Integrated Management Systems

I've been doing some work recently for a client to implement an Integrated Management System. "What's that?" I hear you say... Contrary to what you might expect, it's not a computer system - it's a system in the style of a Quality Management System like ISO9001, or an Environmental Management System like ISO14001. The IMS takes the common parts of systems like these and creates a uniform approach across the organisation. (The standard we were using is PAS99:2006.) The team created some quite pithy insights to explain it to the really busy client personnel (and I mean REALLY BUSY!):

"A way to communicate 'how we do things around here'" "A way for the Senior Management to communicate their expectations." "A way to ensure the equitable satisfaction of all stakeholders as the business grows and evolves."

The components are simple:

1 - Communicate expectations from a very senior level executive. 2 - Create a formal process and organisation by which the IMS will be governed. 3 - Create a framework for its content that allows people to find what they need. 4 - Figure out what content should be included. 5 - Divide-up ownership of the content, to ensure it is created by the right people. 6 - Create an over-arching review process to ensure that the IMS content is integrated across functions 7 - Implement a document management system that allows broad read-only access to documentation, and limited publication rights (OK, there is a computer system component). 8 - Launch. Re-launch. Re-launch. etc.

Yes, you guessed it, the hard part is getting the organisation to accept it, adopt it and provide the content. I'll blog a little more on this in future, as there's some neat content insights I want to share...what goes in it, and how to organise it. -- Philip Greenwood

Data Translation - ETL tool

I've been looking for a good data translation and migration tool for use on both static and dynamic data - I often have these issues with my Enterprise Transformation projects. I confess, I still think that Excel and my collection of MS Access scripts are good for many jobs, but today I saw a demo of a really good special purpose tool for 'Extract Transform and Load' activities - and it's open source! The tool is from an outfit called Talend - they have commercial versions and consulting services too. -- Philip Greenwood

Stage Gate Dramas

Each time I reach a stage gate, in the usual melee of near misaligned leadership, I find myself wishing I'd asked some questions earlier. I thought I'd share some of them - a kind of catharsis, if you like:

• Who makes the decisions around here?
• How are decisions made around here?
• Who is the design authority?
• Do you understand the commercial impact of this decision?
• Who is going to bear the cost of this change?
• How will you know when we're ready?
• How will we know when we're ready?
• What happens if it doesn't go to plan?
• And who will do that?
• Will you included that in the ... log?

Can you hear yourself asking any of those at just the right point? Maybe next time I start a new stage, I'll reflect on this post and ask them earlier!

UPDATE: On reflection, and in response to some comments along the lines of 'you should know better than to leave it this late', I realised that I do know better, and I do ask these questions much earlier! Perhaps the real answers don't reveal themselves until they are tested? (Particularly the first few questions).  Is there a more artful way of revealing the answers?  Yes there is - it's much less transactional...that will be the subject of another post...

Thanks to Denis in particular for prompting this update.  Sorry I didn't publish your comment, but I do value it!

-- Philip Greenwood

Typepad Jailbreak

It's been a while; that tends to happen when I get busy. Coming up on this blog...I plan to migrate to a new blogging platform...sometime in the next few months. If it all goes pear-shaped, so long. Otherwise, see you on the other side.