THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
rodwelch@pacbell.net
S U M M A R Y
DIARY: December 9, 1995 02:32 AM Saturday;
Rod Welch
Prepared explanation of Action Item system and create Help.
1...Summary/Objective
2...SDS has been changed in three significant ways, for the reasons on
3...Three minor changes have been made:
4...Action Items
....Identifying Action Items
.......Alt F10 - Highlighting
......."Saving" Posts Special Field - F2
.......Contacts
.......Action Items Associated with Subjects
....Retrieving Action Items
.......1...Action Items in the current SDS record.
.......2...Action Items for a subject and time, i.e., reporting.
5...Visibility - Summarizing the Record
6...Schedule/Diary Access via Pointer
..............
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CONTACTS
SUBJECTS
Action Items, Save, F2
Action Item Improvements, General Explanation
0704 -
0704 - ..
0705 - Summary/Objective
0706 -
070601 - Follow up ref SDS 14 0000, ref SDS 15 0000.
070602 -
070603 - Now that this block of improvements is complete, this will be a
070604 - summary explanation that ties this work together.
070605 -
070606 -
070608 - ..
0707 -
0708 -
0709 - Progress
0710 -
071001 - SDS has been changed in three significant ways, for the reasons on
071002 - 951115. ref SDS 4 9765
071003 -
071004 - 1. Action Items are a formal system to easily identify and track
071005 - performance on commitments and assignments at a level below
071006 - the Subject Index (see definition on 950626, ref SDS 3 0976).
071008 - ..
071009 - 2. Several other new "visibility" tools have been created to
071010 - supplement the Action Item system using the highlight and
071011 - underline features to summarize an SDS record so it is easier
071012 - to find the part of a record that is needed at any particular
071013 - time. (These are explained in the next record segment.)
071015 - ..
071016 - 3. Data base pointers for current SDS records are now archived
071017 - with the F2 "save" function, so that reports on Subjects,
071018 - References and now Action Items include activity on the
071019 - current date, based on work 951203, ref SDS 11 K5WD, whereas
071020 - formerly they could not do this, except for the Doc Log
071021 - system.
071023 - ..
071024 - It required changes on 951204 to Schedule functions that set
071025 - the status of tasks, and to delete tasks, so that archived
071026 - pointers are maintained in sync with the Schedule, ref SDS 12
071027 - V62W, ref SDS 12 P68F and ref SDS 12 YE2F
071029 - ..
071030 - All changes under point 3 are transparent to the User, except
071031 - reports now include current date data.
071032 -
071034 - ..
071035 - Three minor changes have been made:
071036 -
071037 - Highlight colors were made universal instead of differentiating
071038 - for SDS records and Contacts, ref SDS 5 line 243. I may change
071039 - some of this back, if we have enough memory to do it.
071040 -
071041 - Eliminated system for maintaining current date Doc Log activity
071042 - ref SDS 10 line 63, because it is now accomplished under point 3,
071043 - above, ref SDS 13 line 50.
071045 - ..
071046 - Doc Log data entry diagnostics were improved for filling out
071047 - identification of correspondence and publications to ensure all
071048 - needed fields are entered correctly, ref SDS 13 line 120.
071050 - ..
071051 - Eliminated archiving data base pointers in 04702, ref SDS 11 line
071052 - 145. It also no longer archives task descriptions in the Schedule
071053 - for which there are no actual SDS records.
071054 -
071056 - ..
071057 - Action Items
071058 -
071059 - This system has two main parts:
071060 -
071061 - 1. Identifying an Action Item.
071062 - 2. Obtaining lists of Action Items.
071064 - ..
071065 - Identifying Action Items
071066 -
071067 - Alt F10 highlights text describing "Action Items" with respect to
071068 - who, what, when, where, why, how much, methods, and any authority
071069 - such as contract provision, CPM activity, company policy, statute,
071070 - regulation, or case citation, so that Action Items are identified
071071 - within the context of the work. This is a lower level of detail
071072 - than is reflected by the Subject Index, as explained in defiing
071073 - Action Items on 950626. ref SDS 3 MR2W
071075 - ..
071076 - Alt F10 calls macro 132 in 000008, ref SDS 5 line 200. It is also
071077 - part of the line numbering scheme under macro 304 in 000000. Most
071078 - of this work was done on 951123 to develop a highlinghting scheme.
071079 - ref SDS 5 0001 Considerations on action items and coding are,
071080 - also, explained in that record. ref SDS 5 QW3L
071082 - ..
071083 - The procedure is simple. Press Alt F10 to scroll through a series
071084 - of highlight colors, as follows:
071086 - ..
071087 - Alt F10 - Highlighting
071088 -
071089 - 1st highlight "f" flag, is both a "Pending" Action Item, and
071090 - remains the flag for entering stuff in the Schedule Analysis and
071091 - Adjustments record. This way Users have the ability to identify
071092 - something as both a personal action to follow up and as part of
071093 - the formal Action Item system.
071095 - ..
071096 - 2nd highlight "h" flag option is for strictly highlighting.
071098 - ..
071099 - 3rd highlight "j" flag is for the Headline system described
071100 - below under "Visibility Tools."
071102 - ..
071103 - 4th highlight "k" flag is for "Pending" Action Items, making two
071104 - highlight choices for "Pending" status: 1 and 4. This let's
071105 - the User identify an Action Item without having it also included
071106 - in the Schedule Analysis and Adjustments list, which occurs with
071107 - the 1st highlight option "f" flag.
071109 - ..
