Best Practices Proposal 040908

8/14/2019 Best Practices Proposal 040908

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Best practices for the futureA proposal for a collaborative office environmentMatthew RutledgeComcast Spotlight in SeattleApril 2, 2008

Lessons from our Q1 spot goal

Industry perspective

Our perspective

Two routes to consider

Supporting technology

Automated workflow process

Customization to enhance quality and precision

Suggested deployment time frame

How to reach our goals

Screenshots

Lessons from our Q1 spot goal

The "best practices" spot goal was on its surface about documenting procedures within our department, but it also highlighted the fact that we needed a different approach. As a newer addition tothe organization, the business processes at my previous employers remained fresh on my mind and Iwanted to draw upon those experiences to make our department more efficient. My portion of theproject was to organize the end product, but it was during that portion of the process that I realizedthat the end product must take the form of a more comprehensive solution. I hope to express thenecessity of change by presenting it in the form of a series of ideas and solutions that help begin thatprocess.

From an outsider's perspective, our collaboration and project management skills impeded on our ability to efficiently shape our department's processes. There was lack of consensus on the scope of the project, disagreement on standards, and uneven levels of motivation and participation. We forgotthe larger purpose our department holds the documentation process was seen as a thoroughlylinear, fragmented requirement that could be checked off of a list. Two themes became prevalent:

1. our best practices were not the same best practices of modern office environments fewpeople realize how antiquated our process is, and fewer feel compelled to overcome our issueswith staffing levels and software impediments.


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2. our reluctant cooperation in owning up to our department's role as a change-maker within theorganization we have the power to influence the ad flow process to our advantage and havefailed to do so.

the result:

Traffic that moves, but doesn't move fast - we internalize the entire office'sstress due to our central role in the process, we have become crestfallen and

dismissive. We have a fairly indifferent work environment that approaches theunpleasant you can sense the malaise from the lack of pictures hung up oncubicle walls, the few social engagements, the combative ways in which wereluctantly cooperate

I believe the second attitude will disappear if we begin to enact changes based on trying to fix the first.We need to realign our department with the best practices of today, and to bring the outsideperspective to the team. It is that perspective that I hope will combine our superior talent with thesuperior processes of the outside.

Industry perspective

Since our challenges are both technological and social in nature, it is fortunate that most of the newtechnologies and accepted business practices of the Web 2.0 Office require explicit mutualcooperation. Many of the most progressive business practices have their origins in a governmentpolicy enacted in Denmark within the past 10 years, called flexicurity . Transparency, accountability,willingness to adapt and change, consensus and collaboration are key. The result is a nation of 5million who are 25% more productive than Americans per capita.

Corporate Wikis go viralBusinessWeek Magazine 3/12/2007The rapid spread of wikis at Nokia and Dresdner Kleinwort was a grassroots

phenomenonwithin six months, the company decided to launch an official company wikiNokia estimates that at least 20% of its 68,000 employeesuse wiki pages to update schedules and project status, trade ideas, edit files,and so on.

Strategies for Implementing a Successful Corporate WikiIndustryWatch Magazine -1/25/2008

By 2009, at least 50 percent of organizations will use wikis as important work collaboration tools -- will you be in that number?

Our perspective

The solution is clear - a w iki software platform or wiki-enabled CMS (content management system)hosted locally on a server: requirements are minimal, it would be able to either share bandwidth withan existing server or a standard issue computer would be enough to run it for the entire office. Theability to self-develop our interface takes programming and IT costs out of the question for the mostpart.

Please read the (short) IDC Whitepaper on Corporate Wikis to understand what a wiki is in acorporate context.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurityhttp://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070312_476504.htmhttp://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=15682http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_wikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_wikihttp://wasemfs03dfsroottrafficidc_whitepaper.pdf/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070312_476504.htmhttp://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=15682http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_wikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_wikihttp://wasemfs03dfsroottrafficidc_whitepaper.pdf/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity


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Any solution we consider will contain the following built right in:

centralized document storage, auditing of versions down to the letter, and an onlinepaper trail for everything all able to be printed in PDF

collaboration tools such as discussion threads, project management space and evenproject blogs - with ability to protect and moderate all levels of content

hyperlinks referencing all applicable terminology in the form of a documentation

section with comprehensive references, best practices, and current workarounds data views and processes that bring all of our platform's data into combined views

showing overall perspective workflow management: a way for us to keep track of internal progress beyond the

applications themselves processes are automatically notified to email recipients personal information management, org charts, calendars, built in applications for

scheduling and other process functions ability to author pages and edit collaboratively and without any knowledge of web

design using tagging to associate related content everything is searchable down to the

letter

Conclusion:

The potential of savings in terms of manpower, paper waste, and bureaucracy isimmeasurable. If implemented appropriately, it will result in a paradigm shift as itrelates to the traffic department. Since I believe we should begin with trafficand then 'build up, the routes and solution reflect traffic's needs first.

