Change Your Process Step 3: The 80/20 Rule
Have you ever attempted to map a process, only to get bogged down in the details? What seemed like a simple flow chart with four or five boxes got really complicated when you started accounting for all of the special case scenarios? If you’ve experienced this situation, then you’ll certainly appreciate this installment of my blog series about “Changing Your Process.” To avoid the pitfall of never fully documenting your process, consider the 80/20 Rule (also known as the Pareto principle). Applied in this context, if a “special case” happens 20% of the time or less, it should not be covered in your baseline process. Continue Reading
The launch of nearly every new business system requires some level of legacy data load. After all, you have probably been doing the things the new business system does, just by some other means. I believe a successful import begins with quality source data. Remember, garbage in, garbage out. The more consistent your source data is the more consistent your import will be. 
Design Automation is becoming an issue that more and more people are paying attention to. Part of this is because new tools like 
Mapping out your current company processes is key to changing them. Finding out where you are is just as important as where you want to go. Without point A (where you are) and point B (where you want to be) you cannot plot a course to get there. 
It’s frustrating when customers who purchase a Product Data Management (PDM) system finally realize the implications of having their company files and data in an access controlled software application. Sometime during the kickoff meeting someone asks the question “You mean if someone doesn’t have the software installed and a license to use it they can’t get to the files or data?” YES, that is absolutely right!
