes
Their leaders may have set an example, but some participants in the Creating Our Future project resisted change. Several insisted they did not know how to type and at least one appeared determined to get to retirement before learning the new technology.
It was peer pressure that eventually transformed even the most resistant non-users. At the first Creating Our Future meeting, the 100 participants were assigned to eight demographically diverse teams. Members of each team had to work together between sessions to prepare a scenario of the firm's probable future. Even though use of the discussion application was completely voluntary for Creating Our Future members and teams, almost all came to use Notes for this work.
Winning them over took time. After that first session, one partner, Amy Ripepi, attempted to create a dialogue on Notes. She found she had to duplicate her efforts with back-up faxes and conference calls to non-users. By the time of the third meeting in August, Notes' usage had dramatically improved.
66 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
"Non-users found themselves out of the loop;' she says. "The only legitimate excuse for not using the tool was lack of access to it. By the Singapore meeting, even that was no longer an issue." The power of the tool itself also created believers. By the time of the second session in Berlin, the one partner who was determined to retire before learning computer technology had converted to using Notes and was contributing to discussions. He openly admitted that he had come to the Berlin meeting with insights that could only have been reached through the use of this groupware technology.
There were a few insurmountable obstacles to getting complete participation. There were structural barriers in a few countries, where the cost of telephone
calls was so high as to preclude database replication. On the whole, though, if a Creating Our Future representative wanted to participate, almost all of these obstacles were overcome in some way.
Content and Context
Their experiences with recalcitrant Creating Our Future participants led the groupware 'skunkworks' team to conclude that people will not participate in a discussion database until it is full of relevant content. It is not enough to design the database and hope that people will come.
The Creating Our Future application had robust and relevant content from the start. It became the source for both short-term announcements and long-term dialogue. In one-and-a-half days from initiation, the application became a reference library, beginning with book reviews, quotes, meeting minutes, working notes and working papers.
It also contained the results of extensive client interviews, in which clients had been asked what they would expect from their professional services firm in the future. The answers to this question shaped the dialogue and the vision.
The interactivity provided by this groupware technology added a reflective quality to the teams' scenarios of the future as the participants contributed their working papers. It afforded an opportunity for the work to be evolutionary in its nature. It was open for challenge and contribution in a way that would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in paper exchanges.
An equally powerful ingredient was a context for the work of the Creating Our Future participants. The groupware team designed a system for classifying entries that was, in the words of one team member, "intuitive, with the touch of a PHD (as in 'Push Here, Dummy')." Their classification scheme involved new forms and new views, and let users access information by meeting, by scenario, by date and by participant. It interacted with the project tasks, and evolved as the needs and assignments of the Creating Our Future project changed. Users could view reclassified material in both the old and the new way.
A Sharing Culture Looking for an Application
Another critical ingredient in the success of the application was Arthur Andersen's 'one firm' culture. Sharing knowledge had long been a core competence and a competitive advantage for the organisation. It was almost as if the knowledge-sharing culture was in search of an application and found one in the Creating Our Future Notes application.
Arthur Anderson & Co: Virtual Visioning 67
If the number of entries made by Creating Our Future participants was a true measure of amount of knowledge sharing, the impact of this custom application had grown exponentially. In the three-month period spanning the three key meetings, the number of entries was as follows:
• at the beginning, at the St. Charles meeting in June, there were none; • by 15 June there were 15 entries; • by 1 July there were 78 entries; • by 15 July there were 128; • by 1 August entries had more than doubled, to 273; • just before the Singapore meeting, in mid-August, there were already 447 entries.
The Creating Our Future participants expressed the impact of knowledge sharing through the formula K = (P + 1)5. In other words, knowledge capital (K) is created by people (P) being linked to information (1) through technology (+), the results being raised exponentially to the degree that people shared (S) with each other. Groupware technology had created that link.
"One of the most obvious outcomes of the groupware sharing during Creating Our Future:' commented one participant, "is that knowledge is now seen by the Firm as an asset being built in real time and in virtual space."
Only People Build Community
Amy Ripepi, a Creating Our Future Participant who now spearheads a project for Arthur Andersen to become the 'World's Greatest Place to do Great Work: makes the point that computer technology did not create the Creating Our Future community. "Notes was the tool, not the whole solution. The team had to happen first and then the technology could enable the team to share;' At the first meeting, in June, the 100 representatives were disjointed and 'un-teamlike', without a real reason to be cohesive. "There was a significant shift", she says, "as belonging to the Creating Our Future effort became part of each individual's identity. There was a commitment to making it work and participants felt a special responsibility towards it." Electronics alone did not create that shared purpose but, as the shared purpose emerged, the utilisation of groupware technology grew along with it.
Lorrie King, a Creating Our Future participant from Toronto, Canada, recalls that, "The one thing I learned about Lotus Notes is that it is only as powerful and useful as the weakest user in the group ... Between the Berlin and Singapore meetings, the discussions improved considerably in terms of level of involvement and quality of discussions;' She continues: "Quite frankly, we would not have been able to achieve what we did in Singapore without Lotus Notes. It allowed people to explore different alternatives, challenge mind sets, and put forth ideas for the four to five weeks leading up to Singapore;' Ms. King found that, because of the communication made possible with Notes, "People didn't stop thinking about Creating Our Future between the meetings, and second, many more ideas were hashed out and discussed than we would ever have had time for in Singapore without the interim communication."
Groupware technology collapsed time and space. Creating Our Future participants could ask a question when they left work in the evening and have an answer from another time zone waiting for them when they arrived the next morning. Jay
68 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Ozer, a participant from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, found that he was checking the database and responding at all hours of the day or night, "depending on myavailability or where I was travelling". Notes also made it easier to overcome language differences.
From Buenos Aires, Argentina, partner Luis Tredicce reported that, "For many people talking on the phone in a foreign language is threatening, while, on the other hand, to read or write in a foreign language is less so. So, when you can communicate in writing through Lotus Notes as fast as you can do it on the phone, you can reduce the stress and overcome language barriers."
Talk to Me
In October 1994, the entire 100-member Creating Our Future team presented results at Arthur Andersen's annual partners' meeting.
When the meeting came to a close, managing partner Dick Measelle held up his computer and projected the following message on to a large screen: 'TALK TO ME'. Months after posting his initial message, Measelle is still advocating continuous virtual communication. He is now a participant in the firm-wide sharing application, AA Online, and has responded personally to questions from other Arthur Andersen personnel, no matter what their level in the organisation.
A Work in Process
From the outset, the Creating Our Future initiative was meant to be work in process, not a short-term project. The work done during the summer of 1994 was a springboard for company-wide dialogue and a shared vision.
To facilitate this, the groupware team moved the documents from the Creating Our Future's previously private discussion database to AA Online. Now, everyone in the firm can access any of the materials from the summer '94 visioning sessions. Because the materials are not in a formal paper document but in a dynamic repository, the medium has underscored the message that this vision is a work in process, that the dialogue is open and evolving.
Lessons Learned - Bringing Notes Home
Since the final meeting in October 1994, several Creating Our Future participants have begun introducing Notes into the work of their local offices.
Allan Cohen, for example, is setting up a similar Notes application for the worldwide tax process. He has discovered how hard it can be to get people to 'open up' and share. Though people sometimes use technology as an excuse, the concern is really about exposing themselves in an environment that is not protected. He says, "To be effective, we need to learn to share and be open, to take public risk - and to create a safe context beyond technology." Amy Ripepi is using Notes with her Professional Standards group, with the intention of creating small group dialogue in continuous virtual meetings. She, too, learned lessons about the human dimension. The first lesson was 'Don't give up'. She also found out that, "If the
Arthur Anderson & Co: Virtual Visioning 69
Executive Assistants or the Secretaries are receiving the Notes messages, you can be pretty sure that intended participants are not dialoguing. They may be receiving, but they are not responding interactivelY:' Lorrie King literally took Notes home, using it to communicate with colleagues and clients around the world while she was on maternity leave.
She also persuaded the head of her division to use Notes for routine reporting and for coordinating a national marketing project.
Thomas Vance, from Dallas, has adopted Notes as his basic office fIling system, while Steve Samek, from Chicago, now uses it as a project documentation tool on audits. "It is ideal for rapid sharing of basic information among physically disconnected groups, including clients:'
To summarise the Arthur Andersen visionary process, one Creating Our Future participant stated: "We needed a vision and Notes was just a tool, but it was a tool that is helping change the culture. It was the technical chauffeur for a very important journey."
Postscript
The medium is the message. This case study was written using the knowledgesharing capabilities of Notes. To help prepare it, I posted a request over AA OnLine for insights and anecdotes. All of the Creating Our Future participants mentioned above, and others, sent their replies within a week. I was working on a remote island in Ireland at the time and messages were coming from places as far afield as Kuala Lumpur, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Oslo, Boston (Mass.), Chicago and Melbourne.
Background
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption Eric Darr
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is a government agency charged with the collection and analysis of agricultural and economic data for Australia. The ABS conducts a national census every four years. The Bureau is based in Canberra and maintains offices in all of the Australian state capitals. It employs 3,500 statisticians, programmers, clerks and staff.
The Bureau possessed two capabilities which made the organisation particularly suited for early adoption of Lotus Notes. First, the nature of its business and the existing infrastructure created an organisation filled with sophisticated computer users. The ABS had implemented both wide and local area networks (WANs and LANs) in the mid-1980s. By 1990, many employees had desktop personal computers connected to the network.
In 1990, the ABS adopted Microsoft Works as its standard desktop computing package. The result was a population of employees familiar with a personal computer and at ease using common corporate communication tools.
The second capability that made the ABS particularly suited to Notes was its information-sharing culture. The task characteristics and the geographic dispersion of ABS employees generated a set of norms and values which supported the sharing of knowledge across offices and functional areas.
ABS employees often form teams that come together for specific projects. The teams are cross-functional in nature and require sharing and coordination for effective task completion. Table 8.1 compares the average ABS employee'S perception to the average in 16 other multinational organisations, along 10 sharing and learning dimensions. The results clearly indicate that the ABS has a culture which supports knowledge sharing.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the executive managers of the ABS realised that the combination of a sharing culture and ABS's technical infrastructure was causing a change in work practices. As Brian Pink, First Assistant Statistician, describes it, "Decisions were being made in a distributed way through electronic mail. The decision results were not being recorded. There was no central repository or central registry for fIling documents. Senior management saw that employees were taking advantage of the infrastructure, and that all work was being done in an electronic environment."
70
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption 71
Table S.l. The learning culture at The Australian Bureau of Statistics
Item
Sharing ideas with others is highly rewarded Problem solving is highly rewarded Acquiring innovations is highly rewarded Experimentation is highly rewarded Open communication is the norm Cooperation is the norm Sharing ideas is a major way to solve problems Sources of new ideas are frequently discussed Acquiring new knowledge is a high priority task Time pressures do not prevent learning
ABS average (n = 207)
3.0 2.7 3.1 3.3 2.5 2.0 2.1 3.2 2.1 4.5
Overall Sample Average (n = 887)
3.4 2.8 3.3 3.8 3.2 3.0 2.8 3.5 3.4 5.0
Note: These items were measured on a scale where 1 = strongly agree and 7 = strongly disagree
Recognising these changes, the executive managers commissioned a study of the Bureau's information needs. Out of it came this set of statements of problems and requirements, which eventually led to the adoption of Lotus Notes:
• The nature of the projects required increased coordination across geographically distributed offices. (Mr Pink recalled that, "The ABS was being asked to do more and more, with less and less.")
• The cost of communication using paper-based methods, such as facsimile, was increasing every year, without any increase in performance. The ABS wanted to reduce communication costs while improving efficiency.
• The ABS wanted a single desktop computing solution to the communication and coordination issues. (Brian Pink again, "The employees were used to a single desktop, we could not take that away from them. We wanted to assist the people, while improving corporate standards.")
• The ABS wanted to capture geographically distributed expertise before much was lost through the retirement of 'baby-boomers' (the post-Second World War generation - Editors). It needed a central repository of decisions and experience that could be accessed by all employees.
The Adoption Decision Process
In 1992, the Deputy Statistician, the second highest-ranking official at the ABS, charged a team of eight senior managers with finding a solution to the identified needs. The team included IT managers, project managers and administrative managers, whose multiple views represented were critical to success. Mr Pink, who headed the team, commented, 'If just the traditional IT group had made the decision, it might have been different. They wouldn't have had the vision or understanding of the diverse range of business needs.'
The team was confronted by a choice between a mail-centric solution or a database-centric solution. It decided to look for a system based on the latter, because it:
• provided openness of data; • allowed the creation of one copy which all could see; • would provide access to the latest version of a document; • would allow employees to involve themselves in issues;
72 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The team began by benchmarking installations of two products - Lotus Notes and ICL Officepower. They dropped Officepower from consideration after talking to local ICL representatives about its capabilities and future development.
Members made visits to six US-based organisations which used Lotus Notes. These included one consulting company, several computer companies, one bank and Lotus Development itself.
Mr Pink recalled that, "The benchmarking activities gave us confidence that the technology would work. Some of the things that we wanted to accomplish could be done using Notes. We saw how some of the problems had been solved. The benchmarking showed us that no other products had the same bundle of functionality as Lotus Notes."
Having identified Lotus Notes as the only sensible candidate, the project team commissioned a pilot project to verify Notes's capabilities. There were 50 participants in the pilot, distributed across Australia, all of whom were new to the project and new to Notes.
The pilot involved a six-month long statistical analysis project which was conducted every three years. This required Notes applications to be created for communication and documentation within the project; e-mail being used for routine communication. Discussion databases were used to work through issues and problems. Knowledge databases were used to store project notes, schedules and project member information.
Not only was the necessary statistical output was completed on time and on budget (previously only the first was achieved regularly), users rated the trial-by-fire a success. "At the end of the project, the users did not want to give up Notes. While there were some tangible benefits such as reduced paper flow, we were convinced that the intangibles were the reason to go forward:' said Brian Pink.
Based on the pilot results, the ABS carried out a formal cost-benefit analysis. It attempted to quantify savings associated with tangible benefits such as reduced paper flow and reduced numbers of copies. Additionally, the Bureau calculated that one clerical person could be reassigned in each office because of the reduced paper flow. Each employee would be able to perform productive work, rather than simply push paper.
The project team's analysis indicated that it would take three years to recoup the costs associated with the Lotus Notes implementation. Based on this, in late 1992 ABS decided use Notes 3.0 as the core of the new desktop computing environment. The adoption decision process had taken 10 months.
Brian Pink believes that the process leading to the adoption of Lotus Notes had differences from other technology adoption decisions at the ABS. "The decision process was driven much more by business concerns. We saw Notes supporting our entire business environment, not any single application. We could build new applications as business needs changed. We believed people would live in the Notes environment."
In fact, subsequent technology adoption decisions at the ABS have looked like the Lotus Notes decision process. The Bureau is now building Notes applications that support technology adoption decision-making.
The Implementation Process
The implementation of Lotus Notes throughout the ABS was conducted in two phases. It was led by the eight-member adoption team. The first phase lasted 12
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption 73
months and was originally planned to involve the top 500 people at the ABS. Instead, 940 users were put on Notes during the first phase. The second phase lasted seven months and involved the rest of the organisation. The entire implementation process was completed by mid-1994.
Phase I
The decision to supply Notes to the top of the organisation first was based on several factors.
• First, the adoption team felt that knowledge sharing between senior managers would produce results faster than knowledge sharing between lower-level employees.
• Second, success of the Notes implementation would be greater if the imagination of the senior managers was captured.
• Finally, unlike senior managers in many other organisations, those at the ABS were already computer literate.
The applications provided in the first phase were as follows:
• Executive discussion databases. One was established for each executive committee, based on a set of database standards. The databases could be customised by the top people in each committee, who were given 'author' access.
These committees meet weekly. The databases provided a way for committee members to work together outside those meetings. The members could share information beforehand and come better prepared to discuss the issues.
• Document Database. Several of the corporate policy and procedures manuals, such as the employee handbook, the financial management guidelines and the ABS telephone book, were scanned into a database. This database held electronic versions of the paper documents, which could then be searched by employees.
• Personal filing cabinets. The idea of these was to provide a database for each employee, where important personal memos or notes could be stored. The problem was that little thought was given to limits on the size of data entered. Tighter management guidelines for these personal fIling cabinets were developed for the Phase II implementation.
• Administrative workflow applications. These automated several administrative procedures, which at first, were used by only small parts of the organisation. (For example, there was a scheduling application for the executive committee members.) These smaller administrative applications acted as pilots for later, organisation-wide applications.
During Phase I of the implementation, users received individual training, some being given by senior executives themselves. An outside consulting firm helped with the development of the executives' training material. The executive trainers were then able to help their colleagues.
The thinking behind this was the knowledge that executives rarely ask for help on their own, because this signals a weakness. Instead, the executive trainers could approach their executive brethren and ask if any of them needed help. Problems could be handled quickly and quietly without loss of face.
74 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Phase II
The implementation of Notes was accelerated, and completed in the second phase, because of the 'technology pull' created by the success of the first phase. The top of the organisation accepted and used Lotus Notes. Their success drove the desire to have the technology down into the rest of the ABS. Employees were asking for Notes.
Employees were also eager because the implementation of Notes coincided with the updating of the personal computer specification used by the Bureau. By the end of the second phase, everyone had at least an Intel80486-based personal computer, running the latest version of Microsoft Windows.
Two additional, organisation-wide applications appeared in the second phase of the implementation. The first was an IT help-desk discussion database. Users could post problems, comments or experiences with Lotus Notes. The application allowed the IT group to collect feedback about the implementation. It was also a way for users to solve their own problems.
The other new application was a knowledge database that kept track of publications. As members of the organisation published new papers or books, a brief description of the publication with contact information was added to the database. The database could be searched by topic, author or date of publication.
The training provided during Phase II of the implementation was to large groups of users at one time, using classroom lectures and booklets. The classroom training lasted a half-day and further training could be arranged through the IT group.
Judging the Implementation Process
Was the implementation process for Lotus Notes used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics successful? At one level, the answer is clearly yes, since all employees at ABS now work in a Lotus Notes computing environment.
At more detailed level, the process used by the ABS can be compared to a theoretical framework for technology implementations developed by Goodman and Griffith (1991}.1. They argue that successful information technology implementations require the implementors to do the following:
• make users aware of the system's strengths and weaknesses prior to implementation;
• raise user commitment to the system by demonstrating the need for it and by giving a choice concerning its use;
• give users the necessary training and guidance to use the system to its fullest capacity;
• make rewards available for using the system - these may be explicit (such as money) or implicit (such as satisfaction);
• give users the ability to provide feedback about the system. Implementors must take the feedback seriously and redesign if necessary.
I Paul Goodman is Professor of Industrial Administration and Psychology, Director of The Center of Technology Management at Carnegie Mellon University, USA; Terri Griffith is Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences at Purdue University, USA.
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption 75
Table 8.2, summarises the perceptions of 207 users in the ABS of the Notes implementation process. The results demonstrate that 230/0 of the us.ers were familiar with Lotus Notes beforehand and 45% were given reasons for its implementation.
Table 8.2. User perceptions of the Lotus Notes implementation at the ABS
Percentage of ABS respondents saying "Yes"
Where you given the opportunity to become familiar with 23 Lotus Notes prior to its implementation?
Were you given any formal training about the use of Lotus Notes? 92
When you first Jearned about Lotus Notes, did anyone 53 suggest that you should use the program?
When you first learned about Lotus Notes, did anyone 45 provide reasons for its implementation?
Are there any direct, specific rewards for using Lotus Notes? 41
Are there formal means for providing feedback about Lotus Notes? 81
The success of the initial pilot and the first implementation phase raised awareness and commitment to Lotus Notes. All the users at the ABS were given formal training.Additionally, they had the chance to increase their skill through informal training from friends and co-workers.
Users described a variety of rewards associated with using Lotus Notes. Some (220/0) indicated that their bosses publicly recognised contributions to Notes databases, while others (540/0) indicated that they received valuable knowledge by following discussions on Notes databases.
Finally, the help-desk application let users provide feedback about Lotus Notes. The primary redesign resulting from that feedback has been the creation of additional databases. Also, the replication schedule was altered because of user feedback.
Gauged by the Goodman and Griffith model, ABS was successful because it built system awareness and commitment, particularly at the top of the organisation. It also provided the necessary training and rewards for Notes users, while giving them a means for feedback.
Continuing Development
Mr Jonathon Palmer, Assistant Statistician, Technology Applications Branch, recalled that, "Within our Branch of some 220 staff, a group was created to develop new applications, and to maintain the Notes infrastructure and the links to other systems, like the Fujitsu mainframe. It also now provides links between the Notes environment and the Internet."
The Lotus Notes support group has 40 people throughout Australia. This number includes local and central support personnel. The support group has the following structure, which mirrors other IT support groups:
It is a corporate service organisation that provides development support to the business groups. The group charg~s a fee which is paid in 'real money', not by using an internal charge number.
76 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Client Group
Server Group
Operating Systems Group
Figure 8.1. Lotus Notes support group structure
There is a formal process for submitting development requests, which must demonstrate need and expected benefit. All Notes database applications must be certified before being placed on servers for replication. The belief is that this system will motivate the business groups to request only necessary and value-added development work. This system also forces the ABS Notes support group to remain competitive with outside Notes consulting groups.
Currently, the Notes group supports about 200 applications. The majority of these applications are for local offices or project groups. Only 20 or so are organisationwide. A 'knowledge manager' is responsible for maintenance and development activities associated with each large application.
Three of the newest organisation-wide applications are:
• Leave Request. This links to the Human Resource system and contains an electronic form for requesting leave. The application automatically checks if the employee is due any holiday time before routing the form to the appropriate person for electronic approval.
• Corporate Gazette. This provides an electronic version of the organisation newsletter. It also contains description of current job vacancies within the ABS.
• Staff Development. This keeps a record of individual employee competencies as compared with job position requirements, as given in official job descriptions. The database can be used by employees to identify their training needs and highlight individual strengths and weaknesses.
The business groups have began process re-engineering efforts that take advantage of workflow automation. Consequently, most new Notes applications at the ABS involve workflow automation within specific business groups.
Performance Benefits
Organisation-Wide. Several performance benefits have resulted from the use of Lotus Notes throughout the ABS. In Mr Pink's view, "We now have a better ability to train the future leaders of our organisation. Not only can people track their own development, but employees at all levels can involve themselves more broadly in the business
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption 77
of the organisation. A new employee can immediately contribute to ongoing discussions, for example."
Mr Pink believes that there are fewer meetings and that more is getting done at the remaining meetings. "People are coming to meetings better prepared. Tangential issues which used to side-track meetings can now be discussed via Notes prior to the meeting. Also, there is better follow-up after meetings. Before Notes, people would forget who was supposed to do what. Now, there are records that remind people when and what they are supposed to do:'
Additionally, as mentioned earlier, several administrative processes have been automated using Lotus Notes. This saves time, which can be spent on value-adding activities. As processes have been automated and manuals have been stored and distributed electronically, so the Bureau has realised cost reductions for paper and printing. Mr Pink commented, "We are beginning to see the results we expected, but we are just now on the cusp of really using the power of Lotus Notes."
Jonathon Palmer says, "Within the Technology Applications Branch, there is an increased ability to deploy people across projects. The project tracking applications used within my group allow managers to rapidly home in on issues that need attention. The managers now have much better visibility into the project process. Additionally, the staff can see the ongoing issues and can contribute knowledge. I get better buy-in and support from the staff because they feel more connected."
The project management system used in the Notes support group also promotes consistency in the project process, which in turn improves the quality of service offered. Says Mr Palmer, "Our clients can now contact us in a consistent manner. Confusion is reduced because we don't get 12 messages from 12 different sources. Also we now have consistent procedures for measuring our performance and for supplying our clients with timely feedback."
Individual Users Table 8.3 shows the average perceptions concerning individual outcomes associated with Lotus Notes use. It indicates that employees at the ABS generally believe that Lotus Notes helps them do their jobs better and more quickly. They also believe that Notes has helped the overall organisation.
Table 8.3. Outcomes associated with Lotus Notes use
Item ABS Average (n = 207)
Using Lotus Notes in my job enables me to do 3.1 tasks more quickly
Using Lotus Notes improves my job performance 3.0
Using Lotus Notes in my job increase my 2.9 productivity
Using Lotus Notes makes it easier to do my job 2.7
I fInd Lotus Notes useful in my job 2.9
The use of Lotus Notes has improved customer 3.5 satisfaction with the fIrm
The use of Lotus Notes has improved organisational 3.1 performance
Overall Sample Average (n = 887)
3.4
2.9
3.5
3.4
3.2
3.9
3.1
Note: These items were measured on a scale where 1 = strongly agree and 7 = strongly disagree.
78 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Did the use of Lotus Notes flil the needs of the Australian Bureau of Statistics as identified in 1992?
• Notes has clearly helped project coordination across the geographicallydistributed offices.
• It has also reduced the paper costs associated with communication, while improving the accuracy and timeliness of communication.
• Notes certainly provides a single desktop solution that can be linked into other critical systems.
• It is less clear whether the ABS has used Lotus Notes to store distributed knowledge and experience. The issue is not with the technology. Rather, the ABS has focused on workflow automation. Also, like many other organisations, the ABS stores only best practices; failures are never recorded. Potentially, valuable knowledge is lost by only focusing on the best.
The Future of Lotus Notes in the ABS
In the Short Term
Lotus Notes will support the 1996 Australian National Census. Conducting the census requires the coordination of 20,000 volunteers and part-time employees. At the local level, district supervisors oversee data collection and management of the censustakers. In each city, there are tens or hundreds of district supervisors to coordinate.
The biggest issue for district supervisors is paperwork. There are progress forms, sick leave forms, accident forms, payment forms and so on. In each of the previous National censuses, the biggest complaint involved the management and completion of forms. This time there will be several Notes applications which will allow better management of forms and processes.
These applications will include knowledge databases which will store electronic versions of the necessary forms, as well as discussion databases which will facilitate problem resolution. Brian Pink is optimistic: "Major trials using these new applications have been completed and clearly show that the new applications will not only be cost effective, but they will also improve the accuracy of the census."
In the Long Term
Mr Pink and Mr Palmer were asked to speculate about the use of Lotus Notes in the ABS two years from the present. Mr Pink responded, "Notes will be used much more effectively in the organisation. We are just now understanding its capabilities. Notes will be used much more aggressively in terms of inter-firm communication. We will be able to leverage the knowledge of external sources. We will be able to coordinate activities with our external partners, both governmental and private."
Mr Palmer's view was that, "Notes will increasingly be the vehicle used to reach other organisations. Our employees will become more mobile. The combination will mean that the boundaries of the organisation will be less well defined. Internally, we will continue to develop more workflow applications. However, newer workflow applications will involve the entire organisation. Our procedures will increasingly become embedded in Lotus Notes."
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Universal Adoption 79
Conclusions
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is a good example of an organisation that has successfully used Lotus Notes to meet its enterprise-wide coordination and communication needs. It was successful because it:
• had a dear vision for the use of Notes; • followed a sound implementation process; • managed the growth of Notes.
Reference
Goodman P, Griffith T (1991) A process approach to implementation of new technology J Eng Technol Manag 1991
Background
Cemex: Shifting Attitudes Between Staff and Customers Ms Gloria Flores, Javier Bitar, Dr Lafred Vieira and Mitch Kirschner
Cemex S.A. de C.Y. (Cemex) is currently the world's fourth-largest international cement company, with major operations in Spain, Venezuela, the USA and Mexico (its home market). Having dominated the Mexican market, it faced strong new competition in 1992. These new competitors offered cheaper cement and improved service. Cemex responded by setting itself the goal of becoming the most competent cement company in the world.
Early on, Cemex executives recognised that communication and coordination had a significant role to play in their quest. The company's IT department was already world class. It had been included in Computerworld magazine's 1995 list of 100 out-standing users of information technology. ,
The IT department quickly created a global telecommunications backbone of satellites, leased lines and microwave networks for its worldwide operations. Soon after:, Cemex decided to add a completely integrated network which would provide a standard medium for communicating throughout the company, called CemexNet.
The company's strategy included gaining mastery of the human aspects of communication and coordination as well as the technical issues. It also set about redesigning and automating its strategic and operational processes, using CemexN et as a technological enabler.
In July 1992, Cemex acquired a small number of Lotus Notes licences for the executive team of one of its business units, the Mexican ready-mix operations. It wanted to explore the potential benefits to the company of using the leading groupware product of the time.
After only a few weeks, the business unit's president realised that Notes had brought increased communication within the pilot group. He ordered its expansion to all of the unit's executives and managers, and convinced the company's CEO to have it installed for himself and his team. By November 1992, all Cemex's corporate staff were using it.
Today, Lotus Notes is used in many areas of the company, including administration, sales and operations. Its capacity to have people interact independently of location and time has formed the basis for several applications that support business processes. It was essential for the one described in this case study.
At the same time that Cemex began to explore Lotus Notes, Cemex retained Business Design Associates, Inc. (BDA), a management consulting firm, to assist it in reaching its long-term objectives. It particularly wanted BDA to help it to complement, redesign and implement client-focused business processes.
80
Cemex: Shifting Attitude Between Staff and Customers 81
The two companies established a team and selected a process to be redesigned. The process chosen was account collections at a ready-mix business unit in Monterey and the pilot project began during the second semester of 1992.
This process worked smoothly when a customer for cement paid the bill on time, but the suspension part of the process was operating poorly. This bars customers who are remiss in their payments from placing further orders until they pay their bill. In the pilot site business unit roughly 200 customers a month had their accounts suspended. Overdue payments are common in the concrete industry, but this level was unacceptable so the company decided to improve the billing process.
This decision was reinforced by the high number of erroneous suspensions, which averaged 30 a month. Often the so-called overdue billings were for concrete deliveries which the customer had already complained of as being incomplete or unsatisfactory. In many cases there was a special agreement in force, allowing payments to be made over a longer than usual term. Whatever the reason, these customers' accounts would typically remain suspended for several days before being reinstated and this caused caused the customers great inconvenience.
The company's accounting and sales personnel did not get along well. Each was prone to blame the other for the failures of coordination of suspensions. Each department had its own lore about the 'obvious' character defects of the other. The view from sales was that the collectors were obsessed with numbers and cared little for relationships with customers. The view from accounting was that salespeople were giving away product to meet their sales quotas. The irony was that each group believed it was acting in the best interests of Cemex and of the customer.
BDA's contribution was based on a theory of coordinated group action, developed by Dr Fernando Flores, a founder of the company. Its consultants worked with the Cemex team to analyse these failures of coordination. They did not examine them in terms of blame or bad intent, but as missing elements in a 'customercentric' coordination process. This new perspective enabled the groups to reach a common understanding of the process, which then provided the basis for designing a replacement.
The sales and accounting groups came together to learn to work in a coordinated way. Within eight weeks the two groups had developed a new framework for coordinating their actions in the collections process, based on shared, customerfocused objectives.
Business Design Associates also helped Cemex automate the new process, a critical requirement in light of the volume of suspensions across the Northern Mexico operations of the ready-mix business unit.
