iPEP

Interactive Productive Environment Platform (iPEP)

Red Tuxedo has been using the new iPEP to organize our ideas, information, files, and everything else we can think of since the application was released to the Productive Environment Specialist team early in 2009. It’s a file index. It’s a note-taking application. It’s a contact management system. It’s running in the background all day long and supports everything that happens here.

iPEP Home Page screen shot

Under the surface, the iPEP is a customized wiki application from PBWorks, designed to support file indexing according to Barbara Hemphill’s Paper Tiger methodology. We call it a “finding system,” rather than a “filing system.” A fully implemented iPEP allows you to do a keyword search across your digital AND paper files, and find the physical location of any indexed information within 5 seconds!

Development of the iPEP, Part I: Filing, the problem

If you have moved to a completely paperless filing system, skip this section. If you already have a file index, skip the next section, too.

If you’re still reading, you have paper files. For file systems that are smaller than one-drawer, one-user, alpha-labels usually work pretty well. The user knows what’s in which file; ideally, there’s room in the drawer to add more paper, and no-one else needs to access the material in the file. This system starts to break down at two drawers, or two users. In an alpha- system, is the car insurance filed under:

Chevrolet?
Vehicle?
Insurance?
Automobile?

In a big enough system, you might have to check four different drawers to find that policy! Worse, with a new policy every six months, you could be storing each copy in a different folder and never know it.

Development of the iPEP, Part II: Indexing, the solution

Barbara Hemphill’s Paper Tiger Methodology makes use of numerical file labels and a file index to solve the problem of “where did we put that policy?” Hanging file folders are identified as Action, Reference, or Archive, and numbered from 1 to infinity. (Some users will add names after the numbers to help identify the content.) Then, keywords that describe the contents of the file are entered into a searchable application–until now, a document, spreadsheet, or database. Anyone in the office who wants to know where to find, or to file, an item goes to the index and searches on the keyword, and almost instantly, the correct file folder is identified. Because the folders are stored in numerical order, it’s very easy to find the right drawer.

Development of the iPEP, Part III: Digital files, the complication

Single-source indexing worked pretty well for a long time, even after offices moved to computerized records, as long as the bulk of the work was documented on paper stored in file cabinets. However, problems appeared. A single-point index usually only works on one computer. Although an index could be set up to identify digital files on one hard drive, locating files stored on more than one hard drive stressed the system. Finally, the idea of an “index” is itself limiting, in that an index serves as a pointer to other content, rather than a container for that content.

Enter the iPEP: Interactive Productive Environment Platform

The iPEP is built on a wiki engine. A wiki is:

A collection of pages stored in a central repository, easily editable by anyone with permission, that maintains a list of changes per page.

What this really means: A wiki is an application that lives on the internet. Individual pages can hold content entered directly; they can also be used to contain uploaded documents, such as spreadsheets, images, and any other digital file. With some limitations and within security limits, ALL content is searchable, from any computer with internet access—this means that

a search of an iPEP will find the word “insurance” in the page title, words entered on a page, AND in any searchable file uploaded to that wiki.
that same search can point to a particular file folder that contains the physical copy of an insurance file.
any computer with access to that application can search the same repository, no matter where that computer is located
the repository can be searched from a notebook or cell phone with internet access.
(NOTE: The content of scanned documents saved as image files is not searchable. The workaround is to use appropriate meta tags for these files).

iPEP’s Competition

BackPack, from 37Signals, provides a different form of the same functionality. Some features of Blackboard can be used in similar ways, although it is not clear how much support Blackboard provides for non-course work. Some potential iPEP users may be looking at Microsoft’s Sharepoint services, either in the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite form or the hosted version. If this is an appropriate solution to your information management needs, you already know about the benefits of integration across applications, the migration requirements, and the benefits to your IT department. We won’t argue with Microsoft.

Our Promise

We can promise that you can be up and running in an iPEP within 30 minutes of install. We offer a 30-day guarantee, and your first year’s subscription comes with 60 minutes of support. Most users prefer to take this in two 30-minute sessions, one at the first installation and another two weeks later, after they’ve had some time to use the iPEP on their own.

Using the iPEP

An iPEP Specialist will show you how to:

Set up the basic folders, for action files, reference files and archives
Identify the files with as many keywords as you can
Search the files later based on the keywords and be directed the file’s location

More advanced uses:

Import scanned documents that relate to the physical files
Add photos related to the file
Link to websites that correspond to the file
Add textural information such as ideas, quotations, thoughts

Extras:

The iPEP is a web based product, so you can access it anytime you have access to the internet.
Share documents like Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint files, as you would on a LAN
Edit pages collaboratively
Maintain a complete history and audit trail
AND have full security, using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology