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Silver-OwlKeeping an informed eye
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Our valuesBe straightforward
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Q10.2
Why is Silver-Owl different to many other Project Management tools on the market?
Q9.1
Q9.2
Q10.3
Q10.6
What happens if two people try to change the same piece of information at the same time?
Q1.1
Q1.2
Why do I have to organise my projects into Business and Domain?
Q1.3
Q1.4
Q1.5
Filling in all these dates is a real pain - do I have to do it and is there an easier way?
Q4.1
Q4.2
What's the difference between the Actionee and the Action Owner?
Q4.3
Why can actions be given to customers. Surely that's not right!
Q4.4
Q6.1
Work Management seems to be related only to Software and IT work. Can it be used for other things?
Q6.2
What happens if a work item is signed off but then it turns out that there was a problem?
Q7.1
Q7.2
What is that picture of someone singing on your website all about?
Q7.3
How many levels are there in the Project hierarchy?
A Project sits below two other levels. These are used to organise projects in reports, and to help you to select projects by reducing the lists.
Why do I have to organise my projects into Business and Domain?
'Business' and 'Domain' are the terms used in the examples on the website and in our Demo database, but you can use any terms you prefer. For example, you could use a geographical location (London Office, Rome Office etc.) and a division (Sales, R&D, Operations etc.).
What does the (D) signify in the Project Setup screens?
The (D) signifies that this is a 'Development' project requiring a Progress Report to be produced. This is a periodic report on the project status including predicted and actual completion dates for the various stages of the project.
Not all projects would require a Progress Report - for example it would not be particularly helpful to produce a Progress Report for an overhead project such as Annual Leave. These 'Background' projects should be set up not to require one.
Why does Silver-Owl bother with a system for requesting changes to projects - wouldn't an email be easier?
By providing a formal method to request changes (e.g. opening a new project or closing an existing one), it forces the Project Manager to think through and provide specific details.
This feature was developed because emails often had vital information missing, forcing the senior manager to have to go back and ask for more details.
Filling in all these dates is a real pain - do I have to do it and is there an easier way?
Firstly, no you don't have to do it. Silver-Owl can be configured either to enforce that the dates are entered, or just to give a warning.
That said, if your organisation wants to be able to plan effectively then knowing (or at least having an idea) when projects will be complete is vital.
Silver-Owl lets you enter a 'hard' target (e.g. one which has been told to a customer) or a 'soft' target (which may change in the future but which at least helps in planning).
Now the good news - if you have a Silver-Owl Project Plan then you can fill in the dates automatically from the plan by clicking the 'Sync to DS' button on the Project Plan screen.
What order are tasks scheduled in?
The first check is that any "Do After Task(s)" (aka dependencies or predecessors) have been completed, and that the "Earliest Start Date" has been reached (if configured).
For tasks where this is true, scheduling is according to Priority, and for tasks of the same priority, the sequence they appear in on the plan is the final decider.
Note that once a "Can't Split" has been started (according to the rules above), that task will run to completion, even if a higher priority becomes able to start.
I just wanted to record project progress - do I have to generate a plan?
No, you don't have to use the Project Planning facility. As with most Silver-Owl facilities, use them if they help you, don't if they don't.
As well as the obvious uses, the planning facility can feed completion dates into the Project Progress Report, reserve people so that they don't get assigned tasks on other projects and generate booking codes for timesheets.
What happens if I schedule a weekly meeting but not everyone can make it?
If you define your weekly meeting as a repeating task on the project plan, you can select how you want Silver-Owl to proceed if all people are not available at the designated time.
For example, if you need 10 people simultaneously for a meeting but some are unavailable, you might want to have the meeting anyway, without them. Alternatively you may decide that they are vital to the meeting and therefore you may want the meeting delayed until they are available.
In the case of a weekly progress meeting, you may decide to delay the meeting but if it slips into the following week, you would probably only want to have one meeting as there's no point in having last week's meeting then following it immediately with this week's one.
Another possibility might be to schedule the meeting when as many people can attend as possible, or to cut the meeting short if some people have limited time available.
All of these options can be configured with the Repeated Tasks screen.
How can I specify a Repeating Task if I don't know how many times it will happen?