The new process required cross-functional, multi-office coordination. BDA used Action Technologies' Action Workflow process development tools, running on the existing Lotus Notes network, to rapidly build applications supporting the new process. (The Action Technologies tools are based on the same model of coordination as is used in by BDA. Dr Flores was also a founder of Action Technologies.)
After the new process had been running in Monterey for six months, these benefits were evident:
• Sales had increased by US$1.5 million. • The number of suspensions had been halved. • Inappropriate suspensions had been completely eliminated. • The amount of executive time required to oversee the process was down by three
quarters, from 16 hours a week.
82 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• Customers' trust had increased and relationships with them were stronger. • There was increased trust and better coordination between sales'and accounting
groups.
The success of this new process became the jumping-off point for a much larger effort. The aim was to transform the sales team from being 'order takers' into a group intimately involved with the customers' world and well coordinated with other areas of Cemex.
Analysis
When the pilot project began there was support from senior managers for changing the current state of affairs. By itself, this was insufficient to get the sales and accounting groups into a productive dialogue. In addition, the technical and operations groups were influencing the process.
The core team that had been selected by Cemex and BDA represented sales, accounting, operational and technical functional areas, as well as members from the IT department. Its task was to diagnose the situation in a productive manner and redesign the process in line with new standards of excellence in customer service.
Analysis started by describing the individual actions that took place in the collections process, at that time. These actions are detailed in Table 9.1.
Table 9.1. Actions occurring in the collection process
Organisational role
Head of Accounts Receivable Department
Accounts Receivable Staff
Operators taking orders by phone
Customer
Individual action
Produce a daily report, listing customers with bills overdue by 30 days or more. Mark for suspension those with overdue payments. Every three days, distribute a report to sales managers that lists newly suspended customers
Prohibit those customers on the Accounts Receivable suspensions list from placing orders, by locking them out of the order taking system
When a suspended customer calls to place an order, notify the customer that his or her account has been suspended until payment is received
Call in orders every day. When sales refuses to take an order because the account has been suspended, either pay the bill first or complain to one of several departments (typically sales, operations or technical)
Beginning with this high-level description, the team analysed the symptoms of poor coordination from the perspective of the customer. This crucial first step shifted emphasis away from assigning blame and toward looking at the problems as failures of customer satisfaction.
The results of this analysis are summarised below.
• On average 15% of suspended customers had unresolved complaints about service or product quality. These complaints were frequently flled with the Cemex technical department.
• Sometimes the sales manager negotiated special terms with a customer for specific projects, but there was no procedure for keeping accounts receivable systematically informed.
Cemex: Shifting Attitude Between Staff and Customers 83
• On average it took several days for sales to re-establish a formal relationship with the customer. During this time the customer was suspended and Cemex could sell no concrete to them.
• Salespeople usually learned of suspensions from their own customers because the accounts receivable report (issued every three days) was not timely.
• Customers complained to the technical department about any quality defects, but the technical department did not systematically inform accounts receivable of these complaints.
• Customers complained to the operations department about incomplete or missing deliveries, but operations did not systematically inform accounts receivable of these problems.
Diagnosis
The joint team had described what was going wrong and how the problems were affecting the customer, but explanations about why it was happening were still confined to the pointing of fingers. People were still interpreting the failures of coordination as individual failings, as a problem fundamentally caused by the behaviour of individuals who were lacking personal integrity or common sense.
At this point, the joint IT team introduced a new element into the discussion. This was a process design framework that enables groups of people to design effective coordination practices.
Traditional process re-engineering methodologies focus on tasks, activities, materiel (resources) and information. The BDA approach brings in the, often invisible, dimension of human coordination, which permeates all other elements. By making this dimension explicit, people can ensure coherence and consistency in their efforts to satisfy both internal and external customers. They are also able to improve the quality of other process elements and technologies by being more closely attuned to how those elements support human action.
At the heart of this approach is something BDA calls the 'commitment coordination' process. This, in turn, comprises a series of 'conversations for action', which are transactions between two people. One person plays the role of customer, the other acts as the performer. (These terms, 'customer' and 'performer; designate general roles that people play with each other as they generate action in enterprises. To avoid confusion in this case study, we have used the word 'customer' to designate customers in the traditional business sense of the term.)
The performer is accountable for producing results, with which the customer will be satisfied. A conversation for action begins with the customer making a request or with the performer making an offer. The request or offer is always oriented toward producing 'conditions of satisfaction'. This is a shared understanding of results or outcomes that will satisfy the customer.
Both customer and performer can carry out different 'acts' at various points throughout the conversation, such as requesting clarification, declining, making a counter offer, promising, declaring complete, and so on. These roles and acts are shown in Figure 9.1. This is the basic action workflow.
BDA has developed a method for mapping workflows within a given commitment coordination process. Using this, the design team undertook a series of diagnostic sessions over a period of two weeks. In these sessions, people were able
84 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Preparation Negotiation 1-------------------,--------------------' I C: Makes Request, or ~ ,
P: Makes Offer P: Promises, or
L.. __
-, ~ I C: Accepts Offer
~ CO~ditiO:;V ~faction/
~"I~ C: Dec/ares SatIsfactIon P: Dec/ares Complete
I I
--------------------~--------------------Acceptance Performance Figure 9.1. Basic Action Workflow
to observe their local actions, such as distributing suspension reports or renegotiating with customers, in the relevant broader context. They were also able to interpret their actions as commitments directly connected to a shared, customeroriented outcome.
At the core of these diagnostic sessions was a discussion among process participants. The aim of this was to build a shared understanding of how the process was working and how it could work differently in the future.
BDA helped the team construct a map of the component workflows and their interdependencies. Like a geographic map, it provided an overview of the coordination commitment process terrain. People visualised and discussed past journeys through the process and interpreted missing roles and acts in the commitment coordination process. The map and the main conclusions are shown in Figure 9.2.
After constructing the map and reaching conclusions about the existing process, the team diagnosed the central issue they had to address. The team members
, .. - -c: ??? "Suspend all" ::.. P: AR Head fI clients wHh "'~
/
~ payable, over ,,3E~' /
C: AR Head ,,'" - - " P: AR Clerk :a~~ ~
'--Th-e-hea-d-o-fa-c-c-o-un-ts--' lI-" _ IY_stems / receivable was operating ............. In a coordination vaccum. There was no Internal customer to represent the client wnen the client was C:???
, .... - - .....
"Reno~lIote ~
The head of accounts receivable and the accounts receivable clerk were coordinated around tasks, Instead of client concerns. The clerk was fulfilling requests without establishing clear conditions of satisfaction or checking to see whether the work done had been satisfactory to the head of accounts receivable.
,--sus..,;,P9_nd_ed_, ___ ---' P: Sales Mg'
The sales manager's renegotiation with suspended clients was unilateral, There was no Internal customer representing accounts receivable,
~ suspended " clle;;t- /.[ The sales manager and salepemon
- - ............ ., were coordinated purely around tasks (analogous to accounts receivale department head and
C S I M JI' accounts receivables clerk. : a es anage, , .. - _" above).
P: Sales Pe,son "Renogotlate L-________ ---'
fI with 1 lI- suspen~ed
" client --Figure 9.2. Existing process
Cemex: Shifting Attitude Between Staff and Customers 85
realised that the atmosphere of mistrust, combined with a general lack of awareness of the commitment coordination process, had conspired to render invisible the underlying causes of problems. When the team reached this consensus, the prevailing atmosphere of mistrust and blame began to evaporate.
What had happened was that a framework had been established for observing human coordination. This made it possible to undertake the previously impossible task of smoothly changing coordination practices across departmental lines. It became possible to collaborate in a systematic way to serve the customers of Cemex.
Solution
Once the team had a rigorous framework for observing the mis-coordination from the customer's perspective, it was a straightforward matter for BDA to work with the participants to design and implement a new process. Its aim was twofold:
• to define a new process that was driven by a coherent set of customer-centric coordination' practices
C:ARHead ... ~--......... P: Operations Mgr" Verify delivery ~
~b~ .... ~ [!] I
-C-:-AR-He-a-d-. "~~rI~ I P: Soles spedal I
Manager ~d~
~~ .. s~:clal ~ c';;:'drtlons / rtiT'
C:ARHead~ ........... ~
~ I I I I I
P: Technical. ----... Mgr _____ ;--~ ~
C: AR Head ,"Ma~~~relatlonshIP ~ - - - - - - - P: Soles wrth client before
manager ~ng account • C: AR Heod---'~~ P: Client Rep." dep";;rtment ,-____ .~~n~atl~oy
(1) aI '--- ........... ~ (3) C: Soles manager
p. General manag~~
.. ':'?rn~~~" ~ manager
~~ [ll]
BIOCk~ ~ system /r '--- ........... ~
Figure 9.3. The new process.
86 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• to make it manageable autonomously in multiple geographical locations, by using workflow automation.
The design team soon created a blueprint for a new process. Two significant features of it were that it gave tighter communication among all parties, and created a new role for sales in ensuring consistent communication and follow-through with the customers.
In parallel with the main team, a development team worked to design and build a workflow application to support the new process. As a first step, Cemex IT personnel had pre-installed Lotus Notes for all the participants in this process (this was part of a programme to equip the whole company with Notes). Next, the team brought a Notes version of Action Technologies' ActionWorkflow (AWF) System to enable the workflow process.
ActionWorkflow is tightly integrated with Lotus Notes, thus allowing the development team to take advantage of Notes groupware capabilities without difficulty. For example, the AWF system automatically generates all the necessary Notes forms and views without any programming. This allows users to go from business process map to a complete and running application in minutes.
More significant was the fact that the Action Technologies' system is built around the same workflow design approach as BDA uses allowed the team to go rapidly from concept to prototype and then into implementation.
The team's design for a new process is shown in Figure 9.3. It demonstrates a more coherent approach and fulftls the new central condition of maintaining a consistent, fair and flexible relationship with the customer.
The boxed numbers in the diagram are explained in Table 9.2.
Table 9.2. Key to boxed numbers in Figure 9.3
New Coordination Practices Workflow action number
After an account has gone overdue, the head of accounts receivable 1, 2 and 3 initiates the suspension process. Before any customer is suspended, the workflow application automatically requests (in the name of the accounts receivable department head) that the managers of sales, operations and technical departments verify that there are no unresolved complaints in the customer's account
If there are outstanding problems, the suspension process is cancelled 1, 2 and 3 and the team involved resolves the customer's complaint
If there are no outstanding problems with the customer's account, the 4 tool automatically requests (in the name of the sales manager) that the responsible sales person collect payment or renegotiate terms within five days
If sales has still not completed the request within five days, and if the 5 customer is very important to the company, the workflow application automatically makes a request (again in the name of the sales manager) to the head of the business unit to collect or renegotiate payment within two days
If the missing payment is still not received, the workflow application 6 and 7 alerts the head of accounts receivable that there is a problem. The application then sends an automated request (in the name of the head of accounts receivable) to sales to notify the customer of his or her imminent suspension, and issues an order to an accounts receivable clerk (again in the name of the head of accounts receivable) for the customer to be locked out of the order processing system
Cemex: Shifting Attitude Between Staff and Customers 87
Results
Six months after implementing the new process, the Cemex team measured the changes in the pilot business unit. The financial benefits were remarkable.
• Over the six month period, no customers were suspended without justification (compared with 10 to 20 per cent of unwarranted suspensions previously).
• The number of suspensions decreased by half, resulting in additional sales over the six-month period ofUS$1.5 million.
• The head of accounts receivable now spends only a tenth of his time managing the process, as opposed to 30 to 40 per cent previously.
There were other benefits, too.
• The commitment coordination perspective enabled managers, staff, process designers and technologists to work faster and more effectively because they were speaking a common language during diagnosis and design.
• The new workflow application automatically provides a historical record of transactions and thus supports continuous improvement of the process.
• The people in the process began to develop a general ability to build trust and credibility with each another and with customers.
• The people in the process also learned skills which have enabled them to continuouslyanalyse and redesign this process and others in a way that makes them focused on, and responsive to, the customer.
The Future
The success of this pilot resulted in a wider implementation of the redesigned account collections process. It also led to a larger programme to build more involved and responsive relationships between Cemex and its customers.
At the same time, Cemex people saw more about the power of using Lotus Notes for general communication and coordination throughout the company. Indeed, Cemex's CEO and his immediate team of collaborators are probably the company's most active users of Notes. They are important advocates of non-hierarchical and open communication.
Cemex has prompted some of its key suppliers and customers to install Lotus Notes in their companies to streamline communication and coordination with Cemex. Notes, supplemented by ActionWorkflow applications and combined with a customer-focused approach to business process design, is helping Cemex to expand its reach throughout the world.
The Contributors
Business Design Associates is an international management consulting company. It was founded after more than 20 years of research and practical experience by Dr Fernando Flores and his colleagues into questions about how human beings work together, coordinate action and innovate.
88 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Its clients, who include some of the world's largest companies, learn how to perform coordination process analysis and how to implement ,(and automate where necessary) new process designs. They also learn to build trust with their customers and each other to bring fast action to issues and to act more entrepreneurially.
Acknowledgements
The copyright in this article rests with Cemex S.A. de C. V. and with Business Design Associates. Action WorkFlow is a trademark of Action Technologies Inc.
(leer University: Distance Learning Institute Resistant to Notes Eelco Ploeger
Context
Cleer University (CU) is a pseudonym for an institute of higher education in the Netherlands. It provides distance education (guided self-study courses) which enables students to study when and where they prefer, at a pace they can choose themselves. The system is modular, allowing students to construct their own programmes of study by choosing a personal combination of courses.
The university has a network of 18 regional study centres around the country. Staff in these centres provide group and personal tuition to students, over the telephone if necessary. There are computers and a variety of audio-visual aids at each centre for students to use.
University headquarters consist of the university council, an executive committee, academic staff and various support departments. The council lays down the main lines of policy, while the executive committee deals with day-to-day management, which includes managing the study centres.
There are about 425 employees at headquarters and a further 375 at the study centres.
The Pedagogical Technology Unit
One of the headquarters departments is the Pedagogical Technology Unit (PTU). This is a research and development department, whose primary task is to find solutions for teaching problems that Cleer University staff may encounter. PTU specialists often work with course development teams and with the various faculties.
PTU projects fall into three types:
• designing and developing new course modules and pedagogical applications; • developing concepts and modules for tests, examinations and exercises, and ways
for students to gain practical experience; • creating and testing information technology infrastructures suitable to CU's edu
cational purposes.
At the time of this case study there were 50 members of staff in the unit. Some of them spent most of their working time outside the office. There was a small
89
90 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
management team, comprising a chairman with an executive committee and a secretariat. The rest of the staff were organised into project teams.
Project team members met regularly to discuss their activities and progress on their various projects. They minuted these meetings, sending copies of the minutes to all interested parties.
A PTU project usually results in a research report and teams that need information from previously performed research have access to these reports. The secretariat manages the paperwork involved in the distribution of research reports, minutes and other information. Employees who want this information have to request it from the secretariat.
The Unit's employees all have personal computers, which they use mainly for word processing. There is a computer network within PTU, but staff use it for sharing printers and computer programs rather than sharing information.
Using Information
In 1992, the PTU management team expressed the wish to gain insight into how information planning and management could serve PTU and improve departmental communications. It commissioned an analysis of the unit's information requirements.
The analysts found its current methods to be inefficient. For instance, staff in the secretariat called all the employees every week as a routine action just to check their diaries.
Also, any incoming document judged to be valuable to several people was photocopied and distributed to them. As a result, many recipients were getting information that was not relevant to them, yet information that was relevant was often hard to retrieve.
The report analysed the different sorts of information, or 'application areas', required by the unit. They included:
• general information about PTU employees, as well as about their tasks and re-sponsibilities;
• diary details of employees, stating where they would be at what times; • PTU policies, work procedures and guidelines; • information about external activities; • PTU meeting minutes; • information about research reports and the reports themselves; • information about pending projects; • incoming documents and correspondence.
The analysts did not mention how people used this information or why they needed it. They did, though, find that the secretariat was most often responsible for gathering information and distributing it. The other employees were mainly the consumers of information.
Electronic Communications
The analysis of the PTU suggested that the existing local area network (LAN) could be used to aid information distribution, at least internally. Subsequently, Mr Roberts,
(leer University: Distance Learning Institute Resistant Notes 91
one of the Unit's senior computer staff, wrote a project plan in which he proposed that the LAN should be employed for this. He recommended that it be used for the application areas identified in the analysis.
After a short investigation into suitable software packages to support group communication, the University agreed to a pilot installation of Lotus Notes. It assigned Mr Scone, a systems analyst, to execute the project. The University took out a pilot Notes licence, with a six-week expiry date, for the project.
The goals of this pilot were to find out:
• whether the LAN could help in the supply of information; • if the proposed set of applications would indeed improve communications and
information supply; • if Lotus Notes was suitable for enabling improved departmental communication; • what obstacles and enablers would be encountered in the process of trying to
improve departmental communication and information supply.
Designing the Applications
Mr Scone elected to use the Prototyping Development Methodology (PDM) approach for designing the pilot system. PDM makes extensive use of prototyping and enduser participation. In Mr Scone's view, it matched closely the experimental character of the project. PDM starts with an experimental phase, which reveals users' information requirements. These form the basis of a prototype of the working system. Its intended users tryout the prototype, which the project team adjusts according to the users' responses.
The team and the users repeat this process until the system matches the needs of the users as closely as possible. The system is then ready for implementation.
Mr Roberts had already carried out much of the analysis work required in the experimental phase. Mr Scone additionally administered a questionnaire to find out to what extent employees agreed with the results of the analysis. He also wanted to discover their opinion of the proposed application areas. The questionnaire showed that most people were satisfied with the current ways of working and that they were nervous of the proposed computerisation. Hardly anyone had a positive attitude towards the project.
Mr Scone continued to the next step - the creation of applications. He developed 11 in total, most of which were reference applications. A selection of users evaluated these, several times over. Mr Scone then produced a prototype of the system.
The 11 applications were as follows:
1. PTU handbook. This was a reference application that contained procedures, guidelines and other general information about the Pedagogical Technology Unit and its projects. It was meant to serve as a reference for every employee.
2. Employees (formal). This database contained names and addresses, and other general information, about all employees within PTU. It served as a reference.
3. Employees (informal). This was for informal information about employees, everyone being free to enter any information about himself or herself. This also served as a reference.
4. PTU publications. The publications application acted as an index of available documents and research reports within PTU. People who needed reports could
92 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
use this application to locate them. Whenever there was a new report written, its description was supposed to be added to this database.
5. Meeting minutes. The secretariat now filed the minutes of various PTU meetings in this database, instead of in paper form in a filing cabinet. It was to have made photocopying and internal paper mailing unnecessary.
6. Group calendar. Everyone could use this for their personal weekly diary and to view shared diaries. It could also be used to make appointments or schedule meetings.
7. PTU calendar. This listed all the dates and activities important to PTU staff in general.
8. Discussion. This was a free-format bulletin board for discussion of any topic. People could participate as often as they like.
9. PTU texts and forms. This database contained the collection of standard texts and forms that are used in certain PTU procedures. Everyone needed access to these texts and forms; this reference application provided that access.
10. News. Here people could gain an overview of all incoming postal items that had not been addressed to particular individuals and that were important to several people.
11. Electronic mail. Every pilot group member also got a Notes personal address book and personal mail box, enabling him or her to send electronic memos to other users.
Implementing Notes
The next step in the project was the pilot implementation. Notes was given to a selected group of22 people - about half the department. They came from four project teams, as well as the secretariat and the management team. Eighteen of them had their work place in the PTU office. Two worked from home and two from another office.
A larger group was not possible because the Notes licence did not permit this. Conversely, Mr Scone felt that a smaller number would decrease the value of the pilot as a means for predicting how PTU would respond to this new system.
He and staff from the secretariat entered data into the reference databases, in preparation for the pilot. At the start, Mr Scone organised a voluntary meeting for the pilot group members, during which he explained the objectives of the pilot. He also demonstrated Lotus Notes and explained how people could use it in their work.
In a second meeting, Mr Scone showed the applications that he had developed, giving advice on how and when the applications should be used. He gave the pilot group a reference manual, containing the most important information about both the project and the system.
After they had attended these meetings, the participants began using Notes.
Group and Group Processes
The pilot lasted for six weeks. Contrary to what the questionnaire had predicted, the pilot users liked e-mail and made extensive use of it. They did not, though, use the reference applications half as much.
(leer University: Distance Learning Institute Resistant Notes 93
Members of the secretariat discovered that they had to do much of their work twice. They were passing on news or minutes through Notes, bqt still had to send out paper copies to those people not involved in the pilot. Similarly, they had to maintain the PTU calendar in both electronic and paper form.
Old ways of working did not disappear. Many pilot users still went to the secretariat to ask for information that was already in one or other of the Notes databases.
After the six weeks period of the pilot, Mr Scone evaluated the group's experience. He asked the users to fill out a questionnaire on their opinions of the applications. He also consulted a Notes log file that had recorded how often each person used certain functions.
Mr Scone's investigation yielded the following positive findings:
• E-mail was judged helpful and was the feature used most by the pilot group. • Notes was judged to be a good means for electronic communication. • The reference applications were also judged helpful.
Despite this last result, the reference applications were hardly ever used. People's answers revealed_that they instead retrieved the same information from other, mainly paper, sources. They often went to the secretariat or asked colleagues, rather than use the computer.
Managers did not support the use of Notes and the people in the secretariat had a negative attitude towards it and the applications. For the secretaries, it is likely that much of this arose from their having to do much of their work twice. In addition, the secretariat staff ended up being responsible for feeding the system with information.
Mr Roberts and Mr Scone concluded from these results that the combination of LAN and Lotus Notes could improve departmental communication and information supply. How well that combination would work in practice would depend on certain conditions being fulfilled:
• Clear policies should be defined for when, how and by whom tools such as Notes should be used.
• Working with the tools should not supplement the current way of working but should replace it.
• Everyone involved in the new way of working should be connected to the LAN through Notes.
They also felt that the applications tested in the pilot were not successful. Further investigation, especially into new ways of working, should have been made before defining and designing them.
Shortly after this, the Pedagogical Technology Unit shrank to 30 employees, as the result of a general reorganisation. The University did not wish to convert the pilot installations to full licences immediately. At this point, the PTU started a further investigation into Notes applications and the accompanying work procedures for its internal use. It also began a major project involving electronic data interchange between the University and its students.
Author's Conclusions
The Pedagogical Technology Unit's project was primarily intended to be a learning experience. In the light of this, the project was a success; a large number of important lessons were learned.
94 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
In the project, the LAN and Lotus Notes were mainly used for broadcasting mostly static information from a central point (the secretariat) to the rest of the department. While this improved information supply, it did not improve communication. For example, the discussion databases did not supply dynamic information, such as the state of research projects, nor did they assist in the coordination of activities in projects. E-mail provided some dynamic information, but could not organise it into conversations or 'threads'.
The preliminary analysis did not pay adequate attention to how people worked, the flow of work or the processes in which the different sorts of information were needed.
Furthermore, the Notes applications supported the use of information that was not crucial to people's work; they did not need it in their everyday activities. The pilot team made regular use only of e-mail and the calendar (the applications that supported daily activities).
Nevertheless, using a LAN and Notes solely as a broadcasting centre was feasible. To have done so would have required a clearer definition of the rules of use. In this instance, these rules were not established and, as a result, old ways of working did not disappear. Also, because no data input responsibilities had been assigned, hardly any new information was put into the system.
Postscript, by Mr Scone
The role of the managers of the department proved to be crucial for the success of the experiment and further activities. Although they allowed the experiment to be carried out, they could not be convinced that the new electronic capabilities could contribute to more important developments.
Given the limiting circumstances for the experiment, and its restricted goals, the results could be judged as positive. Nevertheless, the University's senior managers decided to take no further action in the Pedagogical Technology Unit. Their argument was that decisions leading to the introduction of a system for communication and information exchange should be taken at a higher level, because of the need for standardisation of the software and equipment involved. Moreover, other departments had other ideas about, and different interests in, these sorts of applications. The University's senior managers expected that conflict might result, something they wished to avoid.
Background
GM Europe: World's Largest User of Notes WalterWijn
During the late 1980s, time to market and product quality were increasingly becoming differentiating factors for car makers. Refining the manufacturing process only went part of the way to producing the necessary improvements. The supporting clerical processes also demanded attention. Faster ordering of goods, clearing of information and sharing of information were becoming the core processes in the drive to shorten product lead times.
In 1989, GM Europe (GME), the maker of Opel, Vauxhall and Bedford vehicles, found its spending on desktop computing was increasing dramatically. Senior managers did not feel that the return on investment justified this, and therefore asked EDS to undertake an European study of GME's office automation environment. (EDS is an independent subsidiary of General Motors that specialises in computer consulting and systems integration. It has over 15,000 employees outside the USA and customers in more than 30 countries.)
The aim of the investigation was to find out whether the white-collar staff in GM's offices were getting the types of desktop computing tools to enable them to carry out their work as required. The study lasted a year, during which a joint GME and EDS team interviewed hundreds of employees across all levels of the GME organisation, inquiring into the tools and methods they used. The study identified a lack of standardisation of software, inadequate knowledge of how to use it productively and a large quantity of rework in passing data between various locations.
Out of this investigation came a prioritised list of remedial activities and projects. Number one on almost everybody's list was the ability to share data with colleagues in the same, similar or linked departments and especially the ability to do this as easily as possible.
This necessity led to a complete switch from character-based computers, running MS-DOS, to a mouse-driven graphical user interface. Most desktop machines were Intel-based personal computers, so Microsoft Windows became the standard user interface.
Another outcome was the formation of an office automation (OA) board, representing GM and EDS office systems managers across Europe. The primary task of this was to monitor market trends and make strategic decisions on the evolution of desktop tools.
This left just one major decision: the choice of tool for sharing information within the company. E-mail was simply not sufficient to handle this - GM and EDS already
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96 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
had a combination of e-mail systems available, mainly host based. These were not helping users in the way the OA board envisaged.
Sharing Information - the Notes Solution
At about the same time, EDS heard about Lotus Notes, which was then about to be released in the USA. Representatives from GME and EDS visited Lotus Development, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Lotus demonstrated version 1.0 of Lotus Notes to them. Everyone left with an 'A-ha' feeling.
EDS immediately sent a second team to the US, this time comprising technical people. Their only mission was to break the system and figure out why it would not work for GME. This team's recommendation was also positive and EDS decided on a pilot installation of Notes.
Some of the decisions EDS took at that time turned out to be critical for the later success of Notes in GME:
• EDS introduced "it as a solution to a problem, not because it was a nice tool. This largely eliminated the need to convince staff to use the product.
• Senior managers made and endorsed the decision to introduce Notes, ensured funds were available and gave a clear message to employees at all levels that they were committed to the system.
• A central team steered and coordinated the implementation after the initial pilot stage, ensuring a standardisation of approach, training, help desk availability and similar aspects.
• New users of the system had access to help on site and over the telephone, so their problems were dealt with quickly.
The team put the pilot system in GM Europe's headquarters, in Zurich. It served 200 users, all of whom were GME's top executives. They had access to fast personal computers, a stable local area network (LAN) environment and local support personnel.
These first users also had access to some 'killer apps' - Notes applications that would be immediately useful. One of these was the restaurant menu. By saving the executives the task of finding the day's menu on a noticeboard somewhere, this induced them to use Notes. Once there, these executives could then search a range of other databases, including general personnel information, policies and procedures and telephone books.
Notes e-mail was not part of the original implementation. EDS felt it might distract users from the collaborative aspects of using Notes. Conversion from the existing mainframe-based mail systems was shelved until later.
Expansion
Being the centre of the universe for all GME sites, Zurich was the place to make Notes visible. All local executives had to visit Zurich several times a year for meetings, thereby exposing them to this information-sharing tool which their managers were using. It took about two months for them to start asking for Notes in the local subsidiaries and another month to reach a consensus that Notes was going to be the
GM Europe: World's Largest User of Notes 97
tool to use across Europe. Even though EDS had not yet reached a positive conclusion on the technical and human success of the pilot, the users had made their choice.
The almost overnight success of Notes created a problem. People began agitating to have Notes put in their offices, but almost none of those offices had the right infrastructure. Some personal computers were not yet equipped with Windows, some were not on networks and there were usually no machines available to act as servers.
Therefore, the Notes team devised an implementation plan that took into account the infrastructure investments required to bring each site on-line. They told each site what its hardware and network requirements were and gave each an implementation plan. This way, the team was able to spread Notes through the organisation by timed stages.
During 1991 and 1992, GME bought over 30,000 licences of Notes, as part of a five-year implementation plan encompassing all European sites. Over that period, all sites upgraded their networks and hardware, adopted a standard suite of desktop software and trained their users in the use of Notes.
GM is now introducing Notes around the world and is expanding the number of users at a rate of 1,000 to 2,000 users a month. .
The number of Notes databases on the various systems is growing into the hundreds. Some are departmental, others are truly global. There are two main type of Notes application - for information distribution or for workflow automation.
Usage
There have been two drivers of the implementation of Notes. The main one has been business need, which has involved transferring a particular business process to Notes. The other, more opportunistic, has been at times of technology refreshment. Each new personal computer that GM installs is equipped with a standard set of tools, including Notes.
Until recently, most Notes systems were self-contained, not linked to existing host-based systems. The maturing of Notes as a product and its add-on market, and improvements in networking technology, have meant that Notes installations are now evolving into hybrid systems. These link LAN-based databases, Notes databases and host systems. Notes is becoming a general platform for the distribution and presentation of data to users who would not otherwise be accessing host-based systems.
This evolution has been helped by the fact that Notes works across varied operating environments. Even though white-collar computing in GME is dominated by Intel-based machines, specific groups are also connected via Unix systems and Apple computers. The ability to share information between these different machine environments has brought everyone 'into the loop'. Groups within GM are now allembracing.
Notes has now been adopted as the standard e-mail system within GM, as well as being the main vehicle for collaborative applications. EDS provides gateway services to allow connection between Notes and other internal mail systems and to external organisations' systems. A fax gateway allows users to communicate to people who do not have electronic connections to the GM Notes community.
That community currently uses about 500 Notes servers, located in over 30 countries worldwide. The servers are administered from several locations, requiring the efforts of about 100 people. This number is high because the servers are geographi-
98 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
cally dispersed. Improved Notes management software expected from Lotus should allow these numbers to drop significantly.
Training
New users used to undergo standardised introductory training. This consisted of a two-hour introduction to Notes, after which the software would be installed on their machines. Although this seemed to be sufficient to get started, as time went on users indicated that they did not feel they were really proficient in the use of Notes.
The main user concern was that the training focused primarily on the mechanics of using Notes rather than on how it could be used for the business processes which they were involved in. EDS therefore moved to customised training for GM employees. Some 'power users', for example, took extra courses in developing applications.
All other technical training, such as advanced development and administration, was given to EDS eIllployees, especially those responsible for systems development and operational support to GME.
This split between technical and business people led to the full potential of Notes not being achieved in some cases. The best projects have always been those where applications development was done in joint teams of GME and EDS staff.
Effects on Staff
In general, the effects of Notes on the GME employees have been positive. Geographical and technical borders have mostly disappeared and people's awareness of their place in the scheme of things has definitely increased. Productivity has grown in dispersed groups, such as the legal departments, which are spread across Europe.
