EFF D1.4 System Concept Public Report v1 - Extreme …extremefactories.eu/download/EFF_D1.4_System Concept_Public Rep… · System Concept – Public Report WP 1 ... to guide the

D1.4

System Concept – Public Report

WP 1

Project Acronym: ExtremeFactories

Full Title:

Internet based environment implementing agile management meth-

ods for enabling the set-up, monitoring and follow-up of business

innovation processes in industrial SMEs

Project no.: 285164

File Ref: EFF_D1.4_System Concept_Public Report_v1.0.docx

Version: 1.0

Status: Final

Due date of deliverable: 30.04.2012

Start date of the project: 01.09.2011

Duration: 30 months

Dissemination Level: PU Public

FP7-2011-NMP-ICT-FoF

Project #: 285164

System Concept - Public Report

List of ExtremeFactories Beneficiaries Page II of 26

List of ExtremeFactories Beneficiaries

No. Participant Organisation Name Participant Short Name Country

1 INNOPOLE S.L. INNO ES

2 Institut für angewandte Systemtechnik ATB DE

3 Centre for Factories of the Future, Ltd. C4FF UK

4 Vaibmu Ltd. VAI FI

5 Safeview, S.L. SFV ES

6 FAMMSA, S.A. FAM ES

7 OAS A.G. OAS DE

8 Armbruster Engineering AE DE

9 MB Air Systems Ltd. MBAS UK

10 Charles Robinson (Cutting Tools), Ltd. CTOOLS UK

11 Nikari, Oy. NIK FI


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Summary Page III of 26

Summary

The mission of the ExtremeFactories project is to enhance the innovation management pro-

cesses in globally connected industrial SMEs. This will be achieved by a set of new methodolo-

gies, based on Agile, as well as by the construction of a web-based platform on which globally

connected SMEs may be able to apply these Agile methodologies to handle the full-scope of

their innovation projects, from A to Z.

In terms of how to achieve this ambitious plan, we can break the project into two critical parts,

the Methodology Concept and the ICT System Concept, which together form the basis for a full

system prototype. These have come to life after a close scrutiny of the industrial SMEs that are

the consortium partners in the form of a detailed document of Business Cases, as well as a

thorough compilation of the State-of-the-Art of methodologies and approaches. The RTD part-

ners have worked on these applying the lens of their specific expertise, therefore extracting

critical knowledge to guide the selection of the most fitting methodologies and the technical

requirements of the platform.

This document provides a high-level yet insightful overview of the ExtremeFactories concept, its

requirements and its structure along the two above-mentioned critical parts. It also does it tak-

ing into account the innovation projects critical stages, which are:

• Inception

• A stage which supports the initial phase of the innovation when the innova-

tive ideas are created and collected

• Ideas Prioritisation

• A stage which enables analysis of the collected ideas and selection of the

most promising ones based on the predefined criteria

• Implementation

• A stage that provides support to the innovation process management in

terms of monitoring timing, financing, selection of the most appropriate ma-

terials/components, processes etc.

• Follow-up

• A final stage to support the assessment of success of the implementation of

innovative products/processes.

Taking into account the similar needs to manage innovation, but the idiosyncratic nature of

globally connected industrial SMEs, ExtremeFactories has distilled and elaborated among state-

of-the-art options in order to provide a solution that, in a simple and practical way, will be able

to serve the innovation management needs of a diverse community of stakeholders.


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Table of Contents Page IV of 26

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................7

1.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 7

1.2 Approach Applied ................................................................................... 8

2 Methodology and System Concept ..............................................................9

2.1 Background – Relation to the State-of-the-Art ....................................... 9

2.1.1 Target Methodology and System .................................................................................9

2.2 Methodology Concept .......................................................................... 10

2.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................10

2.2.2 Methodology Objectives, Structure and Challenges ..................................................10

2.2.3 Methodology Structure ..............................................................................................11

2.2.4 Key Challenges and ways to address them.................................................................12

2.3 ExtremeFactories ICT System Concept ................................................. 13

2.3.1 Overall Concept ..........................................................................................................13

2.3.2 ExtremeFactories Functionalities ...............................................................................14

2.3.3 System Architecture ...................................................................................................21

2.3.4 Model Layer ................................................................................................................22

2.3.5 View Layer ...................................................................................................................25

3 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 26


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List of Tables Page V of 26

List of Tables

Table 2-1: Key Challenges 12

List of Figures

Figure 1-1: Approach applied in the concept creation 8

Figure 2-1: ExtremeFactories System Concept 14

Figure 2-2: ExtremeFactories software architecture 22


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Abbreviations Page VI of 26

Abbreviations

a.m. above mentioned

API Application Programming Inter-

face

BC Business Case

BS Brainstorming

BW Brain Writing

CIP Comprehensive Idea Prioritisa-

tion

CRUD Create, Read, Update and Delete

e.g. exempli gratia

EFF EXTREMEFACTORIES

ERP Enterprise Resource Planning

etc. et cetera

FIP Fast Idea Prioritisation

HRP Heuristic Redefinition Process

i.e. That’s to say

ICT Information and Communication

Technologies

InFoS Innovation Follow-Up Service

InImS Innovation Implementation Ser-

vice

InInS Innovation Inception Service

InPrS Innovation Prioritization Service

IPR Intellectual Property Rights

KM Knowledge Management

KPI Key Performance Indicators

MVC Model View Controller

PRM Positive Risk Management

RBR Rule Based Reasoning

RTD

Research and Technological De-

velopment

S&T Scientific & Technological

SME

Small and medium-sized enter-

prises

STB Set Top Boxes

SIOC Semantically-Interlinked Online

Communities

SOA Service Oriented Architecture

SotA State of the ART

Telco Telecommunications Company

TILMAG Transformation of Ideal Solution

Elements with Associations and

Commonalities

TRIZ Theory of Inventive Problem Solv-

ing

VoIP Voice over IP

VPN Virtual Private Network


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Introduction Page 7 of 26

1 Introduction

The ExtremeFactories project is about enhancing the innovation management process in global-

