Having more than 20 years as a copywriter under my belt, most of it freelance, I’ve made all the mistakes and suffered all the pains (and the ecstasies) of freelance life.

As an aid to my coaching students, I prepared this short report some time ago to show them that that I truly understand what they’re going through as they begin their life as a freelance professional serving corporate clients.
In my opinion, and drawing from my own painful experience, these are the five greatest obstacles to freelance success. I also share the methods, tools, and processes I used to “break on through” to the other side.

Obstacle #1 to Freelance Success: Lack Of Confidence

The #1 reason many soloprofessionals never “go to the next level” is, believe it or not, a simple lack of confidence. Because we usually work alone and don’t congregate at clubs, associations, or other venues like, say, realtors do, getting our egos stroked by others or comparing ourselves to our peers is problematic.

Furthermore, some kinds of freelance work is subjective, such as copywriting. And even if you know you’re a good or great writer, you’ll always come across someone else whose work seems better than yours. The truth is, some of the most successful copywriters aren’t the most talented writers at all. They’re experts at clarity, excellent at understanding the vagaries of business, and masterful at making clients happy. And this holds true for any kind of freelance-to-corporate relationship.

If you hold yourself back from success with the deeply held conviction that “success is for someone else,” there is good news. You can literally change that erroneous belief by changing your belief. If you’ve never investigated the psychology of self-discipline, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to do.

During my Christmas vacation of 2005 I read an interview of Gary Bencivenga by Clayton Makepeace. Both held that their visualization and positive self-talk were essential to their successful campaigns. There are many tools you can use to break through your own self-limiting barriers. One that I loan out to my students and have used myself is “The Science of Self-Discipline” by Kerry L. Johnson. I purchased it online at Nightingale-Conant several years ago, and it’s probably still being sold there.

Obstacle #2 to Freelance Success: Lack Of Planning

It seems rudimentary, but most freelancers don’t have a plan for their business. They focus on the moment with no thought for tomorrow, except perhaps the vague wish to “do better next year.”

Yet it’s nearly impossible to make big changes or achieve great accomplishments without some kind of plan in place. Think about what it is that you most want to accomplish in your freelance business. Do you have a solid plan in place for achieving that goal?

If not, then it’s time to figure out where you want your business to be like in five years. Then figure out what part of that you’ll accomplish this year. Then determine what you have to do each month to get there. And what you have to do each week. Do you have a business schedule or calendar? Place the weekly tasks on the calendar.

I have a goal-achieving system I created for myself that has at its centerpiece a Daily Schedule. At the end of each day I create a work plan for the next day that moves me closer to my goal.

It’s not rocket science and there are no “secrets” to creating documents that help lead you to your goal. Simply take an hour to create a document that helps you organize your day, and make it a habit to complete your “daily schedule” the night before you need it. Make sure that your PRIMARY assigned tasks bring money directly in the door, (actual work for a client) or support it (marketing).

Obstacle #3 to Freelance Success: Ineffective Marketing

It’s interesting that copywriters market others for a living, but many are horrendous in their own marketing. I can only imagine how much harder it would be for a professional who offers a service unrelated to marketing.

However, no business can grow without marketing. Fortunately, there are many effective marketing tactics at the disposal of the solopreneur. It’s really just a matter of selecting the tactics that make you most comfortable, and then following through.

The most effective marketing tactic is the cold call simply because it’s faster and cheaper than other forms of marketing. The best way to do this is to create a phone script and make a few calls to companies in your niche market that are not on your prospect list, but who aren’t your most desirable prospects.

This allows you to refine and polish your script, and iron out any unforeseen problems. It also helps you get your confidence up, which is conveyed in your voice. When you get to where you’re “polished,” that’s when you cold call the companies you really want to work for.

If you place a call and you reach voice mail, be sure to leave a message. It’s a waste of time to make numerous calls to the same person, hoping to reach them directly. If your message is compelling (you can show them how you can solve a problem or achieve a goal), and your timing is right, you may get a return call.

What kind of results can you expect from a business-to-business phone campaign? Plan to gain one new client per 100 calls (one percent)IF you’re properly niched and you have a solid value proposition (e.g., “I can help you reduce employee turnover by 50% and here’s how I do it”).

Direct mailings with follow-up, got me from zero to making $5,000 USD per month in three months. It’s important to note, however, that I was not transitioning from one job to another; I spent full workdays five days a week conducting my mailing and calling campaigns, and I went to a niche market that would accept me readily (based upon my recent past0, direct marketing agencies.

