Business processes shape the character of virtually every company. They are so natural and indispensable in any organization that most of them determine the success of undertaken ventures. Processes have the property that specific people participate in them, generating or processing information for further use. Processes also entail costs, sometimes so significant that it is worth analyzing and cleverly managing them.
The first step in process management usually comes down to identifying them. Companies examine their own areas of activity, then describe these areas, trying to capture them as a whole composed of the types of activities performed, the roles of the people performing them, permissions, types of documents, and communication channels used. In this way, individual operational areas can be distinguished and described – e.g., sales, customer service, complaint handling, marketing, order fulfillment – and consequently, all major processes taking place in the company can be visualized. Such an approach allows for the consideration of implementing quality systems in later stages, developing measurement and control mechanisms, and further improving the organization in the future.
Technology Imposes Barriers
The theoretical approach to processes, however, does not specify the choice of appropriate tools and IT technologies that enable people to perform tasks quickly and efficiently, and thus in such a way that individual activities generate the lowest possible costs. In the context of computerizing processes, key factors become: access to necessary information, the ability to work comfortably on documents, a developed communication system allowing for efficient teamwork, and reporting mechanisms providing control support. Until now, companies supported their activities with specialized IT solutions by implementing applications responsible for selective processes. Hence their names: we speak of financial and accounting, warehouse, and human resources and payroll systems. In the 1990s, software vendors solidified entire packages in their offers to help companies with management. Extensive, multi-module ERP and MRP class systems were created. In recent years, along with the development of the concept of the necessity to study customer behavior and relations with them, CRM class systems were created. Alongside it, we have the SCM system designed for supply chain management, etc. The sheer number of types and classes of systems proves that in past years, IT vendors were convinced of the necessity to create specialized programs dedicated to handling specific processes. Perhaps this was not even a conviction, but the only choice resulting from technology limitations. Regardless, we are currently in a situation where companies use many expensive systems from different manufacturers, built based on different technologies, and applications using different databases. As a consequence, programs often do not communicate with each other in a satisfactory manner. Companies possess a wealth of IT infrastructure that increasingly complicates work rather than streamlining it.
Significant difficulties in task execution result – apart from poor system communication – from two other reasons. First, some users must use several programs at once to perform a specific task. Second, access to applications (workstation licenses) is expensive, and therefore their number is kept to a minimum.
And here we reach the point where even the most reliable identification and description of business processes in daily life is subject to absolute limitations resulting from technology. The solution to these problems is brought by new technological possibilities that have a direct impact on the quality of processes undertaken in the company.
An Opportunity for a New Integration Method
The factor that can practically revolutionize the concept of using IT infrastructure is Web services. In the simplest terms, web services allow downloading and transferring selected fragments of information from various sources (e.g., programs, systems, databases). Moreover, they also allow downloading and creating selected functionalities, as a result of which foreign applications can communicate with each other. These properties caused IT system architects to think about creating a single, common information bus for everyone, in the environment of which all users would have quick access to necessary data. This data would be downloaded from internal, chaotically interconnected IT systems (and if needed, also from external applications) and made available on such a bus. The parallel development of the Internet naturally decided that the best data exchange bus is a website – today known as a next-generation corporate portal. On such a website, everyone has password-protected, precisely defined access to selected information.
It is worth realizing that a corporate portal is an absolute new concept of managing data and documents gathered in the company, as well as managing processes. Previously, a large number of company systems were connected directly to each other; today – instead of connecting systems, users are offered a portal where the necessary data is gathered. It can therefore be said that a corporate portal is a kind of overlay on the existing IT infrastructure. Ultimately, instead of using several programs, employees have at their disposal a single tool, individually tailored to their needs, from which they can draw without geographical limitations, as internet access is sufficient.
Such an approach to data management can help in actually shaping the flow of information in the company in accordance with business processes framed theoretically. At the beginning, I mentioned the need to provide quick access to data, lower the costs of individual activities, and improve communication. Let us see how the corporate portal can support the company in this regard.
Processes on the Screen
Let us assume that for a certain company, the most important processes are sales, customer service, marketing, and debt collection. Until now, a different system was responsible for each area. The exchange of information between systems took place on the basis of direct connections – application to application. After implementing the portal, the same systems are actually responsible for the above processes, with the only difference being that employees no longer work in them directly. The work tool is the corporate portal, which provides the necessary information and selected functionality from the systems. For example, a sales department employee, after entering their password, sees on the screen account balances with their own clients (downloaded from the financial and accounting system), customer contact history (from the CRM system), product inventory levels and order lists (from the warehouse system), product information (entered by the marketing department), partner offers (downloaded e.g., from partner company websites). On the same screen, they have at their disposal a meeting calendar, tasks assigned by the manager, e-mail (integration with the email program), and a discussion forum.
