What can you accomplish in 6 months?

In six months, Daphney went from an adorable 25-pound lap puppy to an adorable 140-pound lap puppy and managed to get certified as a Star Puppy. Her next goal is to get certified as a therapy dog in the spring! Think about what you could have done in that six months! Here are a

HIPAA Security Rule compliance in municipal organizations

I am always astonished by the number of organizations I encounter that are not in compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule (45 CFR Parts 160, 162 and 164). If you are running a County government, for instance, there is a high probability that one or more of your departments are covered entities and have

Solutions in search of a problem

The Problem Here is a scenario I frequently encounter in organizations. An executive identifies a problem which he or she believes to be an Information Technology problem and delegates the problem to the IT Director to solve. For instance, one real-world example I have seen many times is where an executive tells the IT

Setting goals and objectives for enterprise procurement projects

Establishing Goals, Objectives, and Criteria for Success may be the most the most important component of your project. How will you determine whether or not the project is successful if you don’t clearly plan for and enumerate your goals? Your Enterprise Project may be an undertaking that requires several years from inception to completion.

Information security basics for executives

Is your information secure? Are your organization’s information assets absolutely secure? Do your staff and contractors assure you that everything is safe? How do they know? And how about all those paper files? Is confidential data appropriately labeled and stored in a secure, locked and monitored facility? How do you know? How would anyone

Business Santa Claus

It is fun to pretend there is a Santa Claus when your children are young. Even the most curmudgeonly person can get a warm feeling from the jubilant innocence and wonder shining out of those big eyes at the thought of Santa Claus. I have observed many adults who believe in Santa too. I

Improving IT customer service with service level agreements

Does your IT Staff deliver amazing customer service? Do your staff members love your Information Technology Department? If they had a choice, would they choose the in-house staff or would they rather call a contractor? Does your IT Director produce monthly reports on staff productivity and proudly share these reports with your management team?

Manage costs by improving quality!

If you improve the quality of your product or service, productivity is automatically increased and costs go down. I first learned about W.E. Deming while I was in graduate school and also working in the Product Engineering department of a Fortune 500 company. At the time, the company was implementing Total Quality Management (TQM)

Essential Contract Documents – Statements of Work

I have been experiencing a frustrating time during the last several weeks dealing with a couple of vendors who don’t want to provide a Statement of Work (SOW)) along with the other contract documents in order to finalize the deals. They keep coming back with something that is less than what I asked for

Who should manage IT?

What difference does it make? Does it matter who oversees IT? Is there a different outcome if the CIO or IT director reports to a CFO, a COO or a CEO? You bet there is. It really depends more on the individual than the position, but let’s stereotype and make some sweeping generalizations –

Is management a legitimate primary skill?

Eons ago, in a former incarnation, I dated a woman who was working on a master’s degree in education. I recall one discussion where she explained a core component of modern education theory: certified, professional educators can teach any subject, regardless of whether or not they know the subject. Hmmmm. Do you buy that

How to assemble a winning ERP team

  Angela Hewitt is my favorite Bach performer on the piano and I have listened to her recordings of the Well Tempered Klavier hundreds of times. I recently heard Sir Andrass Schiff’s performances of the D Minor Prelude from Book 1 and was stunned. Even though I play it, I didn’t initially recognize it.

How to survive a management audit

  This is a test. Which of the following are common occurrences during IT Management Audits? 1.      Staff members quit. 2.      Staff members break down in tears in front of the consultants. 3.      Staff members fly into a screaming rage at the consultants. 4.      Staff members lie to the consultants. 5.      Staff members refuse