Corporate information
systems and their role
JINR AIS/GRID School 2014
Rostislav Titov
CERN
Who Am I?
19 years of experience in development and support
of large enterprise information systems at CERN


1999: M.Sc. in Computer Science (MPEI)
2012: Ph.D. (MEPhI)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rostislavtitov
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

…
2
What is a “Large enterprise”?
Examples:

Consist of multiple business entities

… working towards common goals

… under common management

… located in different regions/countries
A large enterprise requires effective and
efficient distributed management with
multiple levels of hierarchy
CERN
JINR
3
Size of organizations and software
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
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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
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Russian ERP Market 2010
В. Мещеряков. «Российский рынок ERP: 1С растет быстрее всех», CNews
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Typical ERP components
Basic

Accounting system

Human resource management

Procurement and logistics

Business intelligence

Electronic document management
Additional

Customer relationship

Project management

E-Recruitment

…
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Accounting systems

Manage financial flows of the organization

Resource control and planning

Financial reporting

Purchase and sales orders

Tax calculation

Billing

Bookkeeping

Payroll
Russian ERP solutions
with accounting module:
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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
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HRMS: CERN example
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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
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Business intelligence and business analytics
Set of techniques and tools for the transformation of raw data into meaningful
and useful information for business analysis purposes

Data mining

Multidimensional reporting (OLAP)

Simulation and forecasts

Processing of unstructured data

Statistical analysis and
predictive modelling
(business analytics)

Alerts
Extract, Transform and
Load (ETL) – a process of
extraction data from
databases into a data
warehouse (a system for
reporting and analysis)
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Electronic Document Management
Enterprise Content
Management
(ECM)
Business
Process
Mgmnt
(BPM)
Electronic
Document
Management
Document
Recognition
(OCR)
Content
Management
Systems (CMS)
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Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECM)
Purpose: Full document lifecycle support

Content management (all formats)

Full-text search (PDF, DOC, etc…)

Document conversion

Records Management

Version control

Metadata

Workflows

Document grouping

Collaborative work
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ECM Example: Alfresco
Web Interface
Shared Folders
Outlook Integration
SharePoint/Office
Integration
E-Mail interface
Mobile UI
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Document Capture and Recognition Software
Software for converting scanned images into electronic documents

Mass scanning

Transformation into different formats

Bar-code recognition

Text recognition

Integration with ECM systems

Search information
Use cases: Converting paper documents into an electronic
form, invoice recognition, recognition and parsing of CVs, …
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OCR Example: ChronoScan
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Content Management Systems (CMS)
CMS ≠ ECM!! Today CMS usually means web content
management (web site management)

[Web] content management

Version control

Collaborative work
Joomla

Document publishing (Web, RSS, Social)

Search and navigation support

Various plug-ins
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When to use a CMS?

Web-site with over 10 pages

… or updated more than once a week

… or being edited by multiple persons
Most popular CMS
systems (Jan 2014)
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Business Process Management Systems
Purpose: improving corporate performance by managing
and optimizing a company's business processes

Reinforcement of the rules

Structured data entry (electronic forms)

Collection of electronic signatures

Document workflows

Electronic document archive
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Example: CERN Electronic Document Handling
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Off-the-shelf products vs. custom developments
Off-the-shelf products – commercially available systems
that can be adapted to the needs of the organization
 The cost and complexity of adaptation depend on the needs of
organization and the scale and can be quite high
Custom developments – created specifically for a certain
task/organization
 Used to solve specific problems
 Often do not have prototypes
 Usually cannot be re-used
 High risks and costs
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”
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When to use custom developments
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)
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Best of breed vs integrated suite
“Best of Breed”
Integrated Suite
Needs
Needs
Needs
Package
Needs
Needs
Needs
Package
Needs
Interfaces
Needs
Needs
Needs
Package
Needs
Package
Not needed

Missing
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)
Web applications
Web
Client (Web browser)
Generally, only the application server is
accessible from the Web. Database and
other internal servers are protected from
unauthorized access by a firewall
Application
server
Database
servers
Server
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Web applications pros and cons

Accessible from anywhere

Use web browser – no installation on the client side

Cross platform (desktop, mobile)

Ease of upgrade
Disadvantages
 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.
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Software as a Service
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.

Reduced IT costs (maintenance by the SaaS provider)

Monthly or yearly subscription

More often updates
Disadvantages

Security and legal issues (data stored at 3rd party)

Limited possibilities for customization
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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
Although corporate systems can be very expensive and very
hard to implement, they can be very cost efficient.
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Example: OpenCMS
http://www.finddiagnostics.org
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EDH Helps to Meet the Challenge
 Reduce
costs
 Increase
efficiency
 Streamline
 Increase
productivity
 Empower
 Maintain
processes
workforce
control
 At
least 40 FTE saved
 Reuse
 50%
– cloning
documents < 24h
 < Admin,
> Core activities
 Delegation
of rights
 Enforcing
business rules
(Budget, Safety)
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e-Recruitment
Personnel requirement support ≠ a job-finding web site !

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
Especially useful for large organizations
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Customer Relationship Management
Назначение: увеличение степени удовлетворённости клиентов за счёт
анализа накопленной информации о клиентском поведении, регулирования
тарифной политики, настройки инструментов маркетинга

Ведение клиентской базы

Анализ собранной информации о клиентах

Взаимодействие с клиентами (промоакции и т.п.)
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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
Пример: Большой адронный коллайдер ЦЕРН
 Бюджет 6 миллиардов долларов США
 10’000 участников из более 100 стран и 500 институтов
 Система EVM@CERN: весь проект был разбит на ???
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