Intranet Management Software Blog

With the ongoing acceleration in the growth of our global intranet client base it is great to see that Claromentis support continues to evolve under Anthony’s guidance to provide a solid, technical and customer facing service that delivers a great service to all of our customers, whatever the nature of their request.

The support portal – ‘Discover Claromentis’ – has been relaunched with a much more appropriate design, and more importantly a very clear separation between Support Requests, Change requests and enhancement ideas.

The Claromentis support portal - Discover

As a sales an marketing person I will leave the technical team to discuss the details, but here is what I really like:

1. The separation between Support requests, Change requests and Suggestions/Enhancements is very clear.

2. Meet the team – our clients build strong relationships with the people that provide such a great technical intranet support service – so why not get to know them?

3. Latest tips and online help – Claromentis is a massive system and we all exchange best practice ideas every day – it is great that we provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and innovative thoughts on the best ways to use the system.

Of course it is all built in Claromentis – Process Manager ( InfoCapture ) builds the ticketing system and Discover itself is completely a Claromentis system.

4. I also like the simple graphical dashboard. We are continually providing intranet KPI systems to our clients – and it is good to see that we implement the same for our own clients.

Our clients are already providing great feedback on the increase we have made to our support team, and the new look Claromentis intranet support portal confirms the effort we are making and the increased clarity in our intranet support services.

Home, Services intranet software, support

You might be wondering what on earth such title for a software company blog, in fact there are many similarities when you compare family trip to IKEA and delivering IT project for an organisation.

I begin with a little story that the state of my kitchen is dreadful, the look is so dated and it needs total refurbishment and I’ve been promising my wife a trip to IKEA so we can have one of those shinny looking kitchen just like the one in the brochure.

So we take a look on the brochure and we really like this one.  At £860 It’s a bargain! So let’s go and get it!

Then the reality starts to emerge you don’t came out the store with that kitchen; in fact you ended up with these.

All the good things isn’t included, definitely not the coffee and the laptop, but fittings and lighting, all the things that make it looks good.

If you think about isn’t it an elaborate con? They are selling you the picture with the price tag but you ended up with pile of flat pack?

Have we actually factor-in the cost and time required for transport, unpack, build, other fittings, disposal of the old kitchen units, daily disruption, and possible error?
Of course not we are so blinded with the image in the brochure and the low price!

It makes me wonder how many of the proud purchaser that successfully ended up with the picture just like in the brochure. Perhaps the percentage is not dissimilar to the percentage of successful IT projects.

Now back on the software business. I am seeing the similar attitude of “Honey let’s go to IKEA’ to sort out problem within an organisation.  Many of us still believe that to sort out internal communication problem is to go out just buy the software.

How about that “intranet” Dear? It looks sexy and cheap? Surely it’s within our budget.

How about other things, which we need to factor-in? Such as Planning, resources, preparation Check out 10 steps planning your intranet project.

At Claromentis our attitude is always to go for extra miles, we believe unique solution is required for unique problem, the value it’s not in the product but in the complete solution based on our experience that we’ve learnt deploying more than 100 intranets and bespoke web-based software across the world.

The reality is we are only one side of the coin; the other side is you Mr Customer. We can’t solve your problem if you don’t want it to be solved.

No offense to Mr IKEA, I still think your business model is brilliant, and this post is based on my personal view.

Services Case Study, commercial, fun, humor, intranet, intranet consultancy

I would like to discuss the importance of intranet localization from 3 different perspectives:

• Consumption according to Language
• Changing the framework of an intranet process
• Changing the purpose of a bespoke intranet application

Consumption according to language

The most common meaning behind content localization is to allow companies to present menu systems, commands and content in multiple languages – and to have the intranet system automatically set those according to the users preferences.

Content Localization

Changing the framework of an intranet process

The Claromentis Process Manager is fully localized at the project level. So an e-form process on the intranet that deals with time cards can say “Enter a New Time Card” and not ‘New Ticket”. This is separate to language localization – we are using localization at the application level to configure a process that makes sense to the user.

Localized e-form

Changing the purpose of a bespoke intranet application

In the same way as we localize a process through configuration at the project level, we can use the abstracted visual interface to change an entire application. For example we recently created a version of Policy Manager – which normally manages policies and procedures – to instead manage examination questions for the Royal College of Surgeons.

Indeed in this example we also used the fact that Policy Manager allows custom images to categorize categories of policies – or in this case categories of examination questions – to great effect.

Question Categories

Summary

Although the expense of producing a completely localized intranet codebase from the ground up is far from trivial, localization at all these levels is a fantastic way to focus content and processes to the optimal benefit of the users – without writing a line of additional code at the business logic level…

Home, Prod-Process, Services localization

As a provider of intranet software we naturally offer a range of services – from training, support, configuration, interface designs and consultancy through to bespoke development.

While traveling this week to one of our clients in Malaysia I was reminded once again what great service really means.

