Benefits of an ERP system:
· Can reach more vendors, producing more competitive bids and widening participation in government contracts, lowering the cost of products and services purchased
· Potential of $10-$15 million in total yearly savings
· Significant paper and postage cost reductions as part of the yearly savings
· Faster product/service look-up and ordering, saving time and money
· Automated ordering and payment, lowering payment processing end paper costs
· Fast access to detailed account histories, providing more abundant information and improved planning and analysis
· Ability to distribute, receive and award contracts out for bid much faster
· Wider participation by city and county purchasing entities, multiplying cost savings and management improvements, and offsetting system operation costs
· Management/Budget
· An ERP system in the Department of Management would:
· Save enormous time and effort in data entry and report production for budgets
· Allow more innovative and extensive budget report content and analysis
· Through Web access, allow lawmakers, directors, and managers, even taxpayers to view real-time budget information.
· Link the budget system to payroll, accounting, Legislative Fiscal Bureau, personnel and other departments, allowing nearly instant data exchange and ensuring such information is consistent and uniform across the board
· Provide easy access to trend data—financial information from years past is quickly combined into an up-to-date long-term view
· Empower departments to more closely measure program performance and results
WHAT IS ERP?
An ERP system is an integrated solution, sharing a centralized database, with all ‘users’…. Human Resources/Payroll/Benefits, E-procurement, Accounting, Budgets, etc. being served by the same database through one point of entry. Data need only be entered or updated once, reducing errors, time and labor foreparts, analysis, planning and program management. Ultimately, time and resources are shifted to innovating, problem solving and direct service to customers rather than inputting, processing, organizing, verifying and
Eight imperatives for leaders in a Networked world
1. Focus on how IT can reshape work and public sector strategies
Problem. The knowledge required to succeed with IT is complex and rapidly changing. Given the large size of many agencies and the checks and balances established to foster debate and deliberation, governments tend to become inwardly focused and fail to keep pace with the innovation required in the Information Age.
What to avoid. Don’t delegate all responsibility for technology to technologists, or focus on internal operations to the exclusion of externally oriented service improvements and building essential political support.
What to do. Learn how digital processing and communications are revolutionizing the work-place and the nature of work, ideally through becoming directly involved in IT projects and working with computer applications as part of your personal routine.
2. Use IT for strategic innovation, not simply tactical automation
Problem. The enormous potential benefits of IT are often compromised if it is used merely to entrench old work processes and organizations rather than to fundamentally redesign them.
What to avoid. Don’t focus on incremental improvements tithe exclusion of more aggressive innovation.
What to do. Push for some strategic ten-fold improvements, and not merely for 10 percent. Foster and protect experimentation. Design an e-government strategy with wide opportunities for “anytime, anyplace” service. Explore service integration across program and organizational boundaries. Develop rich and flexible technology-based options for self-service.
3. Utilize best practices in implementing IT initiatives
Problem. The failure rate of IT initiatives has often been daunting, even though the most difficult problems have been political rather than technological.
What to avoid. Don’t approach IT as primarily a technology problem, and don’t delegate IT projects
Predominantly to technology specialists.
What to do. Recognize that technology implementations are usually change-management problems. Place general managers and politically capable leaders in charge of most major IT initiatives. You need leaders who can authoritatively deal with organizational conflict and budget issues.
4. Improve budgeting and financing for promising IT initiatives
Problem. By focusing on incremental annual changes to existing programs, government budgeting makes it
Hard to invest in IT initiatives that offer high value but also require long-term, cross-agency innovation.
What to avoid. Don’t rely too heavily on funding IT through the traditional tax-levy budget.
What to do. Analyze economic and budgetary trends to identify sources of financing appropriate for an increasingly electronic economy. Your analysis should explore the principle of letting the direct users of services pay when they are the ones that capture the benefits (i.e., user charges for service elements not inherently publican nature). Also, explore budget reforms to give greater emphasis to multiyear, cross-boundary service integration and innovation (via capital funds, revolving funds, shared-risk investments with the private sector,
Spend some time reading up on ERP and guess what you find? A lot of mixed messages. Some experts say to customize your software to meet your process. Some say change your process to meet your software. Some advocates say to only use one vendor; others say partnership among vendors is the way Togo. It gives government the option to pick the best software for each process. So who is right and who is wrong? Lets take a look at lessons learned, and see what the voice of experience has to say.
Common Ground:
Focus on the Customer
What do stories of different ERP implementations have in common? Without a doubt, there is a focus on the customer. That means internal customers (that’s us folks) as well as citizens. “The focus is shifting from back-office applications to front-end services…Its is not just about replacing computer systems but also how information technology can be used to meet agencies’ missions and objectives,” says Jim McLaughlin, regional vice president for sales and business development at People Soft Federal, and ERP system software vendor. Or as another software vendor puts it, "There is a shift in focus from the inside-out administrative business systems to the outside-in, where you pull in the customers, suppliers, citizens," says Thomas Shirk, president of SAP Public Sector and Education.
Key to Success: It takes Leadership
When Federal Prison Industries Inc. implemented its transition to ERP; it set a drop-dead conversion date. On that date the old system was unplugged and the new ERP system took over. No contingencies, no delays, no other options. “That’s the type of decisiveness (government) agencies must exercise if they want ERP to work,” said Thomas Phalen, chief information officer at Federal Prison Industries. "You have to win people over from the beginning," he further adds. "You have to put someone in charge and give them authority to make the call."
Cost Control: People are Key
Industry figures are staggering, with reports of almost half of all ERP initiatives delivering 200 percent return on investment (source: The Carpe Diem Group Inc.) “Most of the problems in implementing any IT project are management issues,” says Sandra Borden, a member of the Office of Management and Budget’s IT Resource Board, which reviews IT projects at federal agencies. "Good projects have engineering discipline used throughout the life cycle of the project," Borden said. "Technology is not the issue. It’s the people." Does it work, listening to the experience of others? Here is an excerpt from Federal Week Computer (May 29,2000 issue) regarding an ERP implementation for the Energy Department’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR):
“SPR officials decided to take a close look at other organizations’ failed ERP efforts and mold their work to bypass those mistakes. The move paid off. SPR’s enterprise wide ERP system —
Which tied together 16 separate systems — was completed 63days ahead of schedule and 4percent under budget. One year after going live, SPR reports a 47 percent return on its $10 million investment and is projecting $32 million in saved labor costs.” Iowa ERP champions can put these lessons to work as new systems get planned and installed.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise Resource Planning or "ERP" for short sounds a bit of a mouthful and can be a massive undertaking and hugely costly. Here is some information that will give you a better understanding of what ERP is.OverviewEnterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) attempt to integrate all data and processes of an organization into a single unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a single, unified database to store data for the various system modules.The term ERP originally implied systems designed to plan the utilization of enterprise-wide resources. Although the acronym ERP originated in the manufacturing environment, today's use of the term ERP systems has much broader scope. ERP systems typically attempt to cover all basic functions of an organization, regardless of the organization's business or charter. Business, non-profit organizations, non governmental organizations, governments, and other large entities utilize ERP systems. Additionally, it may be noted that to be considered an ERP system, a software package generally would only need to provide functionality in a single package that would normally be covered by two or more systems. Technically, a software package that provides both Payroll and Accounting functions (such as QuickBooks) would be considered an ERP software package.However, the term is typically reserved for larger, more broadly based applications. The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance (one system instead of two or more) to easier and/or greater reporting capabilities (as all data is typically kept in one database).
develop an external interface to other ERP or stand-alone systems for their other application needs. For instance, the PeopleSoft HRMS and Financials systems are generally considered better than SAP's HRMS solution. And SAP's manufacturing and CRM systems are generally considered better than PeopleSoft's equivalents. So an organization large enough to justify the purchase of an ERP system, may choose to purchase the PeopleSoft HRMS and Financials modules from Oracle, and their remaining applications from SAP.ERPs are cross-functional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and Information Technology, this would include accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.