What other marketing tools work well?

In my experience ezines, networking, and especially public speaking. However, you will have your marketing likes and dislikes, and your niche market will have its marketing conventions. For instance, I may dislike cold calls, so I don’t include it in my marketing mix. But my target market may spend a lot on trade shows. So I make a point to attend as many trade shows as I can, and maximize networking while I’m there.

Obstacle #4 to Freelance Success: Poor Time Management And Prioritizing

As a freelancer, you’ll face all kinds of challenges to your time. You’ll have the option to go to the gym during work hours if you wish. Or you might sleep in.

People will ask you for favors, like giving them a ride to the airport because they know you’re home. You might stop what you’re doing to throw a load of laundry in because it’s really stacking up.

As with any business, there’s endless work to do that you don’t get paid for, like marketing, buying business supplies, invoicing, catching up on reading, answering emails, and attending business events. If you let the fun and easy stuff take priority over your marketing, you’re sunk.

Realize that when you do work, you might actually “work for pay” only two or three days out of the week. The other days must be spent on the necessities of running a business.

Outsiders may try to steal your time, but you can be as much at fault by putting off tasks that are more distasteful, like, for instance, marketing.

No matter how much you love what it is you do it is work, and most of us have a natural tendency to push work out as far as possible, especially if it’s intimidating.

One of the ways I keep myself on track with priorities is with my Daily Schedule system. At the top of my Daily Schedule, which I fill in each night before a work day, I have a question I must answer. That question is, “How will I make money today?”

By answering that question I automatically bring my moneymaking project to the top of the list, ensuring proper prioritizing.

On the same Schedule I also list other projects that need to be done, in priority order. This helps me get the most important projects done first, and if something’s not done, it’s the least important task instead of the most important. I encourage you to create a similar time management/prioritizing tool for yourself.

Obstacle #5 to Copywriting Success: Going It Alone

When I first began my copywriting career, I looked everywhere I could for help. But the world of copywriting was isolated back then, and all I had for information and support were the few books I’d bought from Powell’s bookstore in Portland, Oregon. I limped along in a pitiful state for years.

Through perseverance and a variety of marketing methods I found myself in a mentoring situation with Bill Brown that I never sought, and didn’t even recognize the value of until it was ended.

I envy today’s new freelancers because the Internet has changed everything. Not only do we now have access to each other, but to peers who are willing to mentor.

It took me years to find my mentor in Bill Brown, who is now retired but far from forgotten in today’s international “direct marketing agency” circles.

For eight years I studied under Bill’s instruction. And when I launched off into my second freelance career, I had what I needed to succeed. Master copywriting training from Bill Brown, and an understanding of how marketing works from the agency I sweat blood for (Portland, Oregon’s Rosen/Brown Direct).

Today I have a coach, the wonderful Jim Slay of Palos Verdes, California, He helps me with my business expansion goals. And as a coach for all kinds of freelancers who seek corporate clients, I keep some time each day to coach others on proper marketing. It’s easy to land the high-quality, high-paying clients like Microsoft, Intuit, and IBM, if you know how.

Chris Marlow
http://www.articlesbase.com/copywriting-articles/the-5-big-obstacles-to-freelance-success-and-how-to-powerfully-overcome-them-89903.html

Duration : 0:3:27

Technorati Tags: 4.0, Brander, Canon, copier, desktop, document, file, Management, Organizer, scanner, ScanSnap, Search, Sharp;, Speedy, windows

http://www.sourcecodesworld.com/project-bank/project6.asp

By the time this article goes to print all of us will surely have had our fill of news reports about Conrad Black’s infamous lawsuit.  We’ll likely be numb to the never ending allegations of fraudulent practices at Nortel. But, how many of us as human resource professionals will be asking, ‘What does this have to do with me?’

It seems that, by and large, human resource professionals have been quite happy to have the accountability for their company’s business ethics and code of business conduct rest with their legal or audit departments.   In so doing, human resource professionals miss an opportunity to help their companies shift from merely being compliant with the law to demonstrating their company’s firm and unwavering commitment to build an ethical business culture.

