Insights Success Strategies 

Purpose

• Insights Success Strategies software is to provide a standard, objective means for organizations and individuals to optimise performance  and to achieve a sustainable competitive edge

• The logic within the model together with the ability for organizations and individuals to include specific information and knowledge provides the means to turn knowledge into intelligence - the capacity to apply and acquire knowledge

Objectives

• General - effects all layers

  • The following objectives serve to indicate the nature of the application. Design objectives will be finalized at the Software Design Workshop with assistance from experts in the fields of Presentation, Business Logic and Services

  • The concepts, logic, information and knowledge in the web based model will form the basis for the software application

  • The insights success strategies overview can be used to understand the concepts, benefits and uses

  • The overriding objective is it must be a professional, valuable tool, which is appealing, fun, intuitive and easy to use

    • Structure - a one-tier structure with the Presentation, Business Logic and Services layers tightly integrated within a single application is envisaged.  This will reduce the purchase price and simplify implementation

    • Versatile - any requirement will be meet by selecting a component, a group of components (function), a module (several functions), or the complete model

    • Flexible - different speeds / modes of processing are required depending on the value of the requirement and / or the time available

    • Modes - levels of detail are, (1) superficial / quick, (2) intermediate / medium, and (3) detailed / thorough

    • Risk awareness - the user must be made aware of the trade off between time taken and the risk involved for each processing mode, (1) quick - potentially highest risk, (2) medium - potentially moderate risk, (3) thorough - least risk

    • Criteria - the processing mode can be determined automatically / recommended by the values allocated to Risk, Cost and Benefit criteria or selected 

    • Logic path - the "reason category" and "requirement type" together with the mode selected will determine the path through the logic and the degree of detail of comparative information required - superficial, intermediate or detailed

    • Corporate templates - standard templates must be modifiable to meet corporate specific needs.  Presenting the standard templates, for example the "risk" templates, and allowing the user to modify them to reflect industry specific industry or corporate risks could achieve this

    • Industry templates - provision is to be made to include industry specific templates at a later stage - production, distribution etc.

    • General industry templates -  provision is to be made to include general templates - selecting the correct resource, supplier etc.

    • General private templates - provision is to be made to include general private templates - selecting the correct house, car, career etc.

    • Extensible - the software design must be modular to allow for easy changes and additions.  The logic must reference external templates which can be modified or extended without changing the model

    • Logging and tracking - the progress through the model must be recorded to enable status to be determined and omissions rectified

    • User logging - extensive requirements will require decisions by several users, the model must support identification of the decision makers

    • Reports by component / function / module - criteria / information of the various options / alternatives considered and the justification for decisions made needs to be available for viewing and reporting

    • Reports by model - criteria / information from the complete model needs to be structured to automatically produce business proposals from Requirement Definition through to Recommendation

    • Review - the facility for review and comment by seniors or peers needs to be provided

    • Enterprise - an enterprise three-tier intranet version could be considered for implementation at a later stage.  Catering for it should be considered as long as it does not negatively influence current objectives, time and cost

  • The current Intranet based model advises and guides users.  The intention is to upgrade the current model to incorporate features from the fully interactive software application.  This objective should be taken into account at the Software Design Workshop but not restrict or negatively influence it  

• Presentation Layer

  • The interface needs to be appealing, interesting and fun to use.  This could be achieved with graphics and other technologies which need to be assessed

  • Concepts, contents, structure and processes are to be presented in a clear concise manner which can be expanded step by step as required

    • Interactive - fully interactive, intuitive interface that is fun and easy to use

    • Overview - graphical representation of the model, modules, functions, components, structures and processes

    • Status - graphical representation to show path progress through the model

    • Mode option - three processing modes: quick, intermediate and thorough depending on the value of the requirement and / or the time available

    • Comparative information - three levels of information is to be presented depending on the mode selected, (1) rolled up - quick, (2) partially rolled up - medium speed, (3) not rolled up - thorough detailed processing

    • Information - the value of the criteria of each alternative needs to be displayed graphically for easy comparison and decision making, examples are bar and pie charts

    • Menus / buttons - usual windows type menus for modules, functions, components and templates together with back, forward, previous and next buttons.  If possible menus need to be self creating based on the structure of modules, functions and components in use at the time

