Final MI0038 - Enterprise Resource Planning

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0038 Enterprise Resource Planning -4 Credits (Book ID: B1324)
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Kunal Mhatre 581111279
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1) Why are ERP systems said to be flexible? Explain with an example.

We need to know that setting up an ERP system has many advantages both direct and indirect. The direct benefits include improved efficiency, information integration for better decision Making, faster response time to customer queries, and so on. The indirect benefits comprises Better corporate image, improved customer goodwill, customer satisfaction, and so on. The Following are some of the direct benefits of an ERP system: Business integration Flexibility Better analysis and planning capabilities Use of latest technology Flexibility One of the advantages of ERP packages is their flexibility. Different languages, currencies, Accounting standards, and so on can be covered in one system, and functions that systematically Manage multiple locations of a company can be packaged and implemented automatically. To cope with company globalization and system unification, this flexibility is essential, and we can Say that it has major advantages, not simply for development and maintenance, but also in terms of management.
2) Briefly explain the functionalities of CRM sub modules. List out the benefits of CRM Systems.
Sub Modules in CRM We already know that CRM is the process of managing relationships with customers by capturing, analyzing, and storing customer information. The functionality of a CRM system can be studied under three sub modules. They are Marketing, Service and Sales. All these modules are Operational, Collaborative and Analytical. 1. Marketing module The functionalities of marketing module of CRM comprises short term execution of marketing related activities and long term planning within a company. It also helps in activities like campaign management, lead management, and planning. Marketing module enables your company to run marketing campaigns using different communication channels. This targets potential buyers using a
product or a group of products as a message. It generates sales related opportunities which then can be converted into sales. 2. Service Module The service module of CRM focuses on managing planned and unplanned customer service. This module helps in activities such as Service Order Management, Service Contract Management, Planned Services management, Warranty Management, Installed Base (Equipment) Management, ServiceLevel Agreement Management, Resource Planning and Scheduling and Knowledge Management 3. Sales Module The sales module of CRM focuses on managing and executing the pre-sales process of the company by making it more organized. The sales teams in most companies are responsible for capturing opportunities and customer interaction. The CRM helps the sales team in processing this data and following-up it in the future. The CRM also helps in organizing all relevant data received and captured for a deal, into one place. Some of the captured data can include expected budget, total spending, prospective customers, key players, products interested in, important dates and expected closing dates of a deal. Each of these modules can be stand alone applications depending on organizational need. It is important that the right software is selected and implemented correctly. Then only any CRM can be effective. Benefits of CRM An excellent CRM is the heart of every business success. With CRM, you can easily understand customer requirements, meet those needs effectively, predict market trends and enhance your business bottom line. A properly implemented CRM system can bring significant benefits to your organizations. System means, the complete consortium of 3 P's, People (employees, culture), Procedures (way of doing business), and Programs (supporting applications and not just an application running on a computer). The advantages that a CRM can bring are: Shared or distributed data: Customer relationships are happening at many levels and not just through customer service or a web presence. They start to understand the need for sharing all available data throughout the organization. A CRM system is an enabler for making decisions and follow-up at levels. Better customer service: All data concerning interactions with customers is centralised. The customer service department can greatly benefit from this because they have all the information they need. And through the use of push-technology, customer service representatives can lead the customer towards the information they need. The customer experience is greatly enhanced. Increased customer satisfaction: The customer feels that he is more "part of the team" instead of just a subject for sales and marketing. Customer service is better and the needs of the customer are
anticipated and addressed. Many companies believe that more satisfied customers means a good predictor for repeat business. Better customer retention: If a CRM system can help to fascinate customers, it increases customer loyalty. Customers keep coming back to buy again and again. Hence, higher customer retention is assured More business: If you are delivering the ultimate customer experience, this seeds the word-of-mouth buzz, which brings in more new business. More profit: More business at lower cost equals more profit. Customer relationship management tools have also been of great help to companies in attaining their business objectives. The CRM systems help in collecting data that help in enhanced customer satisfaction. The types of data CRM systems can collect are: Responses to campaigns Shipping and fulfillment dates Sales and purchase data Account information Web registration data Service and support records Demographic data Web sales data Business Benefits of CRM Implementing a CRM solution might involve considerable time and expense. However, there are many potential benefits. A major benefit can be the development of better relations with your existing customers. This can result in: Increased sales through better timing by anticipating needs based on historic trends Identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific customer requirements Cross-selling of other products by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or enhancements Identifying profitable customer companies This in turn can lead to better marketing of your products or services by focusing on:
Effective targeted marketing communications aimed specifically at customer needs A more personal approach and the development of new or improved products and services in order to win more business in the future Ultimately this could lead to: Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring that your good reputation in the marketplace continues to grow Increased value from your existing customers and reduced costs associated with supporting and servicing them. This increases your overall efficiency and reduces total cost of sales Improved profitability by focusing on the most profitable customers and Dealing with the unprofitable in more cost effective ways Once your business starts to look after its existing customers effectively, efforts can be concentrated on finding new customers and expanding your market. The more you know about your customers, the easier it is to identify new prospects and expand your customer base. Customer needs change over time, and technology can make it easier to find out more about customers and ensure that everyone in an organization can exploit this information.
