Port 80: Docks: common business processes

Tote that barge! Lift that bale! The world's work is getting done online. Where Boardwalk introduces people and communities, it's on the Docks where you find out how business is done online.

Whether they're storefronts, catalogues, classrooms, professional offices, workrooms, reports, complex financial and legal documents, or just simple brochures, webs need to be managed, marketed, and administered.

What's new? What's changing? What's staying the same? Even though communicating online is new, much of what we knew before still applies.

As a rule of thumb, assume that the old ways apply. However, when it is clear that they don't, you should be willing, at least temporarily, to abandon all your old assumptions and mental models.

other Docks sections

eBusiness

vocabulary

I've noticed many use the terms ebusiness and ecommerce somewhat loosely. For example, the First Monday article above uses electronic commerce in the way I'd use ebusiness. Because we are studying them directly, we need tighter definitions.

These terms are new and changing rapidly. Two years ago, i-business and i-commerce were as common as e-business and e-commerce. Now, I don't hear the i-words at all. But I'm starting to hear the m-words: m-business for mobile business.

Is the product or service we're talking about made of atoms or bits?

Is delivery done online or offline?

Is payment made online or offline?

e-business

Any Internet-enabled business process, such as marketing, training, or supply-chain integration, especially that done on the Web. Includes virtual private networks (VPNs) and intranets (LANs behind corporate firewalls using TCP/IP). Does not include stand-alone desktop computing of documents that will be printed. Nor does it include legacy proprietary networks such as Lotus Notes and Novell.

DaimlerChrysler Corp. is embarking on a multimillion-dollar project to bring together design engineers on a Web-based collaborative system dubbed FastCar that executives say could shave billions of dollars off the cost of car development over the next few years.

Those savings will primarily come from eliminating miscommunication that can arise as teams of engineers and designers work to build specific models, executives say.

e-commerce

Internet-enabled transactions, that is, sales of goods and services, and business processes directly supporting sales. Includes advertising, promotion, brand management, customer service, sales force automation, customer relationship management. Includes off-line processes such as print advertisements and 800-numbers directly in support of a Web site where transactions are made.

For purposes of this course, MBA 600, we will focus on the parts of ebusiness other than ecommerce, which awaits us in MBA 604.

visual description

vertical - (y axis) - information within an organization and along a supply chain all the way to customers, whether another business or a consumer; marketplaces

horizontal - (x axis) - information among departments / functions of related organizations; outsourced services

depth ?? - (z-axis) - information among communities of interest, however fragmented, anonymous, temporary, and asynchronous

How is information flowing in and out of organizations (supply chains)?

Covisint

A buyer receives a request from engineering to source a braking system for new a vehicle. The design engineer's request stipulates certain performance characteristics and establishes a cost target. The buyer asks five brake suppliers to submit a detailed design proposal.

The buyer uses the Covisint Quote Manager tool to assemble a package containing all the documents that define the braking system requirements, including images, Statements of Requirements (SORs), delivery and shipping terms, quality goals, etc. All five potential suppliers can review this package online, download materials and edit certain documents. The buyer then issues a Request for Quote (RFQ).

The suppliers develop and assemble their RFQ responses using the Covisint Quote Manager tool. When their responses are complete, they use Covisint Quote Manager to route their submissions.

When the buyer reviews the material submitted by each of the five suppliers, it is determined that the quality goals are not achievable. After internal discussions with the engineer, new goals are set. The buyer then modifies the document in the package and all five suppliers are automatically notified of the change via a system-generated e-mail. The suppliers respond to the new requirement by modifying their proposals in the system.

After further review, the buyer decides to negotiate with two of the potential suppliers based on their technical proposals. Both suppliers are invited to participate in further negotiations. The buyer then arranges an online bidding process through the Covisint Auctions tool. Finally, a supplier is selected based on their design, their commitment to quality, and their price.

Alphabet soup

1) Use a table or chart to directly compare an open source application with a proprietary application according to their features and costs/benefits. Total cost of ownership includes training and support costs, too. What will the software do for an organization or supply chain? What will it enable in the future?

If you don't find an open source application that is directly comparable, do the best you can. A generic content management system can be adapted to any organizational function.

2) Write an impact statement: What will the application do to the organization or 2) Write an impact statement: What will the application do to (or do for) the organization or supply chain?

areas of responsibility	types of software
management	Content Management Systems Enterprise Resource Planning Decision Support Systems spreadsheets database management systems executive information systems expert systems
operations	Supply Chain Management Procurement Product Lifecycle Management inventory mgmt, procurement, logistics, scheduling, order processing
marketing	Customer Relationship Management channel management, vertical marketplace, mkt dev, product info sales, help desk, call center, customer service
finance	Financial payment, lending
HR	Human Resource Information Systems benefits, payroll, personnel info, Computer-Based Training
information and research	development environments (ex: LAMP vs Windows, IIS, Access, Visual Basic), firewalls and networks, portals Knowledge Management Systems, for example, Plumb Design's Graphical Thesaurus and Think Map and The Brain's WebBrain vs open source KM apps

For each of the kinds of software on the table above, you'll find lots of proprietary software and usually a couple of portal sites and news magazine sites if you use the search terms above, for example, financial reporting systems or customer relationship management. If you search again adding "open source" to the beginning of the search keywords, you'll find another interesting group of software to compare.

For example, when I entered "CRM evaluation", this page, CRM Software comparison checklist, was near the top. However, what you find that way probably won't include any open source applications.

For criteria of comparison, use the features and benefits that the vendors themselves tout. At a portal site or news site, you might find that the comparison has already been done for you. However, what you find that way probably won't include any open source applications. You'll have to do that part separately and try to fit them into the same table.

Unfortunately, too many executives are frightened to death of being left in the dust by �tech-savvy� competitors. Out of that fear, Jim Collins notes in his book Good to Great, decision makers often stab the darkness looking for a technological �savior� for their business problems. The software vendors call it a "solution". But without a coherent strategy and effective corporate culture, more technology only magnifies the existing flaws. If a business process does not work, the technology accelerant will only make it fail in faster, more costly and more spectacular ways.

sign of the times

Enron Feels The Power
By Robert Preston And Mike Koller
Internet Week, October 30, 2000

Most e-businesses -- even the visionaries -- tap the Internet mainly to enhance what they already do. Then there's Enron Corp., a 15-year-old energy company that's seized on the Net to redefine its entire business and the industries it dares to dominate.

In fact, the Internet is transforming Enron so fast that its executives aren't quite sure how to describe the company anymore.

As Enron rages, the call for stricter oversight is reaching a crescendo among legislators, regulators and shareholders. Looking to avoid the taint of financial impropriety, real or imagined, many companies aren't waiting for revised rules.

not here

design and production processes -- learn more at Gizmos, Inc.

communications

digital technology -- learn more at Gizmos, Inc., Toolkit





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modified: August 10, 2004 by Douglas Anderson http://RicciStreet.net/port80/docks/index.html

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