Before you read on thinking,` Is this guy nuts?, How can every organization in the world have the same business process? Will everybody logon to this one massive server, and follow this one business process?`
Do not worry, it is not what you think. Here is a quick description of this concept. Let`s take a procurement process; this is basically a customer ordering some goods and filling in a form (lately, he can even fill in this form over the Web). Then the customer hands the order to the vendor. The vendor takes this form, makes an invoice for the customer, orders from a distributor or manufacturer, collects some money, sends a notification to a warehouse for delivery, delivers the goods, and gets a delivery confirmation from the customer. Sometimes the vendor delivers the goods and the customer pays over a six month period, with no interest charged, of course. Now, the question I wish to ask is this; How many variations can you get of this ordering process? Ever try to draw sixteen variations of an apple! After the eighth drawing of these differing variations of an apple, you begin to draw some funny variations like an apple that crossed with a banana, and the small apples that resulted from this mix..., well, you carry on drawing now...!
It sounds to me like you are going to get the "70% of procurement processes look like this" barrier. Think about some other processes such as leave applications, billing customers for time spent, insurance applications, credit applications, etc. Maybe all of these processes and many more, will hit the "70% of procurement processes from different organisations look like this" barrier. Let us take this idea and see what we can make of it, how can we make this idea something valuable, something organisations can benefit from.
2. The Process
Let us take a process, the Leave Application, and see how we can automate it and apply the One World One Process concept to it. Dear reader, please shoot the next workflow vendor that stands in front of you and says, "Let me show you a leave process!!" Can I make a call on all workflow sales people, to PLEASE stop riding this "Leave application" wave. We are sick of it!!! Think about some other process, one that is more challenging than three or four tasks in a process. Oh man! Just be a bit more original!!
Try again: let me take a process called "Book Flight Reservations". This process is called upon when anybody in the organization, `Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd.` needs to fly to somewhere, or from somewhere. Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd., is an international company, with quite a bit of travel. The problem is this; Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd : authorisation for a flight needs to be taken care of internally Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd. : are you getting the best price from a travel agent Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd. : are you getting the best timing from the Air Transport Company Air Transport Company : who needs flights, we have a good rate today Air Transport Company : are travel agents promoting my company Air Transport Company : what is the real flying demand out there Travel Agents: we organised a good deal from the Air Transport Company, who needs to fly
Now the question. Who else except Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd., needs this process? I think every organisation needs this process, all organisations have travel needs for staff. Worldwide.
3. The One Process
Our process "Book Flight Reservations", looks like this; Applicant applies for flight, to Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd.`s management Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd. Manager has to approve Forward day and time of departure and return to subscribed Airline Companies Airline Companies reply with rate and departure date and times Automatically, the best two responses are sent to the applicant and he choses the best one Successful and unsuccessful Airline Companies get notified Successful Airline Company replies with confirmation details
Applicants can now go to the airport, pay by credit card, or maybe we will include an internet payment option, where the applicant can go on the Web, find his booking, and pay his bill before he leaves for the airport.
4. Members of the One Process
Let us take this idea that all organisations need to book travel arrangements at some point in time, sometimes all of the time, like our company, Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd., (a very busy company, that one), and see if we can help these companies making travel arrangements.
First we have to see who will belong to this process of ours, called "Book Flight Reservations":
- Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd., and all other companies using air transport
- Airline Companies
- Travel Agents
- Shuttle Services
- Hotels
- Customs Offices
Other ingredients for our cake "Book Flight Reservations" will follow, such as Police Services, public transport companies, retail travel shops, insurance companies etc.
Again, how are we going to get organisations around the world to use our process "Book Flight Reservations"? Well, how did it happen that everybody suddenly uses e-mail, or mobile phones? Yes, get a couple. Let these companies reap the benefits, make more sales, or save on traveling bills. Hey, make it available, and make it work, quickly, and the rest will follow.
5. The One World, Decentralised Processes
Well, right now we have these processes running, thousands of them, each process having their own members, scattered across the world, in different countries. We also have many applications and engines running these processes. We have, scattered across the world, different databases, Air Transport Companies, Travel Agents etc. Guess what? I believe that it will stay like that indefinitely!
6. The One World, centralised Process
Hey, now I`m starting to make more sense! How can I promote One World One Process, and say it is fine for these companies to have their own applications? Remember our One Process, "Book Flight Reservations"?.......it is not an application, it is a mix of companies and their applications, to make up a requirement, the requirement being; I need to make flight reservations from this date and time and return on another date and time. Kind of middleware, kind of a process to link a supply chain process across different organisations.