A good example is a task which keeps happening until something is finished. Simply specify that the repeating task will terminate on a milestone or on completion of another task.
What else can I use Repeating Tasks for, other than Meetings?
One possibility is for training support for junior staff. If you have someone doing a task which you know will require some help from someone else, then you can define a repeating task of (say) 1 hour each day, which terminates when the task has been completed.
Another possibility is to allocate some time each day or week for background activities. This might be for handling tasks which can't be planned but which you know will come up, like answering telephone queries.
Do we have to use the Timesheet and Time clock systems ?
No.
You don't need to use either if you don't see a benefit in your organisation. You can still benefit from the Meetings and the tracking of Actions, Risks and Issues, Project Planning, Work Management etc. However you will lose the ability to track manpower costs and gather metrics about the way work is being carried out in your organisation..
You can use the Timesheet without the Time Clock. You can even use the Time Clock without the Timesheet. Even if your organisation doesn't want to track time using these facilities, you can leave them available for the users on an unofficial basis (so they can track their own time and effort), or you can disable them completely.
What happens if we don't want to use the Time Clock - can we still record time against projects?
Yes.
You will have to enter the total amount of time worked each week, then you can allocate that time to projects and booking codes as normal.
I want to record time against some projects to a more precise level than just to the project - can I do this ?
Yes.
Each project has the option to allow booking to a lower level. These lower level booking codes can be generated automatically from the Project Plan, or to reflect Work Items, or against the Phases or Stages on the Project Progress Report.
You can also add TimeCodes by hand, to allow for any other booking codes.
What I'm interested in is gathering metrics about where the money is going ...
At a company-wide level, you can enable booking to "Activities". These are company-wide booking codes which cut across the other project codes and allow an overall picture to be developed across the organisation.
You define your own Activity codes and then everyone is required to indicate the Activity on their Timesheet, in addition to the Project booking code.
For example, in a technical/engineering company, Activities might be :
Order processing
Planning
Development
Documentation
Support
Testing
Rework
Sales
Manufacturing
Overheads
QA
Or in a sales environment, Activities might be :
Telephone contact
Producing literature
Marketing Presentations
Travel
Or in a building company, Activities might be :
Bricklaying
Painting
Electrical work
Plumbing
Groundworks
Activity booking helps to generate an overall picture of where the time (and therefore money) is being spent, allowing senior managers to identify problem areas and focus their attention where they can get the most benefit.
Our organisation doesn't use Flexitime, can we disable that facility ?
Yes. Flexitime can be enabled or disabled. You can also define a maximum flexitime balance to prevent people from building up too much.
We have some projects (e.g. overheads) which anybody needs to be able to book to. Do I have to add every employee to the project team?
No. All projects are configured either to allow time to be booked by team members only, or by anyone.
We always spend the first 20 minutes of a meeting copying forward the outstanding actions from the previous meeting. Can Silver-Owl help us with that ?
Yes, in two ways.
Firstly, there should be no need to copy minutes forward if there has been no change in the information recorded. Typically, minutes copied forward in this way have not been changed - it is only done so that progress can be recorded.
Silver-Owl removes the need to do this because progress is recorded against the Actions which are raised with the Minutes. Ideally, the Action status would be updated by the Actionee as the work is done, but even if it is left until the next meeting, this can be done quickly without copying the minute.
Two reports can be generated for meetings:
the Open Actions report lists any actions which have not been completed, along with the current recorded status
the Meeting Progress report lists all the Minutes and the status of any associated Actions.
There is therefore no need to copy forward unmodified minutes because the Action Status is recorded and reported separately.
Secondly, if a minute has been updated (e.g. corrected or modified) then Silver-Owl provides a facility to copy forward a minute from a previous meeting and then edit it as a new minute. The original minute is marked as Copied Forward to avoid confusion and provide an audit trail.
What's the difference between the Actionee and the Action Owner?
An Actionee is a person who is required to perform an action. This can be a team member, another employee or even a customer.
The Action Owner must have been present at the meeting and must be an employee.
The Action Owner is the member of the project team who is responsible for ensuring that the action gets done, and for reporting the overall action status.
