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  • How can I prevent a textbox from taking focus on the postback when I have a calendar extender on it?

    - by Biff MaGriff
    Hello, I have repeater, inside this repeater is a user control. In my c# codebehind on my user control I dynamically add a textbox and assign a calendar extender to it. Similar to this. //custom control protected void Page_Load(object o, EventArgs e) { TextBox tb = new TextBox(); tb.ID = "myTextBox"; MaskedEditExtender meeDate = new MaskedEditExtender(); meeDate.ID = "meeDate"; meeDate.TargetControlID = this.UniqueID + "$" + tb.ID; meeDate.Mask = "99/99/9999"; meeDate.MaskType = MaskedEditType.Date; CalendarExtender ce = new CalendarExtender(); ce.ID = "ceCalendar"; ce.TargetControlID = this.UniqueID + "$" + tb.ID; this.Controls.Add(tbDate); this.Controls.Add(meeDate); this.Controls.Add(ce); } This works well, however after I postback the textbox takes focus and the calendar extender fires and it looks really.... dumb. How can I stop this?

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  • Unobstrusive pseudo-classes and attribute selectors emulation in IE

    - by Álvaro G. Vicario
    I'm trying to emulate some pseudo-classes and attribute selectors in Internet Explorer 6 and 7, such as :focus, :hover or [type=text]. So far, I've managed to add a class name to the affected elements: $("input, textarea, select") .hover(function(){ $(this).addClass("hover"); }, function(){ $(this).removeClass("hover"); }) .focus(function(){ $(this).addClass("focus"); }) .blur(function(){ $(this).removeClass("focus"); }); $("input[type=text]").each(function(){ $(this).addClass("text"); }); However, I'm still forced to duplicate selector in my style sheets: textarea:focus, textarea.focus{ } And, to make things worse, IE6 seems to ignore all the selectors when it finds an attribute: input[type=text], input.text{ /* IE6 ignores this */ } And, of course, IE6 ignores selectors with multiple classes: input.text.focus{ /* IE6 ignores this */ } So I'm likely to end up with this mess: input[type=text]{ /* Rules here */ } input.text{ /* Same rules again */ } input[type=text]:focus{ } input.text_and_focus{ } input.text_and_hover{ } input.text_and_focus_and_hover{ } My question: is there any way to read the rules or computed style defined for a CSS selector and apply it to certain elements, so I only need to maintain one set of standard CSS?

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  • Guest Post: Christian Finn: Is Facebook About to Become a Victim of its Own Success?

