muniBLOG: Administration

What Can a Learning Management System do for my municipality?

Municipalities have reported two (2) main pain points when it comes to managing their learning and development programs:

  1. They are tired of tracking Learning & Development on a spreadsheet and they would you like to have an LMS but they are cost-prohibitive for their municipality,
  2. Sourcing training content to populate their LMS is difficult and time-consuming, not to mention expensive

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application to help organizations manage the administration, documentation, tracking, training, reporting of their Learners. The main benefits of an LMS are to reduce the time, effort and cost of your training program while offering deeper insight into your Learner’s experience, compliance and progress.

With an LMS, you can assign training to your team to; a) grow the leaders of tomorrow (succession planning), b) for annual compliance training, c) for new hire onboarding or d) improve the job skills of employees in your organization. 

Not every municipality is the same so not everyone has the same needs when it comes to an LMS.  That’s why any LMS must offer a wide range of functionality to address individual municipal circumstances and the provider must be available to provide support and guidance along the way.

Learning Content

When organizations purchase their own LMS, the first step they need to do is upload training content into the LMS – and municipalities already know that it’s difficult and time consuming to source quality courses. But, then once they’ve found the training content they will need their IT or the LMS provider to upload it for them.  This increases costs and results in time delays in getting their training started.

A Learning Management Solution for Municipalities

muniLEARN is a collaborative learning management solution provided by muniSERV.ca, in partnership with Orion Learning. It saves municipalities money, improves  learning effectiveness, and helps them implement a safe, secure, collaborative learning solution across their municipality.

Here’s how:

muniLEARN has three components:

  • A state-of-the-art, robust, secure, subscription-based learning management system (LMS)
  • Access to a content marketplace of over 900 accredited, competency-based learning courses, programs and certification exams
  • Expertise to help you transform your learning and development program

 

 

Learning Management System – muniLEARN’s LMS comes with a full range of functionality already, but it is also customizable to suit individual needs.

Learning Content – With muniLEARN you have immediate access to our learning marketplace of over 900 accredited competency-based learning courses, programs and certification exams. We have sourced the best competency based learning courses from some of the world’s best content authors to provide you with an off-the-shelf content solution you can access directly or integrate it into your own learning programs. All of our courses are accredited by internationally recognized accreditation bodies including PMI, AXELOS, APMG International, ISSA, APM and ISTQB. We show you the accreditation agency on the accredited courses and your learners will receive certificates on successful completion of the exam.

Learning Transformation – muniLEARN has the expertise available to help guide municipalities through the transformation of their learning and development programs.

muniLEARN Pilot Program

If you’re not sure how muniLEARN will work for your municipality, we’ll give you a month to try it out!  Our muniLEARN Pilot program gives municipalities a test drive of the muniLEARN solution and the opportunity to experience using an LMS and digital learning.

Contact us today at [email protected] to learn more and discuss your learning and training needs!

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Dealing with Escalated Situations in Your Workplace

Resolving workplace conflict is an expected part of the job managers and Human Resource Practitioners. Whether you work in education, healthcare, human services, business, or any field, you might deal with angry, hostile, or noncompliant behaviour every day. Your response to the defensive reaction is often the key to avoiding a physical confrontation with someone who has lost control of their behaviour.

These ten De-Escalation Tips will help you respond to challenging behaviour in the safest, most efficient way possible.

  1. Be empathetic and non-judgmental
  2. Respect personal space
  3. Use non-threatening nonverbal communication
  4. Avoid overacting
  5. Focus on feelings
  6. Ignore challenging questions
  7. Set limits
  8. Choose wisely what you insist upon
  9. Allow silence for reflection
  10. Allow time for decisions

 

 To help you towards more efficient conflict de-escalation and resolution, the following basic steps can be followed:

  • Obtain the name of the person with whom you are speaking: People respond favourably to their own name. It also makes the conversation more personal. Ask for the person’s name early in the piece and use it throughout the discussion.
  • Use Active Listening: Clarifying, paraphrasing and using open-ended questions ensure that the individual you are speaking with knows you are aware of their situation and frustrations. Resaying a person’s own words back to them demonstrates that you have understood entirely what they were trying to say.       
  • Show support and suspend judgement: Empathy needs to be shown during conflict situations. Respecting the other person’s point of view even if you do not agree entirely will be the first step to resolving the conflict. 
  • Get them to agree and say yes: Having the person agree with you on general factual points leads the conversation towards a more favourable outcome. If you can show that you have understood their point of view by making clarifying statements you generate a state where the other person must reply with an affirmative response. The sooner you can get the person to say yes then sooner the conflict will de-escalate. It always works.
  • Avoid clichés: The worst of these being “Calm Down”. Did you ever notice how people who tell you to calm down are the ones who got you mad in the first place? Saying those words during a verbal conflict usually gets the classic retort “I AM CALM” very loudly usually with an animated hand gestures as well.       
  • Show empathy: You need to show compassion and understanding and give the conflict your full attention. Do not make impulsive decisions. Take the time to work through the problem.
  • Consistency in Courtesy: The person you are dealing with first thing in the morning deserves the same level of respect, civility and patience as the individual you are dealing with at 2 in the afternoon. They warrant the same high level of service and professionalism as the first person you spoke to. You need to maintain that position of positive brand ambassador and an excellent professional service.

