Managing The Database and Organising Work Priority

Overview

In TOT Shirts, the fundamental tool used for organising our workload, is Strokeone with its differing layouts that list tasks required by each department.

This topic outlines the importance of record keeping in Strokeone.

 

Detail

There are at least two critical pieces of information for every record on a layout:-

Our success within this industry is based on our ability to turn around orders quickly, accurately and to a high standard.

 

To do this, it is essential that the information within each layout is:-

Reviewed constantly to ensure that it is both accurate and complete.

Managed as circumstances, and/or workload alter.

It is crucial that all staff understand the dependencies that departments have on each other and thus the information they are responsible for.

 

Departmental Responsibilities

Department managers are responsible to continually monitor and manage information in the internal database.

Within Strokeone, the workload required for each department is organised into a series of automated found sets and sorts of data to present a meaningful list of tasks that need to be undertaken by a given date.

At the start of any shift, this list should be viewed as the tasks required to be completed during the shift.

The objective is to process all the work on the list for that day so that it is all in a completed state by the end of the shift.  Upon completing the day list, the next day’s list should be examined, organised and prioritised, so that it is prepared as much as possible. Similarly, future days’ work should be examined to get an indicative sense of expected workload. The underlying objective is to be as pro-active as possible given current information.

 

If after doing the above there is still time in the shift, then it is good business practice to undertake future dated tasks to “be ahead of the game.”
However, due to the dynamic nature of how we work, during any given day, other staff members will:-

This will, by definition, alter the work lists.

 

Additionally, during the shift, there may be examples where for varying reasons it proves difficult to fully complete a task by the required deadline.

In such circumstances, as soon as possible you are responsible for:-

The measures taken will vary depending on the specific situation and client, but what is essential is that you recognise your responsibilities :-

In short: It is your responsibility to ensure the data is managed so that it provides an accurate representation of the current status of the progress of the workload required from your department. You and your staff need to be fully aware of how to accurately record this in the system.

 

 

Notes:

  1. On occasions, the above pro-active management of records may result in orphaned and or redundant records.  It is your responsibility to research and deal with these.

  2. Additionally, there may be occasions, where example/test jobs are created in the system for testing / training purposes, or due to system bugs. In such cases, you are responsible for being aware of these occurrences, and reacting accordingly. This may involve amending records or deleting them as applicable.

 

Associated Responsibilities

It is important to understand that your responsibilities as managers are not constrained to the management of the daily work lists.
You are also responsible for the associated range of tasks, activities, data and staff associated to your department. For example:-

 

It is worth noting that Training is the one activity that is not directly customer driven, and thus not driven by standard work lists, but it is nonetheless an essential part of department activity to ensure that staff are fully trained and aware of their responsibilities, so that customer requirements can be met accurately and efficiently.