THINGAMY - run your business, beat your competition
In a nutshell
Imagine for a moment that you could combine all existing business and enterprise software into one while increasing the functionality and lower the cost to a fraction. Then you are imagining Thingamy.
Summary
- One piece of software to run all of your business. That's it. That's all you need.
- Build your own bespoke activity model, then simply run the company with it.
- All work-orders delivered in correct sequence.
- Reports, accounts and analysis delivered real-time.
- Extremely fast and flexible to work with, build a complete service company activity model that covers all running needs in day(s). Tweak, change and better the activity model at any time in minutes even if system is live.
- Bespoke reports with built in Business Intelligence and GRC.
- Extremely low costs - no upfront investment but time to build model.
Users
Any kind or size of business or organisation.
Technical
- Runs on any server using any browser as client.
- Server can be in-house or external.
- No installation - copy one file to server, start it.
Hugh 'Gapingvoid''s summary
Summary
To give business and organisations the ability to create and run a bespoke activity model in a very short time, then improve on that on a daily basis.
To open up for unheard of depth in reporting and knowledge creation.
To allow instant increase in profits by shedding unnecessary ways of doing things.
An alternative to the "transaction" representation to allow for real-time precise accounting with full Governance, Risk and Compliance capabilities built in.
In sum change the ways we create value, lower resource use and make life easier for those involved.
Benefits
Become better every day, increase profits directly and beat the competition hands down.
Inspiration
2000 years ago the Roman army found that one boss per ten subordinates was the most efficient way - thus decurions and centurions. Now after 100 years of Harvard Business School, 40,000 business books in print at any time and unmentionable sums spent on Management Consulting and research one have found that number of subordinates per boss should be eight.
That is how far Management theory, the method of how to organise value creation, and practice have come. Something must be wrong with the assumptions.
Thingamy is the result of dumping the assumptions and starting over again using IT unhampered by paper-based methodology.
Historical background
Any business or organisation creates and delivers a value through some process, a sequence of tasks and activities.
Any process requires a framework, no framework no process.
The framework for processes involving people consists of organisational hierarchies, meetings, business rules, budgets, double-entry book-keeping and more. A framework developed over thousands of years using a technology known as "paper and pens" and which youngest part is 514 year young (double entry book keeping).
The classic holder of information and knowledge is modelled on paper - documents and forms is the ubiquitous data format. This makes for a less than efficient concept as presentation and representation is identical. That makes extraction of data cumbersome and inefficient.
Current: Model a model
Current business software has not questioned the historical framework and set about modelling that model (a framework is always a model) using paper-based data models (documents and forms).
The concept being "control the process indirectly by controlling the existing framework" - like valves and moving pipes around if the flow (a process) involved water, thing is that people tend to think and make better decisions than water molecules. Like choosing a different flow path mid-stream - thinking is a human trait and the reason for hiring them.
Beside being philosophically a bad idea it delivers unnecessary complexity and rigidity and leaves little to the inherent human strengths of free thought and creativity. In fact botching the rigid framework is the only way, something that has become de rigeur but that leaves cracks in the process and little accountability.
Thingamy: Modelling reality
Thingamy simply ditches the current and old framework to model reality directly and become the framework itself.
Four parameters/building blocks:
- Separation of representation and presentation: Singular unique data-objects to represent singular unique real-world objects. The data-object can capture all that happens to it as well as holding any number or combination of properties.
- Human compatible definitions on how objects relate to other objects using W3C standards for N-triples - "person object, lives in, country object"
- Flows using variables as object-holders allowing for the objects to pass through the sequence of value creation. Each step is captured onto the object itself - what happened, who did it and when.
- Report templates that when invoked queries the raw data-objects, lists, calculates or adds whatever other logic is needed then displays it the way I want to give real-time or historical listing, search, account or other type of report - or document or form created through a combination of objects.
How it delivers
- Work orders are generated instantly when the preceding task or activity was completed.
- The work order is delivered as a linked "to-do" and contains all information required (text, objects displayed and/or reports) as well as the fields to fill out or choices to be made.
- Through choices, the user may choose or change participants and/or paths at all junctions where this makes sense and is thus built in the flow template.
- Reports can then be created on-the-fly from the raw data.
- Accounts are created directly from raw data using the semantics from the accounting rules.
- As all data is captured and kept historically so any deletion is not possible, an object would only disappear from sight. Thus any type of GRC issue is taken care of per architecture.
Important NOTE:
- Even if Thingamy does not need an organisational hierarchy it can of course represent one.
- Even if it can replace meetings - certain meetings, like those of minds to discuss ideas are always good - they can be a multi-attendee task in any flow. It's the distribution of work meetings that are superfluous.
- And your Business Rules and other current ways and means can be baked in without a problem, the call is yours.
Step-by-step
- Log on as "admin" through a browser.
- Build the activity model - "how to use resources to create the value" and the report templates you'll fancy.
- Start anywhere, with any ambition. Build from there in all directions and add more detail later.
