Proprietary Standards and Technologies

Many great technologies have failed simply because they were proprietary in nature. This is particularly noticeable when a proprietary technology faces competition from a whole bunch of interrelated technologies; from multiple manufacturers/vendors, that are based around an open standard.

Part of the reason is due to the very competitive nature of economies founded upon open market products and services and part is due to the restrictive nature of monopolistic proprietary technologies.

Compatibility and Interoperability

It is the area of commonality between various technologies that standards provide which ensures that the products and services from one manufacturer/vendor are compatible and interoperable with those of other manufacturers/vendors.

To illustrate the importance of the role provided by standards consider for a moment that you wish to manufacture a network interface card (NIC). Let us assume that you have the option of selecting from only two different specifications for your NIC. One of which is a proprietary and the other is an open standard.

Proprietary Standard - If you wish to rely upon a set of proprietary technologies you will need to enter into negotiations with the owner of that proprietary technology before you can use it or even begin to develop something similar yourself. The owner of the proprietary standard also has the prerogative to deny you out of hand any access to or use of their standard.

Open Standard - On the other hand; if you were to base your product around an open standard, then all you need do is approach the relevant standards authority for that technology and obtain the appropriate documentation regarding the specifications that your product must comply with. While this can sometimes be a little Draconian more often than not it is a boon.

One element of considerable weight here is that if your product is fully compliant with the prescribed standard; you can with considerable confidence, state that it will work (interoperate) with other products or services that are also based upon the same open standard specifications. All you need do is a little testing to verify the fact. This is something that proprietary technologies cannot deliver with any degree of certainty.

Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model

A classic example of an interoperable open standard is the OSI Reference Model. Here we have a seven layered network protocol processing stack. All of the functions and requirements for each layer of the protocol processing stack are clearly stated and precisely defined.

As a manufacturer/developer all you need do is to ensure that the implementation you produce complies (abides) with the guidelines and specifications as stated in the OSI Reference model. If so; you will be able to rest assured that your processing stack implementation will be compatible with and interoperable with those produced by other; potentially unknown to you, manufacturers/developers.

The beauty here is that you do not need to know the nitty-gritty of the other manufacturer's processing stacks for both systems (yours and theirs) to reliably function interactively. In the case of the OSI Reference model this would mean that a successful conversation can be conducted between geographically separated end-systems. If this sounds familiar; it should, because this is indeed the way in which the Internet works.

Standards Definition, Documentation and Evangelism

Using the Internet as an example again we note that it (the Internet) is in fact a bunch of open standards-based technologies that the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) among others define and thoroughly document; each in their own areas of specialization.

In addition to the definition of the various standards and the production of the relevant accompanying documentation these organizations also actively pursue an evangelistic policy of ensuring that said documentation is widely known of and readily available and accessible to one and all.

The goal here is to ensure that all past, present, future and would-be hardware and software developers have a pertinent set of basic reference specifications to act as the core foundation upon which to build their products, applications and services.

Standards and Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Developing products compliant with the prevailing established prescribed standards means that new products can be brought to market considerably quicker than would otherwise be the case. Much of the development of today's information technology evolution and initiatives are squarely aligned with a Rapid Application Development (RAD) ethos.

Underpinning the RAD ethos are the principles of modularity, compartmentalization and reusability. The later point of reusability is of particular importance in software engineering as it facilitates a much faster delivery to market of new/improved technologies, products and services.

Metaphorically speaking the RAD ethos can be summed up as follows: if there is no truly good reason to reinvent the wheel; why bother?

IEEE 1394 (FireWire) v Universal Serial Bus (USB)

Let us have a quick look at an open standard and a proprietary standard to see what effects their open or closed inclinations have culminated in to date. The two I have elected to use to demonstrate this are the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) standard and the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. Both are directed toward providing a one interface does all for peripheral device connectivity and I/O operations.

With both technologies targeting the same market (peripheral device connectivity and I/O) they were fated to be in direct head-to-head competition with each other.

