Aligning business processes with proven advanced technologies for maximum productivity.

5051 Hwy 7, Suite 250, Minneapolis, MN 55416, USA Tel 952-924-9944, Fax 952926-3334, www.lowrytech.com 2003 Lowry Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. EMPLOYEE INFORMATION PORTAL APPLICATION The Lowry Technologies Portal Client for IBM Content Manager was used to create an Employee Information Portal Application. Lowry Portal Client for is a portal application factory, which provides enterprise wide, scalable custom solutions in the content management area, seamlessly binding together Websphere Portal Server and IBM Content Manager. This software combination is an End- to- End IBM based solution for Enterprise Content Management. It allows you to leverage the same IBM infrastructure to create multiple information aggregation portal applications. The combination of IBM Content Manager and WebSphere Portal create a solution for an Employee Information Portal Application to provide an enterprise content repository for all types

of content with personalized access and delivery via a portal. IBM and Lowry can successfully aggregate all your content from disparate systems into a single personalized view to improve the overall efficiency of your business. Portal solution implementation using IBM Content Manager, IBM Websphere Portal and Lowry Portal Client can help organizations increase employee productivity and have a means to quickly disseminate information to the entire organization. Significant savings in terms of reduced support staff and lowered printing costs can be realized immediately for self service/e-forms applications where the organization mandates use by the employee. Business Benefits: Can disseminate information quickly to the entire employee population. Increases employee work focus and productivity by exposing via a personalized portal only content that is relevant to the employee. Employees accept more responsibility for managing their own work environment and resources. Employees become aware of the benefits of using the applications on the portal and increasingly use more of the features and applications.

 Employees have the ability to collaborate on documents and projects. Saves time and money by using self-service for applications such as Human Resources (i.e. reduces the need for support staff and printing costs) Employees can sift through internal documents more efficiently and view documents such as proposals, upcoming project plans, annual reports and organizational charts. 5051 Hwy 7., Suite 250, Minneapolis, MN 55416, USA Tel 952-924-9944, Fax 952926-3334 www.lowrytech.com 2003 Lowry Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. IT Benefits: Approved employees are able to publish content to the repository at anytime without the involvement of IT resources. No Java knowledge required. The user configurability of the Lowry Portal Client saves customers 10 to 20 times the effort it takes a Java programmer to create portal based applications. Business requires constant changes to the existing functionality and adding new functionality. The universality of Lowry Portal Client based on portal open architecture allows for ease of maintainability.

 This IBM Content Manager, Websphere Portal, and Lowry Portal Client bring together existing and new systems to construct an end-toend solution. Features of Lowry Portal Client for IBM Content Manager: Uses the WebSphere Portal as an access integration point for both content delivery and management. Fully leverages robustness and flexibility of IBM Content Managers data model and Information Integrator data abstraction layer Access Control down to document level Role based Authorization Lowry Portal Client Portlets are used to search, contribute and manipulate the content stored within the Content Manager. Content when published and approved is immediately accessible via the portal through Lowry content delivery portlets. Provides the ability for full text indexing and search for attributes and document parts. WebSphere Portal and Content Manager user authentication using LDAP. Provides users the ability to create, manage and approve content utilizing IBM Content Managers native workflow. About Lowry Technologies, LLC Lowry Technologies, LLC is a Minneapolis based eBusiness solutions firm. Lowry

specializes in providing a highly targeted set of eBusiness services including Web Enabling, Content Management, and Enterprise Portal Solutions. As an IBM Business Partner, Lowry Technologies has spent more than two years developing solutions for the IBM Websphere Portal Server and the IBM Enterprise Content Manager. For more information contact sales@lowry

Knowledge management From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice. An established discipline since 1991 (see Nonaka 1991), KM includes courses taught in the fields of business administration, information systems, management, and library and information sciences (Alavi & Leidner 1999). More recently, other fields have started contributing to KM research; these include information and media, computer science, public health, and public policy. Many large companies and non-profit organizations have resources dedicated to

internal KM efforts, often as a part of their 'business strategy', 'information technology', or 'human resource management' departments (Addicott, McGivern & Ferlie 2006). Several consulting companies also exist that provide strategy and advice regarding KM to these organizations. Knowledge Management efforts typically focus on organizational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and continuous improvement of the organization. KM efforts overlap with organizational learning, and may be distinguished from that by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. Contents [hide]

1 History 2 Research o 2.1 Dimensions o 2.2 Strategies o 2.3 Motivations o 2.4 Technologies o 2.5 Knowledge Managers 3 See also 4 References o 4.1 Notes

5 External links

[edit] History KM efforts have a long history, to include on-thejob discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forums, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. More recently, with increased use of computers in the second half of the 20th century, specific adaptations of technologies such as knowledge bases, expert systems, knowledge repositories, group decision support systems, intranets, and computer supported cooperative work have been introduced to further enhance such efforts.[1] In 1999, the term personal knowledge management was introduced which refers to the management of knowledge at the individual level (Wright 2005). In terms of the enterprise, early collections of case studies recognized the importance of knowledge management dimensions of strategy, process, and measurement (Morey, Maybury & Thuraisingham 2002). Key lessons learned included: people, and the cultures that influence their behaviors, are the single most critical resource for successful knowledge creation, dissemination, and application; cognitive, social, and organizational learning processes are essential to the success of a knowledge

management strategy; and measurement, benchmarking, and incentives are essential to accelerate the learning process and to drive cultural change. In short, knowledge management programs can yield impressive benefits to individuals and organizations if they are purposeful, concrete, and action-oriented. More recently with the advent of the Web 2.0, the concept of Knowledge Management has evolved towards a vision more based on people participation and emergence. This line of evolution is termed Enterprise 2.0 (McAfee 2006). However, there is an ongoing debate and discussions (Lakhani & McAfee 2007) as to whether Enterprise 2.0 is just a fad that does not bring anything new or useful or whether it is, indeed, the future of knowledge management (Davenport 2008). [edit] Research KM emerged as a scientific discipline in the earlier 1990s. It was initially supported solely by practitioners, when Scandia hired Leif Edvinsson of Sweden as the worlds first Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO). Hubert Saint-Onge (formerly of CIBC, Canada), started investigating various sides of KM long before that. The objective of CKOs is to manage and maximize the intangible assets of their organizations. Gradually, CKOs became interested in not only practical but also

theoretical aspects of KM, and the new research field was formed. The KM ideas taken up by academics, such as Ikujiro Nonaka (Hitotsubashi University), Hirotaka Takeuchi (Hitotsubashi University), Thomas H. Davenport (Babson College) and Baruch Lev (New York University). In 2001, Thomas A. Stewart, former editor at FORTUNE Magazine and subsequently the editor of Harvard Business Review, published a cover story highlighting the importance of intellectual capital of organizations. Since its establishment, the KM discipline has been gradually moving towards academic maturity. First, there is a trend towards higher cooperation among academics; particularly, there has been a drop in single-authored publications. Second, the role of practitioners has changed. Their contribution to academic research has been dramatically declining from 30% of overall contributions up to 2002, to only 10% by 2009 (Serenko et al. 2010). A broad range of thoughts on the KM discipline exists with no unanimous agreement; approaches vary by author and school. As the discipline matures, academic debates have increased regarding both the theory and practice of KM, to include the following perspectives:

Techno-centric with a focus on technology, ideally those that enhance knowledge sharing and creation.

