FOUNDATIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

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ic6b

BIS 1202

Chapter 6 Enterprise Applications

Support of:

Business processes and operations

Managerial decision making

Strategies for competitive advantage

Role of IS in the Enterprise

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Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications are systems that span functional areas, focus on executing business processes across the business firm, and include all levels of management.

Enterprise applications help businesses become more flexible and productive by coordinating their business processes more closely.

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Enterprise Applications

There are four major enterprise applications: Enterprise systems

Supply chain management systems

Customer relationship management systems

Knowledge management systems

Each of these enterprise applications integrates a related set of functions and business processes to enhance the performance of the organization as a whole.

Functional main-framed legacy systems

Integrated cross-functional client/server systems

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Enterprise Systems

Customer Relationship Management Marketing. Sales. Services

Supply Chain Management Sourcing. Procurement

Enterprise Resource Planning Internal business processes

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An IS that supports several areas of business, e.g. order handling, manufacturing, shipping, financing

Combines a number of applications with a single database

“An integrated set of programs that provides support for core organisational activities such as:

manufacturing and logistics, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, and human resources.”(Aladwani, 2001)

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

What is an ERP /Enterprise systems ?

ERP Application in Comparison to separate functional applications

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Acts as the backbone for the whole business help an organisation to:

assess the data it holds how that data can be better managed how to create better corporate intelligence what further data is needed

Aims to automate basic business processes - covers all routine transactions within a company including the internal suppliers and customers

Aims to increase efficiency in handling transactions, improve decision making, and (further) transform ways of doing business into e-commerce.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Function

Challenges

Demands an unprecedented degree of teamwork, process expertise, and business knowledge

Getting their existing production data into the new system,

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Problems Cost, time, and effort Lack of alignment between technology and

business needs Difficulties implementing and upgrading

enterprise software Inability to support all business needs with

enterprise software

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Implementation Issues Building a supportive IT infrastructure Skill shortage Necessity to treat as a business project rather than

an IT project Extensive training The need to update -

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Benefits Reduced cost of buying from a single supplier Better transfer of information within the

organisation since all modules of the system are compatible

Support and maintenance through a single supplier

Use of ‘best-of-breed’ solutions applied by other companies

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Providers SAP AG - R/3 softwar PeopleSoft Inc. Baan Co. NV Oracle Corp J.D. Edwards & Co - Denver

(See www.cio.com/forums/erp/ ERP site at on-line Consultant Software at:

http://www.olcsoft.com/top%20ERP%20vendors.htmWikipedia gives a list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ERP_vendors User rankings of ERP systems, Data Research DPU for Evaluation of Information Technology at: http://www.dpu.se/rankmeny_e.html)

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

What is a supply chain?“Describes the flow of material, information, money, services, from raw material suppliers through factories and ware houses to the end customer.”

(Turban et al., 2006:63)

SCM – planning, organising, and optimising one or more activities of the supply chain

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Managing supply chains

ERP – Help manage both the internal and external relationships with the business partners

SCM – Help in decision making related to internal segments and their relationship with external segments

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (CRM) focus on coordinating the business

processes surrounding a firm's interactions with its customers in sales, marketing, and service to optimize revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.

They consolidate customer data from multiple sources and communication channels to help firms identify profitable customers, acquire new customers, improve service and support, and target products and services more precisely to customer preferences

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Knowledge Management Systems The value of a firm's products and services is

based not only on its physical resources but also on intangible knowledge assets.

Some firms perform better than others because they have better knowledge about how to create, produce, and deliver products and services.

Knowledge management systems support processes for discovering and codifying, sharing, and distributing knowledge, as well as processes for creating new knowledge and integrating external sources of knowledge.

The next topic is

Strategic role IS

BIS1202