THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: September 30, 1989 11:02 AM Saturday; Rod Welch

Meeting to review Expedition used by Swinerton & Walberg.

1...Summary
2...Hardware
3...Data Entry by Support Staff
4...No Software Integration
5...No Browse Feature
6...No Electronic Mail
7...Segmenting reports


..............
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CONTACTS 
0201 - Swinerton & Walberg                415 421 2980
020101 - Mr. Michael Strong; Project Engineer =415 444 3822 (Oakland job)
020102 - Interiors Division

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing evaluation
Competitive products
Expedition

0405 -    ..
0406 - Summary
0407 -
040701 - Mike demonstrated Expedition and Micro Planner, an on-line CPM
040702 - networking program.
040703 -
040704 - I explained how Expedition could be called as a supplemental utility
040705 - from within SDS, in the same way SDS calls a spreadsheet,
040706 - wordprocessing, or scheduling program.
040707 -
040708 - Sent follow up to Mike and Larry, ref DIT 1 line 30, and ref DIT 2
040709 - line 30.
040710 -
0408 -
0409 -
0410 - General
0411 -
041101 - Mike provides computer support for the project.
041102 -
041103 - He has been using Expedition since June.  He did not get formal
041104 - training in it; simply, "Here it is with a manual, implement it."
041105 - Mike is trying to customize some of the reports to S&W existing
041106 - formats.  This effort is slowed by a heavy work load.
041107 -
041108 - Hardware
041109 -
041110 - They seem to have a 12 MHZ AT, with probably a 40 MB or 60 MB drive.
041111 - Wordprocessing is performed on a separate CPU.  They are considering
041112 - getting another computer to provide direct access for Brian, the
041113 - Superintendent, to the CPM program discussed below.  This leads to
041114 - consideration of networking the computers.  In that case they need a
041115 - machine with a large drive, 120+ MB, for a server.
041116 -
041117 - There did not appear to be a tape drive for daily backup.  This will
041118 - be needed to support a network (probably should be available now).
041119 -
041120 -
041121 -  ..
0412 -
0413 -
0414 - Expedition features
0415 -
041501 - This thing gets started like Primavera's schedule program, and allows
041502 - you to move through the various modules in the same manner; so, it is
041503 - generally User friendly.
041504 -
041505 - Expedition is a series of LOGS to track standard construction manage-
041506 - ment data like submittals, RFI's, change orders, correspondence,
041507 - meeting notes.  A nice feature is the ability to set up standard
041508 - follow-up ("Dunning") letters that are automatically issued when
041509 - target response dates are not met by vendors and subs. [This could be
041510 - used for sales follow up.]
041511 -
041512 - Expedition also offers standardized formats for transmittals, Daily
041513 - Work Reports, Change Orders, RFI's, Meeting Minutes, and status
041514 - reports.  Some of these are handy to use under a comprehensive Issue
041515 - coding system, however that part of Expedition is weak.
041516 -
041517 -
0416 -
0417 - Technical support
0418 -
041801 - Mike said Primavera's Technical Support can be reached fairly easily
041802 - (you are not on hold for 20 minutes, nor do you have to leave a mes-
041803 - sage for a call back in a few days after giving up on your immediate
041804 - problem).
041805 -
041806 - He feels though that for many of the sophisticated situations that
041807 - arise in heavy PM work, Primavera's staff are not helpful.  They do
041808 - not know the program as well as Mike does, which is pretty normal.
041809 -
041810 - Mike said the president of Primavera is helpful.  He was recently in
041811 - town to hear about S&W's views on the product  and following the visit
041812 - sent them a revised program disk to address concerns that were raised
041813 - (Larry mentioned this also on 890929, ref SDS 1 5993).
041814 -
041815 -
041816 -  ..
0419 -
0420 -
0421 - Narrative Reporting & "To-Do"
0422 -
042201 - Expedition has separate modules for Meeting Notes, Daily Reports, and
042202 - general "Notes" to enter "To-Do" items.  "Issues" can be assigned to
042203 - items using 6 digit codes.  Mike said data entry is awkward and the
042204 - six digit Issue code field is not enough.  They are using the Daily
042205 - Report secion, but not the other two.  They prepare meeting notes in
042206 - their word processor program and log them in Expedition.  They use a
042207 - regular desk calendar and tickler file system for "To Do" items.
042208 -
042209 -
042210 - Data Entry by Support Staff
042211 -
042212 - Mike said he and the job secretary do the data entry.  Expedition is
042213 - not used directly by the Project Manager.  They use Wordperfect for
042214 - regular correspondence, and then log it into Expedition.
042215 -
042216 - Since they have only been using Expedition a few months, Mike is
042217 - unsure about how well the logging operation will turn out.  When they
042218 - get busy, data entry into Expedition falls behind, but they are trying
042219 - hard to keep up.
042220 -
042221 -
042222 - No Software Integration
042223 -
042224 - Expedition does not support using other software programs, as SDS
042225 - does.  A spreadsheet analysis, or letter created in Wordperfect for
042226 - example cannot be accessed directly from within Expedition.  This
042227 - requires two steps and manually transferring information into the
042228 - Expedition Logs, which Mike says causes errors.  Additionally, such
042229 - documents cannot be opened from within the Expedition Logs.
042230 -
042231 - On the other hand, Expedition could be called as a utility from within
