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Other Added - Inventory Accuracy in 60 Days
With balloons and party accessories a festive atmosphere quickly develops in to an amazing party. We have given some good balloons decorating ideas below and with this you can use more of your imagination to add more flair to the party room by using the unique design and architectural features of your home.First and foremost hang balloons to your mailbox to spot the party place; place them as a decoration at the door; or you may even tie them to the birthday child's chair to mark the seat of honor. For an additional unique touch, make a balloon arch by filling balloons with helium, attach them (several inches apart) to a long piece of curling ribbon and fix the ends to the floor next to the doorway.Hanging balloons in bunches is one of the best idea to create best effect. If you have a plan to fill balloons with helium, wait until the party day so that it floats well. Attaching balloons to light fixtures and hanging them in doorways or anywhere that impress the crowd is a brilliant idea. Use colorful curling ribbon to tie balloons together, and curl the ends by pulling the ribbon among your thumb and blade of scissors.Helium-filled balloons decorationsA simple table decoration is quite simple to make with helium balloons, moreover all latex or a combination of Mylar and latex. Anchor the group to the table with a safety pin in the cloth or with a small wooden block enclosed in decorative paper. Do not forget that latex helium balloons stay floating for just about eight hours. So do this on the day of the party.For all these decorations it is most excellent if all the balloons are of the same size. To attain this cut out a cardboard pattern and check the size every time you blow up a balloon.By using your fishing line and paperclips you could move on to the twirl arch. This is made of groups of four helium balloons fixed firmly together by paperclips and threaded onto the line like pearls on any necklace. You would require heavy weights wrapped in paper to safe each end of the arch. Try using a five liter plastic bottle filled with sand.
This article is also available on our website: PROACTION - Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by
Did you know many of your friends do not know exactly what you do to make your money? It happens more often than you'd like to think to small businesses.Since people like to do business with friends, it is important you help them to know what you do.Recognize that you need to educate your friends and acquaintances about your small business. Then they can become some of your best sources of new clients and promote you to others as well.Right now you have lots of social and business networks of people who know you personally: from your clubs, recreational activities, school activities, religious affiliations, hobby groups and so on.Your friends and acquaintances know you for the person and character you demonstrate to them in person. Your friendship is of primary importance to them. What you do for a living is secondary.So it's up to you to tell them about how you can help when they (or others they know) need what you are selling. Your personal colleagues are valued assets to promote both you and your business.Your goal is to become the "go to" person when your friends need your services. Instead of the "WIIFM" What's In It For Me formula, you want to get them to ask you "WCYDFM", What Can You Do For Me? In other words, "Can I turn to you for valuable advice to help me solve my problem?"Sure, your friends may know what type of business you are in. "He has a garage, she owns a consulting service, he is a mortgage broker, she sells real estate" and so on. Sometimes, small businesses can have vague names, which cry out for further explanation.So it can be quite productive if you simplify and clarify precisely what you do in terms your friends can understand. Tell stories. Give easy-to-understand examples.You probably already have one or two "elevator" speeches of 10 or 30 seconds explaining what you do. Develop another version suitable for more general use.When you tell others what you do, use your own personal style of story-telling. Take advantage of impromptu situations, and be sure to use your judgement about when to insert your message into the conversation.Make it easy for people to talk about you with others in their own circles of friends and acquaintances. This how to use the multiplier effect: friends tell friends... who tell friends, etc.In the never-ending quest for new customers and clients for your small business, why not take advantage of personal opportunities right there in front of you every day?And be sure to learn about their businesses, too. It works both ways!
