Mis Notes Siddharth

8/10/2019 Mis Notes Siddharth

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MIS NotesCompiled by Sunil Saxena 1

1. Foundation System and MIS

Information System:

A system is a collection of collaborated components that are arranged to work simultaneously toachieve the specified goal, e.g. computer system, college system etc.Information system is a collection of people, software, hardware, and network which aims tocollect the data and transfer it for end user.

An Information System (IS) is a product of analysis of data. It collects, processes, stores,analyzes and disseminates information for specific purpose. It processes the inputs (data,instructions) and produces outputs (reports, calculations) that are sent to the user or to othersystem. A feed back mechanism that controls the operation may be included. Like any othersystem, an IS operates within an environment. In studying information systems, it is important to

know the differences between data, information and knowledge.

Data in an organization are the figures which represent facts but not organized to convey anyspecific meaning. Data is usually collected at operational level of an organization. Thisoperational level data is not useful for managers to provide strategic information. Examples ofdata would include grade point averages, bank balances or the number of hours employeesworked in a pay period.

Information is the processed data which is representing in the form suitable to draw decisions.Any information is useful if it is represented in the right format, at the right time to the right people.Information is a collection of facts (data) organized in some manner so that they are meaningfulto a recipient. For example, if we include student names with grade point averages, customernames with bank balances and employee wages with hours worked, we would have useful

information.

Knowledge consist of information that has been organized and processed to conveyunderstanding, experiences, accumulated learning, or expertise as it applies to a currentbusiness problem or process. Information that is processed to extract critical implications and toreflect past experience and expertise provides the recipient with organizational knowledge.

To be useful to managers and the organization, information should exhibit a variety ofcharacteristics. It should be accurate, complete, flexible, reliable, relevant, timely, verifiable,


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accessible and secure. Information that is not of high quality can lead to poor decisions, costingthe organization a great deal of money.

Classification of Information Systems:

Capabilities of Information System:

Information systems must be able to do the following:1. Provide fast and accurate transaction processing.

2. Provide large-capacity, fast-access storage.3. Provide fast communications (machine to machine, human to human).4. Reduce information overload.5. Span boundaries.6. Provide support for decision making.7. Provide a competitive weapon.


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Major roles of Information System:

Computer-Based Information System:A Computer-Based Information System (CBIS) is an

information system that uses computer and telecommunications technology to perform itsintended tasks. An information technology is a particular component of a system (e.g. acomputer, a printer, or a network).

The basic components of CBIS are as follows:1. Hardware: a set of devices such as processor, monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer etc. that

accepts data, processes and displays it.2. Software: a set of computer programs that enables the hardware to process data.3. Database: an organized collection of related files or records that stores data and the

association amongst them.4. Network: a connecting system that permits sharing of resources among different

computers.5. Procedures: the strategies, policies, methods, and rules for using the information system.6. People: the most important element in information systems; includes those people who

work with the information system or use its output.


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Conceptual view of MIS:

The concept of MIS is a blend of principle, theories and practices of the Management,Information and System giving rise to single product known as Management Information System(MIS). It uses the principles of System Design, namely an open system or a closed system. Anopen system of the MIS offers an ability of continuous adjustment or correction in the system inline with the environmental changes in which the MIS operations. IS interacts with the internaland extreme environment of the business and provides a corrective mechanism to the system, sothat the changed needs of information are met effectively.

Physical view of an MIS:


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The physical view of MIS can be seen as assembly of several subsystems based on thedatabases in the organization. These subsystems range from data collection, transactionprocessing and validating, processing, analyzing and storing the information in databases. Thesubsystems could be at a functional level or a corporate level. The information is evolved throughthem for a functional or a departmental management and it provides the information for themanagement of business at the corporate level. Management information system offers solutionsto handle the complex situations of the input and output flows. MIS also uses theories ofcommunication which helps in evolving a system design, capable of handling data inputs, processand outputs with the least possible noise or distortion in transmitting the information from sourceto destination.

MIS Definitions:An MIS gives information through data analysis. The foundation of MIS is the principles of

management and its practices.

MIS has more than one definition; some of them are given below:1. The MIS is defined as a system, which provides information support for decision making

in the organization.2. The MIS is an integrated system of man and machine for providing information to support

the operations, the management and the decision making function in the organization.3. The MIS is defined as a system based on the database of the organization evolved for

purpose of providing information to the people in the organization.4. The MIS is defined as a Computer-based Information System.


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In order to get a better grip on the activity of information processing, it is necessary to have aformal system which should take care of the following points:

Handling of a voluminous data.Confirmation of the validity of data and transaction.

Complex processing of data and multidimensional analysis.Quick search and retrieval.Mass storage.Communication of the information system to the user on time.Fulfilling the changing needs of the information.

The MIS uses computers and communication technology to deal with these points of supremeimportance.

Role of MIS:

The system ensures that an appropriate data is collected from the various sources,processed and sent further to all the required destinations. The system is expected tofulfill the information needs of an individual, a group of individuals, the managementfunctionaries the managers and the top management.

The MIS satisfies the diverse needs through a variety of systems such as QuerySystems, Analysis Systems, Modeling Systems and Decision Support Systems. The MIShelps in Strategic Planning, Management Control, Operational Control and TransactionProcessing.

The MIS helps the clerical personnel in the transaction processing and solves theirqueries on the data pertaining to the transaction, the status of a particular record andreferences on a variety of documents.

The MIS helps the junior management personnel by providing the operational data forplanning, scheduling and control, and helps them further in decision making at theoperational level to correct an out of control situation.

The MIS helps the middle management in short term planning, target setting andcontrolling the business functions. It is supported by the use of management tools ofplanning and control.

The MIS helps the top management in goal setting, strategic planning and evolving thebusiness plans and their implementations.

The MIS plays the role of information generation, communication, problem identificationand helps in the process of decision making. The MIS, therefore, plays an important rolein the management, administration and operations of an organization.

Impact of MIS:

Since the MIS plays a very important role in the organization, it creates an impact on theorganizations functions, performance and productivity.


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The impact of MIS on the functions is in its management. With a good MIS support, themanagement of marketing, finance, production and personnel becomes more efficient.The tracking and monitoring of the functional targets becomes easy.

A disciplined information reporting system creates a structured database and aknowledge base for all the people in the organization. The information is available in sucha form that it can be used straight away or by blending and analysis, saving the

managers valuable time. It uses a dictionary of data, entity and attributes, respectively designed for information

generation in the organization to bring clarity in the communication and a similarunderstanding of an event in the organization.

The MIS systemizes the business operations streamlining the complex operations for aneffective system design.

It helps indirectly to pull the entire organization in one direction towards the corporategoals and objectives by providing the relevant information to the people in theorganization.

MIS creates an information-based work culture in the organization to reduce the time andmanpower en00gaged in recording, searching, processing and communicating.