Any Actionee can update their individual status, but only the Action Owner can update the overall status (e.g. wait until all Actionees have completed their action the update the overall status to Action Taken.)
Why can actions be given to customers. Surely that's not right!
It is entirely acceptable to give an action to a customer. What you cannot do is to make the customer responsible for ensuring that the action is completed.
Silver-Owl lets an action be assigned to anyone - including customers and employees who were not at the meeting. However, the "Owner" of the action must be an employee and must be present at the meeting.
How does your minute numbering work?
In order to avoid confusion between minute number from different meetings of the same type (e.g. Weekly progress meetings) , all minutes from the same 'Stream' are given contiguous numbers.
A Meeting Stream is a set of meetings with the same title. Therefore all meetings called , for example, Weekly Progress Meeting, will have contiguous Minute numbers. If the first meeting had 10 Minutes, they would be numbered 1 to 10 (and any actions would be numbered 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 etc.) the next Weekly Progress Meeting would begin from Minute 11.
I've heard about Risks and Issues, but what's an Assumption ?
An Assumption is the corollary to a Risk. If there is a Risk that something may happen, then there is an Assumption that it will not.
Sometimes it is easier to identify and/or explain a Risk if you try thinking of it as an assumption. It just lets you use different language.
Silver-Owl treats Risks and Assumptions exactly the same, they're just different ways of saying the same thing.
An Issue therefore is a Risk which was occurred, or an Assumption which has failed.
What's all this about Higher and Lower keys on the Risk Index?
The "keys" referred to are your Project and the two higher levels in the project hierarchy.
It's easiest to explain with an example. Let's say the hierarchy is Site/Division/Project i.e. your organisation operates from a number of Sites, each of those have a number of Divisions, and each of those have a number of Projects.
If you were a Project Manager and you wanted to know what Risks might affect your Project, then you could click on the Project in the list to see all the risks which had been entered against your project.
However, there may be other risks which might affect your project, which were entered against the Site or Division your project is in. For example, there may be a risk that the building might burn down, which would have an implication to all projects operating out of this site. Using Silver-Owl, you only need to specify and manage this Risk once, by defining it at Site level, but it would be associated with every project at the site.
By clicking "the selected key and related higher keys' the list will show you any Risks entered against your Project, or against the Site or Division it is in.
Conversely, if you are a senior manager and want to know what Risks have been entered against anything within a certain Site or Division, you would initially select the Site or Division to see those Risks which were entered specifically against that Site or Division.
Then by clicking "the selected key and related lower keys" the list would be expanded to include any Risks which were entered against any of the Projects in the Site or Division.
One of your examples shows 'Watched By Directors' - what does this mean?
This is an example of an ad-hoc filter of Risks, Issues and Assumptions. You can have four ad-hoc filters and you can give them any title you like - 'Watched By Directors' is just an example.
There are four arbitrary filters which can be set up by the Administrator. The examples have only one configured.
Any Risk, Issue or Assumption can be ticked and used to filter the list. This gives you the ability to highlight certain risks where the existing Project hierarchy or Families would not help (see Q5.6).
Why do I have to record the impact and likelihood etc. Surely that's obvious from the description
Yes, the description should indicate these things, but formally specifying Impact and Likelihood allows Silver-Owl to prioritise the Risk and Issues.
For example, a Risk that would have a Major impact might seem very important but if the likelihood is Improbable then it's of less concern.
Specifying these formally allows Silver-Owl to assign an Urgency value which can be used to prioritise the Risks so that effort is spent in the most appropriate areas.
In addition, specifying (and progressing) mitigating actions allows the Mitigated Urgency to be reduced. This is another value which can be used to prioritise the list.
Once we've assigned actions, how do we know they will get done?
All Actions appear on the individual's Personal Actions List. The Actionees can progress the actions and report status against the action.
The Mitigated Urgency value is automatically lowered when actions are started, progressed and finally completed. If the action statuses are not updated, the mitigated urgency will not decrease.
Silver-Owl cannot ensure that the action is done, but it will identify those actions whose statuses have not been updated.
What are project Families?
Project Families are a way to group projects which might be subject to certain Risks. This is another place where an example would be clearer.
