ANALYZING AND DECISION MAKING

Cro ss-Refe rence to Related Applications

This application claims priority to Israel Application No. 215575 filed 6 ^st October, 201 1 , incorporated herein by reference in its entirety

Field of the Inve ntion

The present invention relates to a system for the understanding of business organization and processes and more particularly a system for mapping, analyzing and decision making of multi-layer organizational, functional, activities and inter-relations networks.

Background

We are now on the edge of the knowledge era. One of the key elements of this new era is the amount of data that is available to organizations' leaders. Also, the knowledge era causes the data to change in seconds and affects its relevance to the organization's survival. Organizational charts and models are standard ways of visually mapping an organization's structure and processes. Virtually any organization, ranging from the smallest family owned business to the largest corporation, can benefit from an organizational chart that clearly defines reporting structures in these changing times.

Organizations' leaders and owners should be aware of the difficulty to choose the way of structuring, activities flow and culture in their organization. This is often a result of their inability to maintain an objective perspective of their organization. Organizational visualization is an important factor that can contribute to any organization's success or failure. Mapping processes is also a key factor that can contribute to any organization's success or failure. Choosing the optimal organizational structure and data flow from the available options is a crucial and a tough decision for an organization's leader. Creating a clear activity map is also crucial for any organization's leader. No current system provides both structure and activities mapping simultaneously.

Current organizational structure mapping consists of three to five levels of organizational management levels. Detailed mapping of such a structure can clarify the purpose of the organization, but it does not take into consideration the amount and the change rate of the data available in the knowledge era.

US 2009/0006427 (Managing Entity Organizational Chart, Veeraraghavan V et. al.) describes a system for displaying organizational information of an entity, which includes storing data representing nodes associated with members of the entity in a database, that are accessible by members of the entity. The data is sorted in a pyramid layer structure.

US 7,418,448 (Organization structure system, Jeffrey D. Hensel et al, issued 26/8/2008) introduces an improvement thus a system that provides functionality that allows an administrator to associate users and data to the defined organizational structure, in a flexible way. However it is still in an organizational tree having nodes corresponding to pyramid layers. In US 2005/0086244 (Matrixes organization apparatus, Paul Morinville) another system is described: a system for dynamically and selectively generating a hierarchical functional organization from a hierarchical operating organization structure. This invention is improving IBM's US 6, 134,706 patent (Software business objects in a multi-level organizational structure, James Carey et al, issued 17/ 10/2000).

The basic concept is a hierarchical pyramid-like structure that comprised the leadership level. The leadership level sets the definitions and the goals, gives directions and clarifies purpose. Leadership level must assume the responsibility for the performance of the whole organization and is accountable for the production and for the effectiveness. Any organizational structure visualization should clarify and define the organization's strategy. Strategy is part of the organization's road map to accomplishing the leadership's vision. Strategy is a key stone of the plan for realization of the vision. Strategy will eventually contain goals, objectives, and tactics necessary for success. When a proper structure is mapped with strategy, decision-making becomes clear in the era of rapid changes.

Organization structure and activities mapping enables management of business by providing tactical tools. It can either assist business management when the "mood" is right, or withhold it when the plan is in conflicts with structure's perceptions. Current organizational structure systems lack the cultural aspects and the a-formal features of the organization. However culture is very important for managing decision making. Culture inserts meaning, value, ethics, enthusiasm, and myriad other gifts to the engine of accomplishment. Strategy must be in harmony with the cultural elements; otherwise, the potential for success fades.

The structure is the explicit container that sets the boundaries for relationships between the various members of the organization (aka ecosystem). A good structure must include organization charts, working and accounting procedures, network (personal and equipment) charts etc. The relationships and levels of responsibility in the process of production or of providing services are determined by the structures, the hierarchy and the systems that are established. Structure is a tangible, anatomical equivalent of the body of the organization. Structure determines the types of energy and processing connections (like circulating blood flow) that exist. It creates the communication mechanisms (like the nervous system). Structure determines where in the hierarchy a person is, with whom he interacts, to whom he reports, for what he is responsible etc.

If we visualize the current organizational data by mime of tangible entities such as a biological system (nervous system etc.) it is an object of the present invention to provide a system that can map organizational structure and processes similar to the structure and the operation of the biological metabolism, contrary to the current mapping system which is at a very higher level. A business organization, like any biological system, is only as effective as its various processes. Failure to comprehend this obvious fact is one of the main reasons that most of reengineering schemes fail. Organization's leaders must have a clear mapping of how each process fits into the overall organizational structure, how it ought to function, and how well it is performing at any given moment, before they can form a diagnosis or devise a treatment strategy. Current organizational processes mapping are based on 1970's computer flowchart schema. These schemas fail to take into consideration the amount and the change rate of the data available in the knowledge era.

US 2008/0249822 (Method and apparatus for process discovery, Hochberg Alon et al) describes a method for discovering activities or processes within an organization, to be used in a process management and control system, the method comprising the steps of importing one or more actions associated with one or more planned or active projects within the organization, identifying one or more activities from the actions, and updating a pattern library based on the activity.

