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Information and knowledge systems in the operation of agricultural and food-processing enterprises

Informačné a znalostné systémy v riadení poľnohospodárskych a potravinárskych podnikov

M. KUČERA, A. LÁTEČKOVÁ

Slovak Agricultural , Nitra, Slovak Republic

Abstract: The presents the main in the knowledge and digital . It cannot be achieved without modern , modern and operation of the and social processes. One of the Slovak government’s precedences is to establish favourable conditions for the development of in every section. The informatisation level of the agricultural sector is continually increasing. As perspective, we can see the implementation of the knowledge systems in agricultural and food-processing enterprises. The main contribution is mainly the possibility to forecast the development and the state toward the future and the use of knowledge base for ensuring of the operational, tactic as well as strategic .

Key words: knowledge, , systems, software, management

Abstrakt: V znalostnej a digitálnej ekonomike je hlavným konkurenčným faktorom úžitková hodnota. Tú nemožno dosiah- nuť bez moderných technológií, modernej organizácie a riadenia výrobných i spoločenských procesov. Jednou z priorít vlády Slovenskej republiky je vytvoriť priaznivé prostredie pre rozvoj takejto ekonomiky v každom rezorte. Úroveň infor- matizácie rezortu pôdohospodárstva sa stále zvyšuje. Za perspektívnu považujeme implementáciu znalostných systémov v poľnohospodárskych a potravinárskych podnikoch. Hlavný prínos je predovšetkým v uplatnení znalostnej bázy pre manažment pri zabezpečovaní operatívneho, taktického i strategického riadenia.

Kľúčové slová: znalosť, ekonomika, informačné systémy, softvér, manažment

The present situation is not only characterized (2007–2013) that provides the essential by the attribute of information but also by and continuous legal foundations for the activities knowledge economy. of the Association, having the common overarching Knowledge economy is considered to be a level in goals increasing competitiveness and innovation. The the society’s progress, it supports the ability of the subprogramme: assistance to the politics of informa- people to use the human potentional and its knowledge tion ad communication technologies (ICT) indicates to generate . Its origin is closely connected to a significant element within the programme and it the development of information technologies (IT), is seen as the base of knowledge economy. that denote at present one of the basic pillars of a Setting out the arranged directions into the practise successful enterprise and the whole society as well. should assure long-term prosperity for enterprises The knowledge economy is measured by the National on international markets. It demands skilled ma- bank through 76 indicators that describe the 4 basics nagers and perpetual innovation of the ’s of the knowledge economy: information system. According to many authors – economic stimulus and legislative surroundings, (Vymětal et al. 2006; Bielik 2001; Tiruneh et al. 2004) – and human potential, in developed , it is no longer the main goal – innovation system, to make the more effective, but to – informational infrastructure. increase the of knowledge employees, In April 2005, the European Commission submit- whose main instrument denotes the information ted the General Programme for competitiveness and .

AGRIC. ECON. – CZECH, 52, 2006 (8): 353–357 353 Basl (2002) states that the goal of knowledge RESULTS management is to create a system that is integrated to the information and logistic system All countries within the EU strive for a purposeful of the company monitoring data- and information usage of the ICT for accelerating the development flows and improving the decision-making and op- of their countries and economies. They are directly eration in the enterprise. According to Katolický related to the Programme for Competitiveness and (2005), the denotes a pur- Innovation submitted by the European Commission. poseful operation of creating, gaining, delivering A new digital and acquaintance economy is formed and using of the knowledge. A crucial task should that begine to be decisive in the global be maintained by the positive influence on the in- for the position worldwide. ternal environment for development and the use of The government of the Slovak Republic (similarly the together with the modern to other governments in the EU) is aware of the need technology. of formulating its policy concerning the develop- In our paper, we focus our attention toward the ment of in Slovakia and one of issue of knowledge in . Our perspective is the priority goals represents the participation in the to present the outcomes of our in this field forming knowledge and digital economy. and to point out the importance of information and towards the IT sector in our republic knowledge systems at present concerning: are growing, however, compared with other countries – the support of state politics, this rise is insufficient – the proportion of invest- – the informatisation of the agricultural sector, ments into the IT sector was only 1.59% compared – the solutions for knowledge systems by software, to the in 1995 what is under – the actual state of expertise systems in agricul- the average of the countries within the EU. In 2000, ture, there were invested into the IT 2.17% of the GDP – the contributions emerging from the application and the International Data Corporation estimated of knowledge systems for the operation. that this proportion should rise up to 2.93% in 2006 (1,207 mld. USD). The expenditures on the IT per one inhabitant MATERIALS AND METHODS reached 161 USD in Slovakia 2003. This forms only 76% of the expenditures per one inhabitant in Czech For the solution of the presented issue, there were Republic, 55% in Slovenia and 70% in . It is used information sources concerning the domestic anticipated that in 2006, the expenditures will raise and foreign literature and the up to date internet up to 216 USD per one inhabitant. sources both domestic and foreign. The informatisation of the Slovak society into the There were analysed company’s information systems real life is enforced through the individual sectors. from a chosen group of enterprises with accordance As a disadvantage of this process, there can be men- to their ability to provide data for management. Next, tioned the lack of coordination – sectors aim to build we carried out an analysis of the current state of the separate information systems and it often leads to chosen company’s information systems on our mar- the duplicity of data processed. The solution is on ket (Softteam, Aurus, Datalock, LCS Helios, Softip, the level of the individual sector ministries with the Pro-fit, Stormware, ISS Bratislava s.r.o., NOVEKON collaboration of the selected government. s.r.o., SAP). We focused chiefly on the observation of The realization of the Conception and the Programme the system’s conceptions, its components, elements, is seen through the operation of the ministry and the integrity and functional characteristics, quality, the individual sectors as well as through creating the possibilities of further development and their reli- necessary information and communication relations ability and stability. are one of the crucial strategic tasks of the Ministry The applied methods included direct interviews of Agriculture in Slovakia. The mentioned two docu- with the management, analysis, synthesis and com- ments contribute to the development programme of parison. the sector that is focused on the systematic application In the paper, there were used the data and partial of information and communication technologies of outcomes of the research task E-XI carried out within building information systems (IS) and creating the the Department of and : The necessary instruments. transformation of information systems in enterprises The objectives of the Programme is to create gradu- operating in agriculture connected to the entrance ally the IS sector as a complex and integrated system into the EU. of connected and cooperating IS’s, that will be able