3) Differentiate between Open Source and Commercial ERP. Briefly explain the key principles to a proper ERP system selection process.
Commercial ERP Expensive. Always backed by well known brands. Assured training and after sales support. Suitable only for big corporation. Non flexible. Usage modalities are rarely liberal and cause trouble when they are modified. Deployment is costly and inconvenient. Less secure. Lots of training is required for the employees. Open Source ERP Free of cost. Usually not backed by well known brands. Training and after sales support is not guaranteed. Suitable for small companies and bigger corporation. Can be modified as licenses are available along with the source code. Companies can do the modification in code rather than changing their business policies. More secure and indicates whenever something goes wrong.
ERP Selection Methods and Criteria ERP is a very expensive investment and has a long and complicated implementation process. As Such, it is important to make a proper selection of the ERP. ERP selection process involves
Identifying criteria and their relative weights, and evaluating the alternatives. An ERP system is the information backbone of an organization and extends to all areas of the Business. Thus, long-term business strategy of the organization forms the basis of the ERP Selection criteria. As mentioned earlier, ERP systems are costly to implement. When choosing an ERP system, it is important to take time to select the right ERP system or set of modules for your business. In order to do this in an efficient manner, it is important to have a plan of action. The selection of the appropriate solution is a problem because only a part of it can be handled by a definite or accepted procedure such as standard investment calculations. On the other hand, the decision maker needs to judge and evaluate all relevant business impact aspects. There is no agreed-upon and formal procedure for this important task[1]. The modules that an ERP offers are the most important selection reasons; and can vary according to the needs of the organization. When you consider an ERP system, it is important to weigh all available options carefully. This is because of the time, money, and training that can be consumed in implementing such a system. There are three criteria that are generally used when evaluating an ERP solution: Financial Considerations: When an ERP solution is considered, it must make money to be Acceptable. As such, there are several measurements that the finance department may make in order to determine whether or not an ERP solution is feasible. - Net Present Value (NPV) is generally the most accepted method of valuing an ERP. It takes into account the time value of money and cash flows generated. The cash flow and discount rate selection process is the most important part of an NPV calculation. Determining an average cost of capital for your firm and the predicted cash flows help you get an accurate result from the NPV calculation. - Budgetary constraint is the most used method when considering IT projects. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and payback period methods are also very popular for many firms dealing with IT implementations. Management Considerations : On the management side, there are more variables to consider than simply money. For example, managers may differentiate between implicit and explicit business needs, competitive pressures, legal needs, and environmental concerns. This can make the management side of valuation very difficult to quantify. Generally, companies take a few
Factors and try to create a scoring system that can be objectively applied across the options. Sometimes probability of achieving the intended benefits is included in this part of the Calculations else it is included in the financial part of the process. However, the probability of Achieving the benefits instead of simply succeeding in implementation takes on a different look. This sort of probability may be more directly tied with a softer science such as management. Development Considerations: Development is usually the least important decision factor in These processes. One of the most important factors is the probability that a project finishes on Time. This simply does not happen very often, so it is important to determine what sort of adverse Effects this could have on business operations. ERP Software Selection Criteria When reviewing potential software suppliers, you tend to focus only on the potential products functionality and cost. Although these elements are important, this methodology neglects other areas of importance. A suppliers ability to deliver product services goes well beyond price and feature options. The key selection criteria include making few questions. Such questions help you simplify making an ERP software purchase decision. Some of the questions include: For Product Functionality Does this package meet the overall requirements listing? Is the menu structure easy to follow and understand? Are the help files easily assessable and easy for users to understand? Can you customize help to meet the needs of the organization? Is the product too complex? Are there standard reports available, and are they useful? For Product Cost Are the license costs justified given the functionality offering? Is the required database affordable? Are annual maintenance charges reasonable and in line with the industry average? Are payments for annual maintenance charges in line with industry norms? What is the true implementation services-to-software ratio for implementations with comparably-sized companies?
