This is a strategic overview and contract book of a robust eLearning and performance management system, one I and my team put together during my days at Motorola.
SystemSteps was designed as a community of practice for technical support and repair technicians, as well as their managers. Membership was compulsory for anyone who would be submitting warranty claims. Technically, the system was quite ahead of its time, with rich, interactive simulations of repair procedures, and a client experience driven by almost thirty personalization & membership characteristics.
This is a great example of an online eLearning and eSupport solution to a number of persistent problems in the wireless industry.
If readers have further thoughts or suggestions, please feel free to comment.
NewBase 19 April 2024 Energy News issue - 1717 by Khaled Al Awadi.pdf
SystemSteps eSupport Proposal
1. March 13, 2002
SystemSteps/Colleagues ®
Table of Contents
Executive Overview...................................................... ........... 2
The Business Problem................................................... ........... 4
The Quality Approach to Performance Management... ........... 5
E-Learning.................................................................... ........... 8
Integration With Other Business Systems
..................... ......... 13
The “Performance Managed” Experience
..................... ......... 13
E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve.............. ......... 21
Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum............................... ......... 26
Current State of SystemSteps........................................ ......... 32
SystemSteps Site Development Timeline..................... ......... 40
Re-allocation of Resources........................................... ......... 42
Financials...................................................................... ......... 44
M-Gate Status
................................................................ ......... 45
Summary....................................................................... ......... 49
1
2. March 13, 2002
SystemSteps/Colleagues®
A Proposal for Improved Post-Sale Support and
Cost Reduction
John Sawinski - PCS Services
Executive Overview
CLEARLY, IN OUR SystemSteps is a plan to implement a broad, e-learning certification and post-sale prod-
BUSINESS, EVERY POST- uct support environment that develops Customer affinities and solves two pressing
SALE PRODUCT TOUCH problems:
CAN HURT. .
• How do we prevent product with no discernible defect from being returned?
SIMPLE • How can we discipline every aspect of the reverse logistics process to fix handsets at
SERVICE
INCIDENT the lowest possible cost?
This is an e-business that replaces existing paper and labor-intensive processes: The
Motorola SystemSteps/Colleagues Preferred Service Provider plan radically changes
the way we develop, deliver and verify information to call centers, points of sale, and
repair operations. It compels Motorolans and non-Motorolans alike to keep good hand-
sets in Customer hands and to fix them quickly and cheaply when they break. It limits
MARGIN Motorola’s liability and cost for work performed badly and, most of all, it does this
mainly by retasking existing resources at only moderate cost.
UNIT VOLUME LOSS FROM In addition to cost reduction, SystemSteps/Colleagues is designed as a well-margined,
COMPLEX
SERVICE sold service that can deliver revenue to our bottom line, or that can be exploited by the
INCIDENT
sales team as a value proposition not offered by our competitors.
Large volume, low-cost consumer electronics businesses are not tolerant of deficient
post-sale support. Missteps in call center quality, reverse logistics and repair operations
trigger an avalanche of returns, causing margin erosion and churn. In a commodity elec-
tronics market where unit costs are stripped to the bone, the cost of a single, moderate,
post-sale, consumer intervention can kill the margin from 5-10 units. The hit from a
MARGIN
2
3. Executive Overview
more complicated case involving multiple phone calls and one or more return/repair
cycles will nullify the business value of ten or more devices.
TARGET AUDIENCES Within the financial spaces of cost reduction and revenue, there are four corresponding,
distinct audiences for SystemSteps/Colleagues participation:
Level 0.5 - Cost Reduction: The average consumer who might be capable of minor
troubleshooting if better informed. While we would track SystemSteps access and col-
lect user information from this audience, they would not be charged, as the cost of pro-
viding access is more than offset by the reduction in returns. Development costs for the
GENERAL POPULATION program at this level are offset because participants who pay for level II and III pro-
20M grams are also required to complete the same level 0.5 and level 1 exercises. In addition,
data gathered during interaction by consumers with the SystemSteps site has marketing
value.
Level 1 - 50/50 Cost Reduction/Revenue: This group provides the most rudimentary
level of service, almost exclusively at the point of sale. However, it is important to con-
sider that since almost 40% of returned handsets are not usually defective, the potential
of Level 1 servicers to keep handsets out of the return flow has enormous cost-saving
LEVEL 1 AT POS value. At this level, handsets are not taken apart. Service intervention is limited to sys-
50K TAM = $12M
tem problems, programming, features/options, and simple, external mechanical repairs
like antennas, battery covers, chargers, etc. If a true defect is found, the phone is either
sent in for repair directly or exchanged for a replacement under an Over The Counter
(OTC) program, after which the original, broken handset is forwarded to a central repair
depot. Level 1 SystemSteps participants will be charged a minimal subscription amount
in the $250/yr range, but this charge will probably be bundled with other sales.
Level 2 - Certification Revenue: Lower-level Technicians with little or no prior cellu-
LEVEL 2 TECHS lar experience fall into this category. They typically work at a larger point of sale or one
2.1K TAM = $2.1M of the smaller depots. Their range of activities includes all level 1 fixes plus reflashing/
software maintenance and repair of mechanical breakage. Level 2 Techs can take
phones apart but are not allowed to solder. This population is also quite valuable to us in
that they are reimbursed less under our warranty policy and yet are capable of fixing
about 70% of handsets with actual defects. An intriguing feature of the level 2 audience
is that their learning and certification activities can be conducted almost exclusively
online. We anticipate being able to reach and control 1600+ North American Level 2
Techs simultaneously for every new product release through the SystemSteps e-commu-
LEVEL 3 TECHS
nity, replacing large numbers of 2-day onsite classes conducted in previous years, which
0.9K TAM = $1.8M due to inadequate resources, did not reach everyone. Estimated charges for annual certi-
fication of individual level 2 Techs are in the $1K/yr range.
LEVEL 0.5 = CONSUMERS Level 3 - Certification Revenue: Full component repair. Most Level 3 Techs exist in
LEVEL 1 = NO Customer or 3rd party repair depots. Under our new certification agreement, for a flat
DISASSEMBLY REPAIRS rate reimbursement of $27/incident, including parts, regardless of defect, Level 3 shops
LEVEL 2 = NO SOLDERING are expected to complete each repair they start within 48 hrs or face a $56/incident
LEVEL 3 = COMPONENT charge if Motorola takes responsibility for the case. SystemSteps certification will be a
REPAIRS
blend of online and classroom instruction. The annual certification charge of $2.2K/
Tech includes one week of mandatory training and skills testing in our classrooms in
Texas.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 3
4. The Business Problem
COMPETITIVE OFFERINGS: No vendor or third party has captured this market. To date, Nokia and Ericsson have
posted limited e-support websites, but none with closed-loop, tracked interactivity and
certification support like SystemSteps.