ly acting networked SMEs. This is done by means of implementing a new methodology, based

on Agile Methodologies, and a collaborative internet-based platform for adoption of a system-

atic innovation process.

This document is deliverable D1.4 ‘System Concept – Public Report’ developed in the first phase

of the project.

1.1 Overview

In order to be able to create a high resolution image of the current (“as-is”) situation related to

the innovation management in the seven consortium SMEs, the business processes have been

analysed in detail by the RTD performers, by carrying out interviews using common question-

naires which allowed to identify current innovation practices – innovation context - and innova-

tion potential in the seven partner manufacturing SMEs. As a result of these interviews detailed

presentations of the Business Cases (BC) were issued as a first step in identifying needs and

requirements – BC requirements – of the consortium partners, regarding innovation manage-

ment. In addition SMEs have provided their own requirements, adding them to the consortium

partners’ insight into available solutions in the market, and into the state-of-the-art of corre-

sponding applications and trends. To get more extensive information on the current needs re-

garding innovation management optimisation in the manufacturing SME community, additional

enquiry among extra-consortium companies was carried out. On top of that the findings of the

in-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art R&D activities in the relevant areas were used, en-

riched by the expertise (of RTD performers), for the creation of a generic set of requirements.

All participants in the above-described activities (See Figure 1-1) have also provided technical

visions and innovation ideas to complete the generic requirements.

A refined list of generic requirements served as a basis for the creation of the ExtremeFactories

concept.

The concept presented here should be seen as a basis for the early and full system prototype

specification and implementation, but also as a kind of "meta" concept, meaning that it will

further evolve with concept topics clarification and with early prototype experiences gathering.

The document is divided in two key parts related to:

• ExtremeFactories Methodology Concept, and

• ExtremeFactories ICT System Concept

The document includes the following chapters:

• Chapter 1, Introduction, describes the purpose of this document and its position

with respect to the whole project and the approach applied in the concept creation

• Chapter 2 is dedicated to the concept of the whole ExtremeFactories Solution and is

divided into parts describing the relations between the state-of-the-art, Methodolo-

gy Concept and ICT System Concept. This latter one includes a description of the Ex-

tremeFactories system functionalities, architecture and development environment.


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Introduction Page 8 of 26

1.2 Approach Applied

The ExtremeFactories concept was created following the procedure depicted in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1: Approach applied in the concept creation

Shortly, the steps of that process are:

1. Detailed analyses of the current (“as-is”) situation related to the Innovation man-

agement process optimisation in the seven consortium manufacturing SMEs.

2. Creation of the descriptions of the Business Cases (BC) and extraction of the needs

and requirements – BC requirements – regarding innovation management process

optimisation.

3. Collection of the information/insight into the market available solutions and into the

state-of-the-art of corresponding applications, including market trends.

4. Gathering more extensive information about the current needs and requirements

regarding innovation management optimisation in the manufacturing community.

Additional enquiry among extra-consortium companies was conducted.

5. The RTD performers have also created an in-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art

R&D activities in the relevant areas. This has been enriched by the expertise (of RTD

performers) for the creation of a generic set of requirements presented in chapter 2.

All participants in the above-described activities (see Figure 1-1) have also provided technical

visions and innovation ideas to complete the generic requirements. This has been done to in-

troduce a long-term vision of the system and its future improvements.


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Methodology and System Concept Page 9 of 26

2 Methodology and System Concept

2.1 Background – Relation to the State-of-the-Art

As presented in the deliverable of the project: D1.1 State of the art, existing innovation man-

agement methodologies, in spite of being multiple and sophisticated, lack a practical approach -

particularly from the point of view of SMEs-, where innovation management has very specific

needs. In addition, it appears that applications of ICT systems to support innovation processes

is at a rather low level, in terms of both quantity and quality.

ExtremeFactories aims to improve the innovation management practice by providing both a

methodology and a system to support the whole process from innovative ideas gathering to

innovation follow-up.

The methodology, taking into consideration the four stages of the innovation process we have

identified - inception, prioritisation, implementation and follow-up – will provide a new way of

integrating agile methods. These -traditionally applied in a number of other processes and

hereby adapted to the needs of SMEs-, will contribute significantly to the enhancement of in-

novation management.

Based on the ExtremeFactories methodology, an advanced ICT system will be developed to

support each of the aforementioned innovation phases. This will be a dedicated software ser-

vice that will provide all the functionalities identified in the methodology.