    - by Michael Snow
    12.00 Print 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}  Since we have a number of new members of the WebCenter Evangelist team - I thought it would be appropriate to close the week with the newest hire and leader of the global WebCenter Evangelists, Christian Finn, who has just joined the Red team after many years with the small technology company up in Redmond, WA. He gave an intro to himself in an earlier post this morning but his post below is a great example of how customer engagement takes on a life of its own in our global online connected and social digital ecosystem. Is Facebook About to Become a Victim of its Own Success? What if I told you that your brand could advertise so successfully, you wouldn’t have to pay for the ads? A recent campaign by Ford Motor Company for the Ford Focus featuring Doug the spokespuppet (I am not making this up) did just that—and it raises some interesting issues for marketers and social media alike in the brave new world of customer engagement that is the Social Web. Allow me to elaborate. An article in the Wall Street Journal last week—“Big Brands Like Facebook, But They Don’t Like to Pay” tells the story of Ford’s recently concluded online campaign for the 2012 Ford Focus. (Ford, by the way, under the leadership of people such as Scott Monty, has been a pioneer of effective social campaigns.) The centerpiece of the campaign was the aforementioned Doug, who appeared as a character on Facebook in videos and via chat. (If you are not familiar with Doug, you can see him in action here, and read the WSJ story here.) You may be thinking puppet ads are a sign of Internet Bubble 2.0 and want to stop now, but bear with me. The Journal reported that Ford spent about $95M on its overall Ford Focus campaign, with TV accounting for over $60M of that spend. The Internet buy for the campaign was just over $10M, which included ad buys to drive traffic to Facebook for people to meet and ‘Like’ Doug and some amount on Facebook ads, too, to promote Doug and by extension, the Ford Focus. So far, a fairly straightforward consumer marketing story in the Internet Era. Yet here’s the curious thing: once Doug reached 10,000 fans on Facebook, Ford stopped paying for Facebook ads. Doug had gone viral with people sharing his videos with one another; once critical mass was reached there was no need to buy more ads on Facebook. Doug went on to be Liked by over 43,000 people, and 61% of his fans said they would be more likely to consider buying a Focus. According to the article, Ford says Focus sales are up this year—and increasing sales is every marketer’s goal. And so in effect, Ford found its Facebook campaign so successful that it could stop paying for it, instead letting its target consumers communicate its messages for fun—and for free. Not only did they get a 3X increase in fans beyond their paid campaign, they had thousands of customers sharing their messages in video form for months. Since free advertising is the Holy Grail of marketing both old and new-- and it appears social networks have an advantage in generating that buzz—it seems reasonable to ask: what would happen to brands’ advertising strategies—and the media they use to engage customers, if this success were repeated at scale? It seems logical to conclude that, at least initially, more ad dollars would be spent with social networks like Facebook as brands attempt to replicate Ford’s success. Certainly Facebook ad revenues are on the rise—eMarketer expects Facebook’s ad revenues to quintuple by 2012 compared with 2009 levels, to nearly 2.9B. That’s bad news for TV and the already battered print media and good news for Facebook. But perhaps not so over the longer run. With TV buys, you have to keep paying to generate impressions. If Doug the spokespuppet is any guide, however, that may not be true for social media campaigns. After an initial outlay, if a social campaign takes off, the audience will generate more impressions on its own. Thus a social medium like Facebook could be the victim of its own success when it comes to ad revenue. It may be there is an inherent limiting factor in the ad spend they can capture, as exemplified by Ford’s experience with Dough and the Focus. And brands may spend much less overall on advertising, with as good or better results, than they ever have in the past. How will these trends evolve? Can brands create social campaigns that repeat Ford’s formula for the Focus with effective results? Can social networks find ways to capture more spend and overcome their potential tendency to make further spend unnecessary? And will consumers become tired and insulated from social campaigns, much as they have to traditional advertising channels? These are the questions CMOs and Facebook execs alike will be asking themselves in the brave new world of customer engagement. As always, your thoughts and comments are most welcome.

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  • In SELENIUM, how to I change focus to a new popup tab?

    I'm using Selenium and Firefox. I have a link on a page (say linkA) that opens a new page in a new tab. The new tab is displayed when linkA is clicked. I then want to interact with the new page. Here is my selenium script: click linkA pause 5000 selectWindow Title click linkB (note: linkB is on the new page) Selenium cannot identify the new tab. It reports: [warn] Link has target '_blank', which is not supported in Selenium! Randomizing target to be: selenium_blank24003 Is there any way to tell Selenium to interact with the displayed tab?

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  • If I do "jquery sortable" on a contenteditable item(s), I then can't focus mouse anywhere inside con

    - by Matej
    Strangely this is broken only in Firefox and Opera (IE, Chrome and Safari works as it should). Any suggestion for a quick fix? <html> <head> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.2/jquery-ui.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script> $(document).ready(function(){ $('#sortable').sortable(); }); </script> </head> <body> <span id="sortable"> <p contenteditable="true">One apple</p> <p>Two pears</p> <p>Three oranges</p> </span> </body> </html>

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  • Does Unity support disabling the global application menu?

    - by Michael E
    I'm fairly excited for Unity, as it looks like a promising new direction for Ubuntu. However, I do have a concern - will it be possible to use Unity without the global menu? I have my window manager set to focus-follows-mouse/sloppy focus, and find the productivity gains to be immense. Sloppy focus is incompatible, however, with global menus, as it is possible for the focus to change while you move from window to menu. Will Unity support an option to use window menus while still using Unity?

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  • How do I disable the global application menu?

    - by Michael Ekstrand
    I'm fairly excited for Unity, as it looks like a promising new direction for Ubuntu. However, I do have a concern - will it be possible to use Unity without the global menu? I have my window manager set to focus-follows-mouse/sloppy focus, and find the productivity gains to be immense. Sloppy focus is incompatible, however, with global menus, as it is possible for the focus to change while you move from window to menu. Will Unity support an option to use window menus while still using Unity?