SystemSteps also plays strongly in the intangible space of building mindshare, not only
in the Sales and Service communities, but potentially in the Consumer arena too. When-
ever anyone, anywhere, anytime, has a question about cellular, whether or not they actu-
ally own a Motorola cellular product - they will turn to Motorola for the authoritative
answer.
The Business Problem
Carrier Customers have shifted supply chain risk back to manufacturers
Carriers in the U.S. have successfully leveraged their volume buying power to force
handset vendors into consignment-like sales contracts that enable them to offer very
lenient returns policies to end users, yet insulate themselves against supply chain risk.
Any-return-within-30-days, no-questions-asked, new Customer adopter strategies at
Carriers like AT&T Wireless and Sprint allow them to compete primarily on airtime
price. Motorola’s contractual obligation to take back such returned handsets to our own
inventory, at full reimbursement in most cases, for up to a full year after initial sale,
gives U.S. Carriers license to engage in sloppy business practices like regional over-
stocking, wild volume speculation, marketing experimentation, etc. at little or no risk.
Rˆr†‡v‚)ÃXuh‡Ãv†Ã‡urÃp‚†‡Ã‚sÃIPUÃ…‚‰vqvtÃ
ƒr…s‚…€hprƈƒƒ‚…‡Ãs‚…Ãyr‰ryÃ$à ÃÉÃ!4ÃÃ
- Return Rates of as high as 19% in warranty period
- U.S. Warranty Base = 15M units
- 2.9 Million Returns in 2001 (min)
- 70% of Aggregate Returns are No Trouble Found
- Average Cost/Incident = $37 (not counting lost carrier revenue)
- $6.3M/Month in Unnecessary Cost!
Answer: NTF Returns on Motorola Phones last year cost us
and our Customers as much as $76M. .
4 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
5. The Quality Approach to Performance Management
Handset margins generally decrease every year and declining ASP curves have flat-
tened. In this environment, every cost is more visible. Carriers have demonstrated some
willingness recently to partner on service burden problems and are begining to under-
stand that they must implement point-of-sale repair or call center service interventions
to further cut costs. Our Customers are not stupid: They know these costs are being
passed back to them in one way or another as a component of future sales.
It is critical to the future of our business that we teach and control the behaviors of
everyone who can potentially return handsets or who is involved in fixing them.
To date, though, the cellular community has been hindered by the lack of a practical per-
formance management system. SystemSteps provides that support through a 24 X 7
online interactive presence that:
• Teaches
• Measures
• Supports
The Quality Approach to Performance Management
Quality system principles can be applied to performance management.
UNCONTROLLED What we do in our technical communications business today is generally an uncon-
KNOWLEDGE IS NOT A trolled process like 1-way paging: Students come to class, we send them service bulle-
QUALITY PROCESS tins and manuals, talk to them on the phone from time to time, and push supplementary
information at them in an outbound fashion, but we don’t always know:
• Did they truly learn what they need to know?
• Can they do the job we expect them to?
• Will they remember six months from now?
• Are they satisfying Customers?
• Did we waste their time with information of no value?
• Was our information timely?
• Are they improving daily?
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 5
6. The Quality Approach to Performance Management
Applying quality system discipline to performance management closes the loop and
yields the following:
W arranty 1+1= 3 Training
Payments
M etrics
$$
1+1= 3
Smart, on-time M etrics
Service!
Certification
GOOD PERFORMANCE But how to close the loop? . .
MANAGEMENT IS A 2-WAY
STREET This is not a new problem: As recently as ten years ago, various segments of American
business, mostly automotive and aerospace, recognized this as a problem and wrestled
with paper and some rudimentary computer solutions like Computer Based Training
(CBT) to step up the two-way flow of information and close the quality loop. Many of
these efforts were driven by safety or regulatory issues and supported by extensive
investment, some of it governmental.
Early practitioners of this art learned from their experiences to pick certification battles
carefully: For example, where product complexity is high, the audience restricted, the
product sales volume small and life-cycle short, it doesn’t make sense to invest in the
longer cycle time and expense of a knowledge control and validation program.
6 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
7. The Quality Approach to Performance Management
A REAL PERFORMANCE The Internet, though, changed many things as we all know, including the ability to
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM quickly offer and update knowledge and collect performance data from users - without
FEATURES: human intervention. Like most things technical, Internet tool sets and delivery media
become cheaper and easier to use over time so what we have now is a convergence of
utility and application that more easily brings practical closed loop performance sys-
tems to bear.
When is the Quality Approach to Performance Management most applicable? In situa-
tions where:
• Product complexity is minimal
• Sales volume is high
• The audience is geographically everywhere
• The red-ink, financial implications of not managing performance are very large
In short - our PCS business. . .
What are some of the key elements of our proposed PCS e-performance system? . . .
Elements that also develop mindshare and distinguish Motorola from our competitors?:
• Rich, E-commerce Personalization and Membership Features.
- The site constantly adapts to a User’s changing needs and pushes information
• E-Learning and Certification
- A Learning Management System that constantly refines the Learner’s knowledge
• Product Service Support
- Interactive service aids that make Technicians productive
• Test Equipment and Shop Support
- We need to take the mystery out of verifying handset quality and performance
• Product Support Tool (PST) Support
- Our inability to support common handset support software at the lowest levels of
our Customer base is a known problem
• Communities of practice
- Online places for our constituents to share valuable insights with Motorola and
each other
• Instant Information
- Solution builders that save time and dramatically cut call center volume
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 7
8. E-Learning
E-Learning
“WHEN A SERVICE GOES FROM Within PCS, there has traditionally been strong sentiment against learning as a sold ser-
FREE TO FEE-BASED, ONE MIGHT vice. Perhaps this is because the cost of training as a percentage of sales is smaller than
EXPECT RESISTANCE AND in Motorola’s infrastructure businesses, and is, as a result, more easily absorbed in the
RESENTMENT. YET, CUSTOMER sale. But the simple fact is that most U.S. corporations, even those that manufacture
SATISFACTION INCREASED WHEN
OEM product or other hard goods, are also in the business of selling their learning and
HONEYWELL/WSE REVERSED ITS
support efforts.
30-YEAR OLD PRACTICE OF
OFFERING FREE TRAINING TO
DEALERS’ TECHNICIANS.”
