Rostislav Titov CERN Corporate information systems and their role JINR AIS/GRID School 2014

Who Am I? 2  1999: M.Sc. in Computer Science (MPEI)  2012: Ph.D. (MEPhI) 19 years of experience in development and support of large enterprise information systems at CERN Head of the CERN E-Business unit since 2011:  Electronic Document Handling system (EDH)  CERN Stores Catalogue  Absence management  Document management  CERN hotel software support  …

What is a “Large enterprise”? 3  Consist of multiple business entities  … working towards common goals  … under common management  … located in different regions/countries Examples: CERN JINR A large enterprise requires effective and efficient distributed management with multiple levels of hierarchy

Size of organizations and software 4 Small companies Relatively simple “off-the-shelf” software  Relatively easy to install and use, but limited functionality  Not very expensive Middle-size companies More advanced software  Provide more functionality and flexibility then “off-the-shelf” systems  Usually require adaptation to the needs of organization  Require training Large Enterprises Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems  Collect and manage data from many business activities  Planning and tracking of all resources of the organization  Support distributed nature of processes  Require even more adaptation and training

5 Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a suite of integrated business management applications that a company can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities  Common platform for management of all resources  Common database  Multiple modules for different business areas  Homogenous information  Common user interface  Complex  Expensive  Service life over 5-10 years

6 Russian ERP Market 2010 В. Мещеряков. «Российский рынок ERP: 1С растет быстрее всех», CNews

Typical ERP components  Accounting system  Human resource management  Procurement and logistics  Business intelligence  Electronic document management 7 Basic Additional  Customer relationship  Project management  E-Recruitment  …

Accounting systems  Manage financial flows of the organization  Resource control and planning  Financial reporting  Purchase and sales orders  Tax calculation  Billing  Bookkeeping  Payroll 8 Russian ERP solutions with accounting module:

Human resource management systems  Personnel information  Career planning  Motivation of personnel (salary, benefits,…)  Performance appraisal  Talent management (training, development plans…)  Absence management  Planning and modelling of personnel situation 9

HRMS: CERN example 10

Procurement and logistics  Planning and control of material, part and product flow  Implementing and controlling the effective and efficient flow of goods  Procurement (in accordance with needs)  Monitoring of resources and in-time replenishment  Transportation and handling  Warehouse management 11

Business intelligence and business analytics 12  Data mining  Multidimensional reporting (OLAP)  Simulation and forecasts  Processing of unstructured data  Statistical analysis and predictive modelling (business analytics)  Alerts Set of techniques and tools for the transformation of raw data into meaningful and useful information for business analysis purposes Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) – a process of extraction data from databases into a data warehouse (a system for reporting and analysis)

Electronic Document Management 13 Electronic Document Management Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Content Management Systems (CMS) Business Process Mgmnt (BPM) Document Recognition (OCR)

Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECM)  Content management (all formats)  Full-text search (PDF, DOC, etc…)  Document conversion  Records Management  Version control  Metadata  Workflows  Document grouping  Collaborative work 14 Purpose: Full document lifecycle support

ECM Example: Alfresco 15 Web Interface Outlook Integration SharePoint/Office Integration Mobile UI Shared Folders interface

Document Capture and Recognition Software  Mass scanning  Transformation into different formats  Bar-code recognition  Text recognition  Integration with ECM systems  Search information 16 Software for converting scanned images into electronic documents Use cases: Converting paper documents into an electronic form, invoice recognition, recognition and parsing of CVs, …

OCR Example: ChronoScan 17

Content Management Systems (CMS)  [Web] content management  Version control  Collaborative work  Document publishing (Web, RSS, Social)  Search and navigation support  Various plug-ins 18 CMS ≠ ECM!! Today CMS usually means web content management (web site management) Joomla

When to use a CMS?  Web-site with over 10 pages  … or updated more than once a week  … or being edited by multiple persons 19 Most popular CMS systems (Jan 2014)

Business Process Management Systems  Reinforcement of the rules  Structured data entry (electronic forms)  Collection of electronic signatures  Document workflows  Electronic document archive 20 Purpose: improving corporate performance by managing and optimizing a company's business processes

