Methods for managing processes in corporate information systems. Corporate information system

Corporate Information Systems can be divided into two classes: financial and managerial and production.

1. Financial and management systems include a subclass of small integrated systems. Such systems are designed for maintaining records in one or several areas (accounting, sales, warehouse, personnel, etc.). Almost any enterprise can use the systems of this group.

Systems of this class are usually universal, their implementation cycle is short, sometimes you can use the “boxed” version by purchasing the program and installing it on your PC yourself.

Financial and management systems (especially those of Russian developers) are much more flexible in adapting to the needs of a particular enterprise. “Constructors” are often offered, with the help of which “you can almost completely rebuild the source system, independently or with the help of a supplier, by establishing connections between database tables or individual modules.”

2. Manufacturing systems (also called manufacturing control systems) include subclasses of medium and large integrated systems. They are intended primarily for the management and planning of the production process. Accounting functions, although deeply developed, play a supporting role, and sometimes it is impossible to single out an accounting module, since information in the accounting department comes automatically from other modules.

These systems are functionally different: in one the production module may be well developed, in the other; financial. A comparative analysis of systems of this level and their applicability to a specific case can result in significant work. And to implement the system, you need a whole team of financial, managerial and technical experts. Production systems are much more complex to install (the implementation cycle can take from 6-9 months to a year and a half or more). This is because the system covers the needs of the entire enterprise, and this requires significant joint efforts between enterprise employees and software providers.

Manufacturing systems are often focused on one or more industries and/or types of production: serial assembly (electronics, mechanical engineering), small-scale and pilot (aviation, heavy engineering), discrete (metallurgy, chemistry, packaging), continuous (oil production, gas production).

Specialization is reflected both in the set of system functions and in the existence of business models of this type production. The presence of built-in models for a certain type of production distinguishes production systems from each other. Each of them has deeply developed areas and functions, the development of which is just beginning or is not underway at all.

In many respects, production systems are much more stringent than financial and management systems. The main focus “is on planning and optimal production management. The effect of the introduction of production systems is manifested at the upper echelons of enterprise management, when the whole picture of its work becomes visible, including planning, purchasing, production, sales, inventories, financial flows and other aspects.”

With increasing complexity and breadth of coverage of enterprise functions by the system, the requirements for technical infrastructure and software and hardware platform increase. All production systems are developed using industrial databases. In most cases, client-server or Internet technologies are used.

To automate large enterprises in world practice, a mixed solution from the classes of large, medium and small integrated systems is often used. The presence of electronic interfaces simplifies interaction between systems and avoids double data entry.

There are also types of CIS, such as custom (unique) and replicated CIS.

Custom CIS is usually understood as “systems created for a specific enterprise that has no analogues and is not subject to further replication.”

Such systems are used either to automate the activities of enterprises with unique characteristics or to solve an extremely limited range of special tasks.

Custom systems, as a rule, either do not have prototypes at all, or the use of prototypes requires significant changes of a qualitative nature. The development of a custom CIS is characterized by an increased risk in terms of obtaining the required results.

Replicated (adaptable) CIS. The essence of the problem of adapting replicated CIS, i.e. adaptation to working conditions at a particular enterprise, is that ultimately each CIS is unique, but at the same time it also has common, typical properties. Adaptation requirements and the complexity of their implementation significantly depend on the problem area and the scale of the system. Even the first programs that solved individual automation problems were created taking into account the need to configure them according to parameters.

The development of a corporate information system at an enterprise can be carried out both “from scratch” and on the basis of a reference model.

The reference model is a description of the appearance of the system, functions, organized structures and processes that are typical in some sense (industry, type of production, etc.).

It reflects the typical features inherent in a certain class of enterprises. A number of companies producing adaptable (replicated) CIS, together with large consulting firms, have been developing reference models for enterprises in the automotive, aviation and other industries for a number of years.

Adaptations and reference models are part of many MRP II / ERP class systems, which can significantly reduce the time for their implementation in enterprises.

The reference model at the beginning of work on enterprise automation can be a description existing system(as is) and serves as the starting point from which work to improve the CIS begins.

The following classification is also used. CIS are divided into three (sometimes four) large groups:

1) simple (“boxed”);
2) middle class;
3) top class.

Simple (“boxed”) CIS implement a small number of business processes of an organization. Typical examples of systems of this type are accounting, warehouse and small trading systems, which are most widely represented on the Russian market. For example, systems of such companies as 1C, Infin, etc.

A distinctive feature of such products is their relative ease of absorption, which, combined with a low price, compliance with Russian legislation and the ability to choose a system “to suit your taste,” makes them widely popular. Mid-range systems are distinguished by greater depth and breadth of functionality. These systems are offered by Russian and foreign companies. As a rule, these are systems that allow you to keep track of the activities of an enterprise in many or several areas:

- finances;
- logistics;
- staff;
- sales.

They require configuration, which in most cases is carried out by specialists from the development company, as well as user training.

These systems are most suitable for medium and some large enterprises due to their functionality and higher cost compared to the first class. From Russian systems This class can be distinguished, for example, by the products of the companies Galaktika, TB. SOFT

The highest class includes systems that differ high level detailing the economic activities of the enterprise. Modern versions Such systems provide planning and management of all organizational resources (ERP systems).

