The idea of the Balance Scorecard (BSC) is to create feasible measurements that will give you a complete view of your company and that are linked to your general objectives as a company. Balanced Scorecard Management makes sure you can be able to measure economic internal processes that are decisive to make decisions at the right moment based on the knowledge and resources that substantiate your business model.

Suppose that a customer service relationship with your clients is the vital aspect of your company. Then, the success of your company lies in its ability to create a competitive advantage in term of customer relationship or CMR as the specialists call it too. Does a financial performance valuation such as return-on-investment or operating profits, will reflect how are your doing with your customer relationships?

While managers still require economic metrics to evaluate the overall condition of the company, they also need measures that could reflect more directly their strategic performance and long-term vision. The concept of the Balance Scorecard was developed with the aim to provide managers with this tool. An example of a Balanced Scorecard will provide you and easy and comprehensive framework that interpret the strategic objectives of the company into a coherent set of practical performance appraisals. Those assessments traverse across four different perspectives: The financial vision is complemented with a customer perspective, an internal communication perspective and an progressive innovation and continuous learning perspective.

The vision of the future of the company is at the center of the building process of the BSC presentation. The sets of evaluating criteria developed in each of the perspectives are direct translations of the strategic objectives of the company. Therefore, business managers do not only have a clear picture of the past performance of the company. They now also have the means to evaluate without a balanced scorecard sample (of course this is for someone who is developing his/her BSC know-how) where its stands in term of its important objectives, and how well positioned it is to assume future challenges.

When we are talking about passing valuable information, we are not talking about trade secrets or insider information on the competition. We are talking about statistical information that will have some impact on conducting business. For example, you are about to have a meeting with a company that specializes doing training in the classroom. They want to move into an elearning classroom but find that the technical labs do not work across the internet. You have discovered a remote lab technology that will solve their problem. When you go into the meeting, you will have information that is very valuable for that company. When you give them that information, you are in a meeting where you contribution will be recognized.

You could have passed this information at any time but using it in a meeting is better. You are more likely to get credit for your work when it is presented to a group than you will by just telling someone in the company. Your goal is to gain and strengthen business relationships and by showing your expertise, you will have achieved it.

Loyalty to the contract goes a long way. You can pass valuable information from other sources without jeopardizing your contacts within the firm. You want to be noticed and known for your contributions and expertise. It is only when you show your interest and willingness to share valuable information will the other person or company want to reciprocate. You need to develop loyal and trusting business relationships at all times. The relationship is always a two-way street and it is always based on trust and loyalty. Work towards keeping it that way.

Bronchitis is identified as being either chronic or acute. Acute bronchitis usually is limited into ration to anywhere from a few days to a week or two. It's often accompanied by flu like symptoms. Once ill, you can expect to have several days, with limited or no productivity, and even more time not performing at your best. While chronic bronchitis tends to last months or even years, the symptoms are much less pronounced and debilitating.

Of these two basic bronchitis categories, acute bronchitis is typically associated with colds and flu like symptoms. The symptoms of acute bronchitis include:

1. A Feeling of Tightness or Constriction in Your Chest

2. Usually a Sore Throat

3. Congestion

4. Wheezing and Difficulty Breathing

5. A Low to Mid Grade Fever

In a business situation, you often see many people coming to work ill claiming it's all for the good of the company. While I'm certain they have the best of intentions, viral influenza (flu) can be spread through direct person-to-person contact or indirectly in the air and on hard surfaces. This means that if someone who's sick coughs and doesn't cover their mouth, they can put everyone at the workplace at risk for contracting the illness.

So consider someone who dutifully covers her mouth when she coughs. While in the break room, she been pours yourself a cup of coffee and sits at the table, transferring ultramicroscopic infectious material to both the coffee pot, coffee cup and table. Anyone coming into contact with any of these physical items could then theoretically be at risk of contracting the flu bug and becoming ill.

Although most flu is viral in nature and therefore contagious, some acute bronchitis is bacterial and not contagious. Unfortunately, you need a medical degree and some tests to determine if someone who is ill is also contagious. The tips below should be considered as a strategy to limit your potential exposure to viruses that could make you sick.

1. Wash your hands. You can dramatically cut the risk of catching many common illnesses through careful handwashing and the use of hand sanitizers.

2. Clean your equipment. If you share an office cubicle, keyboard or telephone, use sanitizing hand wipes before starting your shift

3. Do virtual meetings. When possible, attend meetings virtually using a conference call system. The last time you are in contact with groups of people, the less risk of contracting an illness.

