Week 10 Discussion

Question (a):  The possible aspects which could be associated with Business Information are that Dow Corning Corporation gained efficient opportunities to do transactional processes by being able to extract the superior functionalities of the SAP BI and the system performed well and faster.  The company also got benefits such as the full automation and integration of their business processes and the sharing of common data practices around the world.  The SAP Software also gave great benefits to the company like the capabilities to merge the internal and external information and made the company take the advantage of its Strategic Enterprise Management tools and processes. 

Question (b):  The potential challenges which a large organisation can face in the future regarding the development of a Business Information approach are that they can face challenges in processing and analyzing large amounts of data and in turn make them to generate profits.  Another challenge could be the up gradation of the Business Intelligence products by the vendors’ which are basically sets of tools and technologies developed to efficiently to exploit useful information from vast amounts of data.  Another challenge which can occur is the adoption of this Business Information software.  Challenges include high costs and the need for the BI systems to incorporate and interoperate with many corporate data sources.

Question (c):  In my opinion, Dow Corning Corporation can be a suitable candidate for a shared services approach because the company had previous sucess with their SAP Business Information Software and achieved great beneifts and competitiveness.  The company has the capability to leverage its skills and technology to get connected with R/3 implementation to benefit the speedy scale-up of data warehouse capabilities.  The company has opportunities to explore software-evaluation process.  According to the company, the data warehouse is seen as an important infrastructure and it can help businesses connect the gap between operations and strategies.

 

Week 9 Discussion

Answer to the Question: 

An ERP implementation project is often a very complex and difficult project and involves the implementation of a new Information System (IS) together with the realignment of work processes.  Most often, it is the biggest Information System project ever implemented in an organization.  The project is very risky because it engages difficulties, large size, high costs, a big development team and a strict time schedule.  The one factor which has an influence over organizational success and which supports strategies is a strategic IS application.  However, such an application can exploit a big threat for the organization.  A non-strategic application involves organizational tasks which are not important for success.  Therefore, it does not become a threat to the company.  On the other hand, an ERP system is very much strategic because it integrates all the processes of the organization and at the same time, the system comprises of a significant number of non-strategic applications.  Other factors include hiring consultants to implement the software package which involves the scope of the system, the experience and know-how of the Information System unit in implementing similar systems and the previous experiences of the consultants.  An ERP project also needs high skilled human resources during the actual implementation phase who are not needed in later procedures.  Many organizations tend to employ consultants to implement the ERP system and also to get better advices from the experts of the consulting team who have participated in other ERP implementation projects.   

Week 8 Discussion

Answer to Question 1(a):  MRP stands for Manufacturing Resource PLanning which incorporates the following tasks like identifying stocks, the time to achieve the stocks from the suppliers, calculation of stock levels, calculation of order quanitites, production of purchase orders in the right amounts etc.  The evolution of manufacturing system shows the reordering of stocks by using a re-order point to systems which accepted production schedules to meet the needs of the customers.  However, the previous manufacturing systems also had some big problems like lack of integration between production planning, sales, purchasing and accounting etc.  Production must meet the demands of expected sales levels.  Otheriwse, there might not be enough inventories to meet those demands.  ERP, on the other hand, integrates the business processes and realign the supply chain so that the customers’ can easily access the needed information about their desired products and services.  ERP systems incorporates the supply chain and the manufacturers are able to sell products straight to the customers.  Regarding the matter of accepting an ERP system by a non-manufacturing company, it can adopt an ERP system because ERP system’s revolutionized the business processes and most of the processes has been automated and can be easily done without the need manufacturing resource planning.  Since, it is a non-manufacturing company we are talking about, most of the processes like finance, marketing, human resources can be done by the ERP system with integrated modules which involves very less manufacturing processes.  The ERP system can adapt with the business processes of the company and realign the tasks without any major changes within the system.  

Answer to Question 1(b):  We can see from the history of manufacturing system that they were created to help high-volume production of products.  These manufacturing systems used huge databases and they were created to implement production plans to meet demands.  HOwever, if production were over produced then the excessive inventories were a problem.  HOwever, in the later years, the manufacturing system changed.  Suppliers had to create new products and services to meet the customer’s expectations.  Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) were invented to provide continuous feedback and management over manufcaturing processes in order to estimate the chanmging market needs.  MES offered parts to manage machine resources, to increase prosduction schedules, to control workforce, to control labor and to automate documentation flow.  In the ’90s, ERP systems were invented to incor[porate manufacturing processes with other busines processes.  ERP ssytems control the processes across the supply chain in order to meet the customer’s need for information about products and services.  So, we can say that, manufacturing systems have been the basis for ERP systems. 

Answer to Question 3: 

• HUman Resources is related to Production Planning and Material MAnagement because organizations hire people to organiza tasks in the production planning.  People work together in the production process and at different areas to meet the deadlines of gthe customer’s and to ensure that the products are delivered on time.  THey are also heplful in Material Management because they have to make the recipe of materials neede to make products which is also known as BOM (Bill of Materials).  ALso, they have to calculate stock levels, order quantities, purchase orders etc. 
• Sales and Distribution is related because Production has access to sales estimation.  So, people can determine how much sale has been made and how much are the expectations. 
• Financial Accounting is related because purchasing maintains seller’s data which are categorized jointly with Finaancial Accounting.