NSI corporate support system. Unified Regulatory Reference Information Management System (NSI)
Creation of a unified system management of regulatory and reference information(NSI) will help solve a whole range of problems caused by the multiplicity of input points of NSI, the lack of common standards conducting NSI and insufficiently qualified personnel.
The result of the introduction of a centralized system for managing reference data is bringing records of corporate directories to a standard, easily identifiable form, eliminating irrelevant and duplicate information, organizing a single point of entry, processing and control of the contents of directories. All this provides opportunities for improving the quality of accounting data consolidation, simplifying the tasks of preparing financial statements and IFRS statements, optimizing inventories, improving the quality of management decisions.
Centralized management of reference information with DATAREON
DATAREON specialists have considerable experience in systematization reference information, development of uniform regulations for the use and maintenance of reference data, implementation of specialized automated control systems for reference data based on the MDM system "1C: Enterprise 8. MDM Management of reference data". Within the framework of the completed projects, DATAREON specialists carried out expert processing of records in MTR directories, services, counterparties, directories of the financial block, organizational structure and personnel management.
Successful experience in the field of NSI management, tested in practice effective methods and own expertise allow DATAREON to optimize the use of resources of client enterprises as a result of automation of master data management.
To clarify how automation of the management of regulatory and reference information can be useful and cost-effective specifically for your enterprise, please contact us.
What is regulatory reference information (NSI)?
Reference information- conditionally constant component of the general corporate information. It is used in the regulation of the company's activities, providing "crosslinking" of data that accompanies the company's business processes. In other words, NSI- this is the core of a single information space of the organization, which includes a set of directories, dictionaries, classifiers, standards, regulations used in the activities of the enterprise.
Prerequisites for the organization of centralized management of regulatory and reference information
Creation of a single information space - necessary condition effective management modern large and medium enterprises. Formation of a unified environment involves integration management processes accompanied by the normalization of information flows. Often, the movement of information in different intra-corporate technological areas is supported by various information and accounting systems. Accordingly, there is a need to integrate these systems.
The task of integrating information and accounting systems consists of two interrelated parts: data integration and subsequent application integration. Performing data integration, the enterprise should carry out the unification and standardization of regulatory and reference information.
What is the need for centralized management of NSI
- Rational operation of the corporate information system as a whole
- Improving the reliability and completeness of primary accounting and consolidated reporting information
- Ensuring compatibility of accounting and reporting documents
- Centralization of responsibility for the quality of reference information
- The use of high-quality (up-to-date, complete, consistent, reliable, unified) regulatory and reference information by all users of information and accounting systems of the enterprise
- Growth in the efficiency of management decisions and operational control of key production and economic indicators as a result of the consolidation of standardized NSI data
"The Historical Legacy of Automation in large companies and holdings in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is deplorable: individual systems and "systems" work on different software platforms and use different local directories that are not connected in any way, which hinders information exchange and data consolidation. Many experts tend to use such metaphors as "patchwork automation" and "information zoo" in this situation. The key solution to the problem is the creation of a Unified system for maintaining regulatory and reference information, which standardizes and unifies all information flows within the company.” (From the article by the President of the NCIT "INTERTECH" D. E. Gulko "The system of regulatory and reference information: typical errors and misconceptions", published in the journal " Gas industry» No. 6 in June 2004)
Based on the results of the analysis of information systems used in large companies and government agencies, the experts of the NCIT "INTERTECH" came to the following conclusions:
- most of the applied systems used are built on different software and hardware platforms;
- applied systems are not integrated with each other, they use non-standardized directories that differ in structure and composition;
- there is no centralized system to support user access to reference information;
- existing directories do not fully describe accounting objects, their names are not unified, the coding system is not standardized;
- when structuring large information arrays, classifiers are not used to facilitate the search for the required information.
Let's highlight some of the main problems of maintaining NSI, which significantly increase the material and labor costs of many companies and government agencies for the implementation of important business processes:
- consolidation of applications for centralized purchases and compilation of consolidated applications;
- formation and execution of the budget in terms of logistics;
- placement and control of execution of orders, control of warehouse balances;
- accounting and traffic control material flows throughout the supply chain;
- formation and prompt provision of statistical and analytical information necessary for making effective management decisions.
As a solution to these problems, INTERTECH proposes the creation of a unified system for maintaining reference data, linking all the regulatory and reference information of divisions, subsidiaries and partners of the company into a corporate information space.
To implement this solution, you need:
Develop and adopt standards and regulations for maintaining NSI:
- Standard of the Company "Composition and structure of the Unified System for Maintaining Reference Data, Classification and Coding Systems".
