Time may well be the single most important factor affecting enterprises in the 21st century. Real Time Enterprises are characterized by zero latency in decision making enabled by massively distributed decision making by attaching intelligent cyber devices (connected through internet) to physical objects. These enterprises have situational awareness, they can quickly sense-and-respond to opportunities and threats, and can track-and-trace important items. The situational awareness is enabled by up-to-the-minute understanding of all critical aspects of the organizational environment and their own internal operations. Simply put a real time enterprise at all time knows “ what is going on and can figure out what to do”.

Enabling FactorsDecreasing cost of sensors, including RFID, bar code and GPS-based devices and networks have made it practical to acquire and process real time information in many businesses. However, organizational structures, processes, and systems need to be aligned to take advantage of this.

ObjectivesThe objectives of this research partnership program are to address issues related to architecting a real time enterprise.

• The issues addressed by the program span the organizational structure, design of business processes, system architecture and integration using technologies like Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Event Driven Architecture (EDA), Business Intelligence (BI), and Business Activity Modeling (BAM).
• Create a combination of physical and simulated laboratory environments to enable discovery, engagement, and learning of related technologies.
• Provide guidance to businesses on improving their competitiveness.

ApplicationsThis has applications in many industries e.g. electric utilities can develop an approach to smooth peak load by varying pricing algorithm based on current load, the smart appliances (connected through internet) in houses and businesses can respond to this by automatically shutting themselves down for short periods based on embedded decision algorithms, thus smoothing the peak load. Real time management of global manufacturing enterprises can significantly reduce inventory and delivery time. Organizations can use real time event processing to monitor compliance to various regulations like SOX & HIPPA and fraud prevention. Real time information can be used for managing liquidity in a global corporation making liquidity available at the right time at place in right currency. Hospitals can use real time patient monitoring to provide better healthcare and reduce cost.

Research PartnersRockwell Automation
Tata Consultancy Services