MIS and Decision Making Concepts:Decision making concepts has following characteristics:1. Sequential in nature.2. Exceedingly complex due to risks and trade offs.3. Influenced by personal values.4. Made in institutional settings and business environment.

A decision making process has following phases:1. Intelligence2. Design3. Choice

Intelligence includes activities to identify problem situations or opportunity situations requiringdesign and choice. The important aspects of intelligence and design are as follows:

1. Problem finding2. Problem formulation3. Design of Alternatives

Problem finding is defined as finding a difference between some existing condition and desiredstate. Problem formulation is to clarify the problem so that design and code act on the rightproblem.A model of decision making which tells the user how to make decisions is normative orprescriptive. A model which tells how decisions are actually made is descriptive. If the model


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developed is useful in generating the decision alternative, he then further moves into phase ofselection called a choice.In the phase of choice, the manger applies a selection criterion to the various decisionalternatives and the one which satisfies the most is selected.In these three phases, if the manager fails to reach a decision, he starts the process all overagain.

There are two types of system based on the managers knowledge about the environment. If the manager operates in a known environment then it is a closed decision making system. Theconditions of the closed decision making system are:

1. The manager has a known set of decision alternatives and knows their out comes fully interms of value if implemented.

2. The manager has a model, a method or a rule where by the decision alternatives can begenerated, tested and ranked.

3. The manager can choose one of them, based on some goal or objective.The closed systems are deterministic and rule based; therefore, the design needs to have limitedflexibility.If the manager operates in an environment not known to him, then the decision making system istermed as an open decision making system. The conditions of this system are:

1. The manager does not know all the decision alternatives.

2. The outcome of the decision is also not known fully. The knowledge of the outcome maybe a probabilistic one.

3. Mo method, rule or model is available to study and finalize one decision among the set ofdecision alternatives.

4. It is difficult to decide an objective or a goal and, therefore, the manager resorts to thatdecision, where his aspirations or desires are met best.

In an open system, the design should be flexible to tope up with the changes required from timeto time.The MIS tries to convert every open system to a closed decision making system by providinginformation support for best decision. The process of the decision making is sequential and achain of decisions achieves the end objectives.

Decision Support System:

A Decision Support System (DSS) is an information system application that assistsdecision making. It is an application of Herbert Simon Model which has three phases;Intelligence, Design and Choice. DSS is used in planning, analyzing alternatives and trial anderror search for solutions. DSS represent a significant class of MIS applications. The decisionsupport system is a class of system which is used as a support in decision making. It helps ismaking a decision and also in its performance evolution. The decision support systems havefollowing attributes:

1. Flexibility: DSSs are flexible.2. Simple models: DSSs use simple models of decision making.3. Database: DSS calls for several inputs from database(s).

Advantages of DSS:1. It is used in sensitizing the decisions and assessing its implications on the result or

business performance.

2. It focuses on the critical issues in business.3. It provides higher management ability to delegate decision making to the lower level.

If the decision making process is centralized at a higher level, then the information technologychoice will weigh heavily in favor of the distributed data acquisition system and the centralizedhigh and information processing system for decision support.If the decision making process is decentralized, the information technology choice will weigh infavor of those systems where the acquisition processing, analysis and decision making will bedistributed at nodal points.There are other business situations where due to sensitive nature of the business, decisionmaking is concentrated at one business location or in one of the business functions such as


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marketing, research and development, manufacturing, etc. The decision making need is satisfiedby query type applications. The decision making style and the mission critical applications are theimportant factors.

Facts about DSS:

The DSSs are developed by the users and system analysts jointly.

The DSS uses the principles of economics, science and engineering, and the tools andtechniques of management.

The data used in the DSS is drawn from the information system developed in thecompany.

The DSSs are developed in isolation and form an independent system subset of themanagement information system.

The most common use of the DSS is to test the decision alternatives and also to test thesensitivity of the result to change the system and assumptions.

The data and information for the DSSs are used from the internal sources such as thedatabase and the conventional files, and from external sources.

Types of Decision Support System:1. Status inquiry systems.

2. Data analysis systems.3. Information analysis systems.4. Accounting systems.5. Model based systems.

Components and Structure of a DSS:1. Data management: The data management component includes a specially constructed

database or set of files that contains relevant data for decision situation and is managedby a DBMS.


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2. User interface: the user interface subsystem enables the user to communicate with andthe DSS.

3. Model management: These components include software with financial, statistical,management science, or other quantitative models, which provide the systems analyticalcapabilities and an appropriate software management program to manage the models.

4. Knowledge management: This subsystem can support any of the other subsystems oract as an independent component, providing knowledge for the solution of the specificproblem. It is available in only some DSS.

MIS and the Role of DSS:

The DSS is a special class of system which is used as a support in decision making.

These systems use data from the general MIS and are used by a manager or a decisionmaker for decision support. The basic characteristic of the decision support system is thatit is based on some toll, technique or model.

The DSS could be an internal part of the MIS. For example in case of order processing,the embedded DSS will accept or reject the order based on the CRISIL, credit rating,availability of stock and so on.

The MIS designer has to look for all such situations and design the DSS or the integrationin the system.

Decisions like new product launch, change of product design or change in themanufacturing process are strategic decisions which require critical analysis of data,careful evaluation of various alternatives and selecting one of them for implementation onthe given criteria.

The DSS plays an important role in the management information system, as a support todecision making.

MIS organization with company:An organization is a stable, social structure that takes resources from the environment and

process then to produce output. There are various business strategies such as overall companygrowth, product, market financing and so on. The MIS is supposed to provide current informationon the status of the business in relation to the goals. MIS is supposed to give a status with regard

to whether the business is on a growth path or is stagnant or is likely to decline. The continuousassessment of business progress in terms of sales, market, quality, profit and its directionbecomes the major role of MIS. MIS for the top management relies heavily on database with areexternal to the organization. The roles of the MIS in top management are summarized as below:

Decide the goals and objectives.

Determine the correct status of the future business and projects.

Provide the correct focus for the attention and action of the management.

Evolve, decide and determine the mix of the strategies.

Evaluate the performance and give a critical feedback on the strategic failuresThe type, the size and the structure of corporate organization becomes the basis for the MIS

organization for handling the MIS function and management alternative. The major issuesinvolved are:-

Whether the function should be candled as a centralized or decentralized activity.

The allocation of the hardware and software resources

The maintenance of the service level at an appropriate level.

Fitting the organization of the MIS in the comrade organization, its culture and themanagement philosophy.


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Management Information and the Systems Approach:MIS is an arrangement of data processing and information system in an orderly manner

to support the management in achieving the business objectives. The MIS concentrate on thequality of input satisfying the parameters like impartiality, validity, reliability, consistency and age.The MIS provides a system for data processing and data analysis. The MIS is a combination ofthe deterministic and the closed systems and the probabilistic and the open systems.