The quality of information being shared has increased significantly almost everywhere. Partly this results from not having to retype information. (The old routine - typing information, printing it, faxing it, receiving it, retyping it and so on - is no more.)
Some people, though, have had a little difficulty adapting to this new speed of information distribution. They were used to having a couple of days' breathing space before information they had requested was returned to their desks. Now, it may just be a matter of minutes or hours before someone replies to them, even from another country.
In the general business areas, staff have had little reason to resist information sharing. The situation has been more difficult in the engineering environments, where people sometimes tended to withhold information up to a crucial moment in order to push their preferred solutions. In those areas, mild pressure was necessary to get everybody to join the new network and share their data. Even here, this was not a major issue.
EDS partly funds a research group, called CFAR. (The other sponsors are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Californian think-tank called the Institute for the Future.) This group has done a number of studies within GM on the impact of Notes.
CFAR has found no evidence of major organisational or cultural shifts within GME, but has found widespread satisfaction with Notes. It reports that 91 % of users
GM Europe: World's Largest User of Notes 99
say that Notes is beneficial to their work. The main improvements have been:
• time savings, because of reduced information redundancy and more efficient information structures;
• greater consistency in performance and output across different teams; • improved communications, to and from more people; • easier access to information; • the ability to do more work in less time.
There has been some organisational change, mainly in communications to outside groups, such as dealers, freight forwarders and promotional agencies. In this respect, Notes has helped extend the enterprise.
Management Issues
The fact that Notes was introduced from the top made it easier to drive it downwards into the organisation. Senior managers increasingly decided that once they were on Notes, their subordinates (the line managers) should communicate with them that way too. Those line managers realised, in turn, that if information from their people came to them on Notes, it was simply a matter of copying and pasting it, or consolidating it, in order to prepare their own reports to go back up the line.
The single biggest task managers faced when introducing Notes was to stick with it. They needed to continuously stimulate their people to use the technology in ways that could benefit their work and increase the satisfaction it could bring them. They also needed to realise that, if their people were to become users of the system, rather than feel like victims of it, they had to be properly trained.
Return on Investment
For some of the company's smaller projects, a quantified return on investment was calculable. For the most part, though, the major return GM has seen out of its Notes implementation has been qualitative. That may not be the sort of thing that some financial directors would like to hear; but in the medium to long term, it is what will make a company more successful than its competitors.
Although not quantified, the effects of Notes within GM have been definite and widespread:
• It has increased the speed with which information can be shared. This has increased efficiency and reduced time to market.
• The improvements in the quality of information have led to increases in the overall quality of service, both within the company and to outside partners.
• Users' greater understanding of their own position, and of their contribution to GM's success, has increased the personal satisfaction they are getting out of their work.
• This has given rise to improvements in the quality of users' work and, with it, that of GM's products.
GM Europe has been extremely happy with its early decision to adopt Notes as its core communications infrastructure. The fact that this decision has been moved up
100 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
to corporate level is clear proof of its success. The corporation now considers itself to be much more globally coherent and the synergy between the 'corporation, its people and its customers has grown fast over the past five years.
Plans for the future now include the further proliferation of Notes to all parts of the corporation, the adoption of newer technologies (such as wireless communications for travellers, desktop video and voice access to data) and the creation of a computing environment that can be considered a virtual desktop for all users, to be accessible anywhere, at any time, in any way.
Henley College of Management: Developing a Global Business School Fenella Galpin and David Birchall
Background
Henley Management College in Oxfordshire is an independent international business school. It was founded in 1945 as the Administrative Staff College and has a long-standing record of innovation in management education and development. Henley exists to help organisations improve their management expertise. Students from those organisations learn by participation in qualification programmes, management development programmes and short courses. The College also carries out practical research, which is commissioned by organisations and by national and international agencies.
Henley has associate organisations in 20 countries and attracts students from over 100 countries each year. It has over 50 full-time faculty members at Henley, and more than 60 associate faculty members. In addition, there are over a 100 programme tutors in the United Kingdom and many more overseas.
MBA Programmes
Henley began its Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree programmes over 20 years ago. The Henley MBA is designed for the needs of international managers, helping them learn how to tackle problems through the use of a multidisciplinary approach. There is a strong emphasis on the application oflearning to the workplace, which is achieved through substantial project work.
In 1984, the College introduced a 'distance learning' MBA. It is now one of the largest providers in the world, with over 6,500 students. They study either directly with Henley or through one of its international associates. The programme employs a combination of video and audio materials, workbooks and regular workshops. It takes about three years to complete.
Although the worldwide market for MBAs has increased greatly in the early 1990s, so too has competition from other providers. Business schools are thus having to differentiate themselves in the eyes of potential students. Henley does this by maintaining high quality, selecting strong local partners, providing internationallyoriented programmes and through innovation.
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Information Technology
Until now, information technology (IT) has not been a major driver of change in the management education market. However, it is recognised generally that the provision of teaching is labour intensive and that computers could be used to drive down costs. Some schools are going further and using IT to effect radical changes in the whole learning process. Henley is one such school.
In 1988, it began using a dial-up bulletin board system to provide networking opportunities amongst groups of students. Armed with that experience, in 1993 the College investigated the use of commercial groupware products. It tried Lotus Notes internally during that summer, extending the trial to include 30 students as users in the autumn of 1993.
Both staff and students commented favourably on the pilot installation, as did a detailed report to the College's senior managers. In February 1994, therefore, Henley adopted Notes as part of its distance learning programmes.
Uses of Lotus Notes
Notes gives Henley's students an opportunity to discuss current management thinking with experts from the College. It also allows them to share knowledge and to debate with a global network of fellow students world-wide. They can do all this without leaving their home or workplace.
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Figure 12.1. Lotus Notes facilities available to students
Henley College of Management: Developing a Global Business School 103
• use electronic mail to send personal messages to fellow students and Henley staff and tutors;
• join in discussions with their peers and the academic community on a range of subjects, either related to their course or of topical interest;
• submit course work, such as assignments and dissertations; • read the biographical details of other students, their research interests and dis-
sertation titles, for personal networking purposes; • order course materials and research reports; • book places on workshops and register for exams; • read and contribute book reviews and topical tips for other users; • access back issues of Henley journals, which can be searched with key words; • engage in informal conversation in the 'Coffee Room' discussion database.
An example of the use of Lotus Notes is the electronically-accessed case study that students use during the strategic management element of their MBA. This gives students an opportunity to translate basic theories into the skills needed in the next stage of the programme.
The case study database is organised to permit easy access to any section of the material. There are links (DocLinks) from the main text to other material, both within the database and in other databases. For example, one of these, allows students to check the definition of strategic management terms. A CD-ROM provides more general materials on issues facing the case study organisation and its industry sector.
After students have carried out preliminary work on the case study, they make a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the company. This they send bye-mail to the tutor responsible for the discussion. He or she then gives the students access to a discussion database dealing with the case study. This sometimes includes diagrams, which illustrate relevant concepts.
The College has also developed a wide range of internal administrative databases which can keep track of students' progress through the course - from initial enquiry to graduation. Other databases report on faculty workloads and involvement in programmes, and with support calls logged and handled.
Notes in Operation
By August 1995, there were over 1,000 students registered and using Lotus Notes. This number is growing at the rate of around 60 per month. One third of registered users are overseas, spread around 60 countries from India to the Falkland Islands.
Each student who wishes to use Lotus Notes must have, or have access to, a suitable IBM -compatible or Apple Macintosh computer, with modem. (The College has arranged discounted prices with a local supplier for students who need to buy a computer.)
Before becoming a Notes user, each student signs and returns a software licence agreement form. Henley then provides the student with a client copy of the Lotus Notes software, as part of the course fee, together with a manual and identity me (ID). Henley does not supply a student with the software until he or she has access to the modem and personal computer of the right specification. This keeps the number of inactive users to a minimum and saves wasting expensive software.
If they can get to Henley, new users attend introductory workshops about Notes. Many students, however, will never come to the College; a comprehensive manual explains how to load the software and to access databases.
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Three members of staff look after the Notes system and give help in person or over the telephone. The College's computer department provides extra technical help. Academic input comes from faculty members.
At the beginning, Henley used a Notes reseller to train staff and set up the Lotus Notes server. It has subsequently provided its own training to staff and students attending workshops at the College.
With so many remote users, Henley has found the replication feature of Lotus Notes to be of particular benefit. Students and staff remote from the College make their own local replicas of databases and can work on them off-line. They update these databases when convenient, through their modems, saving call costs compared with on-line working. The College sends students several of the larger, more static databases on disk, so that they do not have to replicate large amounts of data at the outset.
On average, students spend 10 to 15 minutes a week replicating databases with Henley's server and they pay their own telephone bill. (Obviously, use on their own machine is free.) The majority of students access the College server two or three times a week and soon they will be able to do this over the Internet.
Because Lotus Notes has such a large share of the groupware market, Henley has found that a number of students are already familiar with it, through using it in their own organisations and jobs. The College has therefore set up several serverto-server connexions with other organisations, who are using Notes and have a large number of students studying Henley's programmes.
At present, there is just one Notes server at Henley and remote users are accessing it over dial-up lines. Users within the College are using a Novell local area network to access Notes. There are plans to install local servers in some of the 20 countries where there are associate organisations running Henley's programmes.
Although there are now over 100 databases on Notes, only about half of these are for student use. Different groups of students have access to different databases. A student typically accesses seven or eight databases at any stage of his or her studies.
A database of databases informs students which databases are available to them in the course of their studies, so they know the full range from which to choose and the benefits of each. The College uses Notes' database access control and document field security to ensure that only appropriate users gain access to particular databases or documents.
One of the College'S Notes team develops new applications, with occasional help from Team Technologies, the College's Notes reseller. Where possible, the new developments incorporate students' ideas. One example was the creation of a database where students can record references as they go through the programme, for later inclusion in their projects and dissertations. Several students are already starting to design their own databases for personal or group use.
Effect on People
Students
Students have welcomed the opportunity of networking with their fellows. One student commented,
"Notes ... has provided access to colleagues undergoing similar courses of study with similar issues, needs and problems and we can share solutions. Notes also provides
Henley College of Management: Developing a Global Business School 105
access to tutorial support quickly and effectively. While I am not that distant from Henley it would not matter if I were 100 or 1,000 miles away ... the help and support provided by Notes is the same".
Not all Notes users are regular contributors, but it is still useful for 'lurkers'. An entry from a student in the Coffee Room discussion said this:
"I really appreciate having at one time or another a look in Lotus Notes. On the one hand, it is nice to read what other peoples ideas and interests are. On the other hand, it is that if one has a problem with the course, it is possible to get in touch with the other students or with the different tutors. Lotus Notes is quite like an insurance policy: even if you do not think you need it, it is a good feeling to know you have it".
Another Coffee Room comment, from a student in Germany, confirms that the system is bringing students together, at a social as well as an academic level:
"When I just tried to add something meaningful to my elective assignment which should have already been completed, another sudden attack of motivational breakdown destroyed the rest of to day's creativity. So I hit the mouse key to terminate it all, when I came across the 'Notes' icon. I just wanted to see what's new in the coffee room, before turning offl This system really provides a great chance to overcome the'loneliness' of the DL [distance learning] student, even if it's only used for quick sneak-ins! I find it fascinating to have the opportunity to get in touch with staff and students".
Tutors
Many of the tutors involved in Henley's distance learning programmes work away from the College. For this 'teleworking' faculty, Lotus Notes has already provided easier communications with the College, as well as with the students they are helping.
Tutors welcome the opportunity to address many students' queries in one go. A tutor from New Zealand commented,
"When I receive a query from a student on Notes, I have time to give a full answer with accurate references. Indeed I can give the student a mini-tutorial and it will also be available to other students. The student raising the query gets the benefit of one-toone tuition, but other students can get involved if they wish".
Using Notes, Henley's tutors and researchers can 'brainstorm' and discuss academic and management issues with other tutors and academics around the world. There is a discussion database for faculty and staff to discuss how to use Notes better for teaching purposes.
Notes has enabled some researchers to direct electronic questionnaires and surveys to those students using Notes. They have also been able to advertise research opportunities when help was needed with projects.
Some of the misgivings tutors had about getting involved in Lotus Notes apply equally to other means of student support. A particular issue is that of providing free consultancy. One tutor's view was that this is an occupational hazard for those engaged in management education: "I fmd it is a small, but pretty persistent, minority of students who seek in-depth advice for which they would normally have to pay a consultant. Using Notes, I often try to end with a question which is thrown out to the wider audience."
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Effects Within the College
Staff at Henley are beginning to take the opportunity to learn about and use Lotus Notes. All tutors based at Henley have a personal computer on the local area network. This gives them access to Notes and electronic mail. It also gives access to word processing, graphics, spreadsheets, library information, the Internet and other specialist applications.
As Lotus Notes and other technologies have moved forward, there has been a broadening awareness and understanding of the potential they offer. Adoption of e-mail, for example, is now widespread and has led to a reduction in paper-based communication.
Despite this, take-up among some academics is slow, many not seeing how these tools will help them personally. Also, time pressures for some are such that they have little time to develop new computing skills. For those with limited experience of computers, it poses a threat; they need a great deal of support and encouragement to get involved. They also have to adjust to new ways of teaching through Lotus Notes.
Some tutors have been concerned about the possible overload if all Notes users were to e-mail a tutor and expect a personal response. In reality, this has not been the case. Also, there are general mail boxes for such general queries. It is still true, though, that students expect a speedier response - just like using fax compared with the postal service.
Besides its use for communicating with students, Notes is also used to help overcome the difficulty of finding convenient times for internal meetings. An increasing number of meetings are now held on the Notes system, rather than in person. This has resulted in Notes being used by staff and tutors who are not directly involved in student support. In order to ensure that everyone relevant has the opportunity to contribute to such discussions, these are now conducted over a longer time, typically two or three weeks.
Operational Issues
Replication is a key issue for remote users and some students had problems understanding that they must replicate databases in order to receive updates. A few students thought that nothing was happening on Notes because they had not grasped this idea.
In the early days support for remote access from the Notes reseller and from Lotus was a problem, as they had not had much experience of this themselves.
With such a widely dispersed community, the College has found it needs to plan meticulously any upgrades to the Notes software. Changes cause work for users as well as the Notes team, so this may put off some users as it is impossible to visit every user's personal computer.
The wish to install some distributed servers in countries where Henley has partner institutions has raised many issues, particularly when partners are less well equipped technically and have little technical assistance available. The College is drawing up contracts so that each side understands exactly what will be provided and what is expected.
Henley College of Management: Developing a Global Business School 107
Lessons Learnt
A cross-disciplinary working party is responsible for Lotus Notes at the strategic level, with technical support from the computer department. Other working parties with specific briefs are looking at specific areas of Notes, such as administrative and operational applications and academic use. Fostering this cross-functional working - integrating users, technical people and the computer department - takes considerable time and energy.
The College spent much time on awareness and training, among both staff and users, partly to gain their support. Until a 'critical mass' of users began to carry the system forward, persistence and encouragement from Henley staff was essential to keep the databases running.
Helping senior managers to get 'up to speed' with Lotus Notes has also been an issue. There is a large range of understanding and competence in evidence. Although the level of the lowest has been much improved, the gap from best to worst has probably increased.
Generally, the College can see that the potential of Lotus Notes is very great, but deciding priorities can be difficult when the possibilities and their development and implementation costs are not always certain. The support and advice from the Notes reseller, Team Technologies, on this and other issues has been invaluable.
For the kind of commitment to Lotus Notes that Henley has made, support from the top of the organisation has been essential. Lotus Notes fitted with the College's business objectives and senior managers have tried to make the benefits of using Notes clear to all users.
Overall Results
Henley has not expected quantifiable financial return on its investment - Notes is designed to help support its student community. Some of the qualitative benefits of introducing Notes have been that:
• It has improved the College'S public image. • It has demonstrated to staff and faculty members the College's intentions to bet
ter use information technology. • Staff have gained communications and networking experience, which will pre
pare them for other developments.
The Future
The major benefit of Lotus Notes has been the interactivity it provides between students and faculty members. Henley is keeping data on Lotus Notes take-up and usage. It expects that students using Notes will show an improvement in assignment and examination marks, and in overall programme completion rates.
Development of this system has been slow and was always expected to be so, but Henley has many plans for the future use of communications technology. Some of these are already in train. The trials with associate institutions of local servers in other countries, for example, should provide cheaper and more closely tailored access for local students, ensuring that programmes have local relevance.
108 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Henley is aware that it cannot go faster than is permitted by the level of technology that the average student has in his or her home. It is, though, also looking at linking Lotus Notes with decision conferencing and video conferencing software, as opportunities arise. There are many other Windows applications and programmes that work well with Notes, including sound, video and document imaging. Henley is looking at extending its Notes system with some of these features.
The College is beginning to use Notes to support its other activities and internal work processes. Its course administration database, which keeps track of each student's progress through the programme, is an example.
In due course, Henley will be creating a complete 'learner support system', with personal computer-based tools (word processing, spreadsheets, databases, statistics package). This will be tailored to study needs and will provide access to information services and search tools, to tutors and peers, and to assessment systems. It will also allow multimedia delivery of basic course materials.
IDV (UK) Limited: Sales Force Management Stephen Ives
Background
mv Limited, part of Grand Metropolitan pIc, is one of the largest distributors of wines and spirits in the world. mv (UK) Limited is the national company responsible for the sale of premium wines and spirits into the British market.
The company has two separate sales forces, split by brands. The two sales forces sell their products, such as Smirnoff, Baileys and Jack Daniel's, in similar ways to the same set of customers. These are mainly public houses ('pubs'), clubs, offlicences and multiple grocers.
mv (UK) decided to use Lotus Notes as the basis of a bespoke software development aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its field sales force. It wanted better targeting of sales resources, a reduction in administrative paperwork and better communication between the sales force and the office-based sales and marketing staff.
The company's sales and marketing team have much in common with other suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods. This sector is characterised by the use of large numbers of sales people to sell relatively low volumes of a product to individual outlets. These sales people normally each make 10 to 15 sales calls a day. In my, as in other organisations, they had little discretion, receiving minimal information from head office strategists and rarely meeting their colleagues.
The project
IDV had already run a trial with a single sales person using a simple personal computer database. The purpose of the trial was to establish the feasibility of using an electronic database while 'on the road'. The representative involved was enthusiastic about the system. She said it had enabled her to incorporate companies and prospects into her journey plans that previously she might not have considered.
Following this success, the company decided to carry out a more comprehensive project, encompassing the whole selling process and using bespoke software based on Lotus Notes. The project sponsor was Philip Eddleston, a board member ofmV and the managing director of Morgan Furze, one of its member companies.
The company set up a working party of representatives from all of the main areas of the business - sales, sales management, national accounts and the IT group. This group identified the scope, objectives and managers for the project.
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IDV (UK) then engaged the services of a Notes res eller, Ives & Company, to help with the project. An Ives & Company consultant accompanied sales development managers on their calls. This was, by his accounts, a demanding experience - day after day spent visiting pub after pub and club after club.
The consultant's observations and the information he gathered on these visits went into the production of a working prototype of a Notes application. Ives & Company showed this to groups ofIDV staff in a series of workshops. There were separate workshops for different users, ensuring that managers' views and wishes did not dominate the requirements phase.
Staff made many comments and suggestions during these workshops, which were incorporated in the final software. Some of the suggestions were built into the prototype software there and then. This had a dramatic effect on users' confidence and their commitment to the project. They could see that their comments were being taken seriously and that changes were being made in response to their requests.
This process gave rise to an agreed set of requirements. They included:
• a customer and prospects database • a contacts database • relationship history and event tracking • e-mail, including integration with IDV's existing cc:Mail system • journey planning • call reporting • sales campaign promotion bulletins • point-of-sale ordering system • ad hoc queries across the database
IDV ran a pilot system for almost six months, encompassing the chaotically busy Christmas period. Sixteen sales development managers, two sales managers and two sales operations people used notebook computers and modems. Each person would conduct a day's work as normal and would replicate their local database with the central server during the evening.
Towards the end of the trial period, Philip Eddleston hosted a project dinner at which everybody was encouraged to voice their concerns, likes and dislikes about the project.
After the trial period, the IT working party presented its findings to the IDV board. The findings included qualitative and quantitative feedback and notes from the project dinner feedback session. The board then sanctioned a phased implementation of the software to all 70 sales people and the 20 office staff.
The System
IDV's sales strategists work in the sales operation function, based at Harlow in Essex. They break the selling year into six, eight or twelve 'Drive Periods' and give the sales person clear objectives and promotions to focus on during each period. A typical objective might be to enhance the presentation of more Baileys (a cream liqueur) into free trade outlets.
Each of the IDV sales people has a territory which covers between 6,000 and 9,000 customers. Previously, the most information a sales person kept about his or
IDV (UK) Limited: Sales Force Management 111
her territory was a set of record cards in the boot of the car. These typically covered about 400 customers. The temptation was always there for the sales person to rotate his or her activities through this list of 400, ignoring the vast majority of sales opportunities.
The Notes database, in contrast, enables the sales development managers to establish exactly who are the free trade outlets in his or her territory, and to tell which of them are not already selling Baileys. This would have been practically impossible before.
This system also identifies those customers who could help meet Drive Period objectives. It places them in order, with the ones seen least recently at the top of the list. This encourages the sales development managers to satisfy another management objective, which is to get better coverage in each territory. No more wearing a track between the favourite 400 or so accounts.
After each call, the sales development managers completes a call report form within Notes. These forms reflect the objectives for that Drive Period, by weighting the points allocated for achieving sales of particular products. The software totals these points for each sales call and gives a running total for each day. Figure l3.1 shows a typical customer record card.
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Postcode ' AB 1 2PY' Telephone' 01224581192
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•
Figure 13.1. Customer call record card
Every evening, the sales development managers automatically replicate their Notes databases with head office. This passes on their individual reports for the day and sends out to them any messages and information from elsewhere in the organisation.
112 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The Results
The new Notes-based system allows sales managers and sales operation staff to readily monitor the progress of the company and of individual divisions, areas, regions or sales people. They can measure the extent of achievement of Drive Period objectives and of company targets, such as the number of calls made each day.
Marketing and sales operations people can now also perform relational-type queries across the entire company's consolidated database. On the advice of Ives & Company, mv UK installed an Ives & Company product called Interagent. This pumps data from the Notes-based system into Microsoft Access, a desktop database product, for reporting and data management purposes.
One result of this increased speed and depth of reporting is that managers can now detect and act on problems far more quickly than in the past. Previously, the sales operations and sales management teams would not know whether a specific objective had proved successful or not until some time after the Drive Period had ended. It would be days, sometimes over a week, before all the information was gathered, consolidated and analysed. Meanwhile, 60 sales development managers might have been wasting valuable selling time on unworkable objectives.
The consolidation and reporting of points achieved now underpins a national sales programme, which rewards teams and individuals according to performance within Drive Periods.
Sales people have benefited in another way. Previously they felt distanced from the office and their colleagues. They now have rapid access to their colleagues and senior managers through electronic mail and discussion databases.
Background
Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd: 10 Critical Success Factors for Notes Adoption Dene Isherwood
In 1993, microprocessor manufacturer Intel reported net revenues of $5.8 billion, had 26,000 employees worldwide and was one of the world's fastest growing companies. Yet Intel felt that however well it was doing, it should do better.
As part of its efforts to retain competitive advantage, the company introduced an efficiency improvement programme in its sales and marketing operations. One aim of the programme, called 'Intelligence', was to reduce the existing proliferation of approaches to information technology, such as the range of software packages and information formats. The overriding purpose was to make it possible to share information around the organisation.
Dene Isherwood, European Programme Manager at Intel at the time, explains the problem:- "Intel is proud of the proportion of income it pumps back into the company, particularly in research and development and capital spending. This has been particularly true in our factories and our engineering offices. Yet we have made little use of personal computers in the business. Those employees who had them found it hard to share information, because their colleagues were often using different applications software".
Computer-Supported Collaboration
Intel operates in an business environment where its operations are global and where customer service is a key issue. "We needed to get rid of the 'I'll get back to you' response to customers:' says Mr Isherwood. "In 1993, Intel decided to become a 'just in time' business, through the use of computer-supported collaboration."
The company saw certain issues as being fundamental to the successful implementation of a collaborative working strategy.
• The processing power of its computers had to be sufficient to take advantage of new developments, such as sending video clips over networks. It also had to provide the sort of response times that people had become used to with their personal and home computers.
• The system had to cater for mobile workers, both those travelling with laptop or notebook computers and those who worked at home using desktop computers.
• The system had to be available to everyone who wanted to be part of it. Mr Isherwood felt that such a system could only be useful if 100% of a group that needed it had it.
113
114 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The Lotus Notes Solution
The company decided to use Lotus Notes and developed a full range of applications within the USA; later introducing it across Europe.
Intel set up pilot projects to test the value of Notes in a variety of business environments, including sales, marketing, factory planning and information systems.
Discussion databases, which allow wide participation in discussions on projects, proved to be particularly successful. The Northern Europe management team, for example, can work closely together through Lotus Notes, despite being based in different countries. "These databases are successful", says Mr Isherwood, "wherever there is a business need for cross-company discussion."
Lotus Notes has many other uses within the organisation:
• It has been especially successful in problem tracking at the company help desk. • It has also allowed customer support staff to respond immediately to queries,
finding out whether a problem has occurred before and getting problems fixed quickly.
• The pan-European market development team, which keeps in touch and reports through a Notes database, has become a keen user of the system. So, too, has a team of five sales people based in the Milan office.
The information systems (IS) team itself uses Lotus Notes for keeping track of the complex training programmes developed for users. By carrying this database on their laptop computers, team members can answer users' queries about their individual programs at any time. The IS team has also found it useful to have a directory of users within Lotus Notes, giving name, address, phone and fax number, for easy identification.
Dene Isherwood points out that the value of Lotus Notes as a reference library is often overlooked. In Intel, users can access technical information, and also product updates, customer information and competitive information. The diverse and often confidential information available within these databases calls for extensive use of Notes' security features, allowing different users access at various levels.
As well as putting in their own information, users can view data fed from external services into Lotus Notes. Intel also uses Lotus Notes to broadcast large amounts of internal information across the organisation. These can be presentations or files with video clips inserted, for example.
Because some users work from home or in hotels, it is not always convenient for them to download large files of data through modems. To address this problem, Intel makes use of the Notes' File Transfer Databases feature. This allows a user to send out a mail to other users, telling them a file is available. Interested parties can then download the file to their machines when they have a high-speed link available.
Implementation
There are now Lotus Notes servers in every main Intel sales office, each containing current versions of the appropriate databases. Desktop personal computers on networks are linked directly with the Lotus Notes servers in each office.
Automatically scheduled replication of the databases across the world is carried
Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd: Ten Critical Factors for Notes Adoption 115
out every two hours, using Intel's local and wide area networks. Information inputted in the European headquarters in Munich takes just six hours to ftlter around Europe and eight hours to reach the US and Japanese offices.
Laptop and notebook computer users maintain replicated databases on their personal computers and initiate the replication procedure themselves. "We needed to persuade these users to do updates regularly:' says Dene Isherwoood. "It's like brushing your teeth - do it once in the morning and once at night. If you leave it much longer than that the information to be transferred builds up rapidly:'
By the end of 1993, there were 5,000 Lotus Notes users in the company, roughly a fifth of its employees. A corporate team of 10 people provides them with worldwide support. This team also administers the addition of users to the system and validates the use of software and hardware within the company.
Field and strategic intelligence groups, comprising about 54 people worldwide, support the user applications. Users in Europe found that there were many ways in which they needed the applications to be customised because Intel developed its first applications in the USA.
Maximising Value
According to Dene Isherwood the successful take-up of Lotus Notes can be attributed to a number of reasons. First was that senior business managers drove the implementation top-down, rather than from the information systems department.
Secondly, the programme met with the warmest welcome in groups where people were not only enthusiastic about the new technology, but also had a genuine business need for using it.
The third reason for Notes' success was that the company provided thorough and appropriate training in the use of computer technology. This ensured that staff understood their working environment and could maximise their value from it. Dene Isherwood emphasises that, for Intel, training was crucial. "Lotus Notes isn't difficult:' he says, "but it builds on a great deal of knowledge that needs to be acquired first."
After a false start using just internal trainers, the company started again with a programme developed with the help of consultants and Lotus Development itself.
Each member of staff was first given three months to build a thorough understanding of his or her personal computer, starting with finding the way around the keyboard and working through the elements of Lotus' SmartSuite bundle of desktop applications software.
Once ready for Lotus Notes training, each user attended a course tailored to his or her job function. The length of the course ranged from one to three-and-a-half days, depending on the mixture of training required. Professional trainers gave the courses, with Intel system staff in attendance.
The Notes team ran courses in Paris, Munich and Swindon, training over 300 people in the first quarter of 1993. Fewer than 10 required additional training.
The Wisdom of Hindsight
Two years later, by which time Intel's revenues had reached $1l.5 billion, Dene Isherwood looked back on the sales and marketing 'Intelligence' programme, and
116 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
on the use of Lotus Notes throughout Intel generally. He discussed his experiences and observations at a meeting of the 'Trading Post' groupware* forum, in London, in May 1995. What follows is a summary of what he said, set out in the form of a scorecard.
(To use the scorecard, one should first select the relevant answer for each of the ten questions set out below. Add up the scores indicated - the weightings of which were decided by the members of the March 1995 forum - to produce an overall total. From that, one can see which of the four bands it falls into. The resulting advice is not given entirely tongue in cheek - Editors)
Ten Critical Success Factors
Dene Isherwood said that, in his mind, there were 10 factors that are critical to the successful adoption of groupware throughout any enterprise.
1. Business pressure. How much of a competitive threat exists against your com-pany?
• Acknowledged serious threat - score 10. • Acknowledged threat - score 5. • No perceived threat - score O.
Many people in strong, successful companies have never known failure. Everything they do 'turns to gold'. If someone proposes something revolutionary, which challenges the way they are doing things, they see no reason to change. They tend to argue that if they change anything, they are likely to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
A better approach, feels Dene Isherwood, is to ask, "How is your company differentiating itself in the market place?" It might not be (or feel) under competitive threat, but it might want to differentiate its products or services from a competitor's. One way to achieve this is by moving information around faster and by sharing it out to customers. "Groupware obviously helps with this. On the other hand, if it's not necessary to your business, then you're not going to get very far with it."
2. Long-term thinking. Over what timescale do you normally plan your work?
• Two years - score 9. • One year - score 6. • Six months - score 3. • Less than six months - score O.
"Project managing a specific groupware project is a recipe for disaster, because you're dealing with a timescale of typically a week or a month. The people who are power-playing around you are basically setting things in motion and putting stakes in the ground well in advance. They can put insurmountable obstacles in your way, which you don't even see until you walk straight into them:'
''A long term vision as to where one is going and how one is going to get there is essential if one is going to be successful with groupware. Groupware cannot be introduced in six months or less, unless your company is just five people strong. And even then two will want to leave."
*For further details, contact Peter Lloyd
Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd: Ten Critical Factors for Notes Adoption 117
3. Seniority. How senior are you in your organisation? • Managing director/chief executive, IT director/CIO - score 8. • One level down - score 6. • Two levels down - score 4.