2.1.1 Target Methodology and System

The ExtremeFactories methodology, to be issued as the ExtremeFactories Methodology Work-

book, will elaborate in detail all four innovation phases. In the book the first two, Inception and

Prioritisation of Ideas, the so-called Fuzzy Front End of innovation and which are of a decisive

importance for the whole process, will be analysed in detail for a precise identification of re-

quirements of the ICT functionalities that will be implemented to support these services.

The ExtremeFactories methodology will provide a basis for the application of sophisticated ap-

proaches in SME environments and for further knowledge-based processing, applying KM ser-

vices and tools. The methodology will address both technological and organisational aspects

related to collaborative work and sharing of knowledge related to creativity and innovation

management. It will serve as a guideline for companies, especially for SMEs, which intend to

apply the new approach to support innovation management all along the process and all-over

the company. The methodology will include guidelines on practical system set-up and usage.

The ICT platform will include several functionalities, starting with tools for self-assessment of

the innovation capacity and innovation context. This self-assessment will be based on the most

illustrative criteria for the current situation in an SME.

The ExtremeFactories methodology and ICT system will be enhanced by agile approach con-

cepts in project management and collaboration. This will include innovative components in in-

novation management practice.


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2.2 Methodology Concept

2.2.1 Introduction

The ExtremeFactories Methodology will be elaborated in detail in deliverables D2.1.1 – D2.1.3,

the three versions of the ExtremeFactories Methodology Workbook. The concept presented

here is a short elaboration of the methodology’s objectives and structure.

The methodology will provide guidelines and best practices for networked SMEs to facilitate

the generation and filtering of innovative ideas and their successful implementation taking

into account technical and business risks that may appear.

As mentioned, the concepts comprised in the ExtremeFactories methodology will be put into

practice in an intelligent collaborative ICT platform based on an ontology that will model the

relationships of the actors and the innovation and innovation management related processes.

The platform, built on Service-Oriented-Architecture principles, will also provide a set of

knowledge-based services that will assist users throughout the different activities of the inno-

vation process.

The presented methodology concept proposes the use of Agile Methodologies to systematise

the innovation process and accelerate the adoption (and/or adaptation) of the inven-

tions/innovations, offering a multi-user centred approach and facilitating the creation of a tai-

lor-made methodology for a given company, in line with its own specific characteristics. Fur-

thermore, ExtremeFactories proposes the creation of a new platform to help innovators to suc-

cessfully implement their ideas in an open (but controlled) environment.

2.2.2 Methodology Objectives, Structure and Challenges

2.2.2.1 Objectives

The main objective of the ExtremeFactories methodology is to make available to SMEs basic

theoretical concepts and practical approaches and methods for enhancing innovation manage-

ment, along the whole innovation process, in a collaborative environment such as, for example,

an extended enterprise. It should result in accelerating the adoption/adaptation of innovation

processes (product design, production, supply, quality management, financing, etc.) in SMEs

anywhere within the value chain, giving an immediate response to changes or new business

contexts in the form of implementation plans, including the assessment to minimize risks.

2.2.2.2 Specific Requirements

The Methodology should provide theoretical background and practical guidelines of the innova-

tion process and innovation management, applying agile methods. In addition specific require-

ments of the ExtremeFactories solution, (comprising both platform and Methodology) are to be

uncomplicated (hiding complexity), offering non-expensive solutions and approaches which are

easy to apply by SMEs.

In addition the Methodology has to be usable as a kind of general reading for the companies

that have a long-term plan to enhance their current innovation management practices.

One of the critical issues to be addressed is the approach of collaborative work in different in-

novation projects and different innovation types, including, for example, strategy for


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knowledge sharing within extended enterprises, issues related to trust between actors, infor-

mation security, etc.

2.2.3 Methodology Structure

The innovative ExtremeFactories methodology should have the following features:

a. Cover the whole innovation process life cycle:

1. Gathering of innovation ideas from the demand-pull and technology-push

sources as well as from other sources identified by the partner SMEs and other-

wise,

2. Conception and prioritisation of ideas,

3. Ideas/innovations implementation,

4. Assessment and follow–up of innovations.

b. Cover both process and product innovation.

c. Be dedicated to globally acting networked companies - SMEs and large companies as

well , providing methods for carrying out multi-actor collaborative innovation processes,

i.e. involving their own staff, customer, suppliers and other actors in the network into

innovation processes, including open innovation concepts, in which the submission of

ideas should be open also for people outside the networked companies.

d. To combine concepts developed by Agile Software Development methods (such as Ex-

treme Programming, SCRUM, Feature-driven Development, Lean Development, etc.) to-

gether with new industrial management trends such as Flexible Product Development

and the most practiced Innovation Methodologies in Industry (such as Brainstorming -

BS, Brain Writing - BW, Heuristic Redefinition Process - HRP, Transformation of Ideal So-

lution Elements with Associations and Commonalities – TILMAG or Theory of Inventive

Problem Solving - TRIZ).

e. To issue all the above mentioned methods as a light-weight content to allow for a high

acceptability and good applicability by industrial partners.

f. To clearly elaborate and mark topics which are application specific related to the com-

pany type - manufacturing SME, SME from other areas of activity, large companies.