Two routes to consider A wiki server backend like TWiki or XWiki requires moderate technical knowledge on the back end inorder to be very simple on the front end (i.e. setting up will take a month or so, but the result is a veryeasy layout for employees) The advantage to these are that they are open source, free of charge,able to be modified at will, and highly customizable you can do pretty much anything you want inthem. TWiki is used by Motorola, SAP, DHL, British Telecom, Texas Instruments , to name a few. Itis not an understatement to say that we could implement an entire solution without paying a cent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XWikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XWiki


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A wiki-enabled content management software ( CMS ) solution examples of these are Clearspace ,Atlassian Confluence, Socialtext, and Central Desktop. The advantage to these is that they arecommercially supported applications and they often have many more ready-made applications(scheduling, project management, workflow tracking, etc.) They are often just as customizable, but arenot free however, my tentative recommended solution, Clearspace, is quite affordable at about$3.50-$5.00 per user per month for full support. I have researched 12 platforms, each with their own

strengths and weaknesses, and we will hopefully collaborate on which platform is best in the near future. Confluence was the platform I helped implement at my last job, but Clearspace is what they'removing to.

The opportunity cost is minimal for what will result in a large gain in productivity SharePoint has thehighest abandonment rate of any Microsoft business product, for it can cost almost 5 to 10 times morefor a solution that is cumbersome and ill-suited to localization and customization. This software runsbeside the rest of our applications and replaces nothing you can conduct business as you dotoday, but would you want to?

Supporting technology

MySQL (or any SQL database) Ideally, OpenTV should allow us to have access to our owndata through their Oracle SQL database that stores Eclipse data, they only need to grant us theSELECT functions we dont need nor do we want any UPDATE capabilities. Asking for asupport table to be created based on criteria we need is very important this is an industry-standard practice. As an alternative, they could provide us a list of accessible tables and fieldsand that would help us run SQL statements through EclipseWeb more easily. I am proficient inrunning SQL statements, creating and dropping tables, concatenating and doing table joins, sowe would not have to train anyone.

A more cumbersome but still acceptable workaround is to run reports in EclipseWeb as XMLexports and then import them to either our own separate SQL database, or to take those XMLreports and use XQuery, which mimics SQL and allows you to organize it as if it were adatabase. These types of solutions would require a bit more work to maintain and would only

update so often, whereas a connection from the Eclipse SQL server to our CMS or wiki systemwould mean that data is almost real-time.

A web design application such as Dreamweaver is recommended, but not necessary itwould only be for the content lead to create the templates and modify the design of the toplevel pages. Part of the benefit of pursuing a solution is consistent style and design standardsthrough cascading style sheets which would make every page in every department maintain aconsistent look. However, all wiki and CMS solutions have the ability to design pages with zerotechnical knowledge as simple as email. It is the templates and framework that would requirea web design program.

An XML transformation tool or SQL front end application (Navicat is the one I use) which wouldmake creating scheduled feeds very easy.

A dedicated server is not necessary at the traffic/operations level, but a small server would be

necessary to deploy at an office-wide level. At my previous employer, we ran our wiki on a$500 computer. In fact, if we need a server, it means that our solutions are working, and theminimal cost for a low-end server will pay for itself within a week.

The benefits will be immediate, as I have already begun developingprototypes of the ideas below.
http://www.jivesoftware.com/products/clearspacehttp://www.jivesoftware.com/products/clearspace


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Automated workflow processA large contributor to inefficiency is the antiquated workflow process. Having analyzed Sarbanes-Oxley rules and Comcasts business requirements for document storage, we should be able to easilyautomate our workflow, reduce paper usage by at least 50% and initiate a document storage solutionthat is efficient and going green at the same time. These solutions are all feasible within the course of a few months, and are all auditable and versioned (even attachments are given unique versions).