As a rule, when implementing such systems, existing business processes in the enterprise are modeled and system parameters are adjusted to meet business requirements.

However, significant redundancy and a large number of customizable parameters of the system determine the long period of its implementation, and also the need for the enterprise to have a special unit or group of specialists who will reconfigure the system in accordance with changes in business processes.

There is a large selection of high-end CIS on the Russian market, and their number is growing. Recognized world leaders are, for example, R/3 from SAP, Oracle Application from Oracle.

A corporate information system in general is a system designed to ensure the effective functioning of a company through the automated execution of management functions.

Corporate information systems, or integrated management systems, cover almost all aspects of the work of a modern enterprise, making the connection between production facilities and information infrastructure components ever closer, and have a number of integral characteristics.

The main characteristics for integrated control systems are as follows:

Cross-platform - an application that implements the functions of a separate management discipline, transparent to different operating environments;

Cross-disciplinarity - applications for different disciplines use common information;

Openness - the ability to integrate management tools from other suppliers.

Cross-disciplinary capabilities ensure the joint operation of various control modules and thereby increase the efficiency of the entire system as a whole. For example, you can integrate software management tools with a storage management application. As a result, the backup program will be aware of which application systems were recently installed and perform backups only when necessary.

A fully integrated management environment must provide a unified, open way to view and share information that can be used by all management applications within the environment across all computing platforms. The integrated environment must meet the following requirements:

have a consistent user interface

be able to share information across different operating environments and management disciplines. Implementing this capability requires a shared, possibly distributed, data repository and an object-oriented architectural framework (for example, the object-oriented foundation of Tivoli's TME 10 integrated family of management applications);

provide a view of the information infrastructure both from the point of view of system and network management, and based on business interests.

be distributed both physically and logically;

provide a hierarchical organization of management - the ability to delegate manager rights from top to bottom and transfer responsibility for performing certain actions from bottom to top.

In a large distributed computing environment, many control “transactions” must be performed every day: generating event messages, modifying user credentials, distributing new software, storage management operations, performance information collection, etc. Using an integrated management system that meets these conditions can significantly improve operational efficiency and prevent errors due to repetition of the same type of actions. Automatic event correlation also improves the quality of a manager's work.

The openness of the control environment is achieved through application programming interfaces and other tools, such as the Tivoli/Plus integration module package in TME 10 or the agent authoring tool in Unicenter-TNG. These capabilities allow you to integrate new products as well as those systems that your organization has already used and continue to provide value to, thereby preserving your investment.

At the same time, an ill-conceived organization of information systems management cannot provide such guarantees. Analyzing the management systems available today and their impact on the work of the corporation, we can distinguish three parameters for their assessment:

Efficiency - how much network devices, servers or desktop systems can be managed by a single administrator. The effectiveness of the management system shows how well the work of administrators is organized. When using an effective system, business development will outpace the process of expanding the staff of specialists; such a management system allows one administrator to support a larger number of nodes (servers, users, network devices) and perform more management operations remotely. This reduces the number of moves a manager has to make and therefore reduces the associated costs.

Productivity is the time it takes an administrator to perform activities to maintain and improve the efficiency of the network, systems, and applications. A productive system reduces the cost of daily operations, freeing up the information environment administrator's time to analyze existing systems, optimize their performance, and isolate potential sources of problems. Thus, the administrator gets the opportunity to develop and quickly implement new ideas.

Availability. Such a characteristic of the control system as ensuring the availability of network and system resources is extremely important for a modern enterprise. Resource availability implies the availability of business applications. The real value of various network devices, servers, and desktop systems is determined by their ability to provide consistent and reliable application performance. Accordingly, the quality of a management system is determined by the extent to which it can guarantee performance and reliability at the level of business applications. Because application efficiency is so critical to enterprise operations, integrating resource, traffic, and application performance data into a single management environment is key to success. information technologies.

When building corporate information systems, various concepts and methodologies are used:

MPS (Master Planning Schedule) is a well-known methodology for “scope scheduling”. The idea of this methodology is to formulate a sales plan - “volume”, broken down by calendar periods, on the basis of which a replenishment plan is drawn up and financial results are assessed by period, for which planning periods or financial periods are used. It is basic for almost all plan-oriented methodologies. It is mainly used in manufacturing, but can also be used in other business sectors, such as distribution.

MRP (Material Requirements Planning) - A methodology for planning the need for material resources, which consists in determining the final need for resources according to the data of the production volume schedule. The key concept of the methodology is the concept of “explosion”, i.e. bringing the tree composition of a product to a linear list (Bill of Materials), according to which the demand is planned and components are ordered.

CRP (Capacity Requirements Planning) - Planning of production resources. This concept is similar to MRP, but instead of a single concept of product composition, it operates with concepts such as “machining center”, “machine”, “work resources”, which is why the technical implementation of CRP is more complex. Usually used in conjunction with MRP due to the close logical connection in planning. MRP/CRP methodologies are used in automated control systems of manufacturing enterprises.

FRP (Finance Requirements Planning) - Planning of financial resources.

