4RP is based in Ontario Canada. 4RP develops, markets and maintains the 4RP family of web Messaging applications.

History

Founded by Denis Alarie, an engineer with over 30 years of experience as a manager , 4RP was developed in response to a series of problems typically encountered in the business world.

Concept

The initial concept began with a simple list of items used to check out various items on a construction jobsite.

That simple list had a large flaw. Before the list could be applied to another site it needed to be changed. Some items didn’t apply and so had to be removed and some items needed to be added.

The list was modified to provide for a simple selection process to provide for only relevant items to be checked. So that jobsite A could in fact be checked for items specific to that site all the while using the same larger list as Jobsite B.

Soon another flaw became apparent. Even if all items on the list were entirely relevant, the repetition of items that were for the most part complied with was time consuming and a waste of time.

Deleting these items would not be right either because if they were off the list, users could ignore them and gradually the site culture would drift away from what it was meant to be.

So the idea was to have all items left on the list but deal with a prioritized subset. This would ensure that all items would still be under consideration, but no time would be wasted by unnecessary checking of compliant issues.

This created another issue. Who would set the priorities and deal with the inclusions to each delivery list. This in itself could be very time-consuming.

4RP processes were designed to take care of these  problems. A priority could be assigned to each item. A computerized process takes care of selection of items for the delivery lists. By assigning high priorities to items where compliance is a problem, steps could be taken to deal with these items in a timely way without wasting a lot of time on items that were not as important.

Increase efficiency, reduce costs with 4RP

Major cultural aspects of a jobsite can be considered in four main areas. These are safety, quality, audit, and training.

1. Issues surrounding safety can be measured by the administration costs of safety programs and the costs of accidents.
2. Quality issues can be measured by the costs of rework, schedule slippage, client dissatisfaction, poor morale and reputational costs.
3. Audit issues can be measured in terms of job costs, fraud, not following accounting procedures, reduced profits, poor billing.
4. Training issues can be measured in terms of schedule slippages, poor work, training costs, lost time and so on.

4RP builds on past events and events that can be foreseen. The messages and follow up are relentless and delivered at the appropriate time for maximum effect at minimum costs. Specific and detailed messages are managed; they are not forgotten.

A Corporate Culture consists of the pool of ideas, thoughts, images, practices, written text, and beliefs that all constitute messages and guide our actions in the workplace. 4RP is designed to support existing practices and replace some of those that are less effective.

Simplify

4RP simplifies the transmission of messages, information and ideas. Single messages are easily handled and not lost in the sea of competing communication.

In its most simple form, a message is an idea a person either receives, or conceives and can communicate to another person. Messages include training, posters, hardhat stickers, safety manuals, operations manuals, speeches, and communications of all kinds. A message can engage any combination of the five senses: hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste.

Messages convey ideas to recipients. If the messages make sense and can be imitated they lead to an improved workplace.

4RP makes sense out of, and organizes thousands of possible messages to create a Great Corporate Culture.

How 4RP Works

Consider some concept, issue, or idea to send out to the team. A message needs to be clear, concise, memorable, and un-conflicted. It is then inserted into the 4RP delivery system. From there it is a guaranteed process. That message will form a part of the Corporate Culture from that point forward. It will be repeated at appropriate intervals to maintain it as an active issue, without any further action on your part.

A user who signs up for 4RP will have access to his own online database where he can load in his or her messages. These messages are linked to user-specified areas with user-specified targeted venues for delivery. There are four broad areas of concern – Safety, Audit, Training and Quality

Once the database has been set up, it is a simple matter of reviewing the priorities and items on the list from time to time. The use of the site is controlled by username and login and carries a monthly fee.

Using 4RP, a company would typically assign the task of managing the delivery lists to clerical staff. Typically, the user would log in, verify the areas of interest and the venues for delivery, add, delete, or change contents of the master list, modify the delivery instructions as required, and hit the send button. The delivery lists would then be automatically sent out to the targeted recipients with the appropriate instructions for delivery and follow up.

Managing Through Delivery Lists

Delivery lists are subsets of master list and can be sent out to all venues and people identified on the email lists. Emails containing delivery lists usually include instructions on how to deliver messages; how to keep records and how to deliver feedback. Typically, the recipient is asked to go over the list and present it at the indicated venue in the specified way. He or she could for instance give a weekly toolbox talk. The list of topics would be reviewed by people in attendance, signed off on by participants and action items flagged for follow up. The hardcopy can be filed for due diligence reasons.

If someone misses a delivery venue, it is not a disaster. There is always another delivery, as each delivery list is independent of each other delivery list.

There is no need to keep track of what messages have been delivered to make a future delivery conditional on the status of past deliveries. This avoids introducing unnecessary complications and burdens on staff.

4RP provides for record keeping and signoffs.

4RP assumes people are genuinely interested in a great workplace. Given this interest and due to pressures in the workplace, 4RP assists by simplifying message delivery. 4RP uses a targeted and methodical approach without the mind-numbing and expensive rigor that exists in some systems.

4RP uses short targeted checklists for ongoing attention to the issues. Therefore, appropriate time and attention can be devoted to each issue. This is in contrast to trying to deal with a large list of many items and not being able to attend to each item on the list.

4RP acts as a quick measure of workforce compliance by providing compliance scores. These scores can be tracked and provide a measure of the different and separate aspects of the Corporate Culture.