There are many physical aspects of being mindful of in conflict situations. It is important always to be aware of features of conflict such as your body language, your emotions, your judgement, and your initial thoughts. Keeping these in mind is essential when trying to de-escalate a problematic situation.

Monika B. Jensen is the principal of the Aviary Group, consulting company that address workplace discord.  For more information, visit www.aviarygroup.ca

 

 

 

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Incremental Building Strategy Delivers Large Software Projects

Part Four in the Series: Software Development Guide for Business Leaders

For larger development projects, using the Incremental Build Model for software development can improve project success and get useful products into production quicker. By using an incremental build model to develop smaller, fully functional components, you are breaking the project into smaller, more easily digestible chunks. This model leads to greater success, improved client approval, and better functionality.

Why Break the Project into Smaller Increments?

The project management team may break a larger project into smaller pieces when delivering, delighting and getting customer feedback are important. Accomplish this by having the project entirely defined, scoped and then chunked into deliverable components.

Sometimes the best plan of attack on any large project is to use a divide and conquer technique. Using this approach helps to deliver good software solutions to the customer quickly. Using this strategy produces customer goodwill, a feedback channel from the client and helps the project team achieve a series of small successes which is great for morale.

We suggest that for any big project you consider breaking it down using the Incremental Build model so you can divide and conquer it and delight and deliver to your customer.

The solution starts to sound like an Agile project, but it has nothing to do with the project management technique employed. It’s a strategy to deliver quickly and get valuable customer feedback.

Use of Incremental on Larger Projects

Image of a circle being divided up into incremental parts

Project managers and clients can decide to break a larger a project into smaller increments. An Incremental Model’s success hinges on a complete scope and requirements. Once detailed and documented, the project can be broken into smaller, deliverable, pieces and delivered in stages throughout the project.

Breaking a larger project into smaller increments can reduce the cost of initial product delivery but may increase the cost of the whole project.

Another benefit of an incremental build is the stream of customer feedback on each increment that can help to identify deficiencies, additional features, and product changes which lead to a better final product.

By breaking the project into smaller increments, then using a traditional waterfall project management technique, the project manager can plan, define, develop and test each increment.

Because few changes are made within any single increment complete regression testing to identify development deficiencies can happen quickly.

How Does the Incremental Build Strategy Improve Success, Client Approval, and Functionality?

Image of a circle being divided up into incremental parts

Your customer, whether an internal department or an external client, wants to get their hands on their applications as soon as they can. When you deliver, using an Incremental Model, you delight them by delivering; then engage them for feedback. The result is a better product and a stronger relationship with your customer.

On your next larger development project, use the Incremental Build Strategy to break it down into smaller chunks to delight your customer, deliver quicker and to develop better projects.

 

CoreSolutions of London, Ontario, is a locally acclaimed software development firm with over 25 years of experience. CoreSolutions’s team of experts, including developers and project managers, build web or mobile applications using the latest technology and tools and will assist you through all phases of the project including brainstorming, requirements planning and project management. Connect with CoreSolutions today to start your project with a Free Business Systems Requirement.

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Stacking the Deck – The Exceptionally Clear Method to Define & Document Your Software Requirements

As a business leader, you may be considering developing a web application for your team, your company or customer use. Congrats! Let’s get your project off to a good start with a clear and concise Software Requirements process.

Throughout this series of Software Development Guide for Business Leaders, we will help you to understand the elements of success in a software development project.

As the leader, (aka project sponsor), your contribution will be paramount in defining the software expectations and your input will be required throughout the project lifecycle to ensure that everything stays on track and there are no surprises at the end of the project.

Finding the Aces – What is a Software Requirement?

Project Managers break software requirements into functional and non-functional components.

Functional requirements are simple documents that outline the inputs, the behavior of the software and the outputs. An example could include a login screen. You will have very specific inputs (typically username and password fields) and actions for different scenarios (login success, login failed, reset password, etc.)

The non-functional requirements include details such as performance requirements, security, or reliability. A good example would include a requirement for role-based security. This would change the features of the system depending on which user level an individual has logged in (administrator, contributor, general users, etc.)

Seems simple, right? It’s critical that we get these software requirements right before we start developing. Product quality, delivery timelines, and budget are all dependent on the quality of requirements. So, what can we do stack the deck in our favour?