I started this paper off by saying that some processes are more than 70% similar throughout different organisations. Even internationally, I think if given our process "Book Flight Reservations", organisations across the world, Air Transport Companies and Travel Agents, will participate in this process. For example, if you are from America, it is almost 50% cheaper for you to let a South African company make your bookings! Knowing that, I am sure that American companies might use South African agents. There are many more examples like that.
The problem is that each country has a different set of Airline Companies, or a different set of travel agents. Guess what, it doesn`t matter, THE PROCESS still stays the same. They can still belong to the One Process. All of these companies open up their markets indefinitely, and all of the organisations can choose from different services.
I learned an expression from a friend of mine. It says, "Drowning in information, starved of knowledge." With all these bookings and bidding, what about the information that I do not want to see as a member of the one process, "Book Flight Reservations". Now what about booking information I do not want to bid on as an Airline Company? I am sure that it will be OK for an Airline Company not to bid for air travel requirements that they do not want to bid on. Do not ignore them, look at them; maybe there is an opportunity. Ah, one of the big reasons One World One Process could be quite powerful ......... knowledge! Knowing how many flights are given away because you as an Air Travel Company do not offer your services to those countries or markets! If a company that requires travel arrangements (such as Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd.), does not want to do business with a certain Air Travel Company, or Travel Agent, or has a preference for one, then put a weighting factor on them, and they can always be included in your comparison of rates! The beauty of this, is that this is all electronic information which one can use to define sets of business rules. Note, I said define, not sit down and write code for a while. This will give you a clue as to which workflow or intelligent routing engine you should be looking at.
7. Important Elements of The One Process
I want to bake a cake called "Book Flight Reservations". Well, first I need to know if ANYBODY would want to eat this cake. Let`s not export ice cream cakes to Iceland! OK, I have mentioned a couple of organisations that would want a share of this cake. Now we have to find the ingredients.
Here they are;
- Internet based Portal toolset
- Workflow or Intelligent Routing Solution
- A independent host for the application
- WAP (Palm Pilots, Cell phones)
- Additional, extra taste for this cake..... SMS and an SMS provider (Cell phones)
- Fail safe, powerful hardware
- A robust, enterprise Database Management System (help me out on this one!)
- Internet
- XML
8. One World One Process
OK. Here is what happens once we`ve got our one process running: Joe (Bloggs, off course) needs to fly from Johannesburg to New York, 18 November 2000, 08h00, first class, return 30 November 2000, preference airport Johannesburg International He sends a Cell Phone SMS to a number linked to the one process "Book Flight Reservations" His manager in the company `Oracle DBA`s Pty. Ltd.` gets a cell phone message from our one process. He needs to reply yes or no. He replies yes Relevant flight data is published, on a Web site where Travel Agents and Air Transport Companies are bidding "Book Flight Reservations" process filters this information, and lets the unsuccessful companies know not to reserve the flight "Book Flight Reservations" sends first choice: British Airways, 07h30 departure, ZAR 5200.00 (wishful thinking!) return on 31 November, 15h00; second choice: SAA, 06h00 departure, ZAR 4900 (ha ha ha!) return on 31 November, 20h00 Joe makes his choice and replies per SMS to process "Book Flight Reservations" Process "Book Flight Reservations" lets the Air Travel Companies know Air Travel Company confirm details Confirmation is returned to Joe, and he can store it in his cell phone
9. Key factors for this concept to work
Infrastructure like WAP, SMS, Internet, Cell Phones and network etc. Nobody must own our one Process, "Book Flight Reservations" i.e. host must be independent Service to companies must be free Information gathered must be free for people to use, over the Web, accept for Joe Bloggs` cell number and details of course, which may not be published Best practices used, XML, robust Enterprise databases, flexible workflow portal toolset
10. My Conclusion
I am saying my conclusion, because I guess people like myself either hit it big, or we quite simply predict the wrong direction and bomb out completely. Even I, at least once a week, wonder which planet that weather predicting wally comes from! But nevertheless, here it is ...... my prediction: if the first process gets going in this concept, connecting organisations together with a single business process, everybody interested can, and will want to be, part of this process, on a One World One Process theme. And other processes will follow, and they will add a new dimension to business processes, and of course, the value of information gathered from these automated processes.
In the mean time, my future and passion, is somewhere between South Africa and the rest of the first world countries, designing, architecting, building, with the help of my colleagues, toolsets to enable this concept, and make it the reality that it surely will be.
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