Questions:

1. In less than 500 words (total) explain the key functions of each application component described on page 19 of  the lecture PowerPoint’s  “e- Business Enterprise Architecture” (webct )
2.  Answer the following questions for two applications listed below. (max 750 words each, e.g 1,500 max for two)
   1. Describe the role and function of the application
   2. List three suppliers and their URL’s
   3. Describe two success stories and the benefits gained from implementing this application
   4. Describe two failures and explain the impact on the business and the reason for the failures
   5. List URLs or the article titles and sources for your information.

Select 2 of the 4 for this question

1.      ERP

2.      Supply Chain Management

3.      Selling Chain Management

4.      Knowledge Management

 MY answers:

Main Application Components	Some of  the  Key Functions
Supply Chain Management	l   sequences manufacturing events based on priorities, attributes, characteristics, and/or recipes for specific production units l   Provides an interface link to obtain the intra-operational production and parametric data contained in the forms and records attached to the production unit. l   Provides constant visibility to the location and disposition of work-in-progress. Status information may include current users, component materials by supplier, lot, serial number, current production conditions, and any alarms, rework, or other exceptions related to the product. l   Manages resources including machines, tools, labor skills, materials, instructions, set-up information, specifications, equipment, and reference entities that must be available for operation. l   manages the flow of production units as jobs, orders, batches, lots, and work orders l   controls records, forms and other documents that must be maintained l   Provides labor management by providing real-time, as reported, status information of personnel. l   manages customer order and product status information
Enterprise Resource Planning	l   Optimizes productivity by focusing on planning and executive reporting of the Enterprise as an integrated unit. l   Creates organizational synergy that drives the development of highly effective processes that are properly managed for continual success. l   extends the reach of information within an enterprise, giving more people access to critical data for planning and reporting l   Generates quotes, sales orders, custom-configure products l   Automates shop floor and inventory data collection and track material lots to seamlessly manage your material resources and inventory transactions. l   Creates job orders, capture costs and monitor production so you can build your products more profitably. l   Manages cash flow, key accounting tasks, budget forecasting, payroll, HR
Knowledge Mgmt Apps	l   Matches resources to rapidly changing business requirements and business opportunities. l   Generates richly linked Web documents and many forms of customized electronic and print documents. l   Give an infrastructure for connecting the knowledge-related activities of individuals with those of the organization as a whole. l   Is a method of representing corporate value itself, a key to business partnering and acquisition based on qualitatively explicit knowledge assets?
ERP Integration Apps	l   Automatically generates shipping labels and inventory updates l   Tracks and manages material flow and work in process l   Integrates production, delivery, and customer service information l   Provides production history, audit trails, and documentation
Customer Relationships	l   Reduces costs through an optimal mix of channels and streamlined customer service operations. l   Increases efficiency and accuracy by allowing employees to view real-time customer information l   Breaks down communication barriers between sales, marketing and customer service departments l   Provides more prescriptive services and support by analyzing more accurate and complete customer data l   Improves customer service and satisfaction by giving your representatives integrated, up-to-date information about each customer
Selling Chain Mgmt	l   Any-time any-where business capability l   Customized to requirement l   Maximizes customer value l   Ease of operation l   Seamless internet integration l   High quality commitment l   Cost effective
Finance, Acc, Audit Management	l   develops and maintains an integrated agency accounting and financial management system l   oversees all financial management activities relating to the programs and operations of the agency l   report s directly to the head of the agency regarding financial management matters l   monitors the financial execution of the budget of the agency in relation to actual expenditures, and prepares and submits to the head of the agency timely performance reports l   reviews on a biennial basis, the fees, royalties, rents, and other charges
Stakeholders	l   Manages decisions, activities and processes l   Approval of key decisions l   Input into decisions, activities and processes l   Information about outcomes related to various decisions, l   activities and processes

 