Shuffling Methodologies – How to Develop Software Requirements

Image of Agile cycle

There were two studies performed in the 1990’s that help us create better software today. A study by the ESPI in 1995 found that 40 – 60% of all defects discovered in a software project traced back to errors made during the requirements stage. An earlier study in 1994 by the Standish Group helped us understand that 13.1% of projects fail due to incomplete requirements and 8.8% of projects fail due to rapidity changing requirements (Girase, 2012). It may have been a long time ago… but this is largely still true today.

There are two mainstream project development methodologies in existence today. The older Waterfall method that has been around for decades and is still used today by many organizations and the more recent Agile Software Development Model which was established with the publication of the Agile Manifesto in February of 2001.

The Agile Software Development Model made many strides to resolve and improve project requirements gathering, however, our experience is that both Agile and Waterfall have their advantages and disadvantages and they are not for suitable for every situation. Traditional project management models, like Waterfall, still require documentation of a requirement before the coding and testing start while Agile is iterative and requirements are refined as they are built. Agile is flexible and allows for fast feedback and changes as the project unfolds.

Internal development teams should get more value from Agile as they have easy access to stakeholders who are very engaged in the software development process. Not every organization has the resources or bandwidth to be engaged through the entire process and most stakeholders will want to have the clear start and end dates (and project budget) before starting a development project.

We have used both Agile and Waterfall and while they both have their benefits, we feel that we’ve found a sweet spot in between the two methodologies. We approach our development through a hybrid model that utilizes the best from both models and focuses on a visual representation of requirements and the design of a functional prototype before any coding starts. To bring our clients software visions to life, our Milestone development process borrows the parts we like from Agile (The iterative nature of the project, and the fast feedback) and from more traditional development like waterfall (having a planned finish date). This ensures that our stakeholders are active participants in the design and functionality of the system on an ongoing basis. Through this process, we eliminate surprises at the end of the project.

The Final Cut – Defining and Documenting Your Software Requirements

So, you have developed spectacular objectives, your project is guaranteed to be a smashing success now, right? Well, no. Simply having clear and well-defined objectives isn’t necessarily enough. One of the biggest challenges in software development (or any other longer-term project) is that we have to capture and document the requirements specifically enough to limit how open they are to interpretation. Clear direction is essential, or your development team may come back to you to clarify, or worse, deliver what they “thought you wanted”. Have you ever had someone come back to you and ask you to clarify an objective or thought only to realize that they were on the wrong track?

 

So where do you capture requirements? Well if you’re like the vast majority, you’re probably capturing requirements in simple Excel files. However, there are much better solutions available that offer so much more. At CoreSolutions, we really focus on capturing and bringing your vision to life. Capturing requirements in a visual way is a key component to clarifying expectations and limiting revisions. We document the requirements through a software system called iRise. This allows us to develop an interactive prototype before a single line of code is written. The actual development coding is the most expensive part of any software development process so, by developing a working prototype of the system before we start development, we can more accurately estimate the development cost and stay on budget. While this is more upfront work, it does lead to greater project success and overall experience. Let’s face it, the requirements need to be captured at some point during the project so why not do that work upfront so you have a better grasp of scope, timeline, and budget. It just makes sense.

 

Screenshot of iRise

 

The figure above is an example of a screen that’s part of a prototype in iRise.

 

As we outlined throughout this article, with so much riding on effective requirements planning, it’s critically important to define and document goals and deliverables. Whichever project methodology you decide to use, capturing requirements means a lot of upfront work, but it’s worth it to ensure the success of your project. By using an effective project methodology, and really understanding and documenting your system requirements upfront, you will effectively be stacking the deck for your project’s success. If you want to stack the deck even more and need help planning out your next software project, reach out to us. We love helping prepare software visions and have been great at it for over 25 years.

 

CoreSolutions’ team of experts, including developers and project managers, build web and mobile applications using the Agile Methodology and tools. CoreSolutions will assist you in all phases of your project including:

·         Brainstorming;

·         Requirements Planning & Gathering;

·         Prototype Design;

·         Project Management.

 

Connect with CoreSolutions today to start your project by completing a Project Profile.

Works Cited

Girase, N. M. (2012, May). airccse.org. Retrieved 12 10, 2016, from http://airccse.org/journal/ijsea/papers/3312ijsea05.pdf

Mitre. (n.d.). Eliciting, Collecting, and Developing Requirements. Retrieved 12 12, 2016, from www.mitre.org: https://www.mitre.org/publications/systems-engineering-guide/se-lifecycle-building-blocks/requirements-engineering/eliciting-collecting-and-developing-requirements

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Private Security Trends and the Need for more Trained Private Security Resources

The Canadian Occupation Projection System (COPS) predicts that by 2018, there will be a significant shortage of Private Investigation and Private Security professionals for the projected number of job openings in Canada.