071110 - 5th highlight "m" flag is for maintaining identification of an
071111 - Action Item but not having it show up in the Pending Action Item
071112 - reprot. It can be considered "Completed" Action Items and
071113 - typically would show a citation to the record reporting the
071114 - Action Item was performed.
071116 - ..
071117 - "Saving" Posts Special Field - F2
071118 - ---------------------------------
071119 - When F2 is called anytime during an "SDS record" session, it now
071120 - processes highlight flags as part of updating line numbers,
071121 - macro 304 in 000000, and enters a code for Action Item status in
071122 - the Special Control Field, ref SDS 7 line 54 and ref SDS 7 line
071123 - 161. Pending Action Items are posted in the Special field as
071124 - "010201" and Completed Action Items are posted as 010204, ref
071125 - SDS 15 line 228.
071127 - ..
071128 - Contacts
071129 -
071130 - Users can supplement the automatic posting of Action Items by
071131 - appending to the Control Field "Contact" identification, using
071132 - the regular SDS Contact menu system, ref SDS 9 line 43. This
071133 - allows Action Item reports to be assembled based on who is
071134 - assigned responsibility. The procedure is to place the cursor
071135 - in the "Subject/File" field and then use the Contact menu in the
071136 - regular manner. To assign multiple contacts to a Control Field
071137 - line, use F8 to enter a secondary contact in the "From" and, if
071138 - desired, in the "Response" field.
071140 - ..
071141 - This system may not be needed at all, since typically an Action
071142 - Item shows responsibility in the narrative. Generally when
071143 - someone has to do something beyond think about what they want,
071144 - then the process will fail. People forget to post Contacts,
071145 - because at the time they "know" what is needed, so posting seems
071146 - redundant and time consuming, relative to going home. What we
071147 - are after in SDS is to get managers to write down what they
071148 - "know", to capture it, invest it as intellectual capital. SDS
071149 - can then manage that.
071151 - ..
071152 - Action Items Associated with Subjects
071153 -
071154 - A comprehensive system would assign all action items in the
071155 - Subject Index. Experience at PG&E where this was tried showed
071156 - the SI became very big and the Action Items required extensive
071157 - work to maintain because of the amount of detail, ref SDS 3 line
071158 - 202. The SDS Action Item system makes it easy to manage a lot
071159 - detail in a loose or "Fuzzy Logic" scheme, in that SDS Action
071160 - Items are integrated among a range of subjects. This seems to
071161 - make sense because many Action Items arise and are completed
071162 - within a day or a few weeks. Since Action Items come and go
071163 - quickly it seems cost effective to simply tag them for follow
071164 - up.
071166 - ..
071167 - If an Action Item seems to require or otherwise turns out to be
071168 - a long term issue, it can be assigned a Subject and tracked in
071169 - that manner. The issue is mainly one of relative scope and of
071170 - how long it is expected to take to accomplish. "Action Items"
071171 - are the lowest level of detail to implement or accomplish other
071172 - work scope that is already identified within a Control System,
071173 - like a CPM activity.
071174 -
071176 - ..
071177 - Retrieving Action Items
071178 -
071179 - We need to be able to find out what has been flagged for action so
071180 - a determination can be made whether more work is required. This is
071181 - the "follow up" component of Communication defined at ref SDS 2
071182 - line 93. An example of reviewing Action Item status at ref SDS 1
071183 - line 76.
071185 - ..
071186 - There are two ways to get lists of Action Items:
071187 - ..
071188 - 1. Action Items in the current SDS record.
071189 -
071190 - This is done in the "Manage" menu, using macro file 0703. It
071191 - gets all "f", "k" and "m" highlight lines for the reasons at
071192 - ref SDS 8 line 55.
071194 - ..
071195 - 2. Action Items for a subject and time, i.e., reporting.
071196 -
071197 - This uses the "Subject" report system, macro file 06112, ref
071198 - SDS 15 line 61. There is a new "Action Item" option in the
071199 - Subject Report menu, so users can click or press F1 to
071200 - immediately get a list of current Action Items for the past
071201 - month. The default list is "Pending". Users can click on
071202 - "Pending" to change it to "All" or "Complete." ref SDS 15
071203 - line 178. The "All" option gets "Pending" and "Complete"
071204 - Action Items. Selection is based on the value in the
071205 - "Special" Control Field which is posted based on the
071206 - highlight flag entered by the User, per explanation above
071207 - under "Alt F10 - Highlighting."
071208 -
071209 - "Report" concept options were considered at ref SDS 6 line
071210 - 105 and ref SDS 6 line 115.
071211 -
071212 -
071213 -
071214 -
071215 -
0713 -
SUBJECTS
SDS Concepts, Menu
SDS records, Headlines
1004 -
100501 - ..
100502 - Visibility - Summarizing the Record
100503 -
100504 - Besides Action Items, the new "Manage" menu has options to assemble
100505 - an SDS record by outline structure and hightlighting, which together
100506 - are called "Headlines," and by forward links, explained at ref SDS 8
100507 - line 41.
100509 - ..
100510 - Decided to add a "Manage" menu choice in SDS records for the reasons
100511 - at ref SDS 6 line 70. Changed "Other" to "Tools."
100513 - ..
100514 - Schedule/Diary Access via Pointer
100515 -
100516 - Added this feature per ref SDS 6 line 213 and ref SDS 6 line 251. In
100517 - an SDS record, the User can scroll back to the Schedule by clicking on
100518 - "Schedule" in the top right corner of the screen. You can call the
100519 - automatic Diary for past 15 days by clicking on "Diary" in top right
100520 - corner of screen in an SDS record.
100521 -
100522 -
100523 -
100524 -