IT WEEK • 11 OCTOBER 2004
40 COMMENT Why IT departments need to improve
the way they document changes and log their work
CONTENTS
40 INTERVIEW Xerox CEO
on services for corporates
40 COMMENT IT managers need to
ensure that the development of
systems is well documented to
help auditors and to improve
efficiency, says Mark Street
37 INTERVIEW Xerox’s chief executive,
Anne Mulcahy, explains how the
printing specialist is developing IT
services for corporates, and how
it plans to develop its offerings
MANAGEMENTWEEK
WHERE TECHNOLOGY BECOMES BUSINESS REALITY
Editor: Madeline Bennett
Free guide for better BPM
ENGINEERING BETTER PERFORMANCE
he BPM Standards Group has
released guidelines for business
performance management initiatives, to help firms avoid the problems that
have plagued enterprise resource planning
(ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) installations.
The group, which comprises vendors,
consultants and analysts, hopes to accelerate adoption of business performance
management (BPM) systems and create
standards for implementations.
The first version of the BPM Framework, available via the first URL below,
covers information flow from operational
systems to planning systems and between
functions within firms. It
says the first step for
BPM initiatives is to set
goals and metrics, and
then establish planning
and budgeting processes,
BPM Standards Group has
• The
issued guidelines for business per-
T
Schiff: build on
previous findings
•
formance management systems.
It has set out steps for setting
goals, budgeting, monitoring and
analysis, and revising systems.
both financial and operational. The next
stage is to monitor and analyse performance of deployed systems, and compare
results with the original plan.
The final step is to make any necessary
changes based on the metrics generated –
for example to make revisions to plans, targets and operational activity.
The BPM Framework calls for data to
be gathered from various sources, including
applications, data warehouses and desktop
software. This data should then be loaded
into a BPM data mart that supports both
structured and unstructured data, and relational and multidimensional data analysis.
Applications that support the key BPM
processes – the setting of strategy; planning
and budgeting; monitoring and analysing;
and taking corrective action – should then
act on that data. Query and reporting tools,
portals, collaboration applications and
dashboards can sit on top of that layer, presenting data to users via interfaces such as
web browsers and spreadsheets.
“We want to see BPM be successful, not
be something that was over-hyped, like
CRM,” said Craig Schiff, chief executive of
BPM Partners, one of the founding members of the BPM Standards Group. “We’re
trying to learn from the lessons of the past.”
The best practices recommended by
the group could eventually include shared
application frameworks based on open
standards, though Schiff said there were
no such plans in the immediate future.
The group also intends to publish case
studies of implementations on its web site.
Other founding members of the BPM
Standards Group include IBM, Hyperion,
SAP and Meta Group. Other contributors
to the framework include Cartesis, Cognos, Deloitte & Touche and Unisys.
www.bpmstandardsgroup.org
www.bpmpartners.com
www.eweek.com
IT staff ask for flexibility
A PATH TO HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY?
ibly would make them more productive.
And almost the same proportion said regT staff are being bogged down by dayular feedback from managers was the most
to-day detail, and this is damaging their
important way to motivate them.
productivity, according to a recent DTI
Organisations that take steps to imstudy. The report suggests that giving IT
prove motivation could benefit from more
staff more freedom to work flexibly and
loyal IT staff. Four-fifths of respondents
giving them better recognition for their
said they would be more committed to
work could help to improve matters.
their employer if they were helped to
In the DTI survey, three out of five
realise their full potential; 86 percent said
technology staff admitted that in an avertraining and development were very impage working day they are not as productive
ortant to encourage them.
as they could be. More than two-thirds of
The results show companies need to do
respondents blamed getting bogged down
more to keep staff happy and motivated,
in day-to-day detail for
according to Sebastian Baithe shortcomings. Meetley, director of manageWHAT MOTIVATES IT STAFF? ment development conings that start late and the
Training and
need to plough through
sultancy MindGym. “The
86%
development
long and irrelevant email
command-and-control
Flexible
71%
trails were also blamed.
approach to managing
working
Seven out of 10 techbusiness is reducing but it
Regular
67%
feedback
nology workers said the
is by no means a thing of
ability to work more flex- Source: DTI
the past,” he added.
because of poor work practices.