 

This is due to a large number of impending retirements and the increasing demand for trained professionals in the Private Investigation and Security field. The current security climate in Canada, the privatization of public security functions and the gaps in accessible knowledge and streamlined training in the private security field, including the gaps between private and public security, are all indications that there is an imminent and urgent need to provide professional and comprehensive private investigative and security services to Canadians. This not only increases individual safety and security within municipalities but also ensure the Canada as a whole maintains its credibility and reputation as one of the safest Countries in the World.

 

In 2002, the Law Reform Commission of Canada opened a dialogue on the trend in the growth of private security in Canada. A continued rise in law enforcement expenditures, combined with economic downturns, have contributed to pressure being placed on police services around the world to become more effective and efficient. This has resulted in a growing trend of privatizing some functions traditionally performed by public policing to the private security industry as well as the growing cooperative efforts between public and private security. Private security plays an increasingly important role in community safety and addressing issues of crime and social disorder.

 

It is often assumed that privatizing and outsourcing traditional law enforcement tasks will result in reductions in the numbers of sworn police officers. This is very far from the truth, on the contrary, public and private security collaboration may in fact result in innovative initiatives that previously did not exist, and with the growing need for security actions in communities, may in fact provide law enforcement with extra resources and partners to undertake more actions without being overworked and understaffed while utilizing various community expertise.

 

There is a growing need for more security trained private resources and more collaboration between all security facets in Canada.  In Ontario, Private Investigators as well as Security Guards are licenced and regulated by the Ministry Of Correctional Services and Community Safety.

 

Anyone that acts in these rolls must have a licence. To obtain a licence, you must meet some requirements, one of them is completion of a Ministry-approved course provided by a registered provider such as Focus Investigations. A minimum 50 hour course for Private Investigator and a 40 hour course for Security Guards is mandatory.

 

These courses can be completed online making it easy for students to complete at the curriculum at their own pace. The process is as follows:

 

1. Complete Ministry training course and receive a “Completion Number”

 

2. Book a written exam at a SERCO Canada location that provides these tests. 

 

3. Upon successful completion of the exam, a candidate may now apply to the Ministry for their license. 

* For Security Guards, Emergency level first aid training is also required.

 

More information can be found on the licensing and industry here:

https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/PSIS/FAQs/FAQs-Licences/PSIS_faqs_licences.html

 

Additional training that is useful for security professionals as well as anyone working in a security related field such as:

 

Notetaking:

 

Knowing how to take notes is important for the following reasons:

 

  • Notes are referenced for several reasons and potentially by several people.
  • Supervisors might want a rundown of the events you encountered the night before, clients may want to know about incidents that affected their businesses, and law enforcement may need these notes to help with an investigation which could conclude in a court case in which the notes will be used to prove or disprove an allegation.
  • It is vital that security personnel know how to take proper notes so that the facts are covered and there is no confusion that renders the reports useless.

 

Crisis Intervention

 

A crisis occurs when someone loses control over their behaviour. These moments are often preceded by warning signs that tells you someone’s behaviour is starting to escalate.  Security officials and any employee having to interact with the public may be faced with a situation where they are called upon to defuse a situation. By following the tips in a crisis intervention course, they often prevent a situation from becoming critical and dangerous and they are prepared and confident in any crisis they may face.

 

 For more information or to enrol in one of these courses, visit us at http://www.focusinvestigation.net

 

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How do you find your perfect Training Partner

How do you find your perfect Training Partner?

by Ken Kavanagh, Founder & CEO of Orion Learning

Ask training organizations these seven questions and you could find the training that fits your expectations and needs.

Finding the right training organization to help you achieve your learning and development goals is not easy. It’s more than just hiring someone who says they have the materials that meet your needs, you need to find out about them and their material. Here’s some questions that you should ask to make sure you’re hiring the right training organization and getting the right content for your training goals:

