Last week, I bought an iPad for my wife and spent most of the day “setting it up for her”. It came ready to use, which meant, despite a full calendar or appointments and tasks, I spent the rest of the day playing with it and testing its capabilities…I have to say that I love it!!! 

Now I recognize I’m late to the iWhatever game, and by that I mean I haven’t personally owned an iPod or iPhone, so this new found fascination might be “old news” for some out there. What impressed me the most about the iPad was Apple’s accomplishment in making a complex technology straightforward for the end user. From the moment you take it out of the box and turn it on, you realize that you are holding something that has a lot of power and functionality but it was so simple to access.  The iPad gives you the ability to do so much without even opening up a user guide. Need to take notes during a conference…there is a built in notepad with a handy keyboard; want to quietly read the paper at a coffee shop…you can do so with ease and without the hassle of flimsy pages; you-tube videos (or any video) – you can watch easily and clearly on the big screen; need to make changes to the presentation that was just emailed to you – you can do it without logging on to a computer. Apple was able to take many different features and literally put them right at your fingertips, giving me and any other iPad user a simple power that is hard to describe. 

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I was having a conversation with some of the team the other day talking about the keys to a successful implementation.  Things had been going smoothly so we wanted to capture what had been going “right”.  People were suggesting things like “active, engaged business sponsor” and “supportive, engaged technical staff” as well as a number of others.

The conversation went on around the group and a lot of good points and ideas were suggested.  The conversation came around to me and the question was asked – “what do you think is the key to a successful implementation?”.  I thought for a minute and said simply “communication”

Let me elaborate (just like the rest of group asked me to do) – all aspects of any implementation require successful collaboration, coordination and execution.  This requires communication.  Whether we are defining requirements, planning the deployment or implementing a configuration, communication is the key.  If subject matter experts do not clearly communicate their requirements, if IT resources do not clearly communicate the details of their technical environment, if project mangers do not clearly communicate plans, expectations, activities etc…. well, you can see where I would say communication is key.

I am not suggesting that all the other ideas put forward were not valid or insightful, just for me it boils down to communication.  As long as open, honest, two-way communication is happening and happening consistently, I believe every implementation will be successful.

At a recent neighborhood get together, I was asked the typical question, “What do you do for a living?” For once, I paused before spitting out my typical “I’m in software” answer. I did not respond with a summary of the tasks I perform, but instead with the impact that work has. I responded, with total conviction, “I ensure people get fed and have beds to sleep in.” Instead of glazed over indifference, I got an engaged reply, “tell me more”. So, I did.
There is a county government agency in the East providing aid to families. They have an ongoing caseload of over 48,000 cases, which must be maintained and reviewed multiple times per year. In addition, the agency receives new applications for assistance daily. Needy individuals and families desperately need prompt service delivery. But they can’t get what the need. Committed Social Service workers desperately want to deliver service. But they can’t do what they want. They have a complex problem

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I was talking to Phil, a former colleague of mine, last week and he was expressing his frustration over trying to build a contracts management software application on top of SharePoint. (Lucky me, just in time for a blog entry.) The way he told the story was hilarious, one of those Dilbert-type experiences that makes for a good laugh for anyone who has worked in an office for more than a week.

But underneath the laughter was a good amount of despair and Phil was feeling his position might be on the line. Most of his issues were around people not knowing what they really wanted the application to do and a failure on everyone’s part to understand the content management solution’s strengths and weaknesses.

No one really owned the process from the business side but lots of people had opinions – some very strong opinions and for very good reasons. Some were worried about the process of creating a new contract, some about missing legal obligations, some deeply concerned about risk mitigation, version control and compliance. These issues had been brewing through several corporate near-misses and one outright crisis that I won’t document here. One of the executives demanded the problems around contract creation and management be solved once and for all.

A manager had the idea of using SharePoint since they had it “lying around” and gave that idea to my friend and expected him to work some magic. Everyone on the team seemed to believe this was a viable option and faster than trying to buy a product or design a custom solution. After all, there was business pain that had to be fixed fast.

Weeks of research and many months of design iterations later and they were no closer to consensus, much less a working application.