The ‘iceberg model’ helps us to better appreciate the influences that may undermine a company’s policies and practices with respect to business ethics.  Think of the ‘the Law’ and your company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy as the tip of the iceberg, visible above the surface.  Now, think about the influences that exist below the surface lurking within many companies.  Things like:

·        Pressures to conform (“Hey, we always take off early Friday afternoons, you need to join us or else someone’s going to take notice”)

·        Desire to please (“I picked up the tab for a lunch I had with my boss. He told me it was the only way he could expense it without needing to get further approval. I did it because I wanted to stay on his good side!”)

·        Accepted practices (“Don’t worry, we give box seat tickets to all our clients and they sure don’t have any problem with accepting them!”)

·        Performance drivers (“Hey, maybe we should just alter our numbers a bit.  If we do, we’re sure to be in the top category for a bonus this year!”)

When asked, most of us do not hesitate to say that we are ‘ethical’.  In fact some people are offended when asked to sign a document confirming they have read and understood their company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy.   However, what we fail to recognize and appreciate is our ability to rationalize our own behavior.  Sometimes we justify our actions so convincingly that we no longer even perceive that what we are doing is inherently wrong or unethical.  For example:

• “I’ll just pad my mileage claim this month, it’s not like I haven’t worked hard.  The company owes it to me.”
• “I know I shouldn’t provide my son with supplies from the Office, but university is so expensive and, I know this company can afford the photocopying I do and the pens and paper I take.”
• “If this company can afford a company jet, hey, they can afford for me to take a few sick days to ski!”

It is a slippery slope once employees believe they can justify actions and decisions that are fundamentally unethical.  Reading a code of conduct policy and signing a piece of paper every year does little to help employees grasp and understand the essence of ethical conduct.  Nor does it help employees apply good problem solving skills when they are faced with ethical dilemmas in the workplace. It may surprise some to know that virtually all the companies who have become household names (including Enron) as a result of their unethical business practices had well articulated policies and codes of conduct dutifully signed off yearly by their employees.

Few companies are making the effort necessary to address these underlying influences and regrettably, only those that do will truly build ethical cultures.   By taking the following 7 steps, human resource professionals can play a critical role in helping their companies move beyond compliance, raising the bar  to demonstrate their deep commitment to developing an ethical business culture.

1)      Adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to building an ethical culture

2)      Communicate your Code of Business Conduct in plain language

3)      Ensure relevant policies, processes and practices align with your Code.

4)      Develop ethical leadership

5)      Gain employee buy-in

6)      Facilitate reporting

7)      Model the way

 Adopt a Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Human resources must have a ‘seat at the table’ when matters of business ethics and code of conduct are discussed.  That said, it would be wrong for human resources to act independently.  Companies that are truly committed to developing ethical cultures adopt a multi-disciplinary approach that includes representation from their legal, financial, communications and human resource disciplines.  Working together they develop a strategy that enables the development of an ethical culture that is truly sustainable.

Use Plain Language in Your Code

Most human resource departments do provide employees with a personal copy of their company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy at the time of hire.  Many companies host their Code of Business Conduct and related policies on their intranet.  However, few companies have taken the time to provide a document that is actually readable!  By working with their partners in Communications, Human Resources can provide employees a document that is both easily referenced and easily read.

 Align Policy and Practices

More than one company has been surprised to learn that upon review, some of their policies and accepted practices are not consistent with their company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy.  Human resources can ‘lead the way’ by ensuring its policies and practices are ‘squeaky clean’; not only in the way they are written, but also, in the way they are executed.  However, it is not only human resource policies that require review, virtually all corporate policies need to be reviewed in light of the company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy to achieve proper alignment.

Develop Ethical Leadership

Developing ethical leadership ought to be a primary goal of every leadership development program.  Surely it is the role of human resources to ensure the topic of business ethics is adequately addressed in all leadership development programs.  Not only do leaders need to know and understand their company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy but, they must also understand the role they play in facilitating an ethical culture.  This is just as true for leaders at the frontline as it is for leaders at the executive table.  Leaders often justify their own behaviors based upon what they see modeled by those to whom they report.  Ethical leadership depends upon each leader understanding they are responsible and accountable for their personal actions and behaviors regardless of the actions of those at more senior levels of the company. 

Demonstrating ethical behavior as a leader is inextricably linked to building trusting relationships, the cornerstone of many leadership development programs.  However, while many of these programs address the matter of trust and trusting relationships, few make the link to ethical behavior and the expectations of leaders.  Whether through instructor-led training or on-line training, every leader needs to have exposure to the topic of business ethics.  Leaders must be fully cognizant of behaviors that develop a strong ethical culture and those that erode that culture.  They need also to understand their accountability when employees raise ethical issues and/or report unethical behavior. 

