Favorable conditions of the world commodity and financial markets give a unique chance to the enterprises of metal and mining industry of Russian and CIS countries to have a backlog of competitiveness for the coming decades and to integrate more closely into the world economy.

Enterprises and holdings of the sector carry out large-scale update of the existing production facilities and construct new production facilities, successfully enter world financial markets with IPO and other types of capital attraction. But there are also problems, such as instability of the conditions of world commodity markets, growing competition from China, growing production price of all types of products due to increase of internal prices for raw materials and fuel and utilities, rise of transportation rates.

In this connection such tasks as budgeting organization, control and measures on production price decrease and optimal production planning become actual. International financial sites also dictate strict requirements to the quality and dates of reporting submission; ecological requirements get tougher.

These tasks should be solved at the level of managing company, as well as directly at the manufacturing enterprises. In order to more efficiently manage production facilities (those under construction or already existing ones) not equipped with developed IT systems, we offer services on creation (within a tight schedule) of full-featured automated resource management system of ERP class, the key components of the functionality of which are asset and repair management, continuous production management (including calendar planning) and integration of ERP with shopfloor systems.

Estimation of the results of ERP deployment at JSC Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant made by international Mainstay Partners company showed high economic efficiency of such projects -it is stated in the report that «Payment of investments will amount to 61% and internal profitability rate will make up 34% within the first seven years of investments in the amount of $39.9 million; MMP will recover its investments in 50 months and will have $48.6 million for seven years as net savings». Large scale and complexity of the project has become its distinctive features: all business processes are automated, for which more than 36 OEBS modules were deployed and fail-safe highly efficient computing and network infrastructure was established. In 2005 Borlas Consulting Group realized ERP project for JSC Khartsyzsk pipe plant and a project is under way at JSC United metallurgical company. As part of the projects on enhancing enterprise management efficiency we offer services on optimization of equipment location scheme, improvement of production planning system, as well as services on creation of integrated technical security systems for production and storage facilities.

The following tasks at the border of management and information technologies seem to be very important at the level of managing company of the holding:

• Enhancing long-term efficiency of the vertically integrated company with the help of optimization of business portfolio management system: more clear-cut structuring of the holding, optimization of requirements to affiliate companies and optimization of the schemes of their interaction, development of adequate KPI system.
• Enhancing the quality and promptness of reporting by way of deploying automated budgeting systems, by way of consolidation and transformation of reporting and integration of heterogeneous IT systems of the holding`s enterprises, as well as by optimization of the holding`s budget management system.

To realize these tasks we engage Borlas employees from dynamically expanding divisions of business consulting and analytical & financial consulting, who have already implemented a number of projects in such holdings as Severstal, Bazovy Element and Russian Aluminium.

In 2006 Expert RA rating agency named Borlas Consulting Group a leader in implementation of corporate management information systems in the «Metallurgy» sector (rating «Map of Russian audit and consulting», October 2006, section «Information technologies — Management consulting»).