How quickly can payback be received? For Corporate Vision What major organizational changes has the supplier made in recent years? What major product changes have occurred in recent years? What major product changes does the company foresee or have planned in the coming years? What level of involvement does the executive staff have in the companys daily operations? Is the executive staff knowledgeable of industry trends and developing technology? For Service and Support Was the team comfortable with the sales process and representative? Were the teams questions answered in an open and honest forum? Can the supplier provide a complete turn-key solution? What type of training is available? What is the average technical support persons experience level and tenure with the company? How quickly are the non-critical software bugs fixed? Is 24/7 support available? Does the supplier offer business process re-engineering as part of the implementation process? Does the supplier have experience in similar industries? For Technology and System Architecture Is the technology robust enough to handle current and future transactions load? Is it scalable? Is the systems speed acceptable for daily usage? Is source code provided for customizations or modifications without hefty charges? Do customizations hamper upgrading to future software releases? Is the software Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) compliant? Does the software support ecommerce, Radio Frequency (RF) and bar coding, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transactions? Does the software support multi-company, multi-division, and multi-currency environments? Are there any restrictions to this type of environment? For Supplier Longevity How many years has the company been actively engaged in this software industry?
When was the products first release? What is the current release version being quoted? Has the company been consistently profitable? Has there been recent turnover in the management staff? Has the supplier increased or reduced overall headcount over the last year? Are customer references available? Can you visit a customer reference site prior to contract signing?
4) What is ATO and how is it different from ETO? List the advantages of CAD/CAM.
Manufacturing Operations The manufacturing operations can be classified based on the amount of processing the product requires, after the company receives an order from customer. They are broadly classified as: Make-to-Order (MTO) and Make-to-Stock (MTS) Assemble-to-Order (ATO) Engineer-to-Order (ETO) Configure-to-Order (CTO) Assemble-to-Order (ATO) Assemble-to-Order (ATO) company is another variation of the manufacturing operations. The ATO company manufactures standardized, option modules according to the forecasts it has made and then assembles a specific combination, or package of modules, after receiving the customers order. The classic example is the automobile manufacturer. After receiving orders from a host of dealers, the manufacturer specifies the exact production schedule for the automobiles. The schedule is based on the options order by the customers, like automatic transmission or manual transmission, air-conditioning, standard or digital control panel, leather, cloth or vinyl seating, and so on. Many components for assembling the automobiles would have be ordered or started into production before receiving the customers order based upon demand forecasts. Thus, the major processing that remains when the orders come in is assembly. This approach shortens the time between placement of the order and delivery of the product cycle time. Engineer-to-Order (ETO) Yet another variant in the manufacturing operations is the Engineer-to-Order (ETO) company. The
ETO Company is the ultimate in product variety, product customization and flexibility. In this mode of operation, as per customer order the company manufactures any thing, but at a higher price. The expensive clothing of the bold and beautiful is an example of this kind of production. Products are made for each customer and even the minute details, for example, the feel of the cloth and the texture, the color of the threads, the size of the collar and so on will differ from one customer to another, depending upon the customers preferences. So the manufacturer cannot keep anything in inventory, he will have to order only once the customer has given his/her specifications. Obviously, the cost of production will be highest in this mode of production. Computer Aid Design/Computer Aid Manufacturing The CAD/CAM systems