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  • How do I enable or disable the global application menu?

    - by Michael Ekstrand
    I'm fairly excited for Unity, as it looks like a promising new direction for Ubuntu. However, I do have a concern - will it be possible to use Unity without the global menu? I have my window manager set to focus-follows-mouse/sloppy focus, and find the productivity gains to be immense. Sloppy focus is incompatible, however, with global menus, as it is possible for the focus to change while you move from window to menu. Will Unity support an option to use window menus while still using Unity?

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  • How can I tell which TextBox had focus last?

    - by Carlos
    I have an MVVM application with various TextBox controls and a virtual keypad. (This application is to run on a touch screen system, with no keyboard). To change the value of a TextBox, the user has to touch the TextBox and then use the virtual keypad to enter a number. How can my VM know which TextBox to change when it gets the command from the keypad?

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  • What area of Software Engineering are you going to focus your research on?

    - by ultrajohn
    hi guys! I have this very subjective question regarding software engineering. Let's say you want to pursue a graduate degree i.e. master degree with a major in software engineering, what particular topic or area of research in the field are your going to pursue? From your experience, what are the different aspects of software engineering which are vital in our field that are "under"(less) research. I know this is very subjective, I just want to elicit ideas from you guys whom I think knows a lot about the field. Thanks a lot.

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  • How do I change the style of an input box in IE7 on focus?

    - by Cen
    I know IE7 has issues... I've read posts here and on Google telling me I need to set the style by hand onfocus() and onblur(). However, everything I try isn't working! Here is my jQuery $(document).ready(function(){ if (jQuery.browser.msie === true) { $("input.date-picker").each(function(i) { var $foo= $(this); $foo.bind('onfocus onblur', function() { $(this).toggleClass('smalltxt-active'); }); }); }//end if }); The a corresponding box <input name="ctl00$SelectionContent$Selections1$txtDestinationDate" type="text" id="ctl00_SelectionContent_Selections1_txtDestinationDate" class="date-picker" style="width:80px;" /> I have already confirmed that my code is detecting MSIE. That I am getting a count of 2 input.date-picker objects. Any ideas? Thanks in advance,

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  • How to find if a Item in a ListBox has the focus?

    - by eitan barazani
    I have a List box defined like this: <ListBox x:Name="EmailList" ItemsSource="{Binding MailBoxManager.Inbox.EmailList}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedMessage, Mode=TwoWay}" Grid.Row="1"> <ListBox.ItemTemplate> <DataTemplate> <usrctrls:MessageSummary /> </DataTemplate> </ListBox.ItemTemplate> </ListBox> The UserControl is defined like this: <UserControl x:Class="UserControls.MessageSummary" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="600"> <UserControl.Resources> </UserControl.Resources> <Grid HorizontalAlignment="Left"> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="50" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <CheckBox Grid.Column="0" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> <Grid Grid.Column="1" Margin="0,0,12,0"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition /> <RowDefinition /> <RowDefinition /> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <Grid Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="30" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="80" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="80" /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <Image x:Name="FlaggedImage" Grid.Column="0" Width="20" Height="10" Margin="0" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Source="/Assets/ico_flagged_white.png" /> <TextBlock x:Name="Sender" Grid.Column="1" Text="{Binding EmailProperties.DisplayFrom}" Style="{StaticResource TextBlock_SenderRowTitle}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> <Grid x:Name="ImagesContainer" Grid.Column="2" VerticalAlignment="Center"> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <Image x:Name="ImgImportant" Grid.Column="0" Width="20" Height="20" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Source="ms-appx:///Assets/ico_important_red.png" /> <Image x:Name="ImgFolders" Grid.Column="1" Width="20" Height="20" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Source="ms-appx:///Assets/ico_ico_addtofolder.png" /> <Image x:Name="ImgAttachment" Grid.Column="2" Width="20" Height="20" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Source="ms-appx:///Assets/ico_attachment_lightgray.png" /> <Image x:Name="ImgFlag" Grid.Column="3" Width="20" Height="20" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Source="ms-appx:///Assets/ico_flag.png" /> </Grid> <TextBlock x:Name="Time" Grid.Column="3" Text="{Binding EmailProperties.DateReceived, Converter={StaticResource EmailHeaderTimeConverter}}" TextAlignment="Center" FontSize="16" VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="0" /> </Grid> <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Text="{Binding EmailProperties.Subject}" TextTrimming="WordEllipsis" Margin="0,10" /> <TextBlock Grid.Row="2" Text="{Binding EmailProperties.Preview}" TextTrimming="WordEllipsis" /> </Grid> </Grid> The MessageSummary is a UserControl. I would like to bind the foreground color of the Items of the ListBox to whether the item is the one selected in the list box, i.e. I would like the Item's foreground color to be Black if not selected and White if the item is selected. How can it be done? Thanks,