Other than being hindered by some outdated, institutionalized beliefs, however, we also
face two other nagging, value proposition hurdles:
HTTP://
• We’ve been giving away training and support for years
WWW.ELEARNINGMAG.COM/
ELEARNING/ARTICLE/ • Our competitors also give it away
ARTICLEDETAIL.JSP?ID=2984
“THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES
REPORTS THAT MORE THAN 10 It’s an old adage: “Something is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it. . “
MILLION STUDENTS ARE
ENROLLED IN COMMUNITY
So how do we turn this around? By making support mechanisms radically better and
COLLEGES, WITH 64 PERCENT OF
more accessible than our competitors - grabbing mindshare by being the information
STUDENTS TAKING CLASSES PART-
solution of choice - so good our Customers want to buy it. People buy products they
TIME. THESE PART-TIME
STUDENTS FIND IT CHALLENGING
know the most about. We need to guarantee they know Motorola best.
TO BALANCE THEIR BUSY
SCHEDULES WITH OBTAINING THE
TRAINING THEY NEED TO
SUCCEED IN TODAY’S BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT — ESPECIALLY IF
THEY HAVE TO GO TO A
TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM TO
RECEIVE INSTRUCTION. A MORE
CONVENIENT AND MANAGEABLE
WAY FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
STUDENTS TO ACHIEVE THEIR
EDUCATION AND CAREER GOALS
LIES IN E-LEARNING. E-
LEARNING GIVES STUDENTS THE
OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE
WHERE, WHEN AND HOW THEY
WANT TO LEARN. “
HTTP://
WWW.ELEARNINGMAG.COM/
ELEARNING/ARTICLE/
ARTICLEDETAIL.JSP?ID=4068
8 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
9. E-Learning
E-LEARNING ENABLES A 24 X 7 We don’t have much E-learning today. How are we training people?
KNOWLEDGE PRESENCE THAT
BRIDGES GEOGRAPHIC AND
In short, we’re not. . at least not enough.
TIME BOUNDARIES FOR
EVERYONE.
4XHVWLRQ :KDW ZRXOG LW WDNH IRU XV WR WUDLQ WKH
86 6DOHV6HUYLFH SRSXODWLRQ IDFHWRIDFH WR
/HYHO RQ HDU SURGXFW UHOHDVHV
Level I Learners Class Time
4 hrs/12 Students
New Phones
in 2001
= 1042 Wks
X X (22 Instr/Yrs)
X5K (min)
Class Time
16 hrs/12 Students
X25 Level II Learners
X X
= 1667 Wks
(34 Instr/Yrs)
. . . Answer: Total = 56 Instructor/Yrs
X2K
(platform instruction only)
Since we don’t have 50+ Instructors, we’re obviously not doing the training we should.
With E-learning though, we will. .
What is E-Learning?
Real E-Learning, like real E-Commerce, adapts to the user like a real Instructor. E-
Learning is not Computer-Based-Training (CBT). CBT had some limited assessment
ability through online testing, but it typically could not change its behavior in response
to user interaction. CBT should be considered obsolete. E-Learning has taken it’s place.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 9
10. E-Learning
A true E-Learning system simulates real world experiences.
In the above example, a V.120 assembly test which follows a disassembly learning exer-
cise, The level 2 candidate must correctly sequence, pick, and place each part in order
by dragging and dropping on top of the base assembly. Each interaction is timed and
correct/incorrect responses tracked.
An incorrect pick sequence causes a text message to appear,
An incorrect place sequence causes the part to revert to its original location. The learner
must repick it from the first location to try again.
10 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
11. E-Learning
E-Learning also adapts to what the user has
completed in previous sessions. For example,
the learning exercise for another product,
T270C, is comprised of eighteen individual
interactions which must be followed in
sequence the first time in order to achieve
completion. Note in this screen capture that
only completed interactions are in bold.
Incomplete interactions are grayed out.
Once a particular interaction has been suc-
cessfully completed, that specific learner can
access it randomly, via this pulldown, so in
effect, the learning program becomes a refer-
ence resource once training is done, without
compromising its initial learning integrity.
AICC IS THE STANDARD SystemSteps activities are database tracked for both place-keeping, relative student
FOR STUDENT DATA scoring, and future program development. That data can be passed, in industry standard
TRANSFER AICC (Aviation Industry CBT Committee) format, to other learning management sys-
tems (LMS), both Motorola and non-Motorola, to drive pay-for-performance programs.
The example below shows interaction duration and attempts/completes for student ID
253 during that student’s Level 2, T270 certification exercise. Eighteen interactions
HTTP://AICC.ORG make up the certification exercise, but the program has six more used in a support
capacity for a total of 24. Time is expressed in seconds.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 11
12. E-Learning
In SystemSteps final implementation, we do not intend to report numerical scores, for
legal reasons, to Students or Managers, only incomplete/complete in something like the
following format:
Several individual bubbles may make up a course of study in a particular area. A fully
certified Technician would, of course, see a green field of bubbles.
A Manager, in the Manager’s view, will see a single vertical column of bubbles for each
employee. Clicking on one particular bubble, say a yellow one in this view, will explode
it into it’s multiple component bubbles, which may be red, green, or yellow too. In this
way, it will be very easy for a Manager to compare certification status for all employees,
enterprise-wide.
12 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
13. Integration With Other Business Systems
Integration With Other Business Systems
A LESSON LEARNED: Here’s a fact: When Messaging Technical Training at Motorola was a sold service, but
UNLESS EVERY POTENTIAL the Tech Support line was given away at no-charge, Customers bypassed classes and got
SOURCE OF INFORMATION virtual training free on the Tech Support phone - sometimes for hours. However, once
IS ENCOMPASSED IN A Tech Support moved to contracted support, the balance was restored. In the migration
COMPANY’S SOLD from free to sold services, every aspect of the way we communicate with Customers
SERVICES STRATEGY -
must be integrated into the total value proposition or we will fail to generate revenue.
AND CHARGED FOR - THE
“FREE” SOURCE WILL GET
RUSHED, CAUSING To help us rope our support effort together, a very important feature of SystemSteps is
QUALITY ON BOTH THE its ability to integrate with other business elements like Call Centers, Order Entry,
SOLD AND FREE SIDES OF Financials, etc, so that the way a Customer interacts with other Motorola systems deter-
THE FENCE TO SUFFER. mines, in part, the way we interact with them.
SystemSteps is built with common, off-the-shelf, e-commerce tools that read and write
any SQL or ODBC database, so it becomes practical to integrate it with Oracle ERP,
Clarify, Seibel, TCOPS, Informix, or any of the other, myriad, database-driven systems
that abound in Motorola. Customer interaction with these external data sources then
helps drive automatic customization of the SystemSteps learning experience.