Implementation
To implement ERP systems, companies often seek the help of an ERP vendor or of third-party consulting companies. Consulting in ERP involves three levels, namely top level systems architecture, business process consulting (primarily re-engineering) and technical consulting (primarily programming and tool configuration activity). A systems architect designs the overall dataflow for the enterprise including the future dataflow plan. A business consultant studies an organization's current business processes and matches them to the corresponding processes in the ERP system, thus 'configuring' the ERP system to the organization's needs. Technical consulting often involves programming. Most ERP vendors allow modification of their software to suit the business needs of their customer.Customizing an ERP package can be very expensive and complicated, because many ERP packages are not designed to support customization, so most businesses implement the best practices embedded in the acquired ERP system. Some ERP packages are very generic in their reports and inquiries, such that customization is expected in every implementation. It is important to recognize that for these packages it often makes sense to buy third party plug-ins that interface well with your ERP software rather than reinventing the wheel.Today there are also web-based ERP systems. Companies would deploy web-based ERP because it requires no client side installation, and is cross-platform and maintained centrally. As long as you have an Internet connection, or a network connection to a system installed on the LAN, you can access web-based ERPs through typical web browsers.
How can ERP improve a company's business performance?
Improving the way your company takes a customer order and processes that into an invoice and revenue-otherwise known as the order fulfillment process. That is why ERP is often referred to as back-office software. It doesn't handle the up-front selling process (although most ERP vendors have recently developed CRM software to do this); rather, ERP takes a customer order and provides a software road map for automating the different steps along the path to fulfilling the order. When a customer service representative enters a customer order into an ERP system, he has all the information necessary to complete the order (the customer's credit rating and order history from the finance module, the company's inventory levels from the warehouse module and the shipping dock's trucking schedule from the logistics module, for example).People in these different departments all see the same information and can update it. When one department finishes with the order it is automatically routed via the ERP system to the next department. To find out where the order is at any point, you need only log in to the ERP system to track it down. With luck, the order process moves like a bolt of lightning through the organization, and customers get their orders faster and with fewer errors than before. ERP can apply that same magic to the other major business processes, such as employee benefits or financial reporting.
develop an external interface to other ERP or stand-alone systems for their other application needs. For instance, the PeopleSoft HRMS and Financials systems are generally considered better than SAP's HRMS solution. And SAP's manufacturing and CRM systems are generally considered better than PeopleSoft's equivalents. So an organization large enough to justify the purchase of an ERP system, may choose to purchase the PeopleSoft HRMS and Financials modules from Oracle, and their remaining applications from SAP.ERPs are cross-functional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and Information Technology, this would include accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.
Implementation
To implement ERP systems, companies often seek the help of an ERP vendor or of third-party consulting companies. Consulting in ERP involves three levels, namely top level systems architecture, business process consulting (primarily re-engineering) and technical consulting (primarily programming and tool configuration activity). A systems architect designs the overall dataflow for the enterprise including the future dataflow plan. A business consultant studies an organization's current business processes and matches them to the corresponding processes in the ERP system, thus 'configuring' the ERP system to the organization's needs. Technical consulting often involves programming. Most ERP vendors allow modification of their software to suit the business needs of their customer.Customizing an ERP package can be very expensive and complicated, because many ERP packages are not designed to support customization, so most businesses implement the best practices embedded in the acquired ERP system. Some ERP packages are very generic in their reports and inquiries, such that customization is expected in every implementation. It is important to recognize that for these packages it often makes sense to buy third party plug-ins that interface well with your ERP software rather than reinventing the wheel.Today there are also web-based ERP systems. Companies would deploy web-based ERP because it requires no client side installation, and is cross-platform and maintained centrally. As long as you have an Internet connection, or a network connection to a system installed on the LAN, you can access web-based ERPs through typical web browsers.
How can ERP improve a company's business performance?
Improving the way your company takes a customer order and processes that into an invoice and revenue-otherwise known as the order fulfillment process. That is why ERP is often referred to as back-office software. It doesn't handle the up-front selling process (although most ERP vendors have recently developed CRM software to do this); rather, ERP takes a customer order and provides a software road map for automating the different steps along the path to fulfilling the order. When a customer service representative enters a customer order into an ERP system, he has all the information necessary to complete the order (the customer's credit rating and order history from the finance module, the company's inventory levels from the warehouse module and the shipping dock's trucking schedule from the logistics module, for example).People in these different departments all see the same information and can update it. When one department finishes with the order it is automatically routed via the ERP system to the next department. To find out where the order is at any point, you need only log in to the ERP system to track it down. With luck, the order process moves like a bolt of lightning through the organization, and customers get their orders faster and with fewer errors than before. ERP can apply that same magic to the other major business processes, such as employee benefits or financial reporting.
HEINZ
HEINZ KETCHUP IS PERHAPS THE MOST INSTANTLY-RECOGNISABLE
BRAND IN THE WORLD. THE FAMOUS BOTTLES FILL SHELVES FROM
SHANGHAI TO SYDNEY AND FROM PITTSBURGH TO PARIS.
Rarely has there been such a foodstuff that is so
universally popular. But it’s not only the famous
ketchup that the company produces. Heinz worldwide
makes soup, sauces, the student staple of baked beans,
condiments, seafood and frozen food. In the UK, it also
owns Farleys (which makes baby food), John West and
San Marco brands.
CHALLENGES FACED
Across a business of this size and complexity, supporting
many different departments based in different locations,
and ensuring that all operational information is up-todate
is imperative. In the UK alone, Heinz produces 15
million items every week, of which three million are tins
of baked beans and 1.5 million are bottles of ketchup.
With so many food products heading for customers all
over Europe, keeping track of stock levels is a priority. It
is therefore crucial that staff working for Heinz can
access accurate and current information from all areas
of the business, including details from Wincanton, Heinz
UK’s ambient foods distribution partner, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. Equally important is the need
for analysis tools - quite simply to ensure efficient stock
and service levels to the customer. This is particularly
relevant for customers ordering many different
products across the Heinz range.
SUCCESS STRATEGY
HEINZ KETCHUP IS PERHAPS THE MOST INSTANTLY-RECOGNISABLE
BRAND IN THE WORLD. THE FAMOUS BOTTLES FILL SHELVES FROM
SHANGHAI TO SYDNEY AND FROM PITTSBURGH TO PARIS.
Rarely has there been such a foodstuff that is so
universally popular. But it’s not only the famous
ketchup that the company produces. Heinz worldwide
makes soup, sauces, the student staple of baked beans,
condiments, seafood and frozen food. In the UK, it also
owns Farleys (which makes baby food), John West and
San Marco brands.
CHALLENGES FACED
Across a business of this size and complexity, supporting
many different departments based in different locations,
and ensuring that all operational information is up-todate
is imperative. In the UK alone, Heinz produces 15
million items every week, of which three million are tins
of baked beans and 1.5 million are bottles of ketchup.
With so many food products heading for customers all
over Europe, keeping track of stock levels is a priority. It
is therefore crucial that staff working for Heinz can
access accurate and current information from all areas
of the business, including details from Wincanton, Heinz
UK’s ambient foods distribution partner, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. Equally important is the need
for analysis tools - quite simply to ensure efficient stock
and service levels to the customer. This is particularly
relevant for customers ordering many different
products across the Heinz range.
