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With the goal of continuing to help managers execute their business strategy, the Strategic Management software includes more improvements for project managementThe flag for backlogged actions.
With this improvement, administrators can see if a specific scheduled action date has not been started. If the start date is exceeded, the software immediately indicates with a red traffic light that the action the responsible person must start executing immediately.
However, this feature only works when activated by the system administrator. To activate the alarm, you need to request it by clicking the box “Show the red action traffic light if the planned start date is exceeded and the action has not been started.” To activate this option, simply go to Menu > Log > Settings > Actions tab. The checkbox is located just below the “Traffic light calculation” heading.
The suggestion for this improvement comes from the company RTM, a company that functions as a communication channel in the Brazilian financial sector, connecting nearly 500 institutions and over 25 information providers, as well as services in a private cloud environment.
The head of strategic planning, business processes, and RTM risks, Luciene Reis, commented that what was happening with the software before suggesting the change was that if the user didn't indicate the starting point for the planned action, the software wouldn't send an alert or a reminder to the user until the action's deadline. Thus, managers had no idea if the user hadn't started the activity. “Because they weren't required to log the start of the activity, we always faced the question of whether the responsible individuals had started taking action. And without notification, sometimes we'd receive a warning when the action should have been completed, and in fact, we hadn't even started,” she commented.
The improvement suggested to support RTM by the Stratec support team will be launched in the next software update, version 6.04, which will go into effect on June 30th of this year. In summary, when a project is closed late, the system will display the deadline and the expected date, indicating differently whether the project was finished on time or not. “Currently, the software does not compare the expected date with the due date. When the project ends, even late, it receives a small blue ball, as if it had been completed at the right time. Hence the request for signaling. This differentiation to warn that the project was completed, but late,” commented Luciene. According to Neidson Silva, Stratec's Support and Homologation Coordinator, the new version of the software will allow visualizing when a project is finished late, and it will be marked with a red and blue light, indicating the delay.
With the goal of better meeting the demands for customizations in the system, Stratec has recently implemented a new process for receiving and processing these demands. From now on, the client sends a suggestion for improvement to the support area, which will be forwarded to an Evaluation Committee for approval. Then, the client receives the approval response with the defined deadline. Therefore, the improvements will be planned and developed. “We receive daily suggestions. The volume is sometimes very large and not all suggestions for improvement are feasible,“ explains the Coordinator.
Luciene also commented that the software at RTM is used not only for project tracking but also for the application and tracking of strategic management. “In strategic planning, goals can be implemented and monitored through windows in the software. The system works well, and we have no problems with it,“ she concluded.