Let’s take this database thinking to the next logical step: In its current incarnation, for
example, SystemSteps uses Sequel to store e-commerce data and Oracle to store Learn-
ing Management System data. Such local database robustness gives us the ability to
fetch, sort, and analyze data from other systems ahead of time to help us - and this is key
to the managed experience - anticipate Customer needs.
Likewise, our site can pass outbound data too. This could be as simple as SystemSteps
student certification status sent on demand to call centers to help guide Customer con-
versations.
The value of connecting a Learning and Solutions system to other business systems
should be obvious: Now, in addition to having clear verification of a Technician’s skills
and knowledge, we also gain awareness, in real time, of how that Student is using, or
failing to use, that knowledge in daily activities. This is how we close the loop between
knowledge and performance - in a nutshell, performance management.
The “Performance Managed” Experience
Life becomes simpler in a performance managed experience. You no longer have to
guess which information is relevant because it’s handed out at exactly the right time:
• More information is pushed to you rather than having to be searched for and pulled.
You don’t have to go looking for it.
• Personal aspects of other business activities like warranty claims filing, parts orders,
call center calls, etc. are monitored to determine which information is most relevant
to you at any given time.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 13
14. The “Performance Managed” Experience
• The total amount of information transferred to you actually decreases because it’s
better information.
• Learning retention is less important. Answers are always available.
The line between knowledge transfer and traditional information resources blurs: You
may be told how to do something at the time you’re actually doing it, rather than be bur-
dened with learning it ahead of time.
The managed experience is having a friendly teacher over your shoulder. . “Show me!”
Start your day here: is the most important part of “Teach me.”
Here’s what a day in your performance managed experience might look like:
THE EMPLOYEE SEES THE Notifications appear in red on each individual’s SystemSteps home page:
DAY’S SYSTEMSTEPS
SERVICE NOTIFICATIONS
WHEN FIRST ACCESSING
THE SYSTEM
FOLLOW UP ON Notifications are acted upon. In this case, updated software must be downloaded to
NOTIFICATIONS make a specific handset carrier compliant.
Software Download in
Progress: 65%
Version 2000.08.B9.00
14 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
15. The “Performance Managed” Experience
BEGIN WORK WITH While performing repairs, online claims are filled out and automatically submitted for
UPDATED, CORRECT warranty reimbursement.
PROCESSES
Insert claims capture
WHAT YOU NEED IS As you begin working on specific handsets, service information you may need, but have
PUSHED AT YOU JUST not previously accessed, is pushed to you - in this case, a Customer Service Bulletin for
WHEN YOU NEED IT the phone you’ve started fixing.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 15
16. The “Performance Managed” Experience
ADVANCED ELECTRONIC Online, electronic service aids, like this 270C, interactive schematic/component locator,
SERVICE AIDS ARE THERE dramatically increase productivity, replacing conventional paper documents in ways not
WHEN YOU NEED THEM practical even five years ago. For example, as the cursor rolls over each part, its part
number, schematic designator, and description pop near the top of the screen.
When the highlighted part is clicked, you are immediately taken to that area of the sche-
matic, where the part is also highlighted. If you click on another schematic part, you’re
taken back to the PC board overlay - full, round-trip navigation!
16 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
17. The “Performance Managed” Experience
ONLINE LEARNING IS FUN This learning exercise can be completed in about half an hour. Like most instructional
AND CAN BE DONE IN modules for adult learners, it contains roughly five major concepts which are easy to
SHORT INTERVALS; OVER remember and which naturally lead into the next learning module in your learning road-
LUNCH OR DURING map.
BREAKS, FOR INSTANCE
With the screws removed, carefully lift the back cover.
COMMUNITIES OF When you encounter a tough problem, there’s a good chance someone else has already
PRACTICE ALLOW solved it. Searchable solutions help fix things fast, and are ordered by the search engine
TECHNICIANS TO SHARE for applicability. You can enter solutions too. .
ANSWERS WITH EACH
OTHER
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 17
18. The “Performance Managed” Experience
Here’s a case where a solution is available that exactly answers your question. No need
to call Tech Support.
LIVE, ONLINE SESSIONS Tools like NetMeeting or Webex deliver short, informative sessions to a broad audience
CAN BE SCHEDULED AND for quick, timely updates that include the ability to interact with other users and ask
DELIVERED ON A questions.
MOMENT’S NOTICE
Feedback can be captured as a solution for future reference. . .
18 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
19. The “Performance Managed” Experience
YOUR WORK DAY IS NOW When you use all the tools at your disposal, even though some time is expended, the
MORE PRODUCTIVE. LESS return on your investment is more than recovered by faster troubleshooting, less mis-
MISTAKES MEAN FASTER takes, and reduced risk of “overworking” or damaging a phone.
THROUGHPUT AND LOWER
COST
CHANGE NOTICES CAN BE When we release changes or mandatory fixes, particularly those affecting safety, the
QUICKLY EMAILED TO ANY entire service community can be e-mail alerted within minutes. In the past, it took sev-
AUDIENCE SEGMENT. eral days and a couple thousand stamps to send Customer Service Bulletins by snail-
mail.
TOUGH PROBLEM? CALL Tech Support via telephone is bundled with your annual Sys-
TECH SUPPORT. temSteps subscription, so you can get to a live person during
normal business hours when all else fails.
When Tech Support discovers a new solution, it can be pushed
to the field quickly. All Tech Support CSRs have SystemSteps
web publishing capability.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 19
20. The “Performance Managed” Experience
PERFORMANCE ALERT! SystemSteps constantly monitors a Technician’s activities. Because it knows how to
correct certain problems, when something goes haywire the site will try to set it straight.
Remediation can be as simple as a warning, or as complicated as temporary certification
suspension until specific classes are taken.
END OF THE DAY. HOW DID There are three significant performance indicators for service. Absolute numbers can be
I DO? presented, or a simple gas gauge visual can be used to show performance relative to
peers.
20 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
21. E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve
E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve
E-Learning and performance support is like any technology upgrade: New tools and
skills have to be developed. In the case of SystemSteps, core skills are in place in PCS
Technical Communication. As a result, most of the underlying server and database
infrastructure is complete.
The task ahead of us then is to develop the ability of the organization as a whole to
author interactive learning and other web content. This isn’t trivial, though the total
costs tend to weigh more in terms of learning curve time than on tool acquisition
expense. Moving from office paper to online “glass” delivery is organizationally about
like the transition from Secretaries to Microsoft Word or desktop publishing. The tools
are significantly more complex, though it is possible to speed up productivity by using
pre-canned forms, templates, learning objects and the like. The SystemSteps team has
developed enough of these to seed a general ramp-up.
