IT meer inrichten op consumenten belang

Wat is Verconsumentering?

IT-begrippen kort en helder uitgelegd: wat is "de verconsumentering of consumerisatie van IT"?

“Consumerisatie” is in de eerste plaats een bijzonder lelijk anglicisme: een platte vertaling van het Amerikaans-Engelse “consumerization”. In overleg met de taaladviesdienst van het genootschap Onze Taal hebben we besloten dat “verconsumentering” waarschijnlijk een waardiger vertaling zou zijn (spreek uw voorkeur vooral uit in de reacties), maar dit terzijde – op dit moment wordt “consumerisatie” door Google met ruime voorsprong als meest gebruikte term opgegeven, dus ten bate van de herkenbaarheid hanteren we dit begrip in onze titel.

Maken van een goede presentatie

http://bbpmedia.adobeconnect.com/p63481184/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Bedrijfsefficiëntie: ondernemingen met ict-kennis

Voor bedrijven die zich op groei richten moet elke euro die geïnvesteerd wordt een meervoudig rendement opleveren. Een moeilijke opgave voor de overgrote meerderheid van middelgrote ondernemingen, die gemiddeld zo'n 70 tot 80 procent van het ict-budget aan het in de lucht houden van de ict-infrastructuur besteden.

Colligo Contributor File Manager for SharePoint

Colligo Contributor File Manager for SharePoint:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xMeAoNjUbA

Colligo Contributor™ File Manager is an easy-to-deploy Microsoft^® Windows^®Explorer extension that increases SharePoint adoption by seamlessly linking folders on a users file system with SharePoint document libraries. Local folders become “SharePoint aware” – online or offline – so users can access advanced features such as metadata, content types, and document templates, while adding and editing files using familiar desktop operations. In addition to the Windows Explorer interface, SharePoint folders can be accessed from any application that uses the standard Windows File Open/Save dialog.

Zet gedachten om in Plaatjes - Presentatie

Sketches

Bouwen van een Bedrijfs APP

Hoe bouw je een zakelijke app?

Veel bedrijven willen een eigen app voor de populaire iPhone. Maar hoe pak je zoiets aan?

Een iPhone app met een verschrikkelijke gebruikservaring kan uitdraaien op een ramp voor de IT-manager. "Het is heel erg moeilijk om gebruikers tevreden te stellen", zegt Quinton Alsbury, mede-oprichter van ontwikkelaar Mellmo. "Als iets voor een gebruiker te lang duurt, bergt hij of zij de telefoon weer op in zijn jas- of broekzak.

Windows Desktop Search met UNC paden

Monday, June 7, 2010

Search network drives with Windows 7

Windows 7 does not support indexing network drives (incredible but true). However, there is a workaround: Download a patch called UNCFATPHInstaller.msi from:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&FamilyID=f7e981d9-5a3b-4872-a07e-220761e27283

Although the corresponding knowledge base article 'Windows Desktop Search: Add-in for Files on Microsoft Networks' states that the patch works only for Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows XP, it actually does work for Windows 7.

After installing and restarting your system you can add UNC paths:

Press Start button and type in 'Search' (don't press enter) select 'Change How Windows Searches' press the 'Advanced' button. You will see a 'Add UNC Location' tab where you can add the path to you network drive, e.g: \\Synology\public

Now the Auto Hotkey Macro should also work for files you move to your network drive ;-)

Productivity Tips - Tracking Numbers

Tracking Numbers
(In Personal Information Management)

For a good understanding of the Tracking Number concept I recommend to watch  the Tracking Number episode published on YouTube. Below you can also read the transcript of this episode.

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Transcript Tracking Numbers

[Start transcript]

Introduction

Welcome to the first episode of the productivity tips series.  Today I would like to tell you about tracking numbers in Personal Information Management. I have been using these marvels for many years, and they helped me a lot in my efforts to stay organized.  

Numbers are often used to track things and document and even people.  For instance: parcels have tracking numbers, invoices are often linked to order numbers and people have social security numbers. However, in a knowledge-workers environment the use of identifying numbers is not very common.  I use tracking numbers in an international R&D environment in communications with co-workers, internal customers and external partners.

In this episode I want to demonstrate the use of these tracking numbers. 

Example workflow

During the course of a project, like for instance writing a report for a customer, a lot of related documents are generated.  At the start you have correspondence with the customer about: the scope of the project, the quotation, the contracts, and the invoicing.  Before you can start writing you need to gather information by for instance: brainstorming, collecting literature, and discussion with specialists. When the draft report is finished you can have a review and approval cycle, generating again more documents. It is not always easy to retrieve all documents related to a project.  Especially if you have many project running in parallel.

Example: Related information generated during  a project

 I will demonstrate the use of document tracking numbers using the following short workflow: Write a draft report Email the report to reviewers to ask for their comments. Organize a meeting to discuss the comments. After the review cycle collect comments from: emails, Telephone notes, Meeting notes and hardcopies.  And finally, update the report.

