“Collaboration” is one of the newer buzzwords to make its way into the businesspersons’ vocabulary. Social media — a hot buzzphrase itself — like to emphasize the fact that they’re designed to enhance collaborative activity. One company (not ours) goes so far as to claim its collaborative software “can accelerate team productivity, improve interactions, and support innovation“.

“I call that bold talk…“
True Grit (1969)

What Does It Actually Mean to Collaborate?

Collaborate means “work together to accomplish a goal”; the word comes from Latin, “work with”. Collaboration implies that two or more people are working as equals (or close to it) to make something, to solve a problem, etc. John Lennon and Paul McCartney collaborated on much of the Beatles’ early work, for example.

What does it mean to collaborate within your organization? Do employees cross boundaries all the time, or do they stay in their comfortable little silos? As a leader/manager, you may think it’s not possible to collaborate with employees. You might picture yourself “up here” and your employees as “down there” — you might feel if your employees get the notion they’re your equals, you won’t have control of the organization.

I say you’ll never see true collaboration if you have that mindset. Your employees may be able to collaborate without you, but you not collaborating with them? Do you discourage independent thought, or the sharing of ideas? Do you not want your employees to grow? If so, you’re in more trouble than you know.

Why Do We Collaborate?

We’re essentially social beings. Some of us think we work well independently. While that may be true at times, over the long road of life we need others to help us accomplish tasks and achieve goals. We need input from other sources, whether it’s measuring devices or people, to assure ourselves that we’re doing the right thing in the right way, or at least headed in the right direction.

Collaboration can help ensure and improve quality. There’s this old saying that ”too many cooks spoil the broth”, but that’s only true when the cooks are working at cross-purposes, each trying to stake their claim as the best cook. That’s obviously not collaboration.

Collaboration comes about through a shared vision, shared priorities, and shared objectives. We get things done when we work together, don’t we?

“No man is an island, entire of itself.“
John Donne, poet (1572-1631)

Who Should Collaborate?

Collaboration should not be confined to your company. You can’t afford to keep it to yourself. Successful firms collaborate with everyone — their employees, their vendors, their customers. Every time you interact with someone, that’s an opportunity for collaboration, right? So, the answer is ”everyone”.

When Should You Collaborate?

As important as it is to collaborate — as much as it helps you and others accomplish — it can’t possibly be a “24/7″ activity. We all need time alone to think, review, contemplate, and decide. And there are, of course, those personal needs and interests that make us complete and help us collaborate much better.

For instance, if my Bizmanualz colleagues and I are together the entire workday, reading the same material, eating our lunches together every day, even spending every break period together, we wouldn’t get the cross-fertilization of ideas that we would if we occasionally spent time tending to our own interests. Another way to put it: When you spend a week or two on holiday with your family, aren’t you just a little sick of one another toward the end? Don’t you need a little time apart?

How Do You Ensure That Your Employees Continue Collaborating?

Collaboration cannot be a one-time event. Treat collaboration like any business process. You can model it on the Deming (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, for example. Of course, I’m not suggesting you write a collaboration procedure — you really can’t. Some of the best collaboration comes about spontaneously, after all. You wouldn’t want to restrict the collaborative process by saying, “It has to be done this way“.

Instead, you should write up guidelines for sparking or encouraging collaboration so your employees will recognize — and be prepared to take advantage of — problems or opportunities that are solved best through collaboration. You need to make it part of your company culture. While they’re working together, people should be inclined to take note of what works and what doesn’t, so they can add to the collective knowledge and continually improve the process of collaboration.

To get your employees to collaborate…

• Provide the right atmosphere;
• Provide a common vision and sense of purpose;
• Provide your employees with the means and the time to collaborate freely;
• Don’t do anything that would restrict collaboration or encourage “siloing”;
• Open up as many avenues for collaboration as possible, including software; and
• Lead by example.

Other Resources

• Sampson, Michael, “The Right Way to Get Employees to Collaborate”, Information Week, 9 May 2011
• Anderson, Chris, “Why Should You Publish Your Policies and Procedures Online?”, 3 Jan 2011
• Burrier, Dan, “Create Better, Collaborate Better“, Harvard Business Review (online), 25 May 2011

During the “beta test” phase of developing our OnPolicy™ document management software, our beta testers have been coming up with great questions, some of which we thought we’d share with you in advance of our formal launch. For example:

1. What document formats are supported by OnPolicy™?

The OpenSource code behind OnPolicy will support many common document formats, such as:

• Microsoft Word (“.doc”, “.docx”);
• MS-Excel (“.xls”, “.xlsx”);
• Adobe Reader (“.pdf”); and
• Some limited-format and unformatted file types (“.rtf”, “.txt”).

2. Why are all of our documents converted to “.pdf” files?

In OnPolicy™, released documents are converted from their native formats to “.pdf” to lessen the likelihood that document “Readers” — personnel assigned read-only access to documents — can modify your documents.

