Enterprise Business Processes and Reporting

(IS 6214)

MBS MIMAS

20th Jan 2010

Fergal CartonBusiness Information Systems

Last week

• Evolution of ERP from MRP

• ERP are used for visibility = control

• Revenue versus expenditure cycle

• Main modules of ERP

This week

• Degrees of integration• Families of information systems• ERP and reporting• Decision support• Compare plan to actual• Data cubes• Types of data• Data collection

Degrees of integration

• 1st degree: people talk to one another (informal)

• 2nd degree: exchange of documents

• 3rd degree: integrated systems shared by several functional areas

• 4th degree: single integrated system shared by the whole firm

Families of Information Systems

• IS can be regarded as an umbrella name for the following systems:

–Transaction Processing Systems (eg. ERP)

–Reporting tools (eg. Data Warehouse)

–Decision Support Systems (eg. Business Intelligence)

ERP Reports• Based on hard reports – lists of transactions

• Originally targeted at middle managers

• each report took too long to create (hard coded); information was not refined enough; there was too much of it

• Not flexible

• Onerous in terms of processing

Different types of report exist:

• Scheduled reports (produced periodically)

• Exception reports (produced when something unusual happens)

• Demand (ad-hoc) reports (specific reports requested by a user)

ERP Reports

Decision Support Systems

• set of tools provided to managers to assist them in solving problems in their own, personalised way.

• not all data computer generated

• support manager as opposed to replace them

• originally targeted at top managers

• interactive and flexible

What is a Decision?

Current State ofthe World

More Desirable(Future) State

< >

Decision Problem or“what to do to reduce the difference?”

Figure 1: The Decision Problem

Data for monitoring activities• Norm or budget is put together:

– based on experience, gut feeling or statistical analysis

– corresponds to expected levels

• the more complete the model the more complete the monitoring

• measurement methods and procedures are also put together:

• the structure of the budget tells you what data to collect

Decisions compare plan to actual

• Compare

– Plan

to

– Actual figure

• Decide on course of action

Example : sales figures• Sales dashboard is a key tool:

– Allocate responsibility for poor performance with more accuracy– Break down per product / market– Present both volumes, gross revenues and contribution figures

• Use colour coding to indicate where results are good or bad

• Use sales maps for visual impact• Comparison with:

– Budget figures (e.g. weekly figures)– Competitors– Previous period– Same period previous year in case of seasonality

Example of data cubes

A B C D EProducts

SalesVolumes

Direct costsContribution

Profit

A B C D EProducts

SalesVolumes

Direct costs

ContributionProfit

FRANCE

GERMANY UK

USAJanuary

February

JanuaryFebruary

JanuaryFebruary

JanuaryFebruary

Types of data 1

• Volume data (production)• consumption data (raw material, packaging…)• personnel data• maintenance data• time related measurements• productivity data• All form the basis of the calculations used to

monitor manufacturing activities• …

Type of data 2• Primary data:

– taken straight from the floor (input and output)– e.g. production, consumption, labour, maintenance– ad-hoc reports - e.g. accidents, defects

• Secondary data or calculated data:– allocated costs– productivity– pay bonuses– variances

• High level data:– investigations of variances– soft information about staff morale etc...

Type of data : Cucina

• What are the types of data you have for Cucina?

Type of data : static

• What are the types of data you have for Cucina?

Ingredient Unit CIA

200

Flour g 200Olive Oil ml 10Salt g 6Sugar g 2Yeast g 4Water ml 275

Material Unit Inve

nto

ry 3

1/12

/08

Supplier Co

st p

er U

nit

Flour Kg 40 Farino Fratelli 0.65Olive Oil L 30 Farino Fratelli 9.45Salt Kg 5 Musgrave's 1.25Sugar Kg 6 Musgrave's 1.10Yeast Kg 5 Musgrave's 32.00

ID Name Address 1 Address 2666803 Topaz Blackrock Castle Filling Station Blackrock 821638 Topaz Riverstick Dunkettle Road Riverstick671102 Topaz Marina Marina Service Station Center Park Road495450 Topaz Straight Road O'Reilly's Carrigrohane Road917750 Topaz Lady's Well O'Reilly's Service Station Leitrim Street299088 Topaz Wilton Wilton Motors Wilton

Code Description Unit weight (g)CIA200 Ciabatta (200g) 200CIA200-P Ciabatta Panino (200g) 200CIA300 Ciabatta (300g) 300CIA300-WW Ciabatta Whole Wheat (300g) 300CIA300-M Ciabatta Marjoram (300g) 300CIA300-L Ciabatta Latte (300g) 300FOC190 Focaccia (190g) 190FOC240 Focaccia (240g) 240FOC85 Baby Focaccia (85g) 85FOC80-G 5"Garlic Focaccia (80g) 80FOC80-CO 5"Cheese & Onion Focaccia (80g) 80FOC80-TH 5"Tomato & Herb Focaccia (80g) 80FOC300-TH 8"Tomato & Herb Focaccia (300g) 300

Type of data : dynamic

• What are the types of data you have for Cucina?

Date Customer Product Qty (cases)01/11/2008 Topaz Douglas Ciabatta (200g) 3

(weekly order, every Sat) Ciabatta Panino (200g) 2Ciabatta Whole Wheat (300g) 1Ciabatta Latte (300g) 1Focaccia (190g) 4Focaccia (240g) 2Baby Focaccia (85g) 15"Garlic Focaccia (80g) 1

Type of data: soft information

• Data collection - – Grapevine– factory tours (talking and observing)

• Data storage -– managers’ minds– special reports

• Data usage:– ad-hoc basis– decision making

Bad data recording

• No data!• Too costly - e.g. in equipment or time• not timely - lack of speed (e.g. weekly

measure)• inaccurate (e.g. procedure not well

designed)• wrong incentive / instructions given• lack of control - open to dishonesty

Data storage

• Series of ad-hoc systems manual and computer-based (spreadsheet, filed forms…)

• Dedicated databases for manufacturing data (QC, shipping etc…)

• Process Control Systems (technical parameters)• Other specialised proprietary systems

(integration may not be easy).• ERP system with its own data structure or fed by

existing systems

Deciding what information to collect

• Information cost + overload mean not all data are useful

• Some framework can be used – e.g. Critical Success Factors (CSF)

• Questions that must be answered:– How is it measured and broken down?– How often should it be measured?– Who should know about it?– Where can the data be found?– How should it be presented?