The above listed features require a part of the methodology structure with theoretical explana-

tions of the whole innovation process divided into corresponding phases. The other methodol-

ogy parts are to be dedicated to the description of the supporting ICT system i.e. to the plat-

form and its services. This part should also comprise guidelines for installation and operation of

the system issued in the form of a user manual. The basic concept of the ExtremeFactories

methodology structure is presented below.

• Innovation Process Basics

• Terms and definitions

• Short overview of the history/state-of-the-art

• Innovation phases


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• Innovation Inception phase

• Ideas prioritisation

• Innovation implementation

• Innovation assessment and follow-up

• Innovation management

• Innovation triggers – creativity stimulation, demand-pull, technology-push

• Innovation process types – closed innovation, collaborative innovation, open in-

novation

• Knowledge sharing

• Inception policies

• Set-up and maintenance of a collaborative working environment

• Business models

• IPR and security issues

• Innovation platform description

• Manuals

• User manuals including all ExtremeFactories solution components

• Guidelines for set-up and maintenance of the system

• Guidelines for set-up and maintenance of the ExtremeFactories repositories

The proposed structure will be open for possible future extensions or changes according to re-

quirements detected during the solution specification and development.

2.2.4 Key Challenges and ways to address them

In accordance with the rather ambitious targets of the ExtremeFactories methodology there are

also big challenges to be met and handled. In this concept phase the ways to address them are

identified in as much as possible, keeping in mind that new ones may appear during Methodol-

ogy development. The currently identified challenges and envisaged ways to address them are

presented in Table 2-1.

Table 2-1: Key Challenges

Challenge Way to address it

1 Theoretical approach in the meth-

odology in a way understandable to

SMEs

Explanation approach adapted to different readers’

levels and interests with examples for each topic

2 Methodology to set-up and maintain

a collaborative working environment

– safety and security issues,

State clearly the benefits of knowledge sharing and

mechanisms for confidential knowledge protection.

Explain in detail IPR rules. Introduce appropriate busi-


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knowledge sharing among different

participants in the innovation pro-

cess.

ness models.

3 Lightweight form of the whole

methodology

Methodology structure similar to handbook for hands-

on training, detailed instructions

4 Introduce incentives – stimulate

different employees to put ideas into

the system

Incentive types will be made attractive according to

personal preferences of the innovation process partici-

pants. Activity in ideas provision and gathering to be

particularly rewarded.

5 Solution adequacy to SMEs’ needs In order to keep tight connections of research activities

with the envisaged real-life applications, the work will

be based on 7 industrial business cases, where several

experimental activities will be performed. These activi-

ties will ensure a continuous observation of the validity

of results in real-life operations and feedback from the

very beginning of the project. It will guarantee the suit-

ability of the developed technical solutions.

6 Development of rather complex

functionalities necessary for the

successful creation of the innovation

management supporting services

The approach in the functionalities implementation will

be a combination of new development and external

applications, applying appropriate interfaces. New de-

velopment will be conducted based on the high exper-

tise and rich experience of the consortium partners.

7 Ensuring the smooth, harmonious

functioning of the whole system

A common knowledge repository ensures usage of the

same data along the whole innovation process. The

application of the common innovation ontology is ex-

pected to provide a system that functions as a whole,

not as set of separate components.

8 Solution robustness Application of mature technologies, with proven relia-

bility, to back-up the innovative technical solutions.

9 Solution acceptance by the SME

community

Strict focus on scenarios that allow a step-wise intro-

duction of advanced results, following an agile ap-

proach of implementation, testing and releasing small

incremental functionality changes.

2.3 ExtremeFactories ICT System Concept

2.3.1 Overall Concept

The overall ICT system concept is based on a collaborative platform including functionalities to

support the most commonly used Innovation Methodologies in Industry. The current system

concept is presented in Figure 2-1.

According to the concept, the ExtremeFactories System should be composed of:

• A service platform with the following groups of services:


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o Innovation Management Services: Innovation Inception Services, Prioritisation

Services, Implementation Services and Follow-up Services. Each will be com-

posed of several tools, assembled as a combination of specific tools, either ex-

ternal or internal solutions for the platform

o Collaboration Supporting Services: these include Virtual Collaborative Space, KM

services (comprising reasoning related services and knowledge provision ser-

vices), Team Composition and Expert Search Services

• General Run-time Infrastructure, comprising Service Execution Environment, Security

Services and External Systems Integration Services.

• Common Repository

Figure 2-1: ExtremeFactories System Concept

2.3.2 ExtremeFactories Functionalities

The functionalities of the particular modules of the foreseen modular structure, built as a SOA,

are described in detail in the following text, starting from the general functionalities to be de-

veloped as internal platform services.

2.3.2.1 General Functionalities

The group of general functionalities comprises functionalities for self-assessment related to the

SMEs capacity to carry out Innovation projects and for self-assessment on the adequacy of the

context to carry out Innovation projects. Both are based on the following criteria:


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Organisational policies and practices, Implementation Climate, Management Support, Financial

Resources Availability/Accessibility, Learning Orientation and Managerial Patience.

All these criteria will be composed of several sub-criteria to provide a granular picture of the

related SME status. Results of both these assessments are to be iteratively used in the process

of adaptation of the a.m. capacity and context for innovation.