- Regulations on the use by divisions and subsidiaries of the Unified System for Maintaining NSI, classification and coding systems.
- Regulations for maintaining and maintaining the Unified System for Maintaining NSI, classification and coding systems.
- Regulations for ensuring access of company users to the resources of the Unified System for Maintaining Reference Data and their technical support.
Use the method of ontological classification and coding developed by INTERTECH specialists.
The technique allows to standardize the actions of specialists-experts when they carry out operations on classification and coding of groups (classes) of accounting objects, determination of properties (attributes) of classes and their values, construction of navigation hierarchies.
The methodology includes a description of typical user requests, divided into groups according to the degree of uncertainty and inaccuracy of wording, and recommendations on the actions of specialists (experts) of the support service.
Implement an automated system that provides:
- support of the accepted technology of information classification and coding;
- user access to the resources of the Unified System for Maintaining and Managing NSI - direct, through a web interface or through existing application systems;
- the work of support services of the Unified system for maintaining and managing NSI, classification and coding systems in accordance with the developed regulations.
4. Stages of work
Below are the main stages of work on the creation of a unified system for the maintenance and management of reference data.
5. The essence of the approach
The proposed approach is based on the principles of evolution, adaptability, continuity, standardization and unification, taking into account the human factor.
evolutionary The development of the system involves a step-by-step transition to modern principles of maintaining and maintaining corporate NSI. The general scheme of this approach is as follows: old -> old + new -> new, when at intermediate stages the parallel existence of the old and new systems is allowed.
adaptability systems to the specifics and landscapes of existing application systems (including ERP-class systems), to the various classification and coding systems used, suggests the ability of the system to integrate with external systems.
Continuity allows you to save all the best and valuable that has been accumulated over the years and decades. This concerns the use of the potential of NSI specialists, not disrupting the functioning of existing application systems, the possibilities of migration and transformation of accumulated information arrays.
Standardization and unification regulations and methodology for the use and maintenance of corporate reference data, classification and coding systems, which makes it possible to ensure the constant relevance and availability of reference data throughout the company.
Accounting for the human factor implies the ability to work in the system various categories users, with different skills and "degrees of advancement" in the field information technologies, ergonomic design and "friendliness" of system interfaces.
6. Software
Ontologiс 4.6 is widely used by many of the largest Russian companies as a platform for MDM solutions. On this platform, NSI management systems (MDM) have been developed and implemented in companies such as TNK-BP, Tatneft, SIBUR, INTEGRA, Norilsk Nickel, Transmashholding, Transneft, GOZNAK, Polyus-Zoloto, NOVATEK, etc.
Taking into account the experience of such implementations, INTERTECH supplies finished standard solution for NSI management system .
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
6.1. Solution architecture
The composition of the solution components:
- applications server;
- database server;
- integration module;
- client applications (AWPs).
Application server software used:
- IIS 7.5 or higher;
- .NET Framework 4.5
Database server software used:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard;
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard or Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard;
- .NET Framework 4.5.
Software used on workstations of users, experts, administrators:
- Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7/8/10, 32 or 64-bit;
- .NET Framework 4.5;
- Microsoft Excel 2007/2010/2013/2016;
- Internet Explorer 11.
6.2. System functionality
Data search functions:
- search by directory entry attributes (names, etc.);
- search in text fields using word forms;
- taxonomic search by properties/characteristics;
- search by hierarchies of classifiers/headings of navigators.
Functions for exporting and printing information about directory entries:
- data export to external files in .xls, .txt, .mdb, .xml formats;
- printing of the found directory positions.
User functions for updating the directory:
- formation/editing of a request for adding/changing a directory position;
- sending a request to add/change a position to the NSI Service;
- monitoring the status of request processing.
Functions of the NSI maintenance expert:
- processing a request to add/change a position;
- maintaining a class library (creating/correcting hierarchies);
- creating/changing positions in the directory;
- adding to the position of the directory of documents;
- generating reports related to the processing of user requests and updating reference books;
System administration functions:
- settings of classifiers and directories and links between the created tables;
- editing the directory structure (adding / deleting / changing the format of fields in the directory entry);
- data export-import;
- adding and editing user functional roles;
- user registration, functional role assignment and user activation;
- archiving data and restoring data from the archive;
- audit of user actions;
- setting up and monitoring the operation of modules and components of the system (including integration with application systems).
6.3. Information content
The solution comes with a pre-configured structure of directories and classifiers and downloaded demo content. The composition includes:
MATERIALS (MTR):
- Classifier with hierarchies and taxonomic property sets;
- Directory with the following attributes: material name, brand, specifications, references to the standard, to the Ontologic class, to the group of materials, etc.;
- Auxiliary directories (MTR groups, units of measure, etc.).