Organizational with a focus on how an organization can be designed to facilitate knowledge processes best. Ecological with a focus on the interaction of people, identity, knowledge, and environmental factors as a complex adaptive system akin to a natural ecosystem.

Regardless of the school of thought, core components of KM include People, Processes, Technology (or) Culture, Structure, Technology, depending on the specific perspective (Spender & Scherer 2007). Different KM schools of thought include various lenses through which KM can be viewed and explained, to include:

community of practice (Wenger, McDermott & Synder 2001)[2] social network analysis[3] intellectual capital (Bontis & Choo 2002)[4] information theory[5] (McInerney 2002) complexity science[6][7] constructivism[8] (Nanjappa & Grant 2003)

The practical relevance of academic research in KM has been questioned (Ferguson 2005) with action research suggested as having more relevance (Andriessen 2004) and the need to translate the findings presented in academic journals to a practice (Booker, Bontis & Serenko 2008). [edit] Dimensions

Different frameworks for distinguishing between knowledge exist. One proposed framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge distinguishes between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge represents internalized knowledge that an individual may not be consciously aware of, such as how he or she accomplishes particular tasks. At the opposite end of the spectrum, explicit knowledge represents knowledge that the individual holds consciously in mental focus, in a form that can easily be communicated to others.[9] (Alavi & Leidner 2001). Similarly, Hayes and Walsham (2003) describe content and relational perspectives of knowledge and knowledge management as two fundamentally different epistemological perspectives. The content perspective suggest that knowledge is easily stored because it may be codified, while the relational perspective recognizes the contextual and relational aspects of knowledge which can make knowledge difficult to share outside of the specific location where the knowledge is developed[10].

The Knowledge Spiral as described by Nonaka & Takeuchi. Early research suggested that a successful KM effort needs to convert internalized tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge in order to share it, but the same effort must also permit individuals to internalize and make personally meaningful any codified knowledge retrieved from the KM effort. Subsequent research into KM suggested that a distinction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge represented an oversimplification and that the notion of explicit knowledge is self-contradictory. Specifically, for knowledge to be made explicit, it must be translated into information (i.e., symbols outside of our heads) (Serenko & Bontis 2004). Later on, Ikujiro Nonaka proposed a model (SECI for Socialization, Externalization, Combination, Internalization) which considers a spiraling knowledge process interaction between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995). In this model, knowledge follows a cycle in which implicit knowledge is 'extracted' to become explicit knowledge, and explicit knowledge is 're-internalized' into implicit knowledge. More recently, together with Georg von Krogh, Nonaka returned to his earlier work in an attempt to move the debate about knowledge conversion forwards (Nonaka & von Krogh 2009).

A second proposed framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge distinguishes between embedded knowledge of a system outside of a human individual (e.g., an information system may have knowledge embedded into its design) and embodied knowledge representing a learned capability of a human bodys nervous and endocrine systems (Sensky 2002). A third proposed framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge distinguishes between the exploratory creation of "new knowledge" (i.e., innovation) vs. the transfer or exploitation of "established knowledge" within a group, organization, or community. Collaborative environments such as communities of practice or the use of social computing tools can be used for both knowledge creation and transfer.[11] [edit] Strategies Knowledge may be accessed at three stages: before, during, or after KM-related activities. Different organizations have tried various knowledge capture incentives, including making content submission mandatory and incorporating rewards into performance measurement plans. Considerable controversy exists over whether incentives work or not in this field and no consensus has emerged.

One strategy to KM involves actively managing knowledge (push strategy). In such an instance, individuals strive to explicitly encode their knowledge into a shared knowledge repository, such as a database, as well as retrieving knowledge they need that other individuals have provided to the repository.[12] This is also commonly known as the Codification approach to KM. Another strategy to KM involves individuals making knowledge requests of experts associated with a particular subject on an ad hoc basis (pull strategy). In such an instance, expert individual(s) can provide their insights to the particular person or people needing this (Snowden 2002). This is also commonly known as the Personalization approach to KM. Other knowledge management strategies and instruments for companies include:

rewards (as a means of motivating for knowledge sharing) storytelling (as a means of transferring tacit knowledge) cross-project learning after action reviews knowledge mapping (a map of knowledge repositories within a company accessible by all) communities of practice

expert directories (to enable knowledge seeker to reach to the experts) best practice transfer knowledge fairs competence management (systematic evaluation and planning of competences of individual organization members) proximity & architecture (the physical situation of employees can be either conducive or obstructive to knowledge sharing) master-apprentice relationship collaborative technologies (groupware, etc.) knowledge repositories (databases, bookmarking engines, etc.) measuring and reporting intellectual capital (a way of making explicit knowledge for companies) knowledge brokers (some organizational members take on responsibility for a specific "field" and act as first reference on whom to talk about a specific subject) social software (wikis, social bookmarking, blogs, etc.)