assist engineers in designing, examining, and upgrading drawings required for manufacturing. Being a part of Product Data Management it enables high degree of precision in both during design phase and the actual manufacturing phase. It also enhances the capacity of the company by reducing the time consumed in converting the drawings into actual working models. Computer Aid Design/Computer Aid Manufacturing (CAD / CAM) are the other major focus area for the manufacturing sector. Traditionally, the automotive and aerospace industries are the largest consumers of CAD/CAM. With the automotive sector in the depression, vendors were not able to meet their expectations from this industry. On the other hand, the farm auto sector did better in comparison. Mahindra & Mahindra (Tractor Division) has grown considerably in the last three years and their manufacturing capacity has doubled. This is accompanied with significant improvement in design capacity. Increasing design capacity is also a competitive edge for a company. For example, Tata Johnson Controls, which makes seating systems, started off by designing seats solely for Ford. With increased design capacity using advanced CAD/CAM, they went on to supply seating systems to many other auto majors. The major focus area in CAD/CAM is on design analysis, development, and manufacturing. Styling and ergonomics are the refinement areas to achieve design excellence. There were only marginal investments in modeling. There is also a trend developing for reverse engineering, especially in the engineering and appliances industry. Manufacturing, companies in the BPL Group have taken up reverse engineering. Product data management (PDM) is another leading edge of the CAD/CAM philosophy. TELCO and
Mahindra Ford have integrated many of their suppliers. For the supplier, it means enhanced competence and improved competitiveness. Many of these suppliers, with their improved design capacity and integration with OEMs, have also started exporting. Brakes India is supplying brakes to many of the European auto manufacturers. Another reason, which forces a company to make design an imperative, is the improved alignment that many manufacturing organizations have acquired. This is because of business process reengineering. An important thing is the integration of tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers with OEMs, for standard product information. Many companies in heavy engineering sector have signed up multi year contracts with global majors like SDRC and PTC. BHEL has a CAD/CAM contract across all units with SDRC for a term of five-year. Similarly Lakshmi Machine, L&T and Siemens works are investing in CAD/CAM to beef up their research capability.
5) Discuss briefly about JD Edwards and PeopleSofts applications and their various modules.
People Soft PeopleSoft Inc. was established in the year 1987 to provide innovative software solutions that meet the changing business demands of enterprises worldwide. It employs more than 7,000 people worldwide. The annual revenue for the year 1998 was $ 1.3 billion. PeopleSoft's objective is to provide innovative software solutions that meet the changing business demands of organizations worldwide. PeopleSoft develops software that supports enterprise wide solutions to handle core business functions. This includes human resources management, accounting and control, project management, treasury 'management, performance measurement, and supply chain management. It provides enterprise solutions which is industry-specific to customers in select markets. Like healthcare, manufacturing, communications, financial services, higher education, public sector, services, retail, transportation, US federal government, and utilities. PeopleSoft Select offered by the company is a complete packaged solution including software, hardware, and services to address the needs of medium sized organizations. Solutions of PeopleSoft run on a variety of leading hardware and database platforms. Like IBM, Sun Microsystems, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, and others. PeopleSoft delivers Web-enabled applications, workflow, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), and so on. Business Management Solutions PeopleSoft solutions extend across the globe. The applications help in managing a broad set of business processes, from human resources and finance to supply chain management. One can
