Managing Automation - February 2009 - (Page 23) act as a central repository of documents, enable Web meetings, store calendar events, act as the company intranet, and even function as a miniERP system to manage the internal business. The company found all of that with Central Desktop, which provides a customizable and secure way to deliver everything Equipois needed in a SaaS-based enterprise application. And though fledgling businesses may jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon first for financial reasons, there is no reason that a large manufacturer can’t use tools like Central Desktop as well. “The only barrier to a large company is getting over the ‘not invented here’ problem,” Golden says. “Frankly, Central Desktop is really good for some things like customer extranets, portals, and B2B.” For example, when working with an automotive customer, Golden says, CAD files, pictures, and videos can be shared to ensure that the zeroG mechanical arm works seamlessly with the customer’s operating procedures. General Mills, on the other hand, is a Microsoft SharePoint user and has assembled communities of practice across the company via the collaboration tool as a way to facilitate discussions. For example, for every capital project General Mills undertakes, it first builds a website where employees and contractors can meet — like a virtual war room. “We used to need a physical space. Now, people can contribute to projects wherever they may be,” Wetzel says. As part of that process, using SharePoint as the backbone, wikis act as a dictionary/glossary/manual, while blogs serve as a way to promote discussions. maonline managingautomation.com RELATED ARTICLES: Vendors Sprinkle AJAX on UIs www.managingautomation.com/ajax IBM Unveils Cloud Computing Consulting, Services www.managingautomation.com/cloud COMPANIES MENTIONED: Central Desktop www.managingautomation.com/central Cordys www.managingautomation.com/cordys EDS www.managingautomation.com/EDS Microsoft www.managingautomation.com/microsoft Oracle www.managingautomation.com/oracle3 Xora www.managingautomation.com/xora All of this happens on the secure extranet where everything is structured at the corporate level according to General Mills’ “rules of the road.” This means MANUFACTURERS that, even in the Web 2.0 enviEXPECT TO RAMP UP ronment where electronic conCOLLABORATIVE EFFORTS versations are the norm, there Q: Over the past 12 months, to what extent has still needs to be a way to track, your company improved its ability to collaborate? trace, and govern conversations. Collaboration has improved somewhat:: “The key thing here is all of 39.5% this [Web 2.0 technology] is Collaboration efforts have remained the same: coming online at a time when 20.9% businesses are facing a credit crunch and there is the need Don’t know: for governance, compliance, 14.0% and risk analysis. Web 2.0 No improvement: technology has the ability to dis11.6% rupt all that,” says John Pyke, Improved substantially: chief strategy office at Cordys, 9.3% an SOA/BPM vendor. Collaboration has declined: For example, IMs discussing 4.7% supplies procurement could be considered a purchase order. In some countries, this would Q: Do you expect your company’s focus on constitute a legally binding concollaboration to increase or decrease over tract. But is this a process that the next 12 months? Remain the has been sufficiently managed? same: 30.0% “There needs to be an approach Don’t that captures all of that data to know: 7.5% be used to the company’s best advantage, while keeping the Decrease: CEO out of jail,” Pyke says. 5.0% Increase: Nevertheless, many compa57.5% nies have a corporate mandate Percentages may have been rounded and may not equal 100%. to increase collaboration, at least internally, in order to improve their overall business execution. Ford Motor Co., for example, is using SOA as the application infrastructure that will convert many production processes to Web-based services. “We have a whole group focused on defining the existing services and laying out the services approach for the future,” says Will Pierson, Ford’s supervisor of plant floor systems application development. The goal is to reuse existing applications by layering on a lightweight application that can pull data from Web services and, using business logic, format them in more appealing ways for end users. One scenario involved the development of a stamping production assistant system that brings scheduling, production, and maintenance applications together using Web services. The plant manager can pull the production schedule for each stamping line — which is visible to all levels of the plant, including the operators on the floor who can see in real time whether the production schedFebruary priorities ma poll 23 2009 http://www.managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com/ajax http://www.managingautomation.com/cloud http://www.managingautomation.com/central http://www.managingautomation.com/cordys http://www.managingautomation.com/EDS http://www.managingautomation.com/microsoft http://www.managingautomation.com/oracle3 http://www.managingautomation.com/xora
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