Supply Chain Management

 

a)      Describe the role and function of the application

l   Improved delivery performance—quicker customer response and fulfillment rates

l   Greater productivity and lower costs

l   Reduced inventory throughout the chain

l   Improved forecasting precision

l   Fewer suppliers and shorter planning cycles

l   Improved quality and products that are more technologically advanced

l   Enhanced inter-operational communications and cooperation

l   Shortened repair times and enhanced equipment readiness

l   More reliable financial information.

b)      List three suppliers and their URL’s

1.       MAPICS

http:://www.mapics.com

2.       Arromand

http:://www.arromand.com/

3.       Ids-scheer

http:://www.ids-scheer.com/

c)      Describe two success stories and the benefits gained from implementing this application

1.Brenco

Company Overview
Brenco, based in Petersburg, Virginia, is a manufacturer of tapered roller bearings, reconditioned locomotive journal boxes, and forged and machined transmission rings for the railroad and automotive industries.

The Situation
While Brenco is a major force in the domestic market for tapered roller bearings; the company is aggressively pursuing market opportunities overseas to drive future growth. To compete in the international market, the company found that it had to introduce new products, further complicating its production process.

Brenco quickly realized it needed to reduce inventory, improve its schedules, and boost on-time deliveries to meet its new competitive challenges.

The Solution

By using the MAPICS solution to identify the constraints in its production system, Brenco was able to truly subordinate the schedules of its non-constraints to the requirements of its constraints

Benefits

Supply Chain Management solution has enabled Brenco to focus on only those items that limit the manufacturing system from meeting customer ship dates. on-time delivery performance is now at an all-time high of 98%. By managing fewer items, Brenco is able to achieve better results faster.

2.Morgan Construction Company

Company Overview

Morgan Construction Company, Worcester, Massachusetts-based 450-employee steel processing equipment manufacturer, is the last of its kind in the United States.

The Situation

In 1985, Morgan began a Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) initiative in an effort to integrate business management with the manufacturing environment but did not get the desired delivery results. Morgan realized that its MRP and other applications were not enabling the company to keep up with its customers’ increasing demands. For example, the MRP solution would assume an unlimited capacity for all components, which was not always accurate.

The Solution

Using MAPICS SCM, the company is able to put a schedule together and work to it, cutting out the guesswork of previous approaches and enabling itself to deliver on time, even with diminished lead times. And because materials comprise 50 percent of its product costs, Morgan uses MAPICS to receive material only when necessary, better managing cash flow and controlling inventory with more accuracy.

 

 

 

 

 

Benefits

l   has reduced cycle time

l   Has avoided any fines or added production costs and gained an additional profit margin from major contracts because of increased timeliness and reduced waste.

l   Has also improved on-time delivery of its maintenance and spares division, four to one. The company will increase overall sales of this division, which makes up 30 percent of its business, as a result of its dramatically faster turnaround. Additionally, the reduced cycle time will lower Morgan’s safety stock levels.

d)      Describe two failures and explain the impact on the business and the reason for the failures

1 .SCM: Watch your step

Having committed to spending $400m (£280m) on installing new supply chain management (SCM) software from i2, one of the leading vendors, Nike's chief executive, Philip Knight, blamed a shortfall in footwear sales on the fact that i2's supply planning software did not work properly.

Impact

Malfunctions in the system caused trainer shortages and, conversely, surpluses in some of Nike's Asia plants, which cost the company $100m (£70m) in sales for the third quarter, While i2 confirmed there were complications with its Nike project, it was reluctant to reveal what they were and what caused them for fear of upsetting Nike further.

The reason

Nike's problems stemmed from a combination of factors: the packaged software required a high degree of customization to be able to separately forecast both style color, and within each color a separate forecast for each size. At the time, no package solution was available that could deliver this level of functionality, so there was no option other than to customize. Nike failed to realize there was a much greater difference in the risk profile between implementing packaged application software that has already been proven to work successfully, and customizing that package hoping it will still work.