The full tool-set doesn’t have to implemented at once: The illustration below shows
how Customer experience improves as functionality is added. Start at the bottom. . .
At this point, the core SystemSteps team has achieved functionality shown above with
the exception of “Connections to Business Systems”.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 21
22. E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve
The following chart illustrates our content development toolset and the approximate
learning curves a typical user might experience.
Developing interactive, online applications takes significantly longer than putting
together a simple Powerpoint presentation, as you might imagine.
TYPICAL BUSINESS The time it takes to create presentation materials for different venues is well understood
PRESENTATION 6:1 in the learning and development community. To start: A simple business presentation
DEVELOPMENT/DELIVERY takes roughly six hours of development for every hour of presentation.
RATIO
Development of platform class materials in a subscriber device technical training envi-
ronment like PCS, is benchmarked around 40:1 for a completely new technology or
product. In situations where materials are being updated or course development is incre-
mental to existing materials, we at Motorola generally commit development cycles at
20:1, so to get the full picture; for every hour of classtime, there is at least twenty hours
of course research and development, sometimes more.
When it comes to interactive course development for online delivery, the whole picture
changes because of a couple key drivers:
PLATFORM CLASS • We must accommodate the fact that Students no longer interact directly with the
DEVELOPMENT/DELIVERY Instructor.
RATIO = 20-40:1
• Instructional system responses to incorrect answers or interactions are more com-
plex than the reaction to correct answers: The number of wrong things you can do -
and they have to be accounted for - almost always exceeds the number of right
things.
• Because this is a software product, software test and quality assurance processes
consume as much as 50% of the total development effort.
• Integration of the final program into the web environment usually takes about 10%
of the team’s time.
INTERACTIVE There are examples in the aviation simulation business of development cycles over
DEVELOPMENT = 120:1 1000:1, but we use the IBM benchmark of 120:1 for our efforts. Another industry
DEVELOPMENT/DELIVERY benchmark worthy of note is that interactive instruction tends to run about 40% more
RATIO effective than classroom instruction. What does that mean? . . It means an average
learner tends to acquire around 40% more knowledge in the same amount of time, or
will learn equivalent material in 60% of the time spent in a regular class.
So why expend the time developing interactive solutions? Because remember, a live
person will never have to teach that particular course again. All the human effort is up
front and students can then make use of the learning event whenever they want, wher-
ever they want - and one at a time too.
Once a program is developed, it must be implemented on a website. Tools used to inte-
grate interactive content into the web environment are becoming more pervasive as cor-
porations deploy more web content for internal communications: Even simple email
often contains HTML or Flash content. Development applications range from simple
HTML editors to full-blown, collaborative scripting tools.
22 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
23. Instructional Authoring
• AuthorWare
• Icon Author
2D Illustration • Director
• Illustrator • Toolbook
• CorelDraw
• Canvas 0 Learning Curve in Months 6 To WWW
• Designer Cost/Seat = $2.2K
SystemSteps/Colleagues®
E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve
0 Learning Curve in Months 6
Video Editing
Cost/Seat = $.4K • Video Action NT
• Speed Razor
3D Modeling • Premiere
• Pro-E
• SolidWorks Video Compression
• AutoCad • Media Cleaner Pro
• Rhino
0 Learning Curve in Months 6
Cost/Seat = $.5K (1 seat only)
The Interactive Instructional Development Toolbox
(PCS preferred tools in bold)
0 Learning Curve in Months 6
Cost/Seat = $.7K - 3.2K
0 Learning Curve in Months 6
Cost/Seat = $1.1K (1 seat only)
Animation/Simulation
• 3D Studio MAX
• Lightwave
• Maya
• Stratavision Bitmap Editor
• ElectricImage • Photoshop
• SoftImage • Paintshop Pro
• Photopaint
0 Learning Curve in Months 6
Cost/Seat = $2.8K 0 Learning Curve in Months 6
Cost/Seat = $.6K
23
24. E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve
Underpinning the entire SystemSteps business is a robust, Microsoft e-commerce
implementation on redundant, multiple servers, both development and public, in Texas
and at mot.com in Illinois.
To start, the group investigated with several local ISPs/Development houses, a strategy
to implement not only the extensive set of personalization and membership (PM) fea-
tures that govern the user experience, but also a method to integrate learning manage-
ment system (LMS) features in the Microsoft environment that Motorola corporate IT
had standardized on.
What we discovered was that, even in the most sophisticated e-commerce development
houses like Data Return, the Microsoft affiliate that hosts radioshack.com, there was no
prior experience in performance management sites, only in online storefront kinds of
operations. We would essentially pay for a consultant’s learning curve had we continued
on that path.
Because the Motorola SystemSteps team came from a large system background with
extensive UNIX and Microsoft server knowledge, as well as database design and
administration, we decided to develop the necessary competencies internally. In short,
we could not find anyone that knew much more than we already did.
Around the same time, eighteen months ago, a cross-sector team of senior technical
training and documentation managers in all Motorola sectors convened to explore best
and common practices in all of Motorola worldwide. One of the working committees
focused on e-learning. That team determined that, for most sectors, audiences were
smaller than PCS, appropriate interactive programs longer but less complex, and the
technical sophistication - particularly in the infrastructure businesses - of the partici-
pants much higher. This drove those sectors to deploy a solution through a third party e-
learning company, Docent, that was moderately expensive on a per-seat basis; but which
was easily tolerated in these cases because entire learning programs can top $20K/Stu-
dent. The cost of Docent services became almost invisible.
Because PCS was already well down the SystemSteps development path, we decided to
opt out of paying for external services which we felt our audience would be unlikely to
tolerate. Also, Docent did not have the ability to implement other performance manage-
ment features we knew our constituency would demand.
The learning curve for this toolset is very long: After eighteen months, there are many
idiosyncrasies of SiteServer - typical of Microsoft products - which are counterintuitive
and demand extensive research to overcome. The integrated feature set of the site as it
stands today has not, to our knowledge, been successfully implemented by anyone.
Database connectivity between the LMS and the rest of the site is also unique. Now that
SystemSteps is available for other sectors to use, they are reevaluating its implementa-
tion in their businesses.
The chart on the next page illustrates the software layers in the site and the functionality
those layers enable.
