Intranet Management Software Blog

The functionality of the solution set in Claromentis intranet framework are so large now that we often spend considerable time during projects, and especially at inception – in choosing from various options in order to meet a business need.

Since the Claromentis business framework also includes a complete intranet API, we also need to consider whether a bespoke application to meet the client need is the best solution, as opposed to the superficially ‘easier’ route of configuring an existing application to meet the requirement.

This is particularly the case with e-forms, which for many simpler business needs can indeed be configured to meet a requirement as initially expressed to us.  This is basically because many small applications are based on collecting data, moving along a process and notifying participants of significant events that need their attention – exactly the space Process Manager occupies.

When we are making these decisions we are in general terms trying to balance 3 disparate needs :

• Project risk – configuring and localizing an application is a relatively simple and certainly time limited process that does not involve scope creep, whereas developing a bespoke intranet application takes time and resources.
• Budgets – applications need to be licensed, this might be commercially inappropriate for the number of users that need access.
• Flexibility as a solution for future requirements – we have learnt that there is always a phase 2, and after using the solution in phase 1 the client may well drastically change the application requirements – it is so much easier to evolve a bespoke application.

Technology selection factors

What we are finding is that we are emphasizing flexibility more and more as we continue to engage with intranet clients around the world. And because we can now give so many examples and speak with the confidence that comes from working in this space for 10 years now, we are noticing that clients are increasingly listening to us.

The result is that they do take slightly longer to get to phase 1, they take more risk, and generally may spend slightly more to get to the first release  – but the platform for their success is built on the solid foundation of an intranet application that was built from the ground up to meet the need, and can grow without constraints to continue to serve the client well.

If, as is so often the case – phase 2 is considerably different to the initial requirements – the client in the end saves money as well as getting exactly what they need – since the changed specifications do not require us to start again.

In the fast moving web based intranet world where there are almost no technological limits, building for possible feedback and change requests is basically too important to ignore.

So in the longer term it seems that time and time again actually focusing on flexibility can minimize budget and project risk, rather than increase them. Another great lesson.

E-form Services, Home, Products bespoke development, e-forms, intranet software

A short video explaining how SME companies can use Claromentis InfoCapture to manage non conformancies that arise from internal and external audits.

For smaller companies the complexities of the powerful quality management applications from Claromentis are sometimes simply not necessary – the video shows how InfoCapture and of course version controlled document management for the actual policies can supply an ideal solution in these circumstances.

E-form Services, Home, Prod-Quality e-forms, quality management software

Defining Business Processes

In every working environment, there are often multiple understandings of both a process and a requirement – so how are they defined and how do we deliver them online?

Having worked within a corporate IT environment now for the past 5 years, with the latter being responsible for delivering web based applications to a high standard, across a business of multiple Intranets, with some 17,000 users. It can be difficult to gather the correct information and requirements that are needed to develop a detailed specification and ultimately a precise application.

Often, a customer has an understanding of how their business process should be managed online. However, how do we verify that this is the RIGHT way to manage their process? After all, an online process needs to be simple, straight forward and user friendly, otherwise, who would use it? With Claromentis’ InfoCapture application, workflow becomes easy to manage in a controlled environment. Out of the box, the application operates with defined boundaries, which makes the build and configuration of simple forms very straight forward. But what happens when we need to push the boundaries?

With some additional bespoke “plug-in” code (written in PHP), the boundaries of InfoCapture can be… expanded, but ONLY by a competent developer with access to the “guts” of the application. I found myself commonly defining bespoke coding into specifications, allowing customers to add additional steps into their processes in order to incorporate “features” that they couldn’t imagine having available in any paper form process, or in the default InfoCapture application. In simple terms, this often pushes out both coding and testing timescales, making projects much longer and more complex to deliver. So what happens when the “Out of box” experience requires additional code in order to meet customer expectations?

In more recent Claromentis releases, InfoCapture has grown to incorporate features that I feel were powered by our ability to “Push the boundaries”. Regular feedback and collaborative working with the supplier I feel helped us to better understand the InfoCapture application and put ideas forward for improvements to be shared by all customers. The overhaul of InfoCapture required more comprehensive reporting, straight forward wizards to build and manage forms, stylish skins to promote corporate workflows and a better permission structure.

With InfoCapture providing the majority of our Intranets online forms, I would certainly await the next batch of improvements to the application; maybe we’ll see the inclusion of some of the more common plug-ins into the core application code with simple wizard based builders in the admin panel? Maybe a more comprehensive permission structure to include better default roles to the typical “Reporter and Handler” that can be found at present? Hopefully Claromentis 6.0 will hold the answers…

Comments welcome as always.

Craig

E-form Services Babcock, Customer, infocapture

Process Manager Icon

As my role involves coding more on the front-end development; such as interfaces and scripts; I have always been focusing on the new front-end development technologies such as mooTools and jQuery, and of course cross-browser compatibility issues; especially on the browser we all love-to-hate, Internet Explorer 6.

However we are proudly supporting all A grade browsers across multiple platforms thanks to our development team and innovative intranet platform.

You might be thinking what this has got to do with e-forms… Let me tell you:

Claromentis e-forms feature is part of our Process Manager product which enables you to create forms and assign workflows to them. As of today, I am going through the InfoCapture application (which handles e-form processes) with one of our e-form specialists. This is the first series of posts about learning e-forms feature of the Process Manager product.

With the help of flexible and easy-to-use interface, it is possible to create a complete and fully functioning form with couple of clicks. You can collect various data from various sources, not to mention your intranet users. For example, you can create an expense claim form and let your users fill the necessary areas in the form, even upload the scanned image file of the bill if you need. You can create your own support ticketing system and relief your support team’s workload on managing and dealing with support requests (our own Discover support portal using exactly the same system to manage hundreds of support requests we receive each month).

We always keep saying that we provide a flexible and highly expandable intranet software. Our core code is based entirely on PHP, which is another reason why it is so flexible. And we want to keep the same flexibility on forms as well. Therefore, our form builder enables you to assign CSS styling on every single element of a form. You are free to design your heart out and the system will nicely fetch the your style into your form. You can change the colour, the size, the border; pretty much everything a CSS code enables you. As far as I am aware, there are not many form builders in the market which offers you this level of flexibility.

So what is the advantage of this? First of all (your marketing department will love this), even your forms can carry your branding colours and look and feel. This is very important specially for international clients. You can’t imagine a classic Coca-Cola bottle in a purple can, can you?

In the next post, I am going to talk about workflows. Until then, thanks for reading. I hope this gives you a better understanding about the flexibility of our product.

E-form Services css, e-forms, process manager, user interface

It continues to amaze me how many businesses, both big and small, rely on spreadsheets and emails to report on their business. A time sheet here, a KPI there, right through to budgets – all done in a spreadsheet and passed on through the business via email.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is perfectly fine for small companies (and by small, I mean less than 20 employees) but any more than this, a basic e-form application can deliver immediate benefits to both the user and the business.

Take for example a recent client of ours. They are required to keep stringent records on all communications with their customers, no matter how trivial. However, rather than having a central storage area, this information was shared around by email. It was of no real surprise then, when a critical piece of information went walkabout, so did their client.

E-forms are perfect for such applications, and can quickly be measured by both increases in customer AND staff satisfaction.

E-form Services process manager