IT: Chapter 8: Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications Flashcards
Enterprise systems aka
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
Suite of integrated software modules and a common central database and collects data from many divisions of firm for use in nearly all of firm’s internal business activities
Enterprise Software
Built around thousands of predefined business processes that reflect best practices
Business Processes
- Finance/Accounting
- Human resource
- Manufacturing/Production
- Sales/Marketing
To implement Enterprise software, firms
- select functions of system they wish to sue
- map business processes to software processes
ERP increases
operational efficiency
ERP provide
firm-wide information to support decision making
ERP enable
rapid responses to customer requests for information or products
ERP include
analytical tools to evaluate overall organizational performance
ERP improves
managing decisions
Enterprise systems allow senior management
to easily find out at any moment how a particular organizational unit is performing, determine which products are most or least profitable, and calculate costs for the company as a whole
Supply Chain
a network of organizations and business processes for procuring raw materials, transforming these materials into intermediate and finished products, and distributing the finished products to customers.
Upstream Supply Chain
Firm’s suppliers, supplier’s suppliers, and the processes for managing relationships with them
Downstream Supply Chain
consists of organizations and processes for distributing and delivering products to the final customers
Internal Supply Chain
transforming materials, components, and services furnished by their suppliers into finished products or intermediate products (components or parts) for their customers and for managing materials and inventory
Inefficiencies caused by
inaccurate or untimely information
Inefficiencies example
parts shortages, underutilized plant capacity, excessive finished goods, high transportation costs
Inefficiencies can waste up to
25% of company’s operating costs
Just-in-time strategy
components would arrive exactly at the moment they were needed and finished goods would be shipped as they left the assembly line.
Safety stock
acts as a buffer for lack of flexibility in supply chain
Safety stock deals with uncertainties and unforeseen events by
keeping more material or products in inventory than what they think they may actually need
Bullwhip effect
Information about product demand gets distorted as it passes from one entity to next across supply chain.
Bullwhip effect can be tamed by
reducing uncertainties about demand and supply when all members of the supply chain have accurate and up-to-date information
Supply chain software classified as
- Supply Chain planning systems
- Supply Chain execution systems
Supply chain planning systems
enable the firm to model its existing supply chain, generate demand forecasts for products, and develop optimal sourcing and manufacturing plans
Demand planning
determines how much product business needs to make to satisfy all of its customers’ demands.
Supply Chain execution systems
manage the flow of products through distribution centers and warehouses to ensure that products are delivered to the right location in the most efficient manner