Alexey Mitenkov, OMK: In our company one of the most developed IT landscapes in Russia

Alexey Mitenkov: We have no central office, but there is a centralized service united in OMK-ITs company. It is the captive organization which services all companies of group, their about 30, including five main plants, service and auxiliary businesses.

The management system of IT is constructed on separation of three basic functions. It is project activity, operational support and IT architecture. The project office implements projects on implementation of new IT solutions. The service of operation supports these solutions. And the cluster of architecture and development accompanies projects at all stages, is responsible for corporate architecture and development of systems. All these divisions are centralized, but at the same time have geographically distributed structure and are in all regions of presence of OMK.

We build work of corporate service on the ITSM model, every year we undergo audit on compliance to international standards in the field of management of IT — Cobit. We accurately define all IT processes, requirements to them and tools for their development.

Alexey Mitenkov: IT strategy forms for four years, proceeding from growth model existing at the moment. The previous document worked during the period from 2013 to 2016, the new version just now is prepared.

Former strategy was directed to creation of corporate service and working off of model of service provider. And now we pass to more innovation model, we begin to work not only on business requests. Created several laboratories which interact with business divisions. Now their two: Laboratory of Big Data and predictive analytics and Agile-laboratory. We are going to open Laboratory of the industry 4.0 and Laboratory of design thinking.

The idea is in going not from conscious requirements, and from opportunities of combined use of the accumulated industrial experience and IT solutions. It is a certain internal venture which shareholders are ready to support.

Alexey Mitenkov: We select all systems on a centralized basis on the basis of calculation of total ownership cost. We write technical specifications, there is a competitive choice. The enterprises approve nothing. They transfer us the requirements and consider effect. And we already start the project.

In general, our solutions when choosing systems rely on several basic principles — standardization of solutions, their scalability, use of the best practices, information security. We surely consider all this, making the choice for benefit of this or that system.

Alexey Mitenkov: Yes, it is one of problems of insourcing — to consider that how much is, to create the directory of services, to estimate effect of any changes and in general to understand where money leaves.

Today in our directory of 28 business services. Payment undertakes or on a rate use unit (the automated workplace, phone), or a number of hours, spent by our specialists. The budget of the enterprises is limited, and they define what amount is ready to be spent for IT. And proceeding from it, order from us IT services. Such approach concerns including IT infrastructure, we sell power units – UEM, on them the rate is set too. It allows business to use exactly those capacities which are necessary, no more no less.

This scheme works. She got accustomed very hard, but people get used. Favourite phrase: "Earlier you did it free of charge why now all for money?" Though actually it was not free, just nobody considered. Paid approach increases the responsibility at people for decision making, especially in application area.

Alexey Mitenkov: We have some solutions on external support. For example, on SAP systems by own efforts we provide two support lines, and the third level — on outsourcing. There are several modules which completely are on external support, it is EHSM, BPC, SRM and CRM. We initially at their implementation decided that we have no competences, and we do not have sense them to increase when in the market there are enough consultants and integrators for these systems. At the same time we define methods and an order of rendering services by external suppliers and we are responsible for quality before the customer. If there are doubts in efficiency of the external supplier, we initiate a new procurement procedure or we begin to render this service. Tenders for external support at us pass time in 3-5 years.

Thus, from 115 IT systems at us only four completely on outsourcing, plus thirty those which periodically require all-technical external support. We support the rest independently.

Alexey Mitenkov: Yes, we have such software, and we not only use some old developments, but also we do refactoring on new industrial platforms.

For example, the management system of railway for transport on our Vyksa platform came to an end of the lifecycle, it worked at the Oracle Business Suite platform on specific hardware which technically became outdated. We opened the project, began to select the new platform. Watched SAP TM, products 1C, compared on functionality to the current solution. As a result neither the first, nor the second suited us. And we went by the principle of complete refactoring: we rewrite a system on C# in new architecture on a new hardware complex. Business will be happy, in terms of functionality everything will remain the same.

