Why Your Team Should Invest Time in Workflow Documentation

When the global pandemic hit in 2020, there was a messy but necessary shift to remote work. How did companies handle the transitions with their employees on top of a stressful pandemic going on? It’s the same way a successful business would handle an employee on medical/extended leave or when businesses scale and a group of new hires need to get up to speed with current operations – workflow documentation. It doesn’t just ensure your organization doesn’t fall apart in a crisis, but it helps it thrive in good times and bad. Amy Rigby from Trello writes an informative article on why your team should invest time in workflow documentation.

Why is workflow documentation important for your business? Rigby breaks it down to 6 simple reasons:

  1. It Helps Optimize Processes
  2. It Ensures Accountability
  3. It takes The Confusion Out Of Employee Onboarding
  4. It Eases Merger Or Acquisition Transitions
  5. It Helps Scale Your Business
  6. It Safeguards Organizational Knowledge

These are solid reasons for documenting your workflows. Once understood, the real work begins. Rigby shares 4 easy steps to take:

Step 1: Define Desired Outcomes
“Once you’ve defined your team’s desired outcomes, you have a better idea of the workflows that need to be documented, and you’re ready for step two.”

Step 2: Carry Out And Capture Every Step Of Your Current Workflows
“Documenting the why behind a workflow is crucial. It helps with adoption and getting the buy-in from your team members.”

Step 3: Analyze Ways To Streamline And Automate
“In this step, analyze your workflow for opportunities to streamline and automate. The more you automate your workflow, the more time and energy you give back to your team so they can do more meaningful work.”

Step 4: Continue To Test And Refine
“Workflow documentation can and should change as your business grows and you better optimize your processes. With each new piece of feedback, you might decide to change a piece of your workflow. You might even experiment with different methods of documentation to achieve the best experience for your team.”

Workflow documentation does require a great deal of effort to run smoothly. But, as Rigby concludes, it makes for a more cohesive and productive team where everyone is always on the same page.

 

Original Post by Amy Rigby from Trello

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How To Choose A Managed Service Provider For Healthcare

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Managed services are now one of the fastest growing sectors of the enterprise technology landscape. Many companies now turn to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for help. MSPs have economies of scale on their side, allowing them to charge for basic IT services less and offer a wider range of expertise. Sources: 2, 9

 

In order to keep pace, optimize system performance and improve patient care, healthcare providers are increasingly working with MSPs. As managed IT services offer the right mix of security, scalability, reliability and flexibility needed to transform IT, healthcare organizations under pressure to maintain their own IT services on tight budgets are increasingly looking to these MSPs to manage some of their IT operations. Many healthcare providers take a “managed IT service” approach and work actively with these service providers. Sources: 7

 

If you do not have an IT department to manage your own technology, you can still benefit from hiring a (MSP). Whether you have your own IT department or not, companies are finding that they can save time and money and increase efficiency and effectiveness by signing contracts with an MSP to strengthen their existing IT staff.

 

Your business is special, your goals are important, your needs are important, and your MSP should treat you with the respect that your business deserves.  You should never feel like you’re just another number in a new customer book of IT managed services providers.

 

Once you have interviewed a managed service provider, you should consider whether it offers traditional managed services or next-generation managed services. This is especially true for managed service providers who end up with complete administrative access to your entire network. The offerings will vary, but with next-generation database managed services providers, you can place greater emphasis on accessing strategic partners who can help you accompany your data journey, taking into account the mentality that traditional database management service providers offer. Sources: 5, 10

 

Your MSP is your IT protector, intermediary and Sherpa, grouped into an IT service provider that supports your business to the extent that suits your specific needs. Your MSP gives you access to remote support staff, infrastructure management, health monitoring, scheduled on or off-site support.

 

Here are some tips and advice for the information age to help IT executives choose a managed service provider and get the best out of them. It feels as if the term “managed service provider” (MSP) has existed since the dawn of computer technology. In short, a managed service provider is a company that outsources or manages parts of an organization to its platform. Sources: 1

MSPs are growing in popularity: according to the 2017 IDC Application Services Survey, 30% of managers outsource the management of their organizations “infrastructure and application portfolios, rising to 41% in the next five years. Sources: 1

Database-managed service providers, also known as MSPs, manage the technical infrastructure, databases and systems of customers. The services offered by an MSP include managed infrastructure, data and cybersecurity. As technology changes, database management service providers must have a wide range of resources at their disposal to develop their services and software to provide their customers with the best possible service. Sources: 10

 

In response, US hospitals may consider using services from an MSP as an MSP can help your institution recruit experienced clinical talent, simplify your work process and get an invoice from one contact. Many will present you with a list of services they can offer you at a price. Sources: 3, 6