Do you have inventory accuracy problems? Typical symptoms:
• Lots of inventory errors
• Surprise backorders, unplanned shortages, "lost material"
• Nobody believes the records-- numerous calls to "check" on availability
• Air freight bill exceeds the national debt
• Nasty financial reporting "surprises"
• Lack of consensus on importance of accuracy
• Lack of consensus on how to measure it
• Inability to reconcile inventories, cycle counts
• Error causes largely unknown
• Weak/no company tradition of data accuracy
• New systems/software implementation causing more confusion
Solution recommendations are presented as follows…
ORGANIZE PROJECT
Results are usually best when there is a bit of a crisis atmosphere established. Business as usual won't usually serve to get serious inventory accuracy problems fixed within two months. Sometimes a humbling blow, such as losing millions in an inventory "write-down", or an unfavorable "write-up" by a customer, is helpful to shatter the status quo and energize an organization to begin work in earnest on a solution. Top level executive action works best to motivate and mobilize people. At a minimum, perception of a costly problem is needed, with some realization of a need to correct it.
This article is also available on our website: PROACTION - Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by
Whether or not the company you work for offers yearly celebrations, there comes a time in every business when get-togethers arise. Sometimes, the occasion calls for the popping of champagne, while others include a simple spread of cheese and crackers. Depending on the event that needs planning, corporate parties have the potential to become rather entertaining moments that create everlasting memories when organized in the proper manner. Regardless if this is your first time planning a corporate party, there are plenty of tips to follow and things to learn along the way. Below are a few to keep in mind:1) Knowing the budget allotted for a corporate party is rather important, which allows a planner to make the proper arrangements that better serve the theme of the event. When you don’t have a clue as to the amount of money that you can spend on a get-together, the decisions you make for the event may not be as realistic as they can or should be.2) Since you’ve been working in the office for a decent amount of time (to have the responsibility of planning a corporate party), you should already have an idea about what type of things that your fellow co-workers enjoy. Planning the kind of activities that will get employees involved during the party makes the event more enjoyable for all. For instance, a silly office group may appreciate “Pin the Tail on the Boss” while others may enjoy a friendly round of charades.3) Food and drink is what keeps a party going. When guests are hungry and thirsty, they are less likely to stay or feel satisfied. Depending on the type of corporate party you are planning, you may or may not have to employ the services of a caterer, which will cost much more than homemade punch, cookies, and finger foods. Some offices have saved money and added variety to a party by having each guest bring a contribution to the party. This way a variety of tastes can be explored and satisfied.4) Depending on the crowd, food and drink might not be enough to entertain the masses, but music is a nice distraction that keeps many in the groove. Music not only calms the mood, but also provides the chance for guests to “cut a rug” and “work up a sweat.” Since many different personalities will attend the event, you should plan on bringing a variety of CDs with slow, medium, and fast beats and tempos.When it comes time to iron out the details of a corporate party, you may also want to ask yourself a few questions, such as: What time and date will be convenient for all employees? Will the corporate party be financed or sponsored? What will be the theme of the party? Will any volunteers be needed? Should alcoholic drinks be included in the planning of the party?
• Lack of consensus on importance of accuracy
• Lack of consensus on how to measure it
• Inability to reconcile inventories, cycle counts
• Error causes largely unknown
• Weak/no company tradition of data accuracy
• New systems/software implementation causing more confusion
Solution recommendations are presented as follows…
ORGANIZE PROJECT
Results are usually best when there is a bit of a crisis atmosphere established. Business as usual won't usually serve to get serious inventory accuracy problems fixed within two months. Sometimes a humbling blow, such as losing millions in an inventory "write-down", or an unfavorable "write-up" by a customer, is helpful to shatter the status quo and energize an organization to begin work in earnest on a solution. Top level executive action works best to motivate and mobilize people. At a minimum, perception of a costly problem is needed, with some realization of a need to correct it.