• Three levels down - score 2. • Four levels down - score 1.
• More than four levels down - score O.
"Groupware projects in companies tend to start small; consequently, relatively junior staff are held responsible. This is not a recipe for success. Senior staff should be actively involved in all aspects of groupware implementation planning, since the business impact of this blend of technologies is far greater than the technical effort required."
"The more political power the individual has, the greater chance of success there is. In particular, the managing directors of small companies seem to have the highest chance of success."
4. Business champion. Are you, or have you, identified a senior business cham-pion for the Notes approach? Does he or she use Notes?
• Yes, and is on the board - score 8.
• Yes, and is a senior manager - score 4.
• No - score O.
"If the company champion for groupware sits in the IT function, then there is a very strong need for a senior business person to take a strong and active interest in the implementation projects and process. Without a business-oriented champion, groupware will be relegated to the 'nice to haves' and will not tackle the core business problems of the enterprise."
"The problem with core business problems is that they need to be well defined and this cannot easily be done by people with little business experience."
5. Business process change. How willing is your organisation to undergo signifi-cant business process change?
• Always changing business processes - score 6.
• Sometimes changes business processes - score 3.
• Never changes business processes - score O.
"If the business thinks that it is always getting things right, then it will not easily consider making business process changes. But unless you change some of the business processes, you are not going to get much reward for all your effort. You need to look for examples of previous projects that have tried to change the way parts of the enterprise function. Did these succeed?"
6. Influence. How much influence (over people, budget, etc.) do you have within IT applications development?
• Full control of all IT application development - score 5.
• Partial control - score 3.
• No control - score O.
118 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
"If you control the applications development environment and you are a Notes champion, your chances of success are greatly enhanced. If you don't control the application development environment, make sure you positively influence the person who does."
7. Technical capability. Has your organisation experience of supporting any large scale client/server system or infrastructure?
• Much experience (for example, in client/server e-mail) - score 5. • Limited experience - score 2. • No experience - score O.
"The technical capability that exists within a typical IT support department is very important. Groupware depends on Intel-based or Apple personal computers being around in large quantities. If you haven't already built a large scale client/ server system, you're going to have to spend two or three years building that up in most large companies."
"You need to be able to support this diverse personal computer environment across your entire company. If you can't do that across the whole infrastructure, then you can't bring up the groupware product because it needs everyone communicating to function fully."
8. Business trade-off. Are your business users prepared to put up with second best in return for a very fast IT response to today's problems?
• Yes, most of the time - score 3. • Yes, some of the time - score 1. • No - score O.
"The business is used to IT projects taking six to nine months, with three to six people involved. And that's on little projects. The big projects would require 10 to 12 people for, perhaps, four years!"
"With Notes you can go in and say to them, 'Look again at your requirements. Don't give me all the bells and whistles, just what do you really need to do. Give me that brief and I'll go away and do it, and I'll do it in a week'. They don't believe you and often they are not prepared to accept second best. They want the bells and whistles; they want the traffic lights in the bottom right hand corner of the screen -going red, red-yellow, green, yellow and then red - rather than some information presented in a relatively simple manner:'
"If your business and your IT developers are not prepared to sacrifice GUI -appeal for speed of development, then you're in trouble."
9. Office politics. How do you rate yourself in handling office politics?
• High - score 2. • Medium - score 1. • Low - score O.
"When people actually look out for themselves in companies, they don't do what's right for the companies, they do what's right for them. Some senior managers seem to acknowledge this fact and go along with it as well. You have to have a little bit of trust in the system, that it tends to self correct, but you can end up the victim. So you have to be astute in handling this, and if you are not very good at this then implementing any enterprise-wide programme will be difficult for you. You must always search for the 'win-win' solution, although sometimes there will be losers:'
Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd: Ten Critical Factors for Notes Adoption 119
10. Notes expertise. How much Notes expertise are you able to muster? • Plenty of expertise available - score 2. • Some expertise available - score 1.
• No expertise readily available - score O.
"If you can't get hold of this you are pretty well sunk. You can always buy it in, but how deep are your pockets? Do you have people in IT that can be trained up rapidly in this environment? It doesn't take a long time to take effect. If you are in charge of the IT development department, you can send 30% of your developers off on a course. They can pick it up within weeks."
"If you're not in charge, then it is much more of a problematical issue. You are going to have to buy in contractors and the contractors are going to have to learn your business processes. They then leave, which is not good. So, try to muster as much Notes expertise as you can."
Scoring
Can you succeed?
• Total score of 40+ - Yes, go full steam ahead. Work to score 100% (58 points). • Total score of 30+ - Tread with extreme caution on exposed areas. • Total score of 20+ - Increase score to 50% (29 points) before starting seriously. • Total score below 20 - Leave the company or move on to another task.
KLM: Business Excellence System Dr Ceri Thomas
Background
KLM Royal Dutch Air is one of the world's oldest airlines, having been in business for 75 years. It flies passengers and cargo all over the world and has equity stakes in other airlines, including Air UK and Transavia.1t also has a worldwide alliance with NorthWestern Airlines of the USA. In its 1994/1995 trading year, its turnover was NLG 9.2 billion and its pre-tax profits were NLG 563 million.
The company's UK mission states: "It's our business to be customer and profit driven." As Pieter Bouw, its president, said when announcing its latest financial results: "These cornerstones remain at the heart of our mission: customer, market, costs and a sound financial base:'
As this implies, the customer and the service always comes first at KLM. It is quality of service that underpins profitability. This simple view of business has led KLM to embrace the Total Quality Management philosophy and to implement it throughout its processes and activities.
KLM uses the European Foundation for Quality Management version of the Total Quality Management model (Figure 15.1). Thus it recognises that processes are the means by which it harnesses and releases the talents of its people to produce results. It has therefore invested strongly in the last 12 months in the following areas:
• understanding, documenting and improving its work and people processes; • investing in people and their training; • improving all facets of communication.
The company's commitment to Total Quality Management and its alignment to the European Foundation for Quality Management is a challenge and a motivator in itself. So many organisations espouse quality at a time when they are poorly equipped and inadequately prepared to achieve it. The result is that the word itself takes on a hollow ring.
The airline has become much more focused on key performance targets and reports provide evidence that the Total Quality Management message is getting through. Following workshops for all 370 staff in its British and Irish operations, the proportion believing that Total Quality Management would significantly benefit the company was running at almost 80%.
At KLM quality involves:
• regular use of customer feedback data and industrial benchmarking;
120
KLM: Business Excellence System 121
People People ~
.9- Management (9% Satisfaction (9%) "5 V) V) .c: Q)
~~ ~~ PoHcyand ~~ Customer ~2 Q)';;t ~I.() Strategy (8%) 0_ Satisfaction (20%) Q)::::' 0'-' 0'-' .£; Q) 0:: -.J :3
Resources (9%) Impact on CO Society (6%)
ENABLERS (50%) t RESULTS (50%) (How) (What)
Fig 15.1. The European Quality Award assessment model: European Foundation for Quality Management.
• regular team and departmental communications in which 'quality' is a standing item;
• active and visible supervision and management, in which managers are expected to be role models for their people;
• regular staff surveys to check 'the climate' and the effectiveness of internal communications;
• investing in professional recruitment and selection methods to ensure the best fit between people and job requirements;
• clear and up-to-date job descriptions, which follow the nine elements described in the European Foundation for Quality Management model;
• major investment in training to support quality working; • provision of the best possible information technology (Intel 486-based personal
computers are standard office equipment).
KLM as a whole is also introducing the European Foundation for Quality Management concept and aims to achieve by 1997 a 'world class' score of 750 points. But when it originally examined the EFQM model, it became clear that without a fundamental change in the management of staff, such a score was only a remote possibility. "We need a truly integrated people management system, accessible by all staff, and covering the critical human resources aspects of work:' says David McCammon, KLM's UK Personnel Manager.
Business Excellence System at KLM
The British and Irish operation of KLM had been using orthodox methods of setting 'Key Result Areas' and assessing people for some time. Its first sight of the Performance Management Group's ideas came in November 1994. KLM's Personnel Manager, David McCammon, attended a meeting of an human resource software user group, at which the Group's system was demonstrated and discussed.
Performance management is: ''A process which is designed to improve organisational, team and individual performance and which is owned and driven by line managers. In essence, performance management is a shared process between
122 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
managers and the individuals and teams they manage. It is based on the principle of management by contract rather than command." (Armstrong, 1994.)
Within about two months and with the support ofKLM UK's general manager at the time, Paul Gregorowitsch, KLM was in a position to proceed with a project to use this Lotus Notes-based system.
The airline set five main objectives for it:
• to focus all staff on customer trends and requirements; • to focus everyone's attention on the company's Key Result Areas; • to support quality management of people; • to create a computer-based 'encyclopaedia of work', accessible by all staff; • to ensure that all aspects of the quality system integrate logically.
It had already established many of the components of what was to become its Business Excellence System in paper and electronic formats - for example, it had written up over 300 work processes in the ISO 9002 format.
'People' processes (flow charts describing actions that should be taken by managers or supervisors when confronted with absenteeism, poor work performance, racial discrimination or similar) had also been prepared. Individual jobs were systematically coded as part of an overall organisation structure. These, in conjunction with job holder information, were stored in a personal computer-based personnel records system (Percom). But KLM was not a Notes user at that time.
Information technology plays a central role in assisting the overall Total Quality Management approach at KLM. Indeed, the company is a past winner of the United Kingdom ITIP award for innovative use of IT in Personnel. "We always try to use appropriate technology in our personnel work: whether it's a personnel database, interview software, job analysis or, in this case, a fully distributed people management system:' says David McCammon.
At KLM, it was seen as essential that IT should be used to integrate information about work processes and people processes with the detail of job description, key results, training needs and assessments. These needed to be in one place under the same IT umbrella. Implicit in approach is an emphasis on measurement, whatever the subject: from the punctuality of its flights to staff feedback on training to quantifying Key Result Areas.
Says McCammon, "We insist on measurement. If what we are doing is not capable of measurement in one way or another, then we wonder whether we should be doing it all. That applies to our customer feedback, our relations with our business partners, our staff relations and our Key Result Areas. If people can measure what they are doing, they know themselves whether they are doing a good job."
Why "Business Excellence System"?
The original ideas for the system came from Performance Management and these underpin much of KLM's final system. But the airline decided that this was too internally oriented and wanted the system to support a clearer customer focus. By incorporating key information about customer needs and satisfaction and business performance, KLM, in partnership with The Performance Management Group, has put the original Performance Management ideas into a wider and more relevant business context. KLM now, therefore, sees the customised product as a business excellence system and refers to it as such.
KLM: Business Excellence System 123
Total Performance Management
The project therefore hinged on applying the Performance Management Group's ideas, as contained in its existing Total Performance Management system (TpM)l and broadening the design. It was to encompass KLM's vision of total quality, resulting in the Business Excellence System now in use.
There are three main issues confronting the designer of a Lotus Notes-based performance management system:
1. Access versus confidentiality: • How to 'take the lid off' the performance management process whilst retain
ing interpersonal trust. • How to give senior managers a clearer picture of how strategy is being trans
lated into action, while allowing individuals to gain a wider perspective on the importance and impact of their own contribution.
• How to maintain the right level of confidentiality for the protection of the individual and the company overall. (For example, there may, be certain plans and Key Result Areas which a company needs to keep confidential.)
KLM's system aims to balance these essential attributes.
2. Adaptability versus data structure and consistency: • Notes offers great freedom in the way information can be stored as docu
ments. Its text searching capability complements that. • On the other hand, a well-organised system helps both in guiding the user in
best practice and in organising information for easy analysis. The design of the underlying Total Performance Management system enables a much higher level of management information to be compiled than a simple computerisation of traditional appraisal forms would allow.
3. Contracting: Performance Management as a process is a series of agreements and 'contracts' between individuals and their managers. Some agreements may be based on equality. Others more closely resemble acceptance rather than positive agreement between equals. For the process to work and to help in the motivation of staff, it is likely that agreement will be more effective than coercion. There are several points in the process where agreement is needed and needs to be recorded in some way: • agreeing (or at least accepting) the job description; • agreeing Key Result Areas; • agreeing that Key Result Areas have been accurately and fairly reviewed; • agreeing that an individual's performance assessment is fair.
In circumstances where the setting of Key Result Areas and their probability of achievement is likely to have a direct influence on pay decisions, the importance of agreement of the job description and the Key Result Areas becomes particularly important.
The contracts need not be confined to the job holder-manager relationship. Where Key Result Areas represent commitments to customers (internal or
'rpM is designed and distributed by The Performance Management Group.
124 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
external) it would be natural to seek their confirmation that the Key Result Areas accurately describe the contract and whether the planned result was achieved.
In all such cases, it is important to provide within the Notes system at least the same level of authenticity as in paper-based systems, that is individuals 'signing' documents as agreed/fair/correct. In Notes, as in any electronic system, when it is potentially so easy for users to change documents (with or without audit trails), this is doubly important.
In addition to these three issues, the system needs to offer far greater flexibility in its timeliness than traditional systems allow. It needs to allow job holders and managers to review the job and the relevant Key Result Areas when prompted by the business need or when personnel change. It should comply simply with an administrative ritual - the annual appraisal.
Workflow
The model underpinning the full Business Excellence System is summarised in Figure 15.2. This covers all aspects of the system, induding the active workflow elements, the reference material (Encydopaedia of Work) and other policy statements and plans. The existing workflow concerns primarily the left hand side of the model.
Forms Job Descriptions KRAs KRAReviews Assessments POI's
Fields Organization Department Department Assessor Department With Job Codes Department and Costs Job Holder Department Job Holder Without Job Codes Job Holder Job Title Job Holder Manager
Job Title Result Job Title Mentor KRAType Reviewer Ratings and KRA Tpe and Costs Status and Department Passenger Sales Job Holder Status and Review Date Job Holder Reviewer
Figure 15.2. KLM Business Excellence System model.
There are six stages in which users are primarily concerned with creating documents, usually with reference to other information in the system. These are:
1. Organisational description and establishment. The system uses the organisation structure as a framework upon which to hang the main components, such as jobs and job descriptions.
When creating the organisational description, the first level defined is the company itself. At KLM this encompasses statements that describe the company's vision and values, its mission statement, Key Result Areas for the current year and human resource strategy.
This single (read only) document is designed for maximum accessibility from different parts of the system. This is done in the belief that all employees need to be fully aware of the overall aims of the organisation and of ' the way things are done around here', when planning their own work and personal development.
2. Setting up jobs and job descriptions. The job description form is the main building block of the system. It contains details of the job holder and manager, with
KLM: Business Excellence System 125
a full job description couched in Total Quality Management terms. Its purpose is to provide a full and clear account of what is required of job hold~rs in all the main aspects of the job. This is the first stage in supporting quality working and, subsequently, fair assessment.
At KLM, each job is uniquely coded in such a way as to identify the department and whether the job is, for example, a 'Departmental Manager' or 'Divisional Director'. This is partly as a by-product of its Percom personnel records system. Such coding is independent of the person occupying the post. This proved a robust framework on which to base the Notes system.
The job description form is completed by electronic sign-off by the parties. For a job description to reach 'agreed' status, the unchanged form needs to be signed by both job holder and manager. Any change made by either returns the form status to 'under discussion'. As part of the document management procedure, any change also requires the user to provide a brief 'reason for change' and records his or her personal identifier in the document history. This document control is mirrored in other parts of the system where sign-off is required.
3. Setting up key result areas and key result area reviews. Key Result Areas, known in some other organisations as Job Objectives, are high priority, specific and measurable targets and standards. They provide the shorter term focus for each job -sales targets, project completions, change programmes and so on. A job holder may have as few as one or as many as seven or eight of these.
KLM's system allows these to be composed from within the Job Description form. There is access to the on-line help facility, which provides advice on best practice. From here a new document is created for each Key Result Area, inheriting relevant fields from the job description.
An important part of agreeing Key Result Areas is their alignment with broader, corporate or business-wide goals. The Key Result Area form prompts users to allocate each Key Result Area to one of the Key Result Area types. These include cost/ financial control, customer care, employee relations, environment, external community, health and safety, product innovation, public relations, quality improvement, sales/revenue, training and development and use of IT.
In this way, the Notes view provides a higher level summary of the main focus of the many Key Result Areas being progressed by the work force.
4. Assessments. The assessment form in the KLM system has two important characteristics. First, it is a document that is created at the start of an assessment period, rather than only at the end. This enables a continuous process of assessment and self-assessment to be used, if desired. It is also the point in the workflow at which a personal development plan (see below) is set up for the period ahead.
Second, the assessment form inherits the Total Quality Management job elements from the appropriate job description form, removing the need for constant referral in completing assessments. In addition, this allows the job description form to be remain largely depersonalised and more 'public' than if it were to contain personal assessment information. This arrangement also helps to ensure that job holders are assessed against the current (not an outdated) job description.
5. Personal development plans. The personal development plan contains a statement of the training and development needs and plans that arise in the discussions a job holder has with his or her manager. These are often at the time an assessment is being opened or when Key Result Areas are being agreed.
126 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The job description records the training that any job holder will need for quality performance of a job. The personal development plan, on the otht;!r hand, records the training that the current job holder will undertake during the next 12 months. It will also record the training that has been completed over the same period. The accumulation of personal development plans over the years represents an individual's training and development record with the company.
6. Anonymous feedback. The anonymous feedback system allows users to assess in questionnaire form how effective the performance management process and Business Excellence System itself is proving. Users are prompted to agree or disagree with diagnostic statements, such as: "I have a clear understanding of our business objectives and my personal Key Result Areas".
Alongside these active stages in the workflow are the purpose-built Notes 'views' of the information, here shown in schematic form (Figure 15.3). These views are intended to provide for at least 80% of users' reporting needs.
Vision Mission Valuesl------------------I Customer Focus HR strategy Plan Critical Processes
ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF WORK
Work Processes People Processes
Dict/onary of Competencies Handbooks
Course Agendas
I Attitude Survey I Performance Related
f------j Pay Bonus
Succession Planning
Competency Matching
Management Development
Figure 15.3. Standard Business Excellence System Views
On-line Help and the Encyclopaedia of Work
The workflow described in the preceding section is supported through a help system that combines:
• advice on best practice; • user help on the system itself (for instance, 'How to Compose an Assessment'); • KLM's Encyclopaedia of Work, incorporating:
KLM: Business Excellence System 127
- definition of standard competencies - conditions of employment - pension handbook - people processes - quality report (the annual European Foundation for Quality Management
report) - telephone directory - training courses - work processes (in ISO 9002 format).
In contrast to the active parts of the system, these are reference documents. All employees can view them from either appropriate stages in the work flow (such as from the job description form to the relevant work processes) or through the selection menu.
The Encyclopaedia, in particular, helps KLM meet its overall objective of creating a logically-integrated entity in which key information about work is held alongside information about who is doing it and how it is performed. Access to the relevant work process documents helps individual job holders gain a clear appreciation of what a particular job entails.
The differences between the active and passive parts of the system are illustrated in Figure 15.4.
REFER CREATE
• Help
• Customer Focus Assessment
• Vision/Mission/Values
• Competencies
• Training Courses
• Work Processes
I Job I ... I Description ,
I J
• People Processes
• Conditions of Employment • KRAs+ I • KRAReviews
• Quality Manual
• Telephone Directory POPs I
• Pension Handbook Feedback I Figure 15.4. Business Excellence System product outline.
Access and Confidentiality by Design
The system has to provide robust access control. KLM UK is governed by United Kingdom Data Protection legislation and applies the principles contained within that. Much of the information on the system is impersonal and describes work. Equally, some describes very personally the performance and career expectations of workers, often as entered by individuals themselves.
128 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Current United Kingdom legislation ensures a right of access by the 'data subject' to such data when held on computer. There remains, though, the potential for employers to deny access to certain records held on paper. The draft European Union Directive, agreed in February 1995, will remove this provision. There will then be no incentive to maintain performance information on paper rather computer. However, approval and full implementation of this directive is expected to take some years.
The KLM system uses the Notes Access Control Lists (ACL) to govern access to the databases, and Access Roles to control access to documents. The latter include general manager (CEO), divisional manager, manager, user and personnel manager. Rules about who can do what to which documents are described in the system's Access Control Matrix.
Learning in the Organisation and Organisational Learning
At the heart of the rpM concept is the idea that individuals are both better equipped and better motivated to contribute to wider goals when they are in a position to see what colleagues are also aiming to achieve, and when they themselves perceive that their own contributions can be seen and understood.
In simple terms, rpM is a tool for building information about what the organisation and the people in it are capable of achieving and how best they can do it. This becomes a database that individual job holders can use to plan, research ideas, solve problems, gather feedback, seek advice and adopt best practice. The easier it is for individuals to have access to the information that will help them understand and perform their work, the greater the degree of organisational trust that will result.
Clearly some organisational cultures are more open than others. Some find it difficult to operate even simple feedback or appraisal systems, while others build '360 degree feedback' into their normal working practices. (360 degree feedback provides structured feedback from subordinates, peers and more senior people in the organisation.)
KLM has adopted a 'line' approach to the sharing of Key Result Areas and assessments. It is not yet using 360 degree feedback.
Some organisations apply rpM in a more restrictive way at first, while others are more ambitious in their degree of openness. The system allows a move away from a vertically-defined, functionally-driven communication style to one that follows business processes horizontally through different parts of the enterprise. Organisations that have successfully re-engineered their business processes will tend to be drawn to such an approach.
System Evaluation
In electing for a Notes-based system, KLM recognised the benefits of integrating the different parts of the performance management system. The future development of the system will cover two additional aspects:
• linking the system with a new Microsoft Windows-based corporate personnel system;
KLM: Business Excellence System 129
• developing and incorporating competency models upon which to base management development and succession planning. Having an existing Notes system would allow the capture of several different kinds of assessments of individuals.
At the time of writing, the system in KLM is at an early stage of implementation. Because Notes was not in use before the system was installed, it is too early to try to evaluate the system and its organisational effects. Given the lengthy timescales of performance management cycles, it is anyway unlikely that this could be assessed until at least two complete cycles have been completed (two years in KLM's case).
Early indications, however, bear out the company's initial enthusiasm for the idea. David McCammon reports that:
"Immediate access to information about work processes and people processes is invaluable. Using the Business Excellence System, managers and supervisors can see at once our policy and advice on subjects such as racial discrimination or poor performance. They can check the right working methods for any work process, and if that process needs improving, they have a systematic and controlled mechanism for changing it. They can see which training course is likely to be required for quality performance of the job. People can even check up on best practice for agreeing Key Result Areas and conducting annual assessments by using the help facility in the system.
The work processes are often the lever for quality improvement and change. Aligning roles and job descriptions with work processes; making it simple to see the links between work process, job content and skills are fundamental aspects of our system.
What we really like about this system is that our overall aims are logically integrated with the details about the way we do our work, the targets we set ourselves and the assessments of how well we are doing. It really embeds a quality approach to our management of people."
Orthodox performance management offers the opportunity to generate valuable information about the plans and performance of the organisation as a whole. But this is often difficult to achieve for a number of reasons:
• The culture of the organisation may be resistant to sharing information about targets and performance.
• The outcome of performance management is seen simply in terms of a completed performance review form that lies undisturbed in a personnel manager's cupboard.
• The information cannot be analysed in ways that 'add value' to the enterprise.
• The administrative burden of assembling all the relevant documents, forms and memos can militate against the perceived benefits that might be gained. Often the necessary information about company aims, mission and policies simply has not been communicated or is not readily to hand when and where it is needed.
KLM's Business Excellence System and its corporate culture seem well-equipped to cope with these matters. With the help of the Notes system, the airline is able to 'slice the performance picture' in any number of ways. Instead of Key Result Areas being a paragraph in an individual's review form, they are becoming valuable pieces of organisational information. They can also be integrated and analysed alongside many others to create 'the big picture'.
By capturing such information, KLM sees itself building a platform for continuous improvement, with:
130 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• continuous focus on the customer; • a much clearer focus on its Key Result Areas and better performance in those
areas; • higher quality and smarter management of what it recognises to be its most
important asset - its people.
But these higher-level benefits depend on individual staff members seeing the value of using the system, in whatever role they occupy - as team member, supervisor, manager and as individuals. By doing so they become:
• better informed about their jobs and what is expected of them; • clear about targets and how to monitor their own performance; • aware that their work priorities are valuable to the whole company; • able to make a vision of their own future within the company's future; • able to develop a deeper understanding of what 'total quality' means.
Reference
Armstrong M. Performance management. Kogan Page, 1994.
Background
Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance: Quality Management Begins at Home Susanna Opper
Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) certifies companies that meet the requirements for the ISO 9000 quality standards. It was founded in 1985 to assess quality management systems and is a subsidiary of Lloyd's Register of Shipping. This was established in the City of London in 1760 and has carried out impartial certification ever since.
In 1993, LRQA's American branch, in Hoboken, New Jersey, gained a new president of operations. Joe Marchese had held executive positions with Merrill Lynch and Citibank and was widely experienced in computer systems management.
Mr Marchese believed that this small service organisation should exceed the standards it held for its clients, but found that the reality sometimes fell short of this ideal. He decided to use Lotus Notes to provide a comprehensive systems solution to LRQA's problem.
The Problem
In spite of having a highly trained field staff with an outstanding reputation, LRQA was not consistently satisfying its customers' constantly rising expectations. The office staff lacked the tools to provide prompt responses to all requests, with prospective customers occasionally having to wait more than two weeks just to find out how much an audit would cost. A call to the office could result in long waits or frustrating call-backs as a harried office person sought the necessary information.
Even the final ISO 9000 stamp of approval was sometimes delayed because of the paper shuft1e. LRQA had to work with an inadequate database in its company's United Kingdom-based computer and occasionally failed to mail invoices. Since payment of the invoice is required before the certificate can be issued, some customers had long waits before getting their hands on the document they had earned.
By 1993, it was clear that the field which LRQA had pioneered could no longer be its own without a fight. As quality became increasingly significant in the 1990s, more and more firms entered the certification business. LRQA's US operation had 15 competitors in 1993; two years later there were more than 75.
131
132 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
A Solution
LRQA knew that improving customer satisfaction was crucial in the face of this increasing competition. To do this, Joe Marchese decided to take action on two fronts simultaneously - office systems and business processes. He saw Lotus Notes as the way to dramatically improve both.
Other than Mr Marchese, who was busy running the company, there was only one person in LRQA who could deal with computer systems. Therefore, at the end of 1993, the company engaged Susanna Opper & Associates (SO & A) as consultants. This fIrm focuses on the management, cultural and business issues associated with groupware implementation. In addition to assisting with business process issues, SO&A took responsibility for managing the Notes project itself and brought in MFJ International to provide Notes development and training.
Early in 1994, LRQA began a team-based business process re-engineering effort, headed by Jill Quist, Vice President and US Operations Business Centre Manager. At the same time, it began implementing Lotus Notes.
The Business Processes
LRQA had always been process-oriented: its very business is process. Part of its problem was that it did not always know who was doing what when.
The redesign teams identifIed six basic business processes that the company engaged in. At the same time, they determined the best computer systems for each process.
From the beginning, it was obvious that Notes alone could not handle all ofLRQA's systems needs. Invoicing and other tracking elements of the business required a robust relational database. Also, the business processes had a major scheduling element that was being done manually. This element was too complex for simple calendaring programs to cope with.
Early in the project, therefore, Marchese invited a specialist software house, Novasoft, to help marry IBM's DB2 database product with Notes. The scheduling component selected was IBM's Time and Placel2, which itself runs in a built-in DB2 database. At the time of writing, these components were not yet working together successfully. (Since its takeover of Lotus in June 1995, IBM has owned all three of these products. It has said that Time and Place/2 will be merged with the Lotus Organiser scheduler - Editors.)
These are the six processes that the teams identifIed:
• customer acquisition;
• service fulfIlment;
• fIeld activity;
• support service;
• service design;
• management.
The following descriptions show how Lotus Notes supports each of those processes.
Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance: Quality Management Begins at Home 133
Customer Acquisition - Getting the Business
Sales turned out to be the top priority for LRQA, as it is for many other organisations. (Sales support systems are very high on the list of popular Notes applications.)
Before the re-engineering project, 'sales' had a negative image at LRQA. Field assessors saw themselves as technical experts and service providers, not as sources of new business.
The business redesign effort focused on this aspect of the process, noting that each sale was an opportunity not only to identify customer needs, but also to provide a valuable service. That service, in turn, could give rise to improved business performance, but the tools to deliver the service effectively and rapidly were missing.
As the re-engineering teams took a closer look at the company, they realised that LRQA's success depended on identifying and meeting customer needs, building a partnership based on those needs and constantly searching for other opportunities to add value to that customer's business. This added value comes not by providing answers, but by assisting customers in the process of continuous improvement of their own business.
Doing this requires asking the right questions and listening very carefully to the answers. It also demands being able to record this information, so that other employees will know what's needed. LRQA's existing information system could not support this many-faceted sales process.
The initial Notes application focused on capturing basic customer information and on tracking individual prospects through the sales cycle. Two linked Notes databases were developed to support this activity:
• Client Directory, which tracks the sales process from initial contact to final contract. This database includes customer information, tracking of correspondence and actions such as composition of cover letters.
• Client Request, which enables users to generate quotes and manage other process activities. Quote generation at LRQA is a complex art. It takes skill and knowledge to match field staff expertise with a customer's specific industry and business needs. Before re-engineering, quote generation was a cumbersome manual process requiring searches of reference texts and complex calculations of assessment days.
Notes gave LRQA staff the power to search, link and control reference texts while performing the calculation functions. Combining these processes automatically has been the key Notes contribution to reducing response time to the customer. Using Notes for this process has also enabled LRQA to expand the range of contracts it offers customers - from a single standard contract to several contract'tlavours'.
These two databases in combination have allowed LRQA to grow and adjust as the business processes have changed. When the Notes effort began, the American operation was run from a single office. Today, there are four additional American branch offices - San Francisco, Houston, Boston and Detroit. Staff in anyone of these offices can produce quotes and contracts, with the results being available to everyone on the Notes system.
Service Fulfilment - Office Services After the Contract is Signed
Once the sale is complete, the service is delivered by field assessors who visit the client site and review the customer's business.
134 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Service fulfilment refers to the office activities that support client assessments. It includes scheduling assessor visits, processing the information resulting from these visits, customer billing and the activities associated with maintaining and servicing customer relationships after approval. These functions are database-driven. It is here that the DB2 applications will be integrated into Notes.
When development is complete, the system will maintain a detailed profile of each assessor, including educational background, auditing experience, qualifications and specialist abilities. Through the IBM scheduler product, the system will also show their time availability.
In addition to reducing response time, this element of the system will allow LRQA to put the right person in the right place at the right time. Much of it will be linked to Notes so that, for example, job notifications to the assessors will be delivered by Notes mail and field staff will have easy access to customer profile information.
Field Activity - Assessor Reports on Client Visits.
This is the heart of the business and an activity which is made for Notes. All field visits give rise to reports. Some are textual and others consist of forms and check lists.