SUCCESS STRATEGY
To achieve this, Heinz has been employing various
forms of business intelligence for the past ten years, but
recently decided to consolidate all its operations and
use Cognos as its global business intelligence tool.
Daniel Haverly, European information management
project manager at Heinz, said: “Heinz is currently
undergoing a major revamp of core systems. The benefits
of Cognos were identified globally and rolled out in the
first instance to one particular project, the UK’s National
Distribution Centre (NDC) for ambient product.”
The NDC at Heinz is a new venture complete with new
business processes and ways of working. For reporting
purposes, Heinz wanted to give users access to up-tothe-
minute information on stock levels, customer
orders and lorry loads held on its three legacy
mainframe systems.
The systems currently in place are order processing
systems from Heinz, Farleys and John West. These
systems are linked to a consolidated ‘one system view’
Oracle database, and also to Wincanton’s Warehouse
Management System (WMS) across a firewall. The
Oracle database is replicated instantaneously for
reporting. The information is purely words and
numbers but has a consistent report format and
method to access, irrespective of the source of data.
Heinz staff needed to access details from all the
individual distributed business systems, the central
database and Wincanton’s own WMS system, but they
needed one method of access, with the security and
data access being ‘behind the scenes’. This is exactly
what the Cognos solution was able to provide.
WEB BASED SOLUTION
Heinz chose Cognos Impromptu Web Reports to allow
users to create reports drawn from any data source and
deliver them to suppliers, customers and partners,
across the Internet. Users can subscribe to reports, and
then customise them to meet their specific needs. This
has the added benefit of each user only requiring
Internet Explorer, so roll out was quick and easy.
BUSINESS BENEFITS
The efficient implementation of Cognos led to
impressive tangible benefits.
From nothing, a team of six people – a mix of
consultants and newly trained internal staff – developed
the reporting function for the NDC in under six
months. Then, after just two months of using Cognos,
new efficiency gains were realised. In particular, Heinz
was able to qualify the results in terms of substantially
reduced stock discrepancies, more efficient stock
management and better load management.
Across all its systems, Heinz is now using the Cognos
solution to help drive new business processes and ways
of working. Heinz has noticed an immediate
improvement in the new processes supported by the
Cognos solution.
THE NEXT STEP
Daniel Haverly added: “Our eventual aim is to use
Cognos Web products across Europe as consolidating
the common key performance indicators across global
operations becomes a business priority. This will
enable all business users to use the up-front portal as a
‘one stop shop’ for information, whether the
information is local reporting, regional reporting or
regional or global analysis. The key area here is the
compilation and use of data standards so that we have
consistency in definition across all of Heinz’s global
businesses.”
The Cognos solution will be used as an integral
component of wider roll out of common systems
across Europe, encompassing areas such as customer
profitability and supply chain efficiency. “The focus
will be on Web only versions of Impromptu and
PowerPlay, but we also plan to investigate the use of
Query and Cognos Metrics Manager going forward,”
concluded Haverly.
WHAT LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNT?
• Company time and resources are maximised by
using one solution that collates data from a range of
sources into easy-to-use reports, so users can make
more informed business decisions
• In any industry, but particularly the retail sector,
accurate information is essential to ensure efficient
stock processing and transport management.
Cognos helps keep track of stock levels and ensures
delivery lorries are used efficiently
• A Web-based solution means customers, partners and
suppliers can all access reports immediately and
simultaneously as all they need is access to the Internet
• In large organisations technology can highlight
areas of inefficiency that the company was not
aware of before and ensure areas for improvement
are addressed early
• Business intelligence can encourage new business
processes and ways of working within companies
forms of business intelligence for the past ten years, but
recently decided to consolidate all its operations and
use Cognos as its global business intelligence tool.
Daniel Haverly, European information management
project manager at Heinz, said: “Heinz is currently
undergoing a major revamp of core systems. The benefits
of Cognos were identified globally and rolled out in the
first instance to one particular project, the UK’s National
Distribution Centre (NDC) for ambient product.”
The NDC at Heinz is a new venture complete with new
business processes and ways of working. For reporting
purposes, Heinz wanted to give users access to up-tothe-
minute information on stock levels, customer
orders and lorry loads held on its three legacy
mainframe systems.
The systems currently in place are order processing
systems from Heinz, Farleys and John West. These
systems are linked to a consolidated ‘one system view’
Oracle database, and also to Wincanton’s Warehouse
Management System (WMS) across a firewall. The
Oracle database is replicated instantaneously for
reporting. The information is purely words and
numbers but has a consistent report format and
method to access, irrespective of the source of data.
Heinz staff needed to access details from all the
individual distributed business systems, the central
database and Wincanton’s own WMS system, but they
needed one method of access, with the security and
data access being ‘behind the scenes’. This is exactly
what the Cognos solution was able to provide.
WEB BASED SOLUTION
Heinz chose Cognos Impromptu Web Reports to allow
users to create reports drawn from any data source and
deliver them to suppliers, customers and partners,
across the Internet. Users can subscribe to reports, and
then customise them to meet their specific needs. This
has the added benefit of each user only requiring
Internet Explorer, so roll out was quick and easy.
BUSINESS BENEFITS
The efficient implementation of Cognos led to
impressive tangible benefits.
From nothing, a team of six people – a mix of
consultants and newly trained internal staff – developed
the reporting function for the NDC in under six
months. Then, after just two months of using Cognos,
new efficiency gains were realised. In particular, Heinz
was able to qualify the results in terms of substantially
reduced stock discrepancies, more efficient stock
management and better load management.
Across all its systems, Heinz is now using the Cognos
solution to help drive new business processes and ways
of working. Heinz has noticed an immediate
improvement in the new processes supported by the
Cognos solution.
THE NEXT STEP
Daniel Haverly added: “Our eventual aim is to use
Cognos Web products across Europe as consolidating
the common key performance indicators across global
operations becomes a business priority. This will
enable all business users to use the up-front portal as a
‘one stop shop’ for information, whether the
information is local reporting, regional reporting or
regional or global analysis. The key area here is the
compilation and use of data standards so that we have
consistency in definition across all of Heinz’s global
businesses.”
The Cognos solution will be used as an integral
component of wider roll out of common systems
across Europe, encompassing areas such as customer
profitability and supply chain efficiency. “The focus
will be on Web only versions of Impromptu and
PowerPlay, but we also plan to investigate the use of
Query and Cognos Metrics Manager going forward,”
concluded Haverly.
WHAT LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNT?
• Company time and resources are maximised by
using one solution that collates data from a range of
sources into easy-to-use reports, so users can make
more informed business decisions
• In any industry, but particularly the retail sector,
accurate information is essential to ensure efficient
stock processing and transport management.
Cognos helps keep track of stock levels and ensures
delivery lorries are used efficiently
• A Web-based solution means customers, partners and
suppliers can all access reports immediately and
simultaneously as all they need is access to the Internet
• In large organisations technology can highlight
areas of inefficiency that the company was not
aware of before and ensure areas for improvement
are addressed early
• Business intelligence can encourage new business
processes and ways of working within companies
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Subversion
By: Jeremy Whitlock
November 28th, 2006
Summary: This article will tell you what Subversion is from the eyes of a Subversion tools developer and consultant.
November 28th, 2006
Summary: This article will tell you what Subversion is from the eyes of a Subversion tools developer and consultant.
