One structure for management information systems that any enterprise can use: the business
What if there was one structure for consistent and comprehensive management information on the complete enterprise business? The structure has existed all along, but has never been used to define enterprise needs and to develop consistent solutions to meet the needs. That structure is the business!
The enterprise business is defined by two entities:
- Results: The economic outputs that create the value from the business such as products, orders, and revenues
- Performance Solutions: The capital consumed in performance to produce result value that generate the costs incurred by the business such as personnel, equipment, cash, and processes
The enterprise business structure is like a large spreadsheet with the results produced by the business defined by the columns and the performance solutions that produce results defined by the rows. A cell records where a specific performance solution row is utilized to incur costs and produce value in a specific result column. All the performance solution rows utilized by one result column add up to the full cost and data for producing the result. All the result columns that utilize a solution along a solution row add up to full solutions costs and solutions utilization data.
A Result-performance Management System can manage any enterprise through actual business data
What if there was a packaged Result-performance Management System, where we created an enterprise database by simply filling in the results we produce and the performance solutions we use, with the computer aids to make it simple? Then we click the relationships between results and clicked the performance solutions that produce a result and we had our business organized and ready to be managed effectively. We could add future results and performance solutions and plans by time period for the business strategy. We could manage enterprises for our own enterprise family, including our projects, and for suppliers, solution providers, and customers. If need be, we could relate results to details we keep on products, sales, etc. and we could relate solutions to details we keep on employees, equipment, etc. But, likely, we could do away with everything else.
What if we define the set of performance solutions used together as a performance module, with rules for charging costs to results and determining capital worth? Then management can assign new results to produced by the module with a customer-defined value, goals by time period, quality determinates, special instructions, etc. Transactions record result progress or results produced. The system manages result cost, result value-added, progress against goals, quality, value created by module, capital worth, etc. All involved know result plans and status. Solutions are redeployed to produce new results and completed results are deactivated with a click. Data on the actual business, not captured and reported today, is used for one set of consistent and comprehensive management information.
First Result-performance Management Systems can use a general ledger or information management and reporting systems
This all can be done today, using Result-performance Management (R-pM). Small businesses and business planning R-pM can start off with a spreadsheet to organize results and performance. General ledger systems can be used to maintain result-performance solution financial and statistical accounts and relationships. Or a flexible information management system can be used to manage result and performance solution records.
A prototype Result-performance Management System has been developed and we are working on have a full system by late 2008. Solution developers are encouraged to license R-pM to develop their own Result-performance Management System software product to manage the enterprise business in the 21st century.