A formal ISO 9000 audit begins with a quality documentation review, during which assessors evaluate a customer's management system by examining documentation. The main assessment primarily involves a discussion between the customer and the assessor.
All findings are recorded on forms known as NCNs (Non-Compliance Notes). Additional forms record a visit summary and approval recommendations. Lotus Notes' automated forms and built-in word processing are a natural fit here. Handwritten documents can be difficult to read and are hard to consolidate and analyse.
Notes will also be useful for the preliminary assessment, an optional service designed to assist the customer to prepare for formal assessment. Currently, the majority of preliminary assessment reports are long-form textual summaries.
LRQA's re-engineering efforts largely focused on improving the quality and delivery of the report itself. Notes will allow field assessors to offer a choice of format as well as on-site delivery of the finished product. This will virtually eliminate an entire step in the contract fulfilment process, by greatly reducing the necessity for office-based staff to be involved in producing these reports.
Notes offers other benefits to field assessors. Currently they function almost as independent agents, working in small teams on larger audits but sometimes alone on smaller ones. The discussion databases allow field staff to exchange customer and progress information. They also provide a forum for sharing individual resolutions of technical problems.
This combination of uses should not only lead to a consistent approach to service throughout the company, it should foster improvements to it by exploiting assessors' expertise.
Support Service - Meeting the Needs of LRQA's Employees
These are the processes which directly affect LRQA's internal staff. They include accounting, benefit/compensation administration and internal training. This portion of LRQA's re-engineering remains to be developed.
Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance: Quality Management Begins at Home 135
The accounting aspects need to be under DB2 control. Notes databases will probably handle the recording, managing and communicating of internal programs. These will include employee performance evaluations, salary administration, an on-line employee handbook and miscellaneous employee skills libraries.
Notes offers appealing possibilities for handling the development and administration of internal training courses to remote locations. Since LRQA is geographically dispersed, Notes databases will greatly reduce the cost of delivering employee training programmes and will help ensure that employees get the training they need when they need it.
Service Design - Growing the Business
Though the re-engineering process identified this element as a separate activity, service design is really an continuous effort embedded in all aspects ofLRQ.Ns business. This is where the company develops its market distinctions, new products and additional services.
Notes discussion databases will be fundamental to the process of integrating field and office staff and stimulating them to find new ways to improve service and increase business. Staff will use Notes to brainstorm new product ideas and help LRQA stay abreast of market changes.
Management Process - Charting the Course
What should managers be doing? Are they focusing on the right things? What's to be learned from measuring results? How can we help people who aren't meeting their objectives? These are but a few of the issues that fall into this business process. It will depend heavily on Notes as well as on metrics maintained in DB2. Notes will also be the meeting place of cross-functional teams in such subjects as sales, marketing and accreditation.
Lessons Learned
LRQ.Ns use of Notes has been an undisputed success. As Joe Marchese says, "LRQA was process oriented. Now with our Notes system, we are both customer oriented and process efficient."
Nevertheless, the company and the Notes team have learned many lessons in their pursuit of improved quality though Notes. The most important lessons, in addition to those already described, are listed here.
• Consider the whole business and the whole implementation at the beginning, but don't try to do it all at once. The Notes team at LRQA was often tempted to get drawn off-target into an additional element of the system. Standing firm on doing first things first was never easy, but it has paid off.
• Marrying groupware and changed business processes isn't optional; it's mandat-0ry.
• Teams are helpful in making sure that the business processes stay paramount, but so are 'cross-over' managers. Not only did LRQA have Joe Marchese - a former systems manager turned business executive - it also had a former manager of the contract fulfIlment process become a Notes developer. (Marie Romano-Cricco
136 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
joined LRQA in 1992 and is today the manager of internal training. She is also a self-taught, but skilled, systems designer.)
People from the business side, who become skilled in the use of groupware, work on Notes databases from a realistic and practical point of view. They are also the best teachers of others. They speak to their fellow workers in business terms rather than systems language.
• Be prepared for the enormous cultural impact of changing fundamental business systems. Plan for lots of training and education, but add a generous component of patience as well. Again, don't try to do everything at once.
For LRQA, the shift to being a customer-centred organisation was of primary importance. It took time and understanding to make it happen.
• Two other critical ingredients are: involve the people who will be using the system in designing the changes and, to quote Joe Marchese, "Don't tell 'em; show 'em."
• Get the infrastructure right first. For LRQA, this rule applied to the network. Microsoft's LAN Manager was in place when the Notes effort began. With hindsight, switching to Novell sooner would have made the Notes implementation easier.
• Keep it simple. The temptation to over-design exists in any system implementation. In Notes, this temptation is almost irresistible because its rapid development cycle makes it easy to add fields for every possible eventuality.
• Be prepared for 'scope creep'. For many business users, Notes' enormous versatility is one of its most appealing characteristics. The most frequently heard question from someone first looking at the product is, "Can I do my monthly report (substitute any dreaded task) on this?" The trouble with Notes is that the answer is almost always "Yes".
Some scope creep is a good thing. It means that users are getting involved in the development process and modifying the system to meet their needs. But too much of it increases the overall cost of the project and delays development. Finding the balance between enough and too much is an art, not a science.
• Having external experienced help is important, but so is having insiders skilled at development. If you need to wait a week for a simple change because there's no one on site to make the modification, you will experience annoyance and frustration. This is another delicate balance.
• Use Notes as a scaffold to build Notes. Early in the process, design a database to manage the project. Be sure to detail the process so that everyone - managers, developers, and outside consultants know what's going on.
• Smaller doesn't necessarily mean easier. When LRQA started work on Notes, the entire US organisation employed only 50 people. But the service the company performs is complex, providing the challenge of operating within a limited budget on the one hand and an extensive set of requirements on the other.
Future Directions
By the end of 1994, LRQA had a Notes system that met the needs originally identified for the first phase of its programme. Quotes were generated quickly and efficiently; sales were tracked and followed up. The ratio of closed sales to quotes
Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance: Quality Management Begins at Home 137
sent out greatly increased, from 25% to over 40%. A year-end sales effort generated 61 signed contracts in one month, compared to an average of 14 in previous months.
Then, a design review with MFJ, the external Notes trainers and developers, opened up new possibilities. MFJ had spent the previous two years developing their own sales management system into a marketable product. This was called OverQuota and was designed to manage client relationships. Joe Marchese saw interesting possibilities for this system, not only for the USA-based operation, but also for LRQA worldwide.
Like most other service organisations specialising in major companies, LRQA was increasingly being called upon to certify organisations that operated around the world. Of the 8,500 approved companies LRQA has serviced to date, 2,700 are multinational.
Clearly, there is enormous value in being able to handle a company's needs at multiple locations around the world. For LRQA, OverQuota was a natural choice.
Accordingly, at the end of 1994, Mr Marchese and MFJ demonstrated the system to senior managers at the London headquarters of LRQA. On the strength of what they saw, the management team began to consider the adoption of Notes worldwide.
This inclination coincided with the decision to appoint an information management director, with international responsibilities, who would sit on the internal board of directors. The senior managers had identified improvements to the company's information systems as the best route to business improvement and wanted someone to lead them through the transition to a new system. They appointed Joe Marchese to that role.
Retaining his position in charge of American operations, Mr Marchese is able to begin creating a common communications system throughout LRQA. Notes will be an integral part of that system.
All LRQA's 10 offices in eight countries are now getting ready to introduce Notes. OverQuota, running on Notes, will merge with the existing sales and marketing system. This will allow worldwide client management and permit LRQA to offer their customers global service.
When the system is complete, a company founded in the days of the clipper ship will be able to offer 21st Century service - to any customer, any place, any time.
Macmillan Distribution: Going for ISO 9000 Robert Dent
Background
Macmillan Distribution Ltd is part of the Macmillan international publishing organisation. It distributes books and other publications for the Macmillan group (including its Pan imprint). It also services several third-party publishers, which include such well-known names as Larousse (with its Chambers, Harrap and Kingfisher imprints), W. Foulsham (most famous for Old Moore's Almanac) and other publishers.
To do this, Macmillan Distribution runs a warehousing and distribution operation that processes three million order lines a year. At anyone time, there can also be another three-quarters of a million for uninvoiced items such as review and presentation copies. The warehouses typically hold a stock of around 14 million units, representing about 15,000 titles and worth about £95 million. From this stock, the company provides a regular service to 8,000 or so trade account customers.
The company operates from two warehouse sites. Its main site at Basingstoke, Hampshire, employs 120 staff, and the satellite warehouse in Swansea, in Wales, employs 50. These two sites carry out warehousing and distribution, order processing, credit control, customer services and some telesales operations.
There are three customer services departments - home trade, export trade and non-trade customers. Each customer services department runs its own order processing and credit control systems.
Macmillan Distribution's systems were working well enough, but the company felt it could achieve greater efficiency in its working practices. Its senior managers decided to introduce quality systems management, primarily to reduce error rates and, thus, costs. They also hoped to improve staff morale. The managers felt that once systems were fully documented, staff would know exactly where they were in any process, and where to go for help in resolving problems.
Although the company did not need formal ISO 9000 quality management certification to show its commitment to quality, its senior managers decided that this was worth attempting. Also they reasoned that, if the guidelines and requirements for quality systems management had already been set out by an international standards body, there was little point in inventing their own. Thus, in 1993, the company began building systems towards certification.
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MacMillan Distribution: Going for ISO 9000 139
The Value of Quality Management Certification
ISO 9000 is an international standard. Companies can achieve it by satisfying independent assessors that they are reaching requirements for quality in products and services which they provide.
In Britain, ISO 9000 has superseded BS5750, which had been in operation since 1979, and was intended mainly for manufacturing industries (although any organisation could apply for registration). BS5750 itself arose from standards set in the 1950s by the British Ministry of Defence. The Ministry wanted to ensure that defence contractors supplied only goods of a prescribed quality. It therefore defined business processes for which defence suppliers had to develop documented control procedures.
To achieve ISO 9000, organisations set up quality management systems, a widelyused approach to upgrading products and services. Like BS5750, it has been particularly prevalent in manufacturing, but is also used for service industries.
The quality system is driven by formal documents that cover all the tasks and criteria necessary for meeting an organisation's chosen objectives. In Macmillan Distribution, the main objective was a reduction in the error rate.
As with many business processes, simply introducing a system is not enough. Quality systems management is an unending process. An effective system provides the basis for continuing improvement in business practices and provides the tools for managing changes.
Macmillan Distribution's quality manager, Ray Webb, agrees that other factors must be in place for successful quality management systems:
• The system must be based on an understanding of the business, its customers and their requirements.
• Implementation and use must be led from the top. • The system must involve every employee. • It must focus on the prevention of problems instead of correcting them as they
occur. • It must be adaptable enough to evolve as the company changes.
A Gentle Introduction to Quality Management
Having decided to seek ISO 9000 certification, the company's senior managers made concerted efforts to 'sell' the idea to the staff. These included two one-day conferences, conducted away from the warehouses. At these, there were presentations on the value of quality systems from customers, retailers and Macmillan group employees. There were also training and briefing sessions.
The first conference introduced the idea of quality systems. The second, a year later, explained the forthcoming ISO 9000 audit. Both conferences focused on the meaning and cost of error rates, ensuring that everyone understood the reasoning behind the quality initiatives.
Macmillan's Ray Webb explains the rationale for these moves: "It was thought very important by senior management to get the commitment of staff, or the project would be a loser before it started. We needed to sell the idea, rather than dictate it, so that it did not seem as if we were imposing it upon people - although actually they had no choice."
140 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
The company intends to hold another conference, in a year's time, to discuss what has been achieved. Says Mr Webb: "While not obligatory, tl;tese conferences are part of our culture. They encourage socialising and team-building and they make people feel wanted."
Trouble in Store
Macmillan Distribution had set up its own quality department, with one full-time member and another dozen people with quality responsibilities. It was working steadily towards final certification assessment - a process that can easily take a company a couple of years to complete.
With just three months to go before final assessment, Macmillan Distribution discovered it had a serious problem. It received a visit from an auditor from Lloyds Register Quality Assurance, who would be carrying out the final assessment. The auditor pointed out that while all systems were being developed well, the company was introducing guidelines department by department, which would leave room for variance in their interpretation. There was no one standard imposed across all departments.
For example, departments were producing their quality documents in different formats, using Lotus 1-2-3, Ami Pro and Microsoft Word, and in varying ways. In addition, the naming of documents was unclear, i.e. a growing number of flies had eight-figure numbers as names, thus providing little clue about what they contained.
At this point the company decided to turn to a single computerised system for a solution. Fortuitously, an external groupware consultant was working with Macmillan's IT department at the time, looking at the communications structure for the whole company. Part of his brief was to look at the potential benefits of adopting groupware. The IT department had already introduced the consultant to the full Macmillan management team.
Macmillan Distribution asked the consultant about its quality problem. He supplied them with a short list of possible products to view. The list included TriangleQA, which had been developed within Lotus Notes.
Choosing the Solution
After deciding on its criteria for choosing a system, they selected the TriangleQA system. The product was the closest fit with the systems already developed at Macmillan. "It still wasn't perfect:' Ray Webb says, "but in discussions we began to feel comfortable with Triangle. We felt they could respond to our needs, and that they showed a much more flexible and sensible attitude than the other suppliers we considered:'
Another deciding issue was the adaptability of the product itself. Applications written within Lotus Notes are very easy to amend and fine-tune to meet a user company's individual requirements. "You can put in the information you want:' says Mr Webb, "and navigation of the information to retrieve what's needed is also very good. The software easy to use, once you have a basic understanding of how it works:'
TriangleQA concentrates on document control. It covers several quality system monitoring areas, most of which were in use at Macmillan Distribution. The software has been designed using the forms and views of Lotus Notes and runs entirely within
MacMillan Distribution: Going for ISO 9000 141
that environment. It provides templates upon which the users build their ISO 9000 application, using pre-designed screens.
The areas covered by the software include the following, which all go to make up the full management system:
• records of current documents and those that are in modification or archived; • a means of scheduling internal audits, audit tracking and report recording; • diary features for personnel meetings and appointments, calibration, audits and
review meetings; • management of calibration of inspection and test equipment; • history of suppliers, orders and correspondence; • programme of planned training and training records; • immediate tracking of 'non-conformances' and corrective actions.
Pilot Project
With litde time to spare before the ISO 9000 inspection, the company brought in Triangle to install Lotus Notes and TriangleQA. Macmillan Distribution already had a network of personal computers installed, so the only new hardware required was a Notes server. Triangle installed the software on the server at its own offices in Bournemouth. It later took the server, complete with all the requisite software, to the Basingstoke warehouse.
After a little training of users, the pilot project was quickly operational in time for the company to pass its ISO 9000 tests. Triangle carried out the initial training, after which the users took over.
Ray Webb argues that in such a situation end users are better positioned to train other users than an IT department would be, because they can focus on the application of the technology without assuming technical expertise.
Having made a success of the pilot, Macmillan Distribution is now rolling TriangleQA out to more users. There are 10 users at Basingstoke who deal specifically with quality and a further dozen with access to the system.
The company is also extending the system at the Swansea site. Two people work there on quality systems and a further four employees are involved in quality as part of their jobs. Eventually the software will be available on every personal computer in the company.
Further Lotus Notes-based applications have been implemented, including meeting agendas, meeting reports, management reports and a bulletin board. In addition, every month each department within the company produces a few paragraphs for a widely-read staff bulletin. These additional applications were set up by the IT department, with the help of Triangle.
Security is an important issue for Macmillan Distribution. The standard version of TriangleQA did not provide as full security as Macmillan Distribution required, but discussions with Triangle produced amendments that resolved the problem. The meeting control and management briefings applications presented further security issues, because of the different levels of confidentiality of various documents. The IT department worked with the department managers and Triangle to define the relevant access controls. It continues to amend them as staff members change and new needs arise.
142 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Perceived benefits
The benefits of implementing TriangleQA are interwoven with the larger benefits of achieving ISO 9000 certification. Macmillan's Ray Webb agrees that the company has achieved greater efficiency, time savings and cost savings as the result of implementing quality systems management.
Improved customer satisfaction is more difficult to evaluate, but he feels that everyone has become more customer-focused. Most important for Macmillan Distribution is that error rates have fallen as intended. In 1992 the error rate against invoices raised was over 10%. This has been falling consistently - to 8.3% in 1993 and 6.8% in 1994. The figures for 1995 will show another decrease.
Because TriangleQA runs on Lotus Notes, it draws on the native capabilities of the groupware product. Ray Webb points particularly to document control as an area where TriangleQA is helpful. "The paperwork has almost completely gone out of the job;' he says. Processes are faster and much easier to control.
The technology of Lotus Notes plays a minor role as far as the users are concerned. The quality department at Macmillan Distribution consists of ordinary users, not IT professionals. Those users chose the software because it was a close fit with their way of working, could easily be tailored to make an even closer fit and was being offered by a company whom they trusted.
Although they know little of the underlying Lotus Notes software, users find that information is easy to input and retrieve. They can easily get the information they want in the way they want it.
Macmillan's IT department looks after the company's computer networks. Triangle provides on-line technical support for Lotus Notes (although this has not been needed much). The Notes server runs reliably and disruptions are infrequent.
User Acceptance
Users have accepted the computer-based system, after an initial period of adapting to its operation. Paul Cray is project manager of TQM (total quality management) in Basingstoke and a pilot project user. He says: "It's very easy to use, especially compared with the manual system. It formalises the way you have to do things. I find it very user-friendly."
Mr Cray received some training, but says he picked up many points simply through using the system. Now, he and other users alter views and set up their own forms. He is particularly pleased with the ease with which he can now find information. "You can access the system to find what you want in the way you want. Tasks such as following up outstanding orders and taking corrective actions are much easier now:'
In Swansea, Guy Browning supervised the input of procedure manuals onto the system. He is enthusiastic about the new tool and says, "This is ten times better than writing out procedures." Initially, Mr Browning received a half-day's training from Ray Webb and Paul Cray.
There are currently two people using the system at Swansea, but supervisors will become responsible for their own quality control activities. Further training will probably be on the job, according to Guy Browning. He adds that the system includes pop-up boxes that explain the use of technical terms to new users.
MacMillan Distribution: Going for 150 9000 143
In Swansea, the use of the personal computers running TriangleQA is limited to those who know the necessary passwords. They input their own updates and written submissions from colleagues. New staff members will be given access to the relevant procedures in QA.
Lessons learned
For Macmillan Distribution, the implementation of a quality management system has been far more important than the technology used to carry it out. However, when asked ifhe would do anything differently another time, Ray Webb replied that he would implement TriangleQA before getting started, instead of going down the paper-based route first. "We could have trimmed off as much as three months from a IS-month project. We could also have avoided the horrors of evenings spent stamping up hundreds of copies of procedures manuals."
The most painful aspect of the project for the users was loading information on to the system, especially as this was done once into the paper system and again into TriangleQA.
System expansion is taking longer than had been hoped. Ray Webb says this is because the company is being very careful. There are also a large number of ideas being brought forward for adding to and improving the system.
At the beginning, expansion of the system was held up while these ideas were implemented. Finally, a cut-off point was set, after which the system remained static while it was implemented.
Suggestions still come in from users and they are first collated, rather than being tackled as they arrive. They are then considered and implemented as appropriate.
The Macmillan Computer Network
Notes runs on 58 Intel 486-based personal computers of various types (out of the group total of 450). They link to the Notes server running IBM OS/2, via two network servers, one in Basingstoke and the other in Swansea. Both run under Novell NetWare networking software and run over Ethernet, using a BT Kilostream line.
As well as replicating Lotus Notes databases, the networks transport electronic mail (Lotus cc:Mail). They are also used for exchanging fIles between other personal computer-based applications and for accessing the corporate VAX mainframe.
Notes in the Wider Organisation
The Macmillan Group's magazine company is presently evaluating an independent Lotus Notes project for manuscript tracking. The international science magazine, Nature, provides an example of its possible use. The publication's editors receive thousands of manuscripts from scientists. These manuscripts must be logged, refereed and then rejected, accepted or returned for editing. After this they must go through the editorial and production process. Notes is expected to ease and speed that process.
Thomas Miller & Co: From Information to Imagination Professor Clive Holtham
Background
Thomas Miller is a manager of transport insurance companies, based in the City of London but internationally distributed. It has 500 staff in 21 locations; 400 of the staff are in London, the other offices ranging in size from one person to 25. Oneperson offices are usually established in a supplier or joint venture partner's office.
It is a reflection of the way that businesses are re-inventing themselves that one of its top managers now describes the company, half seriously, as a 'customised document manufacturing company'.
In a normal manufacturing business, managers at all levels understand their manufacturing process. But in many service industries, like fmancial services, senior managers do not understand that they are in a manufacturing business, albeit manufacturing unique documents. Each requires a process to achieve its creation; the machine tool used is the computer.
Initiating the change
In 1990, the company's chairman recognised that Mark Holford, a manager (underwriter), could make the connection between the needs of the business and the capabilities offered by information technology. A solicitor by professional training and an underwriter for 12 years, Holford had personally developed a range of sophisticated computer applications, mostly on spreadsheets. He had also designed some of the underwriting system, which was mainly an accounting and analysis tool.
Holford was taken off his front-line work and given nine months to carry out a thorough review of the technologies that might either be essential to the company's survival or would provide it with competitive advantage. In his review Holford identified the following technologies as significant:
• expert systems; • workflow and imaging; • what he called then 'e-mail' but now calls 'groupware'; • executive information systems;
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Thomas Miller & Co: From Information to Imagination 145
• communications; • personal desktop computing;
At a one-day conference for top managers in 1991, Holford presented the report and was able to interest and excite the most important partners. They quickly came to see the barriers that the existing infrastructure imposed and the need for a new approach.
Mark Holford was subsequently appointed group director of information. He lays great emphasis on the symbiotic relationship between himself and the group director of information technology, Mario de Pace. Holford is from the business, has an information focus and is vision-oriented; while Pace has a Technology focus and is action-oriented. Indeed, they sit near each other and have done so ever since Holford moved from his front-line job in 1990.
Infrastructure
Since 1990, there has been a huge expansion of the company's international communications network, involving the latest frame- relay and ISDN technologies. There is now, around the world, an Intel 486 personal computer on each employee's desk. Every employee uses electronic mail.
Video-conferencing is routinely used by one of the company's management teams. The availability of desktop video conferencing has made this easier. Voice mail is used mostly as a form of answering machine for support staff, although the company is cautious in its use by 'customer facing' staff.
Electronic mail has supported significant changes in the company's culture. If business critical information is not sent via electronic mail it is not regarded as information. There is now little printed information internally generated. Electronic communications have improved day-to-day contact and, indeed, made possible the management of small overseas offices.
Mark Holford has promoted two major areas of software development:
• An expert-system underwriting system - GUIDE (he calls it an "expertise system"). This operates in true client/server mode between the databases held on an IBM AS/400, and the front-end and displays on a personal computer. This system embeds the knowledge of skilled underwriters. One part involves creating on screen a dynamic questionnaire (the later questions vary depending on earlier answers) .
• The widespread extension of groupware (Lotus Notes) into the business as a method of sharing knowledge.
There is a strong emphasis on development being driven by managerial and professional staff. Although generic software development skills are increasingly bought in, the Thomas Miller infrastructure lays a very high emphasis on leading-edge networking, and these skills have been developed in-house.
There is always some potential for tension between business managers and information technology professionals. Sometimes there is pressure from business managers to wait for software that is heavily promoted in the media, but not yet physically available. From the information specialists is an emphasis on doing things now, and only waiting for future technologies where there is really little alternative.
146 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Information Culture
Holford had two original rules for this culture:
• Share your knowledge. • Keep it up to date.
He has subsequently added a third rule:
• Don't waste it.
The company is preoccupied with sharing expertise. This is most clearly shown from the its values statement (Figure 18.1) and has been there for some time, irrespective of the technologies now available.
Implementing all three of the above does represent a cultural change. According to Richard Scambler, Miller's director of personnel, it will not be a question of rewarding staff for sharing information. Nor there will be no rewards for keeping it to themselves. Not sharing will lead to isolation; staff will not benefit from other people's knowledge.
Insurance is a team game and increasingly the team wins because it shares its knowledge better than its competitors.
The idea behind 'Don't waste it' is that thousands of pieces of data are lost on the hard drives of people's word processors. Before they store it there, they should remember there is a place they can put it to share it - the groupware system.
Information Management Principles
Unlike many organisations, where the introduction of groupware has had a strong technological flavour, in Thomas Miller the drive has derived from the needs of information management, set within the clear business context established by top managers.
Holford is very clear: "You have to turn data into information. You have to capture that information, then address key issues of sharing and of consistency, and finally make it available so that the manager can use it:'
He is also clear on the relationship between the 'softer' information held in groupware and the 'harder' held in the traditional mainframe systems and the document manufacturing system. Because the last embeds the considerable expertise of underwriters (at least 50 man years' worth), it leads Holford to assert that, "An expertise system is the workflow of the mind."
One of the key principles that applies to both soft and hard systems is that there needs to be a move from the 'serial' processing which is still so common in financial services, towards 'parallel' processing. Although conventional clerical workflow systems may achieve the parallelism, they do not typically marry the hard and the soft dimensions. It is this marriage that Holford describes as "informed parallelism".
It used to take up to three weeks to produce a document. The current target in Thomas Miller is to reduce this to half an hour, using informed parallelism.
Every time a letter to a customer is created, the knowledge of the author is being entered into an electronic form. Every time a clause is inserted into an insurance policy, the same reflection of the author's knowledge is taking place. Traditionally this is buried in a fIle and other authors cannot access it.
Thomas Miller & Co: From Information to Imagination 147
THE VALUES & CULTURES OF MILLERS
OUR CORE VALUES INTEGRITY in all that we do Corporate INDEPENDENCE
EXPERTISE in our chosen fields Commitment to outstanding SERVICE
TO SUPPORT OUR CORE VALUES WE NEED: to think and behave as one firm, while granting a high degree of
operational freedom to our divisional companies *
to be keen to learn new skills, be light on our feet and ready to adapt to changing circumstances
* yet to take a long-term view which will colour our attitude to our clients
and to ourselves *
to be empowered by being given authority, freedom, information, expertise and encouragement to maximise our potential
* to enjoy helping our clients and each other
* to value team work at all levels of the firm's endeavours and to want to
share our information, ideas and expertise with others *
to delight in exceeding the expectations of our clients and of our colleagues
* to recognise, celebrate and feel good about collective and individual
success and to reward performance that upholds our values and culture.
Figure 18.1. Thomas Miller's Value Statement
Lotus Notes
According to Holford, Notes has "blown the whole sharing issue open". People are now not even aware of their sharing. There is a target of implementing two new Notes applications every three months.
Examples of the Notes databases are:
• the Miller Directory - personnel and expertise; • technical manuals; • room bookings (including food and equipment;)
148 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• 'Info Super-Store' - location of files, books, videos, etc;. • list of journals subscribed to; • minutes of board meetings of 14 companies; • internal manuals; • project management; • World-Wide Web references and commentaries; • details of meetings with customers and suppliers.
For internal minutes, for example, the discussion databases for specific topics will have included in them the items that are discussed in an internal meeting. Although it is possible to re-create the minutes of a physical meeting, the meeting is viewed as just one element in an ongoing discussion.
There has been a particular emphasis on the Through Transport (TT) business, of which Holford is a non-executive director and was previously underwriting manager. The executive management committee meets three times a year around the world, but there is daily electronic mail contact, and video-conferences are held every week on average.
According to Holford, it is the sharing capabilities of Notes that enable Thomas Miller to use Notes to support their business strategy.
One aspect that is striking is the potential for overload. By collating so much data formerly hidden and making it visible or sharable, it has become more difficult to find information.
Thomas Miller makes a lot of use of full text searching and is now implementing Personalised Views, so that individuals can have more customised screens.
As a director of information, Mark Holford admits, "When I started this job I knew nothing at all about information. But our current chairman believes passionately in three things as central to our success - growing our businesses, supported bylearning, and information."
Holford's strategy has been not to collect new data but rather to collate much of the existing data that already existed. Few external data were held electronically; the shipping insurance business does not use such data much. The construction industry, by contrast, has much more data electronically available. Where information has not been available, it has been bought from sources such as Reuters and the Financial Times. Thomas Miller has explicit objectives of moving towards partnership-style relationships with both suppliers and customers. The architecture of Lotus Notes is ideal for this, with its ability to allow partner connection and information sharing under rigorously segregated security arrangements.
Second Phase
After the first year of using Notes, Thomas Miller reviewed its use of the software. It examined some of the constraints on the spread of the use of Notes and, hence, of the required information sharing.
The study identified that the electronic mail used by all staff for some five years was, in effect, already being used as groupware. In particular, the bulletin boards' feature of electronic mail was heavily used for universal messages, including announcements, policy and an electronic newspaper. There were also forms of
Thomas Miller & Co: From Information to Imagination 149
databases, but these were unindexed. For training reasons, the company did not wish to move to NotesMail until Version 4.0 of Notes.
The review also showed that groupware was a more difficult concept to grasp than the messaging metaphor embodied in e-mail. It was also difficult for staff who were used to 'living' in e-mail, to live in a second application as well. It had taken some time to evolve 'the killer application'.
Therefore, a second phase strategy for the use of groupware was developed. Greater emphasis was placed both on finding senior sponsors for the different databases and on operational champions. Opportunities to recycle information were constantly taken, part of another objective of delivering new applications quickly. A much more standardised view on application design was also taken, with a particular emphasis on a consistent look and feel across all applications.
A new training programme was put into place, with new roles of 'IT helpers' and 'IT floorwalkers', with the target of 90% of staff reaching at least the 'confident' level in Notes.
Substantive data were no longer held in the e-mail bulletin boards. Instead, the bulletin boards were now used to put trailers to refer to the information being held in Notes. The aim was to soon be able to remove all the e-mail bulletin boards and for e-mail to revert to messaging only. All other information would be held in Notes.
Evolution
Much of Holford's time is spent with suppliers of external data, trying to persuade them to make their data electronic. Although Thomas Miller is small, it has been able to move a long way in a relatively short period. Its aim with suppliers is to build upon their knowledge and expertise, without giving away their competitive advantage.
It is still too difficult to send and share large amounts of information worldwide, e.g. digitised high quality still images and video clips. This is the significance of high-bandwidth global information highways.
Some consideration is being given to the ergonomics of knowledge workers making substantial use of keyboards and screens all during the day. There is likely to be a need to move to large (21 inch) screens so that two pages can be read side by side. It is also seen as inevitable that voice input will become the standard method of data input by knowledge workers.
One external adviser to Thomas Miller has identified as a key success factor that the information department be set up as a business. Sales (enquiries per month) are tracked, and must go up. They have risen from 25 to 150 per month, and range from "Where's a skittles pub in Redhill?" to "Tell me everything you know about company X."
Plans are now under way to create a continuous gateway from the operational databases on the AS/400 minicomputer into Notes. There would then be no need to re-key amendments arising from operational changes.
There is also an increasing recognition that the sheer volume of data involved will create demands for an 'Information Editor' to have strategic responsibility for data protection, to maintain indeXing and to ensure there are methods for ensuring that data are entered in the right place.
