GroupM

Great news we now have GroupM live on the Social Networking Business Site.  There pilot is underway in EMEA and progressing extremely well

The Mediacom My360 site is progressing exceptionally well, enabling colleagues across numerous continents to connect with each other freely. With functionality like a regular Social Networking Site within MY360 you can add pictures, chat to friends/colleagues and create groups…..however MY360 has the added business functionality which enhances Performance Management…..Giving users the ability to create goals, KPI’s and 360 feedback appraisals.

Launch in ASIA

The social networking site launch is progressing extremely well.

Mediacom in North America are using the mediacom system as a great opportunity to re-launch performance management.

Launch across Acia Pacific region to launch soon……

Business Social Networking

My360 is a business social networking website. It is a closed system that was specifically designed for Mediacom.
My360 enables you to connect and message with colleagues and managers. While also encompassing a business model which enhances development and performance - Enables users to set goals create reviews and undertake 360 feedback appraisals.


Functions
Live screen – lets you post comments, ask questions, upload photos web links & videos.

Goals – set goals for yourself - managers can create goals for members of staff.

Live Chat – connect with colleagues online

Groups – allows you to create groups for events or projects. Groups can be public or limited to invited users.

360 Feedback – Send out invitations for feedback from your account. Once feedback provided - Get a full 360 feedback report uploaded straight to your account.

Reviews – Various options to create reviews with your manager.

Performance Management – Continually review progress.

Up-date on the Social side

Hello from us.

The new buisness social networking tool is now live.
This is a link to the Mediacom site

Social Networking

Social Networking and Performance management - our new project update:
We are going to post regular up dates here - come back soon

We have gained a new employee Rebecca and she is going to start up-dating the blog.

Our latest project 'Vulcan' now has a name !!!!


Social Networking for Business. Click to take a look

360 feedback meets twitter

We are working in partnership to develop a fully integrated performance appraisal system.

More information to follow:

Currently called project 'Vulcan' the concept is to create a 'live' editable system to allow managers and their employees to continually access and comment on progress through the year.

US vs UK Pricing 360 Feedback

Just for interest here is an approximate cost comparison for our USA clients:

We use Xe.com to do the conversions:

Reactive 360 cost per report UK £ 40.00 USA $65.00
Factors360 Monthly subscription UK £ 20.00 USA 32.00
Quick360 Free to use 360 Feedback system

Additional Functionality on Reactive

We have now developed and launched a new version of the report - it's simpler to understand and contains different charts. The new version is an option - not a replacement.

To access the new version from your account.
Select the lite version from the report designer drop down menu.

The other small change is that you can now send a test e-mail from the theme designer screen - this is to allow people to view the edits on the outgoing e-mail.

Hot Stuff at Reactive and Factors !!!!

Our lunchtime pub retreat the Swan and Royal in Clitheroe went up in flames late Saturday night.
See the articles in the local and national press:
Clitheroe Advertiser
BBC News
Our office shares an adjoining wall with the pub. So we were called out to allow Fireman Sam and his pals into our office to check the temperature of the walls !!
You know those contingency plans that are fully thought through but never tested - well as from now we can categorically state OURS WORKS.
Shut down the primary server - move the systems to a different server (in a cooler spot) and up-load all the live data from the mirror array - 15 minutes off-line…
Not bad for a group of guys with serious on-going hangovers - well it was Saturday night !!!
New beer venue required

factors360 and reactive360 feedback systems.

We are about to launch an interactive suggestion page on factors360 alongside a new blog.
The plan is that we have an open forum suggestion system that will allow people to view our projected development ideas and vote for which we should implement first.

In addition there will be the opportunity to offer suggestions that we should consider as part of the functionality.

factors360 was designed using feedback - we thought that this would be a natural extension of our philosophy of client driven development.

The blog will be designed to provide ideas / links to articles to help system users navigate their way through the maze of 360 degree feedback and appraisals.

Ian Dixon (Director) reactive360 factors360 icskills.com

360 feedback and appraisal - Cost comparison

We have had quite a few e-mails asking us how we keep our costs below the other providers in the market place.

The simple answer - because we keep our designs simple, our overheads low and everything is done in-house.

