Without certain services, it is hard to imagine a human life; such elements of everyday reality as shops, movie theaters or water supply have become an integral part of existence. Therefore, people seldom question the mechanisms behind these services, the processes that push the massive machine producing goods. However, by far the most neglected industry in that sense must be the transportation services.
Although it has not been long since the first cars were introduced into the mass production, fast and efficient transportation has become a staple of the modern reality. However, the transportation industry faces many challenges, is the most frequently updated according to the latest technologies and, in fact, makes the rest of industries dependent on it, since supplies and goods need to be transported within specific deadlines.
That said, it is necessary to take a closer look at how the master data concept is applied to the transportation industry and how the business core processes can be identified in the most efficient way possible.
Before going any further, it is necessary to specify the steps that are recommended to identify the core processes in the transportation system. For the given purposes, the Master Data Management tool can be utilized as a way to carry out “data profiling, complex data analysis, metadata management, data modeling, data integration, parsing, standardization, record linkage and matching” (Loshin, 2010, 18).
Applying the given tool will help define the customers, as well as their demands, which will lead to analyzing the possibilities of the industry. Hence, the steps that will help identify the core processes are:
Business Goal and Model Definition
The analysis of the previous practices has shown that for a successful coordination of transportation processes, a business goal has to be defined. Establishing the goal that the industry will strive for will help figure out
- who the target customers are;
- what the customers want;
- how to promote to them.
Applied to the industry of transportation, the business goal will be delivering specific goods/materials to the customers fast; or, for that matter, helping the customers get to a specific destination within the minimum time with maximum comfort and for a reasonable price.
Once the business goal has been defined, the business model should be defined as well.
Process Map Creation
The given process involves:
- Establishing the basic goal (delivering goods/passengers on time);
- Listing the main objectives (attracting more customers, offering land, water and air transportation, etc.);
- Defining the relations between various processes (e.g., the negotiation and the transportation processes);
- Analyzing the role of each member of the staff (e.g., the role of the pilot/driver/captain, the steward, the maintenance group, etc.);
- Mentioning the possible obstacles (e.g., the lack of money/equipment/staff).
With the help of the above-mentioned strategy, it is possible to set the course of the industry’s further development.
Financial Statement Examination
To examine the company’s financial statement and ensure that it corresponds to the industry standards and is based on reasonable evaluation of the given industry’s assets, it is important to follow the given steps and take account of the:
Disbursements
- Costs for the petrol,
- Costs for transport maintenance,
- Costs for technological advances (e.g., GPS navigators, cameras, etc.)
Internal control
Making certain that the transportation industry offers fast services with reasonable prices and that the company’s revenues correspond with the assumptions that have been made earlier.
Internal control over petty cash
Controlling the daily amount of customers, the provided services and the obtained revenues.
Daily deposits
Once the above-mentioned steps are taken, it will be possible to calculate the approximate income and the possible losses, thus, making a solid financial statement.
Developing the Appropriate Process Speed (Velocity)
Velocity, or the speed of the services offered by the transportation industries, is another important factor that helps define the core processes. Once the means to measure the industry’s performance are developed, it is possible to evaluate the core professes that are taking place within the transportation industry. In its turn, velocity can be defined with the help of an analysis of the following parameters:
- The amount of customers who have been transported/whose goods have been transported in the course of the day;
- The time required to meet the demands of a separate customer (the average daily velocity);
- The standard deviation of the services quality (after the measures for the service quality have been provided).
Leverage Calculation
The last, but definitely not the least in the core processes definition, the issue of leverage calculation should be mentioned. While a transportation industry involves a number of options for its further development, only the ones that are supposed to gross the most money should be used.
Applied to the transportation industry, leverage calculation might mean the choice between the Hybrid cars and diesel cars for a taxi service. While the latter is cheaper, the former is much easier to use to promote to the target audience as the cleanest way to get to the destination point, etc.
The data elements are also crucial to the design of the transportation processes; therefore, it is necessary to adopt a strategy that will help define the key steps. With the help of such a tool as a BPMN, or Business Process Model and Notation, it will be possible to track the key processes within the transportation system sphere.
For instance, it is obvious that defining data is the first step; hence, it is necessary to specify the data object, that is, the location of the basic information, i.e., the data concerning the demands concerning people/goods transportation, the time during which the transportations are required most often, the means to tackle fragile goods, etc.
Since the process involves the invoice reception and the following analysis of the obtained data, it can be concluded that the next two stages of the transportation process are the data input and the data output. With the help of the Information Management System, it will be possible to learn the basics concerning the data store requirements (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2008, 448).
Finally, one will be able to decide on the issues concerning the data association after applying the Information Management System, which explains the necessity to group the data to make it look as a whole.
Unfortunately, misunderstandings are inevitable even in ideal environment; therefore, designing a strategy that will allow as little misunderstanding as possible in the process of assigning each of the staff members with their job and stating the key objectives is crucial.
With that in mind, it is desirable to define the above-mentioned elements so that the chances of their misinterpretation could be driven to nil, which can be achieved with the help of knowledge sharing system (Respicio & Burstein, 2012). Introducing such an efficient knowledge management system will help achieve transparency and cooperation among the members of the industry.
Finally, it must be admitted that certain roles are critical for an organization to be run in a proper manner; therefore, funding in these roles is essential. In the given case, however, the choice of the essential roles becomes rather complicated; being a very integrated system where every single element depends on the previous one, specifying the basic ones is rather hard.
Anyway, the basic roles that help identify and classify the master data should be structured according to a specific hierarchy. At the bottom, i.e., the operational level, the operational data stewards should be located. Gathering the necessary data, they perform the key role in the process.
The tactical level must have the data domain stewards and data steward coordinators. At the strategic level, the data governance council must handle the planning. Finally, the data Steering Committee will help make sure that the developed plan is being implemented according to the instructions.
Hence, it can be concluded that at present, transportation industry is obviously at the crossroads between the traditional, time-tested master data collection tools and the discovery – and use – of the new and more advanced, yet obviously less trustworthy ones. It is important to realize that each of the specified tools has its advantages and drawbacks and is in no way a panacea for solving the existing transportation problems.
At the same time, the battle between the Info Management System and the Master Data Management can be viewed as the conflict between the traditional information management and the newest methods of master data classification. Finally, the MOTION framework enters as the third force, tearing the transportation industry asunder.
Since it is hardly possible to apply the latest technological advances in the entire industry all over the world, however, it can be suggested that the transportation industry should apply an integrated strategy that involves a rational use of the three above-mentioned tools. Thus, the data can be verified and classified properly.
Reference List
Loshin, D. (2010). Master data management. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufman.
Respicio, A. & Burstein, F. (2012). Fusing decision support systems into the fabric of the context. Fairfax, VA: IOS Press.
Satzinger, J. W., Jackson, R. B. & Burd, S. D. (2008). System analysis and design in a changing world. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.