Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
extended to the entire organization (generally depicted by Exhibit 2). The
end-product is an organization process model supported by an organiza-
tion data model. The data administrator is responsible for maintaining the
data model and coordinating with the various processes and support de-
partments to ensure that changes in the process model are incorporated
into the data model, subsequently modifying the process model.
The Internet has grown at an astonishing rate over
the past few years. Companies have been trying to integrate the Internet
into their organizations to gain a strategic advantage with customers who
now search the Internet for products and services. Developing applica-
tions of the Internet is an extension of the electronic data interchange (EDI)
between customers and the company — except that the new EDI is open all
year with customers all over the world. Now that companies can offer prod-
ucts or services that are bought over the Internet through the use of CGI
programming techniques, the amount of overhead needed to maintain a
sales operation has been dramatically reduced in may instances.
Using the Internet.
Understanding the relationship between home page development, CGI
programming, network security, and Internet marketing strategies (such as
listing the corporate home page on Yahoo, Lycos, WebCrawler, or Infoseek)
is critical to the successful integration of Internet strategies into the pro-
cess and data models of the organization.
CREATING A HORIZONTAL ORGANIZATION
To create a horizontal organization by integrating a process model and
a data model, the organization will still have to identify the strategic goals
of the organization and key competitive advantages (e.g., customer satis-
faction and quality control issues) to achieve these goals.
These key competitive advantages will help the organization identify the
core or essential processes necessary to achieve the goals. The next step
is the restructuring of the organization. This involves establishing multidis-
ciplinary teams centered around the essential processes. At this point, the
teams will identify key objectives that will help them achieve the overall
goals of the organization. Once the objectives have been identified, the es-
sential process can be decomposed into several basic subprocesses that
will allow the essential process to achieve its objectives. These subpro-
cesses will often be multidisciplinary, involving accounting, finance, mar-
keting, sales, production, and others.
After the essential processes and key subprocesses are identified, the
organization should know what support departments are needed to pro-
vide more expertise for the essential processes. Of course, the standard
support departments (e.g., legal, accounting, and other basic support func-
tions) will probably be identified by both senior-level management and the
Search WWH ::
Custom Search