24 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
25. E-Performance Tools and the Learning Curve
SystemSteps E-Commerce Website Toolset
X2
· Learning Management System Data
· Personalization Membership Data
· DbaseManaged Online Content
Oracle 8
Microsoft SQL Server
WWW Users
Shop, User, Technology, Product Mgmt. Database Servers
· Learning Management System (LMS)
· Personalized Content Push
· Interactive Learning Ref
· AuthorWare, pdf, HTML SystemSteps
Flash, Powerpoint Web Applications
X2
E-Commerce WWW Engine
· Personalization Membership
· AI Search Engine
· Publishing
· Direct Mail Site Server
· Development Tool Support
· Front Page Server Xtns
· Visual Studio Server Xtns
· Office Server Xtns
Basic WWW Functionality Windows 2000
FTP/Email/Search/News Internet Information Server
Windows 2000 Advanced
Server E-Commerce
Core High-Availability
Server Functionality Windows 2000 Advanced Server
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 25
26. Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
The next few pages outline the curriculum roadmap that SystemSteps participants will
see at each of the three levels. Keep in mind the entire roadmap is carried across all lev-
els. For example, level 3 Techs must demonstrate Level 2 and Level 1 proficiencies.
Level 2 Techs must have Level 1 skills too, etc. .
ADULTS LEARN BEST IN From earlier sections, keep in mind that SystemSteps online learning modules are
SESSIONS 45 MINS WITH intended for adults who learn best in short sessions, with only a few key concepts that
NO MORE THAN FIVE must be retained long-term. This is consistent with current, just-in-time, learning princi-
MAJOR CONCEPTS IN A ples and has a proven track record of working, even in platform delivery.
GIVEN MODULE
Note the bubble states: In the final design we intend to present elements that are planned
but not developed as gray, rather than not include them at all. The team concluded that
setting Customer expectations in this way was more appropriate than constantly adding
new elements in the middle of an existing flow.
Again, Red = not started. Yellow = started/incomplete. Green = completed
26 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
27. Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
Page 2 of the total curriculum roadmap is shown below.
Bubble states in these sample pages are set for example only. Currently, only the
Level 2, 270c and V.120c disassembly/reassembly programs are complete.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 27
28. Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
The bulk of Level 3 prerequisite training is contained in the next few illustrations.
Online Level 3 content is tailored to inculturate Technicians prior to coming to class for
platform instruction. Experience has proven that many attendees are poorly prepared for
fact-to-face instruction and lab exercises, knowing little to nothing in some cases about
test equipment use, RF fundamentals, basic receiver/transmitter architecture, etc.
Better online intervention ahead of class will level the playing field and permit the
Instructors to concentrate on the kind of practical lab exercises Students need to be suc-
cessful.
28 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
29. Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
Level 3 screens continued below.
In the final version, the team has discussed taking out some of the space between bub-
bles and presenting the labels as rollover text, in order to present the entire roadmap on
fewer HTML pages.
Also in the final version will be the option to display only incomplete activities -- again
to save space.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 29
30. Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
At this point, the roadmap is defined around specific product architectures.
The roadmap shows all technologies, but depending on carrier/technology affilliations
on the part of a particular Technician, not all elements may be visible.
30 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
31. Proposed SystemSteps Curriculum
This concludes the curriculum roadmap as currently envisioned.
Our Instructional Designers use a specific template that combines needs assessment,
learning activities, and anticipated outcome on a single form. Those forms are included
in this document as appendix “A”
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 31
32. Current State of SystemSteps
Current State of SystemSteps
There are eight major components of SystemSteps in various stages of completion as
shown on the opposing page.
HARDWARE Servers to support the entire SystemSteps program are in place and fully functional in
both Texas and northern Illinois. The Texas development site is comprised of four,
Compaq 5500/6500 servers with Raid 5 fault protection. All of this hardware was
reclaimed from other businesses. None of it was purchased new for this program.
Approximately $15K remains in capital depreciation on one server.
The mot.com staging and live sites for SystemSteps are integral to the rest of the
mot.com presence in northern Illinois. No additional hardware is required at this time.
Should our traffic increase to the point where more physical servers are needed, the cost
will be supported by SystemSteps sold services revenue. Hosting charges are estimated
at $1.2K/month. As we move closer to final rollout, there will be minimal setup charges,
in about the $2K range, from corporate IT, that we will control by using SystemSteps
project members to help in hosting tasks.
MICROSOFT WINDOWS This basic component of our environment is fully loaded, configured and complete on
2000 ADVANCED SERVER all servers. Due to a change in Microsoft/Motorola site licensing arrangements, we will
incur a one-time, $8K software licensing charge in 2002 to make all servers fully com-
pliant with Microsoft’s new requirements.
MICROSOFT INTERNET IIS lives immediately above the core Microsoft server components. IIS provides basic
INFORMATION SERVER (IIS) internet server capability below the e-commerce line. All IIS features are fully enabled
and configured with the exception of migrating current logon accounts from Microsoft
Access, the flat database used as the default by IIS, to Microsoft SQL Server, the rela-
tional database that will be shared by both IIS and SiteServer.
SITESERVER SiteServer administers most aspects of what is considered the e-commerce experience.
SiteServer is fully licensed and installed. Note, however, that a significant amount of
SiteServer scripting for Personalization and Membership (PM) services remains to be
done. PM functions interact with and affect not only SiteServer, but the Learning
Management System (LMS) and some IIS email services too. Its effects are so perva-
sive that elaboration on specific SiteServer features are covered in PM and LMS sec-
tions of this document. We anticipate approximately fifty person/days to complete these
server-side enhancements. There is no capital expense associated with this activity
SQL SERVER Microsoft SQL Server is fully installed and configured. Currently, there are slightly
under 400 user accounts on SystemSteps that need to be migrated to the SQL database
to support full PM functionality. Microsoft supplies utilities for this purpose, but we
have not yet had success using them. Our estimate is no more than four days to com-
plete this task
32 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
33. Current State of SystemSteps
SystemSteps Development Status: 2/20/02
Content
Total resources needed to complete
· Learning 5% Complete
e-commerce support functions and
replace current, static
· Software Delivery Part of PM Functionality
Systemsteps support site:
· Server Side = 55 person/days · Glass Manuals 12% Complete for P2K Products
· App Side = 60 person/days
· Capital = $0 · Solution Builder 85% Complete as discussion groups
· Expense = $8K software
Live site available for external
test users 5/15
Learning Management 25% Complete
System (LMS)
Personalization Membership Features:
· Shop Maintenance (complete)
· Course maintenance (complete)
· User maintenance (25 days)
Oracle 8 · Curriculum maintenance (5 days)
Server Side Tasks:
· mot.com LDAP sign-on with · Certification status (5 days)
PM final test · Shop Manager screens (5 days)
· Export membership data to · Test Equipment screens (3 days)
Microsoft SQL
· SiteServer admin screens Microsoft SQL Server
· Direct e-mail
· Configure staging and production
servers at mot.com
Site Server 10% Complete
100% complete. No further
Development and Windows 2000 resources needed.