On a single portal platform, communication tools (mail, forum, chat) are available in addition to the data needed for work. Of course, just like previously in specialized systems, employees perform operations in the portal that are registered in the database – entering customer data, registering contact, order approval, issuing an invoice, etc.
In addition to mail and the forum, the person responsible for debt collection has access to the list of customers in payment arrears, contact history, their order list, account balance statement, and a payment demand index.
The portal prepared for the marketing department has a completely different profile. Here, ready-made forms are available to facilitate the creation of information bulletins, mailings, and newsletters. Employees have a list of websites containing keywords facilitating, for example, tracking the presence of the company and competition in electronic media. In addition, the portal offers functionality allowing work on documents. Individual persons are responsible for commissioning documents, their editing, approval, and sending.
Automation Lowers Costs
Apart from providing access to data, the portal is supposed to lower the costs of performing activities. The system achieves this mainly through the automation of many procedures and thus the elimination of bottlenecks. Note that thanks to the use of the information bus, which is the portal, users do not have to work in several applications at once. Simply switching from one program to another is a pure waste of time. This is painfully felt by call center consultants or salespeople talking to a client on the phone.
However, the automation of activities largely concerns document flow. By assigning individual roles to specific people in the portal, it is possible in practice to eliminate certain types of internal paper documents. Secondly, both the number of contacts within the company and many unnecessary activities, such as telephone notification, obtaining a signature, physical transfer of documents, placing them in the archive, etc., can be significantly reduced. This is particularly important in those processes that depend on coherent teamwork or in which documents follow a long path traveling “from hand to hand” (workflow).
Multi-faceted communication
Speaking of improving processes through the corporate portal, one cannot fail to mention the wide possibilities of integrating it with electronic devices such as a mobile phone, laptop, fax, and scanner. In practice, the portal communicates with them by sending appropriate information packets, messages, or documents.
Another important communication function is reporting. Based on the processes taking place in the company, the portal can automatically generate and send appropriate messages (SMS or e-mail) to authorized persons, informing them, for example, about the progress of the process or the exceeding of important indicators. Let the information sent to the logistics manager that the stock of a certain raw material has fallen below a safe level serve as an example. Another example is a short summary of weekly sales sent to the sales director (number of signed contracts, orders, weekly turnover). This type of information is generated autonomously, according to previously established criteria.
Gathering data in one place additionally allows the creation of special pages for management staff, which present synthetically concentrated information about the status of ongoing processes. On such a page, managers have direct insight into graphical statements and reports covering key operational areas; indicators are generated on-line, meaning they reflect what is happening in the company in real time. The “single screen” rule usually applies here, from the level of which a person has access to all the most important information from the knowledge base. Such a system is intended to streamline decision-making and save time for people preparing reports.
Corporate Portal in Poland
The concept of improving processes taking place in the company is relatively innovative, but it is likely that it will soon be universally adopted. In 2000, the first major publications on the theoretical use of the portal in modern business were published. A year later, reports appeared about completed corporate portal implementations in the largest corporations. Last year, American companies specializing in corporate portals competed in describing case studies showing unconvinced managers one of the interesting paths of company development. Today it is said that in less than two years, the corporate portal will become the most important work tool in most companies/*
Looking at technology migration, it should be expected that in Poland too, corporate portals will become one of the most important tools supporting companies in terms of process and information management. Currently, on the Polish market, one can get acquainted with the offer of the largest international software companies. Comtica is the first Polish company specializing in developing the concept of the corporate portal.
GLOSSARY
ERP / MRP
(Enterprise Resource Planning and Material Resource Planning) multifunctional, integrated applications supporting enterprise management. In practice, they handle the most important areas of activity – from finance and controlling, through human resources and payroll, to production and sales processes.
CRM
(Customers Relationship Management) systems designed to record and process company contacts with customers. They are intended to support the broadly understood customer service process and provide the company with a knowledge base that is the basis for planning further marketing activities. Currently, CRM is not only associated with applications, but also with the concept of building an efficient customer relationship management model.
SCM
(Supply Chain Management) System designed to manage processes taking place in the supply chain.
Web services
Reusable codes allowing applications to communicate with each other and share data. Using web services, systems can be integrated in applications based on internet technologies. As a result, business processes taking place in company environments can also be integrated.
Enterprise Portal
An internet service (Intranet, extranet, or website) that provides data and functionalities downloaded from distributed, inconsistent sources. The login system allows managing the distribution of data in the portal – creating personalized messages for specific users. The portal is a tool that integrates internal applications, supports process management, corporate communication, and information flow in the company.
Marek Massalski
/*Meta Group, an American IT market research consulting firm, claims that by the end of 2004, as many as 85% of “Fortune 500” companies will implement a corporate portal for their own needs.