The challenges of integrating processes and knowledge within and across enterprises
are best answered by a combination of:
_ A visionary technical architecture:
_ To which the (extended) enterprise can transition over time
_ Which will allow the business to adopt new processes, applications,
and technologies quickly and efficiently
_ Which avoid redeveloping large portions of legacy software
_ Without disrupting existing users
_ Business process management systems provide:
_ A new generation of tools that put the management of business
processes back with the business community, freeing the IT community
to do what it does best � enable the processes with the best
available technology
On the upstream side, there can be multiple supply partners, and not just
raw material suppliers, including those helping with new product design or
product offerings, component suppliers, or contract manufacturers. In the middle,
there could be linked manufacturers, each making part of the final product, such
as Boeing and its major manufacturing partners engaged in constructing the new
7E7 airplane. Contractors in Japan, Europe, and the United States will be involved
in that endeavor. Distributors often play a key role in moving the products
to market as well, and because of their ability to service remote geographies,
multiple constituents might be used. In high-technology equipment, it is
usual to have value-added resellers involved in the processing. At the top of
Figure 2.1, we note that industry process hubs could be used, as well as industry
marketplaces or some form of portal for handling part of the processing, particularly
the sourcing function. At the bottom, we note several constituents
handling part of the logistics function. When we then consider that there are
now many types of end customers and consumers, the picture does indeed
become complex.
Any supply chain analysis that is limited to internal processing, which is a
small segment of the inter-enterprise business system, is doomed to operate with
suboptimized conditions, because the focus is only on a part of the total network
illustrated in 1. There are simply too many players in a typical business
network, creating the possibility that one or more can introduce complications
that negate a part or most of the savings generated internally. The end-to-end
processing that has come under scrutiny for improvement by the industry leaders
now includes a multitude of business partners. Concurrently, the necessary
flow of information and knowledge within a business network has become as
important as the physical flow of goods and the transfer of money across what
is clearly an extended enterprise. Without access to that information, a system
is doomed to fall short of the intended optimized conditions.
The next issue deals with that need for information, which is often supplied
through the use of the appropriate technology and systems. As indicated in
Figure 2.2, we see that progressing through the supply chain maturity model
requires matching enabling technology with the process changes occurring between
levels. In the early levels (1 and 2), we see that the focus on divisional
or business unit performance instead of the total organization drives firms to
seek help with process optimization. Here we note the introduction of transportation
management systems and warehouse management systems, along with
efforts to improve order management and inventory management.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
SUPPLY CHAIN PROGRESSION REQUIRES A SUPPORTING ARCHITECTURE AND ENABLING TECHNOLOGY
As companies move along the maturity model with helpful business allies, they
reach the point where decisions need to be made regarding connectivity across
the extended network. No firm has all of the knowledge necessary to reach
optimized conditions. In spite of the very impressive profits we have seen some
firms return, we always find the opportunity for more, if we can only convince
the players to try a bit of inter-enterprise data sharing. Through whatever system
is selected, ASCM requires linking network business allies into a coherent
system of knowledge exchange. As the devices used (computers, wireless networks,
personal access equipment, and so forth) become more reliable and
globally connected, the chance to share data increases greatly. The information
exchanges, moreover, become more meaningful as they improve in reliability,
speed, and cost. Customer satisfaction under these conditions becomes more
than a rallying cry. It sets the new parameters, to be met by the intelligent value
network.
Meeting these challenges requires an end-to-end process, focused from
supplier relationship management to customer satisfaction, with products and
services delivered through people, systems, and business partners. It is at this
point where the constituents see a need for something that enables them to enter
each other�s databases and extract the vital information that assures positive
results. Enter BPM! BPM becomes the technical breakthrough. It takes advantage
of the ability to componentize within the software. By that we mean it
provides the linked firms the chance to reach into the databases and extract that
portion of the information that will help with the issue or problem being
addressed. Visibility becomes feasible, as previously hidden information is
now available to those who need it. Control across the people, systems, and
organizations reaches a new high level, closing the gap between management
intentions and execution and success. By means of directly executable business
process models, the connected businesses leverage the best of their IT infrastructure.