implement a single application, or a complete enterprise wide solution. The flexible design lets you modify the applications to your specific needs. The PeopleSoft's business management solutions are in the areas given below: 1 Human Resources Management 2 Accounting and Control 3Treasury Management 4 Performance Measurement 5 Project Management 6 Sales and Logistics 7 Materials Management 8 Supply Chain Planning 9 Service Revenue Management 10 Procurement Commercial Solutions Supply Chain Management: PeopleSoft has the industry's only complete enterprise resource planning solution that is built around supply chain optimization. A Demand Planning module enables sophisticated forecasting, using both real-time and historical information. PeopleSoft's complete suite of Supply Chain Management products provides comprehensive support for any organization that produces or markets a physical product. Service Industry Solutions: PeopleSoft also provides a complete commercial support solution for service industries. The Service Revenue Management suite features modules supporting the tracking of time and labor, payroll processing, project management, billing, and expense and receivables processing. A suite of Procurement modules is also available supporting purchasing, inventory management, payables and expense processing, and asset management Industry Solutions PeopleSoft supports industry-specific market initiatives in many business sectors. The initiatives include industry specific products, customization of existing applications, and sales and marketing support through direct channels and business alliances. PeopleSoft has 11 distinct business units, which provide software solutions specific to a broad range of public and private sector industries. These Industry partners help in making the solutions widespread and spanning the enterprise from the back office to the front lines. From service and manufacturing to education and government, PeopleSoft solutions are global, enterprise-wide, and modified to unique industry requirements. The different business units are: Communications Federal Government
Financial Services Healthcare Higher Education Manufacturing Public Sector Retail Service Industries Transportation Utilities Applications People Tools is an integrated set of client/server business application development and customization tools from PeopleSoft. These tools enable customers to implement, modify, and maintain PeopleSoft applications as well as to extract, analyze and manipulate data. People Tools includes several tools for reporting, customization and workflow. PeopleSoft continually adds and refines technology to optimise their customers information systems. They help customers take advantage of new and emerging technologies, giving them more choices and freedom to develop their own innovative business processes. Some of them are given below: Self-Service Applications: Helps to improve productivity throughout the organization. PeopleSoft focuses on providing the occasional user with easy access to information and functionality specific to their role. They have developed a set of self-service applications to help companies quickly and cost-effectively distribute functionality throughout the enterprise over the Internet, and intranets. Built with a spontaneous interface based on a standard Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer. These Java-based, cross-platform applications enable employees, customers, suppliers, and other occasional users to perform self-service administrative tasks easily. Self-service applications are linked to PeopleSoft core product lines. Such as PeopleSoft Accounting and Control, Human Resources Management, and Materials Management. Web Client: Self-service applications use the PeopleSoft Web Client. The Web Client is downloadable on demand and runs on a Web browser across multiple platforms. Its affordability, open architecture and simplicity provide an ideal framework for delivering enterprise solutions to a large number of people. Applications don't need to be installed at every desktop; they are accessed easily through a browser. In addition to supporting self-service applications, the PeopleSoft Web Client has a Work list and Query interface. This improves the flow of the company's business processes and improves access to information for occasional users. Furthermore, all data transmitted between the Web Client and the application server is coded for added security. Because the Web Client takes advantage of People Tools, self-service applications can be deployed across the Internet or existing corporate intranets with common business rules workflow logic and security features.
