[Let daarop: Hierdie artikel kruis-gepos word aan End User SharePoint hier: http://www.endusersharepoint.com/2009/09/09/sharepoint-a-case-study-in-ask-the-expert/]

Soms, wanneer jy werk as 'n konsultant (as 'n professie, of in 'n adviserende rol binne jou maatskappy), you find yourself living in an Onion story. The Onion has a series of articles called “Ask an [deskundige] oor ['n probleem]". This follows the famous “Dear Abby” format where a concerned person is asking for personal advice. The onion’s “expert”, egter, is so focused on his/her area of expertise and current problems that the expert ignores the question entirely and rambles on about his area of expertise. As consultants, we need to keep that in mind all the time and avoid falling into that trap. It’s classically described like this – “when you use a hammer all day long to solve your problems, everything starts to look like a nail.” We professional consultants are always on guard against that kind of thing, maar ons in aanraking kom met mense wat ernstig is professionele in hul eie rol, but are not consultants. They don’t have the same need or training to do otherwise.

Verlede week, Ek het geskryf oor een van my maatskappy se kliënte en 'n deurlopende projek we have to enable high quality collaboration between various eye doctors in the US and Canada performing clinical research on rare disease. In addition to leveraging core SharePoint features to enable that collaboration, we’re also working an expense submission and approval process. It’s complicated because we have so many actors:

• 'N handvol van individue op verskillende dokters se praktyke wat kan inskryf uitgawes op die lyn.
  • Daar is meer as 40 dokterspraktyke.
  • Op 'n sekere praktyke, Die dokter maak gebruik van die stelsel direk.
  • By baie van die praktyke, die dokter se personeel gebruik maak van die stelsel direk.
• 'N finansiële bestuurder (wat werk vir my direkte kliënt) wat die uitgawes resensies vir akkuraatheid en relevansie, goedkeuring of ontken hulle op organisatoriese vlak.
• A 3rd party accounts payable group. These people pay all of the bills for out client, not just bills coming out of the rare disease study.

The Accounts Payable group has been a challenge. Working with them yesterday reminded me of the Onion series. In my role as business consultant, Ek het verduidelik die behoefte om die rekeninge betaalbaar maatskappy:

• Kliniese studies webwerwe (dokterspraktyke) aangaan studie-verwante uitgawes.
• They log onto the “web site” and enter their expenses using an online form. In hierdie geval, the “web site” is hosted with SharePoint and the expenses are entered into an InfoPath form. Expense receipts are scanned, foto's en regstreeks aan die vorm.
• 'N outomatiese workflow proses poog om die goedkeuring van die toepaslike finansiële bestuurder.
• Jy, dear 3rd party AP company – please review and approve or deny this expense. I’ll send it to you any way that you want (binne perke).Op hierdie punt in die bespreking, I don’t really care how it needs to be bundled. I want to work with the AP group to understand what they need and want.

Toe ek verduidelik die behoefte, die 3rd party het 'n diep duik in hul interne Mumbo Jumbo lingo oor koste goedkeuring prosesse, Oracle kodes, vise-president handtekeninge, 90 dag beurt-arounds, ens.. And panic. I shouldn’t forget about the panic. One of the bed rock requirements of the consulting profession is to learn how to communicate with people like that who are themselves not trained or necessarily feel a need to do the same. Among other things, it’s one of the best parts of being a consultant. You get to enter a world populated with business people with completely different perspectives. I imagine it’s a little bit like entering the mind of a serial killer, behalwe dat jy nie verwoes die lewe ná die ervaring (though entering the mind of an AP manager isn’t a walk in the park 🙂 [Sien belangrike nota hieronder ***] ).

One of the great things about our technical world as SharePoint people is that we have ready-made answers to many of the very valid concerns that people such as my AP contact have. Is it secure? How do I know that the expense was properly vetted? Can I, as die finale betaler, sien al die besonderhede van die koste? How do I do that? What if I look at those details and don’t approve of them? Can I reject them? What happens if the organization changes and the original approver is no longer around? Can we easily change the process to reflect changes in the system? Kan ek weer hierdie uitgawe 'n jaar later, indien en wanneer ek geoudit en nodig het om die betaling te verdedig?

As SharePoint mense, we can see how to answer those questions. In my client’s case, ons antwoord hulle meer of minder soos hierdie:

• Path vorm te laat terreine hul uitgawes aan te teken en dit vir goedkeuring.
• Webwerwe kan terugkeer na die terrein van die status van hul koste verslag te sien op enige tyd.
• As belangrike gebeure plaasvind (bijv. die koste goedgekeur word en ingedien word vir betaling), die stelsel in kennis proaktief hulle per e-pos.
• Die stelsel stel die finansiële bestuurder van een keer 'n verslag ingedien vir goedkeuring.
• Finansiële bestuurder goedkeur of ontken die versoek.
• By goedkeuring, die koste is gebondel in 'n e-pos en gestuur word aan die 3rd party betaler organisasie.
• Die 3rd party betaler het al die inligting wat hulle nodig het om die koste te hersien en kan die SharePoint omgewing toegang te grawe in die details (hoofsaaklik oudit geskiedenis van die "waarheid" van die uitgawes te kontroleer).
• 3rd party payer can approve or reject the payment using their own internal process. They record that outcome back in the SharePoint site (wat snellers 'n e-pos aan geskikte mense).
• In die toekoms, dit sal lekker wees om te sny uit die kalm e-proses en in plaas daarvan voer die koste inligting direk in hul stelsel.

Ter afsluiting, daar is 'n lewe styl hier dat ek beskryf van die professionele konsultant se oogpunt, but which applies almost equally to full time employees in a BA and/or power user role. Work patiently with the experts in your company and extract the core business requirements as best you can. With a deep understanding of SharePoint features and functions to draw upon, meer dikwels as nie, jy sal in staat wees om kommer te beantwoord en maniere om almal se werk dag gebruik te maak van kern SharePoint funksies te verbeter bied.

***Belangrike nota: I really don’t mean to compare AP people to serial killers. Egter, I could probably name some AP pro’s who have probably wished they could get a restraining order against me stalking them and asking over and over again. “Where’s my check?” “Where’s my check?” “Where’s my check?"

</einde>

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