A PIE Abacus is a virtual place to share and plan, together.

In the physical, '3D' world, an Abacus is a quite ancient tool for counting, using rows of movable beads. By its artful way of adding things together, it's thought by some to have been the foundation of the decimal system; and so of all modern maths.

Here, an Abacus is equally artful; but it's an on-line place, created as a useful tool to support the development of your services as PIEs.  We call the whole software package the PIE Abacus; and in any specific instance, each individual Abacus in your service will be a virtual place set up by the PIE Abacus Project Manager for your service or project.

And (unless you are that Project Manager * ) you will have been invited to use this tool to share your views - your own, or those of the team for which you are a 'scribe' - on

  • how your work is progressing,
  • what makes you say that,
  • what you think helps of hinders, and
  • what actions you now plan to take, based on this analysis.

NB: Every PIE Abacus licence comes pre-loaded with a template that you will immediately recognise, if you had previously used the pen-and-paper version, on the PIElink. (If not, it's probably worth a quick look there first - especially as that then leads you to a wealth of other advice and suggestions.)

 

But in fact, you may well find that you are invited to more than one Abacus for your agency and project. This means that, besides the primary grouping in which you are located within the management structures of your agency, you can share views on what works and what needs more work with any others in your specific area of work.

So, for example, in you are organised into locality teams, under a local area manager, you can compare notes with your colleagues on local issues, to reflect the needs of your area.

But you might also be invited to join another Abacus, for, perhaps, all day centres, or all outreach team, or all the youth or women's services your agency manages, across a much wider area. This allows you to give your views on how well your agency is doing, and whether any standard procedures are helping, or whether your training or staff support meets your needs.

Or you might be invited to share views with all such services in your area, whether or not run by your agency; or wider still, as part of a research project on some aspect of your work. This would allow you all, as a sector, to have a say in what needs to change to help your work across the services system as a whole - the pathways in and through or between services, and any gaps of barriers.

 

Designed for the internet age, the PIE Abacus is an artful piece of software that allows larger agencies and dispersed networks to see how far their services and systems have already developed as a psychologically informed environment - and even how far they want to.  It is, in other words, not just an assessment with a 'one off' measurement and a conclusion, but a strategic planning process.

 

  • If you are that project manager, you'll probably want to go now to the 'PIE Abacus - essential briefing for PIE leads', HERE)

 

The simplest, most effective way to evaluate and improve your PIE from Daniel O'Brien on Vimeo.

All PIE Abacus FAQs HERE

Getting started with an Abacus agency account : HERE

 

Library items

PIE Abacus - essential briefing for PIE leads' (and any others in comparable roles), HERE)

Weighing the costs and 'value added' of the PIE Abacus : HERE

 

The PIE Abacus - applications in particular settings:

The PIE Abacus – in medium to large agencies HERE

The PIE Abacus – in local practice networks : HERE

The PIE Abacus – in smaller 'stand alone' services HERE

The PIE Abacus – as a research tool : HERE

The PIE Abacus – in communities of practice : HERE

The PIE Abacus – in service user-led assessments : HERE

The PIE Abacus – with services using PIEs1 : HER

 

All PIE Abacus FAQs HERE