Carl Tyler's Blog

Today IBM announced version 2.0 of IBM Lotus RE-Organizer, a personal resource manager that extends IBM's family of award-winning products.  Lotus RE-Organizer combines the familiar "look and feel" of a traditional corporate reorganization with the power of the Lotus Notes 8 client.

Employing Lotus' core eclipse product functionality such as toolbar and widget support, Lotus RE-Organizer makes it easy to change projects, move offices, remove management layers, provide voluntary retirement and severance programs, and layoff employees.  Lotus RE-Organizer integrates tightly with Lotus Notes allowing users to mail a portion of their personnel records or complete personnel files electronically.  Through the power of Lotus Notes Plug-ins, Lotus RE-Organizer users are also notified of impending organizational changes which might impact their jobs.

"Making job transitions easier is the most important goal for a PRM product," an IBM spokesperson said.  "There is a vast untapped market of users involved in on-going reorganizations waiting for an easy-to-use PRM that changes the workplace environment in a familiar way.  We see Lotus RE-Organizer as the first in a series of products to help manage corporate reorganizations."

"We are also actively working on making this technology available for iPhone other hand-held devices.  One of the biggest problems with re-orgs is that people who are away from the office on business, vacation, or for other reasons often return to the surprise of a completely reorganized department or company.  By bringing Lotus RE-Organizer technology to portable devices, we can offer tools to keep employees informed of organizational changes no matter where they are and no matter what they are doing.  This dramatically improves an employees ability to prepare and react to changes in the workplace.  With Lotus RE-Organizer we're helping to ensure the employee feels they are part of the overall process"

Breakthrough Paradigm

Lotus RE-Organizer contains modules for employees, managers, and executives so that people in all levels of the organization can participate in re-orgs interactively in ways that reflect their job responsibilities and job levels.  Through tight integration with Lotus Connections, actions such as "Who's the Boss?" and "List VPs" allow any employee to get up-to-date information about their direct manager or all the Vice-Presidents of the company.  Managers can use commands such as "Who Works for Me?", "Review Employee", "Promote", "Move Laterally", "Terminate", and  "Layoff" as well as many others for common management tasks and activities.  Executives have a wide range of "big-picture" tools at their disposal such as "Nuke Project", "Begin Skunkworks", "Eliminate Management Layer", and "Reward Self."

One of the most innovative aspects of Lotus RE-Organizer is it's stunning application of the "real-world" moving paradigm in a software application.  When the "Move Office" action is selected by an employee, an animated moving van drives onto the user's desktop.  The user's application, data, and configuration files are "packed" from the computer desktop into cardboard boxes labelled with the destination office.  The boxes are then loaded into the moving van.  The moving van then drives off the desktop through the Ethernet or other network connection.  Simultaneously, the physical process for moving the equipment, books, and other office supplies is initated through a Sametime Workflow application and "real" movers show up with boxes and carts to pack up and move the office contents. Moving the actual computer is as simple as selecting an checkbox in this process.

At the new office, the "real" movers arrive and deposit the office contents.  When the user's computer (either a new machine or the one that was moved) is operational, the "Unpack Office" action is selected within Lotus RE-Organizer.  The animated moving van arrives by driving out of the Internet pipes onto the desktop.  The boxes containing the application, data, and configuration files are unloaded from the van onto the desktop.  The user then interactively sets up their new desktop and is ready to enjoy the new working environment.  This is a major new breakthrough in ease-of-transition and ease-of-use for all those involved in re-orgs.

IBM Acquires ABC Moving Company

IBM also announced today the acquisition of the ABC Moving Company as part of the Personnel Resource Management family of product and service offerings.  

"ABC Moving was an early adopter of IBM's Websphere technologies and has been a major partner in our numerous re-orgs over the years and they have demonstrated time and again the ability, professionalism, and dedication required to compete successfully in moving people around within a company.  We found their technology and business to fit perfectly with our own as we seek to become the leader in PRMs.  Their object-oriented approach to relocating the furniture, equipment, and other physical components of a re-org directly complements our own object-oriented approach to the software tools which are critical for managing the personnel aspects of a re-org.  

We will continue to expand and develop the ABC Moving product and service offerings while integrating their operations with our own.  Existing customers will be fully supported and they may continue to use their current moving and PRM tools and services indefinitely with our total dedication to their needs.  Additionally, Websphere Portal will offer a unique upgrade path for those customers who wish to expand their use of PRM technology.  Websphere will continue to be a supplement rather than a replacement for these technologies.  We won't be forcing anyone to upgrade to Websphere; we'll respond to the needs and desires of our customers and continue to provide the productivity tools they need and desire."

A slightly modified classic, the original can be found here