[edit] Motivations A number of claims exist as to the motivations leading organizations to undertake a KM effort.[13] Typical considerations driving a KM effort include:

Making available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of products and services Achieving shorter new product development cycles Facilitating and managing innovation and organizational learning Leveraging the expertise of people across the organization Increasing network connectivity between internal and external individuals Managing business environments and allowing employees to obtain relevant insights and ideas appropriate to their work Solving intractable or wicked problems Managing intellectual capital and intellectual assets in the workforce (such as the expertise and know-how possessed by key individuals)

Debate exists whether KM is more than a passing fad, though increasing amount of research in this field may hopefully help to answer this question, as well as create consensus on what elements of KM help determine the success or failure of such efforts (Wilson 2002).[14] [edit] Technologies Early KM technologies included online corporate yellow pages as expertise locators and document management systems. Combined with the early

development of collaborative technologies (in particular Lotus Notes), KM technologies expanded in the mid-1990s. Subsequent KM efforts leveraged semantic technologies for search and retrieval and the development of elearning tools for communities of practice[15] (Capozzi 2007). Knowledge management systems can thus be categorized as falling into one or more of the following groups: Groupware, document management systems, expert systems, semantic networks, relational and object oriented databases, simulation tools, and artificial intelligence [16] (Gupta & Sharma 2004) More recently, development of social computing tools (such as bookmarks, blogs, and wikis) have allowed more unstructured, self-governing or ecosystem approaches to the transfer, capture and creation of knowledge, including the development of new forms of communities, networks, or matrixed organizations. However such tools for the most part are still based on text and code, and thus represent explicit knowledge transfer. These tools face challenges in distilling meaningful re-usable knowledge and ensuring that their content is transmissible through diverse channels[17](Andrus 2005). Software tools in knowledge management are a collection of technologies and are not necessarily acquired as a single software solution. Furthermore, these knowledge management

software tools have the advantage of using the organization existing information technology infrastructure. Organizations and business decision makers spend a great deal of resources and make significant investments in the latest technology, systems and infrastructure to support knowledge management. It is imperative that these investments are validated properly, made wisely and that the most appropriate technologies and software tools are selected or combined to facilitate knowledge management. Knowledge management has also become a cornerstone in emerging business strategies such as Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) with companies increasingly turning to software vendors to enhance their efficiency in industries including, but not limited to, the aviation industry.[18] [edit] Knowledge Managers This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) "Knowledge manager" is a role and designation that has gained popularity over the past decade. The role has evolved drastically from that of one

involving the creation and maintenance of knowledge repositories to one that involves influencing the culture of an organization toward improved knowledge sharing, reuse, learning, collaboration and innovation. Knowledge management functions are associated with different departments in different organizations. It may be combined with Quality, Sales, HR, Innovation, Operations etc. and is likely to be determined by the KM motivation of that particular organization. Knowledge managers have varied backgrounds ranging from Information Sciences to Business Management. An effective knowledge manager is likely to be someone who has a versatile skills portfolio and is comfortable with the concepts of organizational behavior/culture, processes, branding & marketing and collaborative technology.

Workflow From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons,[1] an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work. For control purposes, workflow may be a view on real work under a chosen aspect,[2] thus serving as a virtual representation of actual work. The flow being described often refers to a document that is being transferred from one step to another.

A workflow is a model to represent real work for further assessment, e.g., for describing a reliably repeatable sequence of operations. More abstractly, a workflow is a pattern of activity enabled by a systematic organization of resources, defined roles and mass, energy and information flows, into a work process that can be documented and learned.[3][4] Workflows are designed to achieve processing intents of some sort, such as physical transformation, service provision, or information processing. Workflow concepts are closely related to other concepts used to describe organizational structure, such as silos, functions, teams, projects, policies and hierarchies. Workflows may be viewed as one primitive building block of organizations. The relationships among these concepts are described later in this entry. The term workflow is used in computer programming to capture and develop human-tomachine interaction. Contents [hide]

1 Related concepts o 1.1 Historical development o 1.2 Beginnings in manufacturing o 1.3 Maturation and growth o 1.4 Quality era

2 Workflow Management System 3 Examples 4 Features and phenomenology 5 Workflow improvement theories 6 Workflow components 7 Workflow applications 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit] Related concepts The concept of workflow is closely related to several other fields in operations research and other fields that study the nature of work, either quantitatively or qualitatively, such as artificial intelligence (in particular, the sub-discipline of AI planning) and ethnography. The term workflow is more commonly used in particular industries, such as printing, and professional domains, where it may have particular specialized meanings. 1.Processes: A process is a more specific notion than workflow, and can apply to physical or biological processes, for instance. In the context of concepts surrounding work, a process may be distinguished from a workflow by the fact that it has well-defined inputs, outputs and purposes, while the notion of workflow may apply more generally

to any systematic pattern of activity (such as all processes occurring in a machine shop). 2.Planning and scheduling: A plan is a description of the logically necessary, partially-ordered set of activities required to accomplish a specific goal given certain starting conditions. A plan, when augmented with a schedule and resource allocation calculations, completely defines a particular instance of systematic processing in pursuit of a goal. A workflow may be viewed as an (often optimal or near-optimal) realization of the mechanisms required to execute the same plan repeatedly. 3.Flow control is a control concept applied to workflows to divert from static control concepts applied to stock, that simply managed the buffers of material or orders, to a more dynamic concept of control, that manages the flow speed and flow volumes in motion and in process. Such orientation to dynamic aspects is the basic foundation to prepare for more advanced job shop controls, as just-in-time or just-in-sequence. 4.In transit visibility is a monitoring concept that applies to transported material as well as to work in process or work in progress, i.e., workflows. [edit] Historical development See also: Organizational structure

In the 1980s, the term workflow was first used in its modern form in the software industry by FileNet founders Ted Smith and Ed Miller.[citation needed] The company called its business process automation software "WorkFlo". In 1995, the publishing industry studied how traditional publishing processes could be reengineered and streamlined into digital processes in order to reduce lagtime, as well as substantial printing and shipping costs for delivering print copies of books and journals to warehouses and subscribers. The term electronic workflow was used to describe the publishing process, from online delivery of digital manuscripts to the posting of content on the web for online access. The development of the concept of workflow occurred over a series of loosely defined, overlapping, eras. [edit] Beginnings in manufacturing The modern history of workflows can be traced to Frederick Taylor[5] and H. Gantt. Together they launched the study of the deliberate, rational organization of work in the context of manufacturing. The types of workflow of concern to Taylor and his contemporaries primarily involved mass and energy flows. These were studied and improved using time and motion studies. While the assembly line remains the most famous example of a workflow from this

era, the early thinking around work was far more sophisticated than is commonly understood. The notion of flow was more than a sequential breakdown of processing. The common conceptual models of modern operations research, including flow shops, job shops, and queuing systems,[6] can be found in early forms in early 20th century industry. Information based workflows began to grow during this era, although the concept of an information flow lacked flexibility. A particularly influential figure was Melvil Dewey (inventor of the eponymous Dewey Decimal System), who was responsible for the development of the hanging file folder. This era is thus identified with the simplest notions of workflow optimization: throughput and resource utilization. The cultural impact of workflow optimization during this era can be understood through films such as Chaplin's classic Modern Times. These concepts did not stay confined to the shop floor. One magazine invited housewives to puzzle over the fastest way to toast three slices of bread on a one-side, two-slice grill. The book Cheaper by the Dozen introduced the emerging concepts to the context of family life. [edit] Maturation and growth The invention of the typewriter and the copier helped spread the study of the rational