MRP II (Manufacturing Resources Planning) - Production planning. Integrated methodology including MRP/CRP and typically MPS and FRP. Joint planning of material flows and production capacities allows us to raise the entire planning system to a new level, since it is possible to very accurately determine the financial results of the generated production plan, which is impossible with partial planning. When using this methodology, an analysis of the financial results of the production plan is necessarily implied.

ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning) - Business planning concept. ERP refers to an “integrated” system that performs the functions provided by the MPS-MRP/CRP-FRP concepts. An important difference from the MRPII methodology is the possibility of “dynamic analysis” and “dynamic plan modification” along the entire planning chain. The specific capabilities of the ERP methodology depend significantly on the software implementation. The ERP concept is more general than MRPI I. If MRPII has a clear focus on manufacturing companies, then the ERP methodology is applicable in trade, in the service sector, and in the financial sector.

CSRP (Customer Synchronized Resources Planning) - Resource planning synchronized with the customer. CSRP includes a full cycle - from the design of a future product taking into account customer requirements, to warranty and after-sales service. The essence of CSRP is to integrate the buyer into the enterprise management system. In this case, it is not the sales department, but the buyer himself who places an order for the manufacture of products, is responsible for the correct execution of the order and, if necessary, monitors compliance with production and delivery deadlines. An enterprise can very clearly monitor trends in demand for its products.

SCM (Supply Chain Management) - Supply chain management. The SCM concept was invented to optimize supply chain management and can significantly reduce transport and operating costs through optimal structuring of logistics supply chains. The SCM concept is supported in most ERP and MRPII class systems.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) - The concept of building automated customer service systems for a company. CRM involves the accumulation, processing and analysis of not only financial and accounting information, but also other information about relationships with clients. This improves manager productivity, improves customer service and increases sales.

Business model of the company Practice has developed a number of approaches to conducting organizational analysis, but the engineering approach is the most widespread. Organizational analysis of the company with this approach is carried out according to a certain scheme using the complete business model of the company. The company is considered as a target, open, socio-economic system belonging to a hierarchical set of open external supersystems (market, government agencies, etc.) and internal subsystems (departments, workshops, teams, etc.). The company's capabilities are determined by the characteristics of its structural divisions and the organization of their interaction. In Fig. 4.1 presents a generalized diagram of organizational business modeling. Building a company’s business model begins with a description of the model of interaction with the external environment according to the law of unity and struggle of opposites, that is, with the definition of the company’s mission.

Rice. 4.1. Generalized scheme of organizational business modeling Mission according to is
activities carried out by an enterprise in order to fulfill the function for which it was established - providing a product or service to customers.

The company's mission to satisfy the socially significant needs of the market is defined as a compromise between the interests of the market and the company. At the same time, the mission as an attribute of an open system is developed, on the one hand, based on market conditions and the positioning of the company relative to other participants in the external environment, and on the other hand, based on the objective capabilities of the company and its subjective values, expectations and principles. The mission is a kind of measure of the company’s aspirations and, in particular, determines the company’s market claims (the subject of competition). Defining a mission allows you to create a tree of company goals - hierarchical lists of clarification and detail of the mission. The tree of goals forms a tree of strategies - hierarchical lists of clarification and detail of ways to achieve goals. At the same time, strategies for growth, integration and investment of businesses are developed at the corporate level. The business strategies block defines product and competitive strategies, as well as segmentation and promotion strategies. Resource strategies determine strategies for attracting material, financial, human and information resources . Functional strategies define strategies in the organization of management components and stages of the product life cycle. At the same time, the need and subject of partnership relations (subcontracting, services, promotion, etc.) are clarified. This allows us to provide customers with the necessary product of the required quality, in the right quantity, in the right place, in and at a reasonable price. At the same time, the company can occupy the optimal place in the partner chain of created values, where its capabilities and potential will be used in the best possible way. This makes it possible to form the company’s business potential - a set of commercial activities aimed at meeting the needs of specific market segments. Next, based on the specifics of sales channels, an initial idea of the organizational structure is formed (centers of commercial responsibility are determined). There is an understanding of the basic resources necessary for the reproduction of the product range. At this stage of business modeling, a generally accepted set of fundamental internal company regulations is formed:

right time
basic Regulations on the organizational and functional structure of the company;
a package of Regulations on certain types of activities (financial, marketing, etc.);
package of Regulations on structural divisions (shops, departments, sectors, groups, etc.);

This brings transparency to the company's activities by clearly delineating and documenting the areas of responsibility of managers.

Further development (detailing) of the business model occurs at the stage of dynamic description of the company at the level of process flow models. Process flow models are models that describe the process of time-sequential transformation of a company’s material and information flows during the implementation of any business function or management function. First (at the upper level) the logic of interaction between process participants is described, and then (at the lower level) - the technology of work of individual specialists at their workplaces.
Organizational business modeling ends with the development of a data structure model, which determines the list and formats of documents accompanying the processes in the company, and also specifies the formats for describing environmental objects, components and regulations of the company itself. At the same time, a system of reference books is created, on the basis of which packages of necessary documents and reports are obtained.
Functional-technological model (answers the question of what and how is implemented in the company);
Process-role model (answers the question of who-what-how-to whom);
Quantitative model (answers the question of how many resources are needed);
Data structure model (answers the question in what form the company’s regulations and external environment objects are described).