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  • Dismiss Menu when Focus is lost, not on mouseout. jQuery

    - by Stacey
    I have jQuery that drops a menu down when its parent is clicked on, and dismisses it when they hover away from the menu. I am wanting to change the behavior so that it only dismisses if they click somewhere else on the page, or a different menu. Is this possible? jQuery.fn.dropdown = function () { return this.each(function () { $('.ui-dropdown-list > li > a').click(function () { $(this).addClass("ui-dropdown-hover"); }); $("ul.ui-dropdown-list > li > a").click(function () { $(this).parent().find("ul").show(); $(this).parent().hover(function () { }, function () { $(this).parent().find("ul").hide(); $(this).find('> a').removeClass("ui-dropdown-hover"); }); }); }); };

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  • gtk_widget_grab_focus() jumping to next field automatically?

    - by Ravi Raj
    I am creating a 'C' project with glade and gtk. I want a focus on a gtkentry field naming txt_abc and so I called the function: gtk_widget_grab_focus (txt_abc); There is another gtkentry widget just after txt_abc widget naming txt_def. My problem is instead of getting focus on txt_abc widget, the cursor is automatically being focused on txt_def widget, when I am running the application. One more thing, when I am setting the focus at txt_def widget by calling the code: gtk_widget_grab_focus (txt_def); the control is again being focused on the next widget on the window, i.e. txt_name. I want the focus exactly on the widget I am setting the grab signal. How to resolve this problem.

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  • Create Adjustable Depth of Field Photos with a DSLR

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re fascinating by the Lytro camera–a camera that let’s you change the focus after you’ve taken the photo–this DSLR hack provides a similar post-photo focus processing without the $400 price tag. Photography tinkers at The Chaos Collective came up with a clever way of mimicking the adjustable depth-of-field adjustment effect from the Lytro camera. The secret sauce in their technique is setting the camera to manual focus and capturing a short 2-3 second video clip while they rotate the focus through the entire focal range. From there, they use a simple applet to separate out each frame of the video. Check out the interactive demo below: Anywhere you click in the photo shifts the focus to that point, just like the post processing in the Lytro camera. It’s a different approach to the problem but it yields roughly the same output. Hit up the link below for the full run down on their technique and how you can get started using it with your own video-enabled DLSR. Camera HACK: DOF-Changeable Photos with an SLR [via Hack A Day] Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot

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  • what is main focus for a developer when coding?

    - by ajsie
    i read a lot of books about how to code right and usually the are talking about all these techniques from a point of view i can't understand. eg. lets consider the singleton pattern. i'm restricting so the class can only be instantiated once. but since it's only me creating the application, if i know that the class only should be instantiated once, then why would i create it a second time? i feel like missing the big picture. what is my main goal when coding an application? how should i think? thanks

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  • Why doesn’t Office-applications get focus when run from another application on Win 2008?

    - by JohanK
    I have some different COM-Interop examples that when run on Windows 2008 (Office 2007) always open minimized in the task bar. On Windows 2003 or XP they open like I want them to. Has there been any changes to how Windows deals with this? Or to Office? I know that I can close windows with CTRL-SHIFT-ALT, and by that get them to start maximized next time, but for some dialogs this doesn’t work. Is there any way to make them always open maximized or on top? Any clues that could point me in the right direction would be helpful. I have tried with both our VB6 app and a test app in C#.