US 5,734,837 (Method and apparatus for building business process applications in terms of its workflow, Pablo A. Flores et al issued 31 /3/ 1998) describes a method and system which provides consultants, business process analysts, and application developers with a unified tool with which to conduct business process analysis, design, documentation and to generate business process definitions and workflow-enabled applications.

This invention can be implemented using a software system which has two functional sets: a set of graphical tools and a set of tools that can be used to document and specify in detail the attributes of each workflow definition, including roles, cycle time, conditions, of satisfaction, cost and value, associated text, forms, application data as well as detail the attributes of links between workflows required to complete a business process map, and to generate a business process definition and a workflow-enabled application. US 6,850,892 (Apparatus and method for allocating resources to improve quality of an organization, James G. Shaw) reveals a method for allocating organizational resources to increase customers' positive impressions of an organization, thereby leading to increased market share and profits for the organization. This method comprises:

A. Measuring data of an organization to determine an initial allocation of the resources.

B. Determining a customer input to the organization, an output from the organization produced in response to the customer input, and a performance measure used by a customer to evaluate the output of the organization from a customer perspective.

C. Determining the functional units of the organization, and the corresponding inputs and outputs of each functional unit.

However this patent does not take the organizational structure into account.

The present invention is a method of mapping the organization's structure by breaking it down into its absolutely basic elements thus "fractals" and recombining / integrating those elements according to the required purposes and needs. It is similar to a biological system where four core elements are combined into a Genes which are the master component thus DNA.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (aka DNA) is the major component of every biological mechanism. It contains vital information that is conveyed to successive generations. It coordinates the duplication of itself as well as other components (proteins). If it is changed, even slightly, serious consequences may result. If it is destroyed beyond repair, the cell dies. DNA is one of a class of biological components called nucleic acids. Nucleic acids were originally discovered in 1868 by Friedrich Meischer, a Swiss biologist, who isolated DNA from pus cells on bandages. Although Meischer suspected that nucleic acids might contain genetic information, he could not confirm it.

In 1943, Oswald Avery and colleagues at Rockefeller University showed that DNA, taken from the bacterium, Streptococcus pneumonia, could convert a non-infectious bacterium into an infectious one. These results indicated that DNA was the information-containing component in the cell. The information role of DNA was further supported in 1952 when Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase demonstrated that in order to make new viruses, (such as a bacteriophage virus) there is no need to inject the whole protein into the host. Injection of DNA suffices. Although scientists theorized the informational role of DNA for a long time, real understanding of how the DNA information is encoded or is transmitted has not been achieved. Several scientists thought that the structure of the component plays a role in this process.

Only in 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA at Cambridge University. Basically, Watson and Crick used molecular modeling techniques and data provided by other investigators (including Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, Erwin Chargaff and Linus Pauling) to solve the mystery of the structure of DNA.

The behavior and the operation of an organization may be best described by showing the similarity between an organizational structure and its activities to a biological organism. In this context, the current visualization of organizational structure is at the level of the biological organism, while in order to understand and to manage and control the organization, there is a need to penetrate to the organizational behavior (DNA, RNA and other biological components).

This is because the current mapping and decisions making systems lacks the flexibility, general view and the updating rate, which is needed in the current knowledge era. It lacks the dynamics, the cultural, a-formal structure and the technological improvements much needed in order to keep in speed the organizational structure itself and the knowledge for the use of the organizational leadership. Therefore, a need exists to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that can manage a multi - layer organizational, functional, cultural, activities and interconnections mapping, analyzing and decision making by generating a hierarchical functional organization by breaking it down to core elements and by creating visualization that is similar to the DNA uses in a biological system. The living cell contains genes stretched of DNA that manage the cell's characteristics and its operation, where the genes which are comprised of endless combinations of four core elements.

The genes are the source of the knowledge that activates and controls the metabolic processes and the functioning of the cell. The Genes duplicate, thus pass the knowledge to the "next generation" of cells.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system that can manage a multi - layer organizational, functional, cultural, a-formal structure, activities and interconnection mapping, analyzing and decision making by generating a visualization of organizational structure and activities including hierarchical functions, positions' properties, workers' characteristics, culture, activities and connections, all in one network.

It is another object of the present invention to enable visualization of organizational structure and activities bottom up and top down simultaneously.

Yet it is another object of the present invention to provide a uniformed template in the form of networks for visualization of the organizational structure, organizational functional positions, properties, workers qualities, organization culture, activities and business interconnections - all in one system and in the same visualization method that mime the DNA in a biological system.

Summary of the I nvention

A system that can manage a multi - layer organizational, functional, cultural, a-formal structure and interconnections and workers mapping, analyzing and decision making by generating a hierarchical functional organization and by dividing it into four core elements:

A. An object (marked in the figures in 'N').

B. Object properties (marked in the figures in 'C').

C. Connection between two objects (marked in the figures in 'K'), and D. Connections properties (marked in the figures in 'F') .

These four core elements are implemented to any business entity whether the entity is a business unit, a business role, activity, process, a worker or hardware and the system will visualize all the connections to other business entities in the same basic four element structure.