The presented set of models provides the necessary completeness and accuracy of the description of the company and allows us to develop clear requirements for the designed information system.

Templates for organizational business modeling The technology of organizational business modeling involves the use of standard template techniques for describing a company.
Mission development template As mentioned above, any company with its micro- and macro-environment is a hierarchy of open, subject-oriented systems nested within each other. The company, on the one hand, is part of the market, and on the other hand, defends its own interests in the competition. The mission is the result of the company's positioning among other market participants. Therefore, a company's mission cannot be described by analyzing its internal structure. To build a model of a company’s interaction with the external environment (defining the company’s mission in the market), it is necessary:
identify the market (supersystem) of which the company is a part;

determine the properties (needs) of the market;

determine the purpose (mission) of the company based on its role in the market.

In addition, the mission, as mentioned above, is a compromise between the needs of the market, on the one hand, and the capabilities and desire of the company to satisfy these interests, on the other. The search for a compromise can be carried out according to the template presented in Fig. 4.4.
Rice. 4.4. Mission development template (projection matrix) When developing a company mission model, it is recommended:

Describe the basis of a company's competitiveness - the set of characteristics of a company as a socio-economic system. For example:

for the object - the uniqueness of the mastered technologies and the exclusivity of the resources available in the company (financial, material, information, etc.)
Identify the presence of promoting and counteracting factors for the selected type of activity on the part of government institutions in the field of politics and economics.
Assess the prospects for technology development in the chosen field of activity.
Assess possible support or opposition from public organizations.
Compare the results of the above actions, taking into account legal, moral, ethical and other restrictions on the part of the staff and form the “I want” position.
Assess the level of possible costs and income.
Assess the possibility of achieving a compromise acceptable to all parties and formulate the company’s Mission in accordance with the template shown in Fig. 4.5.

Rice. 4.5. Mission Development Template A mission in a broad sense is the core business concept of a company, set out in the form of eight provisions that define the company’s relationships with other entities:

what the Customer will receive in terms of meeting their needs;
who, why and how can act as a partner of the company;
on what basis is it expected to build relations with competitors (what, in particular, is the willingness to make temporary compromises);
what the owner and shareholders will receive from the business;
what managers will receive from the company's business;
what the staff will receive from the company;
what cooperation with public organizations may consist of;
how the company’s relations with the state will be built (in particular, possible participation in supporting government programs).

Template for business formation In accordance with the developed Mission of the company, socially significant needs are determined to satisfy which the company's business is aimed. Analysis of the completed table allows you to see the “gaps” both in the performance of functions and in the workload of employees, as well as rationally redistribute all tasks between performers and consolidate them as a system in the document “Regulations on the Organizational Structure”. specified process reproduction, a set of management components is formed, which generates a set of management functions. To support the processes of reproduction and management, sets of appropriate support functions (security, technical equipment, prevention and repair, etc.) are formed. This approach allows you to describe an enterprise using a universal set of management registers (goals, strategies, products, functions, organizational units, etc.). Management registers are hierarchical classifiers. By combining classifiers into functional groups and assigning elements of different classifiers to each other using matrix projections, it is possible to obtain a model of the company's organizational structure.

To build an organizational-functional model, only two types of elementary models are used.
Tree models (classifiers) are precise hierarchical lists of selected management objects (organizational units, functions, resources, including executive mechanisms for business processes, documents and their structure, etc.). Each classifier element can be additionally characterized by a number of attributes: type, scale, comment, etc. In fact, classifiers are a set of management registers containing mainly non-quantitative information, the totality of which sets a coordinate system for describing the company's activities. The number of such classifier lists is determined by the purpose of building the model.
Matrix models are projections that define a system of relations between classifiers in any combination of them. Links can have additional attributes (direction, name, index, scale and weight).
The initial model uses only a few domain classifiers:

main groups of products and services of the company;

resources consumed by the company in the course of its activities;
functions (processes) supported in the company;
organizational units of the company.

The main function of the company is to provide products and services, so first a formal description, coordination and approval by the management of the enterprise of the list of its businesses (areas of commercial activity), products and services is carried out. From this classifier, it should be clear to external counterparties why the company is interesting to the market, and for internal purposes, why this or that company functionality is needed.

As a result of these operations, the functionality is identified and a unified terminology for describing the functions of the enterprise is created, which must be agreed upon by all leading managers. When compiling a classifier of organizational units, it is important that the level of detail of the functions corresponds to the level of detail of the links. After the formation of all the basic classifiers using matrix projections, they are assigned to the organizational units of the enterprise: The process of forming a matrix of projections of functions onto organizational units in practice resembles a game of tic-tac-toe (Fig. 4.10).
The rows of the table indicate the divisions, and the columns indicate the functions that make up the content of the management process or business process in a given company. At the intersections of functions and departments that are responsible for performing the function, a cross is placed. For high-dimensional projections, a mechanism for arranging connections between two classifiers, represented by lists, is used.

An aggregated model is a model of an organizational structure, the accounting registers of which are limited in detail to 2-3 levels.