CONTRACTORS:
- Directory of counterparties with the following attributes: name of the counterparty, TIN, KPP, addresses, contact information, etc.;
- Reference book of banks.
- Reference book of settlement accounts of counterparties.
- Auxiliary directories (organizational-legal forms, addresses, etc.).
CUSTOM REFERENCES AND CLASSIFIERS:
With the help of advanced flexible configuration and administration tools, the Ontologiс 4.6 platform allows you to create custom directories and classifiers of a given structure, including directories and classifiers of documents, accounting objects, etc. Flexible customization is also possible existing structures directories and classifiers.
6.4. Integration options
The solution integration tools on the ONTOLOGIC 4.6 platform allow you to configure various scenarios for replicating data updates from the EU NSI to the customer's application systems using integration buses (SAP PI / XI, IBM WebSphere, etc.) or file exchange.
7. Expected results from the implementation of the system
- A centralized repository of regulatory and reference information that operates within the framework of a single information space of the Company, and includes the entire range of material and technical resources and other accounting items at the disposal of the Company.
- Centralization of the functions of maintaining regulatory and reference information based on the developed corporate standards for classification and coding.
- A single regulation and technological environment for user access to the NSI, maintenance and management of the NSI by experts (classifier and directory) and technical support systems administrators.
- Embedded in the system software, maintaining the required level of data security and their constant updating, excluding the storage of duplicate, erroneous or outdated information.
- Integration of classifiers and master reference reference books into existing management, accounting and other systems, which allows streamlining and reducing costs for the processes of maintaining regulatory and reference information.
- Prompt provision of the company's management with the information necessary for making effective management decisions.
INTERTECH is the developer and owner of a unique methodology and technology for building classifiers corporate level, software"OK" and filled databases, which allows complex "turnkey" to solve all the problems described above.
INTERTECH is profile company , the only one in Russia dealing with the problem of classification and unification of descriptions of industrial products, goods, works and services, at a high scientific and technical level, using modern effective technologies and methods of ontological classification. INTERTECH has state accreditation as a scientific organization.
INTERTECH has real implementations their decisions on the construction of the Unified systems for maintaining NSI, classification and coding (ontological classifier).
INTERTECH leads full cycle of design work – from consulting, including the survey and analysis of existing information systems, flows and processes, the development of recommendations for reengineering, the development of regulatory and methodological bases, to the development and implementation of turnkey systems.
INTERTECH has introduced into its production process and uses quality management system in full compliance with the requirements of GOST R ISO 9001-2001.
INTERTECH actively interacts and coordinates work in the field of classification with the State Standard of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Science of the Russian Federation, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
INTERTECH has all the necessary licenses (FAPSI and the State Technical Commission under the President of the Russian Federation) for the right to work with information security systems on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The systems and solutions developed by INTERTECH have passed the examination and have positive reviews from a number of ministries and departments, including the State Standard of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Science of the Russian Federation, the Higher School of Economics, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Russian Academy public service(RAGS) under the President of the Russian Federation, etc.
Federal State Educational Institution
Higher Professional Education
National Research Technological University "MISiS"
department automated systems management
Course work on the course
"System Theory and System Analysis"
Fulfilled: Avdoshina Olga
Group: MA-10-1/I810-4
Teacher: Morozov E.A.
Moscow2014
1. Definition of reference information 3
2. Problems and needs of companies to the NSI management system. 3
3. Unified NSI management system (EU NSI) 5
4. Creation of an automated control system for NSI 8
4.1. Analysis of NSI 8
4.2. Choice of architecture and estimation of the cost of creating an automated control system for NSI 10
4.3 Implementation 15
5.Persons responsible for maintaining NSI 16
6. Efficiency of implementation 18
7. List of used literature 20
Definition of reference information
The operation of each automated system is based on regulatory reference information (NSI). NSI is a conditionally permanent part of all corporate information that does not undergo significant changes in the course of the organization's daily activities. The NSI includes: dictionaries, reference books and classifiers, the elements of which (for example, codes, names of materials, services, contractors, units of measurement, etc.) are used in the formation of current documents.
Reference data is used in automated systems in the formation of operational documents, planning and reporting. Accordingly, the quality of this planned, operational and reporting information directly depends on the quality of the NSI. Mistakes in management associated with low-quality information sometimes cost businesses many millions of dollars in losses.
Problems and needs of companies to the NSI management system.
In companies, as a rule, several automated systems are used that support various business processes, in which the same directories are maintained independently of each other. This very typical situation causes the following problems:
Additional costs for independent maintenance of the same directories;
Additional costs associated with ensuring the information interaction of systems using different directories of the same NSI objects;
High labor intensity and high cost of generating consolidated reporting based on data in which the same reference data objects (goods, services, counterparties) have different codes and names;
Low quality of reference data.
