Improving Omega

Published: 03.05.11 (Updated: 01.07.11)

Fronting Omega`s improvement culture is Improve: with user friendliness, swift solutions, and close follow-up as first priorities.

Omega is to be under continuous improvement, and Improve is the latest and largest project to keep improvement in high gear with assistance from all employees.

“Improve is a direct channel for reporting issues more easily than before. There has been heavy development in all parts of Omega lately, and with Improve we now have a solid platform for building further quality,” says Karl Berge, Omega`s new Improve Coordinator.

New and Improved

Improve is "Issues"`successor; with a new look and expanded responsibility. Main focus is set on three areas; user friendliness, follow-up and swift solutions.

“You need only describe the issue and register which area the report belongs to, and the Improve report will be sent to us. Improve is still under development, but we have already registered much use of the new Improve application among Omega employees,” Berge says.

Ensures follow-up

On the receiving end a team of eight people is ready to process the reports received via Improve. Every report is directed to one of the team members, as each of them is responsible for certain areas and following up the task until resolved. Every report via Improve is also registered according to priority; whether it is urgent or can be worked on over a period of time.

“We receive and follow the reports in “Issue Tracker”. If you report something via Improve you may also access Issue Tracker and follow the process through communicating with the responsible. This way we make sure that the reports and tasks do not fade away or are forgotten. At the same time we ensure as good a follow-up as possible,” says Berge.

The responsible are all key persons in the Omega organization with comprehensive assignments other than Improve.

“Solving Improve reports therefore depends on their capacity at the time,” adds Berge.

Improve sessions

Along with Improve, Omega also introduces a new practice with regular Workshops where Omega departments with Improve representatives meet for continuous reviews.

“We want to keep a close dialog with all departments, and with regular Improve Workshops we make sure to meet all department needs. Omega has been under intense development lately, now we will concentrate on building quality, Berge says".

Starting fresh

The previous "Issues" also fronted Omega`s goal of being dynamic and always under improvement, but Improve`s predecessor had difficulty handling the incoming reports. Following a leading intiative in Omega, Improve was established and it became necessary to straighten out the many unsolved Issues.

“After a raid in the archive, we were ready to start fresh with Improve,” Berge says, now ready to lead the Improve coordination.

Leading the improvement

The 57 year old coordinator from Ølensvåg began his Omega career spring 2009 working on system development, quality and testing, as well as PIMS follow-up during the shutdown at Kårstø last year. Before Omega, Berge was the IKT manager in Vindafjord commune, department manager for IT and service, as well as revision and credit consultant in SR Bank. He has also worked with system development at Aker Stord and Haugesund Computer Centre. Now he is ready to take on the work of improvement.

“There has been an obvious need for this kind of channel, and I think it will contribute to improve Omega. It is an exciting assignment and a comprehensive job that I hope will provide results,” says Berge.

Read more on how to use Improve.