k) Structure and goals. Many creative people object to structure and goals - they argue they interfere with thought processes and originality; there is a very fine line between structure and conformity. But structure and goals help set boundaries of a problem and produce more output that when an individual is simply allowed to "do their best." How many people have a half finished novel or screenplay in their office?

l) Process. It seems somehow incongruous that creativity can be a process. Ask many practitioners what process they engage in and they may well deny there is one. But if you examine activities of many creative people, common patterns of behaviour emerge. This common process makes insight / eureka / aha! experience more likely. The process includes identifying and intensely investigating problem, forcing production of ideas using creative versus critical thinking and other techniques; seeking stimuli and allowing unconscious mind to take over by engaging in rest and unrelated activities.

m) Valuation. How do we value an idea, so as to decide how to invest resources? Even a painter who creates for pure pleasure has to decide which one of his ideas is best; there is always a value system and (some argue) always some sort of promotional instinct. There are decisions as to whether you are looking for applied creativity and who consumer is; how do they benefit? There is no sure fire way to evaluate perfectly because there is no sure fire route to commercial success. But we can benchmark against those types of ideas that have succeeded in past; firms must make a decision as to their strategic, competence and technical fit; there are comparisons against rivals and practical impediments; how do we make go or kill decision and what are trade-offs?

Kal Bishop, MBA, http://www.managing-creativity.com

Invoice approval is integrated with rest of accounts payable process, and invoices can be accessed via systems like SAP or JDE.

TokOpen in action – a case study

TokOpen is currently being used by a major Japanese multi-national, with multiple office locations in UK. One office processes purchase invoices for all other offices in UK, and they are initially processed using Oracle Financials system. For all new invoices, a barcode is generated and attached to each document.

An Accounts Clerk then scans all documentation into TokOpen. This is carried out from a dedicated scanning and indexing workstation, using TokOpen Sorting Office.

All documents are stored here and then uploaded on a daily basis to TokOpen server, which is at another UK office location. Sorting Office reads barcode and then looks up original data in Oracle to extract additional index data such as invoice number, supplier number and site code.

Standard browser access

Most documents are retrieved via users’ standard Web browser, using TokOpen Web, and a total of 260 staff use this means of access. A restricted number of users also have access to TokOpen Desktop, and access is provided to individuals based on an approval hierarchy.

Invoices are handled using an efficient electronic workflow process. Once scanned, Invoice Status is set to Invoice Received. TokOpen ensures that users can only view documents that have been assigned to them in a particular workflow.

A strict authorisation hierarchy is in place, based on size of invoices being handled. So if a member of staff attempts to authorise an invoice that exceeds their authorisation limit, TokOpen automatically routes it to a staff member at next authorisation level. This continues up authorisation hierarchy until invoice reaches a member of staff who has had clearance to sign off that invoice value, and payment is completed.

TokOpen brings together powerful and efficient document management, with easy-to-use, Web-based access.