150 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Learning Centre
For an organisation that is concerned with creating a virtual organisation worldwide, it is interesting that in one dimension it lays particular importance on a physical space. Thomas Miller has removed all internal walls at its London headquarters. Everyone sits in open plan, including the chairman and all directors. There are many quiet conference rooms. This enables staff to share information easily.
Thomas Miller has created an innovative learning and information centre, which has been set up jointly by the group information director and the group director of learning, Jane Cooper, who reports to the group director of personnel. She sees her job as being a 'learning broker'. The centre contains books, journals, videos (commercial and the company's own), language learning, a six-seat personal computer training room and audio-visual production area.
Each partner is encouraged to make a video about an aspect of his work (these are shot internally but professionally edited). Senior staff also hold 'master classes'. The old method of training - sitting with the partner - is no longer physically possible, especially given the international distribution of staff.
There are three types of learning option:
• technical and professional development; • management, personal and team development; • IT training and learning.
Each month there is a 'flavour of the month' - a priority area which has been identified by learning coordinators. IT activities are supported by 'lunch bytes' (short sessions), demonstrations, IT learning help line and IT coaching. According to Terence Coghlin, the Chairman of Thomas Miller, the vision of the learning centre is:
''A place of excitement, where individuals and groups explore and add to a store of wisdom and opportunities to learn. Each individual taking from the storehouse what they need and contributing what they can. Where people are continually pushing forward the boundaries of thought and know-how. Where people fulfil their potential and get results driven by their own desire to achieve."
Why Have Other Companies not Been Able to Copy Thomas Miller?
The technology of Lotus Notes is the physical manifestation of a clear business strategy. Others could copy the technology, but they could not easily reproduce the business culture, style and strategy. There was also an element ofluck in that people with the right skills happened to be available. The company has also started from its reviewing its business processes, not from changing its technology in isolation.
Another factor is the realisation that the traditional professional skills of the insurance industry are no longer sufficient to take advantage of modern information management and modern information technology. To sustain the informed parallel approach requires more of a hybrid manager - able to exploit information via technology, but rooted in a strong professional background.
The insights that Thomas Miller has gained from its own evolution of a virtual organisation has led it to believe that information technology has yet to have the most dramatic impact. This is the ability to set up offices anywhere in the world and
Thomas Miller & Co: From Information to Imagination 1 S1
to operate them using information superhighways. Similarly, the superhighways will bring customers and suppliers close to those offices. In answer to the question "Why have offices at al!?", Holford replies "We do not see a diminishing need to meet our customers personally."
Conclusion
The traditional hierarchy of information processing is data to information to knowledge to wisdom. At Thomas Miller, the staff have added a fifth dimension at the top - imagination. The underpinning infrastructures to achieve this are sharing, technology and learning.
Background
Mission Energy Corporation: Global Project Management Over Value-Added Network Shala Phillips
Mission Energy is an independent power producer and a subsidiary of SCEcorp (Southern California Edison Corporation). Expanded opportunities abroad led the company to 'globalise' its operations. In addition to its headquarters in Irvine, California, it has offices in Fairfax (Virginia), London, Rome, Jakarta, Singapore and Melbourne.
Each project entails teamwork; in most cases, half the team will remain at home while the other will relocate to the foreign site. Teams need to be able to remain in constant communication with one another in order to keep both halves of the project moving forward around the clock.
The company thoroughly researched solutions to the problem and examined different combinations of groupware and other software. Lotus Notes stood out for its e-mail and information management capabilities. According to Sandy Lalonde, Senior Technical System Analyst for Mission Energy, "Notes offered the whole package instead of just the pieces."
Implementation
Mission Energy's Notes project started in January 1994 and went into full production in June that year. The Notes team developed and implemented numerous project- and company-specific Notes applications. It also developed a comprehensive training programme for users. This covered the use of Microsoft Windows as well as the use of Lotus Notes and the newly developed Notes applications.
Once they had gone through the training, the travelling users took delivery of laptop computers containing a copy of Notes and the relevant applications. They then went on their assignments abroad.
The project began with nomadic users in the United Kingdom and Australia. There were few communications problems with these users, aside from high telephone bills and occasionally unreliable international telephone lines. Technical support was not difficult to maintain; time differences only had to be accounted for in two places, and both locales had English-speaking operators.
Troubles multiplied once Jakarta and Singapore were added to the list. Team members found it harder to keep track of the time differences, and contacting Mis-
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Mission Energy Corporation: Global Project Management Over Value-Added Network 153
sion Energy's technical support staff was an increasingly difficult task. Telephone bills soared. The fact that the Jakarta switchboard closed at night inhibited replication between time zones, preventing documents from getting through. This brought entire projects to a halt while team members waited for an overlap in the respective business days in order to address the replication issues. Sandy Lalonde said, "Dialling to Southern California just wasn't working. Telephone bills from hotel rooms sometimes ended up costing more than the room bill and flight. Communications were out of hand:'
But Mission Energy had invested too much capital and time into Lotus Notes to abandon its goal of simplifying and enhancing team collaboration with groupware.
The Solution
With employees working around the globe, the ability to share information in a timely, cost-effective manner is crucial to Mission Energy's business. Its technical department began to explore the possibilities of 'outsourcing' its communications needs to a third-party Notes network provider.
Mission Energy called several companies who offered Notes networks and, after much investigation, settled upon WorldCom. This provider offered project management services, an international X.25 network, unlimited database storage and full technical support.
WorldCom's local access points in over 100 countries world-wide sharply reduced Mission Energy's telephone bill. The X.25 network offered remote users a reliable connection at an increased speed of at least 9.6 kilobits per second.
Database storage enabled Mission Energy to house its Notes applications in a central location on WorldCom. This ensured that users could always get accurate and up-to-date information, with no replication lag. This improved collaboration, since team members stationed around the world were now 'singing from the same hymn sheet'.
Mission Energy's technical staff now needed to spend less time on technical support and network administration. Instead they could concentrate on other facets of the Notes system, such as creating additional Notes applications as new projects developed.
As well as solving users' problems, WorldCom's system gave them new capabilities. They can use Internet and XAOO gateways, outbound fax and a pager gateway, all through a single connection.
Mission Energy's subscription to WorldCom began in late June 1994. By October that year, Mission Energy had one server and 70 travelling users around the world connected to the World Com network. By April 1995, the number of remote connections had expanded to over 100 employees travelling in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific rim. That number is expected to increase even further as Mission Energy expands its international operations.
The Result
The results of the combination of Notes and the WorldCom service have been encouraging for Mission Energy. A few months after the training sessions on Notes
154 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
were complete, Ms Lalonde reported that most users were at ease with the Notes applications. Because WorldCom's services are organised into Notes databases, the users needed little retraining to use the external network as well.
Today, Mission Energy's business travellers carry designated laptops to their destinations and plug those laptops into a monitor when they are in the office. When abroad, the travellers use World Com extensively every day to update their coworkers. At the same time, the travellers' domestic colleagues can keep tabs on what is going on overseas.
Mission Energy has met its original goal of improved information sharing between team members around the world. Employees continuously exchange contracts, spreadsheets and e-mail with their team members abroad. They have access to the company's databases stored on World Com, as well as information services offered by the network.
Ms Lalonde credits Lotus Notes and WorldCom with simplifying her business. The return on investment has more than justified the costs involved. Notes's adaptability to changing needs has allowed a constant expansion of applications and the expression of new ideas. WorldCom, meanwhile, has offered Mission Energy a simplified means of supporting their personnel in foreign markets.
Background
MTW Schiffswerft: Shipbuilder Cuts Paperwork and Delays Howard Almond
MTW Schiffswerft GmbH in Wismar, Germany is able to look back on 50 years of shipbuilding history. Since 1946 it has built 330 new ships of 27 different types, most of them container ships and chemical tankers.
In October 1992 the company became part of the Bremer Vulcan Group. By January 1995, it had 2,355 employees, with a total turnover of 432 million DM.
As part of a modernisation program due to be completed in 1997, MTW is investing 560 million DM in a new wharf. This will be for tanker class ships, such as raw oil tankers, of up to 298,000 tonnes deadweight and 335 metres in length. The project is known as Compact Wharf 2000.
Project Management
A special planning team of 20 people manages the project. Individual team members, who work in different places in MTW's yard, are responsible for particular aspects. The team uses Computer Associates' Super Project software to help with project management.
As is typical in project management environments, once the base plans were prepared, the regular work was progressed by producing activity lists for the team members. These covered a period of 14 days in advance and were distributed on paper.
The team members hand-wrote details of project progress - measured mainly in actual time taken, percentage complete and status for each activity - on photocopies of those activity lists. These copies then went back to the central office at the end of each week, where the data were entered into Super Project by the project planners and the schedules recalculated. Management reports were produced on the basis of that data, with a new round of updates and adjustments. This resulted in revised activity lists, which were then redistributed.
This is common practice in many projects where the entering and updating of data tends to remain in the hands of a few people. This is not because the software is complex or difficult to use, but simply because there is a single data source, with single-user software, for a single project, so updating it from two or more workstations at the same time is not possible.
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1 S6 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Soon it was apparent that this fortnightly cycle of planning and communication was inefficient. More importantly, the system was not supporting the necessary information exchange and communication between the team members, so they were effectively isolated from one another.
As a result, the planners were not able to take account of delays to project tasks in their planning of related activities. Also, it was difficult for the central project planners to get a clear overview, despite continuous calls and contact with the team members. Since they were trying to manage 11 major sub-projects and 1,200 tasks, this was serious problem.
A separate problem was that the project documentation was not centrally maintained. As a result, it was difficult to ensure that a particular document on site was available in the latest version. It became increasingly difficult, as the project advanced, to locate the latest version of a particular document. Similarly, it was hard to find out where all the copies of the old versions were and to ensure that they were updated.
There was an growing danger that different people would be working with different versions of _the same document, with the consequence that some change requirements would be overlooked and the wrong decisions taken.
A Solution to the Problem
After some months into the project, the main problems were clear and so were the required solutions:
• the support of group-based, distributed project management;
• the support of communication between team members;
• the management of the project documentation.
Through Computer Associates, who were supporting the project management system, MTW came across the distributed project management system, GroupProject, from PAVONE Informationssysteme GmbH. This system integrates the planning and analysis capabilities of SuperProject with the communications and document management capabilities of Lotus Notes.
Although the system was new, with only a limited number of pilot projects having been undertaken during the testing phase, MTW made a very fast decision to go ahead. The company particularly liked the possibility of a step-by-step implementation through using Notes.
Two weeks after the initial decision, MTW started the Notes project. The first step was the installation of Lotus Notes, combined with the training of one of the team members in Notes administration and basic database design.
Next followed the installation of the GroupProject software. This consisted of a specially-constructed Notes database, together with external graphical interface tools. The Notes team attended a two-day, on-site training course in running the system.
Like Lotus Notes itself, GroupProject is an open system. It is relatively easy to change form and mask layouts, to build-in different data requirements and to create different views of the data. It was therefore easy to customise the system to suit MTW's particular requirements.
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Integration with the Existing Project
Taking over existing data is often a big headache when implementing new software. In this instance, because CA SuperProject remained as an integral part of the system, the creation of the basic project information in Lotus Notes was a simple exercise.
Each project in the Notes database has a header document from which the transfer of data to SuperProject is initiated. Creation of the projects in Notes was a simple process of creating the main header document in Notes, then launching an interface program, ProjectConnect. This loads SuperProject and, within that, the existing project file from disk.
Transferring the data to Notes created all the necessary task documents in Notes, complete with all the descriptive and scheduling information. It took only a matter of minutes for the 1,200 tasks to startup.
From then on, the project files and data were stored exclusively in Notes. The information can be replicated, through Notes, to any remote location, allowing a second project m.anager to access completely up-to-date information.
The next stage in the implementation was to add the various report documents. Reports can take any form - they can be embedded in the task documents themselves or created as separate documents. These retain the same project structure code, and thereby remain associated with the relevant task schedule information.
The report document element of the system handles project communication. It provides a central repository for problems reported, for design and construction change decisions taken on site, and minutes of meetings. Blueprints or videos of critical steps, can also be simply included in the reports as embedded objects or fIle attachments.
CA Super Project itself is not aware of the report documents. The ProjectConnect module keeps any changes to the project structure within SuperProject in synchrony with the associated documents in the Notes database.
The System in Action
The GroupProject system has been in use by all 20 project team members since February 1995. All team members can now see critical project information and the progress being made on all parts of the job. Although Lotus Notes allows a high level of security, including restrictions on access to certain information, this was not made use of as far as the team was concerned.
The team members feed the actual (as opposed to planned) data, status and time management information directly into the Lotus Notes documents. There are mechanisms in the Notes database itself, which set alarms where jobs on the critical path are running late and targets are likely to be missed.
Because of the complicated relationships and dependencies between the tasks, project managers rely on SuperProject for calculating the effect of the actual data on the overall project status. When the project schedules are recalculated, they are automatically transferred back to Notes and are then available immediately to the team members. Where anything has changed within a document, the document is flagged in the view, so the team members can easily see where changes have taken place.
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Project documents are composed in Notes and are associated with the tasks to which they relate by means of the 'Task identifier'. These documents can take any form. They include blueprints of construction work, contracts with sub-contractors, meeting agendas, minutes of meetings and reports of telephone calls. Even video clips or sound recordings are sometimes embedded in the documents.
Generic documents are provided within the standard GroupProject system, but company and subject-specific forms can also be designed. The only limitation is that the forms must hold the basic structure information with which the relationship to the task is maintained.
Results
Because of the relatively short time since the system was introduced, it has not been possible to make a quantified evaluation of the effect on the project progress. However, the following effects have been seen.
• The team members feel more involved and more in touch with the decisionmaking.
• Target and cost overruns have been reduced within the sub-projects, mainly through the improved communication capabilities.
• The document management system has been extended beyond those documents specifically related to the main project. Many other documents from various other administration and engineering departments have been stored on the system and the use of Lotus Notes is expanding as a communications system.
PAVONE carried out the training and installation and in MTW's view, this played a significant role in the success of the implementation.
Further possible developments are being investigated, including:
• implementing a contract control system, using the Lotus Notes-based workflow software GroupFlow, also from PAVONE;
• using the GroupProject system for the company's shipbuilding projects; • using an extended version of the program that incorporates a graphical model
ler, to allow new projects to be built from pre-defined standard project - these templates contain all the necessary project documentation and forms;
• building an archiving system based on Lotus Notes.
Conclusion
The Lotus Notes system at MTW has already been expanded beyond the original project team for which it was first installed. This is one of the growing number of Notes installations where the decision was based on the availability of a specific solution, with Lotus Notes as the means of delivery. This trend has implications on the way the industry will move and the way that business partners operate.
Background
Pfizer: From Sales Automation to Business Automation Beverley Stonehouse
Pfizer Inc. is a large multinational corporation principally involved in the pharmaceutical and medical industries. It is also active in other areas, such as animal health products. Pfizer employs about 44,000 people worldwide and trades in all major international markets. One of the divisions of the holding company is the Hospital Products Group (PHPG), which includes companies such as Howmedica, Valleylab, Schneider and AMS.
This case study deals with the European operations ofPHPG. It looks in particular at Va1leylab in the United Kingdom and at Howmedica, which has manufacturing plants in Germany, France, Ireland and Switzerland, and distribution warehouses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Holland and Scandinavia.
IT Background
In 1992, Howmedica Europea decided to undertake a strategic review of all its information systems around the world. It used a technique called the Strategic Investment Methodology to look at its major areas of future expenditure. Among these were the transaction processing systems, which resided mainly on an IBM AS/400 minicomputer, and the improvement of group communications, through the introduction of electronic mail.
From a limited set of options, the AS/400 was an obvious and safe choice for transaction processing, and was retained.
Finding an e-mail system was more difficult and required extensive competitive trials. Howmedica eventually adopted Lotus cc:Mail running on a local area network (LAN).
The company soon realised that electronic mail on its own did not provide a complete solution, particularly as it wished adopt workflow automation to improve its business processes.
It first examined the use of workflow software that would run on the MS-DOS operating system alone. Many of its small sales outlets employed agents who were required to purchase their own systems. (Microsoft Windows machines were at that time relatively expensive.) It also considered a number of Microsoft Windows-based products. Howmedica rejected all of them because, at the time, none had real communications built in.
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The company decided instead to use Lotus Notes as the communications foundation for a workflow system. In 1992, Notes licences were exp~nsive and Notes technical skills in the United Kingdom were in very short supply. The initial project therefore used an American-based Notes developer, which proved not to be totally succesful in a European setting.
Despite these initial difficulties, it was clear that Notes was the right product on which to base a workflow system. Howmedica therefore invited Team Technologies Ltd, a British reseller of Lotus Notes, to develop an application that met its new requirements.
Howmedica decided that users of the proposed system should be closely involved at all stages of the development cycle. The team for the Howmedica project consisted of a regional manager, a distribution manager, a product manager, a representative from the customer services department, a representative from the IT department and a Team Technologies consultant.
Application Development
The project began in earnest in November 1993. Its principal purpose was to aid the free flow of information between the sales force and head office functions. Ultimately, the company would build on this to change the way it undertook its business functions.
The system itself is based on a suite of three databases: for sales, for marketing and a product and price list.
The Sales database is designed to:
• keep track of activity between sales personnel, product managers, customer serv-ice personnel and the customer;
• collect and consolidate all information on hospitals and contacts; • simplify and improve the production of business correspondence; • provide a means of gathering market information from the sales force; • handle sample requests and product returns from the sales force; • provide simple and efficient support for the sales force; • monitor the level of service given to customers.
The central forms to this database are:
• Hospital Data, giving address information and the hospital's status. • Contact Details, for all contacts, including surgeons seen by sales personnel. This
is also used to compile forecasts of product use, based on data from the surgeons themselves
• Business Report, completed after each visit made by the sales executive or any other member of Howmedica staff. As well as a free text commentary, the sales person enters the main reason for the visit and the date of any future appointment. This form also contains button options for all the other main functions of the application, enabling the instant selection of additional documentation.
• Sample Requests. These were submitted by the sales force for authorisation by three managers before samples could be despatched to hospitals. Delays were caused if one signatory was abs.ent for any period. After an initial review it was decided that using Notes security and financial limits for each authoriser, this
Pfizer: From Sales Automation to Business Automation 161
process could be reduced to two signatories, and in some cases one, which would counter these delays.
• Quotations. Following a visit, a sales executive might issue a quotation. This uses information about the hospital and contact, which is captured from previous forms. A link to the Product Catalogue database pulls in the specific product details.
• Competitor Activity. Any product or market information about competitors obtained during a meeting is recorded by the sales executive and automatically mailed to the marketing database.
• Administrative Forms. These include the sales person's weekly itinerary and requests for holidays, stationery and literature.
• Ad hoc letters can be created by sales executives, as can faxes.
The Marketing Database enables product specialists to: • extract and analyse competitor data from sales personnel's reports, which are
automatically mailed to this database from the Sales database; • create, authorise and distribute electronic bulletins to the sales force and cus
tomer services staff.
This database provides sales executive with competitor product profiles and helps them to counter any comparison arguments from customers.
The Product and Price List database contains details of all Howmedica's products. It provides an on-line catalogue, which is indexed in several ways for ease of use and helps with the production of sales quotations.
The Pilot
On completion of the first phase of development, the Notes team started a pilot study in the Northern sales region. This involved four sales executives, the regional manager, the national sales manager and customer services personnel. Their experience of personal computers was mixed.
The sales personnel were given a half-day introduction to Microsoft Windows and a half day of basic Notes use. This included instruction in remote mail and dialling-in to the office by modem. A further day was spent exploring the specific Notes application. No other application training was required.
Even during prototyping, while the wrinkles were still being ironed out, user feedback was positive. Some good ideas came from the users in time for them to be incorporated in the design, but this had to be managed closely to meet delivery timescales. Additional modules have since been incorporated or are planned.
Enhancements
Two other databases were added to cater for the specific business needs of Valley Lab UK (a sister company of Howmedica). These went to make up a suite of five applications aimed at business automation, not just sales automation. They were:
• The Product Tracking database, which contains machine profiles, and is used to: - locate capital equipment in hospitals, whether sold to a customer, in stock in
the warehouse or 'signed out' to a sales executive as demonstration stock; - support and track service requests.
162 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
• The Service database which is available for: - service engineers to create a service report - allows data from previous entries
to be combined with spare part details from the product catalogue and information about the current site visit, which the engineer can print on site, thus promoting a more professional image to the customer;
- the accounts department to process invoices more promptly.
Benefits
So far, Howmedica has not undertaken any statistical analysis of the rate of return on investment. These are the qualitative and unquantified results so far:
• Communications between the remote sales force, the management team and customer services have been enhanced. Information appears to flow more freely and quickly.
• Paper has largely been eradicated within the sales team. Only expenses are submitted on a paper form, because accounts have yet to be converted to the benefits of Notes. Also, as one person said, "You can't staple receipts to a Notes message." Cost savings are unlikely once account is taken of telephone charges for database replication, but the speed of all transactions has been greatly improved.
• Automation of some document production has meant a reduction in the number of secretaries required to look after sales personnel. In customer services, emphasis has switched from routine administrative tasks to directly servicing customer enquiries. This has required the redefmition of some employees' jobs, which it is hoped will lead to better customer service as well as greater job satisfaction.
• Information gathered by the sales force, particularly on competitors' influence in specific locations, can be collated and distributed quickly to the rest of the sales force. This helps the whole sales team rather than a few individuals.
• The electronic product and price catalogue has meant that sales people no longer need to file addenda to price catalogues to stay up to date. Incorporation of dynamic links to the quote form has drastically reduced the time it takes to complete quotations.
• Summary views of information allow managers to review activity within hospitals and pinpoint reasons behind specific gains and losses by sales personnel. They can view this information by hospital and by region. These reports require no expenditure of additional effort.
• Howmedica has been able to monitor the efficiency of processing requests at head office and improve the level of service to its customers. The status of requests is easily identifiable and conveyed to enquirers presenting a more professional image.
Assessment
The company's IT strategy is increasingly user-focused, with the IT department managing the practical aspects. In this way the company can quickly respond to
Pfizer: From Sales Automation to Business Automation 163
new business requirements. Notes is an ideal tool for fast prototyping and designing on-screen in the presence of users, for their initial reactions and feedback.
Notes and its applications have been a catalyst for change, which has required a focus on business processes rather than data requirements. It has brought about ways of doing business more efficiently (as can be seen in the reduction in the required number of authorisation signatures in Howmedica). Layers of authority have been flattened to some extent.
The United Kingdom databases have provided useful templates for the European locations. Languages have been modified and functionality added or changed to suit local conditions. The core application remains unchanged, reducing development time and minimising additional testing phases. The subsequent implementation costs and timescales for delivery of these applications have been considerably lower.
In Howmedica United Kingdom, the Notes applications have been in use for 15 months at the time of writing; Holland has also 'gone live' with its version. There is a pilot project in progress in Switzerland and one shortly to begin in Spain. Development is under way for the Scandinavian locations.
The Howmedica applications described above were readily accepted, with some modification, by the managers of Valleylab in the United Kingdom. The Valleylab applications are all in pilot stage or are nearing completion. They have recently been accepted by the European general managers for full European implementation.
Given the success of these Notes databases, many other applications are being developed throughout Pfizer. Most involve complex business processes and routing of documents between departments and countries. Team Technologies is assisting in three major new developments, which involve the introduction of true crossdivisional applications.
As Peter Shores, Howmedica's IT manager, comments, "Notes isn't for everything. We know that. But what we need to do now is apply some of the good lessons we've learnt to other areas and perhaps start asking questions that we weren't asking before:'
The final words should be from users of the applications. A product manager in mainland Europe says, "Lotus Notes gives us a very good registration of business activities, with the advantage of seeing what is actually going on in the field and everybody can control their own customer activity remotely by using replication:'
Malcolm Twitchett, the general manager of Valleylab United Kingdom, is convinced that Notes will improve his business: "By using Notes to automate our business processes, we can concentrate on servicing the customer quicker and more efficiently than our competitors, which can only be to the benefit of Valley lab:'
Acknowledgements
This chapter was written with permission from Pfizer Hospital Products Group. Assistance from Peter Shores (Howmedica) is acknowledged with thanks.
Ports Association of West Africa: AwardWinning Management Information System Bahar Uttam
Background
The West African coast has long been a major entry point for shipping bound to and from Europe and beyond. Trade has already grown to the point where traffic has exceeded the capacity of ports. To cope with this, and the expanding requirements of cargo transport for the next century, the ports have established an upgrading and modernisation programme. A major component of this has been the introduction and use of information technology to improve operations.
The Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), based in Lagos, Nigeria, represents 23 ports in 17 West and Central African countries. It set up a study of the development of computer capabilities throughout the region. The system envisaged by the association links all the West African ports, providing the means for sharing information between themselves as well as with the world.
Improved port management is required to:
• give efficient utilisation of port resources (personnel, equipment and facilities); • optimise ship turn-around time; • increase the safety of operations; • eliminate data input redundancy; • reduce the cost of port operations; • increase port management control; • give timely and reliable management information.
The modernisation program began with the selection of two ports as pilot sites, to evaluate the use of information technology to enhance operations. Doula, in Cameroon, and Banjul, in The Gambia, were chosen, because they provided the diversity required to be representative of the ports in the region.
Doula is an established port and one of the largest in the region. It has an established communications infrastructure and computer installation. Banjul is a smaller, unautomated port. It gave the opportunity to test the system in its entirety. Doula has French as its dominant language; Banjul is primarily English speaking.
The goal of the project was to define a system that would provide:
• improved financial and administrative information; • greater efficiency in technical management for the ports; • expanded planning capacity; • improved data collection and evaluation procedures.
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Ports Association of West Africa: Award-Winning Management Information System 165
Pilot Evaluation
PMAWCA selected Synetics Corporation, an American-based systems integrator, for this pilot project. The company added two intermediate objectives to the association's fundamental goal of increasing revenue by reducing the cost of operations.
Synetics felt that the ports' computer system must emphasise:
• quick and easy access to reliable information for decision-making by managers; • the sharing of computer resources and data among managers and operations
personnel.
Its proposed solution was based on personal computers linked by a local area network (LAN). This would provide local data processing and management information, while enabling communication among ports. The system would be modular and adaptable. It would thus be useful in ports of varying sizes and levels of automation, while being capable of expansion to accommodate future growth.
Using personal computers on a LAN would allow the ports to use both bespoke and off-the-shelf software products. These would include multiple language versions of accounting, management analysis, decision support and administration packages.
Lotus Notes was Synetics' recommended software platform. As well as its attributes of security, low cost and ability to run on a range of computers, it:
• gives a common communication structure for ports in different countries; • can work on both dispersed and local networks (WANs and LANs); • allows ports to selectively share data, internally or externally; • allows rapid customisation of new or existing applications; • allows for diversity in the way people work (providing a similar structure from
port to port, yet allowing each port to operate independently).
Synetics recommended that a complete system be installed in Banjul, to deal with:
• operations - traffic, harbours, plant and equipment; • stores - inventory maintenance and material request processing; • finance - invoicing, purchasing and accounting; • administration and personnel - payroll and personnel; • commerce - market research and business development; • security - port patrol, access control and inspection.
Doula, by contrast, already operated a series of reliable automated systems. Synetics felt that these systems would benefit from being integrated and from having improved user interfaces. Shared use of its advanced systems would facilitate any future modernisation of individual processes.
Design
Once PMAWCA accepted Synetics recommendations, the next phase was full-scale design. This included a Joint Application Design (JAD) phase. Port officials from the various African countries met in Boston, USA to conduct the JAD. The inclusion of representatives from various job functions of a port operation, such as administrators, engineers, finance and port managers, provided insight to the
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requirements of all users. The JAD sessions led to the identification of several functional specifications.
An important element of the design sessions was to discuss the objectives and desired capabilities for a shared information for PMAWCA member ports. Such a system would increase communication and facilitate collaboration among the nations and ports, thus helping to attain the goals of the PMAWCA organisation.
The most important characteristics of the computer systems soon became apparent. Many participants were concerned that, whatever form the system might have when delivered, the investment should not be lost as the port community grew or as computer technology advanced. Many of these system attributes were also relevant to the management information systems for individual ports, namely that it should be:
• adaptable and easily modifiable; • reliable; • expansible; • cost-effective; • common to all-ports; • having sharable information and components.
The goals for collaboration among ports within the Western and Central African nations corresponded with those of the PMAWCA and the nations themselves. This was not surprising, since most of the commerce and goods flowing through these African nations depend upon port operations. Their overall objectives were to:
• increase revenue and port traffic; • share and develop more effective marketing strategies; • help each other improve their management information systems; • increase port management data flow; • improve efficiency of port management data collection; • avoid congestion of ports; • contribute to the economic integration of West and Central African countries; • contribute to prudent ecological maintenance and preservation.
These overall objectives became the bases for the specific objectives for an international and inter-port management information system. To achieve them, the ports would first need to share information, including details of manifests, Lloyds Registry information, cargo layouts on ships, performance indicators, times of arrival, resources available, traffic measurements and packaging.
The session also identified specific functional requirements, the majority of which would be satisfied by Lotus Notes discussion databases. They included:
• tracking vessel movements among ports; • tracking trade trends; • tracking container movements; • communication with other communities, such as by Internet electronic mail; • inter-port and intra-port communication.
There were also longer-term developments that they would need to stay abreast of, in such matters as vessel design, port facilities, containers, waste disposal, and emergency information and notification.
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Port Management in Gabon
At the time PMAWCA was evaluating a Notes-based system for the 17 countries, Libreville, in Gabon, was hit by a tornado. The data centre at the port was damaged and the communications equipment destroyed. The director of The Port of Libreville decided to proceed with the Notes-based system to replace the damaged mainframe system.
Gabon is a small country trying to leap into the modern world through computerised shipping and many of the technological advances that accompany the 21st Century shipping business. However, the Port of Libreville was not being managed as effectively as it could be and Notes offered an excellent opportunity to improve port operations.
The problem posed by L'Office des Ports et Rades du Gabon (OPRAG) was to produce a fully integrated computer system to prepare the ports to deal with their growing global economic situation. OPRAG needed to:
• integrate port operations at Libreville and Port Gentil; • establish a set 'of port management tools to improve productivity; • provide all system users with office automation capabilities.
OPRAG wanted a system that could expand incrementally and eventually interact with other ports and countries in the region. The major modules developed for the ports were for:
• vessel information tracking (VIT); • container tracking; • resource and equipment tracking; • manifests control; • dredging and hydrographics.
Another feature of the design was the connection to the Lloyd's Register of Shipping, distributed by Lloyd's of London. The register provides detailed information on individual vessels. As a result of the integration of these modules in one central system, the port manager has knowledge of all ships coming in and can determine the requirements for docking services and cargo handling. Various views give the manager an overview of the current situation, while Notes forms provide detailed information on specific ships and resources.
Implementation
The OPRAG Port Management Information System (PMIS) was the first introduction of computer technology that spanned the entire port authority environment. It transformed manual port management processes into automated data tracking and provided automated financial data processing to staff, with access from various remote sites.
Most of the port buildings now have office automation workstations, with network access to the port management database and financial system. The integrated system introduces a comprehensive automated environment for analysing past, current and future activities, and services, resources and requirements. In addition
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to the overall efficiency improvements gained, the automated fmancial component has reduced the time required for invoicing from about a month to less than one day.