Depending on who you ask, Subversion can be many things to many people. This article will explain, from my eyes, what Subversion is. As part of doing this, I will step into the shoes of a few key users of Subversion to explain their view of Subversion and how their view may differ from the views of others. Before we can get into the details of Subversion, lets learn exactly what Subversion is from a high-level perspective and then get more detailed information by walking in the shoes of our theoretical users.
Out of the box, and in its simplest form, Subversion is nothing more than an advanced, open source version control system. Its sole purpose is to help you track the changes to directories of files under version control. This isn't to say that Subversion cannot be the cornerstone of your build management, release management and continuous integration efforts, which we will discuss later, but out of the box, Subversion just cares about the directories and files it is supposed to track the changes to.
Back in 2000, CollabNet decided to create a replacement for CVS. This decision came after running into problems and limitations of CVS not only throughout development but also in regard to the CVS integration into their flagship product CollabNet Enterprise Edition, which is a collaboration and development platform for distributed development. CollabNet reached out to Karl Fogel, author of Open Source Development with CVS, to ask if he would like to be involved. Coincedentally, he and Jim Blandy had already started talking about this and they agreed to do so. Their plan was to create a tool that did not deviate too much from CVS's development/usage model but would fix the apparent problems of CVS. To make a long story short, Subversion was born.
Subversion Features
Now that we know what Subversion is, from a high level, and how it came about, lets look at a few of its more impressive features to get a better understanding of what Subversion brings to the table.Directory Versioning
Directory versioning is the idea of versioning a directories structure just as you do the structure/content of a versioned file. Subversion uses a vitual filesystem to allow for directory versioning and the end result is that you can track changes to directory structures just like you can the contents of files.
Directory versioning is the idea of versioning a directories structure just as you do the structure/content of a versioned file. Subversion uses a vitual filesystem to allow for directory versioning and the end result is that you can track changes to directory structures just like you can the contents of files.
True Version History
True versioning allows you to copy and rename resources so that the newly created resource has its own history and is seen as a new object. Since copying and renaming resources are extremely common, true version history is a nice feature allowing you to view each object as its own entity regardless of whether the new entity was the result of a copy or rename.
Atomic Commits
Atomic commits are the concept where your commit is either entirely committed or it is not. Unlike with non-atomic commits where you can have a partial commit, atomic commits basically allow Subversion to undo any portion of the commit transaction in the event that a problem arises. This means that any interrupted commit operations do not cause any corrupt or inconsistent state in the repository.
Versioned Metadata
Versioned metadata is the ability to apply key-value tuples to a versioned object. This metadata is called a property and properties are versioned just like the objects to which they are applied.
Choice of Network Layers
Subversion's access layer has been abstracted to allow for multiple avenues when accessing a repository. This abstraction allows you to develop your own access method or you can use an existing method. This flexibility means that you can use what works instead of being forced to use a particular access model. Another layer of flexibility is Subversion's use of WebDAV allowing for repository interaction over http/https which usually poses no problem when accessing behind a firewall and/or proxy.
Consistent Data Handling
Subversion uses a binary differencing algorithm when storing version history that works the same on text files and binary files. This means that Subversion uses the same process for versioning text and binary files, Subversion stores the files/differences the same on the server regardless of file type and Subversion sends differences across the wire the same regardless of file type.
Efficient Branching and Tagging
Subversion's approach to branching/tagging that makes branching and tagging not proportional to the size of the project being branched/tagged. Subversion uses something similar to a hard-link on the server side when the branch/tag is created. This means that branching/tagging in Subversion takes a very small amount of time and storage regardless of your project's size.
Hackability
Subversion is its own project built from the ground up with a well-defined C API. This means that you can maintain, extend and integration Subversion into other projects easily. It is also worth noting that Subversion has bindings for many languages like Java, Perl and Python.
The list of features above isn't fully comprehensive so I figured it would be a good idea to discuss Subversion in a little more detail to outline more Subversion functionality and concepts.
Automatable and Scriptable
Subversion's output is both human readable and parsable. This means that those of you wanting to automate or script any part of Subversion should have no issues doing so.
Change Sets
Subversion was built to be efficient over the wire and on the disk. To put perspective behind this statement, Subversion wants to send as little data across the wire and to store as little information on the disk. Subversion does this via change sets. Every time you create a commit, you create a change set. Each change set contains the changes required to reproduct that commit. Since Subversion doesn't do file-level versioning, change sets are Subversions way of communicating changes in between revisions. This is excellent for being efficient over the wire and on disk because this allows Subversion to send and store only what is required to reproduce the commit creating the subsequent revision. In the end, the costs are proportional to change size and not to file size.
Choice of Client
Since Subversion abstracts the access and interaction into well-defined APIs, you have your choice of using the particular Subversion client that fits your needs or environment. You can even mix-and-match which clients you use depending on your interaction needs.
Choice of Parallel Development Model
Subversion allows you the ability to pick and choose which parallel development methodology you want to use and when. This means that if you want to use the Lock-Modify-Unlock model for your binary files, so be it. If you want to use the Copy-Modify-Merge model for all non-binary files, that is great. You can even mix and match depending on your specific likes and needs.
Internationalization
Subversion was built for global consumption and this commitment is shown by its internationalized messages.
Global Revisioning
Subversion uses a global revision number as opposed to using file-level revision numbers. The concept here is that each revision contains the state of the repository as it exists for that particular revision. This allows for many of the necessary features that Subversion has implemented.
Historical Tracking
Subversion's built-in capabilities are not limited just to versioning the files/directories instructed. Subversion also comes with a a complete toolkit for analyzing the history of the files/directories under version control. Change reports, release management and many other features are at your fingertips thanks to Subversion's built in historical tracking capabilities.
We now know what Subversion is but we still haven't really considered Subversion from the eyes of its users. The next section is to look at Subversion from the eyes of Subversion users. These users are a product developer, a product manager, a release manager, a repository administrator and a network/systems administrator. We will not write a book on each but the idea is to look at Subversion from their eyes and to figure out how Subversion best accomodates them and how.
The Product Developer
A product developer is solely concerned with Subversion in the context that it historically tracks the files/directories which the developer is developing againts. Nothing more. They need to be able to locate resources, compare differences between revisions of resources and to be able to work on multiple products/releases/efforts at the same time. Subversion accomodates in that it facilitates parallel development by its design and it simplicity in interaction allows the developer to worry more about the product than the intricacies of the version control tool. To a product developer, the following are most important:
Simplicity: Each Subversion tool is extremely well document and is designed to allow for the simplest migration path from another version control tool. Another reason Subversion is simple for developers is because there are only a handful of Subversion features that a developer will need to understand to be able to do day-to-day development.
Flexibility: Developers have the ability to use whichever client that best fits their needs. This means that you can choose whatever client that makes you the most efficient. Clients are not the only level of flexibility in the eyes of a developer. Subversion users also can pick and choose which development methodology they wish when interacting with a Subversion repository. This allows development teams to build their own development processes.
Traceability: Beyond the typical interaction with the repository during development, developers also need to be able to do minor historical tracking. Whether they need to know who added a particular line of code or who deleted a file, there is a very good need for being able to get historical data from Subversion. The good thing is that Subversion's built in historical capabilities are more than enough for creating traceability for a development project. Developers are probably the easiest to please in respect to Subversion. With Subversion's efficiency over the wire, simple and document commands and the historical tracking capabilities, Subversion is an excellent candidate for a version control system in the eyes of a developer.
Simplicity: Each Subversion tool is extremely well document and is designed to allow for the simplest migration path from another version control tool. Another reason Subversion is simple for developers is because there are only a handful of Subversion features that a developer will need to understand to be able to do day-to-day development.