This article is also available on our website: PROACTION - Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by
Can you earn more money working on a contract than working in a fulltime job?Having spent several years specifically working as an IT recruiter filling Information Technology positions, I certainly saw my fair share of highly paid contractors.In most instances, contractors earned more money on an hourly basis than they would have earned had they been doing the same job in a fulltime capacity being paid a salary.The reason contractors tend to be paid more?With a contract job, you are typically signed to do the job for a specific length of time so accepting the contract means you're taking yourself off the market for a fulltime position for the length of the contract. In my experience as an IT recruiter, contracts generally ran for 3, 6, or 12 months in length and could sometimes be extended, often several times.Also, with a contract position you generally don't get paid any benefits, don't get paid for vacation and might not be eligible for other perks that fulltime staff might otherwise be entitled to.Sometimes a contract job turned into a fulltime position later on.With contract work, I often found that once people tasted the (higher) contract money, they didn't want to work as a fulltime employee anymore.Also, many of them liked the variety of work and the fact that they were exposed to different work environments, technologies, etc.The flipside of course is that contractors might end up finding themselves out of work for periods of time if one contract finishes and they haven't found a new contract to go to.Then again, perhaps they could afford to take time off given the money they were earning.If you're considering contract work you should be aware that some employers have difficulty hiring people for fulltime positions who have a track record of working contract.They often fear that if a contractor accepts their fulltime position, they will end up quitting the fulltime job the moment a more desirable (ie. better paying) contract position arises.If you're looking at a specific contract job, you might consider why the job is being offered as a contract.Does the company simply require someone for a set period of time and are willing to pay extra for this person (ie. the position is a "typical" contract) or are they simply trying to avoid adding a fulltime employee (ie. extra headcount) which might mean they'll simply offer you the fulltime equivalent salary for the period you would be working with no premium paid?I once experienced the latter situation and can tell you that I was simply paid the fulltime equivalent since there was a fulltime hiring freeze in the company and my manager got around it by classifying my job as "contract."In this instance, I certainly didn't paid get the higher "contractor" rate, that's for sure!The good news was t
Solution recommendations are presented as follows…
ORGANIZE PROJECT
Results are usually best when there is a bit of a crisis atmosphere established. Business as usual won't usually serve to get serious inventory accuracy problems fixed within two months. Sometimes a humbling blow, such as losing millions in an inventory "write-down", or an unfavorable "write-up" by a customer, is helpful to shatter the status quo and energize an organization to begin work in earnest on a solution. Top level executive action works best to motivate and mobilize people. At a minimum, perception of a costly problem is needed, with some realization of a need to correct it.
This article is also available on our website: PROACTION - Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by
In our previous installment of medical billing, we went over the YA0 batch trailer record in detail. In this installment we finally reach the end of our NSF 3.01 record specifications review with coverage of the ZA0, or file trailer record.The ZA0 record is the last record in the whole claims file. It goes at the very end after the last YA0 record for the last batch. If it does not fall at the end of the file or does not show up at all, the whole claim file will be denied. We'll be covering the individual fields of the ZA0 record in this final installment.ZA0 field 1, positions 1 - 3, is the record type. This must be filled with ZA0 or the whole claim file will be denied by the carrier.ZA0 field 2, positions 4 - 19, is the submitter ID. This is different from the provider ID as it is the agency responsible for transmission of the claims. It is possible for the provider and submitter to be the same person.ZA0 field 3, positions 20 - 28, is reserved and not supported.ZA0 field 4, positions 29 - 44, is the receiver ID. This is the ID of the carrier who is going to be receiving the claims. This is required so that when the carrier receives the file they'll know whether or not that file was in fact meant for them. Stranger things have happened.ZA0 field 5, positions 45 - 51, is the FA0 line item count. This field tells the carrier the total number of FA0 records in the whole file.ZA0 field 6, positions 52 - 58, is the record count. This field tells the carrier the total number of records being transmitted in the whole file.ZA0 field 7, positions 59 - 65, is the CA0 record count. This field tells the carrier the total number of CA0 records, or total patients, being transmitted in the whole file.ZA0 field 8, positions 66 - 69, is the YA0 batch count. This field tells the carrier the total number of YA0 records, or batches there are in the whole claim file.ZA0 field 9, positions 70 - 80, is the total claim charges. This field tells the carrier the total number of claim charges in the whole claim file for all batches.ZA0 field 10, positions 81 - 91, is the total amount paid. This field tells the carrier the total amount paid on all claims submitted. This field is particularly important to the carrier so they can track claims already paid.ZA0 field 11, positions 92 - 102, is the total amount allowed. This field tells the carrier out of all charges billed, what amount is allowed to be paid.ZA0 field 12, positions 103 - 320, is filler national and must be filled with spaces or the whole claim file will be denied.This is the final installment on medical billing of claims electronically, concentrating on the individual NSF 3.01 record specifications.
