Ron McCauley, Guest Writer
I consider myself an intelligent person. But if I’m so smart, why do I have to learn the same lessons over and over again? As any IT person worth their daily ration of oxygen knows, in most cases it’s “better to buy than build.” However, in the case of Shari’s latest intranet implementation, I was guilty of forgetting this fundamental guideline.
Several years ago Shari’s realized that advances in Web-based technologies and tools could help us address the nagging problem of the lag time between compiling key operational results and communicating those results to the field. At that time, it took between one and two weeks for field managers to receive key reports on unit, district and company performance.
Based on the rationale of “that which gets measured improves,” I sold upper management on the strategic advantages of a corporate intranet. An intranet could significantly improve the speed and efficiency of our corporate-to-field communications, thereby empowering our field teams to make quicker and smarter decisions. Use of the intranet could also reduce some costs for paper and postage.
Thwarted by delays
My team quickly set to work with other corporate departments to develop initial design specs and a flow chart. I then bravely set forth a five-figure budget and a six-month timeline for development and implementation, both of which were approved.
Unfortunately, competing priorities repeatedly delayed a concerted development effort. Furthermore, it was not easy to develop the expertise required to create an intranet that met our design specifications, and outside consultant resources were difficult to obtain, unless I was willing to tolerate a significant budget variance. That was not an option and after an inspired start, the project got stuck.
My frustrations with locating consulting talent led me to look at several “off the shelf” solutions, but I found most of those did not come remotely close to meeting our requirements, let alone our budget. So, 18 months after the project was approved, we had little progress to report.
Just as my frustrations were reaching full boil, I came across the Restaurant Information and Communications System (RICS) from Imagistic (www.imagistic.com). I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the RICS application satisfied each of our design criteria. Not only does it contain the essential varieties of security levels required for control over publishing and viewing reports, but it also has a sensible page and directory structure that allows us to automate document publishing. RICS is simple enough to administer so that other departments can publish documents without MIS intervention. And the best part is that it cost less than what I had budgeted for in-house development.
Rapid adoption
Six weeks after our initial install, we launched Shari’s corporate intranet. We began by publishing many of the daily, weekly and period-end reports that were previously available only in paper form. We also published frequently used payroll and HR forms for downloading. In addition, we moved many of the daily and weekly executive reports that were previously circulated on paper in the corporate office to a special section on the intranet. Use of our new system reduced paper usage, improved the organization of data, and increased the timeliness of executive reporting.
The rapid adoption and use of our intranet by field personnel has been especially satisfying. A mere five months after its launch, nearly 99 percent of our store managers, general managers and district managers are regular users of the intranet, logging on two or more times per week. We have cut the reporting cycle from two weeks to two days, which means our field staff now has data in hand in time to actually use it. We’ve also gained a positive, hard dollar return on investment of about 35 percent (measured as internal rate of return over five years) thanks to reduced paper, printing and postage costs.
Looking back on the project, I recognize a few lessons I have re-learned. First, don’t venture into a new development arena without first securing all your resources. Second, being smart and being good can’t replace being prepared. And, finally, you may just need a little luck, so keep an open mind.
Ron McCauley is the vice president and chief information officer of Shari’s Management Corporation.