BPM then produces dramatic improvements to the targeted processes, ending
in better business results through lower costs, greater speeds, shorter cycle
times, higher quality, and better service. Successful implementations typically
begin as tactical solutions to specific problems, before being adopted as part of
the processing. Using a strong process-based methodology and paying careful
attention to the architecture become as important in this environment as selecting
the right technology. An early pilot to create a proof of concept becomes
a useful way to qualify the BPM tools being applied to specific problems and
opportunities.
reach the point where decisions need to be made regarding connectivity across
the extended network. No firm has all of the knowledge necessary to reach
optimized conditions. In spite of the very impressive profits we have seen some
firms return, we always find the opportunity for more, if we can only convince
the players to try a bit of inter-enterprise data sharing. Through whatever system
is selected, ASCM requires linking network business allies into a coherent
system of knowledge exchange. As the devices used (computers, wireless networks,
personal access equipment, and so forth) become more reliable and
globally connected, the chance to share data increases greatly. The information
exchanges, moreover, become more meaningful as they improve in reliability,
speed, and cost. Customer satisfaction under these conditions becomes more
than a rallying cry. It sets the new parameters, to be met by the intelligent value
network.
Meeting these challenges requires an end-to-end process, focused from
supplier relationship management to customer satisfaction, with products and
services delivered through people, systems, and business partners. It is at this
point where the constituents see a need for something that enables them to enter
each other�s databases and extract the vital information that assures positive
results. Enter BPM! BPM becomes the technical breakthrough. It takes advantage
of the ability to componentize within the software. By that we mean it
provides the linked firms the chance to reach into the databases and extract that
portion of the information that will help with the issue or problem being
addressed. Visibility becomes feasible, as previously hidden information is
now available to those who need it. Control across the people, systems, and
organizations reaches a new high level, closing the gap between management
intentions and execution and success. By means of directly executable business
process models, the connected businesses leverage the best of their IT infrastructure.
BPM then produces dramatic improvements to the targeted processes, ending
in better business results through lower costs, greater speeds, shorter cycle
times, higher quality, and better service. Successful implementations typically
begin as tactical solutions to specific problems, before being adopted as part of
the processing. Using a strong process-based methodology and paying careful
attention to the architecture become as important in this environment as selecting
the right technology. An early pilot to create a proof of concept becomes
a useful way to qualify the BPM tools being applied to specific problems and
opportunities.
A VISIONARY TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE FORMS THE FOUNDATION
As supply chain efforts progress, stovepipe thinking and point-to-point technical
integration give way to flexible, business-processbased
architectures. The complexity and diversity
of enterprise systems, the growth of middleware,
and the drive for the next level of efficiency and
productivity, both within and across organizational
boundaries, mandate process thinking. But unlike
reengineering, today�s processes must be directly
executable and evolve incrementally, with minimal
impact on business operations. It is for this environment that CSC e4SM has
been designed.
The future enterprise will be
complex, federated, connected,
collaborative, dynamic,
constantly evolving,
and unpredictable.
CSC e4SM provides the flexibility of approach that enables a firm to adapt
its infrastructure to new business conditions (for example, acquisitions) and new
technologies, without the need for wholesale changes and integration retesting.
It has been especially designed to meet the future architecture challenges facing
most businesses attempting to excel at extended enterprise processing. As the
evolution of IT infrastructure and architecture continues, exploiting existing and
emerging technologies, CSC e4SM seeks to address many of the problems facing
businesses and their supply chains today and bring answers to many questions:
_ How does a business operate in a state of perpetual change and adaptation?
_ How does an individual firm become an enabler of business process change
while not throwing away the investments made in legacy systems?
_ How does a company integrate IT following mergers or acquisition?
_ How does a business operate with some of the world�s largest companies
while also gaining value from some of the smallest and more
innovative firms?
_ How can a firm provide a cost-effective, common multichannel Web
access for users, suppliers, and customers?
_ How does a business take cost-effective advantage of new access
technologies?
_ How does a business organization and its allies implement IT architecture
that will dynamically grow with business and IT objectives?
_ How are third-party applications brought in, without major business risk
and upheaval?