Example 1 : An Airline

Traveling business class with Qatar airlines I experienced really excellent service from all of the cabin crew – individual attention with the exactly the personal touches and positive engagement that really makes such a difference. I didn’t even catch them out when I moved seats – I was still Mr. Davies and they remembered whether I preferred sparkling water or still, what wine I was drinking and which jacket they had hung up for me.

But what was clear to me was that the bedrock that puts this service in context is the standard of the plane – the seat, the food and the general environment.

Without that underlying solid quality at the foundation level the personal service would just become a hypocritical seeming attempt to paper over the cracks.

Example 2 : A Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur : The Mandarin Oriental

The menu listed an elegant kind of matrix of meat types, sizes and choices of sauces. Nice but nothing too remarkable. The interesting thing was that after choosing your steak a charming lady then arrived with a wooden box of knives for you to select just the right one – wooden handle, modern handle, heavy, light. These things were razor sharp, interesting and basically just the greatest knives to eat a steak with.

Steak knife sir?

What is the cost of this kind of exceptional service? Almost nothing basically – the knives are continuously reusable – but just like the service I experienced at Qatar airlines the rest of the experience – the basics of high food quality and an enjoyable environment – needed to be in place to prevent this additional service from looking very awkward.

As an aside this is a nice touch of innovation through continuous improvement – at the time it seemed remarkable to offer me a choice of amazing knives to eat a steak with, but looking back on it and remembering some very blunt and boring knives – it now seems like a perfectly sensible idea.

Example 3 : Our own intranet client meetings last week

We are really trying to emphasize a friendly approach to consultancy – now the Claromentis web based framework has got so significant we are often working through the best way to implement solutions for clients from a range of appropriate choices offered by different applications.

Last week we were working with a new client, a young company with a great idea for using our software in an innovative way within the talent assessment field. We had an enjoyable meeting, with designers, sales and application experts all up there white boarding away with the client – discussing options, finding the greatest way to exceed our clients expectations. Here is an email from that client which I received while staying in KL this week:

“We really enjoyed working with you and the rest of the team on Monday. It feels like we can do a lot of exciting things together.

It’s a joy to watch people collaborating on creating something the way you all were and to see you all working out how to solve problems for us.

Thanks again!”

What did that session cost us? Basically nothing – except our time – indeed a very valuable commodity at Claromentis these days, but a more conventional meeting would only have saved a couple of hours.

Again it was based on a firm footing, the framework really is powerful, and the applications work. The additional service is interesting for our staff too – as they bounce ideas off of each other. Creating the best solution is just more fun!

I will certainly be back at the Mandarin Hotel in KL, I am a new fan of Qatar Airlines business travel and I hope we can be as devoted to great service with our clients over the coming years.

Summary

Great service only creates an exceptional experience when the underlying product is already rock solid. A really good lesson to have learned.

Home, Services intranet services, service quality

What an interesting point mentioned in the video above, in the business realms we are trained to execute the best possible plan and punish failure, instead of continuously prototyping and learn from mistake as you go along just like what the kindergarten kids do.

It seems we’ve not learnt our lessons that the best possible plans will always have flaws and there is nothing can substitute the reality. In the software world we tend to create the ultimate plan and concept, which looks good on paper so we can secure funding. This is usually leads to either the result is not fit for purpose or we tend to over complex the situation and not get the basic rights.

In Claromentis, we’re now embracing prototyping worlds, create endless revisions until it’s right, even when the software is developed and deployed the project is not finished, deploy early and quickly learn from it. The  whole point is to create a continues improvement, what works in one environment may not works with others, every situation every problem is unique in many ways and we want to create something that fit to that purpose.

Home, Services fun, information architecture, intranet 2.0, intranet development, intranet software discussions, user interface

Everyone knows that even in the era of web 2.0  and micro blogging today, email is still a powerful and extremely effective communication tool.

Our relationship with Email is a bit like a ‘love and hate relationship’. We love it because we don’t have to go somewhere to fetch or read the information, it is right in ‘my inbox’, and for most of us it is part of morning ritual, breakfast, cup of coffee and check email.

We hate it at the same time because our inbox tends to be very messy; there is no easy and reliable way to separate genuine emails we like, emails we hate, good or bad notifications and spam messages.

Not just quality of the messages, sometime we also have to think about frequency, and volume of information being delivered.

People sometime complain they are not being informed about important information, in our case recently our book keepers insisted that they need to know if any of the managers has approved overtime as soon as possible in real-time so they can authorize the payment immediately, without further delay.

Before it was lack of information but now take a look at this person’s inbox :

OK that’s just too much information, the accountant is now complaining that the system is spamming them.

This issue made them realizes the consequences of their request. Sometime it is hard to imagine but what the differences can be simply by the frequency of the email you receive. Less than 5 a day seem acceptable but 50+ a day is just too much. Is it really ‘too much’ or it is a sign that system is working?

The fact is that each request is now visualized, and they can see what’s going on in real-time. It might be  just a  normal psychology reaction, who likes  to see the work has just piling up ?

The problem is where is the balance? Lets say 20+ a day might be OK for someone but it is too much for others. If we change the method for example using daily digest, then some people might complain they don’t get the information in ‘real time’ when they need it, or is it just our way to make ourselves feels better.