FireWire - In marked contrast to the open USB standard, the superior performing (in comparison to USB) IEEE 1394 (FireWire) started its life as a proprietary protocol. This meant that royalties had to be paid or some form of cooperation/peering needed to be negotiated in order for a manufacturer could use the technology.

Because FireWire is a bus this fact impacted motherboard and I/O adapter card manufacturers directly. The end result manifested as fewer numbers of more expensive devices being manufactured.

USB - To compound this even further; once the open USB protocol and standards were released, uptake of IEEE 1394 enabled devices dropped dramatically as a diverse array of substantially cheaper USB counterparts began to appear on the market.

Global Considerations and Influences

As with all things involving massively large-scale factors on the global stage, standards can become very loose and modified to reflect local objectives (political and otherwise) by a multiplicity of organizations in numerous countries.

Hence, it becomes necessary to formally develop and implement formal control, development, ratification and wide-spread implementation processes for standards development, documentation and implementation applicable from both generic and singularly specific perspectives.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

It was for these reasons along with many others (too many for me to list here) that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was formed. Globally speaking ISO is the premier general purpose standards organization today.

Think of ISO as being standards architects. Their mission was; and still is, to define the framework upon which standards applicable to both current and future technologies, protocols, products and services will be built.

Other Standards Organizations

Besides ISO there are a considerable number of other standards bodies and/or organizations throughout the world. As with ISO, some of these organizations have considerable presence and influence on the global scale while others don't.

However; unlike ISO they tend to be more specific, focusing their attentions and coverage to a numerically smaller more specialized range of interrelated (family) technologies. Some of the alternative Information Technology (IT) standards organizations with a global presence include:

• The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• The International Standards Organization (ISO)
• The Internet Society (ISOC)
• The Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
• The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• The Electronic Industries Association (EIA)
• The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
• The Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)
• The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
• The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)
• The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• The Telecommunications Association (TIA)
• Request For Comment - rfc-editor.org.
• The Project Management Institute (PMI)
• Payment Card Industry (PCI)

The Need for Collaboration and Partnerships

Note that many of the above organizations cover a considerable range and diversity of topics and technologies and that there can be a considerable degree of overlap of interest and authority between these organizations in a number of areas. The reasons for this state of affairs are historical, geographical, demographical, technological, fiscal and as a regulatory consequence or convenience.

Importantly; the majority of the larger authoritative organizations were originally founded some time ago in different geographical regions. Originally; each organization bore greater responsibility for its individual primary sphere of influence.

However; over time and with the advent of and continued exponential expansion of publically accessible mass air transport the world became a smaller place. These factors when combined with the arrival of a host of new technologies in the information revolution resulted not only in the formation of new authoritative bodies but existing ones expanded their influence into other areas both within and beyond their original sphere of local influence.

We have since experienced considerable clouding of technological realms to the extent that many of the original standards organizations saw fit to work on various technological standards collaboratively. For example; a transoceanic submarine communications cable required that both ends adopt and implement compatible technologies as well as entering into a mutually agreeable infrastructure costs sharing arrangement.

The settling upon this cooperative collaborative approach was also heavily influenced by the limited jurisdiction and regulatory enforceable control that each partner held or could exert in the others domicile country, state or city.

Goals, Objectives and Ideals

Most of the organizations listed above have as their driving goal the ideals of assisting engineers, manufacturers and business in solving basic production and distribution issues through the development of appropriate technical standards and specifications. Here are a few of the benefits that regulated standards and standardization deliver:

• Development of safer, cleaner, more efficient manufacturing, distribution, and supply of products and services thereby promoting easier and fairer trade practices beneficial to one and all
• To assist governments with a technical basis for health, safety and environmental legislation
• The dissemination and interchange of technology
• Safeguarding the rights and expectations of consumers and end users of existing and emerging technologies, products and services including the delivery of said technologies, products and services with a specific set minimal baseline Quality of Service and Expectancy

Payment Cards Industry (PCI)

In the case of the Payment Cards Industry (PCI), failure to comply with these standards generally results in the merchant/business having their trading rights revoked. This is a serious matter and as a result, merchant/business compliance is in excess of 99%.

