Necessity is the Mother of (Web) Invention

A few weeks ago, one of Digett's developers and I ran across some buggy behavior on a site that was still in development. We knew it was a problem that we had encountered and solved at least once before, but it certainly wasn't recent enough for either one of us to remember in detail. So we checked STS.

When a client or colleague wants an update on the budget progress of a project, we check STS.

When we need to record the length of time we've spent on a task, look up client contact info or prepare invoices, we use STS.

STS is short-hand for "Simple Ticketing System," Digett's self-developed internal support portal. Long ago, we recognized a need to record and organize all facets of a project. STS is a web-based application that helps us do that. From a project management perspective, it's a godsend.

Highlighted Features

Since STS is something we've designed and coded ourselves, we've customized it to the nth degree for the exact needs of our business. Among the most useful main components for us: project task/issue tracking, project information tracking, and time entry tracking.

That buggy issue we encountered a few weeks ago? We keep records of the tasks and troubleshooting actions we take on any given project. A simple search of STS revealed our notes and conclusions from fixing it before, saving us the time of having to figure it out again.

We also use STS to organize important details about projects themselves: records of the project manager, contacts at the client's organization, human resources assigned to the project, billing and invoicing details, and projected budget amounts, both overall and broken down into the stages of the build process.

Finally, all Digett team members also use STS to enter the amount of time they spend per project throughout the day. This allows budget progress to immediately update and allows for productivity monitoring.

Benefits

Storing all this data within a single website provides us with a level of organization that increases our efficiency and accountability, both as a company and as individuals. The ease of access to frequently used information streamlines and improves nearly all aspects of project management. The stability it provides, in turn, makes us better able to serve our clients.

Our development of STS grew out of the acknowledgement that we needed improvements and the recognition that the benefits would far outweigh the costs of development. Our dedicated use of the system is bound to have returned our investment 50 times over and continues to confirm the usefulness of something we rely on daily.

Are you cognizant of the improvements that can streamline your business? Vigilantly be on the lookout for ways customization or increased organization can improve your company and customer satisfaction.