Applied Research
R&D Projects
|INOVARE - m-Business
Framework: National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation II
Programme 5, Innovation - Module 1: Development of product / systems
Project full title: Integrated virtual platform for business management: a tool for increasing SMEs competitiveness
Start date: October 2006
End date: June 2008
ROPARDO (WPCS) Role: Coordinator
Concept:
m-Business (Integrated virtual platform for business management: a tool for increasing SMEs competitiveness) aims to develop a collaborative virtual environment addressing the critical needs of SMEs. The result will be an intelligent web-based solution, modular and flexible, focused on a centralized knowledge repository, and running a series of integrated processes following PRINCE2 project management methodology. The digital environment will include modules such as: project management, document management, customer relationship management, group decision support system, enterprise resource planning. A set of collaborative services will support an efficient communication, decentralization and delocalization, mobility, organizational intelligence.
www.mbusiness.ro
m-Business aims at developing a collaborative virtual environment addressing the critical needs of SMEs. The result will be an intelligent web-based solution, modular and flexible, focused on a centralized knowledge repository, and running a series of integrated processes following PRINCE2 project management methodology
The digital environment will include modules such as: project management, document management, customer relationship management, group decision support system, enterprise resource planning. A set of collaborative services will support an efficient communication, decentralization and delocalization, mobility, organizational intelligence.
m-Business promotes the principle of added value through innovation, considering the premises that there are no limits for performance and progress when talking about SMEs.
Companies passing through periods of accelerated development of their activities often experience a phenomenon similar to underestimating the rhythm of their progress and the needs of using the information technology. It is of great importance for the informatics solution to be perceived as a medium and long time investment, and also as a useful tool for the company development, and not as a short term cost addressing an immediate particular need. A solution with reduced functionalities and lacking the support for maintenance and further development represents an impediment to progress, endangering even the company competitiveness and image
Within the above mentioned context, m-Business supports a company to easily face the changes with respect to customers? requirements, and the evolution inside the competitive market economy environment. M-Business opens the way for the optimal usage of previous IT investments by integrating them inside complex business processes that overpass the borders of several applications, partially integrated or heterogeneous. The solution is a favorable factor for change, sustaining growth through business innovation, at a reasonable and time scalable cost.
The innovative issues of m-Business address the improvement of SMEs critical business processes by integrating several applications inside a virtual environment that is accessible via an Enterprise Information Portal. The innovative features include:
- The open collaborative platform supporting further integration and developments: it eliminates the necessity of buying licenses specific to client applications, thus reducing the acquisition costs.
- Decisional system based on divided plans theory, supporting users' intentional attitude.
- Centralized knowledge warehouse at the level of the entire platform, with a role in creating an organizational memory.
- Integration of collaborative services (mail, calendar) and of a well known project management methodology (PRINCE2), enhancing the processes that run within each module.
- Enhanced functionalities for knowledge sharing and data mining.
- Multiple integration: employees (multiple access), information (business intelligence, knowledge management), processes.
- Processes automation via implementation of a workflow system.
- Collaborative knowledge management: differentiated access to information, therefore increasing the degree of business intuition.
- Total mobility through e-work, and e-office: anybody, anywhere, anytime, anything.
The benefits determining a competitive advantage include:
- Increased efficiency given the speed and quality of information processing and delivery; decentralization and delocalization.
- Elimination of communication barriers and avoidance of conflict provoking behavior.
- More objective evaluation made by a group rather than by a single individual.
- Synergy and social inclusion.
General project objective: Development of an integrated solution for business management, supporting | ||
Estimated results | Objectively verifiable indicators | Verifiable sources and means |
Solving SMEs critical business processes (organization and management of administrative and production related processes, increased control over the resources, reporting) | Number of optimized processes at SME level | Internal reports |
Increase in economical performance and efficiency of final beneficiaries (SMEs), while gaining an added value | Financial indicators | Balance |
Increase employees? mobility, and delocalization of business processes | Number of employees working remotely | SMEs statistics |
Increase social inclusion, due to the collaborative services that are being offered | Percentage of increase of collaboration between employees, as reported to the initial moment of using the solution | Questionnaire |
Increase in organizational intelligence due to the centralized knowledge repositories | Number of accesses in the central knowledge database | Statistics |
Specific objectives | Objectively verifiable indicators | Verifiable sources and means |
Integration of existing applications within a mobile, collaborative working environment | Integration percentage at application level | Technical evaluation report |
Development of human oriented collaborative services to support the processes running at module level | Number of functioning collaborative services | Technical evaluation report |
Implementing PRINCE2 as a methodology for the projects running at application level, for an optimal organization of activities and tasks | Number of used procedures and documents | Statistics at company level |
Development of a web-based interface, as an Enterprise Information Portal, to ensure access to internal and external information and applications | Percentage of evaluating the application functionality | Technical evaluation report |
Development of a business intelligence function through implementing features such as data warehouse, knowledge management, data mining | Number of functional services with respect to business intelligence | Technical evaluation report |
Three-level integration: employees, processes, information | Percentage of integration of employees, processes, and information levels | Questionnaire, statistics. |
Greater return of investment, at a reduced property cost | The number indicating the RoI | Financial reports |
The proposed method includes an original approach related to the integration of multiple levels:
- 1st Level Enterprise Information Portal: web application accessible through the Internet.
- 2nd Level Virtual Working Environment integrating collaborative services and specific modules. The business processes are managed according PRINCE2, and they are automated through a specific workflow.
- 3rd Level Collaborative services: e-mail, calendar, data mining, knowledge management, chat, forum.
- 4th Level Modules / Specific tools.
ROPARDO, Romania