The adoption on a global scale of the PCI standards is so universally high primarily because compliance is mandatory and the penalty for non-compliance is so high (removal of merchant privileges). We have also seen a wide adoption of the ISO 9000:2000 family of standards in the areas of quality control, quality management and quality assurance.

International Standards

Here are the highlights delivered through adoption of international standards:

Business Benefits - Local and international trade and business benefit from the "level playing field" that International Standards deliver to all competitors at both the regional and global market levels.

Consumer Benefits - Consumers in general benefit greatly from the adoption of international standards delivered by worldwide technology compliance and/or compatibility. This translates into ensuring the delivery of a greater all-round variety and diversity of products and services. These benefits to the consumer are further compounded by way of greater manufacturer/vendor competition delivering a superior competitive pricing of the products and/or services which they the consumer consumes.

Government Benefits - Governments implementing a consumption-based taxation structure (GST, VAT etc) reap great fiscal benefits as consumers and end-users consumer or use more products and services and business profits increase.

Government policy making is also more streamlined as standards based legislation can be enacted in whole, in part or with amendments by numerous countries. This also helps to create greater legislative uniformity on a global front with a commonality of illegality. What is illegal in one country is also illegal in most other countries. The same standards are being applied to the citizenry globally. This in turn promotes understanding and empathy which helps to increase tolerance and reduce conflict.

An example of consistency in cross-national boundaries legislation can be found in the European Union's privacy laws. It is important to understand that if any country external to the EU does not comply with the EU's requirements in this regard then great difficulty will be experienced by those attempting to conduct business with every EU member nation.

Introduction

In order to improve communication we need to identify information needs and explore the many formats and possibilities available to us in order to facilitate the best way to share information among geographically dispersed individuals. Some common elements to consider include:

Common Formats

Adopting a common data interchange format will contribute greatly to ensuring consistent accessibility and "on call" availability of information for one and all. Using a universally common format and processes also helps to ensure the greatest compatibility between systems.

Consistency

Formalize the communication tools and mechanisms to be used under various specific criteria and circumstances. It is important to ensure that this is done prior to any trigger events requiring specialty plans. When an emergency situation or any other extraordinary event occurs it is time to put a prepared, tested and refined plan immediately into action. This is most definitely not the time to be thinking of what to do next.

User Participation

Although it probably goes without saying that involving all concerned as early as possible in any communications initiatives will greatly assist in establishing communications channels and aide in overcoming problems and inconsistencies before the rapid exchange of information becomes mission critical.

Habit

Remember that we humans are creatures of habit and suspect communications methods must be removed before any team members become entrenched in undesirable and/or incompatible habits in this area.

Face-to-Face Communications

We humans are generally more comfortable with face-to-face communications and so it is that this format is usually the most productive. With this in mind when we are dealing in situations where individual members are geographically separated the possibilities and feasibility of live conferencing (video if possible) should be explored as they do offer some degree of the face-to-face communications processes that we humans feel best at ease with.

Responsibility

All involved should take on a larger share of responsibility for participating in the various communications forums, bulletin boards, online meeting places etc as well as for being heard and understood. No mumbling or speaking with something in your mouth. This is especially important when we are trying to communicate over a distance without the benefit of face-to-face interactivity.

Formal Agreements

It is essential that all future parties to the communications make some sort of formal commitment to how, when, and in what format any given set of communications will take place. Once again this takes on an even greater import when individual parties to the conversation are situated over geographically widely dispersed locations.

Time Zones

Time zones must be carefully considered as they will have no small impact on decisions concerning the scheduling and commitment to when communications are to take place. It is unfair for the same individuals to be getting up at 3:00 AM so that we can all have a 9:00 AM (our time) on-line video conference. We must all share the inconvenience when our colleagues and peers are separated by great distance.

Isolation

With geographically dispersed teams this becomes ever more important as the option to tell so-and-so when I get to the office on Monday just won't be possible because so-and-so may live in another country and you will therefore not be meeting with them in person. It is also important to ensure that nobody feels "left out of it".