The MIS as an open system supports the organization in the functioning of the othersystems. Irrespective of the organization structure, the industry or the business, public or privatesector the MIS is a model consisting of the various subsystems. The subsystems are shown asfollows:

A good MIS is founded on the in-depth system analysis of the business and managementprocesses.

Positive and Negative Impacts of Information Systems

Positive Impacts Negative Impacts

1Calculations & paper work much faster thanpeople.

Information systems may eliminate jobs.

2More details about customers/purchasepatterns.

Privacy violations.

3

Information systems provide new efficienciesthrough service such as ATMS, telephonesystems or computer controlled airplanesand air terminals.

Information systems are used in so manyaspects of everyday life that systemoutlays can cause shutdown of businessor transpiration services paralyzingcommunities.

4

Information systems have made possible

new medical advances in surgery, radiologyand patient monitoring.

Heavy users of information systems may

suffer repetitive stress, injury, techno-stress and other health problems.

5The internet distributes information instantlyto millions of people across to millions ofpeople across the world.

The internet can be used to distributeillegal copies of software, books articlesand other intellectual property.


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2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Various known facts related to customer are as follows:1. It costs six times more to sell to a new customer than to sell to an existing customer.2. A typical dissatisfied customer will tell eight to ten people about his or her experience.

3. A company can boost its profits 85% by increasing its annual customer retention by only5%.

4. The odds of selling a product to a new customer are 15%, whereas the odds of selling aproduct to an existing customer are 50%.

5. 70% of complaining customers will do business with the company again if it quickly takescare of a service chaos.

6. More than 90% of existing companies do not have the necessary sales and serviceintegration to support e-commerce.

Because of these facts related to customers, most of business organizations are adoptingcustomer relationship management (CRM) as a major customer centric business strategy. Theidea of retaining existing customers by continuously satisfying them and keeping them satisfiedwith the product gave rise to the idea of CRM. CRM consists of People, Process & Technology,bounded together to give highest customer satisfaction and thus helps in retaining customer.

The idea of retaining and satisfying existing customer is advantageous in following ways:1. An existing customer if satisfied with the service will give an optimistic view of the product

to some new people thus enabling more chances of new customer.2. If the customers are satisfied, we have a collection of customer, who acts as ready

marketing targets in the case of any new product being launched by the company.

CRM uses information technology to create a cross-sectional enterprise system that integratesand automates many of the customer serving processes in sales, marketing and product servicesthat interact with the companys customer. CRM systems are also used to create an IT frameworkthat integrates all of these processes with the rest of companys business operations. CRMsoftware provides the tools that enable a business and its employees to provide fast, convenient,

dependable and consistent service to its customers. The figure shows major applicationcomponents in CRM system.

CRM is a strategy used to learn more about customers needs and behaviors in order to developstronger relationships with them. It is a process that will help bring together many pieces ofinformation about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness & responsiveness and markettrends.


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The CRM programmers typically include:1. Sales and distribution: CRM software tracks customer contracts and other business and life

cycle events of customer for cross-selling and up-selling. CRM actually relies upon adatabase which helps in storing various details of the customer and their behavioral patternswith the company. This will help in making certain customers as a target to sales anddistribution thus saving the time and cost for searching new customers.

2. Direct marketing & fulfillment: CRM software can automate tasks such as qualifying leads,managing responses, scheduling sales contracts and providing information to prospects andcustomers. CRM helps in maintaining various qualities of the customer like their buyinghabits, their annual income etc. Such attributes helps in targeting a set of customers formarketing any new product etc.

3. Customer Service and Support: CRM helps customer services managers quickly create,assign and manage service requests. This helps in providing customer oriented serviceswhich improves the image of the company in front of the customer and thus helps insatisfaction and retention of new customers.

CRM has following life cycle:1. Acquire2. Enhance

3. RetainStage no 1: ACQUIREIn this stage the CRM acquires new customer i.e. details regarding any new user or customer isstored in database.Stage no 2: Enhance:Once a customer is acquired, by using CRM enhance the relationship between the customer andcompany.Stage no 3: Retain:Once a customer is enhanced, he should be retained by providing him with various services asrequired by him

CRM is used for following applications:1. To identify and target their best customers.

2. To enable real-time customization and personalization of products and services basedcustomer wants, needs, buying habits, and life cycles.3. To keep track of when a customer contacts the company, regardless of the contact point4. To provide a consistent customer experience and superior service and support across all

contact points a customer chooses.

Different types of data CRM projects collect:1. Responses to campaigns.2. Shipping and fulfillment dates.3. Sales and purchase data.


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4. Account information.5. Web registration data.6. Service and support records.7. Demographic data.8. Web sales data.

Benefits of CRM:1. CRM allows a business to identify and target their best customers who are profitable to

business.2. CRM enables real-time customization and personalization of products and services based on

customer wants, needs, buying habits and life cycles.3. CRM can also keep track of when a customer contacts the company, regardless of the

contact point.4. CRM enables a company to provide a consistent customer experience and superior service

and support across all the contact points and customer chooses.

Types of CRM:Operational CRM: These are CRM's which are used to support various OLTP systems like ERP.These are systems which help in maintaining the proper function of operational systems and atthe same time taking storing important facts regarding the usage of CRM.

E.g. of operational CRM's are1. SAP CRM:

This CRM is widely used with the ERP known as SAP. The integration of SAP CRM hasto be done with the normal SAP R/3 architecture. Once integrated, it will help inmaintaining all the customer requirements.

2. Seibel CRM:Most stable CRM which can be integrated with any type of system referred overall itsrivals.

Analytical CRM: This CRM mainly depends on database which stores data related to customer .Itis on this data on which analysis is done to determine patterns which will be useful inunderstanding the satisfaction level of the customer and the importance of the customer to theorganization.

Collaborative CRM: This CRM are used to maintain the work process of an organization. Anyorganization is a trend mixture of people and process. This type of CRM helps in automating theprocess by including workflow. E.g. Remedy is a CRM which provides various modules like:

i. Helpdesk module: used to maintain the helpdesk or working of company. E.g. suppose inan IT company, if the personal computer of certain person is not working, then theemployee can use Remedy system to launch a ticket which will be routed to appropriateperson who can then solve the problem of employee.

ii. Change Request Module: This module of Remedy is mainly used for maintaining thechange request of the employees of company.

Portal based CRM: This type of CRM is web based .Most of the companies launching variousproducts do provide interactive web based CRM which can be used by the customers whenever

he faces some difficulty. This is most efficient way of maintaining CRM because the requirementsexcepted from the customer are minimal like PC and internet facility.

Case study of Successful Implementation:Company details:Telestra is a leading company in electronics and networking in Australia.

Problem facedThe company having its headquarters in Melbourne has faced serious problems with respect tocustomer related services.


