I think we have been witnessing a quiet revolution over the last couple of years that might not have generated the publicity it deserved.

The Web has moved inside the heart of even small to medium corporations – no longer as a product set – but as a framework, API and information layer within which web apps are rising to their natural place in helping the business to solve real problems.

I work in the front line of our sales efforts and in the last few months I estimate that 75% of our projects started with a requirement to do something in a better way. Only 25% have started with ‘Our company is looking for an Intranet’. The rest start with ‘can you help me do this?’

The customer has a problem and needs modern, elegant, fresh software to deliver a solution. Of course it will be web based – what new small to medium sized applications are not?

And of course the new software will not be accessible to the public – but by the company associates and optionally the supply chain and reaching out to key customers.

Help me solve a problem!

The ‘web within’ has truly arrived in a way that can now be leveraged by any SME business without prohibitive costs or the need to take unnecessary risks – and without calling it an “intranet”. Indeed in many cases they already have one of those – but it does not address the problem bought to us in any meaningful way – if at all.

At Claromentis our framework of existing code and applications, our information layer and prototype based development process, our natural understanding of what businesses need and our honest and open engagement make sure that ideas are sanitized, jointly refined and finally deployed successfully.

These are agile projects and exciting engagements that make a real difference to a business – one set of stakeholders at a time.

They also make life really interesting for the sales team!

Intranet-Extranet, Prod-Intranet bespoke development, intranet software, web apps

In this informal interview I try to explain what Claromentis offers for the management of Policies and Procedures

I try to summarize what different types of companies might be looking for, and what solutions we offer in both our standard intranet product and in our Quality Management suite – specifically Policy Manager and Policy Publisher.

Please let me know if you like this kind of video post and format!

Intranet-Extranet, Prod-Quality policies and procedures, quality management software

As part of our strategy Claromentis is revamping the website to try and provide a clearer message of who we are and what we do. The design team has produced three different mock-ups and now comes the challenging task of picking one. It doesn’t necessarily have to be one or the other, we can of course mix and match – take the best bits from all three and come up with a new version. They all adopt a similar layout putting focus on our main product lines using varying slider methods. Have a look and let us know what you think!

Intranet-Extranet

Claromentis are recruiting again.

Any PHP developer who would like to be considered for this role please get in touch with the Brighton team – initially to Nigel Davies.

Skills

• Experience developing within a team environment
• PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, HTML, XML, CSS, Linux, Apache
• Knowledge of version control systems
• Knowledge JQuery and AJAX is beneficial
• Passionate about Web 2.0 and developing web based software as part of a production team.
• Familiarity with Agile development would be advisable.
• Strong commitment to working closely in teams

Salary will depend on your experience – we welcome applications from enthusiastic graduates and junior staff!

Intranet-Extranet

Our bespoke team are currently working on a major project to deliver a bespoke portal for brokers to gain information on the progress of their work with our client.

Financial services extranet

This is a screen shot from our project files showing the progress of the extranet secure portal during the early stages of this project.

Solutions

With the release of the major new intranet platform Claromentis 6.0 confirmed for 15^th November this post summarizes the major features and benefits :

3 Major New Corporate Products

Policy Manager 1.0

Significant new functionality for the consultation, ratification and distribution of Policies and procedures in whatever format from application files to totally online content.

Audit Manager 1.0

A major product for achieving and maintaining ISO certification by using CAPA processes within internal audits to address compliance with any legislation.

Innovate 1.0

Corporate Social Networking and Micro-Blogging is now fully available within the intranet.

Significant Highlights throughout the product line

Improvement in People and user meta data to meet all permission led requirements of major corporations when interfacing with HR systems

Universal tagging

Various improvements to e-forms with a new plug-in engine

Improvements in the Project Management Product

Significant improvements in the framework

Completely modular framework with products on independent release schedules

SOAP interface

Modular Notification Engine (previously called IM, now bespoke apps can use the notification engine)

Improvement in default VI ( Bringing to modern standards, removing overflow hidden and inline font style)

Scalable Audit (bespoke applications can now use the main audit systems

Mobile Interface Framework

Summary

This is a very significant release of Claromentis and builds on our global success with the 5.7 platform to allow clients to gain even more return on investment through innovative corporate social networking, significant new quality management products and a powerful platform for bespoke web applications.

Intranet-Extranet, Prod-Intranet claromentis 6.0

We have posted previously about the importance of choosing an intranet name, and provided example intranet names. Two posts are here and here.

To continue this theme a new intranet client has got the list down to the last 5. I was reminded of this during a meeting today and so thought it would be good to add them to the list, as they also provided the reasons for suggesting these names :

Name        Meaning

Prime — Beginning, prepare, advise, inform, notify, stimulate, provide, best

Core — Backbone, root, origin, essential, support, and framework

Hatch — Devise, brainstorm, create, breed (as in ideas!), develop, discover, prepare, and cooperate

Vault — Storage, depository, safe, treasure,

Nexus — Comes from the Latin “nectere” meaning “to bind.” The Intranet is a collaboration hub.

Our team preferred Nexus. We should have the final decision from the client soon – and of course we will be designing a logo to match which is always fun!

Intranet-Extranet, Services

With the addition of Hannah to the support team, the attention and response times on our support tickets is now better than ever.

Last month Hannah broke the Claromentis record for ticket closures in a single month, smashing the previous record by 9 tickets. And despite only joining us 2 months ago, Hannah already looks set to be a strong contender this years “Top closer of the year” award.

In addition to that; even the best efforts of some of our biggest clients to swamp us with tickets is no match for the strengthening within our team. The Claromentis support team continues to knock-down the total number of outstanding support requests which has seen a steady decline from the start of the year. We are currently at our lowest figure of outstanding tickets for the last 3 years!!!

I firmly believe this is a result of great team work, mutual respect and good communication. The team effort has been outstanding, and the support/backing from the Dev and Design Teams has been second to none.

Long may this continue!!

Services discover, record breaking, support

As Claromentis continues to expand the range and depth of our Quality Management solutions, new clients are confirming our strong belief that Quality Management applications should indeed be part of the web platform that supports a business – previously known as ‘the intranet’ – and not yet another island of data and processes.

This is partly of the increasing power of web applications which means  clients increasingly work in the intranet, rather than just look for accurate information.

In addition, again and again we find that certain types of information are required for different applications, and at different levels of detail, across the business. The only central place such data should be stored is the company web platform – accessible to all web apps that need them.

An example at a meeting today was Training Records. These are  fundamental for HR, who needed to track the training that staff undertook over time. But it was also required for Health and Safety – where people could review certificates and check that training was in place to meet legislation.

As if that was not enough training records are fundamental to Quality Management – as the level of expertise of an employee has a direct level on the supporting documentation to get a task done to acceptable quality.

Such a simple concept of training records needed to be available for different reasons, and to different staff with different permissions – they needed to be updatable by some applications and readable by others.

Simply put such fundamental data should only be centrally managed, all software companies use is web based – or should be – and the corporate web platform is where that data needs to be because that is increasingly where the work actually gets done.

Intranet-Extranet, Prod-Intranet, Prod-Quality intranet software, quality management software, training, training records

We are always working on updating and improving the wiki in order to provide clients with as much information as possible. The wiki contains tips and tricks, allowing users to get the most out of their intranet. Here’s the latest wiki entry, explaining how to add expandable/collapsable text into a publish page:

Click here to view

More wiki updates coming soon, watch this space…

Intranet-Extranet