The purpose of building this model is to provide information about the organizational structure to the company's top managers for conducting strategic analysis, analyzing the compliance of this structure with the strategy and the external environment of the company. The model can also be provided to external users (for example, potential investors as an illustration of a business plan, large clients, etc.).
A detailed model is a model of an organizational structure, the detailing of accounting registers is carried out at deeper levels than in the aggregated model. The level of detail in the model is determined by the specific needs of the company (creation of certain organizational regulations).
The purpose of constructing this model is to provide information on the distribution of functional responsibilities between the company's divisions, as well as on the organization of business processes in the company. Building a detailed model allows you to create various intra-company regulations: Regulations on the organizational structure Fig. 4.13.
Below is an example of a description of fragments of the organizational and functional model of a manufacturing enterprise (Fig. 4.14 and trading enterprise Fig. 4.15. The given projection matrices are the basis for identifying the business processes of an enterprise and their owners at subsequent stages of creating a corporate information system.
Rice. 4.13. Scheme for creating the Regulations on the organizational and functional structure of the company Fig. 4.14. Distribution of functions among divisions of a manufacturing enterprise Fig. 4.15. Distribution of functions among divisions of a trading enterprise The functions of divisions of a manufacturing enterprise are considered within the following functional areas:
corporate governance;
finance;
staff;
material resources;
orders;
production;

The distribution of functions among structural divisions in the context of individual functional areas of activity in managing a production enterprise is presented in Fig. 4.14. For structural analysis and design of processes described by flow models, BIG-Master supports the SADT (IDEF) methodology. The presence of a matrix projection mechanism allows you to define and describe the company’s processes as an integral interconnected system. product development; planning; supply/procurement; and transposed matrices, and for flow models of business processes - in the form of IDEF0 (IDEF3) diagrams and text descriptions, which facilitates the understanding of tasks by process participants. At the same time, the construction of the flow models themselves occurs in the usual tabular forms.

The model makes it possible to generate an unlimited number of new classifiers, projections and flow models, and therefore, reports and documents to describe and, most importantly, create regulations for the company’s activities.

Having several modeling tools in BIG Master is extremely useful. Matrix models support vertical integration - a detailed system-target description of the company, built according to the management hierarchy and functions performed. The process model is dominated by a functional-technological approach - horizontal integration of business operations according to procedures. All of the above capabilities of BIG-Master make it a convenient tool for organizational modeling.
Companies that are corporations are complex multidisciplinary structures and, as a result, have a distributed hierarchical management system - corporate management. Divisions, enterprises, branches and administrative offices included in the company, as a rule, are located at a sufficient distance from each other. Their information connection forms the communication structure of the company, the basis of which is the information system.
An information system is a company’s infrastructure involved in the process of managing all information and document flows, including the following mandatory elements.
An information model, which is a set of rules and algorithms for the functioning of an information system. The information model includes all forms of documents, the structure of directories and data, etc.
Regulations for the development of the information model and the rules for making changes to it.
Human resources responsible for customizing and adapting the software and its compliance with the approved information model.
Regulations for making changes to custom structures (specific settings, database structures, etc.) and software configuration and the composition of its functional modules.
Hardware and technical base that meets the requirements for operating software (workplace computers, peripherals, telecommunications channels, system software and database management system (DBMS).
Operational and technical human resources, including personnel for maintaining the hardware and technical base.
Rules for using the software and user instructions, regulations for training and certification of users.

The corporate information system (CIS) provides support for making management decisions based on the automation of processes, procedures and other ways of carrying out the company's activities. Activities are regulated by information and regulatory documents, as well as the results of measurements and assessments, statistical materials and operational management, etc. In addition, the tasks of the CIS may be to assist personnel in analyzing problems, visually examining complex objects, and developing new products.

The main controlling factor is the decision-making procedure, based on the result of which the system (enterprise, corporation, company, organization) is influenced. The CIS itself does not make decisions, but, being effectively configured, it is capable of supplying information to the manager and decision makers from the perspective that is most suitable for making a specific decision.

CIS can take over most routine processes, but not all decision-making processes. In turn, management without IS, built on modern information technologies, becomes less and less effective.

Information technology - totality hardware, software, information storage technologies, network technologies that provide communications and connection of system components into a single whole. All these resources used in the company determine the information technology infrastructure, or IT infrastructure, which is the foundation for building an IS.

IS contains data about various objects necessary for a specific company. In doing so, it uses information technology to transform a set of data into a stream of information that can be used by a person. There is a significant difference between the concepts of “software” and “information system”. Programs, just like the electronic stuffing of computers, are just materials for creating a modern IP. Computers provide storage and processing of information; software is a set of instructions that control the actions of a computer. Knowing how computers and software work is important when developing solutions for companies, but we must not forget that it is just part of IP.

As part of the CIS, it is customary to take into account tools for documentation support for management, information support for subject areas, communication software, tools for organizing collective work of employees and other auxiliary (technological) products. A mandatory requirement for CIS is the integration of a large number of software products that implement various management methods.

IN corporate systems They use a variety of management techniques, including resource management, process management, project management, and corporate knowledge management (in a broad sense).

