Developing a More Effective Creative Operations Management System for Creative Businesses

Abstract

Most creative businesses remain limited in organizational size, sales, and profitability, primarily due to a lack of efficient management. Unless the principal or owner of a creative business delegates some of the functional aspects of operations to other staff, or finds a way to automate core processes and procedures, the firm will experience volatility, growth struggles, and possibly even failure. By developing a project and knowledge management system that is tailored to the unique needs of creative businesses, many of the daily tasks and management issues that currently overwhelm owners and principals will be streamlined and automated. The C.O.M.mand Center (Creative Operations Manager) system is an online project, time and knowledge management system accessible through any web browser. The purpose of this project is to prove the value of such a system to creative businesses by researching user needs, determine why existing project management systems are not adequately meeting those needs, and then develop a design and "proof of concept" for a more appropriate solution.