  1. Are you accredited? Would you sign up for an online degree course with a college you knew nothing about? Nor would I! By going to an Accredited Training Organization (ATO) you’ll go to a recognized organization, on a recognized course and get a recognized qualification. The accreditation process assesses the competence and reliability of training organizations and the knowledge and skills of the trainer.
  2. What’s your track record? When you’re investing good money in training, some timely research can help ensure it’s money well spent. Find out how long an ATO has been in business. Ask for pass rates, evidence of success, testimonials and for a client portfolio; that way you’ll be sure that it has the depth and breadth of experience to understand your business.
  3. What kind of expertise do your trainers have? Just as you’d do background checks on potential employees, so you should verify the quality of an ATO’s trainers. Check who trained them, check they haven’t just passed a training course themselves (yes, it happens!), check they’ve got real-world experience and make sure support tutors can answer questions (inexperienced trainers hate them!).
  4. What kind of learning experience can you offer? Let’s face it, training can be like going through a sausage machine. So pick ATOs offering learner-centred courses designed to help you retain training and deliver change in the workplace. Look for quality materials, newsletters, downloads, video tutors, full tutor support, exam simulations so you can assess progress, mobile games, forums, blogs, social networking through sites like Twitter and Facebook as well as the chance to try the course before you buy it. People live and work in a rich, multi-media technological world and ATOs should be able to reflect that in your learning experience.
  5. How flexible is your learning delivery? Geography, time and budget can limit an individual’s or a company’s ability to go or send people on classroom courses so it’s worth hunting around for the ATO that gets this and provides a choice of delivery methods to suit you. Classroom learning should be supplemented by blended, mobile, live virtual classroom, digital learning and social learning to optimise costs, time, and of course, learning. If you’re new to digital learning, there are some simple steps you can take to make sure that your training project goes to plan.
  6. How much is it going to cost and what do I get for my money? It’s the old story: you’re on a great course and then they hit you for things you thought were included in the price. A committed ATO will go that extra mile. Our service holds your hand through creating the right set of courses for digital learning so that you capitalize on the experience and maximize your Return on Investment. They’ll take care of everything from designing your programme, and tracking and reporting learner progress, to organizing exams.
  7. What development opportunities can you offer? People and organizations want opportunities to grow. They want to develop their skills, careers or the business. A good look at an ATO will tell you if it’s a one-trick pony or if it will stay the course and grow with you. Ask yourself if its programmes complement each other and if it develops new courses and services and ways to deliver and support them.

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Orion Learning, a global leader in providing accredited internationally recognized learning solutions. Our learning solutions include a robust learning management system (LMS), thousands of hours of learning content covering 16 learning categories including certification courses and examinations such as Project Management, Change Management, Financial Management, Risk Management and Service Management.

Get Certified, Get Trained and Get Started with Orion. More information on Orion solutions can be found at www.orionelearning.com

 

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The Power and the Peril of the Privilege Clause

The Power and the Peril of the Privilege Clause

by Lindsay Parcells LLM, LLB, MBA

As procurement professionals know, Canadian courts have established a clear duty on the part of owners and respondents to respect the terms of ‘Contract A,’ which includes a duty by owners to reject non-compliant bids and proposals. This included duty is based on the notion that it would make little sense for bidders and proponents to expose themselves to the risks associated with the competitive process if the owner was allowed to then ignore that process and accept a non-compliant response. Failing to reject a non-compliant response and subsequently awarding ‘Contract B’ to a non-compliant respondent may result in a claim for damages by an unsuccessful respondent who submitted a compliant bid or proposal. If that claim is successful, damages will be awarded both for the unsuccessful respondent’s lost profit and, usually, for at least a portion of their legal costs. Owners that fail to reject non-compliant bids and proposals may therefore end up paying twice for the same goods or services that were procured – once to the company they awarded it to, and once to compensate the company they should have awarded it to, had they followed their own rules.

To protect against liability, owners will often include privilege clauses in their procurement documents. A privilege clause is a provision in the RFX that gives the owner a specific right or ‘privilege’ in the procurement process, typically the right to accept or reject any response in its discretion or the right to waive defects. Privilege clauses may also give the owner the right to negotiate with respondents, to communicate for clarification purposes, or to rectify ‘minor deficiencies.’ As litigation escalates and challenges become more frequent, we see a corresponding increase in the number and variety of privilege clauses owners choose to insert.

Privilege clauses are useful tools that give owners flexibility and discretion in the procurement process, and they can be particularly beneficial for owners in more complex procurements where there are uncertainties that may be difficult to predict. For example, in a procurement where an owner is seeking proposals for a project that requires complex technology, it may be beneficial to retain the flexibility to allow for further discussions with proponents after initial proposals are reviewed, leading perhaps to a final BAFO stage based on revised specifications.

Generally speaking, the more complexities and uncertainties in the procurement, the more likely it is that privilege clauses need to be included. Owners should, however, remember the benefits of moderation in using privilege clauses. Notwithstanding the advantages of the flexibility provided by privilege clauses, owners should also remember that, in general, there is a direct correlation between the prices received and the number of privilege clauses, as respondents factor in the uncertainties created by privilege clauses and include a ‘risk premium’ in their pricing. Worse still, they may even decline to participate if the opportunity is too uncertain.

Owners should therefore include only those privileges necessary for dealing with the specific uncertainties and complexities of the procurement under consideration, remaining mindful of the impact this may have on the competitive tension. An owner should decide whether a privilege clause is “nice” or “necessary” to have, and include only the latter.

Privilege clauses, in common with all other aspects of issuing and administering procurement processes, should be exercised fairly and in good faith. Remember that discretion is a double-edged sword: it leaves room for flexibility, but owners should expect to be challenged on why they did or did not exercise the discretion in any given case.