Adding tracking numbers

The principle of using a tracking number in Personal Information Management is simple: add a unique number to all related documents. In this case we start by adding a number to the draft report. 

There are several ways of generating unique numbers. You can make them by just typing in a couple of random digits.  In another Episode I will show how a number can be generated and pasted by using a great program called auto hotkey.  But for now, I derive the number manually by putting together the year the month the day and the time. 

Now it starts getting more interesting.  When you send the report to the reviewers, you want to trace all returned comments and discussions. Therefore add the tracking number to the body of the email. My experience is that recipients do not notice this number, because it is meaningless for them, and nearly all will reply to the email, leaving in, the original body of the email, containing the tracking number. 

When you send out something you want response on, it is always good to set a reminder for yourself.   There are several ways of setting reminders and I use outlook-tasks for this.    To create a task, simply drag the email from the Sent Items folder to the tasks folder. An Outlook task will be automatically generated, with the title and contents of the email, of course, the tracking number.  An outlook-task is not only useful as a reminder for this unfinished work, but you can also use it to store notes related to this project, like actions you have taken and  notes made during  telephone calls.

Retrieving documents

After sowing tracking numbers, the time comes to harvest.  In this example the outlook task would remind me to start working on the report again.  When I set myself behind the desk, I quickly want to find: the report, the comments, the meeting minutes and the notes I made. 

To find back documents using a tracking number you need a Desktop Search Application.  The advantage of a desktop search application is that search results are returned in a few seconds no matter how many files you have stored on your computer.  If you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you won't even need any extra software because the functionality is already built in.  If you use Windows XP you can download free Desktop search applications like: “Microsoft Windows Search”, or “Google Desktop”.  Mac Users can try “Spotlight”. 

Left: Tracking number in email Right: Related documents found with Windows Desktop Search.

In this example I entered the tracking number in Windows Desktop Search. If you have correctly, configured your search application, it does not matter where you store the files, because, it can search in: Microsoft Outlook, on your hard drive, and on the local area network. 

Here are the draft report, and the email I sent with request for comments, and the invitation for a review meeting.  Here are the comments I received and the meeting minutes.   I also notice that Peter had sent me comments on the meeting minutes.  

When emails came in during the review cycle, I only briefly scanned them to see if they perhaps contain questions that need to be answered. If the emails only contained comments, I would directly move them to my archive folder, knowing that when the time comes to work on the report, I can find the comments back easily. Moving emails I am not working on, helps me keeping my inbox uncluttered. 

Here is the task that reminded me to re-start working on the report, and also contained some notes.  As you can see I have everything together to start updating the report. 

Finding back 'interesting stuff'

In this example I used a tracking number to retrieve a set of related documents; you can also use a number to find back a single file. You probably also receive a lot of documents you do not need at this moment, but you would like to store because they could be useful in the future. Like .e.g. articles, pricelists, information from a suppliers, or as in this example a guideline.  You may be tempted to make a print of the document and put it in a hardcopy folder with a title like “interesting stuff” but you have probably already experienced that these kind of folders rapidly grow in size and moreover, in a couple of months the items are already obsolete. 

So how can you use tracking numbers for storing and retrieving interesting documents for possible future use? First add a tracking number to the subject line of the email. If you are also a fan of: David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done’ time management system, you may already have a number of lists with, for instance, action items, and waiting for items. In this example I have a excel list with references to interesting documents.  I add a short description of the file and the tracking number, and remove the email from my inbox folder.  And again, it does not matter if I store the email in a Microsoft outlook environment or on a network drive. I also do not have to bother to put it in, for instance, a well defined reference article folder, because, if I look in my interesting document list and find the tracking number I can find the article  back wherever it is stored,  using the desktop search application. To find the back the document, just copy the number and paste it in desktop search.   

Right: List with reference documents. Left: Referenced documents found with Windows Desktop Search

 I hope you enjoyed this Episode about tracking numbers and look forward seeing you again with one of my other episodes on productivity tips .

Productivity Tips - Pile File

Pile or File  -  http://www.robsprotips.com/


Hoe kun je goed je papier opslag organiseren?

Pile-File

For a good understanding of the pile file concept I recommend to watch  the Pile-File episode published on YouTube. Below you can read the transcript of this episode.

Note: An answer to a question from a Polish reader about the scalability of the system can be found here

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Transcript Pile-File episode

[Start transcript]

Today I would like to tell you about the Pile-file, a new way of storing paper documents in Personal Information Management. I have been using this system for many years, and it helped me a lot in my efforts to stay organized.

Some theory

But first I would briefly like to give you some theoretical back ground of this filing system. 

People store documents in several ways. On one end of the spectrum you have the Filers, and on the other end the Pilers. It was Tom Malone working at MIT in 1983 who came up with the Filers and Pilers classification. The filers usually have a clean desk and put a lot of effort in systematic filing in folders, and binders with tabs. 