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The problem was that was potential users of Telestra products were widely spreadbut their were no enough centers available to support them as a result they were loosing certaingood amount of customer from areas which were far away from Melbourne.

Seibel CRM Implementation:In order to solve the above problem Telestra implemented the Seibel CRM.They established 20 centers all over Australia and had nearly 120 people working in call centersto provide customer oriented service.

Result of Implementation:After few months of implementation the CEO of Telestra came out with the news that thecustomer base has increased by many times the initial capacity and profit and revenue of thecompany has increased manifold.

Conclusion:Thus by implementing Seibel CRM across various parts of the country, Telestra earned goodprofit and increased customer base.

Case study of Unsuccessful implementation of CRMCase study 1:

Company details:Gevity one of the leading company in providing consumer goods.

Problem:Gevity wanted to implement a web based CRM for providing customer oriented services to itsentire customer. They already had call centers but they wanted web based CRM along withcommunicator through which all the problems of the customer can be solved.

CRM Implementation:Gevity implemented a web based CRM. The CRM was implemented internally by Gevity to meetits requirements.

Result of implementation:

The Gevity implementation of CRM failed miserably.

Reason for failure:The Gevity implementation failed because the employees of the company were not feelinginsecure about their future, because of implementation of CRM. As a result they were not activelysupporting the customer in web based CRM and possibly would ask them to again call ontelephone to solve the problem. Hence the CM did not meet the requirements for which it wascreated and hence it failed.

Case Study 2:Company details:Monster job is a company mainly working as a job portal to provide various jobs to its customer.

Problem:In order to provide various job search facilities to its customer Monster job wanted a centralsource or repository which will allow them to match appropriate jobs for appropriate clients.

CRM Implementation:In order to solve their problem Monster job implemented the web based CRM which can beassessed from anywhere.

Result of implementation:The monster job implementation of CRM failed miserably.


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Reason for failure:The reason of failure was that the CRM was not working efficiently .It took a very large amount oftime to read any data from the database and thus was not able to meet the requirements of thecustomers.

Conclusions from above two case studies are:CRM implementation can fail if:

1. It is not properly supported by the employees of the company.2. If it is not implemented properly3. Over expectation from CRM

3)Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

ERP is a business management system that integrates all facets of the business, includingplanning, manufacturing, sales and marketing. ERP is the backbone of E-business. It is a cross-functional enterprise system that serves as a framework to integrate and automate many of thebusiness process that must be accomplished within the manufacturing, logistics, distribution,according, finance and human resources functions of a business. Most business organizations

have already installed ERP systems as a vital conceptual foundation to reengineer their businessprocesses and as the software engine required to accomplish these new cross-functionalprocesses. Companies are finding major business value in installing ERP software in two ways:1. ERP creates a framework for integrating and improving their back-office systems that result in

major improvements in customer service, production and distribution efficiency.2. ERP provides cross-functional information quickly on business performance to managers to

significantly improve their ability to make better business decisions across the enterprise.It attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computersystem that can serve all those different departments particular needs. Given below is a diagramwhich illustrates some of cross-functional business process and supplier and customerinformation flows supported by ERP systems.


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ERP architecture has three basic components, the Data Management, the Application Logic andthe Presentation. These components can build with the client server role definitions. The client isa user and the server provides the services required by the user to run the system. Since the

information needs are dynamically changing the architecture required is to separate the data andits management from its application. The user requires the choice of using the data as it suits himthe most. Hence the application logic has to be separated from the data. The architecture choiceis influenced by this requirement.The architecture could be two tier or three tier as shown in figure.

The 2 tier architecture had application and data in one tier and presentation in other tier. Thiscaused a huge congestion in the network which used to connect one tier to other. Hence ERPwas implemented in 3-Tier architecture.The 3-Tier architecture consists of data, application and presentation all in three different tiers

solving the problem of network congestion.1. Data Tier: is the tier which contains the database.2. Application Tier: is the tier which is concerned with processing of data to produce the

required output.3. Presentation Tier: is concerned with displaying the data to the user.

Two things which gave rise to the success of ERP are:1. ERP is modular:

It consists of various modulesi. Sales and distribution


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ii. Financeiii. Marketingiv. Human Resourcev. Business warehouse etc

2. ERP is tightly integrated:This means changes in one module would be automatically reflected everywhere else.

These are two things which caused ERP to be implemented by many companies.

Components of Enterprise Management Systems (EMS):ERP along with other management system forms the EMS. Thus EMS has ERP as the centralcore along with other management system. The ERP plays the vital role of front running system.It is system of managing all functions of the business with information support coming throughERP.

The Electronic Data Interchanging (EDI) system assist the ERP in connecting two systemselectronically for E-mail, document transfer, data transfer, popularly known for electroniccommerce. It also acts as gateway between vendor and customer. The Computer Aided Design(CAD) / Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) / Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) systems arethe systems which handle design manufacturing and engineering functions. The AttendanceManagement System (AMS) keeps track of the employee related information for personnelplanning, availability and scheduling. The Document Management (DMS) is designed to keepimportant documents in the database for viewing, sending messages and for documentingsupport in the transaction handled. This system also provides text editing for documentmanipulation for transaction handling. The Communication Management Systems (CMS) areused for tracking important resources for action. The ERP uses the CMS, as a tool, for all itscommunication needs of recording an event. The Security Management System (SMS) handlesthe security, entity access requirement of the business operation.

ERP mainly helps in making Operational decisions. Operational decisions are short termdecisions which will change after some duration of time. While ERP cannot support strategicplanning or long term planning. This is mainly because ERP stores data which are only fewmonths old while strategic or long term decisions require data which are at least few years old.Hence ERP cannot support strategic decision making.


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Case study 1Company details:Colgate is one of the leading MNC in the world in producing toothpaste. Being one of the oldesttoothpaste producers Colgate enjoyed a wide spread consumers all over the world.

Problem faced:Since Colgate centers were distributed all over the worlds they faced a serious problem regardingmaintenance of process and single central repository of information. Even though beforeimplementation Colgate had database but the efficiency was not enough to maintain the complexreal world process. As a result Colgate found that:

1. 90% of times it gave mis-delivery to customers.2. 98 % times the goods were not delivered on time.

SAP Implementation:Colgate then decided to implement ERP for maintaining their business flow and decision. Theydecided upon and implemented the SAP R/3 ERP.

Results:Within a short span of implementing ERP Colgate found:

1. Now deliveries were on time and to the correct consumer

2. The decision making capabilities increased manifold.

Case study 2Company:Agilent technologies was one of the leading companies in IT outsourcing.

Problem faced:Agilent technologies faced the problem of integration, as of result of which they were not able tomanage the companys process.

Peoplesoft Implementation:Agilent technology implemented the Oracle Peoplesoft; the project caused 2 million dollars.