What does “poor-quality” regulatory and reference data mean? These are reference data that:
Have problems structuring MTR by groups;
Duplicate or contradictory data of the reference book of material and technical resources (goods and services) in 70% of cases lead to a significant increase in the enterprise's inventory and the formation of illiquid assets. For example:
The absence of the necessary parameters in the description of the product in the directory can lead to the fact that a product will be purchased that does not meet the required characteristics. As a result, illiquid assets are formed in warehouses;
The presence of duplicates in the directory will not allow you to correctly perform the automatic mixing of all ordered MTRs of the same name in order to obtain a consolidated application. As a result, the order will be placed with the supplier in different batches and the company will not receive a discount for placing a large order, and therefore, the purchase will be made at a higher price;
The use of different codes and names of materials and equipment by different departments does not allow analyzing the availability of materials and equipment in warehouses and the use of existing stocks, instead of purchasing new materials and equipment, which also leads to financial losses.
The low quality of NSI data is a consequence of the lack of specialization in the conduct of NSI. The tasks of improving business efficiency, the need to build a modern foundation for the development of the IT landscape of companies, the construction of new corporate ERP systems and the development of existing ones require an increase in the efficiency of regulatory and reference data management. The introduction of the Unified NSI Management System solves this problem.
The functioning of automated systems (AS), which are part of the corporate information system of an organization (enterprise, institution, integrated structure, public authority) and ensure the implementation of key business processes, is impossible without the use of regulatory reference information (NSI). Accordingly, the effectiveness of management modern organization largely depends on the quality of NSI.
LM Soft offers services for creating corporate system management of NSI (KSU NSI) of an organization that allows maintaining the quality of regulatory and reference support of its AS at the required level.
The key element of the LM Soft methodological approach to the management of reference data is the organization within the framework of the corporate information system of a single Reference Fund - a set of interconnected directories, classifiers, dictionaries and normative documents used by all speakers. The management of NSI arrays included in the Fund is carried out centrally by a special service - the corporate center of NSI.
The creation of the NSI KSU is a set of works on setting up and automating the three main groups of processes for managing the NSI Fund:
the processes of maintaining the RSI Fund (updating the NSI arrays included in the Fund, and information services for RSI consumers - the Fund's subscribers);
processes of expert and methodological support of NSI arrays;
processes of organizational support of NSI arrays.
The work includes activities to form the main types of system support:
organizational (preparation of the organizational structure, organizational documents and regulations);
informational (reconciliation, normalization, classification, coding, development of new NSI arrays, etc.);
methodical (development of necessary methods);
software.
A generalized work organization scheme is shown in the figure.
expand all sections
Prerequisites for creating a corporate management system for NSI
The data processed in the AS of any organization can be divided into two categories:
operative information;
reference information.
Operational information - characteristics of specific operations performed by organizational units. For example, on industrial enterprise it is formed in the AC class:
CAD / CAM (Computer Aided Design - Computer Aided Design / Computer Aided Manufacturing - Computer Aided Production Preparation);
PLM / PDM (Product Lifecycle Management - Product Lifecycle Management / Product Data Management - Product Data Management);
MES (Manufacturing Execution System - management system production processes);
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning - Enterprise Resource Planning);
CRM (Customer Relationship Management - Customer Relationship Management), etc.
Thus, operational information supports the management of business processes of design, production, marketing, supply, financial management, etc.
NSI - conditionally permanent information borrowed from regulatory documents and reference books and used in the operation of the AU. In foreign practice, in relation to NSI, the term Master Data (Basic data) is used. In the AS database, regulatory and reference information is represented by NSI arrays - data sets formed on the basis of documents.
Operational information is formed on the basis of NSI. Consequently, with a low quality of reference data (errors in records, duplication, contradictions, incomplete description of objects), the efficiency of enterprise management is significantly reduced.
Typical reasons Low quality NSI are:
lack of unified classification and coding systems for NSI arrays with information about homogeneous objects;
lack of standards for describing objects represented by NSI array records;
lack of regulations for maintaining NSI arrays.
The low quality of NSI leads to the following main problems:
the complexity of integrating the AS of an enterprise into a single information space;
impossibility of prompt receipt of consolidated reporting, monitoring of key indicators;
the impossibility of a full-fledged organization of centralized processes (purchases, after-sales service, etc.);
mismatch of product information at various stages of its life cycle.
The emerging problems are solved by creating a corporate management system for NSI.
