PROMS - DISTANCE STILL MATTERED

When it first launched in the late 1980s, Proms looked like a sure winner. Everything appeared to be so straightforward. The computer programming would deliver the vision of a field operating system that would encase the country programme, supply operations and administrative and financial functions.

When it first launched in the late 1980s, Proms looked like a sure winner. Everything appeared to be so straightforward. The computer programming would deliver the vision of a field operating system that would encase the country programme, supply operations and administrative and financial functions.

However, the results have not been quite from what was expected. Proms had been a high profile disaster. The design was good, the programmers were good and the staff was good. Nevertheless, the sheer size of managing the development of a computer program over so many regions and countries lead to delay over delay that made original designs obsolete long before the development was complete. The problem was rooted in the fact that central systems take too much time in coordination and inputs from across the globe. Much said about the death of distance with global communication, yet face-to-face communication seemed necessary to develop Proms. Thus, meetings and global meetings added to the cost and delay.

One solution was to follow the example of Motorola Corporation. Motorola had allowed its overseas branches to develop their own computer systems with the strict understanding that data transmit to headquarters in the order and format specified by HQ. By this method, Motorola was able to develop and maintain its global systems quickly and with ease. With this success, Motorola was able to close its books in just two business days from some 20 ago.

Of course, with today’s web-based technology, regional and country offices could upload data to a web site for download by HQ. The other solution is to use off-the-shelf products (MySAP.com, Oracle and so on) and modify it to suit UNICEF’s requirements. Replacing Proms with another global system is going to be very expensive. Factoring the demise of Proms and the cost and efficiency of another system will be a big challenge for UNICEF.

The greatest obstacle to innovation said Peter Drucker is the unwillingness to let go of yesterday's success, and to fire up resources that no longer contribute to results.  Products and business processes, we cling to it most tenaciously, despite mediocre performance as "investments in managerial ego."

The solution says Drucker is the "systematic abandonment" of what's going bad or what is stale.  If you were not already doing "X", would you do it today?

However, the results have not been quite from what was expected. Proms had been a high profile disaster. The design was good, the programmers were good and the staff was good. Nevertheless, the sheer size of managing the development of a computer program over so many regions and countries lead to delay over delay that made original designs obsolete long before the development was complete. The problem was rooted in the fact that central systems take too much time in coordination and inputs from across the globe. Much said about the death of distance with global communication, yet face-to-face communication seemed necessary to develop Proms. Thus, meetings and global meetings added to the cost and delay.

One solution was to follow the example of Motorola Corporation. Motorola had allowed its overseas branches to develop their own computer systems with the strict understanding that data transmit to headquarters in the order and format specified by HQ. By this method, Motorola was able to develop and maintain its global systems quickly and with ease. With this success, Motorola was able to close its books in just two business days from some 20 ago.

Of course, with today’s web-based technology, regional and country offices could upload data to a web site for download by HQ. The other solution is to use off-the-shelf products (MySAP.com, Oracle and so on) and modify it to suit UNICEF’s requirements. Replacing Proms with another global system is going to be very expensive. Factoring the demise of Proms and the cost and efficiency of another system will be a big challenge for UNICEF.

The greatest obstacle to innovation said Peter Drucker is the unwillingness to let go of yesterday's success, and to fire up resources that no longer contribute to results.  Products and business processes, we cling to it most tenaciously, despite mediocre performance as "investments in managerial ego."

The solution says Drucker is the "systematic abandonment" of what's going bad or what is stale.  If you were not already doing "X", would you do it today?