CONTACTS 
0201 - Cal Tech                           818 356 4041 fax 795 7174
020101 - Mr. Gaylord E. Nichols, Jr.; Director; Industrial Relations Center 1-90

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing
Developing Leads
Send product information, requesting give demo.
Cal Tech PM Seminar, 920924
Cost Control
Research Application to Market,
Correlation to accepted practice and concepts, 910817

0709 -    ..
0710 - Summary/Objective
0711 -
071101 - Received ref DRT 1 - 4, from Cal Tech advising of further seminars
071102 - Executives and Senior Managers.  Analysis indicates continuing inter-
071103 - est at Cal Tech for POIMS technology.
071104 -
071105 -
0712 -
0713 -
0714 - Analysis
0715 -
071501 - I think Cal Tech is trying with these seminars to find alternative
071502 - income to replace the reduced budgets for the space program.  Their
071503 - focus has become market oriented rather than to generate better ideas.
071504 -
071505 -
071506 - Activity Based Costing (ABC)
071507 -
071508 - Gaylord says in ref DRT 1, that this two day course will present the
071509 - following:
071510 -
071511 -        Manufacturing excellence, continuous process improvement, com-
071512 -        petitive advantage.
071513 -
071514 -        A very important element in achieving these objectives is accu-
071515 -        rate and meaningful cost information that enables managers to
071516 -        trace costs for each product line, make informed decisions and
071517 -        improve their company's operations.
071518 -
071519 -        Activity Based Costing proposes a new accounting framework
071520 -        driven by the need to identify and eliminate non-value added
071521 -        activities, identify waste as a component of cost and promote
071522 -        cost effective integration of activities across organizational
071523 -        units. This system allows managers to link planning and con-
071524 -        trol, increase flexibility and improve decision support.
071525 -
071526 -
071527 -    ABC & SDS
071528 -
071529 -    Cal Tech's ABC program is a small part of POIMS which links person-
071530 -    al activity with organizational objectives.  SDS does ABC through
071531 -    its unique Control Field combining hierarchical with relational data
071532 -    base technology.
071533 -
071534 -    The biggest uncontrollable cost today is management.  SDS helps
071535 -    managers become part of the solution, rather than the problem.
071536 -
071537 -    The SDS Control Field enables managers to capture their cost for
071538 -    decisions and all other activity.  Decision support is improved by
071539 -    the process of capturing the record and the ability to retrieve the
071540 -    relevant aspects when needed instantly; plus, the linkage of plan-
071541 -    ning tasks with cost accounts, and the other SDS data base struc-
071542 -    ture (e.g. Subjects, Contacts, Employees, Files, Documents, prior
071543 -    related events).
071544 -
071545 -
0716 -

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing
Management productivity & Teamwork
TQM, Correlation
Internal management
TQM Objectives, 930204
Communications
Teamwork
Leadership & Change, 930119

1711 -
171101 - This program seems to be a TQM, Deming seminar on improving management
171102 - productivity through teamwork.  Ref DRT 2 from Gaylord, presents a 2
171103 - day program on:
171104 -
171105 -     Concurrent Development Teams:  Architecture and Implementation
171106 -
171107 -
171108 - The program is described as:
171109 -
171110 -        "Better, faster, cheaper." There are many prescriptions for
171111 -        creating better, more timely products and services at lower
171112 -        cost.
171113 -
171114 -        The key step is the organizational transition to a concurrent
171115 -        development or multi-functional team environment. It involves a
171116 -        different organizational architecture and will impact current
171117 -        functional organization elements. It requires new leadership
171118 -        and direction by management, changes in the processes by which
171119 -        work is conducted, and affects traditional thinking on rela-
171120 -        tionships between functional groups.
171121 -
171122 -        ... learn the advantages of strengthening your company's team
171123 -        building environment. ...how a team environment is structured,
171124 -        implemented, and maintained.  ...team leadership, shared
171125 -        vision, cross functional exchange, and gaining commitment will
171126 -        he addressed.
171127 -
171128 -     ..
171129 -    Communication Critical Component of Productivity
171130 -    Concurrent Development Teams, & SDS
171131 -
171132 -    Difficulties in improving productivity through TQM are described in
171133 -    the Prodigy dialogs, see ref OF 1 line 13, ref OF 1 line 41.
171134 -
171135 -    Cooperation (teamwork) is impeded by the inherent conflict between
171136 -    people of equal stature and/or intellect.  Ego and diverse experi-
171137 -    ence render communication competitive and elusive.  Much of this
171138 -    conflict arises from direct contact, i.e. phone calls, meetings and
171139 -    discussion.  SDS solves this by permitting communication through
171140 -    its data base so the focus is on the work rather than personali-
171141 -    ties.  It improves creativity by forcing managers to test their
171142 -    understanding of events and ideas flowing therefrom, through
171143 -    writing.  This is far superior to conversation, which dominates and
171144 -    so evicerates most approaches to TQM.  Additionally, SDS provides
171145 -    information quickly and accurately so the burdens of increased
171146 -    communication can be assimilated by team members.
171147 -
171148 -
171149 -
171150 -
171151 -
1712 -

