Design Enterprise-Level Business System Paper
Business Systems Development II
BSA/400

Design Enterprise-Level Business System Paper 1.0 Design methods for developing an enterprise-level information system There are many things that have to happen correctly in the design phase in order for an enterprise-level business system to be effective. In order for the system to be effective, it should align with strategy, reduce costs, improve productivity, promote timely execution, enable better decision making, leverage emerging technologies, ensure acceptable levels of control and risk management, optimize the skills and capabilities of the organization, and promote collaboration across the extended enterprise. (The Hackett Group, 2010) The first step is to understand the business and how it is strategically aligned. The company must understand what it is bringing to the table. Before the necessary scope of the project can be decided, this is where the planning starts. A survey among employees of the companies should take place to review the philosophy, vision, and mission. (Armstrong Enterprise Communications, Inc., n.d.) Buy in is critical at all levels of the organization in order for an enterprise resource planning initiative to be successful. One of the main goals of successful enterprise resource planning implementation is companywide buy in. Each employee should have a cursory understanding of the goal and mission of the business, and how their work relates to these goals. This type of strategic alignment can empower employees to perform at higher levels of productivity. If the project moves forward, this knowledge will be a necessity in determining the budget and scope of the project. The biggest mistake is not keeping this simple. The explanation needs to be related to the employee directly, and understandable. A basic operational model should be formed of how the business operates. There are a few different ways to do this based on the type of business that you own. I have seen military theory based upon the idea of effects based operations. “According to J9, effects-based operations are “a process for obtaining a desired strategic outcome or effect on the enemy through the synergistic and cumulative application of the full range of military and non-military capabilities at all levels of conflict.” Furthermore, an “effect” is the physical, functional, or psychological outcome, event, or consequence that results from specific military or non-military actions.” (Batschelet, 2002, p. 2) This sounds harsh, but parallels have been drawn between war and business in the past. Examining this idea and then adapting it, a business should seek out specific outcomes and plan around them. The military of the past has largely depended upon attrition and destruction to accomplish its goals. In a similar fashion, the concept of old business has been to work hard and do your job the best that you can. In many businesses the knowledge of goals and missions is rudimentary, at best. This is not the most fertile and effective environment for nurturing growth and change. 2.0 Business process mapping methods
Appendix A has includes a diagram of the effect based operations cycle. (Batschelet, 2002, p. 3) This diagram depends upon continual updating to work successfully. More conventional planning methods can be used in these phases very successfully. For example, processes can be mapped out using the unified modeling language (UML) and business process diagram (BPD). According to the Eriksson-Penker Business Modeling Profile, each business process should have a goal, specific inputs, specific outputs, resource use, a number of activities performed in an order, horizontal impact (impact to other areas of organization), and internal or external value. (Sparx Systems, 2010) The overall goal of the process should relate directly to the effect desired in the effect based operation plan. The internal or external value should also ultimately reinforce meeting this goal. The inputs and outputs are important factors to consider in enterprise resource planning. Resources like manpower, supply chains, and information are all considered inputs. Output is finished product, whether it is in manufacturing or some other means. Each business should ultimately “do” something, but this might not be tangible. An effect could be the result of output. The effect of this process may have demonstrable impact on other business divisions, these relationships should be displayed. 3.0 Business process mapping tools The tools used to produce these models are varied. Some of the tools out there have trial software that can be used to get a feel for the product. Questetra BPM Suite, for example, is free for ten concurrent processes or less. This means that you can chart out a small sample office and see how it works. A more mature application can be more expensive. It depends upon how integrated the software needs to be. The scope of the project will help determine what the budget on tools should be. Businesses that found strategic alignment around a mission to be useful to the company may be more willing to invest in really good business process management software. A complete understanding of the business will contribute greatly to the success of any enterprise resource planning initiative. Outside consultants may be brought in to help plan and map out these processes for a business if the business lacks someone with the expertise. I don’t think that it is necessarily the responsibility of the enterprise resource planning vendor to provide this service. I think that it would be hard for a vendor to balance the needs of the other business with the needs of their business. If a company makes square pegs, it may spend a lot more time looking for square holes to put them in. Once a working idea of how a business operates is completed, an enterprise resource planning vendor is a necessary partner in continuing the process. Many businesses try to make the mistake of having a vendor spend a great deal of time and effort customizing their software to work around their business processes. This is a huge mistake. A vendor should be very, very familiar with the sector of business they work in. Their entire software philosophy should be built around finding the most logical and efficient way of completing a particular task. In contrast, many businesses have a patchwork of processes and procedures that have grown with the size of the business. A solid partner with a level of trust and mutual understanding is probably one of the best tools or assets that a company can have in its arsenal when it comes to implementing enterprise wide systems. 4.0 Functionally requirements allocated to human interface design. Training and integration of an enterprise resource planning solution is critical to its success. Human interface design can improve the chances of successful training and implementation drastically. All of this has to do with cognitive load theory. “Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is an instructional theory that starts from the idea that our working memory is limited with respect to the amount of information it can hold, and the number of operations it can perform on that information. That means a learner should be encouraged to use his or her limited working memory efficiently, especially when learning a difficult task. Intrinsic cognitive load depends completely on the complexity or difficulty level of the information or of the to-be-learned content. Extraneous cognitive load results from techniques in which the material is presented.” (University of South Alabama, 2006) The idea of this theory is that we have a certain amount of mental resources to devote to a task. We have a great deal more long term memory than short term memory. So much of what we do is ingrained into habits because cognitively speaking we have more capacity for the long term resource management habit forming presents. When designing human interface, our focus has to be on extraneous cognitive load. Basically, the easier we make the software to learn, the easier it will be to implement in a more rapid fashion. Habits will be formed more quickly and training will be more successful. A great deal of care should be taken in the field of human design in enterprise resource planning implementation. 5.0 Methods and tools in understanding the design. Stakeholders will identify with UML process maps in their division. Understanding on how business processes drive the effects sought after by their company or division will be clearly understood. Why these effects are sought will be understood by stakeholders because nearly everyone should be aligned with the mission of the company. 6.0 Design trade-off issues within a final design According to the NASA Office of Logic Design, design trade-offs should be evaluated based upon reliability, expandability, programmability, maintainability, compatibility, adaptability, availability, and development status and cost. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA], 2010) Trade-offs occurs when a vendor and a company are ironing out the final details of the design. There are too many examples to mention, summarized the scope of the project has to be taken into account with the compromise and then the effect needs to be weighted. A decision should be made on that premise.
References
Armstrong Enterprise Communications, Inc.. (n.d.). ERP Readiness Assessment Program. Retrieved from http://www.arment.com/STATICCONTENT/STATICPAGES/pdf_files/ERP%20Readiness%20Assessment%20Program%20V1.pdf
Batschelet, A. W. (2002). Effects-based operations: A New Operational Model?. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.111.1050&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2010). A scientific study of the problems of digital engineering for space flight systems, with a view to their practical solution. Retrieved from http://klabs.org/history/history_docs/sp-8070/ch4/4p1_design_tradeoffs.htm
Sparx Systems. (2010). The Business Process Model. Retrieved from http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/downloads/whitepapers/businessProcessModelTutorial.pdf
The Hackett Group. (2010). Best Practices Defined: . Retrieved from http://www.thehackettgroup.com/best-practices/
University of South Alabama. (2006). Cognitive Load Theory. Retrieved from http://www.southalabama.edu/oll/mobile/theory_workbook/cognitive_load_theory.htm