Gaining Employee Buy-in

Ethical cultures are built when employees, like leaders, have exposure to training that helps them differentiate between ethical and unethical behavior.  Depending upon the size of your company this can be accomplished either through instructor-led or on-line learning modules.  Regardless of the methodology, employees need to be exposed to different scenarios and situations that they may face within their own work.  Employees need an opportunity to learn in a non-threatening environment what is appropriate and what is inappropriate.  Your company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy is an important topic that must be addressed not only in all employee development programs but in your company’s orientation program for new employees.

However, learning in and of itself is insufficient.  Building an ethical culture requires continuous reinforcement through a well thought out and on-going communication strategy and plan.  Ethics needs to be woven into company newsletters, be reinforced through visual cues such as posters, and integrated into team discussions if a company is going to make significant head-way towards building a strong ethical culture.

Facilitate Reporting

Companies need to provide their employees with a means of reporting behaviors, decisions or actions they perceive are unethical and contrary to their company’s Code of Business Conduct Policy.  This is best facilitated by providing access through a third party provider although many smaller companies encourage such reporting to their legal department or external legal counsel.   That said, it is only through both educational and communication programs that employees understand their obligation to report unethical behavior and to realize that their company will fully support their actions provided, of course, that the reporting of unethical behavior is not maliciously motivated.

 Model the Way

 Finally, human resource professionals must model the way.  For new employees, human resource employees are like a beacon signaling the strength of a company’s ethical culture.  And, whether we realize it or not, the manner in which we conduct employment searches and implement recruitment practices sets the tone.  Employees tend to assess the strength of a company’s ethical culture based upon their own personal experience and the experience of those with whom they have a close work relationship.  They are sensitive to preferential treatment whether in regards to recruitment, compensation, performance management, or succession management and promotions.  Human resource professionals must demonstrate through their actions an unerring commitment to ethical business conduct.

 Since the Enron fiasco it’s hard to pick up a daily paper without seeing some reference to or allegation of unethical business practices.  And, based upon these articles it would be easy for us to assume that unethical behavior is limited to those at the very top of organizations.  This is simply not the case.  While building an ethical culture depends upon the full commitment of senior executives to set the standard of acceptable behavior,   each and every employee directly influences the strength of your company’s ethical culture through their day-to-day actions. Cleary, code of business conduct policies are insufficient in and of themselves to shape ethical behavior.  Human resource professionals must help their companies move beyond compliance with the law and, they can do so by ensuring each and every employee develops the knowledge and skills necessary to build strong ethical cultures. 

Rana Group
http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/ethics-in-business-from-compliance-to-commitment-497459.html

Duration : 0:6:0

Technorati Tags: AIIM, business processes, content management, digital landfill, Document Management, ECM, excuse, green, information management, records management, ROI, technology

Are you just starting out in business? Are you wondering what IOVC and the “O” of IOVC technology means? You heard about office process improvement, business process improvement, business process management, workflow management and you wonder what these IOVC technologies can do for improving your business operation?

IOVC technologies can cut your business costs sharply. Business process improvements that address your office processes have demonstrated many business benefits for a long time now. This set of IOVC technologies has been primarily associated with large corporate business but no more. Small and medium business can benefit from an office process improvement or BPI/BPM tool. If you need to ring more profit from an existing business operation then you owe it to yourself to make yourself profitable with the many readily available business process improvement technologies.

In this series examining the “O” of IOVC (internet, office, voip and crm) technologies, the office improvement or business process improvement movement has many tools and products available to help the business owner improve their business operation. To sort out the complexity of business process improvement, business process management, technology and application support we need to answer a few key questions such as:

What is your BPI, BPM process?

What is your potential problem?

What do you need to learn about your business?

What is the business process improvement process?

What is the best way to train you and your team?

What benefits can you expect?

What are the next steps?

What is your BPI, BPM process? Those new to business process improvement and business process management need to understand just what is a business processes. The office or business process is really your normal office workflow that you and your team use daily. Within that workflow are people, process, products and projects. Supporting and or enabling these components are your software applications and supporting technologies that allow you to perform the business functions.

