To manage the activities of Portfolio companies and the numerous organization projects, TIF leverages a proprietary, internet-based collaboration system called SIMON. Because TIF undertakes projects bringing together people from different countries, communication styles, times zones, and skill sets in a very dynamic environment, an asynchronous collaboration portal is critical to achieving objectives. Over ten years ago, after searching unsuccessfully for a commercially available product to fulfill this need, TIF set a course to develop its own collaboration infrastructure. After a decade of ongoing development and continual improvement that endures today, SIMON has become the central component for all strategic collaboration, mission critical project management, and routine daily business process execution. It serves not only TIF, but acts as the living, growing core electronic business infrastructure for each new company.
At its core, SIMON manages Communication, Processes, and Knowledge.
Communication:
SIMON interfaces with and leverages existing email infrastructure so that it seamlessly integrates all daily electronic communications. It compartmentalizes initiatives into collaboration repositories where all vital pieces of information are captured and retained.
This screen shot is an example of how SIMON combines all relevant information into a single repository where participants communicate, share documents, organize efforts with project management discipline, and provide reportable data and metrics for effective management.
Processes:
SIMON organizes processes and embeds them within collaboration repositories, ensuring that the processes are followed. SIMON collaboration repositories can be templated to ensure that each time the process is executed the correct participants are added and each milestone step is created and assigned so that repeatable operations are electronically enabled. With a click of a button, the project creator only needs to fill in template blanks and final assignments (if any) to create a unique collaboration repository for that initiative that conforms to the standard operating procedure and provides management data on the progress of the initiative. The following screen shot illustrates the creation of a new project repository from a template launch screen.
Knowledge:
SIMON captures all mission critical data ensuring that “corporate knowledge” in this dynamic start-up environment always stays with the company. It provides permanent account-centric memory and transforms knowledge into a scalable, communicable company resource.
Because SIMON, at its core, is an intelligently crafted database, the information stored in SIMON is not only a permanent archive, it is reportable in real time. Therefore, higher level views and reports or detailed daily task lists are available to provide the visibility and accountability necessary to keep objectives moving forward. The following screen shot is of a typical SIMON site dashboard.