Suppose you had a number of projects, across the organisation, and the only common factor between these projects was that they required equipment or components from the same manufacturer. Now suppose that manufacturer has just installed a new ordering system and teething troubles have meant that their lead times for orders have doubled.
If you put these projects into a Family and raise an Issue against the Family, warning that Project Managers will need to allow more time in their plan for deliveries from this supplier, then this Issue would be included against all associated projects, when the Higher Keys option is selected.
Another example of a Family might be "Projects for customers who always pay late" and might warn Project Managers to watch their cash flow predictions!
Work Management seems to be related only to Software and IT work. Can it be used for other things?
The Work Management sub-system was originally developed as a Change Control system for IT. We at Silverstar Software use it to control the development of Silver-Owl.
However, any process which involves steps and approvals could be controlled using Work Management. You can set up different Templates for the different processes in your business, such as :
Order processing
Sub-contractor approval
Widget manufacturing
Quality inspection
Fault reporting
Any process which has to be controlled and for which a formal audit trail is required could be controlled by Work Management.
What happens if a work item is signed off but then it turns out that there was a problem?
You can send any Work Item back (or indeed forward) to another step by clicking the Send Back button. You will be required to give a reason which will be recorded for the Audit trail.
All send-back operations are recorded in the Sign-Off history.
What is this for? What are 'Random' pieces of information?
The Information Database is designed to hold all those little bits of information which don't have anywhere else to go. The sorts of thing which lurk around in the back of people's notebooks or stuck on yellow stickers on the monitor. For example :
Phone numbers
Useful web sites
Price lists
Another example might be is someone has specific knowledge about a particular job or piece of equipment, which he or she is always being asked. Just write it in note form in the Information Database (or use a Word Processor and just include a link to it in the Information database) and people will be able to find it.
The key to the success of the Information database is that people find it easy to add information and easy to find it. The information is filed in one or more virtual "Folders" on one or more virtual "Shelves", and appropriate choice of Shelf and Folder is vital. You can add as many Shelves and Folders as you like, so make the most of it.
For example, if Bert is always being asked about the Acme Sliding Bevel, he should write everything relevant and he could file it under :
Acme equipment
Bevels (sliding or otherwise)
Things Bert knows about
The last one is less obvious, but many people may find that an easy way to find the information they require. You can define any shelves and folders you like - use what works for you.
What is that picture of someone singing on your website all about?
This is an example of an external document - in this case a picture. Silver-Owl doesn't know anything about pictures, but it can display a picture if the PC has a picture viewer installed.
What sort of information can be stored here?
Anything can be stored (or referenced) in the Information Database. The basic form of information is just plain text.
Another option is just to write the location of a book , e.g. "on the third shelf down behind Bob's desk".
However, because documents can be attached using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) it is also possible to attach any Windows file, such as Word Processing documents, spreadsheets, even other databases.
Because OLE uses the other installed programs on the PC, anything can be viewed as long as an appropriate program has been installed.
The files need not be copied into the database itself, they can be stored on an separate file server and a link included into Silver-Owl.
You say that Silver-Owl can connect into the office over a VPN - do you provide this?
No. Silver-Owl can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), but the VPN must be installed separately and is not part of Silver-Owl.
In many cases, an organisation will already have a VPN set up for users to 'dial in' for example to collect email from home or when out on the road. Silver-Owl can use the same VPN.
Windows include software to make the dial-in connection. Some Windows file servers have the ability to accept the dial-in call.
Alternatively there are several other VPN solutions available.
How does remote access work?
Remote Access uses a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This is not provided as part of Silver-Owl (see Q8.1).
Because Silver-Owl on the user's PC communicates with the Central database using TCP/IP (which is the language used by the Internet) it is possible to make the connection over the Internet.
Ideally for a remote access connection the Central Database should be on a SQL Server because this allows some of the data processing to be done at the server end, thereby reducing the amount of data which needs to be sent over the internet (which may be comparatively slow).
What additional software will I need to make Silver-Owl work?
Silver-Owl is supplied with everything required to work with a central database on a shared drive. This includes the software to run on the user's PC and the empty central database file. A demo database is also included.