Joining NECI’s Instructor Team in 2016, Lindsay Parcells practices local government law with Lidstone & Company, Barristers & Solicitors, a firm specializing in local government law with offices in Calgary and Vancouver. Lindsay has been practicing law since 1991 in Alberta and British Columbia. He completed a Masters’ degree in Municipal Law from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2009 and a combined Bachelors of Laws and Masters of Business Administration degree from Dalhousie University in 1991. In addition to his practice in procurement law, Lindsay also advises clients in municipal law, land use, real property and corporate and commercial matters. Lindsay is a past Chair of the Municipal Law Section of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association and currently serves as vice-chair of the National Municipal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. He can be reached at [email protected].

Readers are cautioned not to rely upon this article as legal advice nor as an exhaustive discussion of the topic or case. For any particular legal problem, seek advice directly from your lawyer or in-house counsel. All dates, contact information and website addresses were current at the time of original publication.

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041     Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

[email protected]

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“Smart Contracts”: Magic, Myth or Misnormer?

“Smart Contracts”: Magic, Myth or Misnormer?

by Paul Humbert

The potential to use blockchain technology to create so-called “smart contracts” for a variety of commercial transactions has been much in the news lately. Some see the objective as using the self-executing code of a blockchain to automatically create and implement a transaction, thereby increasing efficiency by avoiding the time, effort, expense, and burdens of negotiating and implementing “paper” contracts.

I am no expert on blockchain technology. My understanding is that a blockchain is essentially a database that keeps records in “blocks”. Each block is timestamped and linked to a previous block and once recorded are designed to be secure. They act as a shared distributed digital ledger (on either a private or public peer-to-peer network) that can record and update transactions chronologically and publicly. It could also be used to trigger transactions automatically, i.e., if some event occurs, then some action is triggered.

Blockchain is the technology underlying cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and one of its major attributes is the security of the transaction. As expected, this nascent technology has attracted a lot of attention in many industries seeking to apply blockchain in a variety of contexts including as a means to save time, reduce costs, increase security, and track the ownership of assets.

There is huge potential for the application of this technology including in the fields of finance, manufacturing, and supply chain management. For example, blockchain technology could ensure a chain of custody to guarantee that goods being sold are not counterfeit or that produce is in fact organic. There is also the potential to have machines interact in what might seem like a very contractual manner, e.g., machinery could authorize and pay for its own maintenance, repair or recharging as the need arose. It’s all very new and, like any new application of a developing technology, challenges and uncertainties remain.

Against this background, the term “smart contract” has entered the picture. As Confucius so wisely stated, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.” The term “smart contract” doesn’t help and is the beginning of confusion, not wisdom.

The problem with the term “smart contract” in the context of blockchain technology starts with the word “smart”. To me, being “smart” means applying learning and experience to make good business or personal decisions or choices. For example, I like to think that my students get smart (or at least smarter) about how to structure and manage commercial transactions as a result of taking my course on contract management.

Using blockchain technology to create “smart” contracts, would require a very substantial exercise in putting into code all the nuances of language and the law, including statutes, treaties, conventions and court decisions. There is an old saying among attorneys that “No matter how flat you make the pancake, there are always two sides.” Some people see this as unavoidable ambiguity due to the nature of language. I see it as necessary flexibility given the complex ways in which people need to interact and communicate. And if an ambiguity does present itself or if some scenario occurs that was not anticipated by the parties to a contract, the general intent and objective of the contract can be ascertained by the parties through negotiation (or if need be by the courts or some other dispute resolution mechanism) by applying legal principles and precedent in the context of what is reasonable under the facts and circumstances. Will taking language and the law and translating it into computer code make it easier to address complex issues? Aside from the challenge of doing so, there is the very real risk that “bugs” in the code could yield unintended consequences. I think most would agree that bugs in such a complex coding effort would be inevitable. “Garbage in garbage out” as the saying goes. And what about a scenario where certain information is not provided in the blockchain, i.e. an error of omission? How would code address that?

I have yet to discover a “smart” machine despite the efforts of skilled programmers and code writers. Moreover, despite being called “smart” most machines (e.g. smart TVs, smart cars, smart phones, etc…) are not really “smart” at all. You may be born with a certain level of innate measurable “intelligence”, but you get “smart” as a result of learning, making mistakes, and then adapting your experience to future behavior. Most machines or appliances labeled as “smart” are simply connected to the internet. To me that does not make them smart. Will blockchain technology breathe the ability to think into the code that will create “smart” contracts?

Despite warnings from Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, and Elon Musk on the dangers of artificial intelligence (“summoning the demon”), we can sleep peacefully secure in the knowledge that for the time at least machines are safely dumb. Perhaps a few machines (smart bombs?) are capable of making adjustments that resemble human decisions, but we are a long way from autonomous machines or technology taking over the world.