organization of labor from the manufacturing shop floor to the office. Filing systems and other sophisticated systems for managing physical information flows evolved. Two events provided a huge impetus to the development of formalized information workflows. First, the field of optimization theory matured and developed mathematical optimization techniques. Second, World War II and the Apollo program were unprecedented in their demands for the rational organization of work. The classic management tome The Organization Man culturally captured the nature of work in this era. [edit] Quality era During the 1980s two aspects of workflow organization drew heavy criticism. First, the methods pioneered by Taylor modeled humans as simple automata. The classical industrial-style organization of work was critiqued as being both dehumanizing and suboptimal in its use of the potential of human beings. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which describes human needs for selfactualization and creative engagement in work, became a popular tool in this critique. This issue was acknowledged, but did not gain much traction otherwise. The second critique had to do with quality. Workflows optimized for a particular time

became inflexible as work conditions changed. Quality, in both analytic and synthetic manifestations, transformed the nature of work through a variety of movements, ranging from total quality management to Six Sigma to more qualitative notions of business process reengineering (Hammers and Champy, 1991). Under the influence of the quality movement, workflows became the subject of much scrutiny and optimization efforts. Acknowledgement of the dynamic and changing nature of the demands on workflows came in the form of recognition of the phenomena associated with critical paths and moving bottlenecks.[7] The experiences with the quality movement made it clear that information flows are fundamentally different from the mass and energy flows which inspired the first forms of rational workflows. The low cost and adaptability of information flows were seen as enabling workflows that were at once highly rational in their organization and highly flexible, adaptable and responsive. These insights unleashed a whole range of information technology at workflows in manufacturing, services and pure information work. Flexible manufacturing systems, just-in-time inventory management, and other highly agile and adaptable systems of workflow are products of this era. [edit] Workflow Management System

A workflow management system is a computer system that manages and defines a series of tasks within an organization to produce a final outcome or outcomes. Workflow Management Systems allow you to define different workflows for different types of jobs or processes. So, for example, in a manufacturing setting, a design document might be automatically routed from designer to a technical director to the production engineer. At each stage in the workflow, one individual or group is responsible for a specific task. Once the task is complete, the workflow software ensures that the individuals responsible for the next task are notified and receive the data they need to execute their stage of the process. Workflow management systems also automate redundant tasks and ensure uncompleted tasks are followed up. Workflow management systems may control automated processes in addition to replacing paper workorder transfers. If for example the above design documents are now available as Autocad but the workflow requires them as Catia an automated process would implement the conversion prior to notifying the individual responsible for the next task. This is the concept of dependencies. A workflow management system reflects the dependencies required for the completion of each task. [edit] Examples

The following examples illustrate the variety of workflows seen in various contexts:

1.In machine shops, particularly job shops and flow shops, the flow of a part through the various processing stations is a work flow. 2.Insurance claims processing is an example of an information-intensive, document-driven workflow. 3.Wikipedia editing is an example of a stochastic workflow. 4.The Getting Things Done system is a model of personal workflow management for information workers. 5.In global software development, the concept of follow-the-sun describes a process of passing unfinished work across time zones. 6.In Scientific experiments, the overall process (tasks and data flow) can be described as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). This DAG is referred to as a workflow, e.g. Brain Imaging workflows.[8][9] [edit] Features and phenomenology 1.Modeling: Workflow problems can be modeled and analyzed using graph-based formalisms like Petri nets. 2.Measurement: Many of the concepts used to measure scheduling systems in operations research are useful for measuring general

workflows. These include throughput, processing time, and other regular metrics. 3.Specialized connotations: The term workflow has specialized connotations in information technology, document management and imaging. Since 1993, one trade consortium specifically focused on workflow management and the interoperability of workflow management systems has been the Workflow Management Coalition. 4.Scientific workflows: Found wide acceptance in the fields of bioinformatics and cheminformatics in the early 2000s, where they successfully met the need for multiple interconnected tools, handling of multiple data formats and large data quantities. Also, the paradigm of scientific workflows was close to the well-established tradition of Perl scripting in life-science research organizations, so this adoption represented a natural step forward towards a more structured infrastructure setup. 5.Human-machine interaction: Several conceptualizations of mixed-initiative workflows have been studied, particularly in the military, where automated agents play roles just as humans do. For innovative, adaptive, collaborative human work the techniques of human interaction management are required. [edit] Workflow improvement theories

The key driver to gain benefit from the understanding of the workflow process in a business context is that the throughput of the workstream path is modelled in such a way as to evaluate the efficiency of the flow route through internal silos with a view to increasing discrete control of uniquely identified business attributes and rules and reducing potential low efficiency drivers. Evaluation of resources, both physical and human is essential to evaluate hand-off points and potential to create smoother transitions between tasks. Several workflow improvement theories have been proposed and implemented in the modern workplace. These include: 1.Six Sigma 2.Total Quality Management 3.Business Process Reengineering 4.Lean systems As a way of bridging the gap between the two, significant effort is being put into defining workflow patterns that can be used to compare different workflow engines across both of these domains. [edit] Workflow components A workflow can usually be described using formal or informal flow diagramming techniques, showing directed flows between processing steps. Single processing steps or components of

a workflow can basically be defined by three parameters: 1.input description: the information, material and energy required to complete the step 2.transformation rules, algorithms, which may be carried out by associated human roles or machines, or a combination 3.output description: the information, material and energy produced by the step and provided as input to downstream steps. Components can only be plugged together if the output of one previous (set of) component(s) is equal to the mandatory input requirements of the following component. Thus, the essential description of a component actually comprises only in- and output that are described fully in terms of data types and their meaning (semantics). The algorithms' or rules' description need only be included when there are several alternative ways to transform one type of input into one type of output possibly with different accuracy, speed, etc. When the components are non-local services that are invoked remotely via a computer network, such as Web services, additional descriptors (such as QoS and availability) also must be considered. [edit] Workflow applications

Main article: Workflow application Many software systems exist to support workflows in particular domains. Such systems manage tasks such as automatic routing, partially automated processing and integration between different functional software applications and hardware systems that contribute to the value-addition process underlying the workflow. tech.com

.Document management system From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) A document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions created by diffrent users (history tracking). The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management systems. It is often viewed as a component of enterprise content management (ECM) systems and related to digital asset management, document imaging, workflow systems and records management systems. Contents [hide]