Scheduling

Scheduling is always important but when remote end parties (members of a dispersed team) are involved it takes on even more importance. Scheduling must include a plan detailing the format and any other additional details of specific requirements; such as completion of a document or manual, critical to a forth-coming conference or meeting.
If participants to the scheduled conference or meeting need to be conversant with the contents of the documentation/manual prior to commencement of conference/meeting then the appropriate distribution mechanisms will need to be initiated to distribute the documentation to those involved in advance.

Coordination

Coordinated scheduling of meetings and other communications channels and systems becomes even more important when geographically separated teams are concerned. The need to avoid appointment clashes is definitely a priority to implement in order to attain maximum efficiency and effectiveness of scheduled events.

Flexibility

When designing, planning and implementing communications plans the capacity to allow for unforeseen events such as a cyclone preventing some team members from participating in a given scheduled meeting need careful consideration and contingency plans entailing rescheduling need to be prepared for a worst case scenario in order to be ready for deployment should the need arise.

Communications Contingency Plans

Worst case scenarios will require special plans should they eventuate and so the need for these contingency plans to be prepared during the analysis, planning and design phases of your communications contingency planning becomes a mandatory essential rather than an additional luxury. In this way; should a natural disaster or an act of God scenario eventuate, you will be well placed and prepared to deal with it spontaneously and appropriately.

Plasticity

Team members both individually and collectively along with the communications and contingency plans will need to be more adaptable when geographically dispersed entities are involved.

Distance Inhibits Communication

Research conducted by Allen in 1977 and cited by Ginger Levin showed that people sitting 40 meters apart had o¬nly a 5% probability of communicating at least o¬nce a week and that this percentage did not increase until the distance between the parties decreased to eight meters at which point team members were found to be more likely to communicate and collaborate.

With geographically separated teams this needs to be overcome and the best ways to do this are through planning, scheduling, mutual cooperation, video-conferencing if possible, contiguous communication processes. This later point is probably the one that is most effective as we humans tend to chose "the devil we know" rather than the unknown.

Nonverbal Communication

The impact of nonverbal communication clues is something else that needs to be addressed when virtual teams are in effect. Because of reduced personal access and our natural tendency to rely o¬n nonverbal communication clues, which are not readily available in the virtual environment, any communications inadequacies in the virtual team scenario are far more deleterious than one would otherwise expect (Guss, 1977).

Video Conferencing

Meharabian's 1968 study found that words o¬nly comprise 7% of the total impact of a message, while vocal tones represented 38% and facial expressions comprised a massive 55%. These findings clearly illustrate the need for video conferencing to be taken into consideration as a viable option for all communications planning and management.

Regional Idiosyncrasies

Differences in cultural and local language variations between virtual team members will need to be addressed. Here the adoption of a standard of practice would be of great assistance and benefit.

For instance we could all agree upon a primary format such as using the international English vocabulary dictionary; which contains approximately 4,000 words, as the authoritative arbitrator in areas of dispute.

Because a word or phrase might have a colloquial meaning in a given locale and yet another all together when taken in the context of a different local inference (colloquially) the need to eliminate the potential for unintended misunderstanding or misinterpretations becomes apparent.

To overcome this in as impartial manner as possible everyone agrees to use or refer to the same agreed version of the same agreed authoritative source. In this way the idiomatic idiosyncratic nature of localized language variation can be readily clarified and what's more this can be done at a distance.

Feedback

One of the most important facets of human communications is the reinforcing adaptive intuitiveness that the communicating party(s) gain via feedback, much of which under ‘normal` circumstances is nonverbal in nature. It is quite possible that some degree of formal regimentation may be beneficial. For example communications will need to be formally acknowledged in terms of being received.

Feedback can be formally requested using a predefined Reply By plan as this will place a time frame upon the communications to ensure that the flow of traffic is not entirely one way and permanently overdue (at least from some quarters).