What is your potential problem? The complexity that occurs after your business has been operating for a while means your business processes by their nature become complex, disjointed and out of sync. The ability to manage your processes and keep your processes operating at peak efficiency is what’s needed to keep your business healthy. Viewed from a top down perspective, it is your end-to-end business process or business workflow that drives your business.

What do you need to learn about your business? With that understanding your team needs to define your business process and unearth the perceived business problem. Yes you have to make the problem real on paper. The team needs to define what tools are used when identifying your business processes.

What is the Business Process Improvement process? The team would document the existing business process by developing beginning to end process maps. They would identify which steps in your process add value. Then the team would identify the steps that cause pain and detract from the efficiency of the process. Then the team works to eliminate those business steps that fail to add value. Once all is documented, the team transitions from identifying and knowing what steps to improve, the team would collectively be able to understand and discuss what to do when the identified solution conflicts with business policy or a current external process and still make it functional within your organization.

Enter Business Process Management phrase – Then the business improvement solution is implemented and becomes operational. To ensure continued success, the group proceeds to manage the business process using a selected business process management tool. This requires the complete understanding of current routines, future goals and the gaps in between. Once the process is operational, the process becomes a business process management procedure.

What is the best way to train you and your team? Since your personnel work daily to complete specific business processes using technology that you have within in your business, they should become intimately involved with learning about managing your business processes especially since they are a part of them everyday. For BPI assessments to be effective, the best way to learn is in a situational manner which enables you to identify and manage your specific business processes. You may even consider having customized courses that can be defined to target your specific situation.

What are the expected benefits? The benefits of a business process improvement and management assessment is that your business will be able to continuously strive for a more effective business process and therefore you will gain improved efficiency. The resulting Office process improvements enable many other products and services to operate more efficiently. Working with a team and understanding the issues associated with your end to end business operation can help you define the gaps in your business and remove the daily problems and disconnects with your vendors. This can come from keeping your business processes in sync with the proper support of your technology and your people. The gains can sometimes approach a 50 percent or more gain in efficiency.

In today’s business environment, we continuously strive for a more effective business process operation and a firm with actual hands on experience can help you learn and apply these strategies. That is because business process improvement and business process management have become essential tools to just about any organization.

In summary, with proper people, education and learning in a situational environment, one can first identify the process, then analyze the process and move on to improving and monitoring the process. The complexity and payback of business process improvements are many because one improvement can lead to many more and sometimes it’s a simple fix and other times a lot more complex. The details require more explanation then we can provide here, however you owe it to yourself to investigate this area of IOVC technologies further and profit from these capabilities.

Gregory Burrus
http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/can-iovc-and-office-process-improvement-really-save-you-money-96452.html

Groupware is technology designed to facilitate the work of groups. This technology may be used to communicate, cooperate, coordinate, solve problems, compete, or negotiate. While traditional technologies like the telephone qualify as groupware, the term is ordinarily used to refer to a specific class of technologies relying on modern computer networks, such as email, newsgroups, videophones, or chat.

Groupware technologies are typically categorized along two primary dimensions:

1. whether users of the groupware are working together at the same time ("realtime" or "synchronous" groupware) or different times ("asynchronous" groupware), and
2. whether users are working together in the same place ("colocated" or "face-to-face") or in different places ("non-colocated" or "distance").

Same time
"synchronous" Different time
"asynchronous"
Same Place
"colocated"
voting,
presentation support shared computers
videophones,
chat email, workflow
Different Place
"distance"

Several typical groupware applications are described in more detail on our Groupware Applications page.
What is CSCW?

CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) refers to the field of study which examines the design, adoption, and use of groupware. Despite the name, this field of study is not restricted to issues of "cooperation" or "work" but also examines competition, socialization, and play. The field typically attracts those interested in software design and social and organizational behavior, including business people, computer scientists, organizational psychologists, communications researchers, and anthropologists, among other specialties.
How is Groupware Design Different from Traditional User Interface Design?

Groupware design involves understanding groups and how people behave in groups. It also involves having a good understanding of networking technology and how aspects of that technology (for instance, delays in synchronizing views) affect a user’s experience. All the issues related to traditional user interface design remain relevant, since the technology still involves people.

However, many aspects of groups require special consideration. For instance, not only do million-person groups behave differently from 5-person groups, but the performance parameters of the technologies to support different groups vary. Ease-of-use must be better for groupware than for single-user systems because the pace of use of an application is often driven by the pace of a conversation. System responsiveness and reliability become more significant issues. Designers must have an understanding of the degree of homogeneity of users, of the possible roles people play in cooperative work and of who key decision-makers are and what influences them.