354 AGRIC. ECON. – CZECH, 52, 2006 (8): 353–357 to provide information and services crucial to the ricultural enterprises and the middle segments of needs of operating the sector, cooperating with the management. There are offered different software other sectors and with the public. products, which preserve information systems par- The structure of information systems in the field of tially or completely, but they are different from the agriculture and food-processing we depicted original project by their structure and various func- in the scheme (Figure 1). tions for facilitation user’s . We mention the By the change of Slovak agriculture towards information systems from home software compa- conditions, there was abandoned in the agricultural nies such as the Softteam, Aurus, Datalock, Kubiko, sector the united automated data processing for ag- AGRARIS s.r.o., but also from foreign companies: the

Agricultural production Food-processing industry

IS of plant IS of food production: safety: – Land – Certification – Technology – Alimentary control – Genetics – Providing food for – GIS

IS of animal production: – Veterinary care – Feed – Genetics – Utility control

IS of economics, production and market: – State statistics – Sector statistics – Customs statistics – Quotation

IS of contribution politics and rural development: – Subsidies – Sapard – Fonds – Rural development – Agrotourism

Ministry of Agriculture IS of legislative-legal of the Slovak Republic information: – , rules IS of water IS of forest – State administration economy economy – Land adjustments

IS of VTI, education and guidance: – Agency SAPV – Agroinštitút – SAU in Nitre – Agrokomplex Figure 1. Information systems in ag- riculture

Source: MPSR and authors

AGRIC. ECON. – CZECH, 52, 2006 (8): 353–357 355 Agrosys from the Siemens company and information – basis of knowledge, system from the KW company. – dialogic regime, Information technologies are common ingredients – in the basis of knowledge and data, of life of each enterprise nowadays, and the opinions – explaining activity. of managers certify the asset of investments into IT During the solving of research aim at our department, – from the results of the research executed under there was made an system for the chemical the patronage of the Faculty of Economics protection of field and garden plants. Its application of the University of Economics in Bratislava which is possible in large agricultural enterprises but also is in residence in Košice in the year 2004, it follows in independently managed farms, where it would be that 23.1% of managers completely agree with the a tool for workers responsible for the protection of opinion that investments into IT bring the appro- plants. The basis of knowledge is made in conformity priate profits, 55.7% of managers agree with that with directives introduced in the list of permitted statement, 18.4% of managers do not know, 2% of products for plant protection, it is easily modified managers do not agree and 0.7% completely do not and it is possible to expand it for new plants. From agree, that investments into IT bring the appropriate our results, it follows that the proposition and crea- profits. Most positively, profits of IT are evaluated tion of expert systems requires considerable , by the managers from the financial sector, the least from which the main part is spent on overheads and profits from the application of IT are expected by the settlement of operating expenses. It is necessary the managers from the sector of forestry. Managers to give an extraordinary attention to the motivation from the agricultural sector expressed the agreement of in the given problem area, for which the with the profits of IT in average. expert system is produced, because the acquisition and The originally supportive function of IT is changed formularization of knowledge is one of the important into a strong instrument in the hands of managers building elements of expert system. The quality of – there exists a strong dependency between entre- the basis of knowledge influences the effectiveness preneurially strategy and information system in the of the whole expert system by the dominant way. It enterprise. The possibilities of IS in the enterprise is always a lengthy process of recruitment knowledge condition the future development of the company from the expert and their coding into the form ap- – promotion in the market, the of products propriate for the relevant expert system. and the growth of labour productivity are more and Nowadays, in the market of software products, there more dependent on the applied information technolo- is the expert system made by the company AURUS gies and systems. This is the reason, why knowledge s.r.o. signed as the Agroprofit, which is oriented on systems are in prominence recently, which we can planning process in plant production. This system briefly characterise as “computers equipped with includes in the plan of production the latest results certain knowledge”. Foundation of these systems is of and research, products for protection of the basis of knowledge, which is made by specialists. plants and the accepted strains. It permits to form Knowledge systems which require mainly specialized the suggested situations. knowledge to solve professional problems are named The main advantages of expert systems for plant expert systems. production are: Expert system is a computer program which uses – facilitation of implementation of the planning pro- knowledge and solving methods to solve problems, cess, because they are insofar complicated that their solu- – economic evaluation of plans, tion requires a considerable human and professional – determination and monitoring of direct costs, knowledge. Expert systems use heuristics to simulate – work only with the accepted strains, the process of decision making of human expert at – possibility to use only the registered chemical pro- solving the complicated tasks and using professional tective products, knowledge accepted from the expert and enciphered – suggestion of the technological process of plant by an appropriate method with the aim to reach the cultivation, quality at the level of expert in the chosen area of – realization of the multi-variation solution of plant problems. Expert system is a program demanding cultivation with economic evaluation of different a lot of knowledge, which solves problems requir- variants, ing human expertise. The common characteristic of – optimalisation of the amount of sidedressing ac- expert systems represents: cording to the company’s possibilities. – separation of knowledge and mechanisms of their Processed basis of knowledge simultaneously per- using, mits to solve questions of plan, protection, techno-