4. Use a paper towel to open doors. Remember the coffee cup example above in the break room? Same is true for doorknobs. If you can use a throwaway paper towel to open doors without looking like a germ obsessive crazy person, this is really a good idea.

5. Use care in the restroom. No guys, I'm not talking about your aim. Consider all surfaces suspect. That toilet or urinal handle has been used by many people before they wash their hands. Heck, it's no secret that many people use public restrooms and not wash their hands of all. I suggest that when finished, thoroughly wash your hands than using the paper towel you dried them with, open the restroom door when you leave. You can then discreetly dispose of the towel anywhere, but have effectively limited your exposure to potential viral infections.

6. Get a flu shot. Acute bronchitis can begin with an illness caused by a common influenza virus. Getting an annual vaccination can help protect you from influenza (the flu) and bronchitis.

7. Limit exposure to sick people During influenza season consider limiting your use of public areas like a break room, kitchen or cafeteria.

8. Cover your mouth. Be aware of people around you who don't cover their mouths when they cough. Tried either avoid them or keep your distance when possible.

9. Avoid smoking and smoke whenever possible. There are many chemicals, fumes and particle dust that can irritate and compromise bronchial passages. None more so however than smoking.

Many people have the dream of making money on the Internet, yet few manage to eek out more than a few dollars doing so. As someone who has made a substantial portion of my revenue from product sales both on and offline, I can tell you there is more to generating revenues than one might imagine.

It never ceases to amaze me the misconceptions people have. They fall for the mistaken belief that all they have to do is have a website, post a few products, get site visitors and the rest takes care of itself. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have witnessed some of the most common reasons people will NOT succeed on the Internet, let alone in their business. Sure, they may get by, but most people want to do more than just get by.

There are always a few people not yet making money who moan and groan about how they want the “real secrets.” There is no “real secret” to what I do. I share the information; they can either believe it or not.

When I ask what they are doing to lay a solid foundation, often the answer is nothing. They simply want to jump right into the big money, massive name recognition and good times.

This is like signing up for a gym membership, attending one training session and responding with, “Now I’m ready to compete in the Mr. Universe competition.” Not only will someone with that attitude not succeed, they will likely keep looking for the “secrets.” Here’s the secret - you have to put time, effort and money into your success.

One of the greatest secrets to success is to be willing to learn from those who are succeeding. Sadly, fewer and fewer people are willing to learn from those who have come before them, choosing rather to buy into the myth of getting rich quick.

Recently I have had several discussions from people who are obtaining conflicting information about how to succeed at Internet sales. Much of the information they are accessing comes from people who have never made a dime online but are selling information claiming they can teach others how to succeed.

Just yesterday I was asked for specific information on one aspect of online visibility. When I responded with what has worked for me, this person said, “Well, according to ABC source, that is not true.” My response was, “Well, take a look at my Internet position and their position and then draw your conclusion.”

Another mistake is people want something for nothing. Yet many of them also want people to pay them for their products and services. The only question I have is, “What gives you the right to ask people to pay you when you are not willing to pay the experts for their knowledge?”

I will be the first to admit that I also take full advantage of lots of free information. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I provide lots of great information to interested folks, often at no charge. In many of my free sessions, I discuss in great detail exactly what my clients, my business associates, and I have done to build our businesses and become profitable. I am frequently told my free information is more content driven than other information they have paid for. But free information only goes so far.

However, I also pay for a lot of my information in the form of coaching, seminars, books, and other information products. There is no way anyone making a real living from the Internet got to where we are at without some type of financial investment in our professional development.

On more than one occasion I have told someone they need to invest in their business and I get a response like, “I can’t afford it right now.” I can appreciate this, but there comes a time you have to be willing to make a financial investment. With enough time and effort you can find just about anything you want for free. The question you have to ask yourself is, “What is my time worth?”

If you think the following scenario is uncommon, then you haven't been in the medical billing industry long enough. What follows is a sample of what can go very wrong when billing Medicare for somebody's, well, whatever it was supposed to be.

You've just got your DME software all setup. The patients are in, the inventory is in, the doctors and facilities are in, the insurance carriers are in and you're ready to start billing.

And this is what happens.

John Doe pops up on your computer. He's a recent patient at Doctor Jones. It appears that he has been treated for some disease of the lungs and he has prescribed an oxygen concentrator for the patient and several months of oxygen to be given to the patient. The medical billing person goes through the procedure and bills Medicare for the oxygen concentrator and oxygen for the first month. This goes on for about 11 months.