Results:The Agilent technologies implementation of ERP did not prove successful.When asked about the reason of failure to the CEO of the company he answered that ERP is agood technology but the problem with it is that it is not flexible enough to update itself accordingto organization structure.But when asked to the project manger about failure in implementation he answered that Oraclewill do its level best to make the project successful and the problem with this implementation wasno proper understanding the requirements.

Procurement Management Systems (PMS):Procurement is a strategic process for the

development of a sound purchasing set up and an effective supply base to achieve logisticsproductivity. The term procurement refers to the day-to-day management of material inflows and

information. The types of activities carried out by this function include:1. Commodity Analysis.2. Market Analysis.3. Purchase order tracking and follow-up.4. Determination of needs and specifications for internal customers.5. Transmitting forecasts of future needs to suppliers.6. Supplier performance measurement (ongoing).7. Management of supplier quantity.8. Contact management and negotiation.


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9. Management of inbound / outbound transportation.10. Price / cost analysis.

Sourcing management refers to various activities related to firms total procurement in a broaderscope. It is a cross-functional process to the firms activities such as engineering, quality, design,manufacturing, marketing, accounting, strategic planning etc. and their further integration withexternal organizations like vendors and in-bound transporters, who supply and deliver goods.Some major activities associated with sourcing management include:

1. Supplier identification.2. Supplier evaluation and selection.3. Supplier management.4. Supplier development and improvement.5. Supplier integration into ongoing process.

Thus, procurement and sourcing management is focused on getting the right product or service tothe right place and at the right time in the right quantity, in the right condition or quality, and fromthe right supplier at the right time. The major contribution of procurement in the overallperformance of logistical functions of an enterprise and supply chain processes are optimalquality, lowest possible total cost, developing and maintaining reliable and competitive suppliers,contributing to low inventories and smooth flow, and cooperating and integrating with otherfunctions. Procurement contributes in value-addition to the organization; hence, it is essential to

continuously improve procurement productivity. It includes:1. Developing enhanced internal management procedures.2. Adoption of new technologies to deal with suppliers.3. Strengthening relationships with suppliers/vendors4. Recognizing the procurement function as a crucial factor for overall customer satisfaction.

Case study of procurement management system:Client:The US Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal Housing Administration(FHA) is an agency which looks after the housing development in U.S.

Problem faced:Since the above company was dealing with respect to housing and development, the company

was finding difficulty in maintaining various commitments and obligations regarding variouscontracts.As a result the organization was facing various problems with respect to maintaining variousprocurements.

Procurement Management Implementation:To solve the above problem of procurement the HUD implemented a centralized procurementmanagement system.This centralized procurement management system was connected to various logical centers ofHUD and used to collect various data at various intervals.The main job of the PMS was to monitors commitments and obligations for Federal contracts andContract information.

Result of implementationWithin 2 months after implementation HUD was able to successfully handle all detailsThey got following advantages:

1. Monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting at the detail and summary levels for budgetexecution and business analysis

2. Automated reconciliation between the contract management system3. Elimination of manual steps, data re-entry, and reconciliation problems.4. Simplified reporting through repurposed data.


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MIS REPORT ON

PURCHASE DEPARTMENT

BISLERI MINERAL WATER COMPANY Pvt. Ltd.MIS for Purchase dept

The Purchase department of Bisleri deals primarily with the suppliers of the rawmaterials, stores department, accounts department and production department.

The following are the regular stocks required by the company.PET Resins (for bottles)Cartons (for Packing)Labels (for Identification)

HDP & LLDP (for Caps)Stationery & Advertising Material

Earlier the company used to import the raw material as local manufacturers did notmeasure up to their standards. The first local company, which became their majorsuppliers, was Pearl Plastics Pvt. Ltd. There were other suppliers who could not maintainthe required standards and were therefore changed from time to time. Reliance becametheir steady supplier since 2000. They satisfy all the requirements for PET Resins, whichis a high value material, also supplying the raw material for caps.Bisleri being a manufacturing company, the Purchase Department has to interact withprimarily Stores, Production and Accounts departments. The processes in the purchase

department are described below:The production department gives daily production data to stores-in-charge, whokeeps a stock of the inventory levels daily. For a particular month, store prepares a rawmaterial requisition slip, a copy of which is sent to the Purchase Dept. Head and to theProduction Dept. in-charge, for verification and signatures. The signed document isretained and copies are again sent to them for further action. The Purchase Departmentthen prepares a schedule of the inventory supply dates. The Purchase Orders are preparedby the purchase department and signed by the unit head. Purchase order is then sent to thesuppliers by fax or courier. A copy of the purchase order also goes to the Accountsdepartment. Purchase head does any modifications in the Purchase order and he thensends a letter to the supplier to inform him about the changes to be brought about.

When the raw material comes, it is then checked at the security gate by thesecurity officer. He then checks the invoice & bill copy and an entry is made in the gateentry book. A sample of the batch is taken by the stores and sent to the Quality CheckDepartment. Upon approval, Quality control Dept. sends a Quality Control Report tostores, and unloading or loading is done on FIFO / LIFO basis. A Delivery Challan(Goods receipt Note) (prepared by the supplier), is signed by the truck driver and thestores manager. Copies of the Delivery Challan is then retained by the store and alsogiven to the driver and at the gate while leaving. If goods are unsatisfactory, then a Goods


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Receipt Note is stamped as rejected and sanctioned by the production-in-charge (what isaccepted, rejected, etc.). The Invoice along with Excise Bills plus Delivery Challan goesto the Accounts Department. The Accounts Department checks the Bill along with thePurchase Order and schedules the payment to the supplier as per the terms and conditionsmentioned therein.

The Accounts Department also gives a weekly report to the Purchase Head. Amonthly report is prepared by the Purchase Head, which goes to the unit head. Thismonthly report contains information about the contributions by the purchase departmentto reduction of costs, and similar cost sensitive information. Also, the routine work doneduring the month and the balance payments, etc is attached along with the report.