Putting the word “contract” after the word “smart” doesn’t help. The definition of a “contract” is deceptively simple, namely: “An agreement between two or more parties creating obligations that are enforceable by law.” Black’s Law Dictionary. This small group of words is simultaneously clear yet complex; obvious but nuanced. In fact, it is simply not possible to completely define the term “contract” in a sentence or two. Any short definition requires further explanation of the underlying principles and facts under which a contract can be created, changed or ended.

So, what is really meant by the term “smart contract”? There is room for both confusion and competing definitions. It would appear that many people use the term “smart contract” to mean essentially blockchain technology that uses code to create and administer a legally enforceable agreement. By the press of a button, could we eliminate the time, treasure and headache of the hard work of negotiating contracts, not to mention putting all those boilerplate scriveners out of work? Seems unlikely. Could some savant make the “smart” contract so “flat” that controversies would never occur? Even if the code operated precisely as intended, yet a party was disappointed, could you envision a scenario whereby the disappointed party would claim not only error, but fraudulent inducement, unjust enrichment, superior undisclosed knowledge, bad faith, violation of public policy, promissory or equitable estoppel and run to the nearest friendly jurisdiction?

The law makes it easy to enter into agreements as long as the elements of offer, acceptance, consideration, indicating a meeting of the minds for some lawful purpose are met. However, there is a huge variety and different types of contracts. In addition, the importance of individual facts and circumstances pertaining to a particular transaction as well as how the parties choose to allocate risks and responsibilities cannot be overstated. That’s not to say that certain simple circumstances could not be coded to be “self-executing”. Certainly, payment could be programmed by code to occur immediately upon delivery and acceptance (after due inspection of course) of goods or services. But, rather than try to translate into code an endless variety of contractual transactions with so many permutations and combinations of outcomes, why not simply combine some simple “black and white” code-driven scenarios (like payment for conforming goods or services) with traditional legal language reflecting the rights, risks, and responsibilities according to each party’s capabilities and risk tolerance.

Moreover, a contract consists of many respective rights and responsibilities as well as the assumption of certain risks. How the parties choose to allocate those risks via the sometimes very complex contractual language used in indemnification clauses, insurance provisions, restrictions on the use of information, limitations of liability or other such language allocating risks and responsibilities between the parties varies. These and other factors may be a limitation to the application of so-called “smart contracts”.

That’s not to say that blockchain technology has no role in facilitating transactions. It can be a real game changer for many industries, including supply chain management. Tracking and recording the quantity, quality, certifications and transfer of goods as well as sharing information about products, together with the greater transparency, scalability and security are among the benefits of using blockchain technology. However, let’s avoid blockchain fever and not let the magic of blockchain trespass into fever and myth.

Readers are cautioned not to rely upon this article as legal advice nor as an exhaustive discussion of the topic or case. For any particular legal problem, seek advice directly from your lawyer or in-house counsel. All dates, contact information and website addresses were current at the time of original publication.

Paul Humbert is president of The Humbert Group, llc and provides consulting services on process improvement and transactional matters. He has co-authored several books for use in contract development and implementation, project management, and process improvement. They include: Playbook for Managing Supply Chain Transactions with Desktop Tools, References and Sample Forms; Contract and Risk Management for Supply Chain Management Professionals; and Model Contract Terms and Conditions with Annotations and Case Summaries. This article originally appeared on the European Financial Review site on December 28, 2015. It has been edited for style and is reprinted by permission of the author.

National Education Consulting Inc.

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What’s a GPO and Why Should You Care?

What’s a GPO and Why Should You Care?

by Lise Patry BA | Sc | LLB | ICD.D | NECI Instructor| Patry Law

A group purchasing organization, or ‘GPO’, is an entity whose fundamental purpose is to allow its members to combine their purchasing power to benefit from volume pricing for goods and services. In addition to reduced prices, buying through a GPO can shorten the procurement cycle, save staff time and help entities avoid the risks associated with a public procurement process.

In Canada, GPOs have become significant players in the health care and education sectors. Beyond these sectors however there appears to be scarce take-up for GPOs and one has to ask why?  

Perhaps it’s because of the historical lack of clarity around whether public procurement rules allow public sector entities to use GPOs. The Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) only addresses GPOs (which it refers to as “buying groups”) in a cursory fashion in the annexes applicable to Crown corporations and MASH sector entities. Beyond the AIT, it’s rare to find references to GPOs in government procurement frameworks, which creates uncertainty as to their legality or acceptability.

The Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) clarifies the rules around using GPOs, making it easier for public sector entities to add GPOs to their menu of sourcing options. The buying group provisions in the CFTA apply to all covered entities; governments, Crown corporations and MASH sector. When purchasing through buying groups, like the AIT, the CFTA requires that covered entities ensure the procurement process is carried out in accordance with the CFTA but the CFTA introduces an exception to this rule where the entity has little or no control over process. Covered entities using GPOs are required to publish a notice of their participation with a GPO at least annually on their tendering website.

With the CFTA explicitly recognizing the acceptability of using buying groups, procurement officers would be remiss not to explore adding GPOs to their menu of sourcing options. Before doing so, however, it’s important to check with legal counsel to ensure the organization’s procurement framework allows the use of GPOs. If the policy framework allows it, before moving ahead it’s equally important to analyze the pros and cons of using a GPO as there is no ‘one size fits all’ for sourcing options in procurement; GPOs may generate significant benefits for some organizations but not for others.  

Watch for future articles on this topic, including the next in this series that examines the pros and cons of using GPs in procurement.

Lise Patry, an instructor with NECI, is a lawyer and former business executive with a strong background in technology and more than 20 years of business and legal experience in the public and private sectors. As principal of Patry Law, in addition to general law, she offers virtual counsel services and specialized expertise in contracts, licensing, government procurement and corporate governance. She can be reached in Ottawa at 613-833-7488 or [email protected].

Readers are cautioned not to rely upon this article as legal advice nor as an exhaustive discussion of the topic or case. For any particular legal problem, seek advice directly from your lawyer or in-house counsel. All dates, contact information and website addresses were current at the time of original publication.

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041     Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

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Leadership in Supply Chain

by Larry Berglund, SCMP, MBA, FSCMA

Presentations Plus Training & Consulting Inc.

Ideas are easy. Implementing them is the challenge.

Leadership in organizational structures is fleeting. Leaders take on the tough tasks and provide a vision and direction for attaining their goals. Managers follow the plan and try to insert efficiencies along the way. In supply chain management we often use the term “leading practices” when in actuality, we are referring to common practices across a sector.

When one organization continues to issue competitive bidding process for services, following the practices of its peers, we consider this to be following a leading practice. When another organization is first in its sector to adopt a vested outsourcing strategy, we are observing leadership in action

Leaders are not satisfied with the status quo. The need to drive innovation is inherent in every leader and thus every industry. Followers value leadership because while they can perceive when something needs to change, they tend not to accept the professional and personal risks associated with driving that change.

Change is perhaps the only true constant – but leaders must articulate a vision before real change can happen. Such a vision does not necessarily come from a brief and illuminating epiphany, but more often from leaders’ abilities to perceive that which is beyond the noise in the market or the confusion in the messages. Leaders instead appreciate nuances during the discovery and presentation of new ideas while accepting a reasonable level of risk. Leaders are also not too humble to draw from successful ideas of others and give credit where due.

What makes a person a leader? First, it is their self-conviction in knowing what needs to be done and their commitment to following that goal. They realize when it is beyond their personal resources to reach their goals without the commitment of others. A leader is less concerned with the how of change, allowing for their followers to utilize their own ideas and energy for carrying out that change. A leader is more focused on the why of change.

Leaders paint the picture of the future and have their audience – their followers – understand how their roles can complement the vision. This aspirational aspect of leadership is concurrent with the inspirational communications within the organization and to its external stakeholders.

Leaders need to create the buy-in. Without followers’ commitment to the vision, success is doubtful or compromised. Buy-in requires credibility, a focus on common interests, shared passions, resilience and an emotional connection created by the leader. People need affirmation that a leader is authentic before they will hear the new message. Leaders anticipate both a certain level of resistance and the occurrence of conflicts. They need to listen to concerns and adequately address them in their action plans. A guiding strategy requires an approach in accord with the organization’s values. Changes in behaviour indicating a stronger alignment with the leader’s vision can provide evidence that the buy-in is taking place.

In supply chains, we see these changes in behaviour when leading practices – such as adopting total cost of ownership – replace pursuing the lowest cost; when public organizations utilize the buying power in procurement to positively affect social and economic development; when targets are set to ensure diversity across supply chains; when we see inclusive opportunities for people who face employment barriers; and when value for money exceeds arbitrary budget limits and considers benefits to the community as a whole. That is leadership. Leadership begins when we start to think outside the books.

Larry has been in the supply chain management field as an author, manager, business trainer, academia, and consultant for many years. Larry has worked in both the private and public sectors. Recently he has been co-facilitating NECI eSeminars, classroom sessions, and online modules. His new book, Good Planets are Hard to Buy is now available on Amazon.com

Readers are cautioned not to rely upon this article as legal advice nor as an exhaustive discussion of the topic or case. For any particular legal problem, seek advice directly from your lawyer or in-house counsel. All dates, contact information and website addresses were current at the time of original publication

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041     Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

[email protected]

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