Contributed by Deloitte Consulting

BUSINESS WITHOUT BORDERS - THE  EXTENDED ENTERPRISE

When a company and its key value chain work together to meet customer needs, they are operating in an Extended Enterprise model and virtually all large organizations today are already doing just that. Yet most fail to realize the full potential of the Extended Enterprise due to the self-imposed walls that isolate them from their trade partners. Companies that are better able to manage the process dynamics of this complex ecosystem can derive significant advantage. Collaborative commerce breaks the walls down, transforming cross-enterprise business processes and information flows, and gives companies the methods and tools to work effectively across enterprise boundaries.

MANAGING THE EXTENDED ENTERPRISE

Efficient business processes, integrated systems, customer management solutions and outsourcing of non-core functions are table stakes for companies competing in the global economy. The next wave of improvement has moved beyond the four walls of any single company — to what we call collaborative commerce in the Extended Enterprise.

As companies become less vertically integrated, their operating capabilities and competitive advantage are increasingly defined by a complex ecosystem of trade partners. Collaborative commerce enables a company and its most important trade partners to operate as a finely tuned value chain — driving revenue and producing strategic advantages that non collaborative competitors simply can’t match.

Some of the benefits:

• Improved responsiveness, reliability and service position a company as a preferred supplier - and drive revenue growth.
  

• Reduced cycle times enable new operating models such as build-to-order.
  

• Streamlined operations can improve a company’s costs structure.
  

• Better use of capital drives up key metrics such as return-on-assets, and can lower working capital investment

COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE:

TELL US WHERE IT HURTS

Companies should focus their collaborative commerce efforts on the most pressing pain points - the areas that can be resolved to provide real competitive advantage.

But building a collaborative commerce solution from scratch is difficult. Many diverse elements need to be integrated, including cross-enterprise business processes and business rules, application software, and middleware infrastructure for messaging and linking trade partners. Companies can waste a lot of time and money trying to get it right.

Deloitte Consulting’s accelerator modules simplify the task of getting started by pre-integrating the most complex elements of a collaborative commerce solution. Each module focuses on a specific business process or function, such as order management, forecasting, inventory visibility or production scheduling. These pre-built “starter modules” provide a platform that can be tailored to fit a company’s unique needs and business processes.

Additionally, we’ve pre-built major elements of the technical infrastructure required to enable these business processes - we call that accelerator our Real-Time Platform.  

HOW WE HELP

Our clients recognize that extending their value chain outside their enterprise can cut operating costs and improve their supply chain capabilities. And that technology isn’t the whole story.

Deloitte Consulting’s collaborative commerce solutions address the process, technology and trade partner enrollment aspects of the extended enterprise.  We work with our clients to adapt proven process models to their businesses - to create the blueprint for the extended enterprise.  Real collaboration requires technology that provides extended supply chain visibility across your enterprise, your partners, suppliers, and customers. It also demands trade partners that share your commitment and understand the details as well as the big picture.  How do you do this rapidly? Well, great things don’t usually come out of a box, and real companies are uniquely complex. But there are many elements of collaborative commerce that apply in many environments, and our accelerators allow us to help our clients implement tailored solutions sooner rather than later.  

PROCESS ACCELERATORS

• Business Goal Definition
  

• Trade Partner On-boarding
  

• Process Print
  

• Program Management Map
  

• Infrastructure Components
  

• Goal/Payoff

Development of the business case and prioritization of company needs Enrollment and on-boarding of appropriate trade partners

Collaborative commerce process design

Work plan and program management structure

Technical architecture and software

Includes

• Value assessment toolset
  

• Prioritization tools
  

• Alignment and integration toolset
  

• Return On Investment tool
  

• Trade partner value definition
  

• Trade partner enrollment
  

• Trade partner readiness assessment
  

• Trade partner on-boarding
  

• Organizational change planning tools
  

• Process and business model best practices
  

• Organizational structure and roles
  

• Methodology 
  

• Roadmap and approach
  

• Pre-integrated solution platform (PSP)
  

• Collaborative applications and infrastructure platform

IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT…  TECHNICAL STUFF

The technical environment that enables the business process consists of three distinct layers that allow companies multiple pathways for getting started.

Where you start depends on which issues are most limiting your competitive capability and preventing you from achieving improved ecosystem performance.

The functional layer consists of individual, predeveloped accelerator modules, each focused on a specific cross-enterprise business process.

Accelerator modules contain integrated process logic, rules, heuristics and work flow to govern these processes. Each has base functionality and is built on proven technologies to get you up and running quickly. The modular approach makes it easy to tailor a solution to your specific needs, and to add or extend functionality as your needs evolve.