Remote Communications Options

Some of the options available for remote communications over large distances include mobile phones, PDAs, text messages, SMS, email, IM, on-line chat, informal bulletin boards, discussion forums, blogs and other social media.

Magnolia groups; for example, work very well as a centralized point by which individuals can independently and/or collectively access and update from this shared on-line service. A point of warning though; if you do not want the rest of the world to be privy to this information then make sure that the group you create is private and not publically accessible (publically accessible is the default option).

VoIP is another cost effective solution worthy of serious consideration.

SAP has designed an R/3 application module for business functionality in every business area in a company. R/3 application modules are integrated. So when a change is made to one application module, R/3 automatically updates the corresponding data in the other application modules. The automatic update of information in R/3 occurs as soon as data is entered into the system. This is referred to as “real-time” processing.

The application modules are integrated into a work flow business events and processes across department and financial areas. Any business that wants to fully integrate its business processes must use on source for customer, product, and supplier data. R/3 allows for this by providing a set of master records for the enterprise. This means that an entire company can share the same customer or material information that is entered in the R/3 master records.

The integration of application modules in real-time allows all the employees in your company to see the most up-to-date information in real-time at their desktops. It also reduces data redundancy. Globalization is one of the biggest challenges facing any organization seeking to integrate its business processes. A business system must be capable of supporting all of an organization's offices, across the globe. The R/3 system has no organizational or geographical boundaries. It is designed for international use and supports multiple languages, currencies, and taxation systems.

To examine what application modules do and how they connect to each other in more detail, let's take a look at the following application modules:

• Sales and Distribution (SD)
• Materials Management (MM)
• Financial Accounting (FI)
• Production Planning (PP)

Let's say a customer has ordered 100 motors from your company XYZ. You use the Sales and Distribution (SD) application module to enter the customer's request for the motors into R/3. This is done by creating a sales order. Once a sales order has been created, the Sales and Distribution module generates a delivery document, which contains information needed to ship the motors.

For example, the delivery document informs warehouse managers which motors to collect from stock. Once the motors have been shipped, an invoice is created to bill the customer. Materials Management (MM) application module is now used for procurement and inventory management. Elements of this application module include:

• Invoice verification
• Material valuation
• Vendor evaluation

The Financial Accounting (FI) application module manages and reports on sub ledger accounts using a chart of accounts that is defined by your company. Examples of these sub ledger accounts include:

• The General Ledger
• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable

The Production Planning (PP) module is used to plan and control the manufacturing activities of a company. Some of the elements of the Production Planning module are:

• Bills of materials
• Sales and operations planning
• Material requirements planning
• Production orders

Let's look at R/3 integration by examining how the Sales and Distribution application module integrates with other application modules when you create a sales order.

• When a sales order is created, integration occurs between the Sales and Distribution module and the Financial Accounting modules. This is because R/3 checks the customer's credit limit, which is stored in Financial Accounting. Another reason is that the creation of the sales order updates your company's cash forecast, which is also stored in the Financial accounting module.
• When you create a sales order, Sales and Distribution integrates with the Materials Management module. This is to verify that the ordered material will be available on the requested delivery date.
• Sales and Distribution integrates with the Production Planning module when materials entered on sales orders use a planning strategy, such as make-to-order. When this happens, R/3 automatically creates a production order in the Production Planning module.

Application modules share a common user interface and architecture. They are also navigated in the same way. So in addition to being integrated technically, they have an integrated look and feel.

Other R/3 application modules include:

• Controlling (CO)
• Fixed Asset Management (AM)
• Project System (PS)
• Work flow (WF)
• Industry Solutions (IS)
• Human Resources (HR)
• Plant Maintenance (PM)
• Quality Management (QM)
• Enterprise Controlling (EC)
• Investment Management (IM)
• Treasury (TR)
• Service Management (SM)

When R/3 is first installed, each application module will need to be customized to suit a company's business needs. The groups of employees from a company who implement and configure R/3 are commonly called the project team or the implementation team. Sometimes companies implement a core group of R/3 application modules, and then add additional modules or functionality over time.