042232 - SDS to overcome this limitation.
042233 -
042234 -
042235 - No Browse Feature
042236 -
042237 - Expedition's reports are not linked to each other.  It is not possible
042238 - to list documents in the Reference field of a document, and then
042239 - simply point to it on line to access related information.
042240 -
042241 - SDS would overcome this limitation.
042242 -
042243 -
042244 - No Electronic Mail
042245 -
042246 - Expedition does not support directly issuing correspondence, Notepad
042247 - or meeting notes via E-Mail.
042248 -
042249 - SDS would overcome this limitation.
042250 -
042251 -
042252 -
0423 -
0424 -
0425 - SDS v Expedition
0426 -
042601 - The objectives are essentially different, with some overlap in the
042602 - document log.  SDS supports the management function directly through
042603 - regular hands on use of the computer.  It is for personal scheduling
042604 - and record keeping which in turn creates an information resource for
042605 - the entire organization; whereas Expedition is good at logging formal
042606 - communications.  Both are important.
042607 -
042608 -      [Note these differences were endorsed by Fred Talegani at ICS who
042609 -      markets Primavear products, per ref SDS 2 line 214.]
042610 -
042611 -
042612 - Philosophically, SDS intends to increase the manager's understanding
042613 - of the work he performs, and his ability to formulate and carry out
042614 - action plans by providing an efficient, integrated environment for
042615 - planning, analysing, making assignments, reporting, and writing
042616 - correspondence.  It is a very fast writing tool and very fast in
042617 - retrieving information previously written -- speed is critical to
042618 - good management.  Thus, SDS is for the manager to use as well as
042619 - support staff.
042620 -
042621 - Expedition is used by the STAFF to enter and retrieve lists of
042622 - documents without improving the process by which the facts and ideas
042623 - in the documents are developed and supported.  Management itself
042624 - remains isolated from the benefits of computing.  I suspect the
042625 - concept that "writing" merely conveys and records ideas rather than
042626 - creates ideas, arises from traditional manual writing modes:  pencil
042627 - and paper, typing, dictating.  The editing power of SDS is the
042628 - critical difference because editing is thinking and thinking is
042629 - management.  Until managers experience this power, they have diffi-
042630 - culty grasping the notion that direct data entry improves the quality
042631 - of their ideas and decisions, when, as with SDS, the writing is
042632 - entered into a structured data base that permits fast retrieval of
042633 - ideas and knowledge.
042634 -
042635 -
042636 - Scheduling and Reporting
042637 -
04263701h- SDS integrates these functions; Expedition does not.  SDS offers a
04263702 - natural, simple means to write down what happened (Daily Work
04263703 - report, Inspection report, site visit report, telecon MFR, discus-
04263704 - sion notes), and then make sure follow up action is taken.  Getting
04263705 - follow up action into an electronic schedule has the benefit of
04263706 - making sure it will not be forgotten, as often occurs in manual
04263707 - systems.  Expedition does not offer this feature.
04263708 -
04263709 -
042638 -
042639 -
042640 - Multiple Subjects
042641 - Electronic filing
042642 -
04264201 - Information entered in Expedition is limited to chronological
04264202 - structure.  While it does permit entering a subject code for
04264203 - extracting reports, since most information pertains to a variety of
04264204 - subjects, Expedition is too primitive for dynamic management.
04264205 -
04264206 - SDS allows assigning multiple codes (as many as necessary) to a
04264207 - particular entry similar to cross referencing documents in a filing
04264208 - cabinet.  Expedition's "reports" are merely lists of documents that
04264209 - contain ad hoc keywords.
04264210 -
04264211 -
04264212 - Segmenting reports
04264213 - ------------------
04264214 - SDS not only permits identifying multiple subjects within a single
04264215 - record, but also produces reports that contain only the portion of
04264216 - an event such as telephone discussion, meeting notes, issue analy-
04264217 - sis, that pertains to a particular subject of interest.  Expedition
04264218 - cannot do this.
04264219 -
04264220 -
042643 -
042644 -
042645 - Networking
042646 -
04264601 - Expedition does not provide this feature now, but Primavera
04264602 - intends in a future release to support LAN applications.
04264603 -
04264604 - SDS has general LAN capability.  This is a fundamental strength of
04264605 - the program because it offers a data base into which everyone can
04264606 - contribute and in doing so, make it possible to obtain comprehen-
04264607 - sive reports on performance when the time comes to find out what has
04264608 - been done on a particular issue by EVERYONE in the organization.
04264609 -
04264610 -
042647 -
042648 -
042649 - Document Log
042650 -
04265001 - This is Expedition's strength.  Some would argue about the need to
04265002 - segment logs into types, but I think it can be helpful, particularly
04265003 - for high volume transmittal work which is a staff function.
04265004 -
04265005 - The advantage of SDS is that when a document is created, it is
04265006 - totally defined within the DL system and does not require someone
04265007 - else to do another step, as it does in Expedition.  I think the
04265008 - management correspondence would be created in SDS, and, if
04265009 - necessary, data entry into Expedition DL could be accomplished via
04265010 - batch file.
04265011 -
042651 -
0427 -