Replace cover sheets : an online tool instead can be created based off of what is in CRM andTIM we have many opportunities to make this process no longer a process at all. We cansynchronize all applications workflow through a back end tracking system, or we can simplypull the StrataExport files into a table which will automatically display in the wiki and associateitself with a clients page. Checkboxes and tabs will be available for sales assistants and AEsto specify things that are not in TIM, like make-good iinformation and new business incentiveand co op specifications. Spokane is a good office to start with, but I think that even Seattleneeds to implement this. It takes the paperwork and signature aspects out of the picture,and will have a higher level of audit capabilities than what we do now ideally, businesschecks and signatures do not belong on anyones desk but accounting.

Paperwork and Signatures : All signatures from sales managers, if needed on paper, wouldremain in sales' hands, and sales assistants would forward the order electronically uponapproval. If approval cannot be reached at the time, a notice can be added into Eclipsepreventing us from sending out schedules without a signature. (We can use the 'received'function in copy to mimic this idea, or come up with a way to alert ourselves before we runschedules.)

Dramatically alter the copy required and copy instruction process, both in logic and inpractice:

An XML-enabled spreadsheet based on a feed from Eclipse I only clicked once.

Clicking the details will reveal copy groups, headends, etc.

I have already begun a prototype graphical overlay of the copy required report which places all

expiration dates on a calendar . This means that for an AE or a sales office, there would be visualindicators of when a clients copy is set to expire, along with a detailed view below the calendar. Itwould look similar to our EclipseWeb inventory analysis, except that the number of sold and unsoldwould be replaced by a list of clients set to expire that day. By truncating the underlying table everyfew hours or every day, the copy required report would then update automatically into the overlay andthe notice would go away. It would also show gaps in instructions due to miscalculations (as in oneday missing between months). The benefit to this is that it gives AEs an easier way to anticipateissues related to instructing copy, and it gives them proof that the instructions were carried out. It willalso have a feed from what order lines are currently running, so that there is no question as towhether something was not received by email.


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Going green even if our clients arent

Faxed copy instructions from agencies would be scanned and attached as PDFs (or an IP-faxsystem would automatically route it to an internal queue.) These will be available for all to see. DG-related incoming copy would be on an automated feed (see the media tracking section for moredetails.) When the DG tape comes in, traffic either matches it up to existing instructions or theautomated notification that a DG tape is in please instruct will tell the AE to take action.

Customization to enhance quality and precision

Going further, the copy instruction logic should be altered to support this flexible solution after a purge of old copy groups into a DNU category which will sit off to the side, we can finallygive AEs the tools to specify copy in a more realistic (Boolean) manner. For this order onlywould be a clickable button; for the entire set of orders under this account, would be another option; the options here are endless, it all depends on how we want to arrange it. Perhaps wewill be able to transform the names of copy groups into something that makes more sense the standardization of copy groups going forward could mean that we name them according towhat they actually represent. In addition to generic, R027 could be instructed as MARINERSONLY, R030 could be instructed as ALL ORDERS BUT POLITICAL, so on and so forth. Weshould be able to use a more standardized naming convention to give inventory specialists thetools they need to export it correctly.

All orders where the copy group was uncertain will go in as R099 , which will be anUNMATCHED category that will alert and will not place until someone changes it toanother copy group. A separate R099 report on the front page will give the supervisor and traffic the ability to make sure not only are instructions being implemented, butthat theyre covering all incoming orders. This eliminates the situation where inventoryspecialists must import 7 new orders under 7 new copy groups because TIM does notupdate R099 will exist for every customer and will be a special flag for us.

Verification would be run at the same intervals as today, but also represented in an XML-based table and chart which would refresh daily. It would give a DMAI-wide analysis of dollar

amounts and numbers of spots verified/unverified, and an advanced report can be run for management and inventory specialists on percentages of failure due to daypart, due totechnical, due to oversell, and then that updated space would automatically notify thoseinterested. Anything we want to see, it will display, in a way that is automated and graphical.

The second aspect to the verification panel is that it will list unverified spots bynumerical count per week, and will turn a color when it is the last week for those linesto be made good. (This can be done by setting a SQL command to update a certainflag based on the parameters of the order.) This allows traffic, the sales team, andmanagement to watch the money more easily. I even recommend eventually changingverification to be based on different levels of importance and flexibility part of thePlan B system which I will explain separately.