Example: CERN Electronic Document Handling 21

Off-the-shelf products vs. custom developments Off-the-shelf products – commercially available systems that can be adapted to the needs of the organization Custom developments – created specifically for a certain task/organization 22  Used to solve specific problems  Often do not have prototypes  Usually cannot be re-used  High risks and costs  The cost and complexity of adaptation depend on the needs of organization and the scale and can be quite high Only 32% of IT projects are done on time and within budget 24% of IT projects are cancelled prior to completion Standish Group “CHAOS Summary 2009”

When to use custom developments 23 In most cases, commercially available systems is the best choice  More cost effective in the long term  Easier maintenance (usually)  Well-known (easy to train and hire experts, easier integration) Custom developments are better in certain specific cases  Commercial systems not available, not appropriate or too costly  Specific requirements or specific use cases  Bridging the gap between commercial systems and specific needs of the organization Pareto’s Law (80/20)

Best of breed vs integrated suite Package Needs Missing Not needed Package Needs Interfaces Integrated Suite “Best of Breed” CERN Choice: Best of Breed –Buy best solution for each business unit –We manage the integration & customizations –We provide transparent layer for end-users

System Architecture  Traditional client-server  Web applications  Software as a service (SAAS) 25 Database servers Application server Client (Web browser) Web Generally, only the application server is accessible from the Web. Database and other internal servers are protected from unauthorized access by a firewall Server Web applications

Web applications pros and cons  Accessible from anywhere  Use web browser – no installation on the client side  Cross platform (desktop, mobile)  Ease of upgrade 26  More vulnerable for hackers Prevented by applying Internet security best practices and/or by placing the web application on the Intranet (accessible only for the employees of the organization)  Less interactive user interface Partially solved by HTML5, modern JavaScript libraries, AJAX, Flash, etc. Disadvantages

Software as a Service  Reduced IT costs (maintenance by the SaaS provider)  Monthly or yearly subscription  More often updates 27 Software delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted in a cloud. SaaS is typically accessed via a web browser. Disadvantages  Security and legal issues (data stored at 3 rd party)  Limited possibilities for customization

Why corporate information systems?  Increase effectiveness and efficiency of the management  Faster response to changes  Compliance to standards  Transparency  Optimization of business processes  More efficient document and knowledge management 28 Although corporate systems can be very expensive and very hard to implement, they can be very cost efficient.

Example: OpenCMS 30

Reduce costs Increase efficiency Maintain control Streamline processes Increase productivity Empower workforce Reduce costs Increase efficiency Maintain control Streamline processes Increase productivity Empower workforce At least 40 FTE saved Reuse – cloning 50% documents < 24h Core activities Delegation of rights Enforcing business rules (Budget, Safety) EDH Helps to Meet the Challenge 31

e-Recruitment  Publish vacancies on the corporate site and social networks  Electronic application forms  Database of CVs  Integration with social networks  Integration with mobile devices  Online testing and online interviews 32 Personnel requirement support ≠ a job-finding web site ! Especially useful for large organizations

Customer Relationship Management  Ведение клиентской базы  Анализ собранной информации о клиентах  Взаимодействие с клиентами (промоакции и т.п.) 33 Назначение: увеличение степени удовлетворённости клиентов за счёт анализа накопленной информации о клиентском поведении, регулирования тарифной политики, настройки инструментов маркетинга

Системы управления проектами  Сопровождение крупных проектов  Координация совместной работы рабочих групп  Контроль за сроками и бюджетом проекта (например по методологии управления выполненной стоимостью EVM)  Отчеты для руководства 34 Пример: Большой адронный коллайдер ЦЕРН  Бюджет 6 миллиардов долларов США  10’000 участников из более 100 стран и 500 институтов  Система весь проект был разбит на ??? Пример: Большой адронный коллайдер ЦЕРН  Бюджет 6 миллиардов долларов США  10’000 участников из более 100 стран и 500 институтов  Система весь проект был разбит на ???