356 AGRIC. ECON. – CZECH, 52, 2006 (8): 353–357 logical method, sidedressing and selection of strains into the constitution of a special type of systems on at the high professional level. support of decision-making. We mean the systems equipped by programs permitted to solve problems on the basis of knowledge. Knowledge systems seem DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION to be the perspective systems working on certain complicated specific knowledge – expert systems. Intensive implementation of information technolo- While the classical program transforms input data gies into the varied areas of business in agriculture according to the exactly defined program, there is the brings an assembly of a big amount of various data. transformation of input data managed by the basis Agricultural enterprises assemble the data from pro- of knowledge in the expert system. duction, selling, administration and other internal and Creation of the expert system is useful when its external areas. During the shorter or longer period creation substitutes, facilitates and supplements of time, there is accumulated a lot of data depend- information needed for user to solve his concrete ing on the intensity of the individual processes. The problems. The advantage of expert systems is the data in this basic form do not mean for the company ability to offer the actual information selectively, information or knowledge, which are necessary for pointedly and in the appropriate extent. the management of company. concen- The future fine-tuning of management of each trating, during the work with data, mainly on their production system in agriculture will not be managed collection are often in the situation when they know without the perfect awareness of the managers. In that they have certain data, they know where to find this case, there is a quantity of possibilities for the them approximately, but they do not get them in fulfilment of expert systems mainly in the area of the appropriate form or combination and so mainly operative, tactical and . The managers are impoverished. creation and application of expert systems in agricul- From the realized analysis, we can state that infor- ture and food processing industry enables to exercise mation systems applied in agricultural enterprises do scientific methods in the management of agricultural not provide enough necessary information either for and food processing enterprises and on the basis of operative or tactical management. They register and the provided information to produce assumptions evaluate predominantly past activities for demands for steady reaching of prosperity. of the accounting evidence and controlling of plan fulfilment. For the information needed in the decision mak- REFERENCES ing process at each level of the management, it is indispensable to make information systems on the Basl J. (2002): Podnikové informační systémy. Grada basis of the united data base. The specific charac- Publishing, Praha, 144 p.; ISBN 80-247-0214-2. ter of agriculture requires monitoring of biological Bielik P. (2001): Podnikovo-hospodárska teória ag- information, too. In our conditions, it is important rokomplexu. 2. vyd., SPU, Nitra, 270 p.; ISBN 80- for farmers to obtain the information about various 7137-861-5. breeds of animals and their efficiency, about plants Katolický A. (2005): Knowledge management. http:// and conditions for their cultivation. Nowadays, it is www.volny.cz/akatolicky/, 16. 2. 2005. actual to monitor the information concerning environ- Tiruneh W.M. et al. (2004): Vplyv informačných ment. In prominence there are the rules and standards technológií na ekonomický rast a zamestnanosť: to discover the quality of land, atmosphere, water, teoretické a empirické pohľady. Ústav slovenskej determination of the exact procedures and methods a svetovej ekonomiky Slovenskej akadémie vied, for the communication with international databases. Bratislava, 95 p. It is needed to solve the complicated and algorithmi- Vymětal J. et al. (2006): Informační a znalostní ma- cally demanding tasks in the area of decision-making nagement v praxi. LexisNexis CZ s.r.o., Praha, and management by using heuristic methods. In the 400 p.; ISBN 80-86920-01-1 area of economic decision-making, this trend results Arrived on 7th June 2006

Contact address:

Milan Kučera, Anna Látečková, Slovak Agricultural University, Trieda A. Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovak Republic tel.: +421 376 414 149, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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