2.3.2.2 Supporting services

As presented in Figure 2-1, the group of collaboration supporting services comprises six groups:

• Services for the creation of Virtual Collaborative Spaces

• Services for Knowledge management

• Service(s) for team composition and for Expert search

• Services for Risk Assessment

• Services for Incentives Definition

• Integration Services

All these services can be used by the Innovation Supporting Services, according to the applica-

tion specifics.

Services for the creation of a virtual collaborative space should enable a smooth common mul-

ti-tenant usage of the system functionalities by several users from single enterprises, extended

enterprises and/or wider communities (open innovation), to work on innovation projects. Dif-

ferent collaboration patterns (synchronous, asynchronous, etc.), following the assigned roles,

should be possible. The virtual collaborative space can be divided in independent spaces for

simultaneous work on different process/product innovation projects. For each of these individ-

ual spaces access rights can be granted to different groups including the possibility to have a

fully open access for the cases of open innovation projects. Access to the virtual collaborative

space is via a user friendly and intuitively composed, web based graphical user interface, acces-

sible by common Web browser.

The group of general collaborative functionalities/services of the system should also comprise

knowledge management functionalities, i.e. acquiring relevant knowledge, search knowledge

components, tracking and tracing innovation projects, reasoning methods, etc. As a backbone

of the KM services, an ontology should be implemented. The ontology is built as a modular sys-

tem, allowing for easy extension, easy handling in distributed environments (like the semantic

web), and simple management. Efficient reasoning is achieved by incorporating established

ontology specifications:

• Enterprise Ontology, which defines semantic meaning of terms such as market, custom-

er, competitor, supplier etc.,

• FOAF for describing persons, their activities, relations to other people and objects for

representing all person-related information in the Innovation Ontology, and

• SIOC for integrating online community systems, to represent information such as blog,

wiki, forum posts and to model access rights to individual resources.


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The ontology to be developed should be extendable by several components according to specif-

ic requirements of the industrial partners.

Further collaborative services should be Experts search (external and internal), and Team com-

position and management from external and internal staff. This allows for composing ad hoc

activity groups based on criteria such as Purpose of the team, Availability of team members,

Required knowledge areas, and Personal interests.

Services for Risk Assessment should be used as appropriate for ideas prioritisation and innova-

tion implementation. During these two phases the risks of the innovative product/process fail-

ing either technically or financially are to be carefully evaluated, leading to innovation process

adaptation or abandonment.

In order to motivate the employees to participate in the innovation process, services for Incen-

tives Definition should be implemented. These will be based on the number and quality of the

innovative ideas and on the preferences of the people who submit the best ideas, as they can

help identify the most appropriate incentives.

Some Integration Services should be implemented in order to make the aforementioned ser-

vices work together.

For a highly effective collaborative innovation process, the platform should allow inputs from

mobile devices.

2.3.2.3 Innovation Supporting Services

The following four services, which belong to the group of Innovation Supporting Services and

support in managing the process, will be developed:

• Inception Services, supporting the initial phase of the innovation when the innovative

ideas are created and collected

• Ideas Prioritisation Services enable analysis of the collected ideas and selection of the

most promising ones based on the predefined criteria

• Implementation Services provide support to the innovation process management in

terms of monitoring timing, financing, selection of the most appropriate materi-

als/components, processes etc.

• Follow-up Services support the assessment of success of the implementation of innova-

tive products/processes.

2.3.2.3.1 Inception related Services

Innovation Inception Services (InInS) should provide ICT support for the very initial phase of the

innovation process - ideas collection. They are a combination of classical approaches, commer-

cial tools, and new developments to collect knowledge and ideas on products and processes

innovation.

They should support creativity and related events i.e. initialising the creation of innovative ide-

as. Tools for supporting e.g. Brainstorming, Brain Writing, Transformation of Ideal Solution Ele-

ments with Associations and Commonalities and other tools to be identified during the specifi-

cation and implementation phase of the project.


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The platform internal functionality (new development) should also allow for monitoring of dif-

ferent data/information/knowledge sources.

The monitoring functionality is to be based on the so-called monitoring services, via a graphical

user interface, that allows defining data source, access frequency, and monitoring task dura-

tion. Specific to each data source, additional filters or search terms have to be adapted to the

platform (service) to further specify the requested data.

Besides monitoring external systems, the monitoring services can also be used to access legacy

systems in each company to import new data relevant for the innovation in process.

Further functionality of the innovation inception services is related to the demand-pull group of

the innovation triggers. This functionality supports structuring of customer demands and in

some cases also regulatory and compliance requirements i.e. demands for improvement of

some product characteristics coming from certification bodies to which products are submitted.

Data for these functionalities comes from legacy systems i.e. from the companies’ internal ICT

systems, where all kinds of requirements are stored. Innovation ideas can be inserted into the

system by corresponding users, mainly from the company design department.

These services must provide information and knowledge on products and processes required to

formulate needs and ideas. The tool to enter innovative ideas should provide an overview of

previous, similar ideas, so that the user may see alternative ideas. Core functionality and com-

mon user interfaces are to be easily adjustable to specific user requirements.

2.3.2.3.2 Prioritisation Services

Innovation Prioritisation Services (InPrS) should provide ICT support for the 2nd

phase of the

innovation process – Ideas Prioritisation. The basic concept of prioritisation is the ability to

assess and select an idea. The decision support tool will involve a combination of classical ap-

proaches and new approaches to prioritise ideas on products and processes innovation.