Multi-layer Transaction Processing: The ability to support large numbers of parallel users, while maintaining reliable, and superior performance, is critical to enterprise-wide data processing. PeopleSoft works in a variety of settings over Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Network (WANs), throughout organizations. In the latter, the application logic runs on an application server instead of the client. The application server is designed to relieve the client from processing intense SQL transactions, thereby reducing LAN traffic and improving performance across WANs. Three layered architecture also provides increased scalability to accommodate high volumes of parallel users while maintaining a consistent and reliable performance level. PeopleSoft continues to support its traditional two layered architecture as well. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP): Companies must be able to quickly extract and analyze the information they require for effective decision-making. OLAP, or online analytical processing, is a powerful method for interactively analyzing data online. PeopleSoft integrates popular OLAP tools including Cognos Power Play and Arbor Essbase that enable users to easily share multidimensional data stored in various locations. With the Cube Manager application, users can define the data they want to extract into an OLAP cube. It enables them to quickly view information from all different angles to test conclusions, conduct what-if scenarios and compare alternative strategies. With multidimensional information presented in quickread formats, managers can make better decisions, react faster to competitive threats and identify inefficiencies. Workflow: An essential part of the solution, PeopleSoft workflow capabilities help communications companies achieve enterprise-wide integration of information, applications, and people. Workflow enables a company to automate many time-consuming clerical tasks, while putting useful data into the hands of users. With workflow, the company's PeopleSoft applications do more of the work. For example, if managerial approval is needed for a work order, the system automatically forwards the request. Workflow can also help the company track projects, by initiating a workflow message to the appropriate person when a project exceeds a predetermined cost. The company can even bring non-PeopleSoft users into the workflow process, using e-mail systems and the Internet for collecting, and distributing data. JD Edwards World Solutions Company 1977 Denver, Colorado, three men left the accounting world to form a software company that would specialize in midrange computing solutions. Each of the three founders Jack Thompson, Dan Gregory and Ed McVaney lent a small portion of his name for the company name. On March 17, JD Edwards was formed. In the early years, JD Edwards designed software for several small and medium-sized computers. They eventually started focusing on the IBM System/38 in the early 1980s. It was in this effort that JD Edwards pioneered the Computer-Aided Systems Engineering (CASE) software development and design tool. This lend for consistency across the broad range of JD Edwards' integrated applications. As JD Edwards' business continued to grow, it became obvious that servicing a large number of customers was creating challenges. The company could either remain small or serve customers on an individual basis or, with a breakthrough in technology; it could become an industry leader in enterprise software. When McVaney and Thompson began to design and implement World software, they provided the pathway to success. By the mid-1980s, JD Edwards was being recognized as an industry-
leading supplier of applications software for the highly successful IBM AS/400 computer, a direct successor of the System/38. With the June 1996 introduction of One World, the company once again achieved a technological breakthrough. Building on the CASE technology pioneered in the 1980s, One World combines a full range of platform independent applications with an integrated toolset. One World gives organizations the power to configure their systems and applications as their needs change. Today, JD Edwards is a publicly traded company that has more than 4,700 customers with sites in over 100 countries and more than 4,200 employees. The company attributes much of its success to a corporate culture that emphasizes quality at all levels. JD Edwards' commitment to its product quality, its corporate culture and a customer centric approach enable the company to deliver and support leading enterprise software solutions that solve business problems. Product and Technology JD Edwards offers its solutions primarily for the AS/400 platform. JD Edwards's has two application suites, One World and World Software. World Vision, provide comprehensive supply chain management functionality across the wide range of technology. Both can run parallel on the same the AS/400 platform, share data and interact with each other as a unified solution. One World JD Edwards One World is flexible enough to support an extended solution by integrating with existing, best-of-breed and other company products. This can be achieved without sacrificing the security, integrity, or consistency of the existing systems or data. One Worlds own Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) , as well as such industry standards as CORBA, ODBC and other packaged integration solutions ensure that you won't be locked into limited functionality, and any of the future opportunities. One World embraces change with its modular architectural foundation. The information processing is segmented into five functional elements. They are database, data warehouse, business objects, reporting, and GUI. The users can link these elements in a variety of configurations from one level, with every element running on a stand-alone PC, to five levels or more. One can also distribute the elements geographically, departmentally, or administratively. You also can configure and reconfigure in the field, as requirements change. There are provisions to add new servers, even Web servers, without having to rewrite applications for the new machine. One World has the tools and technologies that will quickly bring archived data to light. And you can extend and supplement those technologies with solutions