AppsOfSteel: Intranets business processes streamlined here

What Is This Site?

We explain how an intranet can make a business more competitive and successful. We try to educate and help the small business person understand what an intranet is and how it can be an asset, not just a place to find phone numbers and describe policy.


Above All Competition Defines The Business Landscape

Beating the competition means working smarter, building in efficiency and streamlining processes.
  • When processes are efficient, employee moral goes up.
  • Interuptions are reduced so employees focus on the task at hand.
  • More work gets done and there is less dependence on other people getting their tasks done.
  • The 80:20 rule developed by Vilfredo Pareto plays heavily on business processes. One way it raises its ugly head is that 80% of the time is spent working on 20% of the items. Or in other words 80% of the time the process works smooth but the other 20% takes 80% of the work. We can reduce the 20%, and we can have excellent procedures that use an intranet to streamline processes in reconciling those 20%. We work on both of these solutions to help the small business run more efficiently.

Business Process Streamlining Using an Intranet

  • Business Process Tempo Server

    Smart companies are doing everything they can to become more efficient.  To remain competitive it requires that business processes happen in order and in a timely fashion.  The problem is having a system in place that handles the timing and flow of a business process.  I like to call it a Tempo Server.

  • Integrator of Data Sources

    Many companies have many datasources. The data can be found in spreadsheets, databases, datafiles. The problem is getting at the data of all these sources is difficult. A web server can gain access to all the sources that we define and help bring the data to your desk in a useful way. Using an intranet as way of getting to data makes finding information so much easier for all your employees that you will wonder how you got along without it.

  • Centralized Link Server

    This application uses the central focus of your organization to organize information. If your company sells product then the product catalog could be your central focus. If your organization is a law firm then the clients list is the central focus. The list is setup with a set of attributes for each item on the list. For instance the product catalog will have a part number, description, revision etc. There will be a link to a picture of the product.

    What makes the centralized link server so incredibly useful is that each employee can add a link to any part in the catalog. That link is only seen by that individual. So if June is a manufacturing engineer she may create a link to an assembly instruction or a meeting minute associated with a meeting on the product. These links will likely be on her personal computer. Only she sees these links because they only come up when she is logged in.

    So the concept is by creating links around your core business document. You can organize and find documents associated with the core items. Each person's links are unique to that individual. Really what it comes down to is a set of bookmarks for each item in the catalog.

    Of course there can also be links that are available to everyone in the organization and those documents are located on a shared file server.

  • Put Barcodes On Your Intranet Documents

    Using the intranet to derive documents from databases is a great way to streamline processes. Examples of documents that could be barcoded are:

    • Packing Slips: Barcode the RMA Item or the Serial Number etc.
    • Travelers: Slips that go with parts through a factory.
    • Any documents where user typos can cause problems.
    The price of barcode scanners has come way down in price so implementing barcodes as another way of inputting data into forms in database applications or web forms is an option that should not be ignored.

  • What Does It Take To Start A Business Process Intranet?

    Of course this depends on what infrastructure your company currently has.

    • It takes a network
    • A computer that can be used as a web server.
    • Application server software
    We can help you get something going right away. Email us and lets talk. We can do an assessment of your situation and give you recommendations and quotes. We aim to please and want your recommendation when we are done so we make sure you are happy with your results.