We discuss design issues in significantly more detail on our Groupware Design Issues page.
Why Bother?

Why is groupware design worth paying attention to in the first place?

Groupware offers significant advantages over single-user systems. These are some of the most common reasons people want to use groupware:

* to facilitate communication: make it faster, clearer, more persuasive
* to enable communication where it wouldn’t otherwise be possible
* to enable telecommuting
* to cut down on travel costs
* to bring together multiple perspectives and expertise
* to form groups with common interests where it wouldn’t be possible to gather a sufficient number of people face-to-face
* to save time and cost in coordinating group work
* to facilitate group problem-solving
* to enable new modes of communication, such as anonymous interchanges or structured interactions

In addition to the benefits of groupware, another good reason to study usability and design issues in groupware is to avoid a failed design. Groupware is significantly more difficult to get right than traditional software. Typically, a groupware system can’t succeed unless most or all of the target group is willing to adopt the system. In contrast, a single-user system can be successful even if only a fraction of the target market adopts it.

© 1998 Tom Brinck

http://www.usabilityfirst.com/groupware/intro.txl

Step 2: Your team should meet the consultant in order to asses his/her ability. Take a step further and call your IT manager to ask about the consultant and their history with active directory, SQL, and Windows Server. These applications are crucial for the development of SharePoint.

Step 3: Now we get to the most important step. Get them to tell you their suggestion for your business after the project is completed. They can ask you for your personal goals. If they do, answer these questions in detail. Survey your business users for their input before you make this call. Once you know exactly what the users need, implementation becomes easier. With these questions, you will see at what extent is the consultant experienced with SharePoint. Some consultants will manufacture things that are already included in the box because they never learned proper usage.

Step 4: After you find the right consulting team, evaluate them based on your company culture. Look at it as if you actually hired that team full-time. See if you can deal with the team not fitting your company culture. Don’t forget that this team is going to have to work hard with your IT team and your business user team to get the requirements. Remember that you need this process for maximum efficiency. That’s very important.

If you are for consultants for your next project with SharePoint, please contact Andy at EasySharepoint@gmail.com or give him a call at 925.249.2214.

Wait! Did I confuse you at all? If so you should visit our site for even more information: Sharepoint Consulting site. We also explain what the actual Sharepoint Cost

Technorati Tags: business software, collaboration, computers, Document Management, microsoft, sharepoint, sharepoint consultancy, sharepoint consultant, sharepoint consulting, software, technology

Like most large businesses, the magazine relies on large reports to distribute information to manage their business. They produce over 1,000 unique financial reports in their central data center for use by their staff around the world. These reports are currently printed on large production printers then physically distributed to their offices around the country.

This process proved to be very inefficient and costly. The cost of producing these reports strains the company’s IT budget, both in terms of paper, direct printer costs (including acquisition and maintenance) printer supplies and in terms of personnel costs associated with the delivering of reports around the company. In addition, the cost of physical distribution (courier) also added to the inefficiencies.

Secondly, the availability of the report information to the end user was too slow for today’s business climate. Business processes were being delayed while the knowledge worker waited for the report they needed to complete their assigned task. The reports were distributed in a very traditional way; they were centrally printed and manually distributed around the company, both locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. This “print and distribute” approach was a hindrance in terms of getting their reports out to knowledge workers in an efficient and timely fashion. The problem was exacerbated during month end closings because trial balances would be run, put in the queue to be printed, delivered to financial management personnel and reviewed.

After the appropriate corrections were made, the reports were re-run, sent through to be printed and delivered to management for review again.

The Challenge (continued)

This process was repeated until no more changes needed to be made and the final version of the report is printed for general distribution to the appropriate personnel. Keeping track of interim report versions, and ensuring proper security of those interim versions proved to be very challenging, and time consuming for management. Reports that were printed and then distributed to outlying Offices (both in North America and around the World) could take hours and even days to end up on the knowledge worker’s desk, delaying business processes and reducing productivity around the organization.

The Solution

Plus Technologies worked very closely with the customer to integrate RM Plus, our electronic report management and distribution system and OM Plus our advanced print spooler software into the customer’s report distribution environment. This solution performs multiple functions after report creation through to the availability of a report for a knowledge worker and paid for itself in about 9 months.