_ How can a business achieve �true� collaboration with business partners
and service providers?
integration give way to flexible, business-processbased
architectures. The complexity and diversity
of enterprise systems, the growth of middleware,
and the drive for the next level of efficiency and
productivity, both within and across organizational
boundaries, mandate process thinking. But unlike
reengineering, today�s processes must be directly
executable and evolve incrementally, with minimal
impact on business operations. It is for this environment that CSC e4SM has
been designed.
The future enterprise will be
complex, federated, connected,
collaborative, dynamic,
constantly evolving,
and unpredictable.
CSC e4SM provides the flexibility of approach that enables a firm to adapt
its infrastructure to new business conditions (for example, acquisitions) and new
technologies, without the need for wholesale changes and integration retesting.
It has been especially designed to meet the future architecture challenges facing
most businesses attempting to excel at extended enterprise processing. As the
evolution of IT infrastructure and architecture continues, exploiting existing and
emerging technologies, CSC e4SM seeks to address many of the problems facing
businesses and their supply chains today and bring answers to many questions:
_ How does a business operate in a state of perpetual change and adaptation?
_ How does an individual firm become an enabler of business process change
while not throwing away the investments made in legacy systems?
_ How does a company integrate IT following mergers or acquisition?
_ How does a business operate with some of the world�s largest companies
while also gaining value from some of the smallest and more
innovative firms?
_ How can a firm provide a cost-effective, common multichannel Web
access for users, suppliers, and customers?
_ How does a business take cost-effective advantage of new access
technologies?
_ How does a business organization and its allies implement IT architecture
that will dynamically grow with business and IT objectives?
_ How are third-party applications brought in, without major business risk
and upheaval?
_ How can a business achieve �true� collaboration with business partners
and service providers?
THE BENEFITS OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURES
New architectures, of the type exemplified by CSC e4SM, provide reduced total
cost of process and infrastructure ownership while increasing the strategic return
on investment from deployment of reusable and manageable enterprise architecture.
This translates into the following business and technical advantages:
End-to-end process visibility, control,
and accountability
Rapid introduction of new business
units and new products and services
that are operationally dependent on automated
processes
Ability to manage process value end
to end and extend those disciplines
across all processes within and across
the enterprise
Focus on customer through strategydriven
business process design
A renewed enterprise architecture under
the control of the business
Lower integration and operational
cost
Resources freed up from legacy
maintenance to focus on process
improvement
Flexibility to add and remove application
components to decrease
time to market and exploit windows
of opportunity
Technical barriers to business collaboration
and change eradicated
Facilitate restructuring and repurposing
of legacy applications
cost of process and infrastructure ownership while increasing the strategic return
on investment from deployment of reusable and manageable enterprise architecture.
This translates into the following business and technical advantages:
End-to-end process visibility, control,
and accountability
Rapid introduction of new business
units and new products and services
that are operationally dependent on automated
processes
Ability to manage process value end
to end and extend those disciplines
across all processes within and across
the enterprise
Focus on customer through strategydriven
business process design
A renewed enterprise architecture under
the control of the business
Lower integration and operational
cost
Resources freed up from legacy
maintenance to focus on process
improvement
Flexibility to add and remove application
components to decrease
time to market and exploit windows
of opportunity
Technical barriers to business collaboration
and change eradicated
Facilitate restructuring and repurposing
of legacy applications
ANSWERS COME FROM THE NEW BREED OF IT ARCHITECTURE:
CSC e4SM is a proven world-class, award-winning example of the new-style IT
architecture used for ASCM � a breakthrough capable of integrating individual
applications, whether new or within legacy systems � that enables the open
flow of processes and all the attendant data between systems, across organizations,
between enterprises, and among trading partners. CSC e4SM can rapidly
integrate Web-based applications, front- and back-office systems, enterprise
resource planning systems, and package software applications. It verifies what
can be accomplished using BPM as the link between extended enterprise business
partners.
The architecture uses application adapters to allow true plug-and-play capability,
banishing repetitive and costly point-to-point solutions. CSC e4SM has
been designed to be flexible, scalable, and rapidly deployed, so as to deliver
a future-proof solution to extended enterprises for a low cost of ownership. Its
flexibility allows business processes to be tuned or amended without any coding
changes.
CSC e4SM uses a component approach that integrates Web technology and legacy
and commercial applications with a process management engine connected by
adapters to middleware services, to deliver a business-process-oriented solution.