2. MFI sacks two directors over supply chain failure

Two directors have been sacked at furniture group MFI following an admission that problems with its supply chain systems will lead to 'substantial' financial losses for the firm.

MFI issued a statement this week warning shareholders of an unexpected shortfall in its ability to deliver orders as planned.

 

Impact

It was unable to fulfill new kitchen orders because of ongoing supply chain problems.

Analysts have slashed the firm's profit expectations for the year following the news.

 

The reason

It operates a more complex supply chain than many other retailers, as it builds, distributes and sells a wide range of household furniture across 192 UK stores, as well as operating a customer delivery operation.

 

 

 

 

 

e)      List URLs or the article titles and sources for your information.

Success 1 http:://www.mapics.com/customers/SuccessStories/brenco/

Success 2 http:://www.mapics.com/customers/SuccessStories/morgan/

Failure1   http:://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:iCMKocmwiQEJ:www.computerweekly.com/Article105225.htm+scm+failure&hl=en

Failure2 http:://www.accountancyage.com/news/it/1158094

 

Knowledge Management

 

a)      Describe the role and function of the application

l   Finding, mapping, gathering, and filtering information

l   Developing new knowledge

l   Converting personal knowledge into shared knowledge resources

l   Understanding and learning (acquiring or extracting knowledge value)

l   Adding value to information to create knowledge

l   Enabling action through knowledge (performance and management)

l   Processing shared knowledge resources

l   Delivering (transferring) explicit knowledge

l   Building a technical infrastructure

 

b)      List three suppliers and their URL’s

1. INLE

http:://www.inlecom.com/

2. Novo solutions

http:://www.novosolutions.com/knowledge-management-software/?source=gppc

3 .IHS

http:://www.ihssupport.com/ihs_consulting_knowledge_mgt.html

 

c)      Describe two success stories and the benefits gained from implementing this application

 

1.JDS Healthcare Corporation

 Company Overview

The Pharmacist Network, a division of JDS Healthcare, is an innovative professional network that combines state-of-the-art telecommunications and software technologies to provide medication information and advice for patients throughout British Columbia

The Situation

JDS Healthcare communicates a wide variety of information for patients. Keeping track of up to the minute policies, procedures and processes requires fast access to a broad range of information.

The need for speed is key. Because the information is being provided to patients based on their individual medical needs, the information must be accurate

 

 

The Solution

With pharmacists situated in many locations, JDS needed a system like The Novo Solutions knowledge base that could potentially cover the entire country.

Benefits

The Novo Solutions knowledge base was able to be implemented quickly with users trained in minutes. Fast access to updated information and important issues like drug interactions can be communicated to callers in real time

Novo allowed them to achieve that capability because it worked well, was easy to implement and was fast to yield recognizable results.

Building the online knowledge base was a major boost for JDS's image because of their ability to demonstrate the ability to harness the power of technology and provide a significant public health benefit.

2.Eastman Kodak

Company Overview

Eastman Kodak Company, the manufacturer of cameras, batteries, film, and other photography-related consumer products. Kodak now operates globally, with manufacturing operations in eight countries. Its products are marketed by subsidiary companies to people in more than 150 countries

The Situation

In the past few years, the global consumer marketplace has demanded product information in more languages and in more formats. Simultaneously, the rapid adoption of the Internet has driven customers and partners worldwide to seek information via the World Wide Web.

The Solution

In 2001, Kodak’s Technical Knowledge Management group rolled out a new system based on the Documentum enterprise content management (ECM) platform, Adobe FrameMaker, and extensive use of XML and SGML to manage its service and support content worldwide. With this new system, the group has fundamentally changed how it approaches, translates, and assembles multilingual product content.

