Transcript Best practices for e-collaboration in research environment myCerth case study Lazarus Inepologlou

Best practices for e-collaboration
in research environment
myCerth case study
Lazarus Inepologlou
Head of I.T. Unit
C.E.R.T.H.
October 2008
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Part 1
Key characteristics of
research organizations
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
1. Mobility
 Personnel stays in the organization for a short period only
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Adaptation to the organization processes must be speeded up
No time to learn how to use any IT system
Short-term users have to contribute in the system
Single sign-on!
 Personnel travels a lot
• Access from anywhere in the world is a requirement
 Personnel is geographically distributed
• Remote collaboration platform
• IT support can be a problem
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
2. Project oriented
 All financial data is project oriented
• Special features to monitor project progress
 Funding is subject to reporting and auditing
• Guidance to users in order to maximize absorbency
• Help for auditors
 EU projects is the major source of funds
• EU requirements must be encoded as business rules
• Special EU reports (Financial Statements, Timesheets, etc.)
• External consulting is limited
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
3. Specialized features
 Research organizations differ from other service sector companies in the
market
• General purpose software do not cover all the needs
• Most consultants are not aware of the processes
 Cash flow
• Many funding sources (national, international, services etc)
• Linking each expense with a funding source is required
 Distributed responsibilities
• Money are distributed to many project managers who have to report back to
the administration
 Special laws regarding the payment of researchers and other personnel
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
4. Same but different
 Business processes in research organizations are similar but not exactly
the same
• Quick adaptation to each organization’s requirements is required
 Business rules change quickly
• New types of projects
• New national or international laws
• Low cost upgrading is required
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Part 2
myCerth as a solution
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
What is myCerth?
 An SAP-based
integrated software
solution for research
oriented organizations
 Completely
developed in CERTH
during the last 2 years
 Currently is the state
of the art in Greece
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
myCerth targets
1. Integrated Information Management
2. Rational resource management
3. Bureaucracy decrease
4. Diffusion of information in and out of the organization
5. Presentation of in-house research
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Advantages of myCerth
Know-how and Specialization
1. Deep know-how on the operations of a Research Centre
 No other I.T. consulting company has the experience of the way
things work in a research centre.
 The development team has the full and constant support of
researcher with long experience of the research procedures in both
Greek and International level.
2. Specialized fields and reports
 The management requirement of a research center are not covered
in depth by any of the existing conventional ERPs.
 myCerth has been developed to cover this gap.
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Advantages of myCerth
User Friendliness
1. User friendly windows
 Everything has been designed in a way that the user learning curve
is kept to a minimum.
 Every employee is given the power to complete a series of jobs on
their own without the support of the Central Administration.
2. Internet Browser work environment
 No workstation installation is required.
 Can be accessed from any place in the world.
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Advantages of myCerth
Adaptability
1. Open architecture
 New modules and modifications can be added so that the special
requirements of each organization are covered..
2. Limited cost of adaptation
 There have been developed some software frameworks that allow
the fast development of any adaptation change.
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
What myCerth includes
Α
Financial
Data
B
Legal
Actions
C
Informative
Material
(eg Invoices)
(eg Contracts)
(eg Publications)
SAP or
Other ERP
Workflow
Documents
Internet / Intranet
Site
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Work assessment
Administration
Researchers
Other personnel
Financial
Data
Legal
Actions
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
Informative
Material
31/10/2008
Architecture
Open
Expandable
Architecture
Presentation Layer
myCerth Engine
SAP
Connector
Database
Connector
Database
Connector
SAP
Workflow
Documents
Company
Site
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Applications
Personnel
Projects
Accounting
Other
Contracts
Technical Annexes
Travels
Publications
Employee Profile
Project Balance
Purchase Orders
Protocol
Exit forms
Project Closure
Payments
CVs
Absences
Project Proposals
Invoice Orders
Room Bookings
Working hours
Unit Balance
General Ledger
Software/Hardware
Payroll
Timesheets
Centre Financials
White Pages
 340.000 lines of code, 8 programming languages
 Open in adding more applications
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Sample
Travel
Application
Form
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Sample
Employee
Calendar
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Sample
Timesheet
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008
Integration with Workflows (1)
Purchase
Order
Workflow
Documents
Purchase
Workflow
Automatic
Checks
Justifying
Documents
Project
Manager
SAP or
Other ERP
Institute
Director
Payment
Order
B.o.D.
Scanned
Invoice
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
e-Banking
Payment
Accounting
Office
Archive
Intranet
31/10/2008
Integration with Workflows (2)
Workflow
Documents
Contract
· CV
· Salary analysis
· Projects Involvement
Automatic
Checks
Personnel
Contract
Workflow
Project
Manager
Interconnection with other workflows
Institute
Director
Payroll
Timesheets
SAP or
Other ERP
B.o.D.
Intranet
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
Absences
Leave
31/10/2008
The Centre for Research & Development, Hellas
Inepologlou Lazarus
Head of I.T. Unit
CERTH
6th km Charilaou – Thermi
P.O.Box 361, 57001 Thermi - Thessaloniki
Tel.: (2310) 498210, Fax: (2310) 498110
e-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.certh.gr
CERTH - The Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas
31/10/2008