    • Hyperlinks - supporting information require links to related knowledge bases, these are of a transitory nature and require a superimposed / separate window 

    • Searches - searches for knowledge bases of guideline, definition, example, expertise, information / action, need to be provided at the component, function, module and model level

• Application / Business Logic Layer

  • An indication of the concepts, logic, structure, processes and dependencies can be obtained from the model overview and insights success strategies.  The detail will be made available during the software design workshop

    • Component - a component is an object which is related to several other objects (guideline, definition, example, expertise and information / actions to implement)  They need to be accessed separately or by function, module or model

    • Function - a function needs to be accessed separately and components processed step by step

    • Module - a module needs to be accessed and processed function by function

    • Structure - the structure provides the means to identify higher or lower level dependencies and the path through the model

    • Process - the process provides the means to identify preceding or succeeding dependencies and the path through the model

    • Model - the model contains the components, functions and modules.  A session will be saved with a model / project name

    • Status -  the logic needs to track and log status, alert the user to variances and omissions and recommend the appropriate action.  Any decision to bypass a step must be flagged, logged, made available for review and included in status reports

    • Decisions - criteria / information and the decisions taken and their justification must be available for viewing and reporting

    • Multiple users - several users could be involved in complex requirements like strategic planning, user names need to reflected against decisions made

• Services Layer

  • Services aspects of previous requirements in the Presentation and Business Logic layers have not been duplicated in this section.  The Services requirement require an understanding of the previous two sections

  • It is envisaged that a one tier presentation, business logic and services structure will necessitate a relatively simple database

    • Criteria data structure - three levels of criteria risk, cost, benefit detail need to be maintained and presented depending on the mode selected, (1) rolled up - quick, (2) partially rolled up - medium speed, (3) not rolled up - thorough detailed processing

    • Comparative information - the information input for each option / alternative has to be kept for review and reporting

Strategies

• Strategies are to make use of proven, appropriate, beneficial leading edge technologies and standards.  Potential strategies include; browser technology for the presentation layer (example, back and forward buttons and hyperlinks to logic and information), object based languages which can run on multiple platforms for the business logic layer and XML and HTML for structuring and sharing information at the service layer

• Alternative strategies for meeting design objectives will be assessed using the techniques contained in the model and the one (s) with the best risk, cost benefit ratios selected.

Internet / Information

• The software model will continue to evolve to meet industry specific requirements and user requested enhancements.  The internet provides an ideal means to obtain comments and suggestions

Marketing

• Existing "persistent software encryption" techniques provide the means to secure software distributed over the internet and activating software distributed on CDs

  • Domain - a domain name has been registered for international hosting

  • Hosting - the model overview and sales distribution details will be hosted on the internet locally and overseas and registered with major search engines

  • Software hosting / distribution - the Electronic Software Distribution companies selected will provide an additional means to advertise to potential users

Software Hosting and Distribution

• Electronic Software Distribution provides the means to distribute secure software over the internet, activate it according to user's needs and collect payment

• Consideration is being given to the additional means of distributing "give away" software on CDs.  A user specified 20k patch can be downloaded over the internet and activated for one machine and payment collected

Security

• Existing "persistent software encryption" techniques provide the means to ensure that software distributed over the internet and on CDs will only run on the machine which has paid for activation.  Unauthorized duplication and distribution of software will not result in lost revenue.  Duplication and distribution can be encouraged as it will result in increased sales

Pricing Policy

• A flexible pricing policy will ensure wider appeal and acceptance.  The intention is to utilize those hosting organizations that provide software encryption and Electronic Software Distribution facilities.  Various user selected options to activate the software are currently available:

  • Time rent - day, week or month

  • Runs - fixed number of runs

  • Purchase - full software purchase

Potential

• The ability to finally overcome the barriers to success and achieve the essentials for it will ensure wide ranging corporate and private appeal.  The many benefits and uses of the model together with its versatility, flexibility, and simplicity create the potential to become the next "killer application" if designed, developed and marketed correctly

Software Development Enquiries

• Enquiries from interested organizations with extensive experience in persistent software encryption, Electronic Software Distribution and software developers interested in a joint venture are welcome.  Please see contact details