Production Sites Internet Information Server
Final publish to mot.com = 2
person/days.
Development and
Production Sites
Windows 2000 Advanced Server Need $8K in W2K
Advanced Server Licenses to
be compliant with new
standards
Development and Server Hardware 100% complete. No further
Production Sites
resources needed.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 33
34. Current State of SystemSteps
SQL SERVER Servers must have a database to store account and permissions data. By default,
Microsoft provides a small Access database with its server products for this function.
Access is a “flat” database, non-relational, that cannot accomodate personalization and
membership relational data, so in keeping with Microsoft products, in upgrading to e-
commerce, SiteServer typically uses Microsoft SQL Server, which is very similar to
Oracle, to enable this kind of more sophisticated functionality.
SQL Server is fully installed and configured in our system. It’s structure, though, is con-
stantly being revised as PM functionality is increased.
ORACLE 8 Oracle drives the learning management system, including Customer account, regional
information, facility, student, curriculum, certification and other features. Oracle is fully
installed. LMS development does, however, alter its content and structure daily.
LEARNING MANAGEMENT We estimate another 55 days to complete all LMS features. The SystemSteps team has
SYSTEM been challenged many times on why we did not choose to host our site with an outside
vendor with LMS capability, like Docent, used by GTSS for its first CBT program.
Companies like Docent, who specialize in projects like SystemSteps, charge in the $50/
student range for rudimentary LMS functionality, and apply moderately expensive
charges to incorporate customized items like the Motorola logo, etc. Beyond simple
upgrades, however, charges begin to sharply escalate.
It is not practical for an LMS vendor to incorporate other Motorola-specific perfor-
mance management features like software downloads, online tools etc. -- at least not at
reasonable expense, so even if external pricing was more attractive short-term, going
outside would end up for us a dead-end solution. Since we will have invested about
$90K, almost exclusively in time, to develop our own LMS with the tools we need,
how does that stack up compared to Docent? .
The breakeven point for our particular investment compared with Docent, for example,
is around 1800 Students - far less than the 10K+ we believe are out there as a baseline
Technician population in the cellular subscriber business. Without considering the addi-
tional functionality in the SystemSteps LMS, the simple fact that with 10K subscribers,
our cost drops to $9.00/student, is solid validation that our decision to invest in our own
program up front was the right one for us.
To save cost in other sectors, any Motorola group is welcome to use SystemSteps or any
of its components as they see fit.
SITE ADMINISTRATION Account information in SiteServer is closely tied through PM functionality to the
FEATURES LMS, so it is not apparent to someone interacting with administration features at higher
levels exactly which site elements are actually being affected.
Administration is designed so any Instructor or clerical associate can keep the site cur-
rent without IT help. Some PM elements are designed for self-declaration; a shop
Manager or even a Student can update limited fields in their respective profiles.
This is what someone with site-wide administration priveleges sees:
34 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
35. Current State of SystemSteps
This is the uppermost level of all personaliztion and membership features.
Click here to go here
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 35
36. Current State of SystemSteps
Shop Data can be applied globally to all Technicians assigned to that particular shop.
36 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
37. Current State of SystemSteps
Any changes are logged:
Course modules, whether online or live platform instruction are added in this screen:
The LMS uses
sequence numbers
to put course
status bubbles in
order on the user
view of curriculum
flow.
When courses
expire, they
disappear from the
curriculum flow
view.
SystemSteps/Colleagues® 37
38. Current State of SystemSteps
PERSONALIZATION AND The illustration on the opposing page shows PM features in the first SystemSteps
MEMBERSHIP HEIRARCHY release. Those elements are defined in decending heirarchal order as:
• CORPORATE ENTITY Corporate entities are umbrella organizations Motorola does business with - a Verizon
or Cingular. At this level, our general business agreements, contracts, POs, etc. would
be administered.
• REGION Most corporate entities have regional variations in their business practices that System-
Steps has to accomodate. Regions may or may not have actual facilities and people that
are directly a part of them. Generally they appear like mini-corporate entities in the U.S.
carrier base.
• SITE Sites, in our heirarchy, are always physical locations with SystemSteps members in
them. Site Managers have some account administration privleges for their direct reports
like add/drop members, examine certification status, etc.
AFFINITIES
• LEVELS Access to higher levels, and this should be fairly self-explanatory, enables access to
more detailed and sensitive information depending on skill level or organizational align-
ment.
• TECHNOLOGY Organizations and members may declare technology affinities themselves in order to
gain access to information on products that may not be in their immediate portfolios,
though typically, we would charge for such access. At initial sign-up, however, our
Training Coordinator would set these affinities for them.
• TEST EQUIPMENT Shops typically try to standardize test equipment setups and don’t want every Techni-
cian to have access to that kind of information. This affinity allows shop Managers to
grant access for only certain lead Technicians or test equipment specialists.
• PRODUCTS Product affinities are a series of fields that is quite large and is shown on page 38. These
fields are self-declared. While it may be intriguing to some to declare an affinity for all
products, the performance management monitoring process would then enforce the
reading of CSBs, online courses, etc. In short- if you tell us you work on a particular
product, SystemSteps will make sure you know how.
• CERTIFICATION SystemSteps certification is a combination of shop/person capabilities. These fields per-
mit us to grant varying states of partial certification depending on the factors shown.
Conditional states can be set for a shop or person that may have been fully certified at
one time, but which has failed to complete some recent certification requirement on
time.
38 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
39. Personalization and Membership
Affinities
Heirarchy
Affinities are what allow a website to interact, on-the-fly, with Customers on a
personal basis. Affinities allow Motorola, Customers and Users to tailor the online
experience to specific needs and business conditions. Depending on which
affinity points are checked in a User’s profile, they will see more, less, or specific
information. In addition, as performance improves or degrades, only the
appropriate kind of remediation will be required.
Affinities also save work because important, but incremental, changes and short
Heirarchy Notes: bursts of information can be pushed automatically to specific individuals, in small
or large groups.
