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Work Planning Software Module

To Do List

No matter what you call it, a todo list or a to do list, a target list or a task list, if you use one you know how effective work planning software is in helping you stay focused on the things you want to get done. Using an employee daily work schedule planner helps you in many ways. It take the thoughts out of your head, puts them on paper and leaves your mental RAM free for thinking rather than occupying it with short term storage. As a result you remember tasks rather than letting them “slip through the cracks”.

Priorities and Targets

Once on paper you can number your items according to your priorities so you can focus on getting the more important things done first. The next increase in your productivity comes about by setting target completion dates and times for each task.

Taking it to the Next Level

Because you know how to and are disciplined enought to use a to do list you are well organised as an individual. What about your group? How do you get everyone else in the organisation on the same page, with the same priorities?
How do you communicate long term plans with short, mid and long-range targets to multiple people?
How do you check on the progress of each item to make sure the long term goal will be met?
How do you give a person the ability to add their own to do items to the ones you have set?

If you manage others, you can take each item on your paper to do list or spreadsheet and assign it to a person and even give items a target to do by date. But the tool quickly becomes unwieldy. You can email them the tasks you’ve set them but keeping track of what’s been done and what hasn’t becomes time consuming.

What’s needed is a centralised, coordinated tool for storing, assigning, retrieving, updating and reporting on assigned tasks. A tool that will provide organisation-wide transparency and accountability.

That’s why we created the Work Plannning Software Module. The most limited use of it would be as a job related todo list for each person in your organisation. Used thus it would be an effective tool to increasing productivity and efficiency. But I’m greedy. I want more for you than just that!

In addition to each staff member using it as an individual task list for their job, how I’d like you to use it is by creating an overall management plan to attain the major goal you have for your business. Sit down with your management consultant and create a series of programs or projects to address the different areas in your business. Work with the key executives to break those major programs into projects and the projects into individual to do items, work items or targets. Assign each work item in the plan to a staff member with a to do by date. Enter them in BizMan and you have employee daily work schedule planner. Each person can see what is on their plate at a glance. Both you and they can track the progress of each item as it is done.

I kid you not, it will take you beyond your comfort zone. That’s why I recommend you do it with a consultant or advisor. It will take time. You will be distracted. “More important” and “more urgent” things will present themselves. No. They won’t just “present themselves”. They will line up to forcibly distract you from attaining your goals. But that’s why nine out of ten businesses fail. The owners do not do what is necessary to be successful.

Given that you have the basics in place (are viably providing a needed and wanted product that has a competitive advantage) if you spend the time to create a comprehensive busines plan that addresses the key issues for your business you will be pointed in the right direction. This comprehensive work flow planning tool allows you to see every target, to whom it is assigned, it’s status and, if late, by how many days. It gives you total transparency and accountability for every item on your master to do list. Using it will speed your progress to the attainment of your business goals!

Work Planner Screen Shot

Work package data screen shot

The Work Planning Software Module enables the setting and management of tasks and targets. It will enable any user to create as little as a single "To Do" item for their job or a 500 step program. These targets can be assigned to specific persons with do by dates. They can be packaged into sub-programs like Marketing, Sales, Production, Quality Control, Finance etc. When a user edits a previously saved record their edits are displayed in red to highlight them. Each list of records has the option to select which fields display in the list.

Task Template

Some of our clients have a list of things that have to be done for each job. Rather than enter each of these items every time you start a job you can create a template of to do items for each type of job. When you start a job the template items are copied to become part of your task list. Over time this will save an enormous amount of what would otherwise be wasted effort, typing the same task list every time you start a job. Having the routine items in the task list significantly reduces the chance of tasks slipping through the cracks.

Work Planner Template Screen Shot

Work item template screen shot

For each item in the template you enter the following data. A desription, the sequence in which the items in the template should normally be done, the default post title and\or person to do that item, the report name you want printed on completion of that item, if the item should be automatically inserted (some may be conditional) as well as the number of business days after the completion of the previous target by which this target should be completed. When the template is used to create new work items the number of days is how the “do by date” is set for each work item.

Once you have some history established BizMan will compute for you how long each work item is actually taking to do as compared to the days you have allowed for it to be done. If there is a discrepancy between what you have allowed and what it is taking you know to investigate. If it is ouside your control you can allow longer for that item. If it is withing you control you have an idea of where to investigate and, depending on what you find, train the untrained person on how to do it faster, allocate more staff to an overloaded area or sack a totally incompetent person.

If you would like further information or an on-line demonstration of how to effectively task manage the big items while letting your personnel manage their own task list, todo or to do list using BizMan, contact me on +61 2 9552 3311.