Software technologies that are implemented in Mykosmos
Mykosmos is a ready-to-run suite from the first time its installation. Additionally contains fully programmable features dedicated to “Business Oriented Programming.“ So a developer in Mykosmos/BOS suite can be a “business-oriented“ person with little or no programming experience but adequate SQL knowledge. They have to use a ready-made business-oriented interface and database infrastructure. Some of the fields of business interest that are supported are:
Business Process Management (BPM)
Using the intelligent agent‘s technology in the AutoScript environment, we can program “Coordinator Agents“ to coordinate any business process.
Scheduler Agents
Programming Scheduler Agents using AutoScript is possible to start-up coordinator agents for a whole process or assign jobs (activities) to associates. In addition, these Scheduler Agents can examine various time or business-critical conditions to start up.
Finite State Machine (FSM) Agents
Sometimes, it is difficult to describe a business process using a coordinator agent because a clear workflow is lacking. For example, some real-world processes have many statuses (or assigned activities), and the following status depends on many conditions. We can achieve that task by programming a Finite State Machine Agent.
Ready to use Business Oriented User Interface
Every Mykosmos/BOS client comes with a redesignable user interface that conforms to standard business requirements. There is a workspace where it displays the open assigned jobs (not finished) to the user. Pieces of information from various business events (and may interest the associate) are also there. For example, processes with an owner (usually the process starter) the associate are revealed to them, displaying the other associates (process members) assigned jobs. Metrics of associate‘s interest are also there via a KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) menu selection.
Application Resources Designing
The application programmer (business application programmer) can create and redesign additional resources as menus, forms (standard and HTML), code scripting, and reports. All those resources can contain AutoScript fully adjusted to the specific business logic. We are also using the same environment for the debugging of the resources.
Database Schema management
Every business application has to store data. In Mykosmos/BOS, all the necessary tools to set database tables, fields, related fields, and database upgrading are there. And all these without exiting the application. Additionally, it is possible to add fields and relate them to 300+ tables included in the suite. We can add extra tables to implement all the business requirements.
Intelligent Agent Debugging running in multi-tier mode
Every Coordinator Agent has a code (script) that runs either on the server machine (action code) or in the client machines (activity‘s code). Thus, we can execute the cycle write-test-debug-write in a single machine with debugging sessions that can be saved and reloaded. Furthermore, we can add code (script) while the active debugger‘s line can move forward and backward! That allows for a fast and error-free agent delivery.
Document Management System (DMS)
There is no business without documents. Therefore, Mykosmos/BOS has a built-in Document Management System. That permits the attachment of every kind of document to a Mykosmos/BOS form (we consider forms as documents). Every document has permission to read/write/delete actions. Also, forms of the system that are considered documents and participate in a process take permissions automatically from the process flow and are automatically closed (write-protected) when the process finishes (closes).
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
We can show every job (activity) history, which comes to a user‘s (associate‘s) terminal. All activities which we are going to executed (close) are visible from a central point. When the job finishes, its duration is stored along with all other relevant data. Every administrator of the system (usually the CEO or CPO) has access to the jobs of every user (associate).
Process Status Checklists
Usually, the “delivered product“ of a process is filling a checklist. The process, while advances to the various activities, “completes“ incrementally its checklist. Mykosmos/BOS offers all the tools to see the history of a process and the “progress“ while the process advances in time.
Change in Business
What about changes in business processes logic (flow)? We have built this system for incorporating changes in-flight quickly. The developer can reprogram a Coordinator Agent‘s flow. Procedures that have already started will continue using the previous scenario. New ones, when launched, will follow the new plot. And all of that without any transition problems at all.
Time Scheduled Activities
Every job (activity) issued from the system can be time scheduled, i.e., we can define the start date and time and duration. We can assign company resources (people and machines) to the specific activity. One example is the time scheduling of the production plan, where we schedule activities on dates/times and machines. In this case, an appropriate form can allocate the jobs on vacant time-frames of the resources.
