31-07-2014, 11:33 AM
enterprise
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Advantages:-
• Supply and Demand
In an enterprise system, the value of various goods and services are determined by market--that is all of the potential buyers of that good or service. For instance, if a certain good is scarce but in high demand, such as gold, the price will be high, while if a good is plentiful and demand is low, such as wood chips, the price will be low. The free-enterprise system tends to lead to socially optimal prices so long as there is adequate competition in the economy.
• Incentives
One of the basic principles of economics is that people respond to incentives. In a free enterprise system, there is a large financial incentive to work hard and create successful businesses because the business owner is able to keep all the money he earns. For instance, in a free-enterprise system, a contractor could work overtime and make extra money, while in a different economic system such as a communist system; a worker might be given a certain wage by the government no matter how much he works. Taxes are opposed to a true free-enterprise system and tend to reduce the financial incentives of free enterprise as well as reduce economic activity.
• Production
Enterprise systems force producers of goods and services to do so efficiently. If one firm creates products very efficiently, while another produces a similar product less efficiently, the more efficient company will tend to make profit while the other will lose money and eventually be forced out of the market unless they increase efficiency. The competition between firms puts pressure on them to innovate and create new ways to produce better products as efficiency as possible to outsell competitors.
• Flexibility
One of the most important advantages of the free-enterprise system is the flexibility of the economy. In a free-enterprise system, workers can change careers and start up new businesses whenever they please. Individuals can attempt to launch new ventures in order to capture untapped markets and meet new demands as they arise. Firms that do not adapt to changes in demands will be forced out of the economy: essentially the system adjusts itself to produce the goods and services that people want and stops producing things that are no longer needed.
3. Explain integrated management information in detail.
An information system is an open, purposive system that produces information using the ‘input-process-output cycle’. The minimal information system consists of three elements-people, procedures and data. People follow procedures to manipulate data to produce information. In today’s computer world, the definition of information system has undergone a slight change
Today, an information system is an organized combination of people, hardware, software, communication networks and data resources that collects, collates, transforms and disseminates in an organization.
Management Information Systems, also called information-reporting-systems, were the original type of management support systems, and they still are a major category of information systems.MIS produce information products that support many of the day-to-day decision making, needs of the management. Reports, charts, graphs, displays and responses produced by such systems provide information that managers have specified in advance.
This method of information gathering has two major disadvantages. One, people in one department do not have any information about what is happen in other departments. The second drawback is that these systems give only the information that they were designed to produce at the time they were built. Suppose a manager wants some information which is not in the reports, then these systems are of no help.
These systems lack the integrated approach. There will be an accounting system for the finance department, a production planning system for the manufacturing department, an inventory management system for the stores department and so no.
The three fundamental characteristics of information are accuracy, relevancy and timeliness. The information has to be accurate, it must be relevant for the decision maker and it must be available to the decision maker when he needs it.
To survive, the organization must always be on its toes, gathering and analyzing the data-both internal and external. Any mechanism that will automate this information gathering and analysis process will enhance of the organization to beat the competition.
So, what is needed is a system that treats the organization as a single entity and creates to the information needs of the whole organization. If this is possible, and if the information that is generated is accurate, timely and relevant, then these systems will go a long way in helping the organization in realizing its goals.
Using Enabling Technologies
ERP can be considered as the backbone of an enterprise’s applications, but successfully handling the complexities of modern business will depend on a company’s ability to share information promptly, securely, and effectively with customers, partners and suppliers. Organizations must seamlessly integrate their supply and value chains. The figure below shows the enabling technologies that will help organizations achieve the same
To overcome this difficulty, A&M realized that it needed to complement its ERP solution with a Product Data Management (PDM) solution. PDM is the use of software or other tools to track and control data related to a particular product.
Retaining Customers
Traditional ERP packages generally include functions that are required for Sales Force Automation (SFA) and other call center operations but not on personalizing customers’ experiences. In today’s times the focus of companies is retaining customers and after a given point, ERP systems fail in contributing to this objective. ERP implementations leave many companies saddled with massive, isolated systems containing vital customer, product, or service data. These systems lack the functionality needed to optimize customer-facing operations.
The solution is to integrate a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with the ERP system. CRM is not just a software application or a database that is used to store customer information, it is an effort taken by the company to continuously improve the relationship it has with it’s customers. Automated CRM processes are used to generate personalized marketing and customer care based on the customer information stored in the system.
3. List out and explain functional modules of ERP software.
ERP software is made of several functional modules. Each ERP module mimics a specific functional area of an organization. Some of the main functional modules of ERP software solutions are Finance, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources, Inventory Control, Material Purchasing, Order Tracking and Production Planning.
However, it is not necessary that every enterprise system application will have all modules mentioned above. Some organizations intending to use customized ERP software generally implement specific ERP modules that are technically feasible and also economical to implement. Such business organizations approach ERP Software Company with their enterprise resource planning software requirements and ask them to study and design enterprise system software as per their business requirements. Let’s take a look at some main functional modules of Enterprise resource planning system in detail.