Technical System Information Technology and Information Systems

Technical System: Information, Information Technology, And Information Systems The Technical System: Information, Information Technology, and Information Systems The use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to manage the manufacturing and services processes with companies is one of the most critical areas of enterprise software there is. Google, Yahoo and other search engines, in their search taxonomies also classify ERP systems as manufacturing systems, and this is because of the highly coordinated approach these applications bring to running an enterprise.

The business activities and functions support, information the applications of an ERP systems provide and the knowledge that users need to successfully manage based on its analysis and reporting are provided. Fundamentals of ERP Systems At the center of ERP systems are the accounting and finance modules that include Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, General Ledger and Financial Reporting (Edwards, Coutts, 2005).

These form the coordination point of the ERP system so that inbound supplies for production can be accounted for, assigned costs, and then priced as they are produced and sent to distribution channels and customers for sale. In effect ERP systems create an economic ecosystem of a company (Ng, Gable, 2010). Additionally ERP systems have Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Pricing Management applications included as part of their configuration.

These modules streamline supply chain transactions and make it possible for suppliers to stay more in touch with what is going on in manufacturing centers of the companies they sell to (Law, Chen, Wu, 2010). CRM systems make it possible for manufacturing companies to stay better aligned to their customers' needs and preferences for existing and future products. In addition, CRM systems can also manage product ordering and checking order status for sales teams and for customers themselves.

By being integrated to the company's ERP systems this can be accomplished relatively easily. These two examples of supply chain and CRM integration to ERP systems illustrate how companies are synchronizing their most important functional areas to production and finance (Malhotra, Temponi, 2010). ERP systems act as a catalyst of coordination throughout companies, ensuring that demand for products gets reflected back to suppliers in time for them to respond, and also taking customer expectations into account.

ERP systems also coordinate the fulfillment of orders and shipping, coordination and synchronizing all the efforts of a company in a single enterprise-wide system (Law, Chen, Wu, 2010). Analysis and Information Provided by ERP Systems Beyond business intelligence, ERP systems can track the individual production runs in a factory, assign costs to them and even determine the level of profitability they generated with customers.

When the CRM systems' data is included into this analysis it's possible to understand what features customers prefer the most are also the most profitable, how easy or difficult it is to produce products that reflect those preferences, and how effective the products perform once sold. All of this information can be captured in ERP systems, giving companies an overview of how their supply chain, marketing, pricing, manufacturing and service organizations are all working with teach other or not.

ERP systems can also drill down into specific accounting information to determine which suppliers are the most and least expensive to purchase from by evaluating quality rankings with accounting data. The use of ERP systems to also manage distribution channels is commonplace as well. ERP systems often require users to have a level of expertise in their roles within a company so that they can modify the system to meet what they need in terms of process support and information (Malhotra, Temponi, 2010).

Often this change to roles and responsibilities is stressful for people as they resist change. Yet employees in companies that have role-based knowledge often are called upon to help customize the ERP system for the specific needs of their business. Dell's ERP System An example of a state-of-the-art ERP system is that of Dell Computer Corporation. Dell has a multichannel selling strategy that features their online product configurator.

The ERP system takes an ordered, configured laptop or PC order and translates it into a Bill of Materials (BOM) which is electronically sent the production floor. There, production schedulers work to assign the PC to a production team. Often this is all done automatically through their ERP system. The BOM is printed on the printers assigned to a given production pod or group and the system is built to the exact specifications of the customer.

As the system travels through production, quality testing and to the dock for shipping the Dell system tracks it by order number. That way if a customer logs onto their website anytime day or night they can instantly see where their system is. Dell even has integration of the ERP systems to FedEx, UPS and other shipping companies, making the tracking of the package even easier for the customer. This is considered to be one of the most state-of-the-art ERP.