A modular, open client/server system was installed to link the ports of Libreville and Port Gentil. Users gain access to it by modems and local area networks (LANs) at each port. It connects with financial systems running on IBM RS/6000 computers. The design allows expansion at existing locations and future integration with other ports and applications.
To ensure future compatibility with other regional ports, the system served as a model to other members of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa. The system and its ultimate integration with other regional ports was perceived by the PMAWCA as the future direction of port automation throughout the region.
System development took place on two continents. Initially, network components and port management applications were configured and programmed in the USA to reduce development costs and to avoid delivery and product support problems. After software implementation and network testing, the system was shipped to Gabon for final integration with the RS/6000. The project was completed within ten months.
Results
The OPRAG Port Management Information System was the first introduction of automated data processing. The system provided dramatic improvements in capability and port operations:
1. Administrative Staff. The introduction of the open system with standard personal computer workstations made office automation processes available to the administrative staff for the first time. Data analysis, graphics and report production is now accomplished using word processors, graphics packages and automated spreadsheets. Internal communications are now performed through electronic mail and document transfer.
2. Harbour Master's Office. Manual procedures for capturing and recording critical data were transformed into automated information tracking. The following specific improvements were made: • Data reduction - an integrated vessel information database eliminates sig
nificant amounts of redundant data collection required for the variety of vessel and shipping forms.
• Integrated resource planning - the integrated database of ship data, equipment profiles, resources and schedules permits more effective planning and operation. Instead of treating information independently, an integrated picture of available resources is evaluated against the needs of incoming ships.
• Extended resource allocation - the historical database facilitates prediction of resources needed by ships before specific services are requested.
3. Billing Office. The installation of the financial processor on the IBM RS/6000 computer, and its availability throughout the ports over modems and LAN s, has transformed operations. Previous manual bookkeeping and invoicing processes are now completely automated, with consistent interfaces for both central and remote users.
Ports Association of West Africa: Award-Winning Management Information System 169
The new system permits the port to associate causes of delays and service requests with their respective costs. Delays, vessel movements and special service requests resulting from clients' needs can be charged back since their liability is documented. The historical client database continually expands and reconfirms critical operational data. Vessel information collected from previous visits can be confirmed and updated as needed. Eventually, the database will facilitate forecasting and planning, by capturing periodic and seasonal resource requirements and the specific needs of regular clients.
Previously, manual data processing and invoicing could take as long as a month. Since the networked system permits direct, immediate access to billing data from all operational areas, the billing cycle can now be reduced to less than a day.
Doing Business in Africa
It is part of Synetics Corporation's business strategy to pursue business internationally. It had no~ included Africa in that plan.
A chance meeting led to its present involvement. The company was exhibiting at the CeBit Telecommunications Trade Fair in Hannover, Germany. A Malian, Mamadou Lamine Savadogo, President of Marison International, visited the stand. He encouraged the company to bid on an effort funded by the African Development Bank (ADB) for a port management system feasibility study. The request for the study was initiated by the PMAWCA. Since the funding was from the ADB, Synetics felt certain that, if successful, payment would be made in hard currency - a key requirement for a privately held company.
A month after the bid was submitted, Synetics was informed that it was shortlisted. It was then invited to defend its proposal at the ADB headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The company was given less than a week's notice of the event. No one from Synetics had been in that country before and, furthermore, had no knowledge of the travel, immunisation and visa requirements. In order to obtain a visa to the Ivory Coast, yellow fever vaccination was required. This takes effect in two to seven days, by which time the Synetics representatives would have been there, defended the proposal and returned.
Nonetheless, it was a condition of issuing the visa. Fortunately, for the Synetics employees who went to Africa, none of them had any adverse side effects (which are quite common after yellow fever vaccinations), nor did they contract yellow fever.
The defence of the proposal had to be done in a presence of 30 port representatives from 15 different countries, most of them French speaking. Synetics representatives made their presentation in English, with simultaneous translation into French. Many of the 30 members of the PMAWCA hearing it had been educated in the West (France, the United Kingdom and the USA). One of them had even gone to the same college as the technical representative from Synetics! Knowing that it was bidding against two hardware companies, Synetics proposed a solution to the PMAWCA requirements that was independent of hardware. This tactic was successful and Synetics won the contract.
The specification called for a system usable by French and English speakers. This was relatively straightforward to accomplish.
Less easy was obtaining and caring for the system in Gabon. Local resources for both were inadequate. Synetics bought the equipment in the USA, and set up and
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tested it in its American offices shipping it to Gabon. By the grace of freight agents, airlines and receiving agents, over a hundred cartons of equipmeqt arrived safely.
In order to secure the required loans to carry out the project, Synetics staff had assist the customer in its presentations to banks and other lending institutions.
Despite these and other obstacles, it was a successful project. New information technology was introduced into West Africa and Synetics gained experience in installing systems thousands of miles away, with a very different culture.
Conclusion
The International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) recognised the work done in Gabon as the most innovative information technology system for ports in the world. At the annual IAPH meeting in Toronto, OPRAG was given the 1994 Gold Award.
Background
PrimeGest SpA: Group Memory Transforms Italian Fund Management Company Jackie Mullen
Prime SpA is one of the largest Italian mutual fund investment firms. It consists of PrimeGest, PrimeConsult, Prime Merrill and several other smaller entities. The composite organisation offers a wide range of financial services to individual and institutional clients. Currently it enjoys a 6% share of the Italian market, with a net asset base of about 8,000 billion lire (about US$5 billion).
The role of PrimeGest within Prime is to manage various specialised funds for those clients interested in placements in asset and country allocation. PrimeGest also provides research and analysis services for the different entities under the Prime umbrella.
Competition in international investments is intense and the scrupulous timing of each placement is of utmost importance. In order to stay abreast in assessing the international markets, PrimeGest must digest and manage a huge amount of data.
Handling the quantity of information required for research had always been a slow, laborious process. Each morning the many newspapers, magazines and specialised reports that passed each desk were read, notes were taken and articles of relevance cut out by hand by assistants. Paper cuttings tended to be piled or thrown everywhere.
Archiving and indexing the resulting materials was often haphazard at best. Since the longevity of much of the gathered information was sometimes in doubt, many clippings were unsystematically, and rather unceremoniously, thrown away after their immediate use.
Consequently, research could be quite onerous and slow, with the process suffering from a lack of continuity and flexibility. Analysts needed to know early on what topics would be necessary to the research project, so that articles and materials could be gathered. Receiving any additional information required from the existing archives could take anywhere from a few hours to several days, depending on the analyst's luck that the materials hadn't been somehow misplaced.
Around this cumbersome process there tended to develop a sort of caste system within the group. Senior members felt, in varying degrees, absolved from certain of the more tedious tasks. New recruits were often treated as informational apprentices, taking on the less desirable.tasks, as if enduring rites of initiation through which all must pass.
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172 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
It was the very quantity of the information available and needed, its cumbrousness and the brevity of its shelf life that inhibited the development of more efficient methods of archiving. Moreover, increasing amounts of information were coming from on-line services or in the form of indexed CD-ROMs. Less time was spent cutting and clipping, and increased time was spent at the computer.
The computer was changing from a mere spreadsheet and elaborator of reports to a functioning archive of resources. At this point, PrimeGest saw the need for software that would help it more efficiently utilise the archives of information that it was constantly augmenting. It looked towards the software market.
Notes in Italy
As in other countries experimenting with groupware, especially Notes, the Italian business and academic communities are engaged in a process of dialogue with the new technologies. It is the process of question and answer, of trial and error, through which one gains an understanding of the product in terms of the local culture's complex of values, attitudes and objectives. There is also a working within, yet a pushing against, the restraints of local physical and organisational characteristics and limitations.
This is not a new process. It is intrinsic in all discovery and invention. Yet the traditional process is perceptively broadened in Notes development. There is a more strongly perceived element of change through time, which demands a more sophisticated approach to the development process. The adoption of increasingly innovative practices is fuelled by the brevity of feedback delays, the mutability of the software's form, and the demands of dealing with the growing complexity of a global market place.
Notes developers must be particularly sensitive to context. A Notes application is driven by the demands of its intended business processes and users, and would have little meaning in and of itself. Feedback and learning from obtaining a proper fit with the group's utilisation of the application become integral aspects of the design process. This broader attention within the development process necessitates a continual questioning of basic organisational assumptions. It also requires an openness towards imagining and realising the many possible alternatives in creating new types of organisations.
Nonetheless, in practice, it is quite difficult to keep the necessary dialogue at levels where there can be effective collaboration. The result is a high degree of ambiguity surrounding the uses and implications of Notes and other groupware products. There is often a tendency to try to force these new forms of applications into preexisting conceptions of software tools, instead of opening up to a language of new categories. Consequently, a description of the product is not easily rendered. Many prospective purchasers feel more comfortable seeing the product in use in order to understand its potential applicability towards their own organisational demands.
In Italy, this ambiguity is aggravated by the fact that many of the perceived organisational needs of potential Notes buyers differ from those of large or multinational organisations with which Notes has tended to become associated. The prominence of some of the first successful and highly publicised installations leads people to regard Notes as a product solely for large organisations.
The emphasis in these cases is on increasing flexibility, building integrated workgroups, flattening the organisation and creating closer communications
PrimeGest SpA: Group Memory Transforms Italian Fund Management Company 173
between those distant in time and space. On the whole, these concerns are not those foremost in the mind of the average Italian manager.
Italian companies tend to be small. They operate through loosely organised, long-lasting and informal relationships. The average Italian firm suffers more from the complex intricacy of its market and the changeability of its organisational interconnections. This is compounded by the numerous politicised channels one must follow in order to perform even simple business transactions. The smaller size of the typical company means the needed network infrastructure is more likely to be lacking.
So, the purchase of Notes in Italy represents a substantial investment to the smaller, and perhaps unconvinced, buyer. The types of applications developed for both large and small organisations certainly overlap. The more popular applications for Notes include creating systems of implementation, making manifest information and communication flows, and facilitating project management and termination.
Bringing Notes into PrimeGest
Given the foregoing, it is unsurprising that PrimeGest was one of the first groups in Italy to bring Notes into its firm. It was well acquainted with making sense out of huge quantities of ambiguous and disparate information, and understood well its own organisational needs.
Giorgio Arfaras, the director of equity research at PrimeGest, first heard about Notes three years ago at a dinner party. His reaction to Notes was one of recognition. Its capacity to archive and organise textual information for group collaboration was exactly what Arfaras was looking for. At that time, outside consultants had also been brought in to evaluate the possibilities of information systems and in the end merely confirmed Arfaras' first impression. Notes stood out as the only available product suitable; another, more expensive, contender being described as "ugly, grey and without windows".
The PrimeGest group desired a product that could manage, not reduce or simplify, the complexity and occasional chaos of the information the group used. Creating meaning out of the chaos was to be done through the intellect, through the manipulation of categories and logical types. The role of the software was to complement this intellectual element, not in any way attempt to substitute for it. The task of the software was to render more orderly, accessible and visible the various informational inputs so that they might be used more easily and efficiently.
There was a definite ambivalence within the PrimeGest group towards creating idealised, technological futures. They did not naively look towards software to solve all of their problems. They sought an appropriate technology which could be applied to give flexible structure to a cardinal aspect of their work.
From the beginning of application design, which was undertaken by a Milanbased Notes reseller, MinneapoliS-Milan Advisors and Consultants, srl, PrimeGest held certain factors as essential. It stressed:
• the primacy of having an application that was not overly complicated; • the inclusion of all group members in the various levels of development and
deployment; • the introduction of the application in prioritised phases, beginning with a core
set of critical tasks.
174 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
PrimeGest felt that, by beginning simply and concentrating on designing well the main logical connections between the categories, a basic skeleton of a structure would be created and tested. This would then support added growth and complexity.
The company emphasised to the developer from the beginning the standardisation and rationalisation oflogical associations between data. The Notes specialists were also to encourage the full participation of all team members in accepting the new system and exploring its potential utility.
Minos
The system was dubbed Minos (Figure 23.1). This alluded to the legendary King Minos of Crete, a tyrant who decided people's fate by sending them into labyrinth to confront the Minotaur, half-man, half-bull.
Perishable Economic Data
Ideas Interpretive Analysis Group Insights
lopment
Stable Knowledge Base
Figure 23.1. Notes with Minos. Provides a means of creating a dynamic interplay between critical resources Structured enough to facilitate workflows;flexible enough to allow erne? creative dynamics?
PrimeGest's modern labyrinth used three principal forms to enter necessary data into the database:
• general data for general economic information or sector reports; • company data for information attributable to a particular company or group of
companies; • equity data for information on various equity interests.
There was also a response form called 'Comments/Suggestions/Actions' that would add direct follow up to certain issues needing group or individual attention.
Extreme rigour was used in the definition and completion of the category choice or choices of all data entered. It was in the creation of categories that the foundations of the logical associations between data were laid. This subsequently determined the variability of possible views. Flexibility in creating views was considered instrumental in the interpretation of the data.
With the adoption of Minos, two of the group's primary problems were immediately resolved. The first regarded the time required to undertake each of the
PrimeGest SpA: Group Memory Transforms Italian Fund Management Company 175
operations involved in conducting research. Under Minos, work proceeded at about five times the previous rate. Since the quantity of information nQw in digital form was significant, everything needed was at employees' fingertips. Accessing resources, creating synthesised reports, generating documents and verifying information all took a fraction of the time previously required. And the documents produced were much more aesthetically pleasing than before.
The second problem resolved regarded memory. Minos provided a means of creating a group memory that affected performance in important ways. The quality of work accomplished became substantially better. Because there was greater control of materials and easier methods of verifying variables, there was an increased confidence in making better decisions, more quickly.
Another aspect of memory was its influence in encouraging learning. As Signor Arfaras noted, "You learn from your mistakes, but in order to learn from them you've got to remember that you've made them. The database became a sort of strange device that forces you to come to terms with the pase'
In terms of change in the social dynamics of the group, the group essentially became more derpocratic. The time that secretaries spent performing repetitive tasks was reduced from four-fIfths of their working day to about one fifth. In fact, the term 'data administrator' was adopted as a reflection of this changing role.
Even new recruits for research positions had an easier insertion into the group environment. Since much of the fatigue had been eliminated from conducting research, there was no longer the initiates' status as informational drudge. It became easier for new members to stand out purely on the merits of their analytic capabilities. However, group members from pre-Minos days perhaps considered them a bit spoiled, not having had to suffer the older methods.
The efficiency effects regarding time and memory produced a rise in work standards. Consequently, this permitted a change in the way that the researchers conduct their work. The speed and ease of operations have allowed them to follow a more natural inclination in approaching the development of research ideas. Tedious constraints removed, the researchers can now spend far more time on abstract thought and can perform more sophisticated levels of analysis than previously possible. Simply stated, Minos provided them with a tool that lets them spend more time doing what they were hired for.
The goal of the financial researcher is to capture market potentials in a fiercely competitive environment. He or she does that by seeking out fringe, differentiated information from amongst data that are theoretically available to all of his or her competitors. Often the person starts out not really knowing what he or she is looking for. It is a creative rethinking of known values in order to provide a new insight or different angle on the meaning behind movements in market trends.
Such a work process differs substantially from a more typical corporate methodology. This usually stresses a narrowly-concentrated focus on specialised tasks that are directed towards well-defined goals. The researcher, by contrast, must maintain an attention to multiple variables and streams of information - creating syntheses and testing interdependencies. They must create a mental image of the dynamics of whole markets in order to perceive patterns and tendencies not previously discernible. Lines of research must also be open-ended and adaptable, so that continual re-evaluation can take place as unexpected and random events arise.
PrimeGest has thus created for itself a dynamic system that supports its most essential work process, the creative interpretation of data. Researchers use the Notes views to give additional depth to data by viewing it from many different perspec-
176 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
tives and through a variety of lenses. They can let the information playoff itself in suggesting potential lines of development and new associations between variables.
The database, in creating a group forum, provides even richer interactions by augmenting the individual's memory with the expertise of the others. The ease and speed of the product lets them follow and explore trains of thought while sifting through the database. This is a type of creative free association of ideas was not previously even imagined when the paper-based process was being bogged down with interminable delays.
Challenges Ahead
PrimeGest now wishes to extend Notes into more administrative activities and to explore other applications of Minos. It is also endeavouring to articulate the group learning process it has experienced in order to further encourage the innovative uses of Notes in the parent organisation.
Background
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. : Linking Up PlayStation Partners Hiroshi Fujimori
At the beginning of December 1994, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, introduced its PlayStation video games machine to the market. The PlayStation sold 100,000 units on the day it was released. By the end of the month, it had sold 300,000 units. In spring 1995, sales hit a record of one million units.
This scale of business success surprised analysts, competitors, software manufacturers and the mass media. The market for home video game machines had previously been dominated by Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo's Super Famicom (Super NES), in particular, had swept the Japanese market.
Breaking into this market looked as if it would be hard. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., for example, has had a tough fight since it launched its 3DO REAL. Analysts predicted that even a company as strong as Sony would find it difficult to get over the superior position of Nintendo. They were wrong.
What was the key to Sony's success? One reason was that Sony succeeded in developing hardware that provides a presentation capability equivalent to that of an engineering workstation. This was a necessary condition, but not sufficient. The key to success in the computer games business is making sure that large quantities of exciting software are made available for continuous sales. Users do not invest in the performance of any hardware, but pay money for attractive games software that makes uses of the new presentation capabilities.
Sony Computer Entertainment develops software as well as hardware, but could not hope to produce enough software on its own to drive the market. It therefore concluded a licensing agreement with over 200 software development companies before the PlayStation was released. Many of those licensees developed games especially for the PlayStation, which were then released with it.
The combination of revolutionary hardware with a wide variety of software packages from a well-organised group oflicensees put Sony into a superior competitive position.
Yet SCEI, the group that achieved this, had been set up in November 1993, only a year before the PlayStation was put on the market. It was able to secure that large number of licensees and make available such a large number of software packages, through the use of an informationsystem that improved communications efficiency and allowed information sharing. That system was based on Lotus Notes.
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178 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Database for contact reports
SCEl first had its Business Affairs Division use Lotus Notes. This department is in charge of concluding licensing agreements with games software development companies. It provides licensees with various kinds of assistance, including a technical support, after concluding a licensing agreement. Staff in this division must collect and accumulate a lot of information on the licensees, and potential licensees.
Assume, for example, that a leading software development company had approached the appropriate person in the Business Affairs Division with an interest in the PlayStation. That member of staff will try to persuade the company to become a licensee.
The actions which the Division's managers and officers subsequently take will vary according to:
• how this approach has been dealt with by the member of staff; • what reactions the software development company has shown; • what points they are interested in; • what points they are questioning; • whether they want to start developing software immediately or take time to evalu-
ate the situation first.
If this information cannot be shared, no appropriate action can be taken. And, if a delay in the communication of information leads to further delay in taking actions, there might be a risk of losing a business opportunity.
The Business Affairs Division created a database, 'Contact Reports', for reports on the negotiations with software development companies. This can be shared within the division and with related departments.
As SCEl's business expanded, the number of its employees was increased (it now has about 200 employees). This database was very effective in helping these new employees acquire up-to-date knowledge of procedures straight away. It was also useful for those staff members who had been transferred to the division and who needed to understand the background to the current situation.
Before Notes
Before Lotus Notes started being used, the contact reports were prepared by individual employees on their own word processor machine or word processing software, and then printed. These reports were stored in fIling cabinets. Since different word processing software packages were used, the reporting format was not uniform.
Of course, this was quite inconvenient. Only one person at a time could review a report, and managers and officers could not easily find the time to go to individual cabinets. Searching for paper was difficult; finding the information on the paper was also hard, because of the lack of a standard format. Yet this was the only way to find out if a new report had been fIled.
To help overcome these problems, the division began by installing a computer network. At that time, SCEI did not have a network covering the entire company.
Visiting technical staff members from SCEl's parent company, Sony Corporation, used a Unix-based network, but this was not used by SCEl. Unix is difficult to
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Linking Up PlayStation Partners 179
use by ordinary staff who were unfamiliar with computers. Also, it could not run Microsoft Windows applications such as Microsoft Excel and Word or Lotus 1-2-3.
These factors persuaded SCE! to use personal computers that ran Microsoft Windows, as client machines on a Novell NetWare network. Microsoft Excel, Word and Access were installed as standard in the client machines.
This network system was first used in the Business Affairs Division, each person being supplied with a personal computer. It was then gradually extended to the entire company.
Selection of Lotus Notes
Having decided to install the network, SCE! considered what software to use to share the contact reports. They had three main options:
1. Prepare reports using the currently available word processing software, as before, and save the completed reports in the Division's shared directory.
2. Use the existing desktop database software, Microsoft Access. 3. Use Lotus Notes.
Option 1 could be put into practice immediately once the local area network (LAN) was operating. The management of documents would still have been difficult, though, as would the subsequent search for any desired report. This option was rejected at an early stage.
Option 2, using Microsoft Access, would enable the preparation and management of reports themselves. However, it would be difficult to discriminate between the reports that had been read and those that had not. It would also not provide sophisticated information sharing and was anyway unsuited for textual information. This option was not chosen either. Instead SCE! decided to use Access for the management of licensees' addresses and the delivery of development tools.
SCE! consequently chose Lotus Notes. In those days, the use of Lotus Notes was not as popular in Japan as it now is and few application examples were available for consideration. Therefore, the group collected application examples of Lotus Notes from the USA and studied them. SCE! staff members visited Lotus Japan to see Notes in use and probed the possibility of developing a suitable database. In addition, they participated in a Lotus Notes training course sponsored by Lotus Japan and experienced Notes at first hand.
As a result of this evaluation process, SCE! decided to purchase Lotus Notes in the spring of 1994.
The Influence of Users
The initiative for purchasing Notes often comes from the information systems department, which buys it for use by the entire company. In SCEI, it was a user department that bought Notes, first for its own use and then extending it to the rest of the company.
It was Mr Toshiyuki Miyata, Assistant General Manager, who promoted the use of Lotus Notes in the Business Affairs Division. He had had an unusual career,having
180 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
worked in the sales promotion of music recordings and then producing educational video tapes for personal computers in SCEI's other parent company, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan). He was therefore familiar with the personal computer industry.
As this career was favourably evaluated, Mr Miyata was posted to Assistant General Manager of the Business Affairs Division when SCEI was established. Along with his primary jobs concerning the licensees, Mr Miyata came to playa role as the person responsible for the general matters on SCEI's network, including Lotus Notes. He used appropriate external dealers and consultants to build the SCEI's information-sharing system.
The support of the network and the development of applications for Lotus Notes were outside the scope of Mr Miyata's job because he was in the managerial post. To carry out those duties, SCEI employed an engineer, rather than use an outside organisation. The engineer they chose had experience of both NetWare and Notes, which was something rare in those days.
Information literacy
Immediately after Lotus Notes was purchased, the users were trained to use it and the use of electronic mail and a Notes discussion database began. They were also trained to understand that they must supply their own information so that it would grow. Otherwise, the Lotus Notes licences would not be used and the investment wasted.
The staff members in the Business Affairs Division had experience in using standalone personal computers and had no psychological resistance to using them. Officers had experience of using electronic mail in personal computer networks and immediately became competent with Lotus Notes.
Mr Yuji Takahashi, Director and Manager of the Business Affairs Division (the head of that department), himself wrote information to the discussion database from an early stage. This was an incentive to the use of Lotus Notes by the staff members of the division.
The Business Affairs Division makes greater use of personal computers than any other department in SCEI. This was a great advantage in subsequently extending its use the whole company. In Japan, managers and officers do not customarily use a personal computer to do their jobs. So, even if electronic mail and groupware became available, they would be unable to use them.
Development and Use of Database for Contact Reports
The database for contact reports (Figure 24.1)was developed from scratch, rather than by using the template and sample database supplied with Notes. The data, such as the names, addresses and telephone numbers of software companies, were imported from the data accumulated in Microsoft Access. Reports on the negotiations with software development companies were entered by each member of staff in the Business Affairs Division.
To ensure that data could be easily found for subsequent reviews, there were three views constructed within Notes:
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Linking Up PlayStation Partners 181
I Notes Databasel
Company I Form I Profile VieW 1:
Database Company r--- Date Profile
V Database Contact
~ (converted) Report Daf9: 20/10/95
Company nome Company Nom&: ABC Corp Place' ABC f!3. Address Member of . HItoshI KIshI
Phone number
V Microsoft etc. TIle: FIts1 Contact Access View 2: / Memo:
- Company
I I Contoet Nome Reports (contoet history)
Dore Place Company nome View 3: Member of $fa" Member Memo f-
of Staff
Figure.24.1. Contact Reports database.
• one for each software development company; • one for each member of staff; • one in date order of contact.
The data previously accumulated on paper were converted into the Notes format. Fortunately, they were stored in an electronically readable format. The data were reorganised into text files and then a filter was created to load the data into Lotus Notes.
Useful information was therefore accumulated immediately after the database was put into operation. Subsequently, every time a member of staff in the Business Affairs Division contacted a software development company, information was entered. The entered data were made accessible to the managers and officers from the related departments.
Expansion to the Entire Company
The Business Affairs Division developed various databases, besides the one for contact reports. For example, the questions which were raised as the licensees developed software were summarised to build up a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) database; there was also a database for managing the software development process.
Since these databases were found to be very useful, departments other than the Business Affairs Division became interested in using Lotus Notes. As a result, the use of Notes expanded to the whole company. For instance, the public relations department entered press release data and event schedules to a Notes database so
182 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
that staff from other departments could access them. The number of Lotus Notes clients gradually increased to over 100.
SCEI is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, but is a joint-venture company of Sony Corporation and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan). (Sony Music Entertainment is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation.) Lotus Notes contributed to removing the wall between these two organisations and helped to integrate them. The engineers from Sony Corporation did their jobs using a Unix-based workstation (Sony NEWS), and a Unix-based e-mail system. Although the Business Affairs Division was the NetWare LAN and Lotus Notes, the engineers' working style did not change. They had their own logical reason in using workstations and were not forced to use personal computers and Lotus Notes.
However, this situation might have hindered the communications between the engineers who use Unix and other staff members who use Lotus Notes. These mutual communications were frequently required, for example if a member of staff in the Business Affairs Division received a technical question from a software development company.
To settle this pr.oblem, cc:Mail was installed on a single server, with a cc:Mail Link to SMTP, which provided a gateway to the Unix system. This made it possible for all employees to communicate with others by electronic mail. It was a fortunate by-product that they also became able to exchange mail via Lotus Notes over the Internet.
In the early stage, users simply exchanged electronic mail. Later, a system was built up to automatically accumulate the answers from engineers in the database for Lotus Notes and then load them to the FAQ database. For the future, the data stored in the database for Lotus Notes will be made accessible to Unix-based workstations via the Internet.
Conclusion
Sony Corporation is a large, international enterprise, while SCE! is a small organisation consisting of about 200 employees. Lotus Notes no doubt made a great contribution to SCEI in achieving its successful results with PlayStation.
SCE! received increasing demands from various departments for the development of applications for Lotus Notes. For this reason, the section which used to manage the network and Lotus Notes was independently established as the Management Information Systems section of the control department by increasing its employees. Thus, a system to develop applications for the entire company was established. For the future, this section will playa main role in making Lotus Notes available to a larger number of users in a wider range of situations.
Background
Vision Associates Inc.: Notes Everywhere Tom Harley and Sharon Cotter
Vision Associates is an information services company that specialises in data warehousing and decision support. Based in White Plains, New York, Vision Associates currently has 25 employees who generate revenue over $3M per year by serving clients such as IBM, NYNEX, Johnson & Johnson, Hoffman-LaRoche, Yamaha and other Fortune 1000 companies. It provides a full range of consulting and network services to customers scattered throughout the world. The company's effectiveness in consulting and service engagements depends upon up-to-date skills in, and experience with, a wide variety of systems and software. An important factor in its success in this fast-paced industry has been its ability to share knowledge and communicate quickly and reliably within the company and with customers.
Deciding on Lotus Notes
To stay ahead of the competition, Vision Associates determined that it needed a 'world-class' computer-based information sharing system. When the president of Vision Associates, Shawn Bay, was working at Procter and Gamble, he saw at first hand the power of a highly-functional and widely-used information-sharing network. Procter and Gamble had developed its own system, called ION, in the early 1980s. The company made it available to all 65,000 employees as well as to many customers and suppliers. The system consisted of e-mail and shared databases, called conferences. It was capable of handling information in any form, ranging from sales orders to spreadsheets. In 1986, Procter and Gamble stated that the ION network was one of the critical bases of the company's competitive advantage.
Because of his experience at Procter and Gamble, Shawn Bay proposed several criteria for the system to be implemented by Vision Associates. It had to be:
• open, inexpensive and capable of being used by anyone in the company at any time and from any place;
• able to share information among interest groups and transfer person-to-person e-mail;
• able to handle any type of information which could be represented electronically;
_. easy to learn and to use. (There was no chance of getting all employees together in one place for a training class.)
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184 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Since Vision Associates was already using Novell NetWare, it evaluated the Group Wise product. Vision concluded that it was not properly suited for its distributed work environment. Also, it lacked important features, such as database replication for those who work remotely.
The company places a high value on teamwork, both among its employees and with external members of its teams (that is, those from Vision's customer organisations). Teamwork is only possible when all members of the team, which may be geographically scattered, have timely access to information and have the ability to communicate easily. External team members must have access to all information related to those projects being done with Vision Associates. At the same time, they should not have access to any information that is confidential either to Vision Associates or its other customers.
Vision decided to implement Lotus Notes because it met all these requirements.
Initial Implementation
To take advantage of Lotus Notes, and thus compete in the consulting and information services market, each employee needed his own computer. Vision Associates provided them with a notebook computer equipped with a high-capacity hard drive and a high-speed modem. The computers of those employees who would be working at the office also had a local area network (LAN) card. Notes was supplied with all new computers and installed on all existing ones.
The Vision Associates's management team began to use Notes as its sole medium for written communication. All correspondence, other than phone calls, was done on Lotus Notes. The holiday schedule, company benefits and company policies were posted in Notes databases. If an employee had a question, he was directed to first look it up on Notes.
At the beginning, several of the most highly respected and skilled consultants at Vision Associates were sceptical and felt burdened by being required to use Notes. One, a brilliant technologist with a Ph.D. in engineering, was nearly mutinous because he thought that Notes was too difficult to use. Another, an expert in technology assimilation with a Ph.D. in marketing research, was certain that it would make no contribution whatever to the way that Vision Associates worked. She stated that she would only learn and use Notes because many of their customers used it.
The problem for Vision Associates was how to get these important employees to use Lotus Notes. Telephone calls and faxes remained the preferred communications media. If employees needed to transfer fIles to one another, they swapped disks. Employees with CompuServe accounts could electronically exchange files with each other, but none of the other employees could.
To provide employees with an incentive to use Notes, the company introduced to two compulsory Notes applications. The first was for expense reporting. In order to receive reimbursement for expenses, an employee had to use Notes. Handwritten or computer spreadsheet expense reports were no longer accepted. The second obligatory application was an inventory database in which each of the employees was required to report his or her hardware and software.
