Iscor Mining, involved in one of the largest SAP R/3 installations in South Africa, has contracted Software Futures to help develop a meta architecture with the Aris toolset.
The R/3 rollout project began in March 1997 and is expected to be complete in November. Process modelling was identified upfront as a core requirement, and the R/3 project team used Visio to model the processes across Iscor Mining`s seven sites.
"The Visio exercise rapidly became unmanageable, with each site having more than 500 business processes, each of which has to be documented. This led to each site generating 300 000 pages of documentation," recalls R/3 project leader Andre Dunne. "We needed more than a drawing tool: we needed a solution that would help us define the processes and document them and their inter-relationships - in effect, create a process architecture and warehouse. Aris, with its repository, was the answer, and we contracted Software Futures for the project."
Iscor Mining`s meta architecture describes the business architecture in both the SAP and non-SAP environments, and has five dimensions: person, organisation, function, location and data. Chris Smith, manager, integration, says: "If a detail in one dimension changes, it has a knock-on effect on the other dimensions. With a repository-based tool, this change is only made once, resulting in 30-40% time saving as opposed to drawing tools. With Aris you create an object once, and as it changes, so the effects of its change are reflected everywhere."
The meta architecture allows Iscor Mining to produce decentralised modelling that is consistent throughout the business and to effect changes to the process warehouse with ease. Iscor Mining is licensed for 20 concurrent users, and in its use will be spread across several hundred of Iscor Mining`s 2 500 R/3 users, says Dunne, allowing all appropriate people to obtain a consistent, accurate, holistic view of the business processes.
Other benefits Iscor Mining is enjoying, says Dunne, include:
Support for multiple users and standardisation on language, with all users operating to common definitions - a high level of consistency across sites was motivated the Aris approach;
The ability to perform simulations and what-if scenarios;
Consistency of documentation and methodology, which leads to streamlining and quicker change, and brings improved alignment and cost savings;
The creation of a meta architecture, allowing for an integrated, holistic view of the business; and
The capturing and perpetuation of priceless business knowledge, which then serves as a foundation for growth.
In time, says Dunne, Iscor Mining will promote the deployment of Aris into Iscor Steel and Iscor Group. "We believe all IT projects should be preceded by a process modelling exercise, coupled with a meta architecture" says Kobus Coetsee of Software Futures` Business Engineering. "The success of the Iscor Mining project validates this view. Their business architecture provides them with many benefits, especially the ability to change their approach midstream with minimal work, and the ability to understand and quantify the impact of changes before they are made."
"Successful organisations of the future are those which understand the importance of business processes," concludes Dunne. "The success of project as large as this depends on a well defined meta architecture."
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