A pilot was implemented for testing in a controlled deployment. Twenty reports were chosen along with twenty knowledge workers to be part of the pilot. Upon successful completion of this pilot, the solution was rolled out to over 200 knowledge workers for more than 1000 reports.

RM Plus performs the following functions:

RMPlus provides quick, easy access to computer reports!

The Mainframe creates the report and “prints” it to a virtual destination within OM Plus. This required no changes to the mainframe application.

OM Plus re-labels the report with a descriptive name. This makes the report name more intuitive to the knowledge worker.

OM Plus delivers the report to the RM Plus Document Repository. No operator intervention is required.

Reports are indexed, assigned security, and stored in the file system. At this point, the system notes report versioning. This permits managers to review and re-run (if necessary) financial reports prior to general distribution.

Users can access reports from their desk-tops or from their browser and view just the reports or pages they need to perform their function. All printing is done locally on network lasers when/if needed.

Report Manager Plus-Easy and affordable report distribution and management

RM Plus is an electronic report management and distribution system that connects every report generating application to every end user throughout your organization. It is an easy-to-use, flexible yet cost effective solution that captures reports from any enterprise application and stores them in a centralized repository accessible to your users 24/7!

RM Plus automatically captures report output from multiple enterprise system platforms, organizes and indexes the reports, applies security rules and distributes individual pages or bundles of report pages across your network or the Internet. End users can view, print and download reports – or selected portions of a report – on demand. Data contained in reports is easily found and extracted electronically and can be imported into spreadsheets or databases for further analysis. No more re-keying report data for further analysis!

The Benefits of RM Plus

• Eliminates the cost of printing, report distribution and storing enterprise reports—No more report distribution costs, printer maintenance, toner costs, binders, file cabinets consuming floor space or courier expenses. Don’t let the cost of printing your reports get out of line!

• Instant Access is provided to your report-hungry users. Users have rapid document delivery that is secure and instant access to their reports and documents from anywhere on the web.

• Increases Security and Compliance by controlling access to cabinets, folder, files and pages. Eliminates unauthorized viewing of customer data and provides a detailed, time stamped audit trail of all document delivery and end user activity.

• Improves Customer Service by accessing documents in seconds eliminating the manual retrieval of reports. Automating report delivery to your knowledge workers increases their productivity and the company’s bottom line.

• Streamlines Report Access from Multiple Systems as RM Plus provides a single access point to all report types, no matter where they came from. Whether they are mainframe reports, UNIX applications or Windows Server application reports RM Plus will capture them and make them easily and almost instantly available.

• Data contained in reports is easily found, viewed and securely stored to prevent unauthorized viewing and it is easy for document sharing to take place amongst multiple people.

• Mine and export data in reports to other applications like Excel for further data analysis.

• Creates One Centralized Report Management Repository that is very cost effective. Your users learn one system to access all their archived reports.

• Why RM Plus Report Management?

Here’s why report distribution and management makes sense, especially with the cost effective solution from Plus Technologies:

Eliminates printing distributing and storing of enterprise reports – Significant cost reductions associated with electronic vs physical distribution of reports

No more printer costs, binders, file cabinets consuming floor space, or courier expenses – Improve the bottom line and increase velocity of delivery of business critical report data

Quickly view Reports online, virtually immediately after report is created – Multiple people have access to the same report immediately and simultaneously improving access to business critical data

Data contained in reports is easily found and extracted – Extract data from reports electronically and import into spreadsheets or databases for further analysis. No more re-keying report data

Securely manage who viewed a report and when – No unauthorized viewing of reports for compliance or business reasons

Other Solutions

OM Plus – is advanced, intelligent spooling software designed to seamlessly complement application software programs used by corporations and institutions. Without impacting the application software program, OM Plus will ingest outgoing enterprise print jobs and provide advanced job delivery functions. OM Plus will provide ‘confirmed delivery’ of documents and provide an enterprise level monitor of all print jobs and destinations. In addition, OM Plus provides users and/or administrators a host of tools to automate the printing function. OM Plus users receive benefit from increased help desk productivity, centralized control of print environment, intelligent routing, reduced print related errors, printing assurance, increased security and more.

Plustechnologies
http://www.articlesbase.com/organizational-articles/eliminate-the-cost-hassle-and-time-associated-with-printing-and-distributing-enterprise-reports-140485.html

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