These applications were expected to give employees a personal financial incentive to use the system. That way, so the theory went, they would quickly begin to see more valuable and interesting uses for Notes than just reporting their expenses. More exposure than internal mail and company bulletins was required to overcome
Vision Associates Inc.: Notes Everywhere 185
employee resistance. Developing databases and applications for company operations as well as expanding communications was the next step in. this process.
Growing Pains
The initial databases were discussion boards which were quite general and contained many different kinds of information within a single database. In the initial implementation, this was a benefit. It allowed all the employees to see all the information that was being published. This increased their interest in seeing what other information was available.
Since the consulting business requires such diverse backgrounds and skills, Vision's consultants often call each other for help with specific problems. The Notes team put a phone list in Notes that included office, home office, pager, cellular, fax and off-site contract phone numbers. This list was a tremendous help in tracking down co-workers and improved employees' effectiveness.
The minutes from sales meetings kept employees informed about future direction and possible business opportunities. Categories within the data helped organise the information.
Employees were able to access other information including new business prospects, Internet information, and company policies, benefits and procedures. As a result even the most resistant employees began to use Notes.
As the on-line information expanded, this general discussion board format was felt to be less effective than having specific databases targeted at individual functions. One of the categories that had grown out of control was the company business plan. As the information on this plan expanded, replication times gradually increased to over an hour. Significantly, the long replication times produced a similar increase in the resistance of the remote users to using Notes.
Since this information was being used only by a limited number of individuals, it was taken off the main bulletin board and put into a specific database. This was the first step in the development of a number of application-specific databases. Now the remote users could select only the databases that they wished to follow, enabling them to reduce replication times. From this point on, specific databases expanded to cover the individual topics and issues which the employees needed to follow.
An advantage of Notes was the ease of moving the information between Notes applications and of rapidly developing new applications. This was one of the key points in the conversion from a general discussion board database to targeted databases. The changes did not require months of planning; Notes allowed easy modification to meet the changing needs of the business.
A second issue became acute once all employees were exchanging information by means of attached flles in Lotus Notes. Each of the consultants was using a separate software package for spreadsheets, word processing and graphics. As a result, flles created by one consultant could not be read or translated by another consultant without losing all of its formatting information by another unless he or she had the same software loaded on their machine.
As a company, Vision Associates had decided to not standardise on a single desktop package. Consultants needed to be familiar with all the standard packages, since they were all to be found in use among the various customers. Neither was it feasible to load all the standard packages on each notebook computer. The incompatibility problem was solved by providing a networked version of each package. A consult-
186 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
ant could now connect to the LAN and 'launch' attached fIles using the LAN copy of the software.
The Current Situation
Vision Associates has developed a portfolio of internal applications, which are widely used by all employees. Some examples are:
• Business Plan. This database includes the company plans for each of the employees to review and comment.
• Customer Tracking. This provides a view of all of the business that Vision Associates is pursuing and of the solutions to problems that have worked with other customers.
• Development Tools. This compares a large number of database packages that Vision Associates has evaluated. It allows the consultants to pick the best for a customer's particular requirements.
• Interesting Internet Locations. This provides employees with a list of Internet information sources that may be relevant to their business.
• Presentation Library. This contains all the materials that have been developed for presentation to other customers. This reduces development time for presentations for new customers.
• Sales Meeting. This gives information on each customer that the company is pursuing, along with the project definition, probability of success and costing information.
• Employee Profiles. This database contains details of qualifications for every employee. It allows remote employees to find someone who may have the skills to help them solve specific problems within their own contracts.
• Disk Images/Drivers. This is a collection of detachable 'freeware' and shareware programs. It also has updates of commonly used applications, such as anti-virus utilities, that can be installed directly without disks.
• Proposals in Progress. Contains a series of contract proposals, which are reviewed and manipulated by each of the consultants working on the contract. This permits all employees to see what projects are being proposed. It also makes sure that all the business groups can comment on a proposal before it reaches the customer.
Additional databases are continually under review, such as the document library containing information on Vision Associates' policies and procedures.
To increase consultants' communication abilities, Vision Associates has installed a gateway between Lotus Notes and the Internet and every employee has been given an Internet e-mail address. Notes makes it easy to do mailing and to exchange files over the Internet. This has been extremely popular with employees, since it allows them to mail relevant information from within Vision's Notes databases directly to customers. In turn, this has reduced the time lag in getting information to the new customers and has improved the probability of closing new business.
Lotus Notes is now used heavily at Vision Associates by all employees, including those who resisted initially. The lesson that Vision Associates learned is that even
Vision Associates Inc.: Notes Everywhere 187
exceptionally bright people had a difficult time conceptualising the impact of Notes' capabilities without having used such a system before.
Vision Associates is using many of the tools available on the market to enhance its use of Lotus Notes. Information gathered through Notes, such as records of billable services, is being automatically loaded into relational databases for use by Vision Associates' billing and general ledger systems. Report-generating applications are used to analyse this information and tools are used to publish these reports in Notes.
Drawing on its own experience, the company now offers Notes consulting. Additionally, it offers Lotus Notes connectivity as part of VisionNet, its network services division. These two services are now a significant part of Vision Associates' business.
The Future
Lotus Notes is a major interface to the newest segment of Vision Associates' business, the Proving Grounds. This is a network-based computing environment for evaluating decision support and data access applications. It also provides a development environment for tools to complement these applications.
Notes provides storage and easy access to often-used reports, technical writeups, documentation and instructions for using the Proving Grounds. It is also a front-end for many of the decision support applications. Users choose report parameters by filling out forms. These can include radio buttons, list boxes and any other standard Notes features. Users then mail the form to a server identity (ID), which automatically runs their specific reports for them.
Vision Associates also uses Lotus InterNotes to publish Notes databases on the World-Wide Web. This service is used internally by Vision Associates, as well as being offered as a service to its customers.
Conclusion
Lotus Notes has dramatically improved Vision Associates' internal operations, customer interaction and global communications. The company has found the document sharing capabilities of Notes to be invaluable; it is one ofits most widely utilised functions. Lotus Notes has made a strong impact on Vision Associates and is a key element of its success.
Background
Young & Rubicam: Improving Productivity with Workflow Ronni Marshak
Young & Rubicam is a well-known and widely-respected advertising agency, based in New York City. It used the same paper- and time-intensive procedures for controlling client projects as was to be found in advertising agencies the world over. Feeling that there had to be a better way, it investigated computer-based methods.
The agency's aim in this was to improve the productivity of its work force during a period of shrinking resources. It wanted to be able to offer the same level of service to its clients, while significantly reducing charges for overtime and rush jobs. Overtime and rush are frequent partners in the advertising business.
Picking a Pilot Project
The first process that Young & Rubicam decided to automate was the traffic system. This was established in the advertising industry in the 1950s and has become standard in most agencies. It is managed by the account coordinators and consists of a series of nine steps, many of which have associated forms. Account coordinators use these forms to handle the internal administration of a project and to track the status of the job.
The system is summarised in Table 26.1. Each of the forms used in the traffic process is copied and distributed to a large
number of people. Each recipient is responsible for fIling and managing his or her copies of these forms. Although the forms are standardised, the fIling methods are not; every team member fIles the papers differently.
This is a major problem because of the high level of staff turnover in the industry. Account coordinators are usually promoted quickly and new coordinators are appointed equally quickly. The 'new boys' have to either try to figure out their predecessors' flling methods or start from scratch and invent new ones.
In the traditional traffic process, account coordinators spend inordinate amounts of time photocopying, distributing and flling pieces of paper. Account executives, whose job it is to keep the customer informed on progress, spend endless hours tracking down people to find out how the project is progressing. All this time is spent on internal paper-pushing. None of it is spent on the job of advertising -
188
Tab
le 2
6.1.
You
ng &
Rub
icam
's tr
affi
c sy
stem
, whi
ch is
man
aged
by
acco
unt c
ordi
nato
rs
Step
N
ame
of S
tep
Wha
t hap
pens
R
espo
nsib
ilit
y F
orm
s
Step
1
Init
iati
ng a
pri
nt j
ob o
r A
ccou
nt e
xecu
tive
com
plet
es w
ork-
orde
r fo
rm, a
ttac
hing
cli
ent-
appr
oved
A
ccou
nt e
xecu
tive
W
ork
orde
r,
broa
dcas
t job
cr
eati
ve w
ork
plan
, whi
ch is
pla
ced
in T
raff
ic i
nbox
C
reat
ive
wor
kpla
n S
trat
egy
docu
men
t
Step
2
Dis
trib
utio
n o
f wor
k C
heck
wor
k or
der
for
com
plet
enes
s; m
eet w
ith
Cre
ativ
e S
ervi
ces
dire
ctor
, T
raff
ic (
acco
unt
Wor
k or
der
orde
rs
who
mak
es c
reat
ive
assi
gnm
ents
that
Tra
ffic
fills
int
o fo
rm; T
raff
ic a
ssig
ns
coor
dina
tor)
jo
b nu
mbe
r, lo
gs t
he jo
b in
boo
k, a
nd
file
s w
ork
orde
r
Step
3
Pre
para
tion
of c
once
pts/
A
ccou
nt e
xecu
tive
an
d C
reat
ive
Ser
vice
s di
rect
or m
eet t
o di
scus
s ob
ject
ives
. C
reat
ive
Pri
nt c
opy
pap
er
copy
/lay
out
Tra
ffic
mon
itor
s pr
ogre
ss a
nd r
emin
ds o
f due
dat
es
Step
4
Rou
ting
cop
y an
d la
yout
T
raff
ic r
ecei
ves
five
copi
es o
f the
cop
y, fi
les
one
and
dist
ribu
tes
the
rest
. Tra
ffic
T
raff
ic
Cop
y an
d L
ayou
t re
ceiv
es a
ppro
ved
layo
ut f
rom
Art
dir
ecto
r, s
tam
ps it
, has
it i
niti
alle
d, a
nd m
ake
shee
ts
~
c fiv
e co
pies
, fili
ng t
wo
and
dis
trib
utin
g th
e re
st. A
n ar
t est
imat
e w
orks
heet
is
::J
rout
ed a
long
wit
h a
copy
of t
he la
yout
to th
e A
rt d
irec
tor,
trig
geri
ng p
repa
rati
on
IQ
R"
of a
rt c
osts
and
a p
rodu
ctio
n es
tim
ate
;;tI
c
Step
5
Pre
para
tion
of a
rt c
osts
, T
he a
rt c
osts
, pro
duct
ion
cost
s an
d m
edia
cos
ts a
re e
stim
ated
, an
d th
e fo
rms
Art
Dir
ecto
r A
rt e
stim
ate
C'
n'
III
prod
ucti
on e
stim
ate
and
are
dist
ribu
ted
Pro
duct
ion
man
ager
P
rodu
ctio
n es
tim
ate
? m
edia
rec
omm
enda
tion
M
edia
pla
nner
M
edia
est
imat
e 3
esti
mat
e 'C
Step
6
Cli
ent a
ppro
val o
f cop
y A
ccou
nt e
xecu
tive
pre
sent
s co
py,l
ayou
t an
d e
stim
ates
to c
lien
t, w
ho s
igns
off
A
ccou
nt E
xecu
tive
C
opy
and
layo
ut
~. ::J
layo
ut a
nd
est
imat
es
on t
he f
orm
s. A
ppro
ved
form
s ar
e se
nt to
Tra
ffic
, whi
ch s
tam
ps f
orm
s, c
opie
s sh
eets
IQ
and
dis
trib
utes
for
ms.
If m
inor
cha
nges
are
req
uire
d by
cli
ent,
a ch
ange
ord
er
Est
imat
es
-a a
form
is
com
plet
ed, c
opie
d an
d d
istr
ibut
ed. M
ajor
cha
nges
als
o re
quir
e a
chan
ge
Cha
nge
orde
r Q
. c
orde
r for
m, w
hich
is r
etur
ned
to T
raff
ic, a
nd p
roce
ss r
ever
ts t
o st
ep 2
~ <'
Ste
p7
Pre
para
tion
of f
mal
art
A
rt a
nd m
echa
nica
ls a
re p
rodu
ced.
Tra
ffic
act
s as
liai
son
for
com
mun
icat
ion
and
C
reat
ive
Art
wor
k an
d
~
and
mec
hani
cal
deli
vers
mec
hani
cals
to a
ccou
nt e
xecu
tive
for
app
rova
l.
Pro
duct
ion
mec
hani
cals
:: ...
Ste
p8
Cli
ent a
ppro
val o
f fin
al
Art
and
mec
hani
cals
are
pre
sent
ed to
cli
ent f
or a
ppro
val a
nd
sig
natu
re. T
raff
ic
Acc
ount
exe
cuti
ve
Art
wor
k an
d
:::r :E
art a
nd
mec
hani
cal
has
Art
dir
ecto
r m
ark
up
mec
hani
cals
for
engr
aver
, cop
ies
and
rou
tes
art a
nd
mec
hani
cals
0
mec
hani
cals
to p
rodu
ctio
n. T
raff
ic c
onfr
rms
deli
very
wit
h P
rodu
ctio
n m
anag
er.
Cha
nge
orde
r ~
Una
ppro
ved
art a
nd
mec
hani
cal a
re r
etur
ned
to tr
affi
c w
ith
a ch
ange
ord
er,
0
and
pro
cess
rev
erts
to s
tep
7 :: ...
Step
9
Pro
duct
ion
of t
he jo
b P
urch
ase
orde
rs to
sup
plie
rs a
re w
ritt
en a
nd
age
ncy
repr
ints
for
jobs
are
mad
e P
rodu
ctio
n P
urch
ase
orde
rs
III
II)
190 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
developing strategies, interfacing with clients, coming up with business-building ideas, conducting competitive assessments and so on.
This system is still in use at almost all advertising agencies for one simple reason - for all the redundancies and paper-shuffling the process works. In spite of the messiness, the traffic system is very organised, with specific forms designed for specific purposes. So the problem Young & Rubicam that wanted solved wasn't really the traffic process, but rather the inefficiencies of how it is implemented.
Selecting a Workflow Supplier
Nicholas Rudd, senior vice president and chief information officer for Young & Rubicam, had found that traditional automation of work didn't really apply to his organisation's needs.
"The traditional interpretations of work where computing has proven helpful are twofold: (1) the movement of material- stuff on an assembly line - which automation helped make more efficient, and (2) representing the moving of material with paper - an area where computers helped considerably. But neither method represents what happens when a client calls and says, 'I need help capturing the imagination of my audience: So we need another interpretation of what work is:'
To Rudd, this kind of work is represented by knowledge workers who have to coordinate what they do with each other and often do so in free-form ways where the interaction isn't necessarily predictable. Essentially, the underlying framework of what they do is, taking information in, transforming it in some way and delivering the result. They interact and coordinate, but with people, not with things. "The work that we do is the work that people engage in together:' says Nicholas Rudd.
Rudd had examined the ActionWorkflow Management System from Action Technologies Incorporated (Alameda, California). He was familiar with the concept underlying Action Technologies's workflow approach - that people work together by making commitments to each other. The attraction of it for him was that he felt it readily understandable for the knowledge worker. However, he knew that the Action Workflow engine, when first introduced, wasn't sufficient for Young & Rubicam's needs. It was not robust enough to help run a global enterprise with people operating at remote locations in the common service of clients.
Then Rudd was introduced to Lotus Notes. He felt this would be an excellent distribution and delivery mechanism for the workflow technology. He worked with Lotus and Action Technologies on the possibility of mounting the workflow engine on to the Notes document database. Rudd also volunteered Young & Rubicam as a test site of the new combined product.
Choosing a Pilot Site
Once the decision had been made to tryout a workflow system, Nick Rudd went to the various Young & Rubicam sites looking for an appropriate pilot project. In San Francisco, he met Charles (Chuck) Riley, executive vice president and group director.
Riley had been looking at overall agency performance, particularly at the profitability of the Chevron account - one of the agency's most prized clients. "Profitability was going in the wrong direction:' Riley remarked.
Young & Rubicam: Improving Productivity with Workflow 191
In addition, Chevron was undergoing a push toward total quality operations, and Young & Rubicam had participated in some sessions on how to implement quality at Chevron. What attracted Rudd to the idea of implementing a Notes-based workflow pilot was the potential of the workflow to helping out with productivity in the agency. An equally strong enticement was the ability to demonstrate to Chevron that Young & Rubicam had something real and visible to indicate its commitment to quality operations.
Riley decided to automate the traffic process for the Chevron account. If the pilot was successful, the system would implemented on other accounts. Eventually, other Young & Rubicam processes would be automated.
The pilot had built-in limitations. The most significant factor was that, at the start of the pilot, Lotus Notes, at that time did not run on the Apple Macintosh. This was the preferred desktop computer for the creative staff at Young & Rubicam. The administrative and management people work on personal computers equipped with Microsoft Windows.
Young & Rubicam and Action Technologies determined to automate the first half of the traffic process, through to client approval of the estimates. Those members of the Chevron team on Macintoshes would still follow the paper process.
With these decisions made, Jean Dunham, a consultant with Action Technologies, began meeting with the Young & Rubicam Chevron team. Her task was to figure out exactly what this traffic process was all about and to relate it to the Action Workflow Method.
The Four-Step Dance of the Action Technologies Method
The Action Workflow Method is based on research by Drs Fernando Flores and Terry Winograd on how people communicate and make commitments (see also earlier case study). This research is fast becoming a de facto standard for analysing business processes. The method reduces every action in a workflow to four-steps -referred to as Action Technologies's four-step dance.
• In the first step, a person - called the customer - either makes a request or receives an offer. This could be, for example, "I want you to create an advertising campaign for me" (request) or "I would like to create an advertising campaign for you" (offer). In an internal action, the customer could be an account executive who requests that a creative team be assigned to a specific advertising account.
• The second step, often called the agreement step, culminates in the person who will do the work - called the performer - accepting the job. In the advertising example, the performer is the head of the Creative Department.
• Once the job is accepted, the performer does the work requested and, at the end of the third step, reports completion of the job to the customer. The creative team is assigned, and the assignment is given to the account executive.
• In most methods, the dance ends here. But the Action Workflow model goes one step further. A job or task is not considered complete until the customer is satisfied with the work done and expresses this satisfaction to the performer. The account executive lets the head' of Creative know that he or she is happy with the creative team assigned.
192 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Each of these four-step workflows is shown in an ellipse (or loop). This depicts the task to be done, who the customer is, who the performer is and what happens when the task is completed and satisfaction is expressed.
Redesigning the Traffic Workflow
The consultants at Action Technologies are experienced at breaking down even the most trivial actions in a business process into these four steps - often to the amazement of the client. Paul Hastings, an account supervisor on the Chevron account, found the method confusing at first. "You had to orient yourself to thinking in the logic of the method:' he states. "But, once you got used to it, it was very useful and easy. It wasn't difficult to understand the four quadrants on the ellipse."
He admits that it was more difficult to relate it to every activity that people do. "How specific do you get? You have to decide how important each step or process is. But breaking down the steps is important because it forces you to actually think about the stuff you do - stuff you usually don't give any thought to!"
Hastings and others found working through the traffic process using the Action Workflow methods to be very valuable. "A good thought-starter - helps you learn a new way to think. It breaks everything down to simple steps."
Pilot members said that, once they were familiar with the method, it was easier to use than other, more complex models. One commented, "It was real life. For example, in the negotiation [agreement] step ... there is a fluidity where you can go back and forth through the steps until it's done righe'
In the course of the interviews and meetings with the Young & Rubicam personnel, Jean Dunham and the Chevron team discovered that a lot of things they thought they were doing weren't actually getting done. By going through the workflow mapping process, Young & Rubicam has now formalised the steps that are necessary. This has added structure to the process and prompts people on their next steps. This helps in two ways. It makes sure that the right things are happening at the right time in the right order. It also ensures that the workflow system records what has been accomplished. That way, team members and, eventually even the client, can check the current status of any job through Lotus Notes.
During the interviews, Young & Rubicam identified a number of areas where the traffic system tended to break down. For example, in the paper-based process, there was no formal way to specify who were to be members of the creative team. Nor was there a specific way to assign this responsibility or to arrange for the all-team briefing sessions. Automating the process made these assignments a formal part of the workflow.
Another major problem was that the initial work order, which captures all the details of what the client expects on the job - including timetable and budget - was often incompletely fllied out. Vital information, such as budget, was missing, which often resulted in creative plans that were simply too expensive not getting approved. (Consider the wasted effort when that happens!)
In the automated workflow, the on-line forms have important compulsory fields. An employee cannot route a form to the next person in the process unless they have fllied in those fields. In addition, the electronic forms are easier to fill out. Users are prompted for the information needed in each section. This is especially useful for new employees.
Young & Rubicam: Improving Productivity with Workflow 193
A workflow map of ellipses resulted from the interviews and meetings between Jean Dunham and the Young & Rubicam staff. This map illustrat~s the steps in the traffic process, who does what and where the information flows. The map also serves as the initial specification for the workflow-enabled application. It thus provides a common language for both the business analyst and the application developer.
Working together to create the workflow map was very empowering for the Young & Rubicam/Chevron team. Jose Fernandez, account executive, noted, "We went though all the different interpretations of how the process worked and came up with a single process we could all agree upon. We feel that we own it."
Getting the Customer Involved
The Young & Rubicam team also found the Action method to be very useful when working with the client. Fernandez found that, "You know what you are responsible for [as performer] and what the client is responsible for [as customer]. So you know where the holes are in the old way of doing things, and you can ask the right questions."
Chevron was brought in as a partner and reviewed the process together with Young & Rubicam. It realised that, just as the agency had certain responsibilities to Chevron, it had certain responsibilities to Young & Rubicam. This has helped facilitate communications between the two. As Jose Fernandez noted, "One of the advantages to presenting the client with the map of the Action Workflow is that the client can clearly see where it belongs in the process:'
Benefits
Chuck Riley reports that the benefits from the workflow are already very apparent. He has witnessed a tremendous improvement in communications within the group. Implementing the Action Workflow has enforced more structure, particularly in the areas of developing strategies and communications. Far from being a negative element, this has made people more efficient. Before, some team members had no idea of what was going on in other parts of the Chevron account. The automated system allows every team member to know what is happening in the group. It can also deal with ad hoc workflows that may arise during a project.
The issue of adding more structure to the established procedure promises even more benefits, once the workflow is in use throughout the entire organisation and to clients. Riley expects higher productivity, fewer ere-do's' (work needing to be done again), improved turnround time and an improvement in the overall quality of work.
Another significant benefit is the ability to capture information and maintain a history of what has gone on. This capability was not available in the paper-based process, and Riley feels that Young & Rubicam is already realising this benefit. For example, people were always hesitant to do the work on change orders (changes from the original work order). They knew that they had to go through a tremendous effort to make sure that their change order hadn't been negated by a later one. In the Action Workflow, change orders are 'captured' on-line so users can see which is the most recent one.
Capturing information has also demonstrated numerous benefits in recording routine information. For example, if there are questions on charging or on time
194 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
spent on a client's project, there is now an accurate record of what has been done and by whom.
Chuck Riley also sees how capturing the process on-line is a big advantage to project planning. With the high rate of staff turnover in the advertising industry, new people are coming in all the time. To them, every project is new territory. They can go into Notes and see the history of similar projects. The system is not only a good training vehicle, but also a great benefit to ensure continuity of projects.
Documenting the narrative is not actually part of the structured Action Workflow, but Riley is working on retraining the staff to capture information about the process. He believes that the company has already succeeded in getting more than a third of employees to use the system to capture additional information. Though they aren't yet used to working this way, they are making tremendous progress.
Changes in Corporate Culture
The users expected to benefit most from the implementation of the workflow traffic system in Notes are the account coordinators. It is their job to handle all the internal administration of the projects. Tanya Brion and Heather Mahane, account coordinators on the Chevron account, are delighted with the system. Brion, who is relatively new to her position, states that what she really likes about the Notes (workflow) system is that she doesn't have to memorise what she has to do next for each project. She can see at a glance everything that needs to be done and the system prompts her on what she needs to do next. In the paper-based system - which she is using for all her other client accounts - she has to remember what she has to do. Being new, she worries that she may leave things out. "With the Chevron account, it's much easier to know what I have to do and to see what's already been done."
Mahane sees the Notes system as a boon for new people coming into the organisation. "While it isn't easier than the paper system to learn initially:' she comments, "it does let you see the big picture and learn by osmosis who does what in the organisation." She likes the fact that, in the Action Workflow, roles are explicitly defined, and also that you know why certain people do certain steps. "We understand that we're doing it this way for a reason, not just because it's the way we've always done it!"
Paul Hastings and Matt Biespiel are account supervisors for the Chevron account. They manage the account executives and coordinators and they oversee all projects. This involves keeping an eye on the big picture, the politics and the long-term relationship with the client. Although they do not have to take much of an active role in the day-to-day traffic activities, they must keep abreast of how everything is progressing. That means having instant access to current status information.
Both account supervisors find that the automated traffic system allows them to do just that. They no longer have to check up on the teams they manage to see if the work is getting done as planned. "The Notes [workflow] system takes burdens off my direct reports, and that takes burdens off me:' states Hastings. "I can assume that things are being done; before, I wasn't as sure;' Biespiel adds, "We used to be on the 'phone all the time trying to find out what was happening. Now, our 'phones only ring when something's wrong. And it's nice to be able to go to the Notes system and track what happened."
Paul Hastings was originally sceptical of implementing an automated solution. As an advocate face-to-face communication - "After all, we are in the communica-
Young & Rubicam: Improving Productivity with Workflow 195
tion business" - he was concerned that the Action Workflow would interfere with the existing culture and the way people chose to work. "A systeIIl; should be quiet and unobtrusive, secondary to intelligence, creativity, and human interaction." He was gratified to discover that the system isn't forcing people to change what they do; it provides support to help them do it.
Biespiel points out that electronic communication and sharing of information is necessary at this point. The agency has fewer people trying to do the same or even more work. "It just isn't possible to get everyone together in person when you need to communicate." Though Hastings is now a believer, he still has some reservations. "The downfall of this type of system is that it keeps people tied to the computer instead of communicating in person."
Both account supervisors are looking forward to expanding the workflow system to include the creative teams. "The failings of the system are only that everyone isn't on it:' states Biespiel. "Everyone who has seen it wants it ... Now!"
But, in addition to automating the rest of the traffic process, Hastings and Biespiel would also like to see workflows developed to support more of what they do. For example, they would like a system that helps capture and track the commitments people make at meetings.
'Meeting notes' were discussed when the pilot was planned, but time and money meant that this feature was outside the scope of the pilot. Hastings would also like to see more active personal time management. This could prompt him to perform certain actions based on time rather than status in the workflow.
Measuring the Results
As part of the workflow pilot, Young & Rubicam has set about the difficult job of quantifying the subjective - white-collar productivity and job satisfaction levels. Nick Kojey-Strauss, associate Consumer Insights director on the Chevron account, has surveyed the participants in the pilot at various points in the process. The chart in Table 26.2 gives the results of the surveys given at three points:
• before the Notes system was installed; • one month after the introduction of the workflow; • three months into the pilot implemetation.
Participants were asked to rate such actions as how long it took to get information, what percentage of rush jobs were required to meet deadlines, how much overtime was required to get the job done, how many jobs were completed within budget, and others. The results are impressive.
Occasionally, the results after only one month of the pilot were negative. This supports the belief that, in every implementation of a new workgroup system, there is an initial loss in productivity as people adjust to the new procedures and practices. The same holds true for the satisfaction figures shown in Table 26.3. But the gains reported after three months demonstrate that, if you stick with it, the pain of change is worth it.
Another interesting statistic is that the initial and final ratings for several steps in the workflow - checking the strategy and approving the concept - were virtually identical (Though, each, demonstrated a temporary fluctuation after the one-month point). Checking strategy took too long 28% of the time before the pilot, 50% after one month and back down to about 30% after three months. Similarly, getting
196 Transforming Organisations Through Groupware
Table 26.2. Results of Chevron's surveys of the participants in the pilot ActionWorkflow programme. The surveys were performed at three points: before the Notes system was installed, one month after the introduction of the workflow and three months into the pilot implementation. (Percentages are approximate.)
Survey Item Before pilot 1 month 3 months
Takes too long to get client information 85% 78% 49%
Takes too long to prepare brief 71% 66% O%!!
Takes too long to get estimate approval 66% 70% 43%
Takes too long to track people 89% 80% 54%
Takes too long to call regarding status 80% 83% 37%
Takes too long to file/sort documents 50% 30% O%!!
Takes too long to send/get memos 24% 40% 10%
Job fmished on time with no rush 32% 46% 52%
Job fmished on time with rush 65% 61% 42%
Percentage of time spent on overtime 27% 24% 13%
Duplication of effort (very or somewhat often) 42% 49% O%!!
Jobs completed on budget 73% 72% 87%
concept approval took too long 89% of the time before the workflow was implemented, dropped to an impressive 40% after a month, but leaped back up to 90% after three months. These varying figures support another contention, that automating procedures improves productivity by taking away administrative, paper-pushing and progress-chasing burdens, leaving people more time to do what they do best - make decisions, solve problems and be creative. These tasks, which ultimately remained unchanged, require both human analysis and decision-making rather than clerical support.
Perhaps the most impressive benefit of implementing the Action Workflow at Young & Rubicam is the increase in job satisfaction reported by members of the pilot group. (see Table 26.3). Members were surveyed both about their job effectiveness and their job satisfaction. Three months after the Notes system was rolled out, high job satisfaction had increased only 5% - but no one reported low job satisfaction.
Kojey-Strauss also notes that client satisfaction has gone up with the new way business is being handled. Chevron is linked into the Notes system so that the client can check status without having to track down the account executive. Chevron is more informed and feels it has more control.
What's Next for Young & Rubicam's Installation
1. Get everyone on the system. The biggest complaint anyone has about the ActionWorktlow is that not everyone on the Chevron team is on the Notes system. Heather Mahane comments that she still has to make copies for Creative, Media and so on - but now they're for those people who aren't on the system. She says that switching between the two systems can be frustrating, but this situation should be remedied when everyone is on the system.
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Table 26.3. Results of Chevron's surveys of the participants in the pilot ActionWorkfiow programme about their job effectiveness and job satisfaction. The surveys were given at th,ree points: before the Notes system was installed, one month after the introduction of the workflow and three months into the pilot implementation.
Factor Very/somewhat high About average Very/somewhat low
Effectiveness: 50% 42% 8% before pilot
Effectiveness: 50% 25% 25% after 1 month
Effectiveness: 63% 37% O%!!! after 3 months
Satisfaction: 58% 34% 8% before pilot
Satisfaction: 38% 37% 25% after 1 month
Satisfaction: 63% 37% O%!!!! after 3 months
2. Spread to other accounts. Once the entire traffic process is automated, the Young & Rubicam/Chevron team - all of whom also work on other clients' projects -are looking forward to putting all accounts on the Action Technologies/Notes system.
To sum it up, Young & Rubicam is very pleased with the Action Workflow System and with Lotus Notes. As Tanya Brion says, "It's really cool to have this computer program to help do your job. It's like a little guardian who tells you what you need to do and has everything right there for you."
