Centricity gives Group Five's information architecture a reVAMP

Centricity, the information specialist company, and part of the Grintek Group has completed a multimillion-rand project for construction and engineering group, Group Five, which saw the deployment of an information management infrastructure that would enable the group to derive the greatest business benefit from its IT systems.

"The information that IT systems process and store is the real business enabler and not the technology itself," says Garth Hayward, CEO of Centricity. "Companies are faced with greater amounts of information and find it increasingly more difficult to find the most relevant and accurate data at the right time, ultimately affecting their ability to make rapid business decisions based on accurate data. Centricity's approach is an alignment of people, process and technology to deliver the strategic intent of an organisation.

"Group Five's aim was to upgrade its information management architecture under the banner of 'reVAMP' (Value-Added Management Process). Centricity's task, as information specialists, was to help the client optimise its business processes by transforming them from an information viewpoint. As many as 84% of technology implementations worldwide do not deliver what was promised, due mainly to poor specifications and a technical predominated implementation. As a result, many companies realise the importance of developing and implementing an optimised, strategically aligned business information infrastructure prior to determining their present and future 'actual' technology and automation requirements.

"The first step involved the mapping of the client's current information and systems architecture in order to gain an 'as is' picture of the enterprise thereafter the required business processes were mapped and aligned to the strategy using Centricity's 'Value Stream' methodology which allows an organisation to adjust business processes to deliver the required business benefits as determined by the strategy and simulate the impact of those changes on the business. The processes were then standardised throughout Group Five's Construction and Corporate Service business units to ensure commonality and implement internal best practice across the organisation."

Says Group Five human resource development manager, Guenther Hellhoff: "Mapping the Value Streams and applying the CRATAT test (Completeness, Relevance, Accessibility, Timeliness, Accuracy of information) allows us to clearly identify where our problem areas lies within the operational processes; now we can do meaningful process improvement."

Peter Ridl, MD of Group Five Building East, states: "The Value Stream gives us the capability to adjust business processes and observe the impact of these changes our business, the value of this is immeasurable in terms of process engineering and reengineering."

In addition to deployment at its headquarters, Centricity visited a number of construction sites to conduct a Site Operations Functional Analysis, which allowed for the creation of a standardised map of site functions with the required flow of information between functions as well as the information that must flow between the business unit and the site. In the interim, Group Five deployed a JD Edwards ERP application for the largest portion of its information systems. The application supports the requirements identified by reVAMP. Idea 2 Action, a JD Edwards implementation partner, is currently using the Centricity deliverables to implement business oriented and optimised JD Edwards solutions within the company, while Group Five's CEO, Mike Lomas, is utilising the deliverables to re-engineer parts of the business.

Adds Hayward: "It is acknowledged that technology on its own adds little or no value to business. Companies need to move away from the vendor-created mindset that greater processing power, more RAM and more storage space will add up to better business and realise that it is the completeness, relevance, accuracy, timeliness and accessibility of the information component of an organisation's IT that optimises the processes of business. While the Group Five project is the first we have completed for the construction industry, we have had a number of successes across a broad spectrum of industries including tourism, media, banking and government."