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  • Focusable EditText inside ListView

    - by Joe
    I've spent about 6 hours on this so far, and been hitting nothing but roadblocks. The general premise is that there is some row in a ListView (whether it's generated by the adapter, or added as a header view) that contains an EditText widget and a Button. All I want to do is be able to use the jogball/arrows, to navigate the selector to individual items like normal, but when I get to a particular row -- even if I have to explicitly identify the row -- that has a focusable child, I want that child to take focus instead of indicating the position with the selector. I've tried many possibilities, and have so far had no luck. layout: <ListView android:id="@android:id/list" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_width="fill_parent" /> Header view: EditText view = new EditText(this); listView.addHeaderView(view, null, true); Assuming there are other items in the adapter, using the arrow keys will move the selection up/down in the list, as expected; but when getting to the header row, it is also displayed with the selector, and no way to focus into the EditText using the jogball. Note: tapping on the EditText will focus it at that point, however that relies on a touchscreen, which should not be a requirement. ListView apparently has two modes in this regard: 1. setItemsCanFocus(true): selector is never displayed, but the EditText can get focus when using the arrows. Focus search algorithm is hard to predict, and no visual feedback (on any rows: having focusable children or not) on which item is selected, both of which can give the user an unexpected experience. 2. setItemsCanFocus(false): selector is always drawn in non-touch-mode, and EditText can never get focus -- even if you tap on it. To make matters worse, calling editTextView.requestFocus() returns true, but in fact does not give the EditText focus. What I'm envisioning is basically a hybrid of 1 & 2, where rather than the list setting if all items are focusable or not, I want to set focusability for a single item in the list, so that the selector seamlessly transitions from selecting the entire row for non-focusable items, and traversing the focus tree for items that contain focusable children. Any takers?

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  • Strange behaviour when posting CGEvent to PSN

    - by Ben Packard
    If I set up a loop that posts some keyboard events to a PSN, I find that it works fine except for when first launched. The event only seems to post when i do something with the mouse manually - even just moving it slightly. Here's the details, if they help. An external application has a list box of text lines, which I am reading by posting copy commands (and checking the pasteboard). Unfortunately this is my only way to get this text. Sometimes, the application pulls focus away from the list, which I can detect. When this happens, the most reliable way to return focus is by sending a mouse event to click on a text field directly above the list, then send a 'tab' keyboard event to shift the focus onto the list. So at launch, the loop runs fine, scrolling down the list and copying the text. When focus is shifted away, its is detected fine, and the events are sent to move focus back to the list. But nothing seems to happen. The loop continues detecting that focus has changed, but the events only work once I move the mouse. Or even just use the scroll wheel. Strange. Once this has happened the first time, it works fine - each time focus moves, the PSN events switch it back without me having to do anything at all. Here's the code that runs in the loop - verified as working: //copy to pasteboard - CMD-V e3 = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(NULL, (CGKeyCode)8, true); CGEventSetFlags(e3, kCGEventFlagMaskCommand); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e3); CFRelease(e3); e4 = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(NULL, (CGKeyCode)8, false); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e4); CFRelease(e4); //move cursor down e1 = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(NULL, (CGKeyCode)125, true); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e1); CFRelease(e1); e2 = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(NULL, (CGKeyCode)125, false); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e2); CFRelease(e2); And here's where I switch focus, also working (except when first required): //click in text input box - point is derived earlier e6 = CGEventCreateMouseEvent(NULL, kCGEventLeftMouseDown, point, 0); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e6); CFRelease(e6); e7 = CGEventCreateMouseEvent(NULL, kCGEventLeftMouseUp, point, 0); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e7); CFRelease(e7); //press tab key to move to chat log table CGEventRef e = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(NULL, (CGKeyCode)48, true); //CGEventPost(kCGSessionEventTap, e); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e); CFRelease(e); CGEventRef e11 = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(NULL, (CGKeyCode)48, false); CGEventPostToPSN(&psn, e11); CFRelease(e11);

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  • Enterprise Process Maps: A Process Picture worth a Million Words