A Filer

The Pilers on the other hand can be recognized by a messier desktop with piles on their desk. This does not mean that Pilers have no system. They usually put their documents in concentric circles, with so called warm en cold areas. The warm areas contain the documents they are working on right now, and these documents also function as reminder for things that need to be done. The documents further away in the cold area have less urgency. You may think that filing is better than piling, but is this really that so?

Steve Whittaker working at AT&T labs studied archiving efficiency. The group he studied consisted of manager’s secretaries and researches.  Depending on their work style they were classified as either Pilers or Filers.  

Filing facilitates finding back structured information, and certainly works if you need a system that can be accessed by more than one person.   However, this method has a lot of disadvantages in a Personal Information Management environment. Whittaker found that filers have to put a lot of effort in: in filing and in maintaining the system . Furthermore, filers are more reluctant to discard documents. He also found that filers tend to file just to clean the workspace, sometimes resulting in storage of non-relevant documents. He called thispremature filing.  And finally filers sometimes tend to make too many categories, making it more difficult to find back the information. Moreover, if a filer no longer oversees all his categories he sometimes duplicates an already existing category. 

A Piler

Perhaps you are surprised, but piling appears to be a more efficient approach than generally expected. Pilers, can often find back relevant information fast. Older information is usually less relevant and because pilers have the recent information on top of their piles, they have no difficulty finding it. Pilers also have less overhead in managing data because the simply put new documents on top of their pile, without first categorizing and filing. Pilers also have less difficulty than filers cleaning up archives.   There certainly are also cons to the piling approach, as this method does not scale well, especially if the piles get too high and too many. In a highly structured environment piling is not optimal

Pile-File design

You may wonder if it is possible to take the best of both worlds?  The system should be: easy to maintain, storage should be chronological, and at the same time have some categorization, it should also have a reminder function and off course it should be easy to find back documents.

The Pile-File (click to enlarge)

The Pile-File system I want to show you comes close to this ideal.  Here you see an example of a Pile-File. At first sight it may not look much different from a binder with tabs used by a filer. However, there are significant differences:

First of all this is a pile. Documents are stored in chronological order. The oldest at the bottom and the most recent ones on the top. The pile is kept together by a ring binder or tube clip fastener.  The Pile-File  contains a contents sheet containing categories. This sheet is a couple of centimetres shorter than the documents. I will show you in a moment why. It also contains index tabs. (I use Post It Index tabs from 3M.)

 Adding information to a pile-file is not much different to adding a document to a normal pile. Add document to pile The difference main difference is that you add an index tab corresponding to relevant category and. You can now see why the contents sheet is narrower than the documents. It makes attaching the index tab easier to add the index tab to document

Pile-File looking up information

The advantage of a pile-file becomes clear when you start looking for information. You could start browsing through a couple of documents on top of the pile, like a Piler would do. In a lot of cases you will find what you are looking on top of the pile, as these are the most recent documents. You can also easily find back all the most recent documents per category.  They are marked by the tabs you see when you look at your pile from the top.

But there is more.  Contrary to a normal file system, a document in a pile file can have more than one category, because it can have more one index tab.   In a normal folder system you would have to make a copy of a document and store it in two different locations.

To further facilitate finding back documents you can also make short notes on the index tab. To highlight documents you can use different coloured, index tabs. I use blue tabs to distinguish final document from draft ones.  This can be useful for, for instance, locating final versions of reports and contracts

Pile-File reminder functionality

Setting reminders

There is still one thing missing, and that is the reminder functionality. Pilers feel uneasy to file a document, because the document will then be out of sight, and they are afraid they will forget to work on it. One way of setting a reminder is by making a separate Action category. Add a tab to every document that contains ‘unfinished businesses’.  And remove the tab when the actions in the document have been completed.

Link between list and hard copy(click to enlarge)

Personally I am a fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done system. This system promotes distilling actions from documents and putting them on a next action list.  This next action list is reviewed periodically.

To make a link between the original documents and the distilled ‘next actions’ list I add a sequence number to the documents in the pile. (I will tell more about sequence numbers in a later episode on Document Locators in personal information management.) In this example you can see that  this action Item  originates from a hardcopy with sequence number 490 in the pile-file.


I hope you have enjoyed this episode about the  Pile-File concept, combining the best from piling and filing strategies.

[End transcript]

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Scalability of a Pile-File

A Polish reader wondered if the Pile-File system is scalable.

The scalability is one of the strong points of the Pile-File. The binder with the documents, as shown above, is only used for the recent documents. As soon as the binder is full the documents are taken out and a copy of the category sheet is placed on top. To keep the pile together you can use a tube clip fastener.

Archived Pile-File

Even in the archived Pile-File you can still use the category flags, and you can still retrace documents using the document sequence number. (If you use this feature as described in the video). The documents in an archived Pile-File also retain their chronogical order, making it possible to find a document back if you know it's date.