Resource management methods use a model that represents a company as a system of resources (finance, inventories, personnel) belonging to the owners: legal entities, structural divisions, individuals. All processes are described as transactions (business transactions), reflecting the movement of resources between owners. This includes managing finances, inventories, and personnel to the extent that they are considered a resource (salaries). The main management goal for this method is to provide and control resources.

The management method is well described by models that have become standards: the accounting model (for example, CAAP), manufacturing resource planning (MRP II), enterprise resource planning (ERP). Balance sheet models with posting language are used as a universal presentation language. The methods in this group are supported by a wide range of application software, with accounting systems being the most common.

Process management methods use a model of the company as a system of business processes. Here the central concepts are process, function, data, event. The main control goal for these methods is to ensure coordination of events and functions.

This includes methods such as quality management (TQM standards, ISO 9000), process management (Workflow standards of the Workflow Management Coalition association). These also include project management (the PMI family of standards), but only to the extent that these projects can be considered standard, reduced to the level of technology. Formal languages are used as a universal language for presenting descriptions, many of which are fixed as standards: languages of the IDEF family, CIM-OSA, languages for describing object-oriented models. Management methods are supported by software, which is known as project management systems, document management, and technological processes.

Project management methods based on the PMI (Project Management Institute - RMBOK) family of standards, schedule and network planning models, critical path method, earned value methodology, etc. supported by software for managing projects, obligations (contracts), deliveries, etc.

Knowledge management methods use the company model as a system of small teams of employees solving a common problem, and corporate knowledge and effective communications act as organizing factors. The main corporate management resource is the corporate knowledge base, in which employees can quickly find information to make the right decision and understand each other. This base concentrates the company's collective experience and creates the basis for corporate communications.

The main goal of management is to ensure coordination, communication and quick search for information for independent decision-making. This group of management methods is now experiencing a period of rapid development and is collectively called “knowledge management.” It is still too early to talk about standards at the model level, although some trends have emerged in the field of universal description languages. To structure information, the SGML language, which is recorded as the ISO 8879 standard, is beginning to be actively used. This group of methods also includes project management methods (the PMI family of standards), which are supported by special software such as Primavera Methodology Manager, which summarizes the experience of project implementation and allows, based on libraries of standard fragments quickly generate new projects that meet new requirements in terms of timing, resources, depth of elaboration of the project structure, budget, etc.

Using similar systems The critical management factor is project communications and the qualification level of the project team, and not the quality of the project. In general, knowledge management methods are supported by GroupWare class software, information retrieval systems, intranet technologies: web technology, by email, teleconferences. GroupWare systems have served Starting point intranet technologies. It is no coincidence that the leaders of the GroupWare class software market have become the leading manufacturers of intranet systems: Lotus, Microsoft, Novell. Along with the listed manufacturers, Netscape and Oracle occupied a strong place in this market.

Wide-profile information systems, which mostly include modern CIS, must equally, to the maximum extent possible, satisfy all divisions of the company, and, if possible, preserve existing business processes, as well as management methods and structure. Without the use of automation, it is practically impossible to control the constantly changing balance of resources, business processes, ongoing projects (groups of projects, programs) and knowledge growing exponentially.

It is impossible to give a general definition of a corporate information system as a set of functional characteristics based on any general requirements, standards. This definition of a corporate information system can only be given in relation to a specific company that uses or intends to build a corporate information system. In general terms, only some basic features of a corporate information system can be given:

Compliance with the needs of the company, the company’s business, consistency with the organizational and financial structure of the company, and the company’s culture.
Integration.
Openness and scalability.

1. The first feature contains all the functional features of a specific corporate information system of a specific company; they are strictly individual for each company. For example, for one company, a corporate information system must have a class no lower than ERP, while for another, a system of this class is completely suboptimal and will only increase costs. And if you dig deeper, then different companies, based on their needs, can attach different meanings, different functions, and different implementations to the concept of ERP (and even more so ERPII). Only accounting and payroll functions regulated by external legislation can be common to all companies; all others are strictly individual. The second and third signs are general, but very specific.

2. A corporate information system is not a set of programs for automating a company’s business processes (production, resource and company management), it is an end-to-end integrated automated system, in which each individual module of the system (responsible for its business process) has access in real time (or close to real time) to all the necessary information generated by other modules (without additional and, even more so, double input of information).

3. The corporate information system must be open to include additional modules and expand the system both in scale and functions, and in the areas covered. Based on the above, a corporate information system can only be given the following definition:

Corporate information system is an open, integrated, automated real-time system for automating business processes of a company at all levels, including business processes for making management decisions. At the same time, the degree of automation of business processes is determined based on ensuring maximum profit for the company.

For group and corporate systems, the requirements for reliable operation and data security are significantly increased. These properties are provided by maintaining the integrity of data, links and transactions in database servers.

The most significant feature of an integrated information system should be the expansion of the automation circuit to obtain a closed, self-regulating system capable of flexibly and quickly rearranging the principles of its functioning.

The CIS should include tools for documentation support for management, information support for subject areas, communication software, tools for organizing collective work of employees and other auxiliary (technological) products. From this, in particular, it follows that a mandatory requirement for CIS is the integration of a large number of software products.