 

Choosing the right MSP is not as simple as comparing the list of services they provide and going with the provider with the lowest cost. Gain an understanding of the MSPs of your organizations by evaluating your IT environment. Your MSP is more likely to see you as a partner, and your success will depend in part on you. Sources: 0, 6

 

A potential MSPs scope of business may not be as laser-focused as a top-tier MSP, and they may not deliver the focused attention and dedication your business deserves. An effective managed service provider is one that explores more information about your business, your needs, your challenges and your goals. An MSP needs to know who you are and where you want to go, from monitoring your technology to expanding your business. Sources: 0

 

Cited Sources

Arena Blossoms with Infor

Arena Flowers, a leading UK flower distribution service, has chosen Infor CloudSuite Distribution and multi-tenant cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS),to help quickly and seamlessly scale the business in line with seasonal peaks in demand. During busy holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, Arena Flowers can receive as many as a thousand orders within an hour through its systems. Per the press release, they were looking for a a solution that could cope with this level of complexity and shifting seasonal demands, maintaining the customer service excellence that the business is known for while delivering cost and efficiency savings across its operations. Infor CloudSuite Distribution will do just that. Implemented by Infor partner Harpyja Limited, the team is working both remotely and on site with Arena’s senior management and operations teams and was chosen to provide a consistently positive customer experience, optimizing processes to fulfil orders quickly and effectively, even during the busiest periods. Further, the solution’s cloud-based platform replaces an in-house developed system and will help result in a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for Arena Flowers alongside the benefit of always having an up-to-date solution.

 

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Troubleshooting WebSphere Plug-ins GSK Error – Part 1

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When attempting to access Lawson applications hosted in WebSphere, you may encounter a 500 service error that gives very little details. If there are no exceptions in any of the LAWDIR/system or WAS systemout.log, go you should also check the http_plugin.log in WAS/plugins/logs/<web_server>. If you discover GSK error message, this indicates that there is something wrong with your certificates or IBM security.

The error message will typically look like this:

[Thu Apr 01 09:47:45 2021] 00002574 000025a8 – ERROR: lib_stream: openStream: Failed in r_gsk_secure_soc_init: GSK_ERROR_BAD_CERT(gsk rc = 414) PARTNER CERTIFICATE DN=CN=test.company.com,OU=certs,O=company,L=anywhere,ST=California,C=US, Serial=2d:7b:d0:29:00:08:00:00:5e:22

[Thu Apr 01 09:47:45 2021] 00002574 000025a8 – ERROR: ws_common: websphereGetStream: Could not open stream

[Thu Apr 01 09:47:45 2021] 00002574 000025a8 – ERROR: lib_stream: openStream: Failed in r_gsk_secure_soc_init: GSK_ERROR_BAD_CERT(gsk rc = 414) PARTNER CERTIFICATE DN=CN=test.company.com,OU=certs,O=company,L=anywhere,ST=California,C=US, Serial=2d:7b:d0:29:00:08:00:00:5e:22

This can mean that the web server certificate is expired or invalid or not matching the certificate on the trust or key stores. Another thing to try is to set “AutoSecurity=false” on the Web Server plug-in custom properties.

To do this, go to Web Servers > <web server> > Plug-in Properties > Custom properties. Create a new property. The Name is AutoSecurity and the value is “false”. Save the configuration, then generate and propagate the plugins. Make sure that the plugins xml file has the new “AutoSecurity” setting in it. Bounce the WWW Publishing services for the change to take effect and test your application again.

 

Three Reasons For Your Business To Consider A CRM With Invoicing

Software as a Service (SaaS) trends are changing everyday, with customer relationship management (CRM) one of the busiest offerings out there. As more and more businesses embrace CRM systems, a lot more features are constantly offered to supplement. But do you need to add so many bells and whistles to your CRM system? Maybe not all, but there is one feature you may benefit – invoicing. Forbes Councils Member Dimitri Akhrin shares an article highlighting three reasons for your business to consider having a CRM with invoicing available to greatly benefit from your system.  They are:
  1. Data In One Place. “One of the main reasons why CRMs exist is to help you consolidate data. Your leads, their contact information, their history with your company, key people in the company, interests — these all belong in one place, and this consolidation makes the sales job even easier. Once you strike a deal, be sure to immediately send an invoice from the CRM so that you don’t have to chase them through emails or some other communication method.”
  2. Revenue Analytics. “If you send invoices and get payments through your CRM, you can immediately know how many of your sales in the pipeline pay and how many of them fall through the cracks. This way, you’ll have a clear overview of which channels bring in the most conversions. Moreover, you’ll know if any invoices are outstanding and which customers aren’t paying up.”
  3. Time Savings. “As you probably know, before prospects become leads, they don’t get invoices — they get quotes. Consider a CRM that gives you the option of turning a quote into an invoice with one click. Moreover, keep in mind that you’ll be able to apply any special offers or discounts immediately from the CRM. If you have international customers, this part of the app will take care of different currencies and conversions, so you don’t have to worry about anything but selling.”

