SMU MBA ASSIGNMENTS

However, ERP systems have three significant limitations: Managers cannot generate custom reports or queries without help from a programmer and this inhibits them from obtaining information quickly, which is essential for maintaining a competitive advantage.

ERP systems provide current status only, such as open orders, Managers often need to look past the current status to find trends and patterns that aid better decision-making. The data in the ERP application is not integrated with other enterprise or division systems and does not include external intelligence. There are many technologies that help to overcome limitations of ERP systems. These technologies, when used in conjunction with the ERP package, help in overcoming the limitations of a standalone ERP system and thus, help the employees to make better decisions. Some of these technologies are:

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

Management Information System (MIS)

Decision Support Systems (DSS)

Executive Information Systems (EIS)

1. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) : BPR has been around for quite some time, the controversy still remains about whether there is any accurate description of BPR, or BPR is just a fad – an appealing label to tag on to whatever your company is doing, to suggest that your latest and greatest work is ‘in vogue.’ But if reengineering is to continue in the long run, then it must do more than advertise its considerable successes to date. It must become more proactive and inclusive with regard to human, organizational, and motivational change issues. Dr Michael Hammer defines BPR as “… the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service, and speed Any BPR effort that fails to understand the importance of IT, and goes through the pre-BPR analysis and planning phases without considering the various IT options available, and the effect of the proposed IT solutions on the employees and the organization, is bound to crash during takeoff. We have seen that the ERP systems help in integrating the various business processes of the organization with the help of modern developments in IT. With a good ERP package, the organization win have the capability of achieving dramatic improvements in critical areas such as cost, quality, and speed and so on. So many BPR initiatives end up in the ERP implementation.
2. Management Information Systems (MIS): In the past, most payroll systems were data processing systems that did little more than process time sheets, print payroll checks, and keep totals of annual wages and deductions. This was the case with most other departmental information systems. As managers began to demand more and better information about the working of the organization, the data processing systems evolved into management information systems. For example, a human resource my system is capable of predicating the average number of worker sick days, the amount that must be given as bonus, the overtime allowances, and so on. My system is a computer-based system that optimizes the collection, collation, transfer, and presentation of information throughout an organization, through an integrated structure of databases and information flow.

The main characteristics of the Management Information System are:

• The MIS supports the data processing functions of transaction handling and record keeping.
• MIS uses an integrated database and supports a variety of functional areas
• MIS provides operational, tactical and strategic levels of the organization with timely, but for the most part structured information (ad-hoc query facility is not available).
• MIS is flexible and can be adapted to the changing needs of the organization.

 

 

1. Decision Support System (DSS): Managers spend a lot of time and effort in gathering and analyzing information before making decisions. Decision support systems were created to assist managers in this task. Decision support systems are interactive information systems’ that rely on an integrated set of user-friendly software and hardware tools, to produce and present information targeted to support management in the decision-making process. On many occasions, decision-makers can rely on their experience to make quality decisions. However, decision-makers, especially at the top management levels, are often confronted with complex decisions. The analysis of such complex decisions which involve many factors can be difficult for a human being. These types of decisions and the need for complex information analysis required for such decision-making, to the evolution of decision support systems.

The main characteristics of a DSS are:

• A DSS is designed to address semi-structured and unstructured
• The DSS mainly supports decision-making at the top management level.
• DSS is interactive, user-friendly can be used by the decision-maker with little or no assistance from a computer professional.
• DSS makes general-purpose models, simulation capabilities and other analytical tools available to the decision-maker.
• A DSS does not replace the MIS; instead a DSS supplements the MIS. There are distinct differences between them. MIS emphasizes on planned reports on a variety of subjects; DSS focuses on decision-making. MIS is standard, scheduled, structured, and routine; DSS is quite unstructured and is available on request. MIS is constrained by the organizational system; DSS is immediate and user-friendly.

 

1. Executive Information Systems (EIS): The line dividing DSS and EIS is very thin. EIS can be considered as a better and sophisticated DSS. Top-level executives and decision-makers face many problems and pressures. They have to make the right decisions at the right time to take the company forward. In today’s competitive world, reaction times are shrinking and time to make decisions is very less. ElS are a decision support system especially made for senior-level executives. An ElS is concerned with how decisions affect an entire organization.

An EIS takes the following into consideration:

• The overall vision and mission of the company and the company goals
• Strategic planning and objectives
• Organizational structure
• Crisis management/Contingency planning
• Strategic control and monitoring of overall operations
• Executive decision-making also requires access to outside information from competitors, governmental regulations, trade groups, news gathering agencies, and so on. A high degree of uncertainty and a future orientation is involved in most executive decisions. Successful EIS are easy to use, flexible, and customizable and use the latest technological innovations.

 

 

 

Q2. Evaluate different and popular modules of an ERP package like finance, manufacturing and materials management. 10 marks (300-400) words

Answer: The predecessors of ERP like MIS, DSS and EIS are follows as:- ERP is an abbreviation for Enterprise Resource Planning and means, the techniques and concepts for the integrated management of businesses as a whole, from the viewpoint of the effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. ERP systems serve an important function by integrating separate business functions – materials management, product planning, sales, distribution, finance, and accounting and others – into a single application.