USER LEVEL CONTEXT DIAGRAM

Quotation

Sanctioned P. O

P.O

forSi

Raw Material,Inv/Challan

Signed Copy of GRN, INV, Excise Bill

Acceptance,Pay Order (P.O)

INV/Challan

Copy of DCUnload RM onapproval of

Quality CheckReport

Sample of RM forCheck

Approval

Copy of P.ORequisition Slip

GRN, INV, Excise Bill

Material Issue Slip,Raw Material

Material RequisitionSlip

ProductionDe t

Unit Head

SecurityQuality

StoresDe t

PurchaseDe t

AccountsDe t

Supplier

Weekly Report

8

7

6

5

4

31 4 4

9

10

11

10

10

12


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DOCUMENTS

PACK

SIZEQTY

TAR

GET

PREF

ORMLAB

EL

CAR

TON

S

CUP LID RESI

N

200m

l

300m

l

400ml

RLY

500m

l

Raw Material Requisition Slip

Production In charge Head of Purchase Dept


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GE

no

Bill no/

Challa

n no

Date

of

Bill/

Chall

an

Vehi

cle

Name

of the

Perso

nbring

ing

Mart

erial

Name

of the

Suppl

ier

Time

In

Time

Out

Qua

ntity

Parti

cular

s of

the

Mate

rial

Rem

ark

Gate Entry Book


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S No. Ply Item Size of

the Box

No. of

Package

s

Art

Content

per

Package

(pieces)

Total

Qty

Delivery Challan

Phone NoSuppliers Details Purchaser Details

Stamp of Gate Entry

Date: ________ Receivers Signature

For Supplier With Stamp


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Material

Code

Description

QtyOrder

ed

QtyRecei

ved

Reason for

Rejec

tion

QtyAccep

ted

QtyRejec

ted

U/M Rate Extended

Value

Accounts

Goods Receipt NoteGRN No.:_________ Issue Date:____________ Doc No.:____________

Goods Receipt Note Date:_______________

Suppliers Name: ___________________ Challan No.__________

___________________Cash/Memo No: _______ P.O No.________

P.O Date: _______

Store Keeper____________ Inspected By_______________

Stores A/C Clark____________ Date: ___________


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Sr.No Item Description Qty Rate Total Date Specification Purchase Order No Supplier N

Date Of DeliveryPlace Of Delivery Signature

PURCHASE ORDER


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LIST OF DOCUMENTS & REPORTS

DEPARTMENT DOCUMENTS & REPORTS TO PURPOSE

1.PURCHASE DOCUMENTS:

A) Tender ..B) Purchase Order.

REPORTS:

A) Monthly ReportB) Vendor Analysis Report

SuppliersSupplier(s)

Unit HeadUnit Head

To receive Quotations,For VendorDevelopmentFor Scheduling ofSupplies

Cost Control andplanningTo identify newOpportunity in market

2.PRODUCTION DOCUMENTS:

A) Raw MaterialRequisition Slip..

REPORTS:

A) Daily Production Report.

Stores

Stores

Control of Materialflows.

Evaluate progress ofdaily activities.Update Stock Levels

3.STORES DOCUMENTS:

A) Material Issue SlipB) Gate Entry Book

C) Delivery ChallanD) Goods Receipt Note

ProductionSecurity /Account

SupplierSupplier /Prod /Account

Inventory ControlControl Document

Control DocumentControl Document

4.QUALITYCONTROL

REPORTS:A) Test Report Stores

Input Quality ControlSupplier assessment

5.ACCOUNTS REPORTS:A) Weekly P.O. status

Report Purchase

Funds analysis andPurchase planning


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Pantaloon: organisation-wide IT solution

Needing an organisation-wide IT solution to help it perform better, Pantaloon decided to

implement an ERP system from SAP.

More than eight years after it forayed into the retail business, Pantaloon Retail decided to

implement SAP to keep itself competitive in the rapidly growing Indian retail market.Store operations have never been as important to retailers as they are now. Successfulretailers are those who know that the battle for customers is only won at the frontline,which in the case of a retail chain is at its stores. Pantaloon was regularly opening storesin the metros and there was an urgent need for a reliable enterprise wide application tohelp run its business effectively. The basic need was to have a robust transaction

management system and an enterprise wide platform to run the operations, says RakeshBiyani, Director, Pantaloon. The company was looking for a solution that would bring allof its businesses and processes together. After a comprehensive evaluation of differentoptions and software companies, the management at Pantaloon decided to go in for SAP.

The Solution

Some of the qualities of SAP retail solutions are that it supports product development,which includes ideation, trend analysis, and collaboration with partners in the supplychain; sourcing and procurement, which involves working with manufacturers to fulfilorders according to strategic merchandising plans and optimise cost, quality, and speedvariables that must be weighted differently as business needs, buying plans, and marketdemand patterns change; managing the supply chain, which involves handling thelogistics of moving finished goods from the source into stores and overseeing globaltrade and procurement requirements; selling goods across a variety of channels tocustomers, which requires marketing and brand management; managing mark-downs andcapturing customer reactions, analysing data, and using it to optimise the next phase ofthe design process.

In a Nutshell

Aim : To deploy a robust transactionmanagement system and anenterprise-wide platform to runits operations.

Solution : SAP retail solution

Implemented by : SAP team with the help ofNovasoft, Singapore

Number of users : Around 1,200Time taken : About six months

Cost of

implementation: About $10 million


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The implementation

The implementation was outsourced to a third party. The implementation was done bythe SAP team with help of Novasoft which is based out of Singapore, says Biyani. Somepeople from Pantaloon also assisted in the project. About 24 qualified people worked on

this SAP implementation. SAP was chosen as the outsourcing party on a turnkey basis.This project was headed by Pantaloons Chief Information Technology Officer,ChinarDeshpande.

Three Phases

SAP implementation is not a single phase process. The project was divided into threephases.The first phase involved blueprinting existing processes and mapping them to the desiredstate. In this phase, the entire project team worked on current processes within thestructure of the organisation, analysed and drafted them. This blueprint was later used inthe formation of new states of the solution. Since the SAP would combine all theprocesses, each and every one of these had to be evaluated.

In the second phase, the SAP platform was developed with the help of Novasoftstemplate which was predefined by SAP after evaluation of Pantaloons needs andexpertise in retail solutions.The last phase in this project was for stores to switch over to the new system and forcurrent data to be ported. Before the SAP implementation, all the data was unorganised.This data had to be migrated to the new SAP application.The project was flagged off on 15th June 2005 and took about six months to finish. Itwent live at the head office on 1st January 2006. The stores went live on SAP from 1stJanuary 2006 to 30th June 2006.

About the Company

Pantaloon Retail is the flagship enterprise of the Future Group, with a presence

across multiple lines of business. The company owns and manages multipleretail formats that cater to a wide cross-section of Indian society. Headquarteredin Mumbai (Bombay), the company operates through four million square feet ofretail space, has over 140 stores across 32 cities in India and employs over14,000 people. The company registered a turnover of Rs 2,019 crore for FY2005-06.Pantaloon Retail forayed into retail in 1997 with the launching of its fashionretail chain, Pantaloons in Kolkata. In 2001, it launched Big Bazaar, ahypermarket chain. This was followed by Food Bazaar, a food and grocerychain. Next up was Central, a first of its kind located in the heart of major Indiancities. Some of its other formats include, Collection i (home improvement

products), E-Zone (consumer electronics), Depot (books, music, gifts andstationary), aLL (a Little Larger, fashion apparel for plus-size individuals), ShoeFactory (footwear) and Blue Sky (fashion accessories). It has recently launchedits e-business venture, futurebazaar.com. The group's subsidiary companiesinclude, Home Solutions Retail India Ltd, Pantaloon Industries Ltd, GalaxyEntertainment and Indus League Clothing. The group also has joint venturecompanies with a number of partners including French retailer Etam group, LeeCooper, Manipal Healthcare, Talwalkar's, Gini & Jony and Liberty Shoes.Planet Retail, a group company owns the franchisee of international brands likeMarks & Spencer, Debenhams, Next and Guess in India.