3. Where are our documents stored?

All documents are stored in a “SAS 70 Type II Certified” data center, which is also one of the largest colocation facilities in the central United States.

4. How do we know we’re the only ones who have access to our company’s documents?

We’re using all available means to reasonably secure your data, including:

• Dedicated servers;
• Encryption;
• Firewalls;
• Periodic backups; and
• Password protection.

5. Can I set different access levels for different users?

OnPolicy™ Administrators can create users and assign them roles (e.g., Reader, Editor). Roles define responsibilities and accessibility of documentation and features.

6. Can documents be deleted?

• You can upload, download, and delete documents from your account at any time. Your documents are also backed up regularly.  But, as per document control, released documents can only be deleted after their retention date.

7. Can documents be recovered?

• Deleted documents are retrievable for an agreed-on period of time for as long as your OnPolicy™ account remains active.
• Note that recovery time depends, in part, on the number and size of files to be recovered.

If you have other questions about OnPolicy™ software-as-a-service document management, please:

• Visit our OnPolicy™ website, http://www.onpolicy.com;
• Call us (314-863-5079);
• Send us an email; or
• Visit the Bizmanualz web site, http://www.bizmanualz.com.

We’re happy to be of service.

Information technology is changing the way business operates and increasing the need for consistent computer usage, security, and clear policies. Establishing policies and procedures for Information Technology (IT) management issues like:

• Information security;
• Computer usage;
• Network management; and
• IT policy

is now easier than ever using MS-Word templates available in the Computer and Network Policies, Procedures and Forms manual.  The IT manual enables business owners, IT managers, and IT departments to use customizable prewritten documents to protect and control their IT assets.

Easy IT Standards Compliance

Today’s business owners, Chief Information Officers (CIO), Chief Operating Officers (COO) and business leaders are required to comply with various federal regulations and international IT standards (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley, COBIT, ITIL, ISO 27000, ISO 20000). To meet these regulations, companies must demonstrate adequate internal controls of business records, information security, and quality management through effective use of policies and procedures and/or associated document compliance management software.

Computers and IT are important parts of business operations, routinely storing and circulating volumes of information between various business processes.  Many business functions necessitate the use of computer systems and networks. Since businesses and computer systems are increasingly interconnected, the need for controls such as IT policy, information security and computer usage guidelines become equally important.

The “Computer & Network Policies, Procedures, and Forms” manual addresses critical IT management issues and is an invaluable resource for any IT manager or IT department.  It complements our highly successful Accounting Policies, Procedures, and Forms Manual and, when combined, both publications provide a complete compliance solution.

Facilitate IT Management

The Computer & Network (or the IT) Manual provides a framework upon which a company of any size can improve the capabilities of their current IT system, systematically forecast IT needs and budgets, facilitate IT asset management, and resolve IT security issues.

By addressing core IT management issues, this manual helps many small and medium size companies that don’t have an experienced CIO leading the way to formulate best practices and optimal standards to establish a formal IT policy. This is the first publication to identify and provide the guidance and the tools for business leaders to accurately and efficiently determine the hardware, software, training, and security requirements of the organization.

Easy MS-Word Customization

The Computer and Network Policies, Procedures, and Forms Manual discusses strategic IT management issues including IT security, control of computer and network assets, and includes a section on creating your own information systems manual along with a computer and IT security policy guide.  Since all this content is available in editable MS-Word files, you can easily edit and customize the manual to create your own IT policy and corresponding procedures.  View a free sample from the manual today.

We would like to thank those of you who participated in our initial round of testing Bizmanualz On-Line.

Bizmanualz OnPolicy is a software service in which quality professionals, departments heads and managers can review, approve and release controlled documentation as required by ISO and other compliance standards.

Recently Bizmanualz issued free trial and test instances of the Editor module. On Monday, August 16^th, Bizmanualz will release the Bizmanualz OnPolicy Reader module, a companion web site which automatically displays and organizes all documents released by the Editor module.

Starting Monday, log-in will occur through the Reader module. If you are currently testing the software, you will receive an email with your new link. Your old deep-link will still get you into the editor module. After Monday, we recommend that all users log in using the new link and discard their old link.

Within the reader module, editors will be required to click on an “editor module” button to get into the work flow features that they are currently using. JAVA will load as it has been doing when entering the editor module. The reader module on the other hand does not require JAVA.

Additional Release notes:

A. Only released documents appear in the reader module.
To release documents, click on the editor button in the reader module and use the work flow features.
Test software comes loaded with sample procedures and user help files. Only help files are “released” and therefore appear in the reader module. Any documents released through the Editor module will show up in their respective folders.