A small sample from those that declare a price (most seem to be more secretive).

Just as a reminder here are our charges:

reactive360:
Each Report = £60.00 Administration = Small Charge
Group Summary = From £60.00

factors360:
Subscription = £10.00 per month (on an annual subscription) - Unlimited volume
No other charges

Lumus:
Each Report = £90
Administrative set up charge = £100
Group Summary Report = £150

Talent Innovations:
360 feedback report for 5 people, each with 5-20 reviewers, with full project management support: £900

Appraisal360:
Prices start from just £63 (when you do more than 51 appraisals)

Click360:
£75 per client head

factors360 Feedback Toolkit - Up-date

Up-date on the launch:
17 new accounts - Amazing start.

Having the two versions of the system as a proposition seems to be working well.

reactive360: The Full (Corporate) version for the high volume user who wants to create their own custom questionnaires.
factors360: The latest (Enterprise) version for the companies who want to 'Brand' the process but still keep things fairly simple.

Launch day ..... www.factors360.com

At some point today - we will be hitting the go button (the one marked 'click here to prevent sleep') on the new system. factors360. As far as we know it will be the first subscription 360 feedback and appraisal site on the web.
It's for certain that it is the lowest cost.
The subscription cost:

• £20.00 per single month.


• £18.00 per month (when 3 months are purchased).


• £15.00 per month (for 6 months).


• 12 months access works out at .... £10.00 per month.

The lowest cost system we have found is £30.00 and that is per report - !!!!!!

For £10.00 per month with no single report cost - just access time - any budding mathematicians out there will be able to calculate that the report cost is now genuinely volume based...

I will post regular updates on how things progress....

Final thought for this entry -

This launch should amuse the competition..... (Or is that bemuse).....


Ian
Crash Test Dummy (CTD)

Here we go again

For some bizarre reason we seem to get to the merry month of May every year and then forget sleep - why ?
Well we are launching yet another product.. The new one is called factors360 and adds a different approach to our core business.

Reactive360 launched May 2007. Fully Flexible system

Quick360 launched May 2008. Our Technology Test bed

Factors360 launches May 2009. Low cost subscription service

Designed for the lower volume user and incorporating a whole set of features requested by quick and reactive users.

• 7 day free trial period.
• Subscription service from £10.00 a month.
• No limits on volume / usage.
• Brand using organisation logos.
• Easy to use interface.
• Text rich and graphical reports
• Automatic chasing.

The key difference being the cost - at £10.00 per month and if you do 10 appraisals - the cost - well work it out ...... !!!!!

Latest Press Release:

Click the link to see our latest release:
quick360 Free to Use feedback system from reactive360.

Launched in May 2007, reactive360. is an on-line 360 degree feedback system that mirrors the design philosophy the fully managed process created by icskills.com.
The first challenge for the new venture was to create and launch a process into the on-line market with bespoke capability in a simple framework, without the cost.

Icskills is the preferred supplier of 360 degree feedback to several UK companies including:
Sainsbury’s Supermarkets.
Bradford and Bingley.
BG Group.
Skipton Building Society.

Capturing the learning from working with these key customers where to date icskills has delivered in excess of 22 thousand feedback reports suggested that critical to success would be:

• Branding the process with company logos.
• Custom building questionnaires.
• Multiple choice of scoring scales.
• A professional, text rich report with easy to understand charts.
• Custom editing of the report.
• Simple administration with an easy to use interface.
• Quick chasing of missing questionnaires.
• A price lower than (GBP) £40.00 for each complete report.
• No limit on the number of raters included in each report.
• Live help, telephone support and a 24 hour response to any query.

The new process, reactive360, has generated interest from across the globe, the most southerly user account is held by Coca Cola in New Zealand, the most northerly, Pratt and Whitney in Canada. Since the launch reactive360 has developed a client base of over 600 companies including:

IFS Defence.
UHS Inc.
Interbay.
BP Pensions.

A fundamental part of the system is that each of the new clients has the ability to offer suggestions of additional features and design improvements. As a result of the feedback and thanks largely to the clients reactive360 continues to evolve, the latest features under development include:

• Auto-fill contact information.
• Bulk import .
• Comparison data across groups of people.