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Benefits and ChallengesThe key challenges in this project were not in the implementation. Rather, the difficultieswere faced during the data migration and in managing the interim period when the projectwas underway for about six months. Migrating unorganised data to an organised format isa challenging task.

Pantaloon has not been able to see immediate benefits from this implementation. Thisapplication certainly has long term benefits which will be seen when the performance ofvarious aspects will be analysed. It is too early to calculate RoI. We have already started

working on MAP (Merchandise Assortment Planning), Auto-Replenishment andPurchase Orders. We hope to use these systems to optimise our inventory and cut it byabout two to four weeks (depending on the line of business), says Biyani.

Maintenance & Hardware

This application is currently being used by around 1,200 employees across theorganisation. For maintaining this implementation and its related applications, Pantaloonhas an in-house team and it has outsourced ABAP resources. They are also in the processof setting up a SAP Competency Centre. The system runs on a HP Superdome server on

HP UNIX 11i and the database is from Oracle. The cost of this project was about $10million.

Future projects

After the successful implementation of SAP for its retail chain, Pantaloon plans to goahead with IT projects such as implementation of WMS with RFID, CustomerIntelligence and CRM. Inventory and Promotions Optimisation will be pursued later thisyear.


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Mercedes Benz's E-Biz Solution: The Factory Delivery

Reservation System

Linking Customers

Mercedes Benz's E-Biz Solution: The Factory Delivery Reservation System

"One of our most fundamental goals in developing the system was to strengthen and market the

Mercedes-Benz brand in the United States. The fact that we would be one of the first car

manufacturers in the United States to have a factory delivery program would be seen as a very

positive thing in this regard."

- William Engelke, Assistant Manager, IT Systems, Mercedes Benz US International, commenting on

the FDRS.

Linking Customers

By 2000, Mercedes Benz United States International (MBUSI), builder of the high-quality M-Class sportsutility vehicle (SUV), established itself as a company that also delivered superior customer services. One

such service was the delivery option where by the customer could take delivery of the vehicle at the factory

in Alabama, US.

The program called the Factory Delivery Reservation System (FDRS), enabled MBUSI to create andvalidate 1800 orders per hour. FDRS also automatically generated material requirements and Bills ofMaterial1for 35,000 vehicles per hour. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that madeFDRS possible was based on Lotus Domino2and IBM Netfinity3server4.Analysts felt that with its innovative use of the new program, MBUSI not only managed to improve itscustomer relations by providing the best service, but also demonstrated its commitment to customers bymaking them an integral part of the process. Customers were, in a way linked directly to the factory floor which was a powerful sales tool.

Background: Mbusi and its Business Challenges

MBUSI was a wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser AG.5In 1993, Daimler Benz realized that the

'Benz' brand could be extended to wider market segments. Traditionally, Mercedes Benz6appealed to older

and sophisticated customers only. Daimler Benz wanted to attract customers below 40 years of age, who

wanted a rugged vehicle with all the safety and luxury features of a Mercedes.

Daimler Benz decided to develop a SUV known as the M-Class. It expected strong demand for the new

vehicle and therefore planned to build its first car-manufacturing facilityMBUSIin the (Tuscaloosa,

Alabama) US. The MBUSI facility had many advantages. First, labor costs in the US were almost half that

of in Germany. Second, the US was the leading geographic market for SUVs.
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Third, as the vehicles were assembled in the US, they could be distributed to Canada and Mexico more

efficiently. In January 1997, the factory started production at partial capacity and by the end of the year, it

was producing at full capacity.

By 2000, the factory was rolling out around 380 vehicles per day. The new M-Class all-activity'vehicle

represented a new concept for the company.

Also, mass customization required that each vehicle be treated as a separate project, with its own Bill of

Material. To deal with these challenges, Daimler Benz decided to implement an enterprise wide

Information Technology (IT) system, with the help of IBM Global Services7.

To further strengthen the image of Mercedes Benz in the US, MBUSI planned to deliver vehicles at the

factory, becoming the first international automobile manufacturer in the US to do so. MBUSI also wanted

to enrich the customers'experience. Commented William Engelke, The factory delivery option gives

Mercedes-Benz customers something that they do not get from other automobile manufacturers which is

why we think the program will resonate with our customers. We think that having the factory delivery

program available to Mercedes customers adds to the overall experience of the customer.

The Design of FDRS

The FDRS program was proposed in the first quarter of 1998. In the third quarter of 1998, MBUSI entered

into a contract with IBM. A development team was constituted with IBM Global Solutions specialists and

IBM e-commerce developers, who worked closely with MBUSI. The program became operational by the

first quarter of 1999. The IT team at MBUSI had a clear set of functional specifications for FDRS.

However, they relied on IBM to transform the concept into an e-business solution. The FDRS was designed

in such a way that customers buying the M-Class SUV could specify that will take delivery of their new

vehicle at the factory.

They could place the order at any of the 355 Mercedes Benz dealers in the US. An authorized employee at

the dealership entered the factory delivery order the web interface.

Timing was the most important aspect of the FDRS'functionality, as it was closely linked with MBUSI's

vehicle production schedule. Mercedes Benz United States of America (MBUSA)8,based in Montvale, NJ,

was the first link in the FDRS program.

It was the point where the dealer actually placed the order. MBUSA's role was to coordinate thedistribution of vehicles to dealers across the country. Later, it had to add the order to the company's Baan

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)9system, which scheduled the order for production.

About three months before the production date, the dealer could schedule in a window, the date and time of

arrival of the customer at the factory for delivery. The window was then automatically computed by the

FDRS to give the dealer, the possible delivery dates.
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Apart from the delivery date, the customer could also specify the accessories for the car and also request a

factory tour. FDRS was based on Lotus Domino (Refer Exhibit I), Lotus Enterprise Integrator10and IBM

Netfinity servers. It also interfaced with IBM S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, Model 9672-R45 located in

Montvale, NJ (Refer Figure I). There were two Domino serversan IBM Netfinity 5500 and an IBM

Netfinity 3000.

The Design of FDRS Contd...

FIGURE I

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF FDRS

Source: MBUSI

The former that acted as the internal Domino server'was placed behind a firewall11.It replicated databases

through the firewall to the external server. The replication, which was encrypted, represented the primary

means by which the FDRS system achieved security.