In order to use the interactive User Guide, the user's PC must have Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 (or later).
If you want to use a central database on a SQL Server, you will need to install the SQL Server software (or create a database on an existing SQL Server installation.) Silver-Owl Database Administrator includes facilities to create the database.
Silver-Owl is compatible with both Microsoft Desktop Engine (MSDE) Release A and SQL Express 2005. Both of these are available at no charge from Microsoft.
I have to produce reports for my customers, in their own defined format. Can I do this?
All reports include a button to export the data into Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.
How is Silver-Owl licenced? How many licences do I need?
Silver-Owl is licenced according to the number of people configured in the system. A licence will be required for each person who is configured.
There are 3 levels of Licence:
- "Advanced" - designed for Senior Managers, Quality Managers, Programme Managers etc who need to look across many projects at once and see the 'bigger picture'. The Silver-Owl Administrator(s) will require Advanced level licences.
- "Standard" - this lets you view and update data relating to one project at a time. You can only view data for a project if you are a member of the Project Team and update it if you are given update rights. You can be a member of as many Project Teams as you need to be. We expect most users will require this level.
- "Basic" - this offers a cheap way for you to buy additional licences for users who only need to look at their own personal data. You will not be able to use the facilities for viewing and updating project data unless it relates specifically to you.
The functions available are closely related to the types of user as explained in the "Who should use it?" section.
Whilst at any time we have a set of basic scale prices, these are subject to change and special deals. We can also help you work out how many licences you might need of each type. Please call us to discuss your requirements and we will be happy to give you a quotation.
However, what we can say is that on average we would hope that you would recover the cost of each licence by saving around a day's work.
You will save time, and money, because:
- actions will be recorded and not forgotten
- everyone will know what they are supposed to be doing
- by adopting a standard approach you will reduce re-training costs when staff move between projects or teams
- the bottom up reporting mechanisms reduce the workload on your more senior (and more expensive) staff
- problems will be tracked and resolved
- the simplicity of Silver-Owl means it takes less effort to use than many alternatives
In addition the consistency of presentation and the use of a visible methodology will give you a better corporate image - hard to put a price on!
Firstly we will provide you with an installation disc containing the Silver-Owl software, an empty database for you to enter your data into, and a Demonstration database with some sample data already present. We will also supply a User Guide in electronic format, a Silver-Owl Database Management tool (this lets you connect the software to different databases, for example your 'live' database, our demo database and a training database should you want one) and a Licence Administration tool.
Your administrator simply copies the databases onto your chosen server, and installs the software onto any PC or laptop that needs to access Silver-Owl, using the installation CD we provide.
We will provide you with an Activation Key that your administrator enters into the Licence Administration tool and you are ready to go!
If I need a licence for each person, what happens if someone leaves? Do I have to delete their data?
You need a licence for each of your staff who is defined to the system and whose data you need to maintain.
If someone leaves, you can mark them as a 'non-current' employee, which allows you to re-use their licence for someone else. In most cases their data will then not be updateable. However if, for example, someone has an outstanding task or action and leaves, we would expect that you would re-assign that action or task to someone still working for you, so there should not be a problem!
Are Silver-Owl licences a one-off cost or do the licences need to be renewed?
There is a one-off charge for each licence, which includes 12 months of free upgrades to the software from the date of purchase of the first licence.
After this you must renew the licences annually but there is no charge for the renewal itself. This simply involves you contacting us and sending us a key code that is generated by Silver-Owl automatically. We will send you back a corresponding re-activation code which your Administrator re-enters into Silver-Owl via a special Licence Administration facility that we will provide. We will contact you just before this becomes necessary.
At the time you renew the licences you can choose to extend your maintenance upgrades for which there will be a maximum fee of 15% of your licence cost (pro-rata for any licences that you have held for less than 12 months). We will agree the exact cost of this with you when you buy the licences.
Yes, we're always happy to sell you more licences! We will supply a new activation code for your Administrator to enter, which will allow you to assign licences to more of your staff.
You can also upgrade any existing licences if you wish to, simply by paying us the difference in the licence fees.
Can I change the picture of the owl into something else?
Yes, there are a number of different colours and sizes of Owl logo, as well as a Silverstar Software logo.