    - by raul.goycoolea
    p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }h1 { margin-top: 0.33in; margin-bottom: 0in; color: rgb(54, 95, 145); page-break-inside: avoid; }h1.western { font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 14pt; }h1.cjk { font-family: "DejaVu Sans"; font-size: 14pt; }h1.ctl { font-size: 14pt; } Getting Started with Business Transformations A well-known proverb states that "A picture is worth a thousand words." In relation to Business Process Management (BPM), a credible analyst might have a few questions. What if the picture was taken from some particular angle, like directly overhead? What if it was taken from only an inch away or a mile away? What if the photographer did not focus the camera correctly? Does the value of the picture depend on who is looking at it? Enterprise Process Maps are analogous in this sense of relative value. Every BPM project (holistic BPM kick-off, enterprise system implementation, Service-oriented Architecture, business process transformation, corporate performance management, etc.) should be begin with a clear understanding of the business environment, from the biggest picture representations down to the lowest level required or desired for the particular project type, scope and objectives. The Enterprise Process Map serves as an entry point for the process architecture and is defined: the single highest level of process mapping for an organization. It is constructed and evaluated during the Strategy Phase of the Business Process Management Lifecycle. (see Figure 1) Fig. 1: Business Process Management Lifecycle Many organizations view such maps as visual abstractions, constructed for the single purpose of process categorization. This, in turn, results in a lesser focus on the inherent intricacies of the Enterprise Process view, which are explored in the course of this paper. With the main focus of a large scale process documentation effort usually underlying an ERP or other system implementation, it is common for the work to be driven by the desire to "get to the details," and to the type of modeling that will derive near-term tangible results. For instance, a project in American Pharmaceutical Company X is driven by the Director of IT. With 120+ systems in place, and a lack of standardized processes across the United States, he and the VP of IT have decided to embark on a long-term ERP implementation. At the forethought of both are questions, such as: How does my application architecture map to the business? What are each application's functionalities, and where do the business processes utilize them? Where can we retire legacy systems? Well-developed BPM methodologies prescribe numerous model types to capture such information and allow for thorough analysis in these areas. Process to application maps, Event Driven Process Chains, etc. provide this level of detail and facilitate the completion of such project-specific questions. These models and such analysis are appropriately carried out at a relatively low level of process detail. (see figure 2) Fig. 2: The Level Concept, Generic Process HierarchySome of the questions remaining are ones of documentation longevity, the continuation of BPM practice in the organization, process governance and ownership, process transparency and clarity in business process objectives and strategy. The Level Concept in Brief Figure 2 shows a generic, four-level process hierarchy depicting the breakdown of a "Process Area" into progressively more detailed process classifications. The number of levels and the names of these levels are flexible, and can be fit to the standards of the organization's chosen terminology or any other chosen reference model that makes logical sense for both short and long term process description. It is at Level 1 (in this case the Process Area level), that the Enterprise Process Map is created. This map and its contained objects become the foundation for a top-down approach to subsequent mapping, object relationship development, and analysis of the organization's processes and its supporting infrastructure. Additionally, this picture serves as a communication device, at an executive level, describing the design of the business in its service to a customer. It seems, then, imperative that the process development effort, and this map, start off on the right foot. Figuring out just what that right foot is, however, is critical and trend-setting in an evolving organization. Key Considerations Enterprise Process Maps are usually not as living and breathing as other process maps. Just as it would be an extremely difficult task to change the foundation of the Sears Tower or a city plan for the entire city of Chicago, the Enterprise Process view of an organization usually remains unchanged once developed (unless, of course, an organization is at a stage where it is capable of true, high-level process innovation). Regardless, the Enterprise Process map is a key first step, and one that must be taken in a precise way. What makes this groundwork solid depends on not only the materials used to construct it (process areas), but also the layout plan and knowledge base of what will be built (the entire process architecture). It seems reasonable that care and consideration are required to create this critical high level map... but what are the important factors? Does the process modeler need to worry about how many process areas there are? About who is looking at it? Should he only use the color pink because it's his boss' favorite color? Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, these are all valid considerations that may just require a bit of structure. Below are Three Key Factors to consider when building an Enterprise Process Map: Company Strategic Focus Process Categorization: Customer is Core End-to-end versus Functional Processes Company Strategic Focus As mentioned above, the Enterprise Process Map is created during the Strategy Phase of the Business Process Management Lifecycle. From Oracle Business Process Management methodology for business transformation, it is apparent that business processes exist for the purpose of achieving the strategic objectives of an organization. In a prescribed, top-down approach to process development, it must be ensured that each process fulfills its objectives, and in an aggregated manner, drives fulfillment of the strategic objectives of the company, whether for particular business segments or in a broader sense. This is a crucial point, as the strategic messages of the company must therefore resound in its process maps, in particular one that spans the processes of the complete business: the Enterprise Process Map. One simple example from Company X is shown below (see figure 3). Fig. 3: Company X Enterprise Process Map In reviewing Company X's Enterprise Process Map, one can immediately begin to understand the general strategic mindset of the organization. It shows that Company X is focused on its customers, defining 10 of its process areas belonging to customer-focused categories. Additionally, the organization views these end-customer-oriented process areas as part of customer-fulfilling value chains, while support process areas do not provide as much contiguous value. However, by including both support and strategic process categorizations, it becomes apparent that all processes are considered vital to the success of the customer-oriented focus processes. Below is an example from Company Y (see figure 4). Fig. 4: Company Y Enterprise Process Map Company Y, although also a customer-oriented company, sends a differently focused message with its depiction of the Enterprise Process Map. Along the top of the map is the company's product tree, overarching the process areas, which when executed deliver the products themselves. This indicates one strategic objective of excellence in product quality. Additionally, the view represents a less linear value chain, with strong overlaps of the various process areas. Marketing and quality management are seen as a key support processes, as they span the process lifecycle. Often, companies may incorporate graphics, logos and symbols representing customers and suppliers, and other objects to truly send the strategic message to the business. Other times, Enterprise Process Maps may show high level of responsibility to organizational units, or the application types that support the process areas. It is possible that hundreds of formats and focuses can be applied to an Enterprise Process Map. What is of vital importance, however, is which formats and focuses are chosen to truly represent the direction of the company, and serve as a driver for focusing the business on the strategic objectives set forth in that right. Process Categorization: Customer is Core In the previous two examples, processes were grouped using differing categories and techniques. Company X showed one support and three customer process categorizations using encompassing chevron objects; Customer Y achieved a less distinct categorization using a gradual color scheme. Either way, and in general, modeling of the process areas becomes even more valuable and easily understood within the context of business categorization, be it strategic or otherwise. But how one categorizes their processes is typically more complex than simply choosing object shapes and colors. Previously, it was stated that the ideal is a prescribed top-down approach to developing processes, to make certain linkages all the way back up to corporate strategy. But what about external influences? What forces push and pull corporate strategy? Industry maturity, product lifecycle, market profitability, competition, etc. can all drive the critical success factors of a particular business segment, or the company as a whole, in addition to previous corporate strategy. This may seem to be turning into a discussion of theory, but that is far from the case. In fact, in years of recent study and evolution of the way businesses operate, cross-industry and across the globe, one invariable has surfaced with such strength to make it undeniable in the game plan of any strategy fit for survival. That constant is the customer. Many of a company's critical success factors, in any business segment, relate to the customer: customer retention, satisfaction, loyalty, etc. Businesses serve customers, and so do a business's processes, mapped or unmapped. The most effective way to categorize processes is in a manner that visualizes convergence to what is core for a company. It is the value chain, beginning with the customer in mind, and ending with the fulfillment of that customer, that becomes the core or the centerpiece of the Enterprise Process Map. (See figure 5) Fig. 5: Company Z Enterprise Process Map Company Z has what may be viewed as several different perspectives or "cuts" baked into their Enterprise Process Map. It has divided its processes into three main categories (top, middle, and bottom) of Management Processes, the Core Value Chain and Supporting Processes. The Core category begins with Corporate Marketing (which contains the activities of beginning to engage customers) and ends with Customer Service Management. Within the value chain, this company has divided into the focus areas of their two primary business lines, Foods and Beverages. Does this mean that areas, such as Strategy, Information Management or Project Management are not as important as those in the Core category? No! In some cases, though, depending on the organization's understanding of high-level BPM concepts, use of category names, such as "Core," "Management" or "Support," can be a touchy subject. What is important to understand, is that no matter the nomenclature chosen, the Core processes are those that drive directly to customer value, Support processes are those which make the Core processes possible to