Data Management. Taking the 5S philosophy to the CIO’s office

Continuous improvement is important in today’s corporate world to remove non-value adding activities and improve the system. It gives employees at all levels a feeling of motivation and inclusion, given that breakthrough innovation does not happen on a daily basis or in all departments.

The 5S philosophy has been the mainstay of driving housekeeping and efficiency in the manufacturing industry. It is an organising approach, part of the Lean methodology, emphasising on waste reduction, cleanliness and the basic approach, “give a place for everything and everything will be in its place,” which results in productivity. The 5Ss are Seiri or Sorting, Seiton or Streamlining, Seiso or Shining, Seiketsu or Standardising, and Shitsuke or Sustaining.

Each of these principles can be applied not just on the shop floor but to information in an enterprise as well as the applications and technology used for generation and consumption. The 5S can be a framework in IT organisations for improving day-to-day functioning. Each of the 5S’s can be applied to a CIO’s office or the IT department.

In IT, there is a unique system-of-record for each pool of information with a defined master data model (MDM). For example, PLM is the system for the engineering department products and related information starting from part numbering, product geometry and their structure (or bill-of-material). ERP is the system for manufacturing, supply chain and finance departments where part-level cost, inventory levels and production planning are maintained. CRM holds customer-related information.

It is key for a CIO to maintain clarity and ensure that the defined system and only that system stores the appropriate information in an optimised data structure, avoiding duplication within the overall system and across the enterprise. This is easier said than done since it is not always clear on where to store which piece of information uniquely or handling duplication of historical data produced years or decades before.

Seiri ensures that there is a master system for each piece of information required by all functions, departments, businesses and CXOs. Information is dynamic and keeps changing due to internal and external factors. Integrations maintain this sharing and synchronisation at specific frequencies, between the sources of data and other systems requiring this information.

IDC estimates that 80 per cent of a CIO’s budget will be directed to maintaining integrations (inclusive of the 3rd platform – mobility, cloud, social business, Big Data/analytics) by 2016. Streamlining of data flow can be accomplished using integrations. Last mile delivery of key information in real time can be provided using mobility and hand-held devices.

Seiso can be equated to cleanliness of data. Latest data such as the change in address for a customer entered into CRM by the sales team should be propagated in near real time to other systems to avoid wrong shipment of a customer order to the old address still in the ERP.

Data uniqueness in real time across applications and ongoing maintenance will ensure quality and cleanliness. Proper backup and disaster recovery can also be part of Seiso.

Data can be embellished or made more valuable using tools like analytics and techniques like noise removal, pattern recognition and correlation with other relevant factors.

Standardising starts with data and extends to documents and processes across business units, product lines, divisions.

CIOs with the support of leadership should ensure that all processes are done one way and in the best possible way not only to ensure data cleanliness and efficiency but to keep the total cost of ownership under control with limited variations of documents and processes.

The CIO needs to make sure process improvements are sustained. Changes could be technology driven or business driven – acquisitions, new product lines, divisions and factories. There should not be any compromise on the basic principles when such changes occur.

The systems and standards need not be against change implementation where it makes sense. What is required is a central committee to evaluate changes and implement them all across once approved.

Safety, Security and Satisfaction can also be considered as part of the process. The following are a few types of waste identified in the Lean approach in manufacturing and can be applied to IT for avoiding them and making the organisation more efficient:

Transportation – avoiding employee travel using technology such as phone/video conference

Inventory - procured software, hardware, resources that are not used for business benefit. Motion – unnecessary approvals and work flows where team members and/or documents need to move from one electronic mail box or desk to another

Waiting – waiting can happen at stages where a decision is kept pending because of lack of information or indecisiveness

Excess production – unused lines of code, functionality and applications that are developed are analogous to excess production in a shop floor

Excess processing – this non-value adding activity can happen due to selection of wrong tools at any stage of IT development

Defects – this is straightforward and can be bugs or defects

The 5S’s may be easier to practice in a shop floor where things are tangible and visual. It can be complicated to define and maintain in the virtual world of a CIO’s office.

However, the IT team can keep the 5S’s in mind during strategy sessions where new programmes are planned and also during day-to-day project execution and continuous improvement.

It can be a simple way of helping the business by keeping the information sources clean and tidy while avoiding the six types of waste.

The writer is Research Manager with IDC Manufacturing Insights