The business logic of the adapters allows drag-and-drop capability when
reengineering processes, which, along with CSC e4SM�s true plug-and-play and
vendor-independent flexibility, delivers a future-proof solution to any IT architecture.
The key aspects of CSC e4SM are shown in Figure 2.5.
These aspects come in layers and begin with the distribution layer, designed
to provide multichannel access within the network. Users can interact through
various channels, including browsers, PDAs, and mobile phones, enabling
employees to use the channel best suited to their work and consumers to select
the device of greatest convenience. CSC e4SM allows the process designer to take
advantage of the features of various channels. This layer also manages the
physical connections, ensuring authentication, security, and eligibility of the
source. The architecture creates an enterprise format, so important for crossbusiness
communication, allowing users to interact across the full network and
manage tasks associated with their process steps.
Moving through the enterprise portal to the business process engine, the
process manager allows the business architects to describe the end-to-end processing
using available services. It permits process design logic to be based on
data captured from enterprise applications, while allowing rapid deployment of
new and changed business processes. Design patterns can be reused as subprocesses
within larger processes. The process manager can also establish the
definition of synchronous, asynchronous, and parallel steps within a process.
The coordination layer manages the Web services and applications integration
requirements. It marshals requests for services to the correct component
interface, ensuring that responses occur in context with the overall process
design. This layer provides services for current industry data and application
format conversion between process constituents. Middleware technology is used
to deliver all service requests and to connect applications.
architecture used for ASCM � a breakthrough capable of integrating individual
applications, whether new or within legacy systems � that enables the open
flow of processes and all the attendant data between systems, across organizations,
between enterprises, and among trading partners. CSC e4SM can rapidly
integrate Web-based applications, front- and back-office systems, enterprise
resource planning systems, and package software applications. It verifies what
can be accomplished using BPM as the link between extended enterprise business
partners.
The architecture uses application adapters to allow true plug-and-play capability,
banishing repetitive and costly point-to-point solutions. CSC e4SM has
been designed to be flexible, scalable, and rapidly deployed, so as to deliver
a future-proof solution to extended enterprises for a low cost of ownership. Its
flexibility allows business processes to be tuned or amended without any coding
changes.
CSC e4SM uses a component approach that integrates Web technology and legacy
and commercial applications with a process management engine connected by
adapters to middleware services, to deliver a business-process-oriented solution.
The business logic of the adapters allows drag-and-drop capability when
reengineering processes, which, along with CSC e4SM�s true plug-and-play and
vendor-independent flexibility, delivers a future-proof solution to any IT architecture.
The key aspects of CSC e4SM are shown in Figure 2.5.
These aspects come in layers and begin with the distribution layer, designed
to provide multichannel access within the network. Users can interact through
various channels, including browsers, PDAs, and mobile phones, enabling
employees to use the channel best suited to their work and consumers to select
the device of greatest convenience. CSC e4SM allows the process designer to take
advantage of the features of various channels. This layer also manages the
physical connections, ensuring authentication, security, and eligibility of the
source. The architecture creates an enterprise format, so important for crossbusiness
communication, allowing users to interact across the full network and
manage tasks associated with their process steps.
Moving through the enterprise portal to the business process engine, the
process manager allows the business architects to describe the end-to-end processing
using available services. It permits process design logic to be based on
data captured from enterprise applications, while allowing rapid deployment of
new and changed business processes. Design patterns can be reused as subprocesses
within larger processes. The process manager can also establish the
definition of synchronous, asynchronous, and parallel steps within a process.
The coordination layer manages the Web services and applications integration
requirements. It marshals requests for services to the correct component
interface, ensuring that responses occur in context with the overall process
design. This layer provides services for current industry data and application
format conversion between process constituents. Middleware technology is used
to deliver all service requests and to connect applications.
BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS BECOME THE KNOWLEDGE LINK
At the heart of the new architectures is BPM. BPM is an emerging technology
that heralds a replacement for the painful experience of past reengineering
projects, where processes were redesigned in a one-off exercise, which led to
At the heart of the new architectures is BPM. BPM is an emerging technology
that heralds a replacement for the painful experience of past reengineering
projects, where processes were redesigned in a one-off exercise, which led to
The business processes that are
crucial to an enterprise�s strategy are by their nature both complex and dynamic.