1 History 2 Components

3 4 5 6

Standardization See also References External links

[edit] History This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) Beginning in the 1980s, a number of vendors began developing software systems to manage paper-based documents. These systems dealt with paper documents, which included not only printed and published documents, but also photographs, prints, etc. Later developers began to write a second type of system which could manage electronic documents, i.e., all those documents, or files, created on computers, and often stored on users' local file-systems. The earliest electronic document management (EDM) systems managed either proprietary file types, or a limited number of file formats.[1] Many of these systems later[when?] became known as document imaging systems, because they focused on the capture,

storage, indexing and retrieval of image file formats. These systems enabled an organization to capture faxes and forms, to save copies of the documents as images, and to store the image files in the repository for security and quick retrieval (retrieval made possible because the system handled the extraction of the text from the document in the process of capture, and the text-indexer function provided text-retrieval capabilities). EDM systems evolved to a point where systems could manage any type of file format that could be stored on the network. The applications grew to encompass electronic documents, collaboration tools, security, workflow, and auditing capabilities. [edit] Components This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) Document management systems commonly provide storage, versioning, metadata, security, as well as indexing and retrieval capabilities. Here is a description of these components:

Topic

Metadata

Integration

Description Metadata is typically stored for each document. Metadata may, for example, include the date the document was stored and the identity of the user storing it. The DMS may also extract metadata from the document automatically or prompt the user to add metadata. Some systems also use optical character recognition on scanned images, or perform text extraction on electronic documents. The resulting extracted text can be used to assist users in locating documents by identifying probable keywords or providing for full text search capability, or can be used on its own. Extracted text can also be stored as a component of metadata, stored with the image, or separately as a source for searching document collections. Many document management systems attempt to integrate document management directly into other applications, so that users may retrieve existing documents directly from the document management system

Capture

repository, make changes, and save the changed document back to the repository as a new version, all without leaving the application. Such integration is commonly available for office suites and e-mail or collaboration/groupware software. Integration often uses open standards such as ODMA, LDAP, WebDAV and SOAP to allow integration with other software and compliance with internal controls.[citation needed] Capture primarily involves accepting and processing images of paper documents from scanners or multifunction printers. Optical character recognition (OCR) software is often used, whether integrated into the hardware or as standalone software, in order to convert digital images into machine readable text. Optical mark recognition (OMR) software is sometimes used to extract values of check-boxes or bubbles. Capture may also involve accepting electronic documents and other computer-based files.

Indexing

Storage

Retrieval

Track electronic documents. Indexing may be as simple as keeping track of unique document identifiers; but often it takes a more complex form, providing classification through the documents' metadata or even through word indexes extracted from the documents' contents. Indexing exists mainly to support retrieval. One area of critical importance for rapid retrieval is the creation of an index topology. Store electronic documents. Storage of the documents often includes management of those same documents; where they are stored, for how long, migration of the documents from one storage media to another (hierarchical storage management) and eventual document destruction. Retrieve the electronic documents from the storage. Although the notion of retrieving a particular document is simple, retrieval in the electronic context can be quite complex and powerful. Simple retrieval of individual documents can be supported by allowing the user to specify the

Distribution

unique document identifier, and having the system use the basic index (or a non-indexed query on its data store) to retrieve the document. More flexible retrieval allows the user to specify partial search terms involving the document identifier and/or parts of the expected metadata. This would typically return a list of documents which match the user's search terms. Some systems provide the capability to specify a Boolean expression containing multiple keywords or example phrases expected to exist within the documents' contents. The retrieval for this kind of query may be supported by previously built indexes, or may perform more timeconsuming searches through the documents' contents to return a list of the potentially relevant documents. See also Document retrieval. A published document for distribution has to be in a format that can not be easily altered. As a common practice in law regulated industries, an original

Security

master copy of the document is usually never used for distribution other than archiving. If a document is to be distributed electronically in a regulatory environment, then the equipment tasking the job has to be quality endorsed AND validated. Similarly quality endorsed electronic distribution carriers have to be used. This approach applies to both of the systems by which the document is to be interexchanged, if the integrity of the document is highly in demand. Document security is vital in many document management applications. Compliance requirements for certain documents can be quite complex depending on the type of documents. For instance, in the United States, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements dictate that medical documents have certain security requirements. Some document management systems have a rights management module that allows an administrator to give

Workflow

access to documents based on type to only certain people or groups of people. Document marking at the time of printing or PDF-creation is an essential element to preclude alteration or unintended use. Workflow is a complex problem and some document management systems have a built-in workflow module. There are different types of workflow. Usage depends on the environment the electronic document management system (EDMS) is applied to. Manual workflow requires a user to view the document and decide who to send it to. Rules-based workflow allows an administrator to create a rule that dictates the flow of the document through an organization: for instance, an invoice passes through an approval process and then is routed to the accounts-payable department. Dynamic rules allow for branches to be created in a workflow process. A simple example would be to enter an invoice amount and if the amount is lower than a certain set

amount, it follows different routes through the organization. Advanced workflow mechanisms can manipulate content or signal external processes while these rules are in effect. Collaboration should be inherent in an EDMS. In its basic form, a collaborative EDMS should allow documents to be retrieved and worked on by an authorized user. Access should be blocked to other users while work is being performed on the document. Other advanced forms of Collaboration collaboration allow multiple users to view and modify (or markup) a document at the same time in a collaboration session. The resulting document should be viewable in its final shape, while also storing the markups done by each individual user during the collaboration session. Versioning is a process by which documents are checked in or out of the document management Versioning system, allowing users to retrieve previous versions and to continue work from a selected point. Versioning is useful for documents

Searching

Publishing

that change over time and require updating, but it may be necessary to go back to or reference a previous copy. Finds documents and folders using template attributes or full text search. Documents can be searched using various attributes and document content Publishing a document involves the procedures of proofreading, peer or public reviewing, authorizing, printing and approving etc. Those steps ensure prudence and logical thinking. Any careless handling may result in the inaccuracy of the document and therefore mislead or upset its users and readers. In law regulated industries, some of the procedures have to be completed as evidenced by their corresponding signatures and the date(s) on which the document was signed. Refer to the ISO divisions of ICS 01.140.40 and 35.240.30 for further information.[2][3] The published document should be in a format that is not easily

altered without a specific knowledge or tools, and yet it is read-only or portable.[4] Document/image reproduction is key when thinking about implementing a system. It's all well and good being able to put Reproduction things in, but how are you going to get it out? An example of this is building plans. How will plans be scanned and scale be retained when printed? [edit] Standardization Many industry associations publish their own lists of particular document control standards that are used in their particular field. Following is a list of some of the relevant ISO documents. Divisions ICS 01.140.10 and 01.140.20.[5][6] The ISO has also published a series of standards regarding the technical documentation, covered by the division of 01.110.[7]