Flexibility: Developers have the ability to use whichever client that best fits their needs. This means that you can choose whatever client that makes you the most efficient. Clients are not the only level of flexibility in the eyes of a developer. Subversion users also can pick and choose which development methodology they wish when interacting with a Subversion repository. This allows development teams to build their own development processes.
Traceability: Beyond the typical interaction with the repository during development, developers also need to be able to do minor historical tracking. Whether they need to know who added a particular line of code or who deleted a file, there is a very good need for being able to get historical data from Subversion. The good thing is that Subversion's built in historical capabilities are more than enough for creating traceability for a development project. Developers are probably the easiest to please in respect to Subversion. With Subversion's efficiency over the wire, simple and document commands and the historical tracking capabilities, Subversion is an excellent candidate for a version control system in the eyes of a developer.
The Product Manager
While the product developer is mainly concerned with the simplicity of interaction with the repository, a product manager will probably want to do more historical tracking to be able to properly manage the team working on the product. The manager will also be interested in the ability to work on multiple releases of the product in parallel. (Think about working on the current release, bug fix release and a proof-of-concept release at the same time.) To a product manager, the following are the most important:
Branching: To be able to facilitate parallel development, a requirement when working on multiple releases at the same time, a product manager would be interested in Subversion's branching capabilties. Branching is the cornerstone of allowing parallel development on multiple efforts at the same time.
Traceability: Traceability is where developer and manager needs slightly overlap. Developers need traceability to be able to understand code changes and while managers need traceability, they need it for other reasons. Managers manage developers so when traceability comes to mind, I begin to think of code reviews, change reports, defect reports and release reports. Subversion can accomodate with its full features historical tracking features.
Simplicity: Most managers want to be able to manage without having to fully understand the underlying tooling. Subversion abstracts the access layer so that managers can use WebDAV clients, like Windows Web Folders, to simplify Subversion repository interaction. This coupled with highly documented commands makes a managers job easy when managing a project using Subversion for the version control system. Product managers are extremely easy to please when it comes to Subversion. They want an easy way to interact with the repository, an easy way to trace releases and developer contributions and would like to be able to manage multiple releases at the same time. Subversion makes a manager's job easy and I'm sure the manager would agree.
Branching: To be able to facilitate parallel development, a requirement when working on multiple releases at the same time, a product manager would be interested in Subversion's branching capabilties. Branching is the cornerstone of allowing parallel development on multiple efforts at the same time.
Traceability: Traceability is where developer and manager needs slightly overlap. Developers need traceability to be able to understand code changes and while managers need traceability, they need it for other reasons. Managers manage developers so when traceability comes to mind, I begin to think of code reviews, change reports, defect reports and release reports. Subversion can accomodate with its full features historical tracking features.
Simplicity: Most managers want to be able to manage without having to fully understand the underlying tooling. Subversion abstracts the access layer so that managers can use WebDAV clients, like Windows Web Folders, to simplify Subversion repository interaction. This coupled with highly documented commands makes a managers job easy when managing a project using Subversion for the version control system. Product managers are extremely easy to please when it comes to Subversion. They want an easy way to interact with the repository, an easy way to trace releases and developer contributions and would like to be able to manage multiple releases at the same time. Subversion makes a manager's job easy and I'm sure the manager would agree.
The Release Manager
Think of the release manager as the same as a product manager but while a product manager manages the developers making the project, a release manager manages the releases of the projects. Release managers are solely concerned with being able to work on multiple releases in parallel and being able to trace changes between releases. Here is how Subversion accomodates release managers:
Branching: As with product managers, release managers need to be able to make sure that multiple releases are being developed in parallel with cross-contaminating releases with the needs of other releases. Since branching is the only real way to facilitate parallel development in isolation, branching is a hot topic to release managers.
Tagging: Release managers need to be able to archive releases and Subversion allows you to do this with tags. A tag is basically a human-readable name given to a particular revision of a directory tree. Where tagging makes life easier for a release manager is that release managers can locate the tags directory and identify which releases have shipped without having to memorize or document the underlying revision of the directory tree to locate a release point. Releases are as simple as having a tag with the release name, like "Release 1.0".
Traceability: Traceability is something that release managers need to be able to identify what was added, removed or fixed from one release to another. Subversion's historical tracking capabilities make this simple in that you can create a change log between releases, you can create defect reports between releases (With the proper process to facilitate this.) and you can even create other more detailed reports from one release to another depending on your business needs. We are beginning to see that Subversion's historical tracking can be extremely powerful and useful. Beyond that, release managers lives are made much easier with a few convience mechanisms like tagging thanks to Subversion.
Branching: As with product managers, release managers need to be able to make sure that multiple releases are being developed in parallel with cross-contaminating releases with the needs of other releases. Since branching is the only real way to facilitate parallel development in isolation, branching is a hot topic to release managers.
Tagging: Release managers need to be able to archive releases and Subversion allows you to do this with tags. A tag is basically a human-readable name given to a particular revision of a directory tree. Where tagging makes life easier for a release manager is that release managers can locate the tags directory and identify which releases have shipped without having to memorize or document the underlying revision of the directory tree to locate a release point. Releases are as simple as having a tag with the release name, like "Release 1.0".
Traceability: Traceability is something that release managers need to be able to identify what was added, removed or fixed from one release to another. Subversion's historical tracking capabilities make this simple in that you can create a change log between releases, you can create defect reports between releases (With the proper process to facilitate this.) and you can even create other more detailed reports from one release to another depending on your business needs. We are beginning to see that Subversion's historical tracking can be extremely powerful and useful. Beyond that, release managers lives are made much easier with a few convience mechanisms like tagging thanks to Subversion.
The Repository Administrator
The repository manager has one thing on his/her mind and that is repository layout and permissions. Here are the areas where the repository manager will be concerned:
Flexibility: Subversion does not require or mandate any particular repository layout. Subversion also allows you to change just about any aspect of your repository whenever you feel the need to. Want to change from a single project repository to a multi-project repository? Want to use a non-standard repository layout? Subversion allows you to make the decisions and even allows you to change your mind easily with minimal downtime and effort.
Permissions: Depending on your server configuration, a Subversion repository administrator can integrate into many external authentication schemes for repository access. Once access is granted, the administrator can even do file-level access control all via a simple text file. No difficult configurations or administrative needs to create a fully secure Subversion repository.
Backup/Recovery: Subversion's backup and recovery tools are very simple to use. Subversion's scripability makes this process extremely easy and easy to produce. Subversion was built to make things simple in all aspects and repository administration was one of them. Repository administrators have the flexibility to choose the best practice for repository layout for thier projects and can even change the repository configuration at any time thanks to Subversion's design.
Flexibility: Subversion does not require or mandate any particular repository layout. Subversion also allows you to change just about any aspect of your repository whenever you feel the need to. Want to change from a single project repository to a multi-project repository? Want to use a non-standard repository layout? Subversion allows you to make the decisions and even allows you to change your mind easily with minimal downtime and effort.
Permissions: Depending on your server configuration, a Subversion repository administrator can integrate into many external authentication schemes for repository access. Once access is granted, the administrator can even do file-level access control all via a simple text file. No difficult configurations or administrative needs to create a fully secure Subversion repository.
Backup/Recovery: Subversion's backup and recovery tools are very simple to use. Subversion's scripability makes this process extremely easy and easy to produce. Subversion was built to make things simple in all aspects and repository administration was one of them. Repository administrators have the flexibility to choose the best practice for repository layout for thier projects and can even change the repository configuration at any time thanks to Subversion's design.