This article is also available on our website: PROACTION - Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by
Funny how my mind works. When I read that Adobe was releasing an early version of their Apollo application platform, all I could think of was how the original Apollo of Mount Olympus fame spread a virus. The fact that Apollo killed a Python in Delphi only adds a multitude of unintentional software humor.From a technical standpoint, Apollo is interesting, though from a marketing standpoint it is of questionable survivability. Technically, Adobe is simply making web applications standalone desktop apps by localizing HTML, Flash, and other common web goodies into a self-contained, platform-agnostic system. Pretty slick approach given that people already developing web-based applications have low learning curves to create portable desktop apps.However, the application development heavens are an unforgiving place. The gods therein (Microsoft, Java, LAMP, etc.) are ill tempered and unlikely to yield followers. At this point in development theology, there are too many gods, mortals that are too devout, and few new disciples to whom evangelism will work.Rare is a development organization that can afford to change their technical base. Small shops cannot afford the learning curve to adopt new development languages, and large ones have implemented long-term platform strategies for which they are oath to abandon. However, change does happen. Not long ago Java was a toy, and yet it has become a dominant force in server-side and web based enterprise application and e-commerce development. Microsoft still holds the power on PCs as Windows still dominates the desktop. Thus Apollo will have to ride in the sky a long time before finding a landing place on technocrat terra firma.The base question can be summed up "Does the market need yet another development platform?" Granted, cross platform agility within a familiar framework and end user interface is compelling. But the switching cost is high, and the non-Windows installed base is small. Adobe may be laying an egg in hopes that the chickens will soon arrive. That however is a questionable strategy.This situation should be familiar to anyone in technology marketing. Adobe is faced with creating a following within a saturated market (the software development market is by quirky definition saturated from the start as anyone who wants to develop software must either know and love a programming language and platform, or they must careful pick one appropriate for their product). Adobe has several things going for them:* They are repackaging well known and well loved development tools that already have followings.* They have a compelling cross platform story for new projects.* Adobe is a well liked and trusted vendor (unlike the Evil Empire ).Yet they face significant barriers to entry:* High switching costs for most technology buyer genotypes.* Compelling competiti
This article is also available on our website: PROACTION - Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by Paul Deis, PROACTION CEO.
Try to tie company goals and objectives to project objectives, to help ensure that people “buy-in” to the project and will be measured and rewarded on the results.
Once the initial goals are attained, don't just declare victory and go home. Set up a lower key ongoing maintenance effort to ensure that the problem stays fixed and that further improvements are made.
• An Executive Sponsor is needed, someone with the clout to keep resources and attention focused on the problem until completion. Results are usually directly proportional to the strength and commitment of the executive sponsor. Sometimes it's not possible to get a sponsor until a case is made that there's a problem.
• A Project Leader and Multi-Disciplinary Team is required, preferably from Operations, Materials, Finance, Distribution and possibly, Process and Design Engineering (depending upon the problems identified). In a large organization, a full time project leader may be needed. People will be needed for inventory verification, cycle counting and reconciliation. The amount of manpower needed is dependent upon organization size, complexity and magnitude of the problem. For example, one 500,000 sq. ft. process plant with about 4000 items and 3
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