 

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Atlanta Public Schools Selects Infor

Atlanta Public Schools has chosen to upgrade its current single-tenant system to Infor CloudSuite™ Public Sector. Being one the largest school districts in Georgia, with the help of  Infor’s cloud-based solutions, the district will have the ability to apply automated workflows and role-based security to strengthen access to sensitive data. It will also allow its stakeholders to access data anytime, anywhere quickly and securely with Infor Go®, a native mobile application that provides a centralized access-point for Infor and proprietary apps with single sign-on (SSO). Per the press release, with Infor CloudSuite Public Sector, Atlanta Public Schools will help ensure that critical business functions continue to run smoothly and securely, while expanding cloud-based learning and performance management to deliver better and safer student and teacher experiences.

 

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LSFCT Update RUNUSERKEY error

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The LSFCT 10.0.11.x update seems to have a small bug in it where it is not updating the RUNUSERKEY value appropriately. The symptoms of this issue are, after the LSFCT update, run a batch job and the job goes into recovery with the message “Unable to log on RUNUSERKEY Account.”

To resolve this issue, go to LAWDIR/system and edit the lajs.cfg file. Make sure that there is a space or a tab between “BATCH” and the new parameter “MAXRUNTIME”. If not, add the space or tab. Restart Lawson and try to recover the batch job.

LIM Group Selects Infor to Drive Digital Transformation

LIM Group (Leather in Motion) has chosen its Infor CloudSuite, an ERP system designed for manufacturers, distributors and rental companies. Per the press release, since the merger of CWD and Devoucoux in 2013, LIM Group was founded and has since designed, manufactured and distributed high-quality saddles for, among others, about a hundred of the world’s top 250 riders. Labelled as a “Living Heritage Company,” the brands of the LIM Group are recognized for their exceptional know-how, as well as on the mastery of all functions from design to distribution, including manufacturing. Infor M3, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution on which Infor’s CloudSuite is based, will manage production, and the rental and distribution of LIM group saddles, as well as the associated service and maintenance activities. Additionally, as the saddler has many in-house software solutions that are maintained in-house, it wanted to streamline and integrate all of these applications, which a solution like M3 allows via the creation of application programming interfaces (APIs). Further, the Infor solution will include Infor Factory Track, a complete production automation solution that supports warehouse mobility and traceability, while providing tools for activity and time tracking. The deployment is planned to go live in July 2022 in a on-premises environment and will initially be aimed at the production and administration functions for around 100 users in Europe. It will then be extended at the end of 2022 to the United States for around 50 additional employees.

 

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What to do if your MSCM install values are incorrect

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When you are doing an MSCM install or update, and you “fat finger” one of the values in the wizard, it can be a real headache. In this example below, the installer defined the wrong port for the WAS connection information. The install wizard threw a java exception during the install. The install.log file indicated an issue connecting to WAS, which led to the wsadmin.traceout file, which showed the culprit as the invalid port.

To rectify this issue, you may need to update the value in two places. The first place you will definitely need to fix the value is in the install.cfg file. This is located at C:/lawson/mscm/<instance name>. The only thing you aren’t going to be able to change here is encrypted passwords. If you have mistyped a password, you will need to uninstall or revert to a backup.

The other place you may need to update the value is in the MSCM properties files. Check for the value in mscm.filter.properties, mscm.ios.peroperties, or mscm.lhc.properties and fix it there.

Now, restart your install and you should be golden!

Seven changes to a CRM for business that drive customer growth

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a major player to running and growing a successful business, big and small. The customer is put at the heart of everything – from product creation to marketing – based on their needs. When looking for the best CRM software, one of the key factors to be aware of is growth. How will you use a valuable tool like CRM to grow your business? TechRadar’s Paul Maplesden shares an interesting article highlighting the following seven changes to a CRM that will help grow your business. For an in depth look at all seven, click the link below to the original article.

  1. Create a CRM baseline for your current customers and sales processes
  2. Understand the CRM areas that lead directly to customer and business growth
  3. Prioritize small business improvements to increase customer awareness, understanding, and revenue
  4. Use CRM to build trusted communications with your customers
  5. Focus on strong informational and educational content for customers
  6. Optimize and split-test your business CRM sales process
  7. Measure and optimize your CRM changes as part of continual improvement

 

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