The Network/Systems Administrator
Network/Systems administrators are concerned only with security to the server and the network which the server is attached. Subversion's access capabilities make their job a lot easier and here is how:
Unobtrusive: Subversion gives you the flexibility to choose which network layer to expose your repository. With this flexibility comes the ability to expose a repository without having to include network and systems administrators in most cases. Since you can access are well-configured Subversion repository via http/https, you can usually provide access to a Subversion repository from behind a corporate firewall and/or proxy without having to create access rules to open new ports and such. Subversion can usually be installed without really needing to talk to a network or system administrator thanks to its unobtrusive nature. This makes things a lot easier for implementing Subversion into your corporation securely.
Unobtrusive: Subversion gives you the flexibility to choose which network layer to expose your repository. With this flexibility comes the ability to expose a repository without having to include network and systems administrators in most cases. Since you can access are well-configured Subversion repository via http/https, you can usually provide access to a Subversion repository from behind a corporate firewall and/or proxy without having to create access rules to open new ports and such. Subversion can usually be installed without really needing to talk to a network or system administrator thanks to its unobtrusive nature. This makes things a lot easier for implementing Subversion into your corporation securely.
As you can see, Subversion has a lot to offer to a lot of people. Out of the box, Subversion is a commercial quality version control system but Subversion's real value proposition is in the eye of the beholder. Developers will enjoy Subversion's ease of use and flexibility. Product managers will appreciate the ability for Subversion to handle multiple efforts being tracked concurrently. Release managers will welcome the ease of tracing releases. Repository managers will welcome the flexibility Subversion gives you when providing access to your repository.Regardless of how you use Subversion, there is a lot to be gained by using Subversion. Subversion was built around being simple, flexible, and powerful. Subversion provides many innovative features that gives you the flexibility and power that you will need out of your version control system.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Human Resource Management System
Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS, EHRMS), Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), HR Technology or also called HR modules, shape an intersection in between human resource management (HRM) and information technology. It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field, whereas the planning and programming of data processing systems evolved into standardised routines and packages of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. On the whole, these ERP systems have their origin on software that integrates information from different applications into one universal database. The linkage of its financial and human resource modules through one database is the most important distinction to the individually and proprietary developed predecessors, which makes this software application both rigid and flexible.
The HR function's reality
The HR function's reality
All in all, the HR function is still to a large degree administrative and common to all organizations. To varying degrees, most organizations have formalised selection, evaluation, and payroll processes. Efficient and effective management of the "Human Capital" Pool (HCP) has become an increasingly imperative and complex activity to all HR professionals. The HR function consists of tracking innumerable data points on each employee, from personal histories, data, skills, capabilities, experiences to payroll records. To reduce the manual workload of these administrative activities, organizations began to electronically automate many of these processes by introducing innovative HRMS/HCM technology. Due to complexity in programming, capabilities and limited technical resources, HR executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop and maintain their Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS). Before the "client-server" architecture evolved in the late 1980s, every single HR automation process came largely in form of mainframe computers that could handle large amounts of data transactions. In consequence of the high capital investment necessary to purchase or program proprietary software, these internally developed HRMS were limited to medium to large organizations being able to afford internal IT capabilities. The advent of client-server HRMS authorised HR executives for the first time to take responsibility and ownership of their systems. These client-server HRMS are characteristically developed around four principal areas of HR functionalities: 1) "payroll", 2) time and labour management 3) benefits administration and 4) HR management.
The payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating periodic paycheques and employee tax reports. Data is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit and manual cheque writing capabilities. Sophisticated HCM systems can set up accounts payable transactions from employee deduction or produce garnishment cheques. The payroll module sends accounting information to the general ledger for posting subsequent to a pay cycle.
The time and labor management module applies new technology and methods (time collection devices) to cost effectively gather and evaluate employee time/work information. The most advanced modules provide broad flexibility in data collection methods, as well as labour distribution capabilities and data analysis features. This module is a key ingredient to establish organizational cost accounting capabilities.
The benefit administration module permits HR professionals to easily administer and track employee participation in benefits programs ranging from healthcare provider, insurance policy, and pension plan to profit sharing or stock option plans.
The HR management module is a component covering all other HR aspects from application to retirement. The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide the ability to "read" applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and provide position management and position control.
Typically, HRMS/HCM technology replaces the four core HR activities by streamlining them electronically; 1) payroll, 2) time and labour management, 3) benefit administration and 4) HR management. While using the internet or corporate intranet as a communication and workflow vehicle, the HRMS/HCM technology can convert these into web-based HRMS components of the ERP system and permit to reduce transaction costs, leading to greater HR and organizational efficiency. Through employee or manager self-service (ESS or MSS), HR activities shift away from paper based processes to using self-service functionalities that benefit employees, managers and HR professionals alike. Costly and time consuming HR administrative tasks, such as travel reimbursement, personnel data change, benefits enrollment, enrollment in training classes (employee side) and to instruct a personnel action, authorise access to information for employees (manager's side) are being individually handled and permit to reduce HR transaction time, leading to HR and organizational effectiveness. Consequently, HR professionals can spend fewer resources in managing administrative HR activities and can apply freed time and resources to concentrate on strategic HR issues, which lead to business innovation.
EHRMS vendors
The payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating periodic paycheques and employee tax reports. Data is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit and manual cheque writing capabilities. Sophisticated HCM systems can set up accounts payable transactions from employee deduction or produce garnishment cheques. The payroll module sends accounting information to the general ledger for posting subsequent to a pay cycle.
The time and labor management module applies new technology and methods (time collection devices) to cost effectively gather and evaluate employee time/work information. The most advanced modules provide broad flexibility in data collection methods, as well as labour distribution capabilities and data analysis features. This module is a key ingredient to establish organizational cost accounting capabilities.
The benefit administration module permits HR professionals to easily administer and track employee participation in benefits programs ranging from healthcare provider, insurance policy, and pension plan to profit sharing or stock option plans.
The HR management module is a component covering all other HR aspects from application to retirement. The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide the ability to "read" applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and provide position management and position control.
Typically, HRMS/HCM technology replaces the four core HR activities by streamlining them electronically; 1) payroll, 2) time and labour management, 3) benefit administration and 4) HR management. While using the internet or corporate intranet as a communication and workflow vehicle, the HRMS/HCM technology can convert these into web-based HRMS components of the ERP system and permit to reduce transaction costs, leading to greater HR and organizational efficiency. Through employee or manager self-service (ESS or MSS), HR activities shift away from paper based processes to using self-service functionalities that benefit employees, managers and HR professionals alike. Costly and time consuming HR administrative tasks, such as travel reimbursement, personnel data change, benefits enrollment, enrollment in training classes (employee side) and to instruct a personnel action, authorise access to information for employees (manager's side) are being individually handled and permit to reduce HR transaction time, leading to HR and organizational effectiveness. Consequently, HR professionals can spend fewer resources in managing administrative HR activities and can apply freed time and resources to concentrate on strategic HR issues, which lead to business innovation.
EHRMS vendors
A wide variety of other software vendors provide various subsets of functionality. For example, basic time and attendance software packages provide employee timekeeping functionality while other vendors focus primarily on payroll processing.
Open Source EHRMS' are also available, however they still lack end-to-end processes, functionalities and integration with common or open source ERP systems.
Open Source EHRMS' are also available, however they still lack end-to-end processes, functionalities and integration with common or open source ERP systems.
