ISA-95 applied as an analysis tool

by Bianca Scholten, Partner, Ordina OPGELOST "I'm going to do this in high heels," she started out, referring to the end of my own presentation. "And in English," she continued. "It is important to talk about language. It is important for us to understand each other, and when you come to working on an MES system it is the first question we have to ask of all the people we work with who speak the different languages: finance, engineering, IT, etc." IT and engineering people don't speak the same language, and MES projects are often plagued with communications problems. Here's how you can use ISA-95 to analyze and help rectify the communications problems and make MES projects more efficient and successful.

• Purpose of an ISA-95 analysis
• preparations of the analysis
• deliverables of the analysis
• steps in the analysis
• describing the To-Be situation
• the roadmap
• best practices and pitfalls
• end user quotes

Examples of purposes of an ISA-95 analysis For Johnson & Johnson a study of the as is situation:: which ERP, MES, LIMS systems are currently used within 4 chemical plants worldwide, and is it possible to standardize on one system worldwide? For Phillips Lighting: what are the requirements for a new MES system for a specific plant? For AKZO-Nobel, which information flows have to be automated between SAP PP-PI and GE Fanuc Proficy? She showed other examples. She showed a copy of her book, with the Escher print cover and said that she'd used art history as a metaphor, for example the "Tower of Babel" as painted by Breughel. I have used these models, she said, for a food and beverage company, for a water distribution company, and others. First, you have to define the scope of the analysis. What is in, what is out?  What is the focus of the project. You have to define the interview program, so that you can find out what language this plant's culture speaks. Deliverables of the analysis:

• blueprint: purpose
• checklist: purpose
• management presentation: purpose
• final presentation: purpose

Dr Scholten described the detailed process of the analysis, and showed some results. Best practices and pitfalls:

• time/scheduling of interviews
• participant's time
• business drivers
• what is expected from participants?
• scope
• discussions
• right level of detail
• text for review in bite size chunks
• requirements descriptions point by point, numbered
• final review of the requirements
• management presentation. final presentation
• backups