Lecture delivered by Marlon Dumas for the course Introduction to Informatics at University of Tartu on 15 October 2020. The lecture gives an overview of different types of enterprise systems (e.g. ERP, CRM, ECM systems, etc,.) and some of the main their functions covered by each of these systems.
2. Introduction
Companies use many different types of software
to run their day-to-day operations
A software that records transactions and digital
content in order to enable workers and managers
to run a company smoothly is called an enterprise
software system (or enterprise system)
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7. Functions of a CRM System
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Source: O’Brien, James. Introduction to Information Systems, 12e, 2005
Marketing Customer
Service and
Support
Retention
and Loyalty
Management
Account
Management
Sales
Campaigns
Leads / Prospects
Deals / Sales
Customer requests/tickets
8. Examples of CRM systems
• Odoo CRM
• Hubspot
• Pipedrive
• Salesforce
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• SAP CRM (part of SAP Suite)
• Oracle CRM (part of Oracle E-Business Suite)
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9. Functions of an ERP System
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Production
Planning Integrated
Logistics
Accounting
and Finance
Human
Resources
Sales,
Distribution,
Order
Management
Customers,
Employees, Products,
Materials, Assets, Suppliers
Source: O’Brien, James. Introduction to Information Systems, 12e, 2005
10. Examples of ERP systems
• Odoo
• Compiere
• Erply
• proALPHA
• Ramco ERP
• MS Dynamics for Finance and Operations
• SAP ERP (in various variants)
• Oracle ERP (in various variants)
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11. Functions of an SCM System
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Source: O’Brien, James. Introduction to Information Systems, 12e, 2005
Strategic Sourcing
and Procurement
Forecast and Demand Planning
Shipment/delivery tracking
Distribution Network and Warehouse Operations
Transportation and Shipment
Management
Production
Logistics
12. Examples of SCM systems
• e2open
• Infor SCM
• Epicor SCM
• MS Dynamics SCM
• SAP SCM
• Oracle SCM
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13. Functions of an ECM System
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Capture documents
Share and publish documents/content
Retrieve documents/content
Automate document-driven processes
Store
documents/content
Secure
documents
Also known as Document Management Systems (DMS)
14. Examples of ECM systems
• Alfresco
• Drupal
• OpenText Documentum
• Zoho docs
• Laserfiche
• MS Sharepoint
• IBM Filenet
• Oracle ECM
Note: Not included here are Web Content Management Systems
(e.g. Wordpress, Joomla) meant specifically for Web publishing. 14
15. Functionally specialized systems
• Accounting software (focused on financials)
• Xero, Quickbooks, Simplbooks, Merit …
• Project management software
• Scoro, Trello, Jira, Asana, MS Project, Oracle Primavera, etc.
• Team collaboration software
• Slack, MS Teams, …
• Helpdesk software
• ServiceNow, JIRA Helpdesk, …
• Talent management software (specialized in HR)
• Asset management software
• Facility management software
• … 15
16. Vertically specialized systems
• Insurance policy management
• Guidewire
• Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software
• Raintree, Epic …
• Learning Management System (LMS)
• Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, …
• Freight management
• Sixfold, …
• Hotel Management System
• …
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Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metcash_Distribution_Centre_in_Eastern_Creek.jpg
By Bidgee (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
All work in a company is part of something larger
Modern orgs are to say the least complex structures: through X-ray we see different people interacting with machines, IT systems etc.
The defyning trait of a modern organization is the last amount of activities that an organization performs. Let’s consider a distribution center of a whole sellers: buys supplies from producers, stores in warehouses and distribution centers and sells and delivers to grocery stores
Looking at the activities individually is not going to help us conceptualize and manage the complexity of an organization.
BPs add structure to this. To understand what a BP is, it helps see an organization as a system supported by IT and be organized in functions: e.g. accounts payable (paying money to suppliers, e.g. checking, accepting and rejecting invoices, making payments etc.), accounts receivable (everything to collect money: getting money, matching them with invoices) in a whole seller org we will have warehouse… etc.,
However an organization is more complex than that. It includes assets and partners….
Ultimately an organization is about satisfying a customer or set of customers, e.g. retailers for whole sellers.
Talk about value and spanning different org. functions
It may appear from the previous examples that orgs perform random sets of activities.
However this is not the case. Any organization can be seen as a system where work is performed along a number of business processes.
A process is triggered by a need from someone (the process customer) and ending with an outcome that is of value to the customer. It involves activities (functions) performed by several stakeholders…
Looking at the activities individually is not going to help us conceptualize and manage the complexity of an organization.
BPs add structure to this. To understand what a BP is, it helps see an organization as a system supported by IT and be organized in functions: e.g. accounts payable (paying money to suppliers, e.g. checking, accepting and rejecting invoices, making payments etc.), accounts receivable (everything to collect money: getting money, matching them with invoices) in a whole seller org we will have warehouse… etc.,
However an organization is more complex than that. It includes assets and partners….
Ultimately an organization is about satisfying a customer or set of customers, e.g. retailers for whole sellers.
Talk about value and spanning different org. functions
It may appear from the previous examples that orgs perform random sets of activities.
However this is not the case. Any organization can be seen as a system where work is performed along a number of business processes.
A process is triggered by a need from someone (the process customer) and ending with an outcome that is of value to the customer. It involves activities (functions) performed by several stakeholders…