- Build a completely useful draft for a service company in a day, or a smallish process in hours.
- Log off as "admin" and log on as yourself. Ditto for any other user.
- Start using it.
- Log on as "admin" at any time while system is live and update, tweak or add stuff to make your business better.
Best place to start
I would suggest aiming to replace the ubiquitous people-process framework of emails, meetings and some odd project planning software. The less linear a process is, the more Thingamy shines compared to any other system.
This would be what Microsoft calls Knowledge worker processes, SAP calls manual processes and I call BRP (Barely Repeatable Processes as opposite to Easily Repeatable Processes - ERP). The core processes for Consultants, Lawyers, Advertising agencies, Education, Government, health and most every other office.
What it can replace
Note that Thingamy is none of the below, but it can replace or rather make these fully or partly irrelevant - to the extent you'd like to replace them (Thingamy can live with them all):
- Meetings
- Inter-office email
- Collaboration software
- Project management systems
- Accounting systems
- Word processors
- Spreadsheets
- The classic ERP, SCM, SRM, CRM, PLM, HCM
- BPM: Business Process Management
- Accounting departments
- Did I forget anything?
Technical
One application that includes rules engine, front end (user accessible and tweakable), database and webserver.
No installation, just copy program to a server, choose port for HTML delivery and path to backup file folders and start it up. It's already virtualised! Run it anywhere.
XML/RPC based API. Even allows use of other database or webserver.
Localisation - one click change of languages, full support for any currency.
Backup and mirroring of database.
Runs on (almost) all operating systems (currently Windows, OS X (Intel) and Linux (Ubuntu))
Easily Repeatable Processes
This is what most recognise as "processes", sequential activities that follows rather rigid paths with few exceptions - the prefect starting point for almost all process oriented enterprise solutions. Because it was easier.
A market dominated by all the three letter acronyms - ERP, CRM, SCM, HCM, etc. - adding up to a software market of 229 Bn $ in 2008.
A type of process that is behind approximately 30% of world wide value creation.
Barely Repeatable Processes
This is what most recognise as "practices", knowledge worker (Microsoft), manual processes (SAP), ad-hoc or exceptions. Sequential activities that looks like they're all over the place, basically due to the many paths that can be chosen at most junctions by the process participants. It's the core processes of all service companies and organisations, and as well a big part of even the most linear type of industrial production. It's basically what you do every day, seen as a "process".
A market dominated by solutions with names like "meetings", business rules, budgets, deadlines and a few IT based ones like email, phones and online meeting or collaboration systems. The only process oriented IT solution is BPM (Business Process Management), a mere 1.5 Bn $ market so far.
ERP is a subset of BRP, if a system can do BRP it can do ERP, but not always vice versa.
A type of process that is behind approximately 64% of world wide value creation. And barely touched by IT.
Thingamy and processes
Thingamy's architecture and simplicity allows for easy and perfect adoption to BRP, in fact that is where it most obviously shines.
The only process and IT based competition is BPM, a solution based on the old models and thus severely limited to the most Easily and Linear of BRPs.
Measure
Complexity can be measured by the number of objects times relations between these.
Current systems
Current systems uses representation of transactions and activities (thanks to the current handling of double-entry book-keeping). Such representations can be invoices, order sheets, reports, shipping papers and so forth.
If you have 20 real world objects, each represented by say (at least) 10 transaction/activity objects the total would be 200 objects.
That would result in 39,800 relations (one in each direction) and a "Complexity number" of 7,960,000.
Thingamy
Thingamy represents real world objects directly and transactions are represented by changes to relations (as in reality) like "change of owner" or "change of colour".
Thus Thingamy has no more than 20 objects for the exact same example as for Current systems above.
The number of relations in this case would be 380 and a "Complexity number" of 7,600.
Resulting lowering of complexity
Complexity number for current systems: 7,960,000.
Complexity number for Thingamy: 7,600.
Conclusion: Thingamy can lower the systemic complexity (with at least) a factor of 1,000.
This translates to a system that delivers far more in far less time at a far lower cost while allowing for a huge increase in flexibility.
Innovation
Innovation is reuse of knowledge, very often knowledge unrelated to the practical application sought.
The practical problem is to find useful knowledge that is unrelated - how do studies in osmosis relate to diarrhoea (the solution was in the right kind of infusion liquid that did not create havoc when injected), how do milk and rubber relate (filter used in milk refining could keep rubber in and let air escape in tire production).
Knowledge
Plato defined knowledge as "how objects relates to other objects" - a simple and useful definition in this case.
Thingamy's solution
Thingamy uses singular and minimal objects representing real world objects directly.
It then adds relations between all objects using a verb sentence as in "subject is owned by object".
Thus Thingamy builds knowledge directly into the datamodel itself.
As objects goes through a workflow every change to any of it's properties or relations is captured - what, who and when.
The resulting raw data can be used in reports where the report template have queries and presentation rules using either single objects or any combination of related objects.