Alternatively you can incorporate your company logo, by replacing the ReportLogo.bmp, ReportLogoSideways.bmp and SwitchboardLogo.bmp files in your Silver-Owl folder (typically C:\Program Files\SilverOwl"). This must be done on each user's PC.
Why is Silver-Owl different to many other Project Management tools on the market?
Firstly, Silver-Owl is not intended to be a Project Management tool, although it does help you manage projects and it does incorporate a project planning facility. We think of it as a Business Management tool, because it will assist you with managing the wider aspects of your business across multiple projects, for example producing executive level summary reports, understanding risks that affect groups of projects, taking account of staff utilisation on existing projects when planning new ones, etc.
Silver-Owl started life as a way of collating information about what is going on across your company. It was from that starting point that we dug down to the lower levels to determine what data was needed to fulfil our goal.
We also felt that from our experience many small/medium enterprises would like to introduce a more structured and consistent management approach, preferably using software tools, but never quite got around to doing it. When we analysed this we identified that a major reason was that the people expected to do the work (and use the tools) often had more pressing things to do "getting on with the job". In many cases those managing the "projects" (and we've put that in quotes because they didn't necessarily see what they were doing as a project) didn't see themselves as "Project Managers" - but they were the person in charge of what had to be done. A Sales Manager is a good example - they might be far more interested in making sales than running a project - and although applying a project management methodology may well be of benefit they might not want to spend ages drawing plans and chasing people.
Silver-Owl is designed to be "mostly-easy" - easy to record the key high-level details that people can quickly identify and record. It does not offer loads of options that people hardly ever use, making the it easier to use for the things that really matter.
Data is recorded and maintained by the person that is best suited to do so. For example, minutes of a meeting can be recorded by the manager or his/her nominee, printed or viewed by anyone who has a need to do so, and actions from the minutes updated by the person given the action. Pieces of work and progress of that work is treated similarly. By using Silver-Owl, the workload on the manager is reduced and everyone who needs to will know what is going on.
I can see the need for some parts of Silver-Owl but I already have systems that cover some of the same ground. Can I just use the bits I need?
Yes.
Whilst all the parts of Silver-Owl are integrated so that data can be used where it is needed most efficiently, each major aspect of the system can be used by itself as long as the underlying data structures (Projects, People and Teams) are defined. For example you could use our Meeting Management, Progress Reports and Change Management but another product's Project Plans if you wished to.
The appearance of Silver-Owl has an almost "retro" look. Why is this?
Again this follows our concept of "mostly-easy". We want users to find the parts of Silver-Owl quickly and easily. Hiding things under rows of drop-down tabs, in a small font, would not help this. So everything is immediately obvious, with large buttons to click and a type face that is always easy to read.
Version 7.3 of Silver-Owl will make navigation even easier by offering every user different menu structures, so you can choose the one that is best for you.
Why do you use the phrase "mostly-easy"? Why isn't it all easy?
We would love to make it all easy but Silver-Owl is a potentially very powerful tool and there are a few bits that need to be thought about. However, we've designed it so that these harder bits only need to be carried out rarely and by a small number of expert users such as the Administrator. Basically they involve deciding how to structure your projects, define your templates for managing and signing-off work, determining the rules for when you may get a red or amber warning signal for project overrun and defining your rules for time recording, overtime etc.
This means that a small number of users have to use a few high-level options occasionally, so that the vast majority of users find everything they do is easy to use! Hence "mostly-easy". We even considered calling the product "Mostly-Easy" instead of Silver-Owl, but the marketing experts said it might put people off! We're happy to be open and honest about that as it follows our other guiding principle, "be straightforward".
What happens if two people try to change the same piece of information at the same time?
Silverstar's own caching and locking mechanism takes care of this.
When you want to look at any data, it is first downloaded to your PC if you don't already have it or it is out of date. It is then "locked" so that no one else can change it at the same time (sometimes this only happens when you actually decide to make a change). When you finish making your change and leave the screen the new version of the data is uploaded back to the "central" database that everyone uses and the lock removed. When anyone else looks at this item later, Silver-Owl will detect that it has changed and give them the new version.