A generic fit-for-all methodology has been developed to fit the different needs and require-

ments of SMEs in the Idea prioritisation processes. Two approaches have been devised to sup-

port this methodology, and are listed below:

• Fast Idea Prioritisation (FIP)

• Comprehensive Idea Prioritisation (CIP)

Using the first approach (FIP), the ideas will be assessed using the Anonymous Voting technique

or the senior managers will make the decision. The idea(s) with the highest number of votes, or

the one selected by the management team, will be moved forward to the Implementation

stage.

The second approach (CIP) incorporates a synergy of the most popular prioritisation tech-

niques, such as Prioritisation Matrix, Dot Voting and Simple form of Nominal Group Technique.

It will provide a systematic approach for idea evaluation and selection and will involve a num-

ber of sub-phases.

The Prioritisation services will follow a systematic and transparent methodology based on the

FIP and CIP idea-selection process stated above. A step-by-step systematic approach is to be

applied to ensure the ideas are selected in a standard and consistent matter. This methodology


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will guide the decision makers through the selection process, ensuring informed decision mak-

ing is undertaken.

The decision maker in the idea selection process will require a clear understanding and

knowledge of each idea’s attributes and features to ensure an effective selection process is

undertaken. Especially in the case of the CIP approach, the decision maker will use a Prioritisa-

tion Matrix that will take into account a number of business related factors to determine

whether an idea can be turned into a business opportunity. The factors include the idea’s po-

tential in the market place, its value and margin, the level of competition and its competitors,

as well as the companies’ capabilities to develop it for the market.

Considering the complexity and risks in prioritisation, currently foreseen services are:

• Services to shortlist ideas.

• Services to organise online discussion groups to encourage critical thinking.

• Services to support team composition.

These services will guide the decision maker through a decision support mechanism to shortlist

and select the best ideas.

On top of this, the selection of the best ideas will be supported by external tools (See Figure

2-1). These external tools should allow for the creation of the concept design, supported by

virtual prototyping and characteristics simulation. Concept design will represent important ide-

as selection arguments alongside idea prioritisation. All this will be used in the Innovation Im-

plementation Services (InImS) to support the final design and subsequent development and

implementation of the innovative idea.

2.3.2.3.3 Implementation Services

The first functionality provided by the implementation supporting services should enable the

creation of a final design of the product/process to be innovated, based on the innovation

“concept design” created in the ideas prioritisation phase. This “final design” is to be created by

an external application and should be common for different company departments (e.g. plan-

ning department, shop floor, quality control, etc.).

The current concept envisages implementation of the following tools as components of the

implementation support services:

• Project planning tools (including team composition services), enriched with agile ap-

proach based functionalities

• Implementation project timing control

• Implementation costs control

In this service the common functionalities for creation of the virtual collaborative space will be

used for ad-hoc meetings of the responsible teams and management board for reporting and

deciding on the implementation project success.

All these tools will make an innovative implementation project management tool, whereby the

concepts of the existing project management tools will be reused. The specific support func-

tionalities from an innovation project management service will be, among others:

• Creation of project organisation plans, based on a set of example templates


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• Creation of project schedule including key milestones list, based on a set of example tem-

plates

• Creation of project financial plan

• Identification of key success factors

Along the implementation phase a detailed business model, also based on the business model

concept from the prioritisation phase, should be defined. It should be open and adaptable to

the commercialisation conditions and results i.e. offering the possibility of reconsideration of

the validity of the whole innovation.

Business model definition will be supported from the ExtremeFactories system by the set of

existing business modelling frameworks, and should include (among others) functionalities for:

• Definition of (new and editing of existing) Key Performance Indicators (KPI), which are to

be used in the Follow-up phase.

• Definition of (new and editing of existing) business targets

• Definition of the operative organisation (e.g. sales, marketing, support, maintencance etc)

In all cases where it is applicable the a.m. definitions are to be based on the existing templates

and their adaptation. As an “upon request support” the documents offering guidance in select-

ing the most appropriate tools for business modelling are to be provided.

2.3.2.3.4 Follow-up Services

Innovation Follow-Up Services (InFoS) should provide ICT support for the last phase of the in-

novation process: the follow-up of the implementation of a set of ideas for product/process

innovation or portfolio extension. As in the rest of services, it will be a combination of classical

approaches, commercial tools and new developments to trace the ideas from inception to im-

plementation and to assess implementation effectiveness. In this sense, some of the services

that are currently considered for application are:

1. Services to support management in monitoring/tracking of the profit and comparing it

with the costs of the projects originated from the selected ideas. By tracking the projects

in terms of costs (efforts, materials, operational costs…) and incomes/revenue, the end

user can analyse its financial situation and may decide to reallocate resources to more

profitable projects. This information could be shared in the ExtremeFactories virtual

space so managers and employees can collaboratively comment and consider ways of im-

proving the efficiency of the projects (in terms of profitability).

2. Services to support management in evaluating the success in the implementation of the

idea. In a Product Innovation activity the management will be supported in the assess-

ment of the product’s success in the market. On the other hand, in a Process Innovation

activity management will be supported in assessing the effectiveness of the new process

(in terms of throughput, performance or any other process variable). This support will

consist of guidelines for identifying a baseline (in the form of specific performance indica-

tors) and guidelines to measure such indicators in a given time.