Staff believe more flexible working
and increased recognition and
feedback would improve matters.
James Mortleman
I
itweek.co.uk
A DTI survey of IT staff suggests
• productivity
is being damaged
•
According to Bailey, inexpensive measures could make a big difference. “By improving staff recognition and feedback,
managers can help people feel motivated,
energised and valued within the business.”
This could lower staff turnover and increase
productivity, giving employees a greater
sense of progress and effectiveness, he said.
Bailey added that flexible working conditions and more collaborative working
would be welcomed by many IT staff, who
too often work in isolation.“A more collaborative approach seems to show increased
productivity and a marked [improvement]
in the bottom line,” he said. “Business leaders need to think more actively about how
they can incorporate such a culture.”
www.dti.gov.uk www.mindgym.co.uk
Madeline Bennett
© eWeek USA 2004
Dennis Callaghan
Ready-made
BI packs ease
integration
Siebel last week launched new integrated business intelligence (BI) systems for corporates.The move followed a further push into the BI
market by Microsoft last month.
At the CRM specialist’s user
week in Los Angeles, Siebel announced BI applications for financials, the
supply chain, the workforce and customer analytics.The applications,
available immediately, offer pre-built
systems for various business functions, including sales, procurement
and human resources.
The systems are designed to integrate with other data sources from
vendors such as SAP and Oracle, as
well as other Siebel software.
Siebel Business Analytics Applications now include Enterprise Sales
Analytics, to help sales teams manage
backlogs and increase cross selling;
and Employee Performance Management and Workforce Analytics, to
help identity key performance indicators to improve staff productivity and
to align performance with goals.
Each application offers personalised, intuitive dashboards and prebuilt data extraction, transformation
and loading (ETL) routines.
In a separate move, Microsoft
recently announced new BI capabilities for databases.
Microsoft has released new SQL
Server Report Packs for Microsoft
Exchange Server and Microsoft Business Solutions CRM.These packs,
which can be downloaded free from
Microsoft’s web site, offer templates
for common report models.
Microsoft said that the next beta
of SQL Server 2005 will include
Reporting Services Report, a selfservice ad hoc query tool.
www.siebel.com/analytics
www.microsoft.com/sql
39
MANAGEMENTWEEK
IT WEEK • 11 OCTOBER 2004
How to make the auditing grade
IT staff are often loath to do administration to record how software systems develop.
But firms must keep track to support auditors and comply with laws, says Mark Street
odical approach that is required to
write code does not translate to
documenting it. It’s like enjoying
putting a jigsaw together, but not
wanting to make a copy so that
other people can enjoy it too.
The same applies to other management issues related to IT. The
tracking of systems, the documenting of architecture and the tallying
of computers and servers all seem
so dull when compared to the nirvana of coding and joining systems.
The recording of IT is more akin to
accountancy than technology.
Given the trend for more legislation and regulation to mitigate
operational risk, the problems
caused by poor record keeping will
grow. One reason for poor IT
auditing is that there is a skills gap.
Great auditors usually know very
little about the intricacies of IT
while great technologists know very
little about good auditing. It is an
important missing link.
This lax attitude to auditing
cannot be allowed to continue,
however. If IT directors have not
already implemented a proper
strategy for logging systems, they
should start working extremely
closely with external auditors to
ensure that their infrastructure is
properly accounted for.
They also need to overhaul their
processes to make them transparent so that auditors can easily tick
off their check boxes and quickly
approve systems. This requires
making greater use of industry
standards such as the security
standard BS7799.
It will then be much easier to
pinpoint areas of non-compliance
and ensure that companies are not
exposed to any unnecessary risk. As
Forrester analysts said in a recent
research note, the best relationship
between IT and auditors is one of
collaboration rather than tension.
Forrester correctly argued that IT
staff should regard auditing as a
source of support to analyse risks
Xerox takes services route
Anne Mulcahy, chief executive of Xerox, explains how the
printing giant is advancing in corporate services and argues
it is well placed to provide more comprehensive solutions
SERVICES INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL ZIMMERMAN
IT Week: Xerox is making progress in the
services market with you at its helm as
chairman and chief executive. But why did
Xerox decide to beef up its service business for corporate customers?