ISO 2709 Information and documentation Format for information exchange ISO 15836 Information and documentation The Dublin Core metadata element set ISO 15489 Information and documentation Records management

ISO 21127 Information and documentation A reference ontology for the interchange of cultural heritage information ISO 23950 Information and documentation Information retrieval (Z39.50) Application service definition and protocol specification ISO 10244 Document management Business process baselining and analysis ISO 32000 Document management Portable document format

[edit] See also

Human resource management From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Human Resources Manager" redirects here. For the 2010 Israeli film, see The Human Resources Manager. This article is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (March 2011) Human resource management (HRM, HR) is the management of an organization's employees.[1] This includes employment and arbitration in accord with the law, and with a company's directives. Contents [hide]

1 Features 2 Academic theory

3 Business practice o 3.1 HRM strategy 4 Careers and education 5 Professional organizations 6 Functions 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Features Its features include:

Organizational management Personnel administration Manpower management Industrial management[2][3]

But these traditional expressions are becoming less common for the theoretical discipline. Sometimes even employee and industrial relations are confusingly listed as synonyms,[4] although these normally refer to the relationship between management and workers and the behavior of workers in companies. The theoretical discipline is based primarily on the assumption that employees are individuals with varying goals and needs, and as such should not be thought of as basic business resources, such as trucks and filing cabinets. The field takes a positive view of workers, assuming that virtually all wish to contribute to the enterprise

productively, and that the main obstacles to their endeavors are lack of knowledge, insufficient training, and failures of process. Human Resource Management(HRM) is seen by practitioners in the field as a more innovative view of workplace management than the traditional approach. Its techniques force the managers of an enterprise to express their goals with specificity so that they can be understood and undertaken by the workforce, and to provide the resources needed for them to successfully accomplish their assignments. As such, HRM techniques, when properly practiced, are expressive of the goals and operating practices of the enterprise overall. HRM is also seen by many to have a key role in risk reduction within organisations.[5] Synonyms such as personnel management are often used in a more restricted sense to describe activities that are necessary in the recruiting of a workforce, providing its members with payroll and benefits, and administrating their work-life needs. So if we move to actual definitions, Torrington and Hall (1987) define personnel management as being: a series of activities which: first enable working people and their employing organisations to agree about the objectives and nature of their

working relationship and, secondly, ensures that the agreement is fulfilled" (p. 49). While Miller (1987) suggests that HRM relates to: ".......those decisions and actions which concern the management of employees at all levels in the business and which are related to the implementation of strategies directed towards creating and sustaining competitive advantage" (p. 352). [edit] Academic theory Research in the area of HRM has much to contribute to the organisational practice of HRM. For the last 20 years, empirical work has paid particular attention to the link between the practice of HRM and organisational performance, evident in improved employee commitment, lower levels of absenteeism and turnover, higher levels of skills and therefore higher productivity, enhanced quality and efficiency.[6] This area of work is sometimes referred to as 'Strategic HRM' or SHRM (.[7] Within SHRM three strands of work can be observed[8]: Best practice, Best Fit and the Resource Based View (RBV). The notion of best practice - sometimes called 'high commitment' HRM - proposes that the adoption of certain best practices in HRM will result in better organisational performance.

Perhaps the most popular work in this area is that of Pfeffer [9] who argued that there were seven best practices for achieving competitive advantage through people and 'building profits by putting people first'. These practices included: providing employment security, selective hiring, extensive training, sharing information, selfmanaged teams, high pay based on company performance and the reduction of status differentials. However, there is a huge number of studies which provide evidence of best practices, usually implemented in coherent bundles, and therefore it is difficult to draw generalised conclusions about which is the 'best' way (For a comparison of different sets of best practices see Becker and Gerhart, 1996 [10] Best fit, or the contingency approach to HRM, argues that HRM improves performance where there is a close vertical fit between the HRM practices and the company's strategy. This link ensures close coherence between the HR people processes and policies and the external market or business strategy. There are a range of theories about the nature of this vertical integration. For example, a set of 'lifecycle' models argue that HR policies and practices can be mapped onto the stage of an organisation's development or lifecycle.[11] Competitive advantage models take Porter's (1985) ideas about strategic choice and map a range of HR practices onto the organisation's choice of

competitive strategy. Finally 'configurational models' [12] provide a more sophisticated approach which advocates a close examination of the organisation's strategy in order to determine the appropriate HR policies and practices. However, this approach assumes that the strategy of the organisation can be identified many organisations exist in a state of flux and development. The Resource Based View (RBV), argued by some to be at the foundation of modern HRM,[13] focusses on the internal resources of the organisation and how they contribute to competitive advantage. The uniqueness of these resources is preferred to homogeneity and HRM has a central role in developing human resources that are valuable, rare, difficult to copy or substitute and that are effectively organised. Overall, the theory of HRM argues that the goal of human resource management is to help an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining employees and also to manage them effectively. The key word here perhaps is "fit", i.e. a HRM approach seeks to ensure a fit between the management of an organisation's employees, and the overall strategic direction of the company (Miller, 1989). The basic premise of the academic theory of HRM is that humans are not machines, therefore we

need to have an interdisciplinary examination of people in the workplace. Fields such as psychology, industrial relations, industrial engineering, sociology, economics, and critical theories: postmodernism, post-structuralism play a major role. Many colleges and universities offer bachelor and master degrees in Human Resources Management or in Human Resources and Industrial Relations. One widely used scheme to describe the role of HRM, developed by Dave Ulrich, defines 4 fields for the HRM function:[14]

Strategic business partner Change Agent Employee champion Administration Expert

[edit] Business practice Human resources management involves several processes. Together they are supposed to achieve the above mentioned goal. These processes can be performed in an HR department, but some tasks can also be outsourced or performed by line-managers or other departments. When effectively integrated they provide significant economic benefit to the company.[15]

Workforce planning

Recruitment (sometimes separated into attraction and selection) Induction, Orientation and Onboarding Skills management Training and development Personnel administration Compensation in wage or salary Time management Travel management (sometimes assigned to accounting rather than HRM) Payroll (sometimes assigned to accounting rather than HRM) Employee benefits administration Personnel cost planning Performance appraisal Labor relations

[edit] HRM strategy An HRM strategy pertains to the means as to how to implement the specific functions of Human Resource Management. An organization's HR function may possess recruitment and selection policies, disciplinary procedures, reward/recognition policies, an HR plan, or learning and development policies, however all of these functional areas of HRM need to be aligned and correlated, in order to correspond with the overall business strategy. An HRM strategy thus is an overall plan, concerning the implementation of specific HRM functional areas.