The ExtremeFactories Platform will internally monitor and track all the events related to each

idea from its inception to its implementation. Once the follow-up functions have been per-

formed, internal ExtremeFactories services will provide a positive or negative evaluation of the

success obtained with the implemented idea, as a decision support for the management body

responsible for deciding whether an idea has been successfully implemented or not. Follow-up


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services’ outputs (success or failures), will be part of the company’s innovation knowledge

base, so this knowledge can be applied later in the implementation of ideas.

2.3.2.4 Common Knowledge Repository

The Common Knowledge Repository for the whole system stores data about Ideas, including

also a history of all ideas posted anytime in the past, Solutions, Rules, Business and Innovation

models, SME specific data like plant description, processes description, list of employees with

related data, Product and Process related documents. It provides an easy access to product or

service improvements, including links to customers and suppliers. Lists of employees with re-

lated data can be applied e.g. in the Incentives services as a support selecting the most appro-

priate incentives for each of the innovation process participants (based on the stored profiles),

or within the Team Composition and Expert Search services.

The repository will contain all the knowledge required by the ExtremeFactories Platform:

- Knowledge about the innovative SMEs’ context, operations and products, i.e. all the in-

formation that describes processes and products, needs, ideas and effective innova-

tions. The repository will be modelled with a sustained structure to store the desired in-

formation. It will also provide the necessary flexibility for its use, needed for interactions

among different actors, components and services and to provide the information miss-

ing in manufacturing companies, e.g. interactions and relations between products parts

and process steps, ideas and innovations.

- The ExtremeFactories Innovation Methodology concepts will be modelled as a specific

ontology, which shall define a common terminology and structuring of data to be main-

tained at the local repositories. This concept seems suited to the industrial environ-

ment, since it represents a compromise between a structured approach – needed to as-

sure an effective sharing of knowledge – and the freedom required to address the indi-

vidual needs of participants – so as to not restrict creativity. This concept enables

knowledge sharing and allows the participants to have local ontologies with individual

definitions that are compatible with the global one. Update and maintenance of the

global ontology has to ensure that all participants share the same ontology, valid across

different languages. Namely, this refers to an inter-organizational KM system built upon

distributed ontologies, locally managed and centrally integrated.


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Figure 25: ExtremeFactories Knowledge Base (Common Repository) – main classes

2.3.3 System Architecture

The ExtremeFactories platform will be implemented as a SOA-based web application in a 3-tier

architecture following the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern – as depicted Figure 2-2 – con-

sisting of the following layers:

• Model Layer – enabling persistence of data and knowledge handled by the platform

• Controller Layer – encapsulating the platform’s business logic and

• View Layer – providing graphical user interfaces to the platform’s users, both for PC-

based browsers and mobile devices (i.e. smartphones, tablets).


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Figure 2-2: ExtremeFactories software architecture

2.3.4 Model Layer

The Model Layer incorporates two components, the Enterprise Persistence Framework and the

Ontology Framework.

Enterprise Persistence Framework is responsible for enabling the different services comprising

the Service Layer to access different datastores to perform Create, Read, Update and Delete

(CRUD) operations on these datastores. The Enterprise Persistence Framework in this sense

handles the conversion of data from the datastore specific format (in most cases this will be the

relational model of a database), into the innovation platform’s object model and vice versa.

This way, the different services can work on a unified object model abstraction and are able to

transparently access different types of datastores.

Ontology Framework enables the services to perform CRUD operations and reason on ontology

data by providing the same transformation from/to the unified object model abstraction as the

Enterprise Persistence Framework.

2.3.4.1 Controller Layer

The Controller Layer comprises the platform’s business logic and contains two sets of services,

the Supporting Services and the Innovation Management Services which provide the General

and Innovation Specific functionality as described above. These services are hosted in the ser-


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vice execution environment provided by the used application server and will be exposing a

RESTful API, enabling external systems or different user interface implementations to utilise the

functionality provided by the platform.

The Innovation Management Services are described above in chapter 2.3.2 and here are de-

tailed descriptions of the Supporting Services, which include:

• Services for creation of Virtual Collaborative Spaces

• Services for Knowledge management

• Service(s) for team composition and for Expert search

• Services for Risk Assessment

• Services for Incentives Definition

• Integration Services

2.3.4.1.1 Services for the creation of Virtual Collaborative Spaces

The ExtremeFactories platform will provide a general purpose virtual collaborative area that

will enable sharing documents or other items (pictures, videos, etc.) and chat among the partic-

ipants. Added to this generic function of the platform, ExtremeFactories will enable users, who

have individual user rights, to create Virtual Collaborative Spaces of Specific Purpose. The activi-

ties performed in these spaces can be tracked and used for further analysis and interpretation.

2.3.4.1.2 Services for Knowledge Management

Services for Knowledge Management include:

• Rule Based Reasoning

• Case Based Reasoning

• Knowledge Provision (Product/Process, specific technologies related, etc.)

This list of functionalities is not meant to be exhaustive and it merely describes the most ele-

mentary types of services for KM, which have been identified so far during the system concept

as crucial for the ExtremeFactories system.