• Heirarchal structure is -
- organizational
- geographical Levels:
- personal Certification: Customer Aff
• Public • None
• Different business rules can be applied to any component of the • Level 1 • In Process
SystemSteps/Colleagues®
Customer base, ie: • Level 2 • Will Not Be
• Level 3
Current State of SystemSteps
- logos • Used to Be
DUULHU '
- software/configuration • Level 4 • Certified
- special service actions • Content Developer/Owner • Conditional State 1
• Administrator • Conditional State 2
• Some sites may be corporate, bypassing other regions
0HPEHU • No Pay 9$5
• Different levels of a Corporate entity can administer the activities of • Shop Failure
Technology:
subordinates or subsidiaries 0HPEHU • 1-way Paging 'HDOHU
• 2-way Messaging Performance Management:
• General • Productivity
6LWH 0HPEHU • Analog • Bounce Rate
• TDMA • Return to Manufacturer (RTM)
5HJLRQ 6LWH 0HPEHU • CDMA/1X/CDMA2000 • Swap Rate
• GSM/GPRS • Calls to Call Center
• 3G/4G • Claims Filing Quality
6LWH 0HPEHU • Bluetooth/802.11 • Parts Use/Cost
• Support Tools • SuperTech Achievement
RUSRUDWH • Software/Applications • Advanced Forum Access
5HJLRQ • Physical Repair • Gold Stars
(QLWLW
Test Equipment:
• Basic Bench Other Website Business Features
5HJLRQ • GATE/Autotest
• Call Test • Claims Reimbursement
• Calibration Correlation
• Online Forums
• Reporting In/Out
6LWH • AAD
Products:
• By Model # • Call Center Cases
• Search by ESN Utility • Billing/Payment Data
0HPEHU
39
40. SystemSteps Site Development Timeline
• PERFORMANCE Factors in the performance management list each have a positive and negative metric
MANAGEMENT which can be used to affect pay-for-performance. Some of these affinities will be
numerically computed from other business systems. This is the only family of affinities
that does not consist of binary values.
Another interesting concept is to apply basic artificial intelligence to evaluate perfor-
mance management states to alter when and how members are rewarded or remediated.
• CUSTOMER AFFINITIES The nature of the sales channel in U.S. carrier markets makes for strange bedfellows. .
Handsets find their way to consumers through various distribution channels that may
serve several masters. VARs and dealers sell product from most manufacturers and on
different carriers, putting their interests in occasional opposition to those of Motorola
and our direct customers.
It is extremely important, for the sake of data security, to define which part of the distri-
bution foodchain a particular entity belongs to so we can limit self-declared affinities.
For example; we don’t want a Verizon/Alltel dealer to self-declare an affinity for ATT
information.
SystemSteps Site Development Timeline
In this proposal, we’ll treat the timelines for e-commerce site development and learning
content development separately. We do this because e-commerce site development is a
finite project that will soon enter maintenance/upgrade modes, where learning content
evolves constantly, and in fact will pick up dramatically once the site is posted. The site
is a sandbox and all the content developers players in it. .
The illustration on the next page reflects the fully loaded cost of the two developers cur-
rently on the project. By July, with only the U.S. base of around 1200 Technicians, we
will begin to generate positive revenue.
We can then fund more learning content development with additional headcount in a
pay-as-we-go system. Because we’re bundling test equipment support, live instruction,
and call center support along with SystemSteps online presence, the entire value propo-
sition is strong enough out of the box to spark enrollment without a complete curricu-
lum, even if at reduced pricing for the first year.
40 SystemSteps/Colleagues®
41. Year 2002 SystemSteps Development Timeline
+20 members +120 members
Fully loaded development cost
($17K) ($17K) ($17K) ($17K) ($17K) ($17K) ($17K) ($13.5K) $1.75K
SystemSteps/Colleagues®
SystemSteps Site Development Timeline
ay
ar
g
r
b
n
p
n
l
Ap
Ju
Au
Ju
Fe
Ja
Se
M
M
Design PM Feature
LMS
Design Enhancements
60 Days 15 days 10% complete Extensive First Revenue
Design New Testing
Site 35% 30 Days Beta Customer
Complete Complete 0% Testing and
LMS Data Load complete Design revision
60 days 10% Complete 45 Days 0%
complete
Move to
mot.com
3 days
20% Email
complete Formal
Functions Corp. Announcement
Implemented Security 2 Days 0% complete
NT Server Testing
e-commerce for Direct 1 day 0%
version in TX Mail complete
Complete Connect to 10 Days 1%
Oracle. And SQL
Start complete
business rules
5 Days 10% complete (Days are in people days)
41
42. Re-allocation of Resources
Re-allocation of Resources
THERE ARE MANY OTHER The revenue opportunity in SystemSteps begins with delivery of support information,
TECHNICAL but that opportunity grows exponentially by adding instructional content for sale to a
COMMUNICATORS broader audience.
AROUND THE WORLD
CAPABLE OF MOVING TO Initial release of the fully functional site for beta testing, with mature PM features,
ONLINE DELIVERY.
will be in June. From there, we intend to shift the focus of the two site developers and
our other two platform developers to instructional content, but the greatest opportunity
to expand depends on the successful migration of other technical communicators,
Authoring Learning Curve
worldwide, from paper production to the SystemSteps environment. This is not particu-
Start 0 larly expensive from a capital standpoint, as illustrated earlier, but such a transformation
requires dedication and a willingness to learn, along with some learning curve time.
Like all techology migrations, it requires fortitude to accept and fund the change.
Basic
AuthorWare
30 days If all Service team members currently producing platform learning and paper documen-
Advanced tation worldwide shifted to developing in the single, SystemSteps environment - sup-
AuthorWare
ported by tools we’ve already customized and implemented in Texas - PCS would
produce much more effective and timely media at significantly lower cost of delivery
Authoring at
200:1
60 days per Customer. So where are these Technical Communicators?
TABLE 1. PCS Technical Communications Activities
Authoring at
150:1 90 days Dept. HC Activities
BB810/811 9 PCS Technical Communications. Instruction and Call
Center support. Platform instruction, service docs,
Authoring at online solutions, interactive development. E-business.
120:1
120 days SystemSteps owners.
EU501 18 ITC - User Guides, messaging technical docs. Paper
based. No interactive delivery at this time. Strong print/
graphics skills.
BB213 2 TDMA/3G International Service Engineering. Platform
Instruction/Service Docs. No interactive delivery
BB215 2 CDMA Service Support. Limited Platform Instruction.
Service docs. No interactive delivery
YE134 1 GSM Service Support. Platform Delivery. No interactive
delivery
YI453 1 GSM Service Support. Documentation. No interactive
delivery
Latin America 16 Doc translation, platform instruction. No interactive
delivery
Note that Asia is not shown as it is mostly supported by EMEA at this time. Long-term,
local assets must eventually be put into place to create regional strength.
Intially, not all this bandwidth can be channeled into online delivery, but redirecting a
portion of it, around half, would yield a complete support site plus thirteen hours of
instructional content and Spanish language support as shown on the next page.
42 SystemSteps/Colleagues®