Organization of the functioning of the KSU NSI
KSU NSI provides automated execution of the following processes:
1. Maintaining arrays of the NSI Foundation:
updating the arrays of the NSI Foundation;
information service for subscribers of the NSI Fund;
2. Expert and methodological support of the NSI Foundation:
formation and normalization of arrays of the NSI Foundation;
quality control of NSI arrays;
monitoring of information resources and needs in NSI of subdivisions and AS of the organization;
development of regulatory and methodological documents for the maintenance and support of the NSI Fund.
3. Organizational support of the NSI Foundation:
maintaining the register of the NSI Foundation (register of NSI arrays);
maintaining a register of reference materials suppliers;
maintenance of the register of subscribers of the NSI Fund;
administration of NSI Foundation users.
The scheme of functioning of the NSI Fund is given below:
Basic software
When creating the CMS NSI, software products of the MDM (Master Data Management) class are used, which implement the basic functionality:
managing the contents of NSI arrays (data input/editing/export/import, support for data normalization and integrity control of related arrays);
viewing and searching for the contents of NSI arrays (including displaying complex hierarchies and searching for duplicates);
data quality control (creation and execution of complex scenarios for identifying and correcting errors of various types);
managing applications for adding/changing master data objects (including the implementation complex processes agreement);
integration (synchronization) of data (including the creation and execution of data synchronization scripts for any NSI array and each target AS - consumer of NSI);
administration of users and system resources.
Both the most common foreign industrial software products of the MDM class (master data management) - IBM InfoSphere MDM, SAP NetWeaver MDM, Oracle MDM, and the domestic specialized software package LM Soft MDM can be used as basic software.
The main work on the creation of the NSI KSU
The development of the KSU NSI includes the following main works:
determination of the list of the main functional areas of the organization's activities, within which the management of NSI is automated, the definition of goals and objectives of the NSI Fund;
formation of the register of automated systems of the enterprise, the register of local arrays of NSI in functional areas;
formation of the register of the NSI Foundation (registry of centralized arrays of NSI);
development of systems for classification and coding of arrays of the NSI Foundation, harmonized with industry, state and international reference books and classifiers;
development of standardized description formats;
functional modeling processes for collecting and making changes to the arrays of the NSI Fund, information services for subscribers of the NSI Fund;
construction of a generalized storage model of reference data and typical AS integration schemes in terms of reference data;
development of software and hardware architecture of MDM solution;
setting up a basic MDM system and developing additional software;
preparation of NSI arrays (classification, coding, reconciliation, normalization);
development of organizational and regulatory documents for the maintenance of the NSI Fund;
development of methods for transferring NSI arrays to centralized maintenance;
transfer of NSI arrays to centralized maintenance.
Advantages of the proposed approach to the creation of the NSI CS
The main advantages of LM Soft's approach to the development of NSI management systems include the following:
1) NSI arrays are developed in accordance with the internationally accepted approach to the description and codification of objects (catalogization).
Each group of homogeneous RSI objects should have a standardized description template with a standard base name and a fixed set of values for key characteristics. The composition of the characteristics in the template allows you to uniquely identify the object and assign it an identification code. Lists of group names, attribute descriptions of elements and their values are maintained in the format of dictionaries (reference books) in accordance with regulations that ensure their timely updating, uniqueness of values and compliance with regulatory requirements, which reduces the cost of maintaining master data arrays and integrating enterprise AS.
2) The design of the system is carried out in accordance with the methodology of the GOST 34 complex (Automated systems).
The NSI KSU is divided into functional subsystems (FS) according to the company's activities (logistics support, fixed assets management, contract management, financial management, etc.) and supporting subsystems (software, information support, methodological support, organizational support and etc.).
Each FP is responsible for the centralized maintenance of a complex of interrelated directories and classifiers of this area of activity. All FPs use shared resources provided by supporting subsystems (software, integration mechanisms, organizational structure etc.).
As a result of the introduction of the system, a single automated centralized NSI Fund begins to function in the company, supported by unified unified types of support. This reduces the cost of maintaining it, adding new functional subsystems and developing existing ones.
3) Any industrial software system of the MDM class can be used when creating the NSI CCS. At the same time, LM Soft offers its own specialized software package.
The LM Soft MDM complex is implemented on the basis of the version of the 1C: Enterprise platform certified by the FSTEC of Russia.
Use of domestic software system MDM solves the problem of import substitution in terms of software, significantly reduces the cost of the NSI implemented by the CMS (compared to the use of MDM systems from foreign manufacturers) and facilitates the task of creating secure NSI management systems.