Thus Thingamy creates more accessible and complete knowledge at the source to deliver knowledge in context in real time without limits to any department, practical use or otherwise.
As all is captured in the flows (when reality happens) every task or activity in Thingamy increases knowledge and thus the firm's Intellectual Capital. Note that there is never a report to be made, the system does that automagically.
Summary
Reports and Accounting/Numerical reports are user-defined templates that when invoked use the raw data on-the-fly.
This ensures true real-time reporting, a clear separation of representation (of reality) and presentation (reports) and allows any kind or number of reports to be created at any time.
Once a report-template (query rules, display rules, other logic) is defined it's use can be allowed or not per user or per group of users.
Reports
Reports can then be created on-the-fly from the raw data, combining any property from any object. This allows for reports at any point of time down to the second.
Reports can use the relationships far beyond the limitations of any SQL based data model: "Give me a sales report for December of widgets to customers who have an uncle who lives in Berlin that cycle on Sundays and that drinks Becks beer" - easy.
Accounting
Accounts are created directly from raw data using the semantics from the accounting rules.
Example: If sales is defined as "when ownership changes from company to customer" or in some other GAAP "when ownership changes and invoice is fully paid", Thingamy captures all changes to relationships including the one "product object, is owned by, company object" as well as the property "current amount" in an invoice object. Thus I can run two queries for Sales, one for each GAAP in parallel - "add up value of all widgets where ownership changed from us to a customer in December".
If ten year later you'd like to convert all accounts to IFRS you copy all US GAAP accounts in the Account report template builder, paste them back, tweak them according to the rules and voila, ten years of accounts translated in an afternoon by one person.
As all data is captured and kept historically a Balance report Now is really now. When coming back from lunch I can run "balance sheet changes over lunch".
Note also that the data that makes the basis for accounting is captured in the flows directly, no need to add transaction-representation (invoices etc.) to an accounting system. In other words an accounting department is not needed.
Summary
Thingamy complies fully with any regulation by design - every activity and change is captured and the history cannot be altered in any way. If all tasks and activities are delivered by Thingamy, no activity will be able to avoid full historical transparency and accountability.
In practice
All objects and their historical state (properties and relations) are visible and recorded including by who and when.
Any object, task or activity have true historical records so history can be seen at any chosen point of time or time period. Thingamy is a time machine for complete accountability and transparency.
Even the system keeps records of any change to itself.
No historical data can be accessed, altered or deleted leaving all records true.
Logs and event reports can deliver all reports required by any GRC rules or regulations.
User: Home/Task screen
User: Task screen
The blue links expands reports or displays objects.
User: Report
All reports are expandable, this one has Project as main report with related objects showing.
User: Progress view
A simple display of progress and who's doing what.
User: Task view
Viewing who has what tasks currently.
Admin: Data model
The "classes" (cookie cutters to stamp out single objects) are called "things".
Admin: Properties setting
Drag and drop of properties, can be done even when system is live.
Admin: Relations setting
Admin: Defining flows
This is a simple sub-flow that can be used for other flows. Multiple layers, drag and drop of instructions. Click on instruction to expand and set details.
Admin: Report setting
Define query using AND, NOT, OR and MATCH in any combination as well as set what properties to display and how to sort.
Videos
October 27,2008: Ten minutes going through a part of a "normal" lawoffice process.
October 27,2008: Ten minutes going through how this law office system was built.
April 10,2008: Building a generic problem solving system - instead of using e-mails, wikis and the telephone why not a proper flow that yields accountability and captures all data for later use as a problem-solution library?
This one is a simple generic one built from scratch and tested in 17 minutes.
March 24,2008: Hospital demo video - a simplified hospital running system, using pre-beta 2.2.1 (now at 2.2.26), a demo built in two hours. It's about 22 minutes long.
Summary
If you have no fear, have a bit of time and is not bothered by much head-scratching you're more than welcome to give it a spin.
If you're up to it I can even give you a demo using Skype and Adobe connect so you can see my screen - that will make getting your head around it much easier.
But I will include an example "build" or two as of next build.
Operating systems
Currently Windows, OS X (Intel) and Linux (Ubuntu).
Current build
2.2.25 - August 28, 2008
Next step
Contact me and I'll give you the link, user-name and password required for a download.
Who
Sigurd (Sig) Rinde is the founder and architect. He's a Norwegian national and lives in South of France with a background from LBOs, start-ups and Investment Banking (M&A) - more here.
In his spare time he can be found on his bike in the back country, running orienteering races somewhere in the PACA region or skiing/snowboarding in the Alps.Currently Thingamy Ltd is incorporated in Nevis with it's main office in Guernsey, Channel Islands.
Sig is based in South of France while the programmers are based in the UK and elsewhere. We believe in virtual operations and see no need for a proper office and the resulting costs, yet.
Site last updated
December 1, 2008.
Blog link
The blog covers all aspects and ideas behind Thingamy, as well as other stuff I could have on my mind - here.