But when there is an opportunity, we, of course, try to pass from the self-written systems to commercial industrial products. As I already spoke, our principles are a standardization and scalability of IT solutions, and it is difficult to provide them with own developments.

Alexey Mitenkov: The IT budget consists of three main parts. The first part — permanent payments, runtime royalty fees to vendors: SAP, Microsoft, VMware, Polycom, Cisco and others. The second part goes from requirements — how many the IT equipment it is necessary to buy taking into account expansion of productions and turnover of the equipment how many it is required on operation and support of the current systems and infrastructure. The third — a project part, expenses on new projects which we approve in the company.

We for ourselves selected stable model of the IT budget when it is necessary to keep within a certain amount on operation and new projects. Therefore every year, taking into account requirement of our divisions for automation, we create the card of projects which we take in implementation, we sort them by the importance, efficiency. We remove those that appear in the bottom of the list. We carry out preprojects to estimate payback, feasibility and demand of changes. As a result we implement only the most effective and necessary.

Alexey Mitenkov: We centralize all fourth level. In OMK in general one of the most developed IT landscapes in Russia in terms of the fourth and fifth levels of automation. There is a big storage, all plants work in SAP, and all service companies — in 1C.

All main business processes are centralized: sale, purchases, management of material flows in the enterprises, accounting, controlling, management of treasury — all work in the same systems.

Now we are engaged in standardization of the systems of the third level. On our main production site in Vyksa the project on implementation of the uniform MES platform started. Instead of the separate shop systems, and them now about 10 and about 50 more industrial magazines, one platform for management of production processes will appear, there will be a uniform process of address storage, planning and a grafikovaniye of production, management of product assessment, its quality.

Alexey Mitenkov: At the level of SCADA it is possible to construct everything on one platform too. At us responsibility for development of the PCS completely lies at the plants, there are signs of centralization only in an integration bus between the second and third levels. If to be engaged in centralization of the PCS, there it is possible to achieve much in terms of standardization of solutions, the uniform code, uniform SCADA, uniform requirements for equipment suppliers.

Alexey Mitenkov: In Laboratory of Big Data and predictive analytics we work a number of perspective technologies now. Selected the cases connected with quality management on big camps, we roll tools of Big Data for the solution of applied tasks which the plant cannot solve the available means. We want, for example, to learn to predict quality of pipe repartition, proceeding from conditions and results of the previous repartitions, this project now — in trial operation. Let's look within a year as it will be possible to solve this problem. At the same time we gather cases from other areas: repair, working capital management.

Alexey Mitenkov: We continue the project on implementing solutions of Ascon company. The Vertical system — as the system of design and Pilot as a management system for lifecycle. During the project we, unfortunately, face unavailability of designers-technologists to changes. The approaches used by them deeply have roots in the Soviet past whereas in the modern world already absolutely other technologies of design of products and process control of development. The problem is that there are no design competences, there is no broadcast of knowledge. There is a situation when the narrow specialist, understanding the uniqueness, can dictate the terms. For effective work of a PDM system all should use it. If in one place the break, all chain is scattered.

Alexey Mitenkov: It is necessary therefore we also thought of need of digital transformation. I often remember the known motto of Microsoft: "Change to win". In my opinion, it accurately captures the essence of what we do. We change business, we change ourselves. A role of IT not only in business support, but also in carrying out changes. Yes, sometimes it is necessary to face counteraction, but it is natural.

At some point we came to understanding that further development of IT solutions for the benefit of business divisions (purchases, sale, etc.), does not give anything cardinally new to the company. Divisions begin to go deeply to automation of the processes, and it becomes expensive and economically inefficient. Sources of benefit ran low, or they are so unevident that process of their search turns into a lottery. Meeting and communicating with colleagues, we see that it occurs not only at us. The only way to find and take new benefit — to change processes and to create new vision at customers of IT projects. It is necessary to try to change business processes around us, having looked at many things in a new way. It also became a push to digital transformation. It is necessary to bring people out of a routine, to inform, give them that knowledge which was not earlier, to set thinking, to reflect.