Business Performance Management
Business performance management (BPM) is a set of processes that help organizations optimize their business performance. It is a framework for organizing, automating and analyzing business methodologies, metrics, processes and systems that drive business performance.[1]
BPM is seen as the next generation of business intelligence (BI). BPM helps businesses make efficient use of their financial, human, material and other resources.[2]
History
BPM is seen as the next generation of business intelligence (BI). BPM helps businesses make efficient use of their financial, human, material and other resources.[2]
History
An early reference to non-business performance management occurs in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Sun Tzu claims that to succeed in war, one should have full knowledge of one's own strengths and weaknesses and full knowledge of one's enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Lack of either one might result in defeat. A certain school of thought draws parallels between the challenges in business and those of war, specifically:
collecting data
discerning patterns and meaning in the data (analyzing)
responding to the resultant information
Prior to the start of the Information Age in the late 20th century, businesses sometimes took the trouble to laboriously collect data from non-automated sources. As they lacked computing resources to properly analyze the data they often made commercial decisions primarily on the basis of intuition.
As businesses started automating more and more systems, more and more data became available. However, collection remained a challenge due to a lack of infrastructure for data exchange or due to incompatibilities between systems. Reports on the data gathered sometimes took months to generate. Such reports allowed informed long-term strategic decision-making. However, short-term tactical decision-making continued to rely on intuition.
In modern businesses, increasing standards, automation, and technologies have led to vast amounts of data becoming available. Data warehouse technologies have set up repositories to store this data. Improved ETL and even recently Enterprise Application Integration tools have increased the speedy collecting of data. OLAP reporting technologies have allowed faster generation of new reports which analyze the data. Business intelligence has now become the art of sieving through large amounts of data, extracting useful information and turning that information into actionable knowledge.
In 1989 Howard Dresner, a research analyst at Gartner (until 2005, now Chief Strategy Officer at Hyperion Solutions Corporation), popularized "Business Intelligence" as an umbrella term to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using fact-based support systems. BPM is built on a foundation of BI, but marries it to the planning and control cycle of the enterprise - with enterprise planning, consolidation and modeling capabilities. As CSO at Hyperion, Dresner has become a champion for BPM and has suggested that it is subsuming BI.
The term "BPM" is now becoming confused with "Business Process Management", and many are converting to the term "Corporate Performance Management" or "Enterprise Performance Management".
What is BPM?
BPM involves consolidation of data from various sources, querying, and analysis of the data, and putting the results into practice.
BPM enhances processes by creating better feedback loops. Continuous and real-time reviews help to identify and eliminate problems before they grow. BPM's forecasting abilities help the company take corrective action in time to meet earnings projections. Forecasting is characterized by a high degree of predictability which is put into good use to answer what-if scenarios. BPM is useful in risk analysis and predicting outcomes of merger and acquisition scenarios and coming up with a plan to overcome potential problems.
BPM provides key performance indicators (KPIs) that help companies monitor efficiency of projects and employees against operational targets.
Metrics / Key Performance Indicators
BPM enhances processes by creating better feedback loops. Continuous and real-time reviews help to identify and eliminate problems before they grow. BPM's forecasting abilities help the company take corrective action in time to meet earnings projections. Forecasting is characterized by a high degree of predictability which is put into good use to answer what-if scenarios. BPM is useful in risk analysis and predicting outcomes of merger and acquisition scenarios and coming up with a plan to overcome potential problems.
BPM provides key performance indicators (KPIs) that help companies monitor efficiency of projects and employees against operational targets.
Metrics / Key Performance Indicators
For business data analysis to become a useful tool, however, it is essential that an enterprise understand its goals and objectives – essentially, that they know the direction in which they want the enterprise to progress. To help with this analysis key performance indicators (KPIs) are laid down to assess the present state of the business and to prescribe a course of action.
More and more organizations have started to speed up the availability of data. In the past, data only became available after a month or two, which did not help managers react swiftly enough. Recently, banks have tried to make data available at shorter intervals and have reduced delays. For example, for businesses which have higher operational/credit risk loading (for example, credit cards and "wealth management"), A large multi-national bank makes KPI-related data available weekly, and sometimes offers a daily analysis of numbers. This means data usually becomes available within 24 hours, necessitating automation and the use of IT systems.
Most of the time, BPM simply means use of several financial/nonfinancial metrics/key performance indicators to assess the present state of the business and to prescribe a course of action.
Some of the areas from which top management analysis could gain knowledge by using BPM:
Customer-related numbers:
New customers acquired
Status of existing customers
Attrition of customers (including breakup by reason for attrition)
Turnover generated by segments of the Customers - these could be demographic filters.
Outstanding balances held by segments of customers and terms of payment - these could be demographic filters.
Collection of bad debts within customer relationships.
Demographic analysis of individuals (potential customers) applying to become customers, and the levels of approval, rejections and pending numbers.
Delinquency analysis of customers behind on payments.
Profitability of customers by demographic segments and segmentation of customers by profitability.
This is more an inclusive list than an exclusive one. The above more or less describes what a bank would do, but could also refer to a telephone company or similar service sector company.
What is important is:
KPI related data which is consistent and correct.
Timely availability of KPI-related data.
Information presented in a format which aids decision making
Ability to discern patterns or trends from organised information
BPM integrates the company's processes with CRM or ERP. Companies become able to gauge customer satisfaction, control customer trends and influence shareholder value.
Application software types
More and more organizations have started to speed up the availability of data. In the past, data only became available after a month or two, which did not help managers react swiftly enough. Recently, banks have tried to make data available at shorter intervals and have reduced delays. For example, for businesses which have higher operational/credit risk loading (for example, credit cards and "wealth management"), A large multi-national bank makes KPI-related data available weekly, and sometimes offers a daily analysis of numbers. This means data usually becomes available within 24 hours, necessitating automation and the use of IT systems.
Most of the time, BPM simply means use of several financial/nonfinancial metrics/key performance indicators to assess the present state of the business and to prescribe a course of action.
Some of the areas from which top management analysis could gain knowledge by using BPM:
Customer-related numbers:
New customers acquired
Status of existing customers
Attrition of customers (including breakup by reason for attrition)
Turnover generated by segments of the Customers - these could be demographic filters.
Outstanding balances held by segments of customers and terms of payment - these could be demographic filters.
Collection of bad debts within customer relationships.
Demographic analysis of individuals (potential customers) applying to become customers, and the levels of approval, rejections and pending numbers.
Delinquency analysis of customers behind on payments.
Profitability of customers by demographic segments and segmentation of customers by profitability.
This is more an inclusive list than an exclusive one. The above more or less describes what a bank would do, but could also refer to a telephone company or similar service sector company.
What is important is:
KPI related data which is consistent and correct.
Timely availability of KPI-related data.
Information presented in a format which aids decision making
Ability to discern patterns or trends from organised information
BPM integrates the company's processes with CRM or ERP. Companies become able to gauge customer satisfaction, control customer trends and influence shareholder value.
Application software types
People working in business intelligence have developed tools that ease the work, especially when the intelligence task involves gathering and analyzing large amounts of unstructured data.
Tool categories commonly used for business performance management include:
OLAP — Online Analytical Processing, sometimes simply called "Analytics" (based on dimensional analysis and the so-called "hypercube" or "cube")
Scorecarding, dashboarding and data visualization
Data warehouses
Document warehouses
Text mining
DM — Data mining
BPM — Business performance management
EIS — Executive information systems
DSS — Decision support systems
MIS — Management information systems
SEMS — Strategic Enterprise Management Software
Designing and implementing a business performance management programme
When implementing a BPM programme one might like to pose a number of questions and take a number of resultant decisions, such as:
Goal Alignment queries: The first step is determining what the short and medium term purpose of the programme will be. What strategic goal(s) of the organization will be addressed by the programme? What organizational mission/vision does it relate to? A hypothesis needs to be crafted that details how this initiative will eventually improve results / performance (i.e. a strategy map).