Anne Mulcahy: I don’t think we’ve looked
at it and said, “Because there’s not a lot of
capital spending.” I think we’ve looked at it
and said, “What are the strategic growth
opportunities [that would allow us to]
build on our core
competencies?”
And these have
really pointed towards digitising
the office; as well
as the new business
of printing, which is
really the whole off Mulcahy: IT
digitises offices
40
set transfer opportunity; and then the
innovation services, which are the document-intensive business process deals.
So you believe that Xerox’s services business can grow significantly from its current
level of $3bn per year?
Absolutely, because [our services are] meeting customer requirements. It’s really what
our customers want. They want us to come
to them with an integrated offering and
solve business problems that need to be
services-led instead of technology-led. And
quite frankly, I think it’s a great portfolio to
have a strong technology component to differentiate you from just any other generic
services company.
Technology is supposedly getting easier
and more intuitive, but at the same time,
vendors like Xerox say that organisations
need services to help exploit this really
easy technology. How do you explain this
apparent contradiction?
One of the refreshing trends in the IT industry is that I don’t see any more of,“Give
us your lowest price on [this].” Our clients
are beginning to understand that point
technologies really aren’t the answer to
making their organisations more productive. So they’re figuring it out. I think we’re
able to respond now with, “It’s a combination. It’s a set of skills and capabilities
offered by our consultants.”
Does Xerox have any plans for acquisitions to further strengthen its services?
Our number one priority is our services
business for extending our reach. We have
an opportunity both from filling out our
service offerings or extending our geographic reach to look at potential arrangements that could help us grow [by
acquisition] a little bit quicker than we
could grow organically. [Acquisitions]
won’t be something that would be incompatible or really put us into a new space. It
would be to build on our existing capabilities to help us scale and develop additional presence in areas that we think we can
really lead in the marketplace.
and ensure reliable controls, rather
than as a snooping to spot mistakes.
IT staff should liaise more
closely with audit people and ask
for their input when defining IT
architecture, policies, procedures
and standards. This is also a good
way to share the risk – in far too
many cases IT staff are held up as
the scapegoats for security breaches that have just as much to do
with corporate culture as with IT.
And if you really want to
ensure that IT bridges this cultural
gap in the future, I suggest that
you instruct all your IT staff to
start dating accountants. Then
simply wait around 20 years or so
to see the marvellous results. ITW
[email protected]
ABOUT ANNE MULCAHY
Mulcahy has held the posi• Anne
tion of chief executive of Xerox
•
•
since 2001. She is also chairman of
the board at the document management and printing specialist.
She has served various roles at the
firm, including chief staff officer, chief
operating officer and president of
General Markets Operations.
Mulcahy has been with Xerox for
almost 30 years, starting her career
as a field sales representative.
Xerox’s new branding strategy promotes
“technology, document management and
consulting services”. Does this open up
the possibility for other complementary
products from Xerox in the future?
I think it does. I think we know our market. And we have a respect for building on
the competencies of the company. So we’ll
stay within the perimeters of the document
management space. But, for example,
today we’re licensing consumer products
like the 17in flat screen or the projectors.
We’re not going to spend a dollar of R&D
on them, but if it’s a great product and the
Xerox brands can make some money on
it, then we’ll go for it. ITW
Giants launch new printers, p17
www.xerox.co.uk www.eweek.com
itweek.co.uk
© eWeek USA 2004
uditing is anathema in the
IT world. What I mean is it
runs counter to the ethos of technologists who see themselves as
free spirits designing pure systems
that celebrate logic and transform
business processes.
It’s fair to say that at the end of
any software development programme, the last thing to be done is
the documenting of the code that
has been created. As software development projects are usually over
budget and over deadline, it is only
natural that this part of the process
frequently falls by the wayside.
Where documenting takes
place it is often undecipherable,
sketchy and meaningless. This
helps to explain the huge number
of custom-built applications that
become virtually impossible to
run and service when the original
developers leave the company.
On the whole, techies hate
recording what they have done. It
seems that the logical and meth-
A