By CIS we should understand first of all the system, and then only the software. But often this term is used by IT specialists as a unifying name for software systems of the CASE, ERP, CRM, MRP, etc. family.

Main factors influencing the development of CIS

Recently, more and more managers are beginning to clearly understand the importance of building a corporate information system at the enterprise, as a necessary tool for successful business management in modern conditions. In order to select promising software for building a CIS, it is necessary to be aware of all aspects of the development of basic methodologies and development technologies.

There are three most significant factors that significantly influence the development of CIS:

Development of enterprise management techniques.

The theory of enterprise management is a fairly extensive subject for study and improvement. This is due to the wide range constant changes situation on the world market. The ever-increasing level of competition forces company managers to look for new methods of maintaining their presence in the market and maintaining the profitability of their activities. Such methods can be diversification, decentralization, quality management and much more. A modern information system must meet all innovations in the theory and practice of management. Undoubtedly, this is the most important factor, since building a technically advanced system that does not meet the functionality requirements does not make sense.

Development of general capabilities and performance of computer systems.

Progress in the field of increasing the power and performance of computer systems, the development of network technologies and data transmission systems, and the wide possibilities for integrating computer technology with a wide variety of equipment allow us to constantly increase the productivity of computer information systems and their functionality.

Development of approaches to technical and software implementation of CIS elements.

In parallel with the development of hardware, over the past ten years, there has been a constant search for new, more convenient and universal methods of software and technological implementation of CIS. Firstly, the general approach to programming is changing: since the early 90s, object-oriented programming has actually replaced modular programming, and now methods for constructing object models are constantly being improved. Secondly, due to the development of network technologies, local accounting systems are giving way to client-server implementations. In addition, due to the active development of Internet networks, increasing opportunities for working with remote departments are emerging, broad prospects for e-commerce, customer service via the Internet, and much more are opening up. It turned out that the use of Internet technologies in enterprise intranets also provides obvious advantages. The use of certain technologies when building information systems is not the goal in itself of the developer, and those technologies that best meet existing needs receive the greatest development.

Purpose of corporate information systems

The main goal of a corporate information system is to increase the company's profits through the most efficient use of all company resources and improving the quality of management decisions made.

The purpose of the design and implementation of CIS:

comprehensive activities to solve business problems using modern information technologies.
CIS is a corporate integrated enterprise management information system that ensures its qualitative growth.

Allows:

visualize the activities of the enterprise, providing management with the opportunity to correctly assess existing shortcomings and find sources of potential and areas for improvement;
reduce the time for setting up the IMS to the specific features of the enterprise;
display and record in a form ready for subsequent deployment options for implementing the IMS, each of which can be selected when moving to the next stage of enterprise development.

Total cost of the project

Cost of computer and communication equipment;
Cost of licenses to use CIS;
Cost of system software and database server (DBMS);
Cost of survey and design;
Cost of implementing CIS;
Cost of operating the CIS.

Types of corporate information systems

Corporate information systems are divided into the following classes:

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning System)

Modern ERP is the result of almost forty years of evolution in management and information technologies. They are intended mainly for building a unified information space of the enterprise (combining all departments and functions), effectively managing all company resources related to sales, production, and order accounting. An ERP system is built on a modular basis and, as a rule, includes a security module to prevent both internal and external information theft.

Problems arise mainly due to incorrect operation or the initial construction of the system implementation plan. For example, reduced investment in training staff to work in the system significantly reduces efficiency. Therefore, ERP systems are usually not implemented in full immediately, but in separate modules (especially at the initial stage).

CRM (Customer Relationship Management System)

The class of customer relationship management systems has recently become widespread. A CRM system helps automate an enterprise’s work with clients, create a client base and use it for the efficiency of its business. After all, the success of a company, regardless of its size, depends on the ability to gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and market trends, as well as to realize the opportunities that arise at various stages of interaction with customers. Functions such as automation of business processes in relationships with clients, control of absolutely all transactions (here it is important to track the most important and complex transactions), constant collection of information about clients and analysis of all stages of transactions are the main responsibilities of systems of this class.

CRM is no longer a new product for the Russian market, and its use is becoming a regular business project of the company.

Most experts estimate the Russian market for CRM systems at $50-70 million and talk about its constant growth. The current domestic market is characterized by the phase of companies accumulating experience in using CRM in their business.

CRM is most actively used by financial and telecommunications companies (including three operators mobile communications Russia) and the insurance market. The leader, of course, is financial.

MES (Manufacturing Execution System)

MES class systems are designed for the enterprise production environment. Systems of this class monitor and document the entire production process and display the production cycle in real time. Unlike ERP, which has no direct impact on the process, with MES it becomes possible to adjust (or completely rebuild) the process as many times as necessary. In other words, systems of this class are designed to optimize production and increase its profitability.

By collecting and analyzing data received, for example, from production lines, they provide a more detailed picture of the enterprise’s production activities (from order formation to finished product shipment), improving the enterprise’s financial performance. All the main indicators that are included in the main course of the economics of the industry (return on fixed assets, cash flow, cost, profit and productivity) are displayed in detail during production. Experts call MES a bridge between the financial operations of ERP systems and the operational activities of the enterprise at the workshop, site or line level.