Baseline queries: Current information gathering competency needs to be assessed. Do we have the capability to monitor important sources of information? What data is being collected and how is it being stored? What are the statistical parameters of this data, e.g., how much random variation does it contain? Is this being measured?
Cost and risk queries: The financial consequences of a new BI initiative should be estimated. It is necessary to assess the cost of the present operations and the increase in costs associated with the BPM initiative? What is the risk that the initiative will fail? This risk assessment should be converted into a financial metric and included in the planning.
Customer and stakeholder queries: Determine who will benefit from the initiative and who will pay. Who has a stake in the current procedure? What kinds of customers / stakeholders will benefit directly from this initiative? Who will benefit indirectly? What are the quantitative / qualitative benefits? Is the specified initiative the best way to increase satisfaction for all kinds of customers, or is there a better way? How will customer benefits be monitored? What about employees, shareholders, and distribution channel members?
Metrics-related queries: These information requirements must be operationalized into clearly defined metrics. One must decide what metrics to use for each piece of information being gathered. Are these the best metrics? How do we know that? How many metrics need to be tracked? If this is a large number (it usually is), what kind of system can be used to track them? Are the metrics standardized, so they can be benchmarked against performance in other organizations? What are the industry standard metrics available?
Measurement Methodology-related queries: One should establish a methodology or a procedure to determine the best (or acceptable) way of measuring the required metrics. What methods will be used, and how frequently will data be collected? Are there any industry standards for this? Is this the best way to do the measurements? How do we know that?
Results-related queries: The BPM programme should be monitored to ensure that objectives are being met. Adjustments in the programme may be necessary. The programme should be tested for accuracy, reliability, and validity. How can it be demonstrated that the BI initiative, and not something else, contributed to a change in results? How much of the change was probably random?
Tool categories commonly used for business performance management include:
OLAP — Online Analytical Processing, sometimes simply called "Analytics" (based on dimensional analysis and the so-called "hypercube" or "cube")
Scorecarding, dashboarding and data visualization
Data warehouses
Document warehouses
Text mining
DM — Data mining
BPM — Business performance management
EIS — Executive information systems
DSS — Decision support systems
MIS — Management information systems
SEMS — Strategic Enterprise Management Software
Designing and implementing a business performance management programme
When implementing a BPM programme one might like to pose a number of questions and take a number of resultant decisions, such as:
Goal Alignment queries: The first step is determining what the short and medium term purpose of the programme will be. What strategic goal(s) of the organization will be addressed by the programme? What organizational mission/vision does it relate to? A hypothesis needs to be crafted that details how this initiative will eventually improve results / performance (i.e. a strategy map).
Baseline queries: Current information gathering competency needs to be assessed. Do we have the capability to monitor important sources of information? What data is being collected and how is it being stored? What are the statistical parameters of this data, e.g., how much random variation does it contain? Is this being measured?
Cost and risk queries: The financial consequences of a new BI initiative should be estimated. It is necessary to assess the cost of the present operations and the increase in costs associated with the BPM initiative? What is the risk that the initiative will fail? This risk assessment should be converted into a financial metric and included in the planning.
Customer and stakeholder queries: Determine who will benefit from the initiative and who will pay. Who has a stake in the current procedure? What kinds of customers / stakeholders will benefit directly from this initiative? Who will benefit indirectly? What are the quantitative / qualitative benefits? Is the specified initiative the best way to increase satisfaction for all kinds of customers, or is there a better way? How will customer benefits be monitored? What about employees, shareholders, and distribution channel members?
Metrics-related queries: These information requirements must be operationalized into clearly defined metrics. One must decide what metrics to use for each piece of information being gathered. Are these the best metrics? How do we know that? How many metrics need to be tracked? If this is a large number (it usually is), what kind of system can be used to track them? Are the metrics standardized, so they can be benchmarked against performance in other organizations? What are the industry standard metrics available?
Measurement Methodology-related queries: One should establish a methodology or a procedure to determine the best (or acceptable) way of measuring the required metrics. What methods will be used, and how frequently will data be collected? Are there any industry standards for this? Is this the best way to do the measurements? How do we know that?
Results-related queries: The BPM programme should be monitored to ensure that objectives are being met. Adjustments in the programme may be necessary. The programme should be tested for accuracy, reliability, and validity. How can it be demonstrated that the BI initiative, and not something else, contributed to a change in results? How much of the change was probably random?
Friday, December 28, 2007
Decision Suppot Systems
Making decisions concerning complex systems (e.g., the management of organizational operations, industrial processes, or investment portfolios; the command and control of military units; the control of nuclear power plants) often strains our cognitive capabilities. Even though individual interactions among a system's variables may be well understood, predicting how the system will react to an external manipulation such as a policy decision is often difficult. What will be, for example, the effect of introducing the third shift on a factory floor? One might expect that this will increase the plant's output by roughly 50%. Factors such as additional wages, machine weardown, maintenance breaks, raw material usage, supply logistics, and future demand also need to be considered, however, because they will all affect the total financial outcome of this decision. Many variables are involved in complex and often subtle interdependencies, and predicting the total outcome may be daunting.
There is a substantial amount of empirical evidence that human intuitive judgment and decision making can be far from optimal, and it deteriorates even further with complexity and stress. In many situations, the quality of decisions is important; therefore, aiding the deficiencies of human judgment and decision making has been a major focus of science throughout history. Disciplines such as statistics, economics, and operations research developed various methods for making rational choices. More recently, these methods, often enhanced by various techniques originating from information science, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, have been implemented in the form of computer programs, either as stand-alone tools or as integrated computing environments for complex decision making. Such environments are often given the common name of decision support systems (DSSs). The concept of DSS is extremely broad, and its definitions vary, depending on the author's point of view. To avoid exclusion of any of the existing types of DSSs, we define them roughly as interactive computer-based systems that aid users in judgment and choice activities. Another name sometimes used as a synonym for DSS is knowledge-based systems, which refers to their attempt to formalize domain knowledge so that it is amenable to mechanized reasoning.
Decision support systems are gaining an increased popularity in various domains, including business, engineering, the military, and medicine. They are especially valuable in situations in which the amount of available information is prohibitive for the intuition of an unaided human decision maker, and in which precision and optimality are of importance. Decision support systems can aid human cognitive deficiencies by integrating various sources of information, providing intelligent access to relevant knowledge, and aiding the process of structuring decisions. They can also support choice among well-defined alternatives and build on formal approaches, such as the methods of engineering economics, operations research, statistics, and decision theory. They can also employ artificial intelligence methods to heuristically address problems that are intractable by formal techniques. Proper application of decision-making tools increases productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and gives many businesses a comparative advantage over their competitors, allowing them to make optimal choices for technological processes and their parameters, planning business operations, logistics, or investments.
Although it is difficult to overestimate the importance of various computer-based tools that are relevant to decision making (e.g., databases, planning software, spreadsheets), this article focuses primarily on the core of a DSS, the part that directly supports modeling decision problems and identifies best alternatives. We briefly discuss the characteristics of decision problems and how decision making can be supported by computer programs. We then cover various components of DSSs and the role that they play in decision support. We also introduce an emergent class of normative systems (i.e., DSSs based on sound theoretical principles), and in particular, decision-analytic DSSs. Finally, we review issues related to user interfaces to DSSs and stress the importance of user interfaces to the ultimate quality of decisions aided by computer programs.
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