�Complex and dynamic� means the processes have many steps and participants,
and the participants are free to run a process in a way that is best suited to the
situation they are in. This condition is illustrated in Figure 2.6. Until now,
available technologies have been unable to deal with these processes as they
would ideally be executed. Instead,
they have dealt with them by dumbing
them down, making them less strategic
by either remodeling the processes
to fit into a package or leaving them as
manual processes. Package processes
are less likely to allow a company to
distinguish itself from its competitors.
Rules-based processes are limited to
the number of different situations that
the process designers can dream up and
cater to; anything else is an exception,
to be handled outside the process.
BPM for the first time lets businesses
take full ownership of their
processes without the limitations of
underlying technologies. BPM does not
so much change processes � which are the things people do � as allow people
to change them by providing a supporting technology that is more flexible than
anything that exists today.
BPM is a framework that consists of tools and services that provide real-time
visibility, continuous management, and optimization of end-to-end business processes
that interact with people, systems, and across organizational boundaries. The
BPM methodology is based on the following set of assumptions:
_ Business processes operate in a state of perpetual change and adaptation.
_ Processes interact with other processes and cross-cut each other.
_ Processes can be distributed, end to end, long-lived, collaborative, and
transactional and involve several participants (people and systems).
_ BPM is based on a technology solution, a BPMS, to create directly
executable business processes that evolve.
Central to a BPMS is Business
Process Management Languages
(BPML). There are a number of standards
emerging, with which these languages
comply. These are illustrated
in Figure 2.7. The supply chain processes defined, for example, in SCOR� and
collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) are all definable
in the BPML. This feature goes to the core of the benefit of these new tools.
BPMS is not business process reengineering, enterprise application integration
(EAI), work flow, or another package application. It is the synthesis and extension
of all these technologies into a unique whole. This unified whole
becomes a new foundation upon which the enterprise is built, one more in tune
with the nature of business processes and their management.
A complete BPMS platform incorporates all of the following types of
functionality:
that heralds a replacement for the painful experience of past reengineering
projects, where processes were redesigned in a one-off exercise, which led to
At the heart of the new architectures is BPM. BPM is an emerging technology
that heralds a replacement for the painful experience of past reengineering
projects, where processes were redesigned in a one-off exercise, which led to
The business processes that are
crucial to an enterprise�s strategy are by their nature both complex and dynamic.
�Complex and dynamic� means the processes have many steps and participants,
and the participants are free to run a process in a way that is best suited to the
situation they are in. This condition is illustrated in Figure 2.6. Until now,
available technologies have been unable to deal with these processes as they
would ideally be executed. Instead,
they have dealt with them by dumbing
them down, making them less strategic
by either remodeling the processes
to fit into a package or leaving them as
manual processes. Package processes
are less likely to allow a company to
distinguish itself from its competitors.
Rules-based processes are limited to
the number of different situations that
the process designers can dream up and
cater to; anything else is an exception,
to be handled outside the process.
BPM for the first time lets businesses
take full ownership of their
processes without the limitations of
underlying technologies. BPM does not
so much change processes � which are the things people do � as allow people
to change them by providing a supporting technology that is more flexible than
anything that exists today.
BPM is a framework that consists of tools and services that provide real-time
visibility, continuous management, and optimization of end-to-end business processes
that interact with people, systems, and across organizational boundaries. The
BPM methodology is based on the following set of assumptions:
_ Business processes operate in a state of perpetual change and adaptation.
_ Processes interact with other processes and cross-cut each other.
_ Processes can be distributed, end to end, long-lived, collaborative, and
transactional and involve several participants (people and systems).
_ BPM is based on a technology solution, a BPMS, to create directly
executable business processes that evolve.
Central to a BPMS is Business
Process Management Languages
(BPML). There are a number of standards
emerging, with which these languages
comply. These are illustrated
in Figure 2.7. The supply chain processes defined, for example, in SCOR� and
collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) are all definable
in the BPML. This feature goes to the core of the benefit of these new tools.
BPMS is not business process reengineering, enterprise application integration
(EAI), work flow, or another package application. It is the synthesis and extension
of all these technologies into a unique whole. This unified whole
becomes a new foundation upon which the enterprise is built, one more in tune
with the nature of business processes and their management.