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing
Cal Tech PM Seminar, 920924
Management productivity & Teamwork
Discovery; Subject Index
Executive Support
TQM, Correlation
Automated Integration applying SDS/POIMS
Reengineer Project Management

2411 -
241101 - This 2 day program deals with the concept of POIMS in its broadest
241102 - sense.  It is described by ref DRT 4 from Gaylord, as follows:
241103 -
241104 -                      STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
241105 -           Linking Corporate Strategies, Business Process Engineering
241106 -                        and Information Technology
241107 -
241108 -        ...these systems ... enhance the competitive position of the
241109 -        entire business.  ...Executives must become more involved with
241110 -        the key decisions bearing on the development and use of infor-
241111 -        mation systems and must provide a closer coupling of those
241112 -        systems with the strategic direction of the enterprise.
241113 -
241114 -        This two-day executive program focuses on the information
241115 -        technologies that will help your organization achieve a
241116 -        competitive advantage in the decade to come. It will provide a
241117 -        framework for integrating information systems with business
241118 -        strategy and process development. The program will examine the
241119 -        enabling technologies that are emerging and will give you a
241120 -        better perspective on managing the implementation of strategic
241121 -        information systems.
241122 -
241123 -
241124 - TQM & Reengineering
241125 -
241126 - I have assigned TQM to this record because better information systems
241127 - are aimed at improving management work practices.  This language also
241128 - underlays related "reengineering" concepts of improving work flow
241129 - using automation, that is used to justify downsizing, i.e., using
241130 - automated systems to replace managers.  It is attractive to executives
241131 - who need a rationale and cover for reducing the management force, ref
241132 - SDS 6 line 146.
241133 -
241134 -    [Distinctions between TQM and Reengineering were later developed in
241135 -    an article reviewed at ref SDS 6 line 86.]
241136 -
241137 -
241138 - SDS & POIMS
241139 -
241140 - The seminar supports the rationale of "automated integration"
241141 - formulated in POIMS technology, except it seems to overlook three key
241142 - points:
241143 -
241144 -       1.  The most productive way for executives to shape the
241145 -           direction of information systems, is to use an advanced
241146 -           system to improve their own personal productivity.
241147 -
241148 -       2.  "Information" systems is too narrow for the scope of
241149 -           automated integration contemplated by this course.
241150 -           "Intellectual Capital" covering information and ideas
241151 -           encapsules the objective needed to improve management
241152 -           productivity.
241153 -
241154 -       3.  POIMS is the key to accomplishing the objectives of the
241155 -           other two seminars on cost control (ABC) offered at ref
241156 -           DRT 1, and better coordination (TQM, or Concurrent
241157 -           Development Teams), offered at ref DRT 2.  Only by
241158 -           automating the process of investing intellectual capital,
241159 -           can the other two goals be meaningfully accomplished.
241160 -
241161 -
241162 -       Subject Index
241163 -
241164 -       Executives, as the most responsible, experienced talent in
241165 -       the organization, must directly assist in developing links
241166 -       between automated systems and organizational objectives. This
241167 -       means they must help create the Subject Index.
241168 -
241169 -
241170 -       Discovery
241171 -
241172 -       How does Cal Tech acomodate the disturbing trend by many
241173 -       managements toward eliminating information in order to avoid
241174 -       a perceived threat of legal discovery?  This was discussed
241175 -       with Frank Shultz ref SDS 1 line 071398, and ref SDS 1 line
241176 -       071615.
241177 -
241178 -
241179 -
2412 -