SUBJECTS
WMA Marketing
Sales contact

0505 - SDS demonstration
0506 -
050601 - I explained some of the features of SDS.
050602 -
050603 - Mike will call next week to arrange a visit on the way home from work
050604 - to see SDS.
050605 -
050606 - He has a good appreciation of the resistance in applying computers to
050607 - a real-time management situation.  I related the concept of regular
050608 - use as a function of comprehensive management tasks.  Menus are User
050609 - friendly, but too slow to keep up with dynamic management.  SDS uses
050610 - Function keys to instantly access data, but they take awhile to learn
050611 - and the interim frustration can be difficult to overcome, particu-
050612 - larly for management types.
050613 -
050614 - Since S&W is experimenting with Expedition on a few projects  they
050615 - may consider doing the same with SDS.  Mike said Larry is good about
050616 - trying new ideas.
050617 -
050618 -
0507 -

SUBJECTS
Procurement, CPM Scheduling
software, Micro Planner
Product demonstration

0606 - Mike gave a demonstration of how an activity can be created on line
0607 - with this thing.  It seems slick, but apparently runs only under MS
0608 - Windows.
0609 -
060901 - Supports only ADM; node numbers are assigned automatically.
060902 -
060903 - Activity descriptions can be as long as necessary without regard for
060904 - duration in time scaled formats.
060905 -
060906 - There does not appear to be a direct ability to use node numbers for
060907 - WBS and structuring schedule plots.  The capability for this may be
060908 - supported though.  Mike tried an alpha scheme for a node number and
060909 - this seemed to work.  More experimentation would be needed to evaluate
060910 - the efficacy of WBS applications.
060911 -
0610 -
0611 - Reporting is limited, but adequate for 90% of the situations that arise
0612 - in everyday management.
0613 -
0614 - Didn't get a chance to see a plot.  Mike had a bar chart that looked
0615 - good.  He thinks plotting is supported for HP laser printer.
0616 -
0617 - On line scaling is another feature it may have.  There is a command for
0618 - it, but we didn't have time to experiment with it.
0619 -
0620 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"