Netfinity 3000 acted as an external Domino server.'It had public information and was also the primary

communication linkage for dealers. The back-end of the FDRS was equipped with an Oracle database that

updated the internal Domino server database with order information.

The updation was done using Lotus Enterprise Integrator. The data which was replicated to the internal

Domino server included lists of valid dealers and lists of order numbers.
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The Design of FDRS Contd...

When an order was placed by the dealer on the FDRS system, the data was first stored on the external

Domino server, after which it was replicated to the internal Domino server. Then it was replicated to the

back-end database via the Lotus Enterprise Integrator. Data replication between the Lotus Notes servershappened every 15 minutes and data exchange with the back-end database three times per day.

There was also a link between the back end database and an IBM S/39012mainframe based system locatedat MBUSA via a T113line. MBUSA managed the flow of vehicles to Mercedes dealers across the UnitedStates.

This mainframe based system, received new vehicle orders (as opposed to factory delivery reservationrequests) from individual dealers. The orders were then sent to MBUSI's Baan system and also to the back-end database.

The vehicle ordering and factory reservation data were coordinated with each other when the back-enddatabase uploaded the data to the internal Domino server. This coordinated the production and deliveryinformation

FDRS Implementation

One of the most challenging aspects of the implementation seemed to be the complexity of the Lotus and

Domino scripts. The development team had to group all the information from diverse systems. Commented

William Engelke, There was a substantial amount of very complex coding involved in the FDRS solution.

This application involves a lot more than having our dealers fill out a form and submitting it. There are

many things the servers have to do for the system to function properly, such as looking at calendars and

production schedules. We built a solution with some very advanced communication linkages.

FDRS Implementation Contd...

IBM faced many technical challenges during the implementation of the program. One of them was the

different timing schemes of the Lotus Notes databases and backend databases (ERP). This led to

discrepancies in the data. Domino server was a Near Real Time (NRT) Server14,and MBUSI's backend

activities were both real time15and batch processing16.Also, to get the best results, the Domino server was

an optimised subset of the ERP table set17.However, the development team achieved a balance between the

two sides'of the solution by focusing on issues of timing, error detection schemes, and alerts.

Customer Satisfaction: FDRS'Primary Benefit

MBUSI seemed to measure FDRS'success in terms of increased satisfaction of its customers. The company

also believed that the marketing and customer satisfaction aspects outweighed the significance of more

traditional cost-based benefits. Apart from the factory delivery experience, the program also offered the

customer a factory tour and ride on the off-road course at a low cost.

The company also seemed to gain strategic marketing benefits from the FDRS program, as it was able to

establish Mercedes-Benz as a premium brand. (Refer Table I for advantages of FDRS in different areas).

Customers could also visit the various tourist spots in Alabama after picking up their M-class vehicles.
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TABLE I

ADVANTAGES OF THE FDRS PROGRAM

AREA ADVANTAGES

Strategic Marketing

Benefits

FDRS was expected to improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty,

as it enriched Mercedes' customer's experience. The program also

strengthened the brand image of Mercedes in the US.

Cost Savings Development of a web-based solution enabled MBUSI to offer the

factory delivery program at substantially lower costs, due to less reliance

on administrative personnel.

Regional Economic

Development

Package Marketing the FDRS program with a ride to tourist sites,

enhanced the image of Alabama as a tourist destination.

DaimlerChrysler AG The creation of a similaralbeit smallerfactory delivery system to theEuropean Customer Delivery Center in Sindelfingen, Germany, reflected

favorably on the MBUSI business unit.

Source: MBUSI

Future of FDRS

In 2000, MBUSI planned to leverage FDRS'platform by adding a range of other services. MBUSI built an

advanced platform to create communication links to its suppliers. Through the link, MBUSI provided them

feedback on the quality of supplies it received. The dealers and suppliers had a user-ID and password,

which the system recognized.

It then routed them into the appropriate stage of the FDRS. The company also planned to extend the

innovative system to include transactional applications such as ordering materials and checking order status

on the Web. The company expected that the new system based on FDRS, would be more cost-effective

than the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)18system.

1]Bill of Material keeps track of all raw materials, parts, and subassemblies used to createa finished product.

2] A product of IBM Corp., Lotus Notes and Domino R5 are the industry's leading

client/server combination for collaborative messaging and e-business solutions.

3] The IBM Netfinity server offers solutions for file-and-print and application computingneeds.

4] A computer or device on a network that manages network resources. For example, afile server is a computer and storage device dedicated to storing files. Any user on thenetwork can store files on the server. A print server is a computer that manages one or
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more printers, and a network server is a computer that manages network traffic. Adatabase server is a computer system that processes database queries.

5] DaimlerChrysler AG was the result of a merger between two leading carmanufacturers Daimler Benz of Germany and Chrysler Corp. of the US in 1998.

6] A luxury brand of passenger cars, Sports Utility Vehicles from DaimlerChrysler.

7] IBM Global Services is the services and consultancy division of IBM Corp. that offersextensive e-business solutions.

8] MBUSA is the wholly owned US subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser.

9] ERP attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a

single computer system that can serve all those different departments' particular

needs.

10] A server-based data distribution product that enables data exchange between

Lotus Domino and a number of host and relational applications.

11]ystem designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewallscan be implemented in both hardware and software. Firewalls are frequently used toprevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to theInternet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass throughthe firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet thespecified security criteria.12] IBM S/390 servers offer direct high speed access to the e-business application and areused for Enterprise Computing.13] A dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544 Mbits per second. A T1Line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbits per

second. Each 64 Kbit per second channel can be configured to voice or data traffic.

14] NRT Server System supports real time distribution of near-real time data.15] Real time refers to events simulated by a computer at the same speed that they wouldoccur in real life.16] Executing a series of noninteractive jobs all at one time. The term dates back to thedays when users entered programs on punch cards. They gave a batch of theseprogrammed cards to the system operator, who fed them into the computer. Usually,batch jobs are stored up during working hours and then executed whenever the computeris idle. Batch processing is particularly useful for operations that require the computer ora peripheral device for an extended period of time. Once a batch job begins, it continues

until it is done or until an error occurs. Note that batch processing implies that there is nointeraction with the user while the program is being executed.17] The ERP tables are the database tables, (thousands of them), on which the package isbuilt. The programmers and end users must set these tables to match their businessprocesses. Each table has a decision switch'that leads the software down one decisionpath or another.


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Review Questions:

Student Note that, these question are just to test theconcept.

They are not question bankThey will not repeat in exam.

Q1) How do you define MIS?Q2) What is the role and purpose of MIS?Q3) How can you classify IS systems?Q4) Explain DSS?Q5) Physical and Conceptual view of MIS?

Q6) What is ERP?Q7) What is CRM?Q8) Define computer based IS?Q9) Explain ERP Architecture?Q10) Bring out relation between ERP and CRM?

Documents

Mis Notes Siddharth