Effects from the implementation of the CMS NSI
The effects of the implementation of the CMS NSI can be divided into two main groups:
1. Economic (quantitative indicators characterizing the results in the areas of activity of the Group of Companies, in physical or value terms):
reducing the cost of maintaining NSI;
reducing the cost of maintaining existing AS;
reduction of time for the introduction of new AS;
reducing the cost of AS integration;
increase in sales of final products and spare parts;
reducing the cost of purchasing material and technical resources;
reduction of warehouse stocks and illiquid assets;
2. Management ( qualitative indicators, characterizing positive changes in the areas of activity of the Group of Companies, which are difficult to assess in physical or value terms):
improving the reliability of analytical data;
reducing the time for preparing consolidated reports;
increase in the number and degree of detail of analytical features;
improving the efficiency of design and production processes;
improving the efficiency of after-sales service processes;
improving the efficiency of managing receivables and payables;
Dmitry Gulko
Cand. tech. Sciences, President
NCIT "Intertech"
Considering the problem of NSI in the context of business automation, it is important to understand that, contrary to a common misconception, NSI is not part of the ERP system: the NSI system provides the necessary service to all business applications. And if this is so, then the well-known concept of service-oriented architecture turns out to be very fruitful when it comes to technologies for accessing reference data both from various business systems and from their users.
“At the moment, there are so many heterogeneous information systems in our company. All of them should be informationally connected with each other, but the problem of their integration has not been solved in any way. We came to the conclusion that the key task that needs to be solved in order to integrate systems into a single information space is to put in order the reference books used, first of all, the reference book of materials ... ” Almost all customers say something like this when contacting NCIT Intertech. In general, the picture of the state of regulatory and reference information (RRI) at Russian enterprises looks sad (see sidebar “Problems of the current state of RRI”).
One of the typical misconceptions is that the NSI system is not considered as an independent supra-structural IT component, but as an "appendage" to a particular ERP system. So it turns out - how many applied systems, so many "appendages". On one of the largest Russian enterprises petrochemical profile during the survey, more than 25 unrelated (!) directories of commodity and material assets (inventory and materials) and raw materials were found. What kind of consolidation of information, what kind of monitoring and optimal planning can we talk about in this case?
In our opinion, it is time for companies to understand that NSI is not an element of an ERP system, but a part of a corporate IT infrastructure. The quality and reliability of the main data (i.e. NSI) largely depends on the quality of the actual management information. After all, no one has yet canceled the GIGO principle (garbage in - garbage out, which in semantic translation means: “If information is garbage at the input, then the same garbage at the output”).
If not part of ERP, then what?
Regulatory information is first and foremost information resource company, formed inside and received, as a rule, from the outside, containing standards, requirements, rules, regulations and other information that regulates and systematizes the activities of the enterprise.
More narrowly, in IT systems, regulatory and reference information (basic, or master data) is defined as a set of conditionally constant data on which the processes of generating accounting documents in a company (institution) are based. Unlike current information, which is related only to a specific document, NSI, as a rule, is used in different documents related to different business processes. In IT systems, reference data is usually represented by a set of directories and classifiers (see the sidebar "Composition of the reference data system").
It should not be forgotten that, along with information as such, the NSI system includes a set of tools for its search, storage, processing and distribution, management methods, keeping up to date, as well as a set of organizational and administrative documents and regulations governing the use and maintenance of NSI data.
Rice. one. Scheme of a unified NSI system
Unified NSI system
At present, it is quite possible to say that the concept of a reference data system in its modern interpretation is characterized by centralized storage of relevant data in a repository, the presence of corporate standards for maintaining and using reference data, constant updating of data by the reference data service, and, of course, an automated process of maintaining data and servicing user requests. The general scheme of the unified system (ES) of NSI is shown in fig. one.
And since we are talking about automation, the property closely associated with servicing user requests is the provision of "information services" for ERP systems, as, indeed, for other business applications. The service provided by the EU NSI to users and ERP applications can be classified as follows:
- access and multifunctional search for basic (master) data;
- requests to the NSI maintenance service to change/add data;
- requests to the NSI maintenance service to establish links or transition keys;
- functions of maintaining reference data (corrections and additions) available to experts - specialists of the reference data service;
- delivery (replication) of NSI data to application systems - consumers of master data on request or on an event.