Tell us what you think…

Home, Services collaboration, email, information architect, intranet consultancy, spam

Having involved with many projects in various scales, I can see that in general there are 3 types of projects:

1.  A project with no vision

A project with no vision is a bit like life without a purpose. The project exists for the sake of having the project itself. It is almost destined to be doomed even with enough resources to make it happen. There are too many IT projects failures, many of which are due to this problem. Of course no one wants to admit there is no vision, of course they can pretend they have a vision or basically borrow one from someone else – but normally they are just too abstract and meaningless.

2.    Project with vision but no execution

Good, now we are one step closer. We have clear vision for the project but the problem is we don’t know how to execute it. Having a vision without plan and execution is just like having a good idea with no outcomes.
We know how hard it is to execute good idea, and a good idea remains just a good idea until it has been executed.

3. Project with vision and execution

Right, I think we nailed it this time; we’ve got the clear vision and know exactly what needs to be done to execute it.  As we all know having a clear plan and the right resources to execute it is a great recipe to a successful project.

At the end of the day the outcome of successful project heavily depends on execution and control.  We all know things aren’t work according to the plan. Determination, passion and continuous control is perhaps worth more than the vision itself in the real world. The Japanese called this “Kaizen” (Continuous Improvement).

Services development vision, internal customer communications, intranet project manager

Mike shared an interesting comment with me today. He was asked the question “how do I change my intranet notifications settings to avoid pop-ups?”

His response was effectively to try to determine  “what kind of user are you?”

By which he just meant, there are several answers to this, and I need to know what you actually mean by the question, and your own experience and training, to give you the most appropriate answer. Such a simple question but in fact in Claromentis there are several completely different ways to do this:

1. As a normal user, I can just go to “My settings” and select ‘email’ rather than     pop  ups, from now on Claromentis will send all of my notifications to email.
2. As an intranet interface designer, I can just create a child interface that I can allocate to whichever users I wish – by group, role, individuals or any combination – so they can never change their notifications settings from anything else but emails in the first place.
3. As a server administrator, I can change a config file setting from a pop up to a floating DIV within the page :

   $cfg_allow_background_IM_check = 2;

For anyone interested this is explained on our Intranet WIKI

This is of course such a simple question about a very small piece of intranet functionality. Imagine the range of answers to a question like “How can I effectively distribute HR information to multiple offices where policies are different..”

Home, Services ease of use

We all know interfaces can be challenging, I thought I would start a collection of examples where the best of intentions just goes horribly wrong.
So as my first post on this theme, here is me trying to cancel a squash court – what a daft pop up :

So I am trying to cancel, and it seems I have a choice of canceling or confirming. Should I ok the  cancellation or confirm that I want to cancel..? Or cancel my cancellation?
If simple things can go this wrong, what hope complex collaboration interfaces…

Services visual interfaces

Background

I’ve been asked to create a blog to share our experience managing priorities in an intranet development roadmap.  Like any other software development we’re swamped with enhancement request raised by our clients, international partners well as internally.

Managing requests

By the time this blog is written I have to deal with 500 active requests which need reviewing, examining, clarification, discussion, prioritising, and the most important thing “execution”, in an extremely limited time.

Say if I am incredibly productive and I only have to spend 10 minutes for each tickets, it would take me more than 10 days just to reviewing this tickets without any further action such as examining or writing clarification request.

Dealing with priorities

Perhaps it would take a month before an execution of these tickets can be performed.
There are many technique you can use to help dealing with priorities, one of the most popular one is by calculating the “degree of importance”, where you have to weigh each request by creating a score card. Each card is measured from different aspect such as:

•    Number of clients who has requesting such feature
•    Development time & cost to develop
•    Impact on existing system
•    Potential future sales benefits
•    Current trend & Market analysis
•    Available budget and resources

The Dilemma

Before you know it, we might have to spend more time developing a robust system rather than dealing with the request itself. Sure if you are a large organisation you might have resources to deal or an existing system to deal with this dilemma.

If you are in a small organisation this may sounds like an impossible task. Statistically I might only have less than 5 seconds to deal with each ticket and use the precious time to actually “do-something”.

Blink

A book published by Malcolm Gladwell In 2005 “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” describes the popular idea of  “thin-slicing”: ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. In other words, spontaneous decisions are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones.

It may sounds bizarre and obviously the management won’t like this approach, but sometime in real life, if you are experienced enough you will develop strong intuition. Time is limited and you’ve got to do the “right thing” with all the limitation around you.

Claromentis Development Schedule

Reflecting this back with Claromentis development schedule, we have managed to produce what we called “Rapid development” when developing an intranet software. This means new features are efficiently developed, tested, user-tested, and deployed to the client faster than before at equal or better quality at the same time we’ve managed to implement strict budget control with limited time & resources in current economic downturn.

The idea is simple, quick and accurate decision, spend it efficiently where it should be.

Services development vision, internal customer communications, intranet roadmap