Project teams can customize R/3 tables, reports, and interfaces. R/3 project teams configure the application modules to increase the efficiency of a company's business processes. R/3 can process and generate information in several ways.

Batch input is R/3's standard method for entering a large number of records from legacy systems or routine interfaces. The R/3 business work flow links company-specific work processes to the business processes of R/3. The business work flow processing capability is a way an R/3 event can trigger one or a number of other events. Work flow applications control the flow of information and documents from one work center to another.

Let's see how the business work flow applies to handling a customer order. When a user is processing a sales order for a customer who has exceeded their credit limit, a supervisor might need to approve the acceptance of the order. As a result of R/3's business work flow, a message is then sent to the supervisor's inbox. The message informs the supervisor that a sales order is waiting for credit approval (Each user on R/3 has an inbox that is part of the R/3 mail system. This mail system handles internal and external mail, system notifications, and work flow items).

R/3 records business transactions and activities by creating documents for them. This is called the document principle. R/3 uses the document principle to record information for the business activities your company carries out.

A key feature of successful business integration is that information should be entered only once. R/3 facilitates this requirement by rolling information down the business process. Rolling information means that the system copies or transfers data from one document into another, thereby reducing data entry and making problem resolution easier. For example, during the customer order management process, information in the sales order, such as the customer name, materials or services requested, and so on, is copied into the delivery document. And all the information from the sales and delivery document is copied into the invoice.

The management of a company needs to be able to retrace the steps of a business process in order to see what caused a situation. They can do this because all R/3 documents are linked and because R/3 has drill-down capability. Using drill-down capability, one can establish the document numbers of all documents connected to a sales order.

The chain of documents in R/3 is called the document flow. The document flow provides the history and status of related documents in R/3. The output processing capability allows to exchange information between a company's business partners and employees. One way you can use the output processing capability is to send confirmation of an order to a customer. Another way you can use it is to bill a customer for a delivery.

R/3 provides several ways to send and receive information. R/3 provides several ways to send and receive information. These include:

• Print
• Fax
• E-mail
• EDI (EDI is the acronym for Electronic Data Interchange. It is a standard for the transfer of data between companies using networks such as the Internet).

The information that is sent to business partners using R/3 defaults from the electronic documents contained in the R/3 system. For example, much of the information entered on the sales and delivery document is transferred to the invoice.

The conditions processing capability allows a company to decide how R/3 will calculate the values of company-specific data or process a document in the system. Conditions are used to determine prices, discounts, surcharges, requisition release strategies, and work flow output.

Let's say your company manufactures engines and has created a condition to price them. Suppose a customer would like to order engines from your company and that you must create the sales order. Because a condition has been created to price engines, the price of the engines will default into the sales order. This saves you from having to enter a price manually.

The reporting tools in R/3 are flexible and meet internal and external reporting requirements. Reporting tools are useful for analyzing your company's performance so you can develop future business plans. R/3 includes two types of reporting - Standard reporting and Information Systems reporting. Standard reporting allows users to view transaction level data in each R/3 application. Information Systems reporting allows users to view summary-level statistical data from R/3 applications and external applications. This means a single report can display information from different application modules.

One can import data or export R/3 reports to external systems. One can import or export reporting data to and from Microsoft Access, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and many other applications. One can run reports for the whole of your company or for sections of it. It is possible to create a report for a section of your company by specifying which organizational unit you want to report on. Organizational units identify the hierarchical structure of an organization.

Let's say your company has divisions in the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Each division forms an organizational unit called a "company". A company is an SAP term for an independent legal entity. A company can be further defined into smaller organizational units, such as plants and purchasing organizations.

R/3 provides a number of standard reports. However, one can also define your own reports to display information in a way that suits your company's needs. The archiving capability allows you to transfer information from R/3 onto storage media. To do this, one can use the ArchiveLink application. ArchiveLink is a communications interface between the R/3 system and an optical archive system. This allows you to store R/3 documents on optical disks that can't be overwritten.