Getting started with Better is quick and easy, and requires little or no technical preparation. Starting to use Better as soon as possible is a quick way to get value back from your investment in the system, as it quickly reveals the low-hanging fruits of possible improvements.
In short, using Better is about:
Get employees to report incidents, observations, suggestions for improvement and positive feedback.
Manage the issues reported by using actions to analyze and make improvements.
Examine the data in the system to make sensible decisions based on facts and statistics.
Better in the grand scheme of things
Better is designed to handle registration and case management of both operational cases from operations and from their management system, Manage. In other words - all types of improvements are handled here.
CASE: a reported case can be an actual incident, an observation, a proposal for improvement, a positive feedback ++ (manage analysis & implementation of improvement)
ACTION: a concretely assigned task to achieve an improvement. Most often "children" of a case.
VERIFICATION: a task created to see if measures had the desired effect, resolved the incident or if more measures are needed
Case types
There are four different case types in Better represented by the four reporting buttons at the top of the Better page, each represented by a number in the forms.
Incident - reports that something has happened, often an anomaly.
Observation - something that almost happened or identifies a weakness.
Improvement - report something that could be better, possible changes.
Positive feedback - report positive feedback from customers, internally, suppliers etc.
Different statuses for cases that have been reported
The following illustration shows the flow of Better case management:
When a case is created, it has status =1. This means that no data has been edited. The case manager can send the case to another case manager without the status changing. A notification is sent to the case manager when a new case is created. The case manager is responsible and registered in the organizational list.
When data has been changed, the status will change to 2. The minimum necessary change before the case manager can save the case is to tick one of the categories in the "Case processing" tab. Status = 2 also means that the case has no measures attached to it.
When status = 3, it is active and at least one measure has been added. There is no limit to the number of actions that can be added, nor is it necessary to add any. This status means that at least one measure is active, i.e. not closed. Notifications are sent to the action manager chosen by the case manager every time they receive a new action. Notifications are also sent to the case owner when a measure manager ends the measure.
In status 4, you know that there is at least one measure linked to the case and that the measure(s) have been concluded. This again means that it is time to investigate the case and see if it is ready to close.
A case with status 5 has been closed. The case manager may have created one or more follow-up checks. When this/these have been dealt with, the case manager can choose to reopen the case. A notification is sent to the case manager when the case has been closed.
If a case is reopened, it will have status = 6. When it is closed again, it will reset to status 5, and it can potentially fluctuate between these statuses. A notification is sent to the case manager if the case is taken up again.
Notifications
If the case manager assigns the case to another person, this person will receive a notification. The case manager receives a notification when a case is overdue and then every 14 days until it is closed. When a case is overdue by 30 days, a message is sent to the person registered in the "Escalation" field in the organization list for the selected organization. The notifications can be changed.