Supporting distributed corporate planning through new coordination technologies

This paper explores the applications of new coordination technologies in distributed corporate planning. Firstly, new technologies such as Groupware, Workflow Management Systems, Internet and WWW for supporting distributed cooperative work are investigated. Then, GroupFlow, which is a Lotus Notes based workflow management solution, is selected to model and coordinate the planning processes. Qualitative planning information is exchanged in a Notes Discussion Database. And quantitative planning facts are processed by WWW-oriented Q-Calculus. Thereafter a Lotus Notes based integrated framework for developing a distributed corporate planning system is given. Moreover, the implemented prototype is demonstrated by a corporate financial planning example in a bank. Finally, main experiences are summarized and an agent-based process management perspective is briefly discussed