AIS Intranet & Multimedia Communications Project Description

 

 

Background Information

 

AIM Investment Services (AIS) associates are responsible for servicing the accounts of AIM shareholders. AIS is comprised of five departments and approximately 600 associates in Houston and Denver.

 

The AIS Intranet & Multimedia Communications (IMC) Team creates and maintains the AIS intranet as well as performs the annual needs assessments to fulfill the NASD Firm Element Continuing Education Guidelines, which consists of creating web-based and other on-line communications pieces. The dependence of AIS using on-line references has increased dramatically over the last few years. Areas throughout AIM and AMVESCAP call upon the IMC Team to design and develop on-line materials.

 

The primary responsibilities of the IMC team include:

·          Writing material for on-line communication purposes

·          Designing and developing a variety of training material for the web

·          Utilization of software programs: HTML, Flash, Photoshop, Authorware, Illustrator, Homesite, and DreamWeaver

·          Ensuring on-line information remains current

·          Performing file maintenance

·          Developing usability studies and needs assessments

 

The IMC team is made up of Technical Writers, Intranet Content Coordinators, and Multimedia Designers.  Technical Writers author and maintain policies and procedures. Intranet Content Coordinators are responsible for designing and maintaining web page content. Multimedia Designers design and develop the web-based training as well as other on-line training materials.

 

 

 

PeopleSoft Reporting Description

 

Currently AIS stores its associates’ training records in PeopleSoft and all reports are run manually.   The most common reports are training completed and training not completed, both for individuals and departments.  First the reports are retrieved from PeopleSoft, and then converted into Excel files.  Then they are sorted and compiled by the following:

 

The final results are emailed to the correct group of managers.

 

Additionally the data from these reports are used in the computation of the AIS Score Card, which measures the percentage of associates who have not completed required training by the due date.

 

Project Description

 

The purpose of this project is to provide automatic web-based training reporting to associates and their management teams via the AIS Intranet. 

 

Tasks/Goals/Requirements

 

  1. Research the Windows XP user authentication process to create a secure page that displays available reports based on the users LAN ID.

 

  1. Create a plan of action on how to access the associates training records stored in PeopleSoft.

 

  1. Develop a dynamic page that serves information based on the associate’s LAN ID.

·         The associate’s page should include their complete training history and whether they have completed all required training.

·         The management’s page will include access to their direct reports individual training page and reports identifying what training programs their group has completed and those WBTs they have not been completed.

 

  1. Automate the notification process of WBTs that have not been completed for each associate and a group notification sent to managers about his or her team. 

 

  1. Automate the report generation of all training not completed by the due date required for AIS Scorecard calculations.

 

 

Contact Information

 

 

Tony Snider, Assistant Vice-President

(713) 214-4368

tony.snider@aiminvestments.com

AIS Intranet & Multimedia Communications Project Description

 

 

Background Information

 

AIM Investment Services (AIS) associates are responsible for servicing the accounts of AIM shareholders. AIS is comprised of five departments and approximately 600 associates in Houston and Denver.

 

The AIS Intranet & Multimedia Communications (IMC) Team creates and maintains the AIS intranet as well as performs the annual needs assessments to fulfill the NASD Firm Element Continuing Education Guidelines, which consists of creating web-based and other on-line communications pieces. The dependence of AIS using on-line references has increased dramatically over the last few years. Areas throughout AIM and AMVESCAP call upon the IMC Team to design and develop on-line materials.

 

The primary responsibilities of the IMC team include:

·          Writing material for on-line communication purposes

·          Designing and developing a variety of training material for the web

·          Utilization of software programs: HTML, Flash, Photoshop, Authorware, Illustrator, Homesite, and DreamWeaver

·          Ensuring on-line information remains current

·          Performing file maintenance

·          Developing usability studies and needs assessments

 

The IMC team is made up of Technical Writers, Intranet Content Coordinators, and Multimedia Designers.  Technical Writers author and maintain policies and procedures. Intranet Content Coordinators are responsible for designing and maintaining web page content. Multimedia Designers design and develop the web-based training as well as other on-line training materials.


Site Descriptions

 

Associates rely on the AIS and AISLO Intranets for various job tools and training (e.g., policies and procedures, quick facts, and web-based training) and as a central communication resource (e.g., Daily communication via Fund-A-Mental). It is critical that associates quickly access the information they require. The site is organized to maximize usefulness in this area.

 

The sites consist of approximately 6,500 HTML pages. Of those, approximately 3,000 are policies and procedures.  There are approximately 1,300 reference files. Additionally the AISLO site contains approximately 80 web-based training programs with over 28,000 associated files.

 

Main AIM Investment Services (AIS) Page/Navigation

 

The main page of the AIS Intranet is organized into sections, with the most important information in the section in the middle of the page. The Reference Information has links to the mostly used sites. The career section links to information related to professional development. The updates section links to the Content Request log, which allows associates to submit updates to the site, and to the Fund-A-Mental, which is a centralized daily communication source.

 

There is a prominent area that enables users to search the site. Feedback from users in the past noted that associates did not know how to adequately perform searches, so this link was made more prominent.