An HRM strategy typically consists of the following factors:

"Best fit" and "best practice" - meaning that there is correlation between the HRM strategy and the overall corporate strategy. As HRM as a field seeks to manage human resources in order to achieve properly organizational goals, an organization's HRM strategy seeks to accomplish such management by applying a firm's personnel needs with the goals/objectives of the organisation. As an example, a firm selling cars could have a corporate strategy of increasing car sales by 10% over a five year period. Accordingly, the HRM strategy would seek to facilitate how exactly to manage personnel in order to achieve the 10% figure. Specific HRM functions, such as recruitment and selection, reward/recognition, an HR plan, or learning and development policies, would be tailored to achieve the corporate objectives. Close co-operation (at least in theory) between HR and the top/senior management, in the development of the corporate strategy. Theoretically, a senior HR representative should be present when an organization's corporate objectives are devised. This is so, since it is a firm's personnel who actually construct a good, or provide a service. The

personnel's proper management is vital in the firm being successful, or even existing as a going concern. Thus, HR can be seen as one of the critical departments within the functional area of an organization.

Continual monitoring of the strategy, via employee feedback, surveys, etc.

The implementation of an HR strategy is not always required, and may depend on a number of factors, namely the size of the firm, the organizational culture within the firm or the industry that the firm operates in and also the people in the firm. An HRM strategy can be divided, in general, into two facets - the people strategy and the HR functional strategy. The people strategy pertains to the point listed in the first paragraph, namely the careful correlation of HRM policies/actions to attain the goals laid down in the corporate strategy. The HR functional strategy relates to the policies employed within the HR functional area itself, regarding the management of persons internal to it, to ensure its own departmental goals are met. [edit] Careers and education Further information: Graduate degree programs in human resources management

Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations was the world's first school for college-level study in HRM Several universities offer programs of study pertaining to HRM and broader fields. Cornell University created the world's first school for college-level study in HRM (ILR School).[16] University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also now has a school dedicated to the study of HRM, while several business schools also house a center or department dedicated to such studies; e.g., University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Roosevelt University,and Purdue University. There are both generalist and specialist HRM jobs. There are careers involved with employment, recruitment and placement and these are usually conducted by interviewers, EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) specialists or college recruiters. Training and development

specialism is often conducted by trainers and orientation specialists. Compensation and benefits tasks are handled by compensation analysts, salary administrators, and benefits administrators. [edit] Professional organizations Professional organizations in HRM include the Society for Human Resource Management, the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the International Public Management Association for HR (IPMA-HR), Management Association of Nepal (MAN) and the International Personnel Management Association of Canada (IPMA-Canada), Human Capital Institute. National Human Resource Development Network in India. [edit] Functions The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and key among them is deciding the staffing needs of an organization and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations. Activities also include managing your approach to employee benefits and

compensation, employee records and personnel policies. Usually small businesses (for-profit or nonprofit) have to carry out these activities themselves because they can't yet afford part- or full-time help. However, they should always ensure that employees haveand are aware of personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often in the form of employee manuals, which all employees have. Note that some people distinguish a difference between HRM (a major management activity) and HRD (Human Resource Development, a profession). Those people might include HRM in HRD, explaining that HRD includes the broader range of activities to develop personnel inside of organizations, including, e.g., career development, training, organization development, etc. There is a long-standing argument about where HR-related functions should be organized into large organizations, e.g., "should HR be in the Organization Development department or the other way around?" The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone major changes over the past 2030 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the "Personnel Department," mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying people. More recently, organizations consider the

"HR Department" as playing an important role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner. [ Process control From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

Process control is a statistics and engineering discipline that deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range. See also control theory. For example, heating up the temperature in a room is a process that has the specific, desired outcome to reach and maintain a defined temperature (e.g. 20C), kept constant over

time. Here, the temperature is the controlled variable. At the same time, it is the input variable since it is measured by a thermometer and used to decide whether to heat or not to heat. The desired temperature (20C) is the setpoint. The state of the heater (e.g. the setting of the valve allowing hot water to flow through it) is called the manipulated variable since it is subject to control actions. A commonly used control device called a programmable logic controller, or a PLC, is used to read a set of digital and analog inputs, apply a set of logic statements, and generate a set of analog and digital outputs. Using the example in the previous paragraph, the room temperature would be an input to the PLC. The logical statements would compare the setpoint to the input temperature and determine whether more or less heating was necessary to keep the temperature constant. A PLC output would then either open or close the hot water valve, an incremental amount, depending on whether more or less hot water was needed. Larger more complex systems can be controlled by a Distributed Control System (DCS) or SCADA system. In practice, process control systems can be characterized as one or more of the following forms:

Discrete Found in many manufacturing, motion and packaging applications. Robotic assembly, such as that found in automotive production, can be characterized as discrete process control. Most discrete manufacturing involves the production of discrete pieces of product, such as metal stamping. Batch Some applications require that specific quantities of raw materials be combined in specific ways for particular durations to produce an intermediate or end result. One example is the production of adhesives and glues, which normally require the mixing of raw materials in a heated vessel for a period of time to form a quantity of end product. Other important examples are the production of food, beverages and medicine. Batch processes are generally used to produce a relatively low to intermediate quantity of product per year (a few pounds to millions of pounds). Continuous Often, a physical system is represented through variables that are smooth and uninterrupted in time. The control of the water temperature in a heating jacket, for example, is an example of continuous process control. Some important continuous processes are the production of fuels, chemicals and plastics. Continuous processes in manufacturing are used to

produce very large quantities of product per year (millions to billions of pounds). Applications having elements of discrete, batch and continuous process control are often called hybrid applications. Contents [hide]