For traffics internal usage, the verification section will have information related to

make good parameters, a place to store the rules i.e. 15 minutes over is okay, donot force match, etc. Any update to this panel would be automatically sent in an emailor updated on a page. This allows us to be more flexible in scheduling our prioritiesand to keep up with people who are absent or unavailable everything is auditableand online. When someone is unexpectedly ill, we simply have to into the detailswithin the wiki and do the verification process according to the instructions alreadythere.

Documentation would become a working document, using wiki referencing concepts everything would be cross-referenced and complete in its depth of coverage. This portion hasalready begun with the Q1 copy instruction project not only do we have a help document,but screen shots and supporting terminology all able to be searched like it was on Google.


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Media tracking would be made significantly easier: the DG part I already mentioned is veryeasily implementable, the emails they send can either be sent in a feed or can be convertedinto one, and refreshed on a central page every so often. There are only three places that aphysical tape will reside: the front desk, the encoding department, and the salesperson (butonly after its been encoded.) Traffic has the option to grab the tapes to expedite the process,but they will only step in when necessary for scheduling last minute copy.

A live spreadsheet with automatic notifications will be the tracking tool. An incoming tape

from downstairs will be entered by Deanna with only the client name and timestamp if shewants to add the titles, she can, if its too complex, she can just leave it at the client name.This prompts encoding to pick up the tapes and encode them first for non-priority tapes (suchas a week out or further) when traffic is notified of the tape, they simply add a spot ID andthen fill in the title based on what was encoded. The spreadsheet will track who owns whatand matches it up with the client by using join statements in SQL that are automatically kickedoff. Production will also use a similar tool in the same panel to announce when their spotshave been approved.

I also have further suggestions on collaborative solutions to documentation, project planning,work loads and end-of-month rushes, as well as a proposed political module that will beaccessible by all involved departments.

Suggested deployment time frame April 14 : Demonstration of a full traffic prototype wiki to Julie, Tabatha and

interested management. 4/14 end of calendar April (proposed) an anticipated approval to move

documentation, F: drive and basic reporting within the next 2-3 weeks to atraffic-only wiki system specific requirements will be approved by Julie andTab

May discussions finalizing a platform, involving IT with system requirements,and the first stages of connectivity with sales assistants and other departments

By June 1 , traffic will have a complete system, with plans in place for other departments.

If successful in traffic, add additional departments (I feel everyone will want toparticipate) approximately 2 per month. Political season would have a featurerich, highly-customized portal.

Q3 and Q4 possibilities:

Cablepalooza -focused content Project management related to office relocation SSL authentication from remote logins (field salespeople would be a particular

beneficiary) a costumer-interfacing section which will allow salespeople to present custom

mashup presentations directly to customers Sooner or later: A traffic portal with other traffic departments in our region,

where online meetings and collaboration will result in learning best practicesacross several parts of the country. Connectivity to a national Comcastsolution will always be on our mind these products are all compatible withopen standards and will fit into a SharePoint solution without any major issues.


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There are dozens of solutions not mentioned here and there will be dozensmore as more departments get involved. It has been said that a wiki makes dotting your I's and crossing your T's addictive and fun.

How to reach our goals An operations department that is at the center of the process a role may need to be

created which acts as the helicopter captain in the sky overseeing the traffic not only withintraffic itself but between other departments. This role could put someone in charge of makingsure training is carried out, documentation is being created or already created, newsalespeople are given a single point of contact for working through our process, and would beresponsible for ensuring that documentation is complete and content is updated on the site.

Flexible response from management and a motivation to innovate these solutions are inline with reality and scale from virtually no departmental involvement to a comprehensivesitewide investment. Costs are minimal even with every employee given a login andpassword (ranging from $0 for an open-source solution and no backend support to $500-

$1,500 per year for the entire headcount to be covered in software licensing.)

Screenshots (Where are they?)I chose to forgo screenshots primarly because the concept is entirely interactive the only'screenshot' that makes sense is one that you can click on and edit yourself. Instead I'll include thetemporary logo I have been using:

A fully-usable mockup will be available by April 14.

Please contact me if you have any questions.Matthew RutledgeSeattle Operations/Traffic

Documents

Best Practices Proposal 040908