We also emphasize that it is reasonable to establish the relationship between the EU NSI and the local system precisely according to the service provision model, and this once again indicates that the NSI is not part of the ERP system. At the same time, it is important that the implementation of this mechanism for the provision of information services by the NSI cannot in any way be of a private, local nature. In each company, it is necessary to ensure that all its services and divisions use a single unified system of reference data, optimized to meet the real requirements of business processes.
| Problems today's status of NSI |
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A survey conducted by Intertech in one of the largest Russian companies, showed a very characteristic picture of the current state of the NSI, characteristic of almost all enterprises with large-scale business. The purpose of the survey was to identify the main problems and shortcomings of the current state of the NSI and the methods of its support "as is", i.e. before the start of the project for the implementation of the EU NSI. In parentheses is the percentage of respondents who noted a particular shortcoming. Disadvantages of NSI content: Disadvantages of the NSI maintenance process: |
Requirements and principles of construction
unified NSI system
In order to ensure the use of a unified NSI system by all services and divisions of the company, four groups of requirements should be taken into account.
Methodological - to the development and implementation of an effective methodology for maintaining directories and classifiers within the framework of a unified system of reference data, to keeping the data up to date, ensuring completeness, eliminating errors, monitoring the integrity and consistency of data.
Organizational - to a unified regulation for the use of reference books of the NSI system by all services and divisions of the company and its maintenance based on specified requirements for the composition and structure of information in reference books.
Informational - to the composition and structure of information in the NSI system, as well as to the technology of its maintenance (cleaning, replenishment, adjustment).
Technical - to the environment for user access to the NSI and the work of experts of the service of maintaining the NSI, to the required set of functions and information capabilities.
In fact, all of the above is nothing more than the requirements for a unified NSI system, but in addition to this, we can also talk about the requirements for the data of this system. In this case, a very important role is played by the criteria, which today are universal for any type of corporate data. However, with respect to NSI data, whose life cycle, by definition, exceeds that of operational data, they are even more important. It is about completeness, consistency, correctness and relevance. At the same time, in addition to these classical criteria (the implementation of which is currently provided by well-established data design methods and reliable software products), there are more specific ones that are specific to NSI.
This identifiability And uniqueness , which provide unambiguous and unique identification of data, which is necessary to establish links to them from other elements of the reference data and applied documents. Unification allows you to apply uniform rules for writing/description of NSI elements, for example, the names of materials in the inventory directory, use a unified reference book of units of measurement (and not text fields in the same inventory directory), use the names of counterparties in the corresponding directory, etc.
And finally structuring necessary for bulky, numerous elements / records and information arrays, for example, a directory of material and technical resources (MTR).
| Composition of the NSI system | |
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When considering the structure of NSI, it is customary to distinguish the following main groups of reference books. |
It is also advisable to single out the principles for constructing a unified system of reference data.
corporatism provides for the need to use the EU NSI on the scale of the entire company, its structural divisions and enterprises.
Multipurpose use - the NSI system should satisfy the information needs of each functional group of users, presenting it with individually oriented data slices.
Full functionality - EU NSI should compensate for certain functional shortcomings of ERP- and other applied systems available in the company related to the search, processing and use of NSI.
Centralization functions of storage of reference NSI data array, maintenance, creation of new and modification of existing reference data.
Adaptability and scalability system as new requirements for the composition and structure of NSI data arise, taking into account organizational change in the company, changes in the software and hardware landscape, increased workload on information system and the number of users.
Integrability EU NSI with existing ERP- and other corporate information systems.
Standardization and unification NSI data formats, methods of their formation and modification on the basis of corporate organizational and administrative documents.
Continuity - during the initial filling of the NSI system, reference books and classifiers used in the company are taken as a basis, which, after consolidation and normalization, become part of it. Newly created "reference" data gradually replace the old ones.
Rice. 2. Stages of creating a unified NSI system
Construction of the NSI system carried out in stages. In this regard, it is possible to single out the consolidation of data from application systems, their harmonization, which provides for bringing the data to the characteristic of NSI hierarchical structure with an adequate classification, as well as the transition to a centralized use and maintenance of directories, where the NSI service is involved. On fig. Figure 2 shows three key stages in building a NSI system.
Service Oriented Architecture
Large companies (and not only in Russia, but also in advanced countries for the implementation of IT applications, such as the USA, European states etc.) as business growth, its diversification or reprofiling, consolidation through mergers and acquisitions face the same problems: first of all, it is a multi-platform (heterogeneous) IT landscape that generates inconsistency of information in various disparate corporate applications. It is very important to understand the following: the problems of the heterogeneous IT landscape are not only "historical legacies". This is a possible development .
Should we build a new single-platform universal super system or try to use existing IT applications if they meet the needs of the business in any way? How to build a corporate IT strategy so that, on the one hand, IT support keeps up with the growing business of the company, replenished with new effective solutions, and on the other hand, were the investments already made in the IT infrastructure preserved? These are the age-old questions of the CIO.
Of course, the absence in large companies, against the backdrop of a heterogeneous IT landscape, of an effective support system for a unified unified reference data is a key problem in automating accounting and management tasks. Another problem is ensuring the interaction of operated systems. The third is streamlining, unification of functions (services) across the company, elimination of functional duplication. And, finally, the fourth is the possibility of modular building up the IT landscape "brick by brick".