Rule Based and Case Based Reasoning

The reasoning services will be used as decision support tools during the ideas prioritisation for:

1. Identification of the most promising idea for solving product/process related problems,

based on the set of rules and/or previously solved problems

2. Evaluating risks and possible impacts

3. Providing suggestions for actions based on the innovation processes previously carried

out

Knowledge Provision Service

This service will provide functionality for searching, storing and retrieving information re-

sources from the platform’s common repository as well as other information sources (e.g. doc-

ument management systems, ERP systems, etc.).


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2.3.4.1.3 Service for team composition and for Expert search

The Team Composition Service will allow searching for appropriate team members and sending

candidate team members invitations to join the team, providing information about the purpose

and goals of the new team.

The Service for Expert Search will allow searching expertise for a specific topic, taking into ac-

count the temporal / spatial availability.

2.3.4.1.4 Services for Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is an issue that will be linked to a proposed idea from the early stages of the

innovation process. Any user proposing an idea will be able to associate risks to the idea cate-

gorized into groups (such as financial, technical and cultural/human). This Risk Assessment Ser-

vice and its results will be finally used by managers to support them in the decision-making pro-

cess of identifying promising ideas that should be pursued further.

In order to avoid missing good ideas due to assessment of a risk as high, ExtremeFactories will

follow a Positive Risk Management approach (PRM) and establish a high tolerance level to risk,

understanding that innovation projects (mainly disruptive ones) usually comprise a high level of

financial, technical or even cultural risks. As PRM states that the perception of risk depends on

a person’s personality, the evaluators should be grouped by their perception of risk based on

their profiles in the system. The profiles should be updated regularly.

Apart from this functionality, the Risk Management and Assessment Service will provide tradi-

tional methods to manage and assess risks: identification of source, probability of occurrence,

severity/criticality, actors involved and contingency actions.

2.3.4.1.5 Services for Incentives Definition

This type of services will only be available to the management, who may freely create incen-

tives for employees to take part in the innovation process, and define the incentives’ scope. In

that sense, different general incentive strategies can be created for the staff of the company or

for external actors. These strategies can be linked to specific campaigns or can also apply to

free posting of ideas from staff or externals.

In a second step the incentives are going to be communicated to the employees, whereby the

Services for Incentives Definition allow the ExtremeFactories platform to announce incentives

to a user based on that user’s preferences, e.g. if there are different types of incentives availa-

ble (such as monetary, free time or others), the platform may choose to communicate the type

of incentive to a user that best fits the user’s profile.

2.3.4.1.6 Integration Services

The Integration Services are: Import Service and API Service.

The Import Service enables the ExtremeFactories platform to import certain data from external

(legacy) systems into the platform. This data could be user information from an existing user

repository, ideas information from an existing repository of innovative ideas, project related

information from an existing project management tool, etc.

The Import Service includes the necessary components to extract the data from the external

(legacy) system and transform it into the ExtremeFactories platform internal format.


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The API Service will display the ExtremeFactories platform functionalities in the form of RESTful

Webservices to other systems. This allows external (legacy) systems to interact with the Ex-

tremeFactories platform and use its functionality. It will also enable replacing the provided

web-based user interface with a different interface, such as a mobile application, a desktop

application, or a different web-based user interface.

2.3.5 View Layer

The View Layer provides the platform’s user interfaces, currently planned as HTML web pages,

tailored for common internet browsers. Certain platform functionality – especially for the fuzzy

front end of innovation will also be made available as smartphone user interfaces.


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Conclusion Page 26 of 26

3 Conclusion

This document – deliverable D1.4 ‘System Concept – Public Report’ – contains a definition of

the ExtremeFactories Concept.

This Concept has been defined after the specification of a set of Requirements coming from

rather different industrial SME participants who have different needs from an innovation man-

agement system. Individual scores in the Innovation effectiveness assessment showed that the

lowest average grade was given to the Organizational policies and practices criterion.

Taking into account the similar needs but different application conditions for such an innova-

tion management system, an attempt to harmonise differences was made, always with an eye

on current developments and available commercial solutions. This in turn was complemented

with compliance requirements to handle advanced technological solutions and concepts which

could be applicable to the ExtremeFactories system. In addition, general requirements of the

system for innovation management support were defined in order to mirror the technical vi-

sions of each of the above-mentioned actors.

Based on this set of requirements, a general concept of the ExtremeFactories solution, compris-

ing methodology and ICT system, has been created. As can be seen from this document, the

first concept is still open enough to accept additional requirements, i.e. to be enlarged by addi-

tional functionalities. This is in line with the envisaged application of agile programming ap-

proaches for the realisation of such an innovation management support methodology and ICT

system, which is expected to increase efficiency not only of the initial innovation phase of the

innovation process (fuzzy front end), but for the whole innovation process. This is done by in-

troducing more systematics and facilitating the participation of different stakeholders. As per

the aforementioned Innovation effectiveness assessment, this is of high importance for the

participating SMEs and is also assumed to be important for other companies.

In summary, the ExtremeFactories concept presented in this document, based on the previous-

ly identified requirements and described in a rather open way, is expected to allow the imple-

mentation of an advanced support system for innovation management processes in SMEs.

EFF D1.4 System Concept Public Report v1 - Extreme …extremefactories.eu/download/EFF_D1.4_System Concept_Public Rep… · System Concept – Public Report WP 1 ... to guide the

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