Benefits

l   Reducing Costs Through Content Reuse

l   Expediting Publication While Preserving Brand Integrity

l   Publishing in Multiple Languages to Multiple Channels, Including the Web

Thanks to the integrated technologies of the Documentum ECM platform, Adobe FrameMaker, XML, and SGML, Kodak can satisfy the varied communication preferences of its global customers, now and in the future.

d)      Describe two failures and explain the impact on the business and the reason for the failures

1.Cisco: Real Time Enterprise Technology Troubles

Cisco has been lauded for its RTE technologies since three years ago when its market cap was 850% of its recent market capitalization during this year. The company prided itself about the RTE technologies that offered apparently seamless integration of real time data within and across its supply chain and customer ordering systems. The company had legendary faith in its technologies for predictive modeling and decision-making (Carter 2001). In a Harvard Business Review article,

the company's CFO [of that time] claimed that: "We can literally close our books within hours… the decision makers who need to achieve sales targets, manage expenses and make daily tactical operating decisions now have real-time access to detailed operating data." Unfortunately, real-time access to data could not be of much help.

 

 

Impact

Cisco ended up writing off $2.2 billion in inventories and sacking

8,500 employees. Industry experts and analysts suggest that Cisco's write-off resulted from its blindsided over-reliance on its much vaunted "virtual close" systems. Cisco's case demonstrates that even the best technology offers no protection against bad management decisions, especially when the assumptions embedded in the dominant logic are taken for granted. Some Cisco executives do maintain that in absence of the RTE "virtual close", the outcome could have been worse. Cisco retains its optimism in perfecting its RTE systems hoping they would eventually provide high certitude in the face of increasingly uncertain business environment

 

The reason

Cisco made some fundamentally incorrect assumptions about the future. Cisco ignored a key lesson of KM that is often ignored by many others: the past may not be an accurate predictor of the future. While other networking companies with less sophisticated technologies had cut back on production schedules months earlier seeing impending downturn in demand,

Cisco stuck to the forecasts of their 'virtual close' system that they considered invincible. As Cisco [or, rather, its technology-driven forecasting systems] had never been proven wrong before, their business partners faith in the power of the forecasting systems

 

2. Enron: Destroyed in Real Time

Given the dominant and intensive role of real-time information, many of the technologies associated with real-time response were initially adopted by financial services firms on the Wall Street. Given Enron Online's primary business of exchanging and trading financial data, the real-time response model seemed like a match made in heaven. Enron planned to leverage its online exchange for facilitating direct real time instantaneous transactions in the online trading of energy market commodities. In its communiqué submitted to the Federal Trade Commission, Enron had emphasized that, "Efficiency gains made possible by dynamic pricing and trading are especially well suited to Enron's on-line business because electronic trading can match the speed with which commodity pricing changes. Transactions that used to take up to three minutes to complete over the phone now take just a second or two, including complex processes such as credit checks. The company deployed Tibco's vaunted 'RTE platform', sought out new technology wherever possible, and planned to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on technology infrastructure.

 

Impact

When the cover about the collusion between Enron insiders and its auditing firm blew open, the RTE system triggered the freefall of Enron as it was also covering the risk exposure related to its instantaneous transactions. Unfounded and overly optimistic belief in technology as the means for generating profits despite an inadequate business model led to Enron's downfall resulting in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history.

 

The reason

l   There were plenty of great tools, but there was precious little planning

l   The core systems supporting the main revenue-generating activities were very disjointed

l   There were major disconnects from deal capture to risk management to logistics to accounting. They all worked from different data sources

l   The breakneck deployment of state-of-the-art technology was done with little regard for a management plan.

 

e)      List URLs or the article titles and sources for your information.

Success 1 http:://www.novosolutions.com/cstudy_jds.html

Success 2

http:://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:X3mfw_seUr4J:www.documentum.com/customer_success/success/kodak.htm+success+Knowledge+Management&hl=en

Failures http:://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:EDorzzPNuBUJ:www.kmnetwork.com/RealTime.pdf+Knowledge+Management+fail&hl=en