D etailed D escription of the Inve ntion

The present invention provides a system that can manage a multi - layer organizational, functional, cultural, activities, equipment and software mapping, analyzing and decision making by generating a hierarchical functional organization and by dividing it into four core elements:

A. Object - marked in the drawings as 'N'

B. Object's properties - mark in the drawings as C.

C. Connection between two objects - marked in the drawings as 'K'

D. The properties of a connection between two objects - marked in the drawings as 'F'

These core elements can be implemented to a business unit - where the object (N) is the business unit name and the system will visualize the connection (K) to another business unit (N) . The structure NC-KF-NC will be the basic fractal.

Yet the same four core elements can be implied to positions in the business structure - where the object (N) is the name of the position (e.g. CEO) . The system will visualize the position and its connections (K for each connection) to other positions and/or business unit (another N for each object whether it is a business unit or position) . The same basic fractal Nc- KF-NC will be implemented accordingly.

The system will comprise the same core elements for any other object in organization. A worker in the organization will be an object (N) and the properties (C) will be the worker's characteristics (thus the C symbol) . The same will be for equipment such as a truck or as hardware such as a printer or a software such as word processor application. The system will visualize each object (N) and his connections (K for each connection) to other objects (another N for each object whether it is another worker, business unit, equipment, hardware, software and information system) . Again the same basic fractal of NC-KF-NC will be implemented for each object.

In order to unify the visualization, any equipment, hardware, software and information system and its outputs will be visualized using the same cornerstones.

The basic fractal of NC-KF-NC is unique. Every change in any object (N) or in one of the object's properties (C) will define a new organizational fractal - thus a new NC-KF-NC. Also any change in one connection (K) or in one of the connection's property (F) will also define a new organizational fractal - thus a

The invention will create a system that will require little information for each object (N) and connection (K) and will enable to build and visualize all of the organization's structure, processes and networks using the same basic fractal.

The output of this invention will enable the system to obtain new knowledge regarding the organizational structure, processes and requested knowledge (ant kind of calculation of basic fractal) and culture (a-formal structure) . This output will generate an engine for the organization to conduct open symposiums and panel discussions which will generate more knowledge and more insight of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the organization faces.

Another outcome of the system will be the ability to use and test current as well as future changes. The fractal structure enables to create changes in any one element, and test the effect of the change top down and bottom up simultaneously.

Rational, logical and intelligent use of the system will open new and inspirational, innovative options for the organization leaders and managers in all levels. The flexibility of the system enables the organization leaders to test the outcome of each available option and make the rational, most effective choice based on the output of the system. All this is achieved without the need to input large amount of data because the system generates knowledge and opens opportunities similar to the mechanism of a biological system in a living organism derive from the four DNA elements.

Similar to the DNA role in a biological system, the DNA-like data structure of the invention enables the organization's key managers to identify and recognize endangerment, peril and dangers to the organization and to act in order to survive or even to benefit from them.

In one preferred embodiment of invention a computer system will store all the organization's basic fractal 'NC-KF-NC' information and output an organizational structure schematically shown in figure 4. The computer system will allow, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, to have top bottom drill down views and vice versa: bottom up ongoing views.

Brie f D escription of the Drawing

Fig 1 - Schematic inside view of a basic organization component NC-KF-NC Fig 2 - Schematic upside view of a basic organization component NC-KF-NC Fig 3 - Schematic organizational structure and activities view in the basic NC-KF-NC fractal

Fig 4 - Schematic organizational structure and activities view in the basic NC-KF-NC fractal include hardware, business units, activities and workers.

D etailed D escription of the Drawing

Fig 1 - Shows a schematic inside view of a basic organization component NC- KF-NC. Each object (N) have n properties attached to it (C: 1 , C: 2, C: n). The figure shows that a basic organization component in the current invention needs little information stored, which means that when gathering information there is less resources needed in order to acquire the information. However in the grand scale view (see fig 4), all the needed information is derives from the invention itself.

The Schematic include one basic component, that describes one connection (KF) that also have n properties, each is attached to the connection visualization (F: l , F:2, ...F:n), between two objects - the N squares. Shows schematic realization of the basic organization component Nc- KF-NC that is detailed in figure 1 in order to put more data in one view. In one preferred embodiment of the invention a computer system allows to click with a pointing mouse on one of the elements (whether the element is an object, activity or a connection) in order to view the inside view schematically described in figure 1 . Shows a schematic organizational view in the basic NC-KF-NC fractal. The scheme shows a grid of NC-KF-NC fractals creating a business organization.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention a computer system allows to click with a pointing mouse on one of the elements. One click will down drill to a basic view of the fractal, as shown schematically in figure 2. Double click will down drill to an inside view of the fractal, as shown schematically in figure 1 . Is an expansion of figure 3. It shows also schematic organizational structure view in the basic NC-KF-NC format that contains workers objects and hardware objects (such as workers, computers etc.) all in the same single one view. Here also the scheme shows a grid of NC-KF- NC fractals creating a fully business organization.

Here also, in one preferred embodiment of the invention, a computer system allows to click with a pointing mouse on one of the elements. One click will down drill to a basic view of the element whether the element is a worker, an activity, a business role, a position, hardware, software or connection between one of these.