WMS (Warehouse Management System)

As the name suggests, this is a management system that provides comprehensive automation of warehouse process management. A necessary and effective tool for a modern warehouse (for example, “1C: Warehouse”).

EAM (Enterprise Asset Management)

A system for managing enterprise fixed assets, allowing to reduce equipment downtime, costs for maintenance, repairs and logistics. It is a necessary tool in the work of capital-intensive industries (energy, transport, housing and communal services, mining industry and military).

Fixed assets are means of labor that are repeatedly involved in the production process, while maintaining their natural form, gradually wearing out, transferring their value in parts to newly created products. In accounting and tax accounting, fixed assets reflected in monetary terms are called fixed assets.

Historically, EAM systems arose from CMMS systems (another class of IS, repair management). Now EAM modules are also part of large ERP system packages (such as mySAP Business Suite, IFS Applications, Oracle E-Business Suite, etc.).

HRM (Human Resource Management)

The personnel management system is one of the most important components of modern management. The main goal of such systems is to attract and retain valuable personnel for the enterprise. HRM systems solve two main problems: streamlining all accounting and settlement processes related to personnel, and reducing the percentage of employee departures. Thus, HRM systems, in a certain sense, can be called “reverse CRM systems”, attracting and retaining not customers, but the company’s own employees. Of course, the methods used here are completely different, but the general approaches are similar.

Functions of HRM systems:

Personnel search;
Recruitment and selection of personnel;
Personel assessment;
Personnel training and development;
Corporate culture management;
Staff motivation;
Labour Organization.

CIS subsystems

Corporate IP includes the organization's computer infrastructure and the interconnected subsystems based on it that provide solutions to the organization's problems.

Such subsystems can be:

information and reference systems, including hypertext and geographic information systems;
document management system;
transaction processing system (actions to change information in databases);
decision support system.

According to the method of organization, CIS are divided into:

file server systems;
client-server systems;
three-link systems;
systems based on Internet/Intranet technologies.

A server is understood as any system (a separate computer with appropriate software or a separate software system software) designed to provide some computing resources to other systems (computers or programs) called clients.

Local systems

Designed mainly to automate accounting in one or more areas (accounting, sales, warehouses, personnel records, etc.).
The cost of on-premises systems ranges from $5,000 to $50,000.

Financial and management systems

The systems are flexibly customized to the needs of a specific enterprise, well integrate the activities of the enterprise and are intended, first of all, for accounting and managing the resources of non-production companies.
The cost of financial and management systems can be roughly determined in the range from $50,000 to $200,000.

Medium Integrated Systems

Designed for production plant management and integrated production process planning.
In many respects, medium-sized systems are much stricter than financial and managerial ones.
A manufacturing enterprise must first and foremost operate like a well-oiled clock, where the main control mechanisms are planning and optimal management of inventory and production process, rather than keeping track of the number of invoices per period.
The cost of implementing medium-sized systems, like financial and management systems, starts at around $50,000, but, depending on the scope of the project, can reach $500,000 or more.

Large integrated systems

They differ from the average ones in the set of vertical markets and the depth of support for management processes of large multifunctional groups of enterprises (holdings or financial industrial groups).
The systems have the greatest functionality, including production management, complex financial flow management, corporate consolidation, global planning and budgeting, etc.
The cost of the project is more than $500,000.

Implementation of CIS

After the stage of selecting a corporate information system (CIS), comes the implementation stage, the importance of which can hardly be overestimated. Indeed, all the benefits and benefits declared by enterprise software developers resulting from the acquisition of a specific CIS will only appear if it is successfully implemented.

The main difficulties in implementing CIS

insufficient formalization of management processes at the enterprise;
lack of full understanding among managers of the mechanisms for implementing decisions and how performers work;
the need to reorganize the enterprise into an information system;
the need to change business process technology;
the need to attract new specialists to manage IP and retrain our own specialists to work in the system;
resistance of employees and managers (currently plays a significant role because people are not yet accustomed to the integration of computer technologies into the enterprise);
the need to form a qualified team of implementers; the team includes employees of the enterprise and one of the high-ranking managers of the enterprise interested in implementation (in the absence of interest, the pragmatic aspect of implementing CIS is reduced to a minimum).

Factors for successful implementation of CIS

Management participation in implementation
Availability and adherence to an implementation plan
Managers have clear goals and requirements for the project
Participation in the implementation of specialists from the client company
Quality of the CIS and the solution provider team
Conducting business process reengineering prior to implementation
The company has a developed strategy

The main difficulties in implementing a corporate information system

Inattention of the company management to the project
Lack of clearly defined project goals
Informalization of business processes in the company
The company's unwillingness to change
Instability of legislation6 Corruption in companies
Low qualifications of personnel in the company
Insufficient project funding

Results of CIS implementation

increasing the company’s internal controllability, flexibility and resistance to external influences,
increasing the company’s efficiency, its competitiveness, and, ultimately, profitability,
sales volumes increase,
the cost is reduced,
warehouse stocks are reduced,
order fulfillment times are reduced,
interaction with suppliers is improved.

Advantages of implementing CIS

obtaining reliable and timely information about the activities of all divisions of the company;
increasing the efficiency of company management;
reduction of working time spent on work operations;