Improvement Ideas

Today, every day, in your company, dozens of ideas are born and disappear without ever being applied, although they could have brought you a benefit in performance and competitiveness.

These ideas, sometimes simple and low cost, only ask to be exploited.

In order to do that, you have to give your collaborators a chance to :

1. express and formalize their improvement idea

2. obtain a decision on their interest after study

3. see their ideas applied by themselves or a third party if the result of the study is positive

The "classic" idea box was a low efficiency solution: left in a corner, often forgotten by all and looked at with distrust.

Today, AL Consulting offers you a simple solution, allowing to collect and manage the ideas parented by your teams, a solution that favors dialogue and transparency while applying the retained ideas.

This tool is called IdeasMine, the idea box of the XXIst century.

IdeasMine allows to fully explore the progress wish of all your collaborators.

IdeasMine, Why ?

• It allows each person to be an Actor of Progress,
• It favors the initiatives, creativity and the know-how development,
• It helps the Manager to develop the participation of all his Collaborators,
• It creates an additional opportunity for dialogue between the Manager and his Collaborators,
• It accelerates the deployment of the necessary Progress in order to reach our objectives,
• It develops personnel implication and valorizes the Actors of Progress,
• It improves the work conditions.

To suggest, to realize an « II », means to contribute to the Progress Dynamics of the Company!

Definition

We call Improvement Idea any progress idea, which aims to improve

• The work conditions,
• The processes,
• Productivity,
• Quality,
• Costs, delays
• Security,
• The environment,
• ...

Application area

The IdeasMine system concerns all the personnel (managerial staff, employees, temps) from the third sector, administrative, support, B.E., ...

Supports

• The IdeasMine system on Intranet / Extranet,
• E-mail for the idea creation/modification notifications and for comments.

Each one's role

THE ADMINISTRATOR

• It is the guarantor of the good functioning of the IdeasMine system.
• It makes the 1st analysis of the II,
• It chooses the responsible for each II,
• Has no hierarchical power in different sectors
• It is the interface between employees, the support functions to facilitate the communication between the different actors and favor the system dynamics.
• It defines and validates the monthly report that is transmitted to the HR Department, to the site responsibles and the supervisors.
• It organizes the communication all around the IdeasMine system, in connection with the communication service.

RESPONSIBLES

• He stimulates the emission and creation of II from the team members ,
• He helps the authors, if they ask for it, to write their II,
• He ensures the realization of the II that will be attributed to him,
• He informs regularly the authors about the progress of the II of which he is responsible, updating the idea in the system,
• Stimulates membership and valorizes the ensemble of his team, commenting the indicators at reunions.

THE AUTHORS

• Participate effectively in the system, creating ideas regularly,
• Bring their support for the responsible associated to their idea, in order to facilitate the application,
• Follows regularly the progress of the II's he has emitted for the whole way and comments of the system.

THE IDEAS

The lifecycle of an II has 4 stages :

• Idea put forward,
• Idea in study,
• Idea being applied,
• Idea accomplished.

In case of impossibility, the idea could eventually be filled as "non-retained".

1. The II is put forward with the help of the "MAKE AN IDEA" form in the system.
2. The II is analyzed by the administrator. If the decision « retained-non retained » requires a deeper study, the author must obtain a 1st response within 8 days. The idea has changed its state to "Being Analyzed".
3. The II is accomplishable. The pilot and the accomplishment term are defined. The II changes state to "In Progress" for a maximal period of 3 months. If this term is surpassed, the idea is returned to the responsible that has to give an answer in 4 days.
4. The II is accomplished. We inform the author and the II goes to the state of "Accomplished Idea". After that, it will be archived.

If the II is not accomplishable, we explain why to the author and we declare as "Non retained ideas". After that, it will be archived.

The functioning of the system

The IdeasMine system is made of :

• An Intranet / Extranet module,
• a document concerning the application methodology,
• a User Guide,
• a Moderator Guide.

The Extranet / Intranet module:

This system can be supplied to you as a hosted service. In this case, your company will be able to access it through a link like this :

http://monentreprise.ideasmine.net

This space is reserved for you and there are security systems in place to guarantee the confidentiality of your data.

If you prefer, it is also possible to buy the system and install it on your servers (the system is Mysql / PHP compatible). In this case, you will also be able to benefit from installation assistance, together with your IT department.

In both cases, the system will be "customizable" according to the graphics of your company.

This system, very easy to use, can be tested here :

http://www.al-consulting.com/demoIA/

Login : demo

Password: demo

The application methodology :

Fruit of our 20 years experience of installing industrial productivity tools, this document details the essential stages for starting the system. It will allow you to save valuable time and to avoid the pitfalls normally encountered.

The User/Moderator Guides :

These documents are identical to the ones used by AL Consulting consultants in their counseling and training missions for installing an Improvement Ideas system.

They will allow to explain very well to the ensemble of the personnel what is an Improvement Idea, what are the stakes of the system and why everyone has an interest to participate.

The document meant for the responsibles/administrators highlights the importance of their role for the success of the action, and also the tasks they will have to accomplish in this frame.