execute, and Management Processes are those which steer and influence the Core. Some common terms for these three basic categorizations are Core, Customer Fulfillment, Customer Relationship Management, Governing, Controlling, Enabling, Support, etc. End-to-end versus Functional Processes Every high and low level of process: function, task, activity, process/work step (whatever an organization calls it), should add value to the flow of business in an organization. Suppose that within the process "Deliver package," there is a documented task titled "Stop for ice cream." It doesn't take a process expert to deduce the room for improvement. Though stopping for ice cream may create gain for the one person performing it, it likely benefits neither the organization nor, more importantly, the customer. In most cases, "Stop for ice cream" wouldn't make it past the first pass of To-Be process development. What would make the cut, however, would be a flow of tasks that, each having their own value add, build up to greater and greater levels of process objective. In this case, those tasks would combine to achieve a status of "package delivered." Figure 3 shows a simple example: Just as the package can only be delivered (outcome of the process) without first being retrieved, loaded, and the travel destination reached (outcomes of the process steps), some higher level of process "Play Practical Joke" (e.g., main process or process area) cannot be completed until a package is delivered. It seems that isolated or functionally separated processes, such as "Deliver Package" (shown in Figure 6), are necessary, but are always part of a bigger value chain. Each of these individual processes must be analyzed within the context of that value chain in order to ensure successful end-to-end process performance. For example, this company's "Create Joke Package" process could be operating flawlessly and efficiently, but if a joke is never developed, it cannot be created, so the end-to-end process breaks. Fig. 6: End to End Process Construction That being recognized, it is clear that processes must be viewed as end-to-end, customer-to-customer, and in the context of company strategy. But as can also be seen from the previous example, these vital end-to-end processes cannot be built without the functionally oriented building blocks. Without one, the other cannot be had, or at least not in a complete and organized fashion. As it turns out, but not discussed in depth here, the process modeling effort, BPM organizational development, and comprehensive coverage cannot be fully realized without a semi-functional, process-oriented approach. Then, an Enterprise Process Map should be concerned with both views, the building blocks, and access points to the business-critical end-to-end processes, which they construct. Without the functional building blocks, all streams of work needed for any business transformation would be lost mess of process disorganization. End-to-end views are essential for utilization in optimization in context, understanding customer impacts, base-lining all project phases and aligning objectives. Including both views on an Enterprise Process Map allows management to understand the functional orientation of the company's processes, while still providing access to end-to-end processes, which are most valuable to them. (See figures 7 and 8). Fig. 7: Simplified Enterprise Process Map with end-to-end Access Point The above examples show two unique ways to achieve a successful Enterprise Process Map. The first example is a simple map that shows a high level set of process areas and a separate section with the end-to-end processes of concern for the organization. This particular map is filtered to show just one vital end-to-end process for a project-specific focus. Fig. 8: Detailed Enterprise Process Map showing connected Functional Processes The second example shows a more complex arrangement and categorization of functional processes (the names of each process area has been removed). The end-to-end perspective is achieved at this level through the connections (interfaces at lower levels) between these functional process areas. An important point to note is that the organization of these two views of the Enterprise Process Map is dependent, in large part, on the orientation of its audience, and the complexity of the landscape at the highest level. If both are not apparent, the Enterprise Process Map is missing an opportunity to serve as a holistic, high-level view. Conclusion In the world of BPM, and specifically regarding Enterprise Process Maps, a picture can be worth as many words as the thought and effort that is put into it. Enterprise Process Maps alone cannot change an organization, but they serve more purposes than initially meet the eye, and therefore must be designed in a way that enables a BPM mindset, business process understanding and business transformation efforts. Every Enterprise Process Map will and should be different when looking across organizations. Its design will be driven by company strategy, a level of customer focus, and functional versus end-to-end orientations. This high-level description of the considerations of the Enterprise Process Maps is not a prescriptive "how to" guide. However, a company attempting to create one may not have the practical BPM experience to truly explore its options or impacts to the coming work of business process transformation. The biggest takeaway is that process modeling, at all levels, is a science and an art, and art is open to interpretation. It is critical that the modeler of the highest level of process mapping be a cognoscente of the message he is delivering and the factors at hand. Without sufficient focus on the design of the Enterprise Process Map, an entire BPM effort may suffer. For additional information please check: Oracle Business Process Management.

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