The infrastructure layer consists of a reusable technology platform that serves as the technical “bus” for the functional modules and for the enterprise application layer - simplifying connection to your trade partners. The infrastructure layer links internal and external applications and provides messaging, security and user access for cross-enterprise collaboration.

Accelerator modules “plug in” for rapid integration with legacy systems, enterprise applications and trade partners. The infrastructure layer is a reusable platform that is implemented only once. It is based on open standards and is industry-independent, giving companies flexibility to choose when and where to collaborate.

The enterprise application layer consists of various templates for efficiently integrating information and work flow across multiple internal systems. This layer improves internal information flow and data management, especially among major systems. It’s not a requirement for individual collaboration efforts, but it can make sense for certain collaborative processes, or when a company’s internal information is highly fragmented. In those situations, integrating different applications can provide substantial benefits - and can help a company achieve the full potential of collaboration.

TECHNICAL ACCELERATORS

Functional/Process

Layer

• Product Development
  

• Sales Order Management
  

• Forecasting Support
  

• Trade Partners Portal
  

• Collaboration 
  

• Internal Integration
  

• External Integration
  

• Security
  

• Product Development Management
  

• Legacy
  

• Enterprise Resource Planning
  

• Customer Relationship Management
  

• Advanced Planning Systems
  

• Supply Chain Execution

Infrastructure Layer:

• Real-Time Platform

• Enterprise

• Application

• Layer

INSIDE THE REAL-TIME PLATFORM

As the name implies, Real-Time allows a direct exchange of information between you and your trade partners. It is an accelerator platform that uses industry-leading technology components to enable rapid implementation. The Real-Time Platform has been designed to work with and complement many of today’s leading software offerings, such as IBM’s WebSphere, Microsoft’s .NET/BizTalk platform, SAP’s xApps and NetWeaver capabilities, as well as web services capabilities and the offerings of many middleware providers. Companies deploy the Real-Time platform just once to facilitate connectivity. Individual functional modules are then built on top of the platform, plugging in to solve specific business process issues encountered in managing the extended enterprise. Together, the Real-Time platform and functional modules provide rapid access to trade partners and internal enterprise applications—without having to build point-to-point connections from scratch. This modular approach gives Real-Time the flexibility to meet your immediate collaboration needs and to grow with you as your needs evolve.

The Real-Time platform can also help you link your internal business systems together. For example, Real-Time could be used to integrate CRM with Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) and ERP, as well as with other enterprise and legacy systems.

The Real-Time platform provides five major functions.

The portal function gives company employees and trade partners Web-based access to collaborative commerce applications and shared information across enterprise boundaries.

• Enables worldwide access from any Web browser—without requiring a high degree of technical sophistication and training 
  

• Provides personalized and secure access control
  

• Offers the convenience of a single log-in to access elements of multiple applications
  

• Allows users to manually handle exceptions to automated business processes

The collaboration function manages work flows across enterprise boundaries, allowing a company and its trade partners to coordinate their efforts while jointly executing shared business processes.

• Defines, executes and monitors user work flow processes and business rules
  

• Provides interactive tooling for managing and rapidly reengineering process flows based on real-time performance monitoring and evaluation
  

• Improves manual workload management through on-line automated task lists for users based on roles
  

• Uses business rules to automate business processes, and issues alerts when critical actions are needed 

The internal integration function provides seamless links between internal software applications, which include collaborative commerce solutions and existing enterprise systems.

• Provides machine-to-machine integration behind a company’s firewall
  

• Features pre-configured adapters to quickly connect internal software applications
  

• Uses standard interfaces and data formats
  

• Provides pre-built integration services such as data transformation, exception management and auditing

The external integration function provides application-to-application integration across enterprise boundaries, enabling seamless collaboration between trade partners.

• Sends and receives messages using standard formats such as EDI and XML
  

• Enables highly secure B2B integration across firewalls
  

• Supports industry standards

The security function provides comprehensive security and access control for shared data. It gives users access to the specific information they need to do their jobs, while blocking access to sensitive data and application functionality that is off-limits.

• Provides personalized access and monitoring based on user profiles
  

• Features role-based access control, with role definitions that can include multiple attributes such as the user’s job title, company and project
  

• Supports safe zones, including firewalls, extranets, DMZs and VPCs
  

• Supports corporate security standards such as SSL, HTTPS, digital certificates, reverse proxy and 128-bit encryption
  

• Supports industry security standards, including compliance with U.S. Department of Defense requirements and export regulations

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