1 2 3 4

Statistical Process Control Examples See also External links

[edit] Statistical Process Control Statistical Process Control (SPC) is an effective method of monitoring a process through the use of control charts. Much of its power lies in the ability to monitor both process center and its variation about that center. By collecting data from samples at various points within the process, variations in the process that may affect the quality of the end product or service can be detected and corrected, thus reducing waste as well as the likelihood that problems will be passed on to the customer. It has an emphasis on early detection and prevention of problems. Multivariable Process Control is a type of Statistical Process Control where a matrix of

variables ( MV and CV ) are created and their variations captured by doing a step test. The Dynamics captured in the model curves are used to control the plant [edit] Examples A thermostat is a simple example for a closed control loop: It constantly measures the current temperature and controls the heater's valve setting to increase or decrease the room temperature according to the user-defined setting. A simple method switches the heater either completely on, or completely off, and an overshoot and undershoot of the controlled temperature must be expected. A more expensive method varies the amount of heat provided by the heater depending on the difference between the required temperature (the "setpoint") and the actual temperature. This minimizes over/undershoot. An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a more complex example, consisting of multiple inputs, conditions and outputs. [edit] See also [hide]v d eStatistics [show] Descriptive statistics Continuous data Location Mean (Arithmetic,

Geometric, Harmonic) Median Mode Range Standard deviation Coefficient of Dispersion variation Percentile Interquartile range Variance Skewness Shape Kurtosis Moments Lmoments Count data Index of dispersion Grouped data Frequency Summary tables distribution Contingency table Pearson product-moment correlation Rank Dependence correlation (Spearman's rho, Kendall's tau) Partial correlation Scatter plot Bar chart Biplot Box plot Control chart Statistical graphics Correlogram Forest plot Histogram Q-Q plot Run chart Scatter plot

Stemplot Radar chart [show] Data collection Effect size Standard error Statistical power Designing studies Sample size determination Sampling Stratified Survey methodology sampling Opinion poll Questionnaire Design of experiments Randomized experiment Random assignment Controlled experiment Replication Blocking Regression discontinuity Optimal design Natural experiment Uncontrolled studies Quasi-experiment Observational study [show] Statistical inference Bayesian probability Prior Posterior Credible interval Bayes Bayesian inference factor Bayesian estimator Maximum posterior estimator Confidence interval Hypothesis testing Frequentist inference Sampling distribution Meta-analysis

Z-test (normal) Student's t-test Chisquare test Pearson's Specific tests chi-square Wald test MannWhitney U ShapiroWilk Signedrank Likelihood-ratio Mean-unbiased Median-unbiased Maximum likelihood General estimation Method of moments Minimum distance Maximum spacing Density estimation [show] Correlation and regression analysis Pearson productmoment correlation Partial correlation Correlation Confounding variable Coefficient of determination Errors and residuals Regression model validation Mixed Regression analysis effects models Simultaneous equations models Simple linear Linear regression regression Ordinary least squares

General linear model Bayesian regression Nonlinear regression Non-standard predictors Nonparametric Semiparametric Isotonic Robust Exponential families Generalized linear model Logistic (Bernoulli) Binomial Poisson Anova Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean Analysis of variance squared error Ftest Analysis of covariance Multivariate anova [show] Categorical, multivariate, timeseries, or survival statistics Cohen's kappa Contingency table Categorical data Graphical model Loglinear model McNemar's test Multivariate regression Principal components Multivariate statistics Factor analysis Cluster analysis Copulas

Decomposition Trend estimation Box Time series analysis Jenkins ARMA models Spectral density estimation Survival function KaplanMeier Logrank test Failure rate Survival analysis Proportional hazards models Accelerated failure time model [hide] Applications Bioinformatics Biometrics Clinical trials & studies Biostatistics Epidemiology Medical statistics Pharmaceutical statistics Methods engineering Probabilistic design Engineering statistics Process & Quality control Reliability System identification Actuarial science Census Crime statistics Demography Social statistics Econometrics (Economics) National accounts Official statistics Population

Psychometrics (Psychology) Cartography (maps) Environmental statistics Spatial statistics Geographic information system Geostatistics Kriging Category Portal Outline Index Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_control" Categories: Chemical engineering | Control theory | Production and manufacturing | Process management | Engineering statistics Hidden categories: Articles lacking sources from November 2010 | All articles lacking sources | Statistics articles with navigational template Personal tools

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Transaction Processing System (TPS) Whenever two people make an exchange, it is called a transaction. Transactions are important events for a company, and collecting data about them is called transaction processing. Examples of transactions include making a purchase at a store, withdrawing money from a checking account, making a payment to creditor, or paying an employee. Because transactions generally involve an exchange of money, it is critical that the data be protected during transmission and stored carefully so that it cannot be altered. It is also critical that the data be saved so that managers can verify the data if any conflicts arise. Also, the sales and purchase data from the foundation of the accounting and financial systems of every

company, so the system must be able to produce the standard reports. Company, is an advanced system that records and processes insurance-related transactions. Filing and processing insurance claims is a highly information-intensive process in which every step generates new data or modifies existing data. CareNet allows the company to accurately capture this data and disseminate it at the right time to its 7 million clients. The information generated by CareNet is useful both to employees of Travelers Insurance and to its clients. A Travelers employee can access the system and look at the latest transaction; an authorized client can also access CareNet to study the status of his or her insurance claim. This system, therefore, spans organizational boundaries and provides information to both internal external entities. So when we are talking about the transactions of an organization in computerized manner, we talk about Transaction

Processing System, popularly known as TPs : Meaning Transaction processing systems were among the earliest computerized systems. Their primary purpose is to record, process, validate, and store transactions that take place in the various functional areas/of a business for future retrieval and use. A transaction processing system (TPS) is an infor- mation system that records company transactions (a transaction is defined as an exchange between two or more business entities). Transaction processing systems (TPS) are cross-functional information systems that process data resulting from the occurrence of business transactions. Transactions are events that occur as part of doing business, such as sales, purchases, deposits, withdrawals, refunds, and payments. Transaction processing activities are needed to capture and process data, or the operations of a business would grind to a halt.

Let us look at a simpleexampl e of a business transaction. McDonald's, which sells a large number of hamburgers every day, orders raw materials from its suppliers. Each time the company places an order with a supplier, a transaction occurs and a transaction system records relevant information, such as the supplier's name, address, and credit rating, the kind and quantity of items purchased, and the invoice amount. Types of Transactions Note that the transactions can be internal or external. When a department orders office supplies from the purchasing department, aninternal transaction occurs, when a customer places an order for a product, an external transaction occurs. Internal Transactions: Those transactions, which are internal to the company and are related with the internal working of any organization. For example

Recruitment Policy, Promotion Policy, Production policy etc External Transactions: Those transactions, which are external to the organization and are related with the external sources, are regarded as External Transaction. For example sales, purchase etc. Transaction Processing System (TPS) Download this Document for FreePrintMobileCollectionsReport Document Report this document? Please tell us reason(s) for reporting this document Top of Form
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