offered by leading industry data warehousing and decision support specialists. The customer has the option to choose the data warehousing solution that he wants. One World provides alternatives, so that you can choose the most appropriate solution based upon your own requirements. With One World, you can distribute your enterprise applications to employees, business partners, and customers using web-based technology, without rewriting your applications. One World software version supports client/server and Internet modes. This results in an extended enterprise that works together to support the same business tasks. No matter how well your applications fit, they probably need a little modification to fit precisely to the needs of your organization. With One World, you get a powerful set of tools to make those alterations. One Worlds toolset uses business logic, not symbols and syntax, to drive the modification process. Change your business specifications, and the toolset automatically regenerates the appropriate object
code. You can modify applications, balance processing loads run reports, and build graphical user interfaces without writing codes. Add hardware and databases without bringing your business to a halt. Since modifications are made with the same toolset used to build One World, it's all integrated. When a new release arrives, your changes will automatically be incorporated you won't have to make them again. The interface is consistent whether you are partitioning applications or replicating data. This will save a lot of time and effort in reprogramming and retraining. One World allows you to build highly flexible workflow solutions and execute, predefined, and unplanned processes in your organization. With One World, your ability to learn, implement, and maintain workflow at all levels of your organization is simplified. World Software and World Vision In the age of technology change, the popularity of many enterprise software solutions is fleeting. The resulting obsolescence is frustrating and costly. It is better to have a system that has the necessary functionality with built-in longevity. More than 4,000 customers have found this staying power in JD Edwards World Software. On its strength and the reliability of its host-centric. IBM AS/400 foundation, World Softwares global Inherently flexible and easy to use, World Software readily adapts to your situation, letting you: Selectively mix, match and integrate software applications from among its diverse industry product suites. Easily modify it to ongoing business, local and organization-specific requirements. Add World Vision, its advanced graphical user interface, to gain client/server benefits. Optionally run it alongside One World, JD Edwards' network-centric solution, to gradually incorporate other computing platforms into your network. JD Edwards World Vision provides the Graphical User Interface (GUI) with a look and feel common to the PC. At the same time it protects your investment in World Software and the AS/400. World Vision also allows you to: Maximize productivity by shrinking the amount of training users need. Make a safe move to client/server by leveraging your existing host-centric World Software applications. And like World Software, another bread of software World Vision is developed and continually enhanced for the future. For example, you can have World Vision as a Windows 95/NT style GUI for a PC and as a Java-based interface for use across the Internet, or intranets. Modules The different product modules available from JD Edwards are: Foundation Suite: Consists of Back Office, CASE Foundation, Environment/ Toolkit, Financial Analysis Spreadsheet Tool and Report Writer, World Vision GUI, Electronic Burst & Bind. Financial Suite: Consists of General Accounting, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets, Financial Modeling and Budgeting, Multi-Currency Processing, Cash Basis Accounting, Time Accounting)
Logistics/Distribution Suite: Consists of Forecasting, Requirements Planning, Enterprise Facilities Planning, Sales Order Management, Advanced Pricing, Procurement, Work Order Management, Inventory Management, Bulk Stock Management, Quality Management, and Advanced Warehouse. Management: Consists of Equipment Management, Transportation Management, Job Cost and Service Billing Services Suite: Contract Billing, Subcontract Management, Change Management, and Property Management. Manufacturing Suite: Consists of Configuration Management, Cost Management, Product Data Management, Capacity Planning, Shop Floor Management, and Advanced Maintenance Management) Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Mining and Real Estate Suite: Consists of Procurement, Inventory Management, Equipment Management, Job Cost, Work Order Management, Subcontract Management, Change Management, Contract Management, Contract Billing, Service Billing, Homebuilder Management, and Property Management. Energy and Chemical Suite: Consists of Agreement Management, Advanced Stock Valuation, Sales Order Management, Bulk Stock Management, and Load and Delivery Management. Government, Education, and Not-for-Profit Solutions: Consist of Financial Administration and Reporting, Budget Administration, Fund and Encumbrance Accounting, Grant and Endowment Management, Purchasing and Material Management, Warehousing and Central Stores Management, Human Resources Management, Service and Work Order Management, Capital Project and Construction Management, Contract Management, Plant, Equipment, and Fleet Maintenance. Utility and Energy Solutions: Consists of Customer Information System, Human Resources Management, Work Management, Regulatory Reporting, Supply Chain Management, Project Management, Enterprise Maintenance Management. JD Edwards offers customers the means of achieving greater ongoing control of their businesses. It is enabled by their ability to define and redefine the way they do business as markets, customers and competitive conditions change. Behind this customer commitment is a twenty-two year history of listening to customers, understanding what they ask of business technology. At the same time learning the problems and requirements of their industry and developing solutions accordingly. By emphasizing solutions, relationships, and value, JD Edwards maintains its focus on what truly matters to its customers.
