Erp And Related Technologies 143h5h

ERP and Related Technologies

ERP is an abbreviation for Enterprise Resource Planning and means, the techniques and concepts for the integrated management of businesses as a whole, from the viewpoint of the effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. ERP systems serve an important function by integrating separate business. functions - materials management, product planning, sales, distribution, finance and ing and others-into a single application. Howevert ERP systems have three significant limitations: . 1.managers cannot generate custom reports or queries without help from a programmer and this inhibits them from obtaining information quickly, which is essential for maintaining a competitive advantage. 2. ERP systems provide current status only, such as open orders. Managers often need to look past the current status to find trends and patterns that aid better decision making. 3. The data in the ERP application is not integrated with other enterprise or division systems and does not include external intelligence.

There are many technologies that help to overcome these limitations. These technologies, when used' in conjunction with the ERP package, will help in overcoming the limitations of a standalone ERP system and thus, help the employees to m.ake better.decisions. Some of these technologies are BPR, Data Warehousing, Data Mining, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Supply Chain Management and so on. With the competition in the ERP market getting hotter and hotter, and ERP vendors $earching for ways to penetrate new market segments and expand the existing ones, tomorrows ERP systems will have most of these technologies integrated into them. In this chapter, we will see how each of these technologies are related to ERP systems ERP is an abbreviation for Enterprise Resource Planning and means the techniques and concepts for the integrated management of business as a whole, from the viewpoint of the effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. • ERP systems serve an important function by integrating separate business functions-materials management, product planning, sales, distribution, finance and ing and others-into a single application. • However, ERP systems have three significant limitations: • 1. Managers cannot generate custom reports or queries without help from a programmer and this inhibits them from obtaining information quickly, which is essential for maintaining a competitive advantage. • 2. ERP systems provide current status only, such as

open orders. Managers often need to look past the current status to find trends and patterns that aid better decision-making. • 3. the data in the ERP application is not integrated with other enterprise or division systems and does not include external intelligence. • There are many technologies that help to overcome these limitations. These technologies, when used in conjunction with the ERP package, help in overcoming the limitations of a standalone ERP system and thus, help the employees to make better decisions. Some of these technologies are: • Business Process Reengineering (BPR) • Management Information System (MIS) • Decision Systems ( DSS) • Executive Information Systems (EIS) • Data warehousing • Data Mining • On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP) • Supply Chain Management 1. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) • Business processes are: simply a set of activities that transform a set of inputs into a set of outputs (goods or services) for another person or process using people and tools. We all do them, and at one time or another play the role of customer or supplier. • So why business process improvement? • Improving business processes is paramount for businesses to stay competitive in today's marketplace. Over the last 10 to 15 years companies have been forced to improve their business

processes because we, as customers, are demanding better and better products and services. • And if we do not receive what we want from one supplier, we have many others to choose from (hence the competitive issue for businesses). Many companies began business process improvement with a continuous improvement model. This model attempts to understand and measure the current process, and make performance improvements accordingly. • Definition of BPR. • Corporate Reengineering • The most common definition used in the private sector comes from the book entitled, Reengineering the Corporation, a Manifesto for Business Revolution, by MIT professors Michael Hammer and James Champy. Hammer and Champy defined business process reengineering as: • The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to bring about dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed. (Reengineering the Corporation, Hammer and Champy, 1993) 2. Management Information System (MIS) • Management Information Systems (MIS), are information systems, typically computer based, that are used within an organization. WordNet described an information system as "a system consisting of the network of all communication channels used within an organization". 3. Decision Systems ( DSS)

• In the course of their decision activities managers work with many pieces of knowledge. Some of this knowledge is descriptive, characterizing the state of past, present, future, or hypothetical worlds. • Such knowledge is commonly called information or data. Other pieces of knowledge are procedural in nature, specifying how to accomplish various tasks. • In addition to "know what" (information) and "know how" (procedures), a manager may work with reasoning knowledge on the way toward reaching a decision. 4. Executive Information Systems (EIS) • Definitions for Executive Information Systems • A computerized system intended to provide current and appropriate information to executive decision making for managers using a networked workstation. • The emphasis is on graphical displays and an easy to use interface that present information from the corporate database. • They are tools to provide canned reports or briefing books to top-level executives. They offer strong reporting and drill-down capabilities. An early term for a sophisticated data-driven DSS targeted to senior executives. 5. Data warehousing • Introduction • Increasingly, organizations are analyzing current and historical data to identify useful • Patterns and business strategies. Emphasis is on complex, interactive, exploratory analysis of very large datasets created by integrating data from across all

parts of an enterprise; data is fairly static. 6. Data Mining • Exploratory search for interesting trends and anomalies. 7. Supply chain management (SCM) • Supply chain management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain with the purpose to satisfy customer requirements as efficiently as possible. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-inprocess inventory, and finished goods from point-oforigin to point-ofconsumption.