It is devoted to my children

I often have to explain how the creation of automatic management systems is connected with organization of business. I am going to demonstrate it in a scheme called Bobrovnikov Diagram. Certainly, I do not pretend to the last truth, and this scheme can possibly have some disputable moments, but the described approach really helps me in my daily work.
 
So, I have presented the enterprise as some elementary unit of community, a kind of a cell, surrounded by energetic and money flows. The money resources, as a matter of fact, also are essence of some human energy. In order to make the cell start producing from raw material (right entrance and left exit on the diagram), the inquiry from the outside is necessary. The latter is formed on the society demand (top entrance on the diagram). It is quite obvious, that the profitable production requires a consumer. This thesis may be represented even wider - I can make a product for myself that will require two things: energy (money resources) and time. The production and life activity can naturally have waste (bottom exit on the diagram). But it is not that interesting. Now let's study the mechanism of business processes in our cell. Let's take an ordinary automobile for example. Considered as a system, it needs inquiry for moving (we decided to go somewhere). On the input the system receives a route, on the output we should receive the movement itself using the road and petrol (which we have bought for money). So, the result is our moving from the initial to the final point.

The lowest level contains direct mechanisms responsible for movement of the automobile (business processes model). It shows how the work is carried out, i.e. what wheels are active and the way they turn. If we draw an analogy between automobile and trade enterprise, it describes purchase making, distribution of goods in warehouses, as well as how the goods get into retail chains and the way they are realized.
 
Here follows a management model for this mechanism. Actually we can even set a separate rudder for each wheel. Thought silly, still it is possible, i.e. the management model describes how our business processes are grouped, so that we could control and operate them. We have united the four wheels into one group and created one more mechanism, which requires an only manager. Let's have another example: windscreen wipers and rinsing system. Their control levers should probably be located somewhere beside each other, given that the aim of their activity are approximately identical - to leave the frontal glass clean.

So we have made it clear, that we have an engine and wheels, as well as levers to operate them. Now we need a driver. This is a personnel pattern. I mean that we determine who will carry us. You see, it is not always possible to find a good manager for a specific task. One driver can be wonderful in driving along deserted lines, while the other - in the city full of automobiles. So, now that we have determined who will drive the car, we can travel safely.
 
In the end, after we have solved all the problems, we should decide whether we go or not. There can be a lot of factors, which can influence the decision: we could have incorrectly estimated the luggage size and the chosen automobile has appeared to be small; or we could have chosen an automobile of the wrong mark; it can be the most simple reason - our aunt did not like the driver and we decided to cancel our trip. Even in case we have put the luggage into the car, taken our seats in the automobile and started driving, it is not clear whether we will reach the destination point. And the latter depends on whether we have both correctly constructed the above-mentioned patterns and solved the problems implied in these patterns.
 
But it is only one part of an iceberg. It is the left part of the diagram, the physical one. We have learned it from birth, so it is quite obvious. Now let's see how we do it, what is the basis for our decisions, so let's talk about information, computers and software.
 
Before describing something, people create some information image, i.e. what information we need, how we shall classify it, and at a subconscious level where it will be stored. All this may be described as a data pattern, or a subject operated by databases control systems (DBMS), speaking the computers language. I am not speaking of programs yet. In our example with the automobile these are: speed, carrying capacity, height of a suspension bracket, etc...
 
So, we know exactly what data we need to analyze the situation. Now we have to solve the following problems: how to collect the data, what sources to use, in what kind and where to publish the product. Thus, we get data management pattern, which actually provides ancestral lands of user interfaces. One and the same data can possibly be represented in numerous ways. Here are both the Internet and computer networks. It is quite clear, that the more flexible data management pattern we create, the easier we can make the decision, whether to go or not. It is natural, that the data management pattern is connected with the mechanism management pattern. If we switch the gear-box lever, the speed of the automobile will change according to the gear chosen.
 
Now we have almost solved our task concerning the trip. However, there is another problem. I have argued with my wife on the following matter: whether the color of our inflatable boat should be harmonious to the color of the chosen automobile. I consider it not so important, but she in convinced that our trip should be all harmony itself. Here we get state evaluation pattern. Thus, each person sees the same picture differently. I found five reviews, where color palettes were examined from different sides. Having read them my wife understood it all and agreed with me. So, I was the one to win. Doesn't it remind you OLAP or Data Mining technologies? Thus, it is important to develop and have the criteria, according to which the information is classified and gets a degree of urgency. The main thing in decision-making is that everyone involved should adequately evaluate the system condition, as one and the same company may need to use one parameter in one situation and some other parameters in another.
 
Thus, the right side of the cell is responsible for the information supply of business processes. That does not mean that the right side never worked before the computers era, it did, but with the boom of computers, progress of networks, especially global ones, the mankind has managed to mutilate the efficient use of the right side. Therefore, the speed of the decision making as well as the correctness from the point of view of a specific situation have raised, and that could not but tell on the well-being of people.
 
Here you can load the diagram in MS Word format (Russian and English versions).

Last modified: 10.03.2003
Translation by Elena Polyanskaya