One approach that provides a clear solution to these problems is a service-oriented architecture (service-oriented architecture, SOA). At the same time, one must understand that SOA is not any specific technology, but an approach, a concept. The technologies, standards, and protocols used in Web services (SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, etc.) often serve as technological basis SOA.
Back in 2003, a Gartner report predicted that "...in 2008, SOA will become the prevailing approach in software engineering, ending the 40-year dominance of monolithic software architecture." At the end of 2003, CIO Magazine conducted a survey in which more than 50% of respondents indicated that they were involved in SOA development to one degree or another. In March 2004, Smith Barney (Citigroup's research arm) surveyed 100 leading CIOs and found SOA to be a top priority for new technologies. The main goal of moving to SOA is, of course, to preserve the investments made and made in the existing IT landscape, as well as:
- step-by-step, evolutionary build-up of services (applications) as business grows and needs for IT support increase, modular construction principle;
- stitching multi-platform applications into a single information and management environment;
- platform tolerance, the ability to preserve existing, including obsolete, systems and platforms and include multi-platform best-in-class applications in the corporate IT landscape, regardless of their platform;
- seamless, easy and reliable use of external services (i.e. services provided by external organizations outsourcing);
- stability, operability of the system as a whole and other components of the IT infrastructure in the event of a failure of one of the systems.
Problems of NSI in the interior of SOA
SOA is based on the concept of services, which usually include individual complete functions of software, corporate applications and systems (for example, creating an application for the purchase of material, requesting information about the balance of material in the warehouse, etc.). Services are the building blocks of the entire IT landscape. An important requirement of SOA is the absence of rigid links between “service” modules, which makes it possible to obtain software modularity, the ability to replace and improve some “services” without changing others. All connections between them, called "weak" (loosely coupled), are reduced to simple commands to call some services by others, and the format and syntax of such commands are predetermined. However, it must be borne in mind that such a "weak" interaction between various systems and services is achievable only on the condition that they all use the same unified master data (MSD), common codes, etc. If there is no such unification, the principle of “weak” interactions between “services” cannot be observed.
In other words, unification of services (functions) implies unification of basic data (NSI). So, if the service “formation of an application for the purchase of material” is supported by the “Application campaign” module written by a local software developer, and the service “request information about the balance of material in the warehouse” is supported by an ERP system on the SAP R / 3 platform, then to account for balances when requirements planning (i.e. for the adjacent work of two services in one business process), it is necessary that both services work with single directory materials (or, which is essentially the same, with directories that are fully linked to each other by means of transitional keys).
Rice. 3. Scheme-fragment of SOA
Another key feature of SOA is that "services" can be accessed from anywhere on the corporate network, regardless of its location - you just need to have access to the network. To store specifications and descriptions of "services" in SOA, a so-called register and repository of services (PPC) is provided, which stores access addresses to each registered "service", data about its location in the network, a description of the call rules, rules for its provision, etc. In addition to the services themselves and the information bus for the exchange of requests and data, which is very often discussed when discussing SOA, the most important component of this architecture is the portal, which is much less often mentioned in the context of SOA.
For an example in fig. 3 shows a diagram-fragment of the service-oriented architecture of applications participating in the business process "Application campaign"; here you can just see the most important components of SOA, including the PPC and the portal. In addition, this figure shows the obvious demand for EU NSI services (a component of Master Data Management, MDM) throughout the entire process. At the same time, the diagram clearly demonstrates the mechanism for calling services and application interaction in SOA.
It is important to note that one of the main requirements that define the SOA approach is the ability to connect all enterprise applications, considered as elements of SOA, to the exchange bus. When describing the NSI, we said that relations between the EU NSI and the ERP system are established precisely in the form of providing information services.
Rice. 4. IT infrastructure levels
in service-oriented architecture
In our opinion, it is interesting to highlight the levels of IT infrastructure in the service architecture. On fig. 4 shows seven levels that define the "in depth" structure. It is significant that NSI data constitute the lower level - the "information foundation" of the entire IT infrastructure. The NSI management system (via MDM) can be built on an independent independent platform, consist of several business applications (including a user's workstation, an expert's workstation, an administrator's workstation) and provide services accessible from the corporate network. It should be especially noted that such a service-oriented architecture is very convenient for outsourcing organization of the process of maintaining reference data. At the same time, employees of the company, using the services of access to the reference data and making requests to the reference maintenance service, receive the required level of service (fixed in the SLA-SLR), without thinking about where and by whom this service is serviced.