6) What is BAPI? Why BIAP is considered as commanding tool in the SAP consultants toolkit?
Business Models and BAPIs A company's business model is usually referred as revenue architecture that consists of major value creation principles. This business model describes revenue sources and the way the company organizes its activities to profitably exploit these sources. With the current business model, companies can achieve the better business results which includes lower the amount of waste, reduce errors, increase delivery speeds and so on. The change in current business model provides new ways to fulfill orders, create products and service customers.
ERP Business Modeling is a well-defined approach to arrive at full and specified descriptions of the business processes that are supported with the new ERP package. ERP Business Modeling emphasize on managing the group decision-making process for developing the required process descriptions. This process also highlights on employing a systems and modeling-oriented perspective to look at different functions as one integrated whole. ERP Business Modeling can be called as process facilitation approach rather than an expert approach. Here, the client plays a leading role in the whole business modeling process. Although clients have an in-depth knowledge of their business processes, they lack in identifying the overall view and the relationships between the business processes. External expertise will only be used if explicitly desired by the client. The major role of consultants is to assist the clients project team in gathering that information to construct a well-understood model of the business processes which are to be supported by the new ERP package. This can be achieved with the help of workshop and group facilitation techniques For example, with the help of Intellicorp Inc.'s Live Model, implementation teams are able to review and simulate changes to the SAP R/3 application Reference Model that provides views of R/3 processes, data models and functions. Any changes made to the Reference Model are stored in the Live Model repository which can further be audited and changed on demand. Furthermore, because Live Model is OLE compliant, the R/3 models can be manipulated and documented through desktop OLE applications such as Microsoft Word. The Open ERP business model is developing popularity in enterprise management. A Global Business Process Model is also developed, which comprises the whole ERP software product. This model is imposed in three levels. They are System Configuration Level: This level scopes on high-level optionality on the entire system and is static. The high-level option of the ERP system is chosen for the organization, which cannot be made undone at any stage. Object Level: This level scopes on single data objects and is more dynamic. Occurrence level: This level analyses single process occurrences and is very dynamic. This level elaborates on object parameters. Further, the optional levels of ERP modeling are used to reverse engineer the ERP system and the organizational structure. The right way to align both ERP and organizational models is as follows: Convert the ERP system database to an object model. Construct a global business process model. Identify the system configuration-level business process alternatives. Identify the object-level variants of the business processes. Expose the occurrence-level business process options. Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI)
BAPI (Business Application Programming Interface) is a set of interfaces to object-oriented programming methods that enable a programmer to integrate third-party software into the proprietary R/3 product from SAP. For specific business tasks such as uploading transactional data, BAPIs are implemented and stored in the R/3 system as remote function call (RFC) modules.[2] BAPI is the most dominant tool in the SAP consultants toolkit. It is one of a set of tools for interfacing with an SAP R/3 system. The priority of BAPI is calling data in and out of SAP. For the SAP consultant, BAPIs are the small, powerful ships that keep these barges of data moving. SAP's R/3 system is now open by releasing the specifications for some 170 business application programming interfaces (BAPIs). This helped third-party applications interact with R/3 directly. BAPIs can be called as sets of methods that allow external applications to collaborate with specific R/3 business objects such as customers, accounts, or employees. As R/3 data is addressable through callable methods, BAPIs gives flexibility to the third party application vendors to build supporting applications for the R/3 system. In similar way, Baan offers OrgWare which is based on integrated business-modeling tool, combined with business-specific templates that automate the configuration of the software to suit specific operational needs. Baan is in the process of advancing this tool with new setup wizards to accelerate software implementation on the Windows NT platform.

Final MI0038 - Enterprise Resource Planning

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Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 4 MI0038 Enterprise Resource Planning -4 Credits (Book ID: B1324)

NAME ROLL NO. LEARNING CENTER CODE

Kunal Mhatre 581111279

1) Why are ERP systems said to be flexible? Explain with an example.

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