Departmental Job Executor
At the department level, we display all the time-scheduled jobs and execute them in calendar-resource allocation forms. Thus people are moved from one machine to another, jobs start or are interrupted for various reasons, and finally are finished. Furthermore, these rich-featured forms allow the exact calculation of human resources and machine utilization using minimal data input. An example is the execution of the scheduled activities of the production plan on various production departments.
On Machine Job Executor (using Touch Screens)
For production floor applications where in-time data input is complex, there is the possibility to use single form touch screens on every machine position. As a result, we have accurate event tracing and information for all the treatment phases of a product.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Metrics
We can easily define KPIs for each activity using the standard Mykosmos/BOS script interface. Several KPIs related to BPM and BAM are pre-defined within the Mykosmos/BOS suite. We can assign these metrics to various roles for viewing or periodic inspection. Every Mykosmos/BOS client has a menu item named “KPIs,“ where a dashboard shows all the metrics assigned to the user (associate) according to their roles in the company.
Setting Targets for Metrics
We can set a target for every KPI. Then, the metric owner gets periodic information (as activity) showing the current metric associated with the target set. In this way, there is always new information for taking all the preventive and corrective actions to keep your business goals on target.
Dashboards
As mentioned previously, we display all metrics on appropriate dashboards. For reporting purposes, the business programmer can design dashboards that get expert agents‘ data and present them to users.
Balanced Scorecards (BSC)
A Balanced Scorecard is nothing more than a “composite metric consisting of other low levels weighted and targeted metrics.“ So it‘s easy to define composite metrics that show the performance for various processes, departments, or the entire company. As discussed earlier, each Balanced Scorecard is nothing more than another metric (KPI) that we can assign to roles for inspection.
Operation in multi-tier mode over TCP/IP networks (internet)
The heart of every Mykosmos/BOS installation is the Application Server, which runs on a physical machine in the company or a virtual private server (VPS) on the internet. The Clients (users) communicate with the Application Server using the TCP protocol. Thus wherever an internet connection exists, a Client (i.e., associate) can also exist.
Email and SMS Sender
The AutoScript environment has built-in procedures and functions for sending email and SMS messages. The emails can have an HTML body.
Embedded HTTP Server
The Mykosmos/BOS Application Server communicates with the Clients over TCP/IP using binary data transfer. Additionally, there is also an HTTP Server embedded into the Application Server. This capability permits HTML browsers to communicate with the Application Server for reporting or data posting activities. The AutoScript can also be integrated into HTML forms (like PHP) to build the final HTML form.
Import-Export data from/to MS-Excel
We can build particularly complex INSERT or UPDATE SQL statements for importing data from MS-Excel sheets to the database. On the other hand, any data browsing form can export data to MS-Excel.
Communication with MS-Word and MS-Excel
The AutoScript contains procedures and functions to fill in MS-Excel sheets or MS-Word documents with application-specific data.
Activity-Based Costing (ABC)
For every time-scheduled and executed activity, we know precisely the total human resources and machine utilization. By providing the relevant hourly costs plus raw material costs and all the necessary overhead costs, we can calculate the total cost for this activity. Mykosmos/BOS provides forms where we can define the exact hourly costs for the people or machines. By setting the overhead costs using some analogy, we can derive the total cost for these activities. For activities that are not time-scheduled, we can set “cost drivers,“ which take data from analogous “cost pools“ to calculate the cost for these activities too.
Project Management
Not every activity in a business comes from procedures (repeatable known path job flows).
Smart-Phones as Autonomous Clients
The availability of the HTTP Server makes it possible to communicate with smartphones too. The different approach here is building HTML5+javascript+CSS forms using the Mykosmos/BOS suite for the job (activities), specific operations like approvals, messaging, data input, and time measuring, etc. The smartphone forms can be “compiled“ using web services, as applications, for every type of smartphone operating system.
Email Client
Every business role can have its mail address. So, all incoming emails are collected centrally by the application server and stored as documents. We can show those documents to the users having the appropriate roles. A user can also send an email from its terminal. All emails, incoming and sending, can be viewed by the receiving/sending business partner or contact.
