CIMOSA

A Primer on key concepts, purpose and business value

3. Enterprise Integration - how does it work

Enterprise Integration certainly is a huge challenge to the manufacturing industry. It doesn't happen by itself, it takes strong efforts from many sides and a consensus between all parties involved to reach better integrated solutions The table below presents needs for enterprise integration and the corresponding solutions.

NEEDS SOLUTIONS
Managing complex operations in a complex environment Enterprise Modelling to understand, partition and simplify complexity
Decisions based on real-time information Enterprise Modelling to identify and access real-time information
Flexible operation environment enablingreal-time implementation of changes Enterprise Modelling to implement real-time operational changes

Without human participation the many design, manufacturing and installation processes in an enterprise could not be handled. Humans are also involved in designing and using the many available information transfer structures (communication equipment, information definition and information transfer software) needed in the business operation. . People are a dominant factor in the total set of operational processes. Certainly we would like to eliminate the human error creating characteristics and absorb his intelligence. However, the clever use of computer systems, the integration possibilities and the utilisation of constantly refined manufacturing processes, requires that all human aspects to be taken into proper consideration.

It is obvious that enterprise integration has to be an ongoing process rather than a one time effort. The enterprise will evolve over time according to both internal needs and external challenges and opportunities. Only if the corresponding changes are taken into account continuously will the operation gain and preserve the operational flexibility needed in today's and tomorrow's global markets.

To solve the many problems of industry, integration has to recognise and to proceed in more than one operational aspect. Therefore, three levels of integration covering physical systems, applications and business integration can be identified (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 : Levels of Enterprise Integration

Physical System Integration is concerned with the interconnection of manufacturing automation and data processing facilities, e.g. between CAD, CAM, PPS and the manufacturing cells to permit the interchange of information between the so-called 'islands of information'.

Application Integration is concerned with the control and integration of applications in the data processing sense, which means interoperability between applications and users (humans as well as machines) and supply and removal of information through inter and intra system communication.

Business Integration is concerned with integrating those functions which manage, control and monitor business processes. Functions which provide supervisory control of the operational processes and in turn co-ordinate the day to day execution of activities at the application level. Modelling of business processes and their interrelations and its use for decision and operational support is key to business integration.

Enterprise integration has to encompass all these levels of integration. However, the emphasis has to be on business integration. Only with a focus on the business needs rather than on application or system needs the all different aspect of enterprise operation can be identified which have to be considered in the course of modifying and optimising the operation itself.

Visibility of the different aspect can be provided by an enterprise model which fits the specific objectives of the particular enterprise. A model that identifies the different processes in the enterprise and contains the machines, the information, the transfer of information, the human involvement and the functions that have to be carried out. The model needs to address design activities, manufacturing processes, the way materials are ordered, moved and transformed into products. The model even has to include the impact of the administrative procedures to allow evaluation of operation efficiency and to tell us how much to charge for our products. With all the information identified which is used and generated by the various activities that constitute our industrial operations the model will enable fast turn-around evaluation of operational alternatives and thereby provide the flexibility needed to react in 'real-time' on the environmental changes and challenges imposed on the enterprise.

Enterprise modelling has to fulfil several requirements to achieve efficient and effective enterprise integration:

This document deals with a general architecture for enterprise modelling. A general architecture that can be used to derive a specific architecture for a particular enterprise. An architecture for an Enterprise Integration approach. An architecture that supports a gradual introduction of Enterprise Integration into industrial enterprises. The purpose of this document is to convey concepts, contents and use of the architecture named CIM Open System Architecture (CIMOSA).

In the following we intend to present a clear overview of CIMOSA to describe its vital components, processes, features and, finally, to illustrate the interaction of operations, strategies and events and to present several CIMOSA based industry pilots.

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www-cimosa@cnt.pl, 2.03.1996 (last update: 02.03.1996)