Feedback suggested that although the level of custom flexibility suited the larger corporate clients, small volume users are still looking for a process that delivers a simpler to use process.
To meet this demand and as a second major challenge quick360 has been developed and launched.
Designed to run on the reactive360 platform and allow clients to up-grade when more flexibility is required, quick360 and become a test-bed for new technologies quick360 has an additional and unique selling point, it is the only Free to use 360 feedback system.

Latest Developments:

Download Raw Data:

We are adding the functionality to 'download' the raw data from a completed report. This feature will allow people to create person - to - person (or group - to - group)comparisons. Called Normative Reports in HR language, our existing clients use this information for Training Needs Analysis. The TNA utilises the massive (and therefore statistically relevant) information to inform their design and selection of appropriate Training and Development. In addition it allows them to 'Target' specific needs globally or locally.

New Scoring Scales:

As people use the system they are suggesting scoring scales (to mirror existing company scales). Some organisations with performance management systems (or annual appraisals) have an embedded scale that people are familiar with. Rather than 'force' them to use our 'default scale' we simply add theirs. The benefit is that from the date of addition - all other users of the system have access to the scale.

Report Samples:

We have developed a feature that allows people to customise the whole process, the questionnaire, the scoring scale and the report. To allow them to preview what the 'finished' report will look like - following customising a 'Preview' of the report can be generated using dummy data and a default set of relationships.

Team Leader Questionnaire:

One of our clients asked if it was possible to create a questionnaire that would allow 'Team Members' to assess their 'Team Leader'. The resulting questionnaire and the new relationships - Team Member and Team Manager - is now being tested within their organisation.

How it works:

http://www.reactive360.com/

Following the design of our existing process and utilising all the learning from 240 thousand questionnaires the site is designed around 4 key steps:

Projects:
A ‘project’ designed to meet the customer requirement is created before any appraisals.

It is the project design that enables ‘customising’ the ‘look and feel’ of the whole process to mirror the company (or the clients company).
When designed, the project allows appraisals to be assigned. In this way all the appraisals assigned will have the same ‘look and feel’ and use the same questionnaire and report design.
When designing a project people can; Give the project a name, Choose the colours that will appear on the report and the on-line questionnaire, Edit the text of the e-mail that is sent to the people involved in the process, Select or design a questionnaire, choose questions, add your own and change the scoring scale
and Design the report layout where you can add your own pages, move the pages around and delete pages that are not appropriate.

Appraisals:
An appraisal is the actual set of questionnaires that are sent to people to complete on the person being appraised (the appraisee).

The appraisal process involves the distribution of the questionnaire to a group of people. It is typically sent to themselves (self) Their manager (manager), their peers (peers) and the people that the appraisee manages (direct reports). Sometimes other people are involved, stakeholders and internal or external customers.
It is normal to send questionnaires to 1 self – 1 manager 2 peers – 2 direct reports and if other groups are used 2 to each other groups. The reason for this is that it ‘protects’ confidentiality of the peers, direct reports as there is no-way of knowing who said what.
The appraisal process will have a deadline and therefore it is possible to select a ‘return date’ for the questionnaires.
It is probable that some people will forget to complete the questionnaire so they will need to be ‘chased’ and sent a reminder.
Occasionally people will want to re-open a questionnaire to edit some of the information after they have saved it.
Sometimes people will want to be added to the process part way through.
When adding people to the appraisal it is possible that you incorrectly add an e-mail address – so there needs to be a way to ‘fix’ a failed e-mail

Feedback:
Feedback is a completed (or partially completed) questionnaire that will be included in the report.

When the questionnaires have been sent to all the people involved in the appraisal – you can monitor the progress of feedback and (if required) chase people who have forgotten to respond.
After the dead-line has passed for feedback questionnaires to be completed you can make a decision as to when you generate the report.
Generating the report is the process where all the feedback for the appraisee is analysed and compiled into a single document (the report)

Reports:
A completed report once generated is the actual document that will be handed to (or discussed with) the appraisee.

The reports when generated appear in the ‘Reports’ module of the process and from there they can be purchased and down-loaded.