A complete BPMS platform incorporates all of the following types of
functionality:
BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT OPERATES WITHIN THE NEW ARCHITECTURE
Attention can now be turned to the advantages for the supply chain provided
by the combination of a new-style architecture with a BPMS at its heart. Change
is a fundamental driving force in business, and therefore agility is a mandatory
requirement of enterprise architecture. A BMPS streamlines internal and external
business processes, eliminates redundancies, and increases automation, providing
end-to-end process visibility, control, and accountability. This improvement
is not limited to the processes in a department or a business unit. Processes
that comply with the new standards can join with other similarly compliant
processes wherever they are � in other parts of a single enterprise or with value
chain partners across the whole supply network.
The new BMPS, embedded at the heart of a new architecture, support the
automation and continuous improvement of traditional processes such as mar-
keting and sales, human resources, finance, operations, supply chain, product
design, forecasting, logistics, and customer relationship management, as well
as:
_ Commonly used process design patterns such as CPFR, SCOR�, straight
through processing (STP), and Telemanagement Forum (TMF)
_ Industry standards such as XML, J2EE, and .net
_ Open standards like GPL, JCA, and BPML
Now the user of a process has a completely new experience. The computer
screen used to access the process is designed to show only those elements that
are needed to execute the process � even if the data being processed are in
several different applications. The steps in the process are presented precisely
the way the user finds them in the easiest manner. If she or he wants to change
the process for the better, the business user can do so, in the BPMS, usually
without having to involve the IT community at all. The major advantages
include:
_ Help for the business user, who knows, owns, and can upgrade the
process
_ Minimize the time in executing the process � no more logging on and
off different applications until the job is done
_ Extend the process across departmental and company boundaries, so the
environment for collaboration is set up, ready to go
Other questions can be adequately answered as well, like what�s in it for
IT. To start, the IT community can implement a new-style architecture and
provide functionality to the user more quickly than before. Applications are
implemented in their vanilla form, and processes and screens are developed
more quickly in the BPMS. Fewer user screens are needed because processes
are executed in fewer steps. Once the new architecture is up and running,
application upgrades can be made at the time that suits the IT community and
are totally transparent to the user community, so maintenance costs are reduced.
by the combination of a new-style architecture with a BPMS at its heart. Change
is a fundamental driving force in business, and therefore agility is a mandatory
requirement of enterprise architecture. A BMPS streamlines internal and external
business processes, eliminates redundancies, and increases automation, providing
end-to-end process visibility, control, and accountability. This improvement
is not limited to the processes in a department or a business unit. Processes
that comply with the new standards can join with other similarly compliant
processes wherever they are � in other parts of a single enterprise or with value
chain partners across the whole supply network.
The new BMPS, embedded at the heart of a new architecture, support the
automation and continuous improvement of traditional processes such as mar-
keting and sales, human resources, finance, operations, supply chain, product
design, forecasting, logistics, and customer relationship management, as well
as:
_ Commonly used process design patterns such as CPFR, SCOR�, straight
through processing (STP), and Telemanagement Forum (TMF)
_ Industry standards such as XML, J2EE, and .net
_ Open standards like GPL, JCA, and BPML
Now the user of a process has a completely new experience. The computer
screen used to access the process is designed to show only those elements that
are needed to execute the process � even if the data being processed are in
several different applications. The steps in the process are presented precisely
the way the user finds them in the easiest manner. If she or he wants to change
the process for the better, the business user can do so, in the BPMS, usually
without having to involve the IT community at all. The major advantages
include:
_ Help for the business user, who knows, owns, and can upgrade the
process
_ Minimize the time in executing the process � no more logging on and
off different applications until the job is done
_ Extend the process across departmental and company boundaries, so the
environment for collaboration is set up, ready to go
Other questions can be adequately answered as well, like what�s in it for
IT. To start, the IT community can implement a new-style architecture and
provide functionality to the user more quickly than before. Applications are
implemented in their vanilla form, and processes and screens are developed
more quickly in the BPMS. Fewer user screens are needed because processes
are executed in fewer steps. Once the new architecture is up and running,
application upgrades can be made at the time that suits the IT community and
are totally transparent to the user community, so maintenance costs are reduced.
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