dynoca

Overview | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M7 | M6/M8


Milestone 1 / Consolidated end user requirements for consultancy/agency projects carried out in a distributed team by dynamic networked organisations (03/2000) The consolidated end-user requirements show that within the agency and consultancy sector there is still a great demand for a system or tool, which enables improvement of co-operation. But this is also true for other similar sectors. Despite of various tools and applications available for office work, team work as well as management, there a lot of problems which aggravate the co-operation. A main problem is the missing interface for different standardised applications, which run on different systems (e.g. on MS Windows and Macintosh). Data is not compatible and some additional effort has to be carried out in order to enable the exchange between such different systems. Often data is transferred via hard copy and the information has to be re-inserted manually onto another system. That could be avoided by using an appropriate tool, the DYNOCA system should be able to solve such problems. A further important point is the availability of a server and/or database, which is able to provide information centrally. This is necessary to have reliable data and always updated information. Additionally the possibility to know at each time the status of each data e.g. documents should be given for all partners involved in the project. Therefore, appropriate security and access mechanisms have to be applied. The main results of the consolidated end-user requirements are the identified user requirements and the business sub-processes. The user requirements can be summarised within topics as described in the following: Database: • single database with various access levels for enabling both internal and external access • all parties should know what information already exists and what can be added project history and reference documents should be available in a project repository • the database interface must allow for various access levels to account for each stage of further processing of raw data, i.e. raw data, organised data, edited data, published data • automatic update of the address database to enable actual and updated information • one place where the latest information is available • online capabilities for entering data over the Internet/Intranet	then one project at the same time, but playing different roles for a limited period. This has to be handled through easy membership administration services. To protect the confidential information against unauthorised third parties, security mechanisms like secure transmission, encrypted messages and digital signatures have to be an integral part of the DYNOCA developments. The DYNOCA systems supports the whole life cycle of consultancy / agency projects (CA-projects) including tendering and planning, execution and controlling, and invoicing and payments. Additionally, concepts, methods and tools which are provided by quality control systems (e.g. ISO 9000 ff, EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management)) will be integrated to the DYNOCA developments. Document handling: • common documents must be accessible to both internal and external partners • actual status of documentation must be available • several management documents (e.g., periodic progress reports, yearly reports) have a given structure and a given content, this type of document should be automatically generated • enhancement of information reliability and automatically collection of the information and process it in forms of tables or charts • documentation should be systematised and electronically supported Management and co-ordination: • support for co-ordination of communication between layers of partners, organisers and different partner companies • provision of a holistic view to all processes and plans to enable a proper overview of the project • generation of different views, e.g. financial aspects should be enabled to reduce the complexity • it would be useful to have a way to remind people of the inputs they have to supply • customer relationship management has to be taken into consideration • management of activities should be supported • connection between scheduling/planning, customer management, resource management and cost management	System: • concentration on unified system (too many different partners, send different data like e-mails, schedules, announcements, images, payment, etc. to same people) The six sub-processes identified are more or less common and therefore important for both the agency and consultancy sector. These sub-processes, depicted below, ranging from acquisition to invoicing and provide a good overview of typical processes within that sector. • Acquisition • Content development • Technology development • Testing • Documentation • Invoicing The chosen sub-processes should offer the possibility to generate generic processes for agency and consultancy projects. These sub-processes will be used in order to underpin the reference model which will be developed within the work package ÔDevelopment of Reference Models and Pilot. Within this task a holistic view of the business processes will be developed, detailed phases with its underlying processes and sub-processes could then be mentioned as examples. The requirements identified will also be used to develop such a reference model. Interfaces: • appropriate interfaces needed due to not compatible software applications • Interfaces to different standard tools such as email, word processing software, graphical chart, etc. • interfaces to avoid problems with different payment systems Blackboard: • office blackboard communication medium should be established to integrate internal and external partners with their various ideas

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