After listening to this for a few minutes, I couldn’t help but chime in. The issue comes down to not having a complete understanding of the problem to be solved and the supporting belief that throwing technology at a process will automatically improve it. The solution hinged on people being able to effectively collaborate on a process with quite a few steps and the problem was different based on the role of the person looking at it. The initial creator of the document had one mission. The next person who had to validate information and sign off had a different goal. And so on, and so on, from start to finish. A big issue was that the workflow wasn’t static, there were many possible variations and exceptions based on a whole host of conditions.

The entire team was deeply concerned about creating reminders and escalations since a big part of the problem they were trying to solve involved issues falling through the cracks. Many attempts to diagram and customize the process had not resulted in a workable solution.

Finally, after several frustrating months and many arguments, he called me looking for some advice. The whitepaper we posted here, is our attempt to help Phil and others like him, get business value from their enterprise content management platforms. We decided to share with all of you with the hopes it spares you from Phil’s long hours and frustrations.

Today, this story was in the Washington Post. My gut tells me this is not an isolated case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/19/AR2009021902964.html?hpid=sec-metro

It tells the story of how the Montgomery County Health and Human Services (HHS) office could not account for grant money and did not verify invoices and payment.
You would think with today’s advances in systems, missing money in public institutions should be very difficult. Or, perhaps those systems have not maintained the pace of change.

The stress and search for cash has hit every organization and individual in this economy. When you apply that type of pressure, surely cracks will develop. The Madoff and Stanford Financial scandals are perfect examples. Now, we have billions flowing from the government for enhancing programs just like this. The need for strong audit and controls are critical.

I have a simple hope. As the stimulus money flows, we need to invest in appropriate tracking and management to go with it. Prodagio has been working with some of the largest and best run counties in the nation on social services management and systems. Luckily, they are ahead of the game as they have already made the investments to secure the integrity of their programs. They have invested in improved social service systems to reduce administration cost, but also to minimize fraud, maintain separation of duties and provide better audit trails. The result is more money going to those who need it.

The Roadmap to Streamlining Accounts Payable

RSVP required.

IKON and Prodagio Software have teamed with Goodman & Associates in sponsorship of this free workshop. Nat Goodman CPA, APM, MBA and President of Goodman & Associates will lead this information-packed morning session which will earn three (3) CPE hours. He will outline a step-by-step methodology which will enable the financial manager to assess their disbursement performance in an effort to drive process improvement.

The workshop will concentrate on:
• Employing benchmarks and metrics to assess your AP process
• Balancing your scorecard
• Examining performance gaps
• Recognizing accounting & organizational disparities (Pitfalls)
• Focusing on what drives AP productivity and quality
• Identifying e-solutions
• Prioritizing process improvements
• Selecting vendors

Workshop Leader

Nat Goodman is credited with significant consulting accomplishments on five continents. Nat served as the corporate comptroller for Sears Roebuck de Mexico and the controller for Hartmarx Specialty Stores. He was manager of various individual shared-service functions including AP, payroll, general ledger, credit cards, etc.

He is the author of the International Accounts Payable professionals’ 200 Page CAPP Certification Manual and the 100 Page Accounts Payable Manual for Associates, which are the basis for their respective certification exams. Additionally, Nat was managing editor of the IAPP Newsletter. Nat is now concentrating on payables/procurement in the form of speaking engagements, seminars, writing and consulting. He co-authored IOMA’s 300+ page Complete Guide to Accounts Payable Best Practices along with their recently issued AP Shared Service Benchmarking and Analysis research report. In 2009, his Complete Guide to AP Fraud and Internal Control will be published.

Agenda
8:15-8:45 Continental Breakfast
8:45-9:00 Introduction
9:00-10:00 Workshop
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:45 Workshop continues
11:45-12:30 Paradatec/Kodak presentation
12:30 -1:30 Lunch
1:30- 2:30 Prodagio Solutions ( AP workflow tool)

One lucky attendee will win a Dell Mini Note 9 netbook computer.

Space is limited, RSVP today at Prodagio Live Events.