On the twelfth month, the patient dies and the equipment needs to be picked up. Mind you, Medicare has been paying for this item for almost a year now. The maintenance men go to the patient's home to pick up the concentrator and find, not a concentrator, but a wheelchair. You can imagine their confusion. Well, they call up the DME company and tell them what they found. The DME company says, "Well of course there is a wheelchair at the home. John Doe had his legs amputated".

Oops. To say the least anyway. Now, we've got a real problem. For starters, we've been collecting money for an item that is a heck of a lot more money than what the patient actually got. That's fraud and a serious crime. Second, Medicare obviously doesn't know about this or they wouldn't have paid on the item. So what do you do? Do you tell them?

Here is where it gets sticky. Medicare IS going to find out, first of all, that the patient is dead and then they're going to find out how the patient died. And then they're going to put two and two together and realize that this patient never had an oxygen concentrator. That's when the investigation begins.

Can you see where this is going? At best, the company is going to get charged back for the misbilling. At worst, they're going to get charged with fraud. Somewhere in between there are other things that can happen but we won't get into them. None of them are pleasant.

Where this is all going is simply, as soon as you find out about the error, report it to Medicare immediately. If you report the problem, the chances are that you will simply be charged back for the error and paid for the wheelchair instead.

In the world of medical billing, there is a lot of red tape. The government itself has so many regulations that they're enough to strangle a billing company to the point where they can just about do business. And just when you thought that this problem would at least end with the software that you buy to do your billing with, you get hit with more red tape and regulations. In this installment, we're going to discuss the issue of software registration, both on the end of the manufacturer and the biller.

A company can't just decide it wants to make a piece of medical billing software. Well, it can, but selling it is going to be another issue altogether, at least in the United States. See, the good old USA has very strict guidelines that have to be followed when doing your medical billing. That's why, if you're sending claims electronically, there are a zillion record specifications that need to be transmitted. Forget to dot one "I" or cross one "T" and you're looking for trouble. Because of this, insurance carriers, especially the government-controlled ones, require that software be registered. If you look at your records' specifications you will find that one of the records requires the biller to send over the software version that they are using. If this version isn't on the carrier's list of approved vendors, your claim will not be processed. So, how does a software vendor get their software approved?

Well, it's one heck of a tedious process. After the software is made, they have to send a copy of it to every insurance carrier that they want to bill. This usually includes every Medicare and Medicaid agency in all the 50 states. So we're talking about at least 100 carriers. The good news is that if you send to just one to start and you're rejected for whatever reason, you probably won't be accepted by any of the others and therefore can save yourself the trouble of sending your software out to those other carriers. Once you're approved by one, most likely you'll be approved by them all.

To get your software registered is actually simple. You make a sample claim file of fictitious names and transmit the claim file to the agency. If the file passes, you're registered with that carrier. If it doesn't, you're not. It's pretty much the same thing with the medical billing company as well. They also have to send a test claim in order to get approved to submit claims to that particular carrier, even if the software itself was already approved. I told you there was tons of red tape.

The things that medical billing people take for granted. Open up your software, push a button, login. Push another button, get a patient menu. Push another button, pull up a patient. Click, click, click and the process goes on and on. Medical billers have no clue what is actually going on behind the scenes of their software. In the following installments and this is mainly for you tech heads, we're going to show you exactly what goes on behind the scenes with your medical billing software with the main parts of the system. To cover everything would take a lifetime.

We'll be covering how patient files get put into the system and how they are ultimately access by a biller and placed into a work order to be billed. While this seems like a very simple process, it is actually quite complex and requires a lot of indexing and cross-referencing.

Another thing we're going to cover is how a claim gets sent electronically. This is one of the mysteries of medical billing as this whole process is actually invisible. While you can see a patient being pulled to a page, you can't see a claim file being transmitted. How does it go? Where does all that data come from when you have so many record specifications? How does the software know to interact with your transmitting device, which is usually your modem? These and other questions will all be answered.

We will also discuss how forms are printed. How does the software know exactly where to place that patient name and address? How do you choose a form, as there are so many of them? Where does the data get pulled from when all you see in front of you is a patient name?

If you're curious as to how security is set and how the software knows to lock somebody out of a certain part of the system, we're going to cover that too. The many options that you have to security systems make this part of the system mind boggling to say the least. We'll do a detailed walk through of a DME security system and show how it works.

Wonder how your software knows how to read those automated posting files that come from Medicare with all your money tied up in them? No problem. We'll dig deep into the auto posting system so you can see exactly what is going on behind the scenes there.