 

The AIS Initiatives/Teams section includes links to AIS-wide teams and business initiatives. The General Information section includes links to AIS reports, glossary, and other general reference information. The Announcements section highlights new sites or sites that only need to be available for a short time. The Product Information Section includes links to resources, regarding the mutual funds.

 

The navigation bar is available on all pages on the intranet and it includes links to almost all of the sites available. It includes the following drop-down menus:

 

Departments

 

Each department within AIS has its own page. It includes information that is pertinent to the department. Each site has a consistent internal navigation and layout. The navigation includes links to a contacts page (that lists all associates in the department, their extension, location, and e-mail information), department procedures, and a link to the job bank (open positions for the department). There is also an informational links section that includes links to the information most used by the department or department-specific pages.

 

Job Tools

 

The job tools drop down menu links to sites designed to help associates perform their job function. Some links on the menu include, the Legal Manual, Policies and Procedures, Fraud Information, and calculators.

 

Policies and Procedures

 

The Polices and Procedures (P&P) is organized into three sections: Procedures by Function, Department Procedures, and AIS Specific Policies. The procedures by function are also known as global procedures, in that they are performed by more than one area. There is also a link to the updates procedure page that lists what procedures were updated for the month. It includes the name of the procedure updated, the date it was updated, and what was changed in the procedure. This page also includes an archive of updates dating back to 2002.

 

P&P is the most critical of the Technical Writers and Intranet Content Coordinators job functions. P&P along with the AISLO Quick Facts are the most used information on the intranet. Associates rely on P&P to do their job, in business recovery situations, and for training new associates. IC is required by the SEC and NASD to keep this information up-to-date and accurate. IC works closely with associates to obtain updates to the site.

 

When global procedures are updated, they are sent to all AIS management for approval and review. This is known as the consensus process. IMC sends an e-mail to the management group and they are given 72 hours to reach consensus by agreeing to the proposed changes or responding to the entire group with their concerns.  Once they reach consensus, then IMC makes the update to the procedure. IMC keeps a copy of the old version of the procedure and notes what changes were made and the date it was made. Within the updated procedure, IMC adds the date it was changed in red in the exact location of the update.

 

Fund-A-Mental

 

The Fund-A-Mental is a daily communication that is sent to all associates each day. Announcements, updates, or any general communication is made in the Fund-A-Mental. IMC receives information for the site via the content request log. IMC compiles the information on the site and sends an e-mail, alerting associates that the site is updated. Only appropriate information is allowed on the site. There is also an archive of information previously in the Fund-A-Mental. 

 

Content Request Log

 

The Content Request Log (CRL) is the method by which IMC receives work. Associates can submit updates to existing content or new content via the CRL. They can track the progress of their request and see which member of the IMC group is working on the request. They receive an e-mail notification when the request is complete. Departmental procedures must be updated within 24 hours and global procedures within 72 hours. All general site requests must be updated within 48 hours depending on the scope of the request.

 

Main AISLO Page/Navigation

 

The main page of the AIS Learning Opportunities (AISLO) site contains sections for Learning, Reference, Training Calendar, WBT Courses, Hot Topics and Quick Links sections.  These sections can be accessed by clicking the graphic, text, quick links or the top button toolbar. The link at the bottom is to access the Content Request Log where updates can be requested.

 

Quick Facts

 

Quick Facts is widely used across all departments in AIS.  Quick Facts is designed to provide basic information on a topic or non-policy related items.  Quick Facts is cross-referenced with Policies & Procedures with “See Also” links at the top of each page to provide quick access for more detailed information should the associate need more information.

 

Reference

 

The AISLO Reference page contains links to general reference/job tools the site contains as well as access to the System User Guides.

 

Learning

 

The learning section contains a listing of the Facilitated and Continuing Education Courses AIS has available as well as links to all of the Self Study Library.

 

WBT Courses Page

 

The WBT Courses page contains a listing of all Web-based training courses available for associates to complete.  There is also an addition WBT course page which lists the courses in alphabetical order.

 

IRAs, Pension & Profit Sharing (IPP)

 

The IPP Sites contains all the retirement, educational, qualified plans and global job aids.  The page is broken into sections for each particular product type.

 

Project Description

 

The AIS and the AISLO intranet sites are going to be integrated into one site as a result of the merging of the two intranet/development teams.  

 

 

The purpose of this project is to provide guidelines and a plan of action to integrate the AIS Intranet with AISLO Intranet.

 

 

Tasks/Goals/Requirements

 

  1. Utilize the key elements and usability of the two sites to determine a uniform site design.

  2. Create a plan of action on how to integrate – best format for file structure, style guides and source files hierarchy.

 

  1. Develop a plan for the implementation of the redesign to reduce the amount of associates being impacted by the redesign process. 

 

 

Project Focus

 

The design and layout should be focused on the following pages:

 

Project Constraints

 

The layout and design of the Policies and Procedures, Content Request Log and the Web-based Training pages will stay the same and should not be considered as part of this project.

 

 

Contact Information

 

Tony Snider, Assistant Vice-President

(713) 214-4368

tony.snider@aiminvestments.com