B. All readers and editors must have a user name and password.
To create or edit user name and password: Go to the Admin > User tab in the editor module. Enter all the required information.  Select reader and/or editor privileges when you add a user.
Current users will not have to reset their user names or passwords.
Right now as we test the software, editors will have to supply their user name and password a second time to move from the reader module to the editor module. Only one-log-in will be required of editors in the next release.

C. Single point of entry
By having editors log in through the reader module, we are providing a single point for all users to log-in. Sending editors through the reader module will give them easy access to the same view that all employees see, providing editors with an easy way to see what has been released and to see exactly what non-editor (readers) see. We will provide short-cuts to help editors move between the modules in the next release.

D. Your account will NOT lose data as a result of this transition.

E. Unlimited number of users
For now, we have removed the cap on the number of users you may create.
Go to Admin > Users and click the ‘add’ button in the editor module. Add as many users as you want.
When we begin charging for the software, a large but not unlimited number of authenticated readers will be able to log on, even at the introductory price point.

F. Two user-help documents are affected. The log-in instructions have been updated to reflect the new log-in procedure via the reader module. Also, a new use-case has been added that shows basic operation of the reader module.

New reader module home screen.

G. System will be unavailable Aug 14-15th. You may not be able to log in during the transition while we make the changes described above. Most of the changes will occur over the weekend (August 14-15). Help files will be updated in all existing instances on Monday August 16, 2010. All service will be restored by Tuesday.

H. Response time has improved. As mentioned in a previous release note, we moved the test server you are using to an off-site SAS 70 Type II compliant location. Response time has been greatly improved. Please let us know how fast the server is working for you.

Thank you again for your assistance and feedback as we move this product to market.

We will contact all existing users after the transition for a walk-through and to gather your impressions of the software and the new reader module. Free accounts are issued so that we can gain your input. We reserve the right to cancel your access if we cannot get your feedback.

Pleaes let us know if you have questions or additional comments.

sales@bizmanualz.com

We are currently testing our new policies and procedures document compliance software, and plan to release it for customer testing in the near future. Potential testers have been asking a number of questions. Here are questions, and the answers:

Is your policy management software accessed as a service over the Internet (Software as a Service – SaaS) or must your policy solution be installed on your computers?

Bizmanualz policy management software is in fact a ‘software-as-a-Service’ available as a subscription over the Internet. The first time a user accesses the service, a small amount of code loads on the client machine in about 30 seconds, similar to when using GoToMeeting or any number of on-line services. The user never is required to install, launch or maintain any software.

Can we upload our existing documents into the system?

You can upload all your existing documents into the system, and open them, so long as your local machine has the software that was used to create the document. For example, MS WORD documents are can be uploaded. In fact, Bizmanualz publishes the world’s most complete set of pre-written policies and procedures, all in MS WORD format. Any policies and procedures template that you buy from us comes pre-loaded in the software. We keep the templates up to date; but we don’t change any documents that you save, upload or change, even if the document started as a Bizmanualz template.

Are documents easy to update?

Documents are edited in their native software on your local machine; they are saved to our server. Our system tracks and controls all document revisions so everyone accesses the latest version. It’s easy to roll back to a previous version if necessary.

Are employees or other users notified when a policy changes or is updated?

Notifications of policy changes are sent by e-mail to policy document authors and ‘followers.’  Administrators and document authors can assign ‘follower’ rights to any user for any document. Users can independently follow any document to which they have permission. Followers receive e-mail notifications of all policy changes. There are also announcement and action item screens within the policy management software that can be used to communicate information about documents.

Can multiple users access policies and procedures at the same time?

Yes, any number of users can access your policy and procedure documents. If two people work on the same document at the same time, their work will be saved (but not released) as two separate drafts. Built-in compliance workflow assures that only one draft can be released, so there are never multiple releases of the same policies and procedures document floating around.

How do you price your policy management software? Do you charge by the seat, or do you sell one license for the whole organization?

We charge per seat. Released policy and procedure documents are published to a web-based reader module which can be viewed by anyone you want. Typically, that would include all your employees and your auditors if you have a formal quality system.

We have an Intranet for reading our documents on-line. How does your software work with Intranets?

If you already have an intranet or a document publishing platform (SharePoint for example) and want to keep using it, our editor module can ftp documents to your existing publishing platform so that user’s viewing habits don’t have to change. But your editors and document managers would benefit from using our editor module for policy and procedure document control, workflow, version control, notifications, etc. while your general employee population would continue to read documents as they’re doing now.

Can I assign different levels of access to users and documents?

We offer a full access control at the document, user and department level. That is, all users assigned to, for example, the accounting department can be granted permission to all accounting procedures with a global command. Additional restrictions can be placed on individuals within a department. Access privileges can also be set at the document level.

Is your policy management software compliant with my quality management or document control requirements?

Yes, the Bizmanualz policy management software is consistent with the document control requirements of all ISO quality management systems, government and industry standards and regulations.