Question

Information Systems Question:

Discuss an important process commonly referred to as supply chain management (SCM). The ability to improve the processes associated with SCM is integral to the success of any business. Although commonly associated with manufacturing, SCM also plays a role in accounting, marketing and sales. You will also discuss how Enterprise Applications, such as SAP can assist in integrating SCM processes for improving the overall efficiencies of an organization.

How do ERP systems (i.e., SAP) aide in the reshaping and improvement of supply chain processes?

How does process integration benefit CBI’s supply chain? Can you anticipate benefits beyond the supply chain?

Answer 1

Supply Chain Management basically refers to the flow of goods and services from origin to the destination. It onvolves various processes, some of them are listed as below:

1. Procurement - of raw materials from vendors

2. Transportation

3. Inventory Management

4. Warehouse Management

5. Pricing

6. Risk Management

7. CRM Customer Service

8. Marketing

9. Sales

10. Operational Accounting

11. Forecasting

12. Planning

If all these processes are executed in an appropriate manner, can lead to success of any business.

There are some of the tools like SAP, ERP etc. which are basically enterprise applications which most of the companies use to set and defined it process into and these software's are capable enough to manage the processes set by the user. These processes may be related to inventory management, financials, operational accounting, cost accounting etc. These tools play an important role in running the business and help them to flourish while increasing the overall efficieny of the processes and organization as a whole.

ERP systems (i.e., SAP) as discussed above is helpful in managing different processes which are the part of supply chain processes. To quote an example SAP can help in demand planning, forecasting, production planning and can help in controllling the product and information flow across an organization.

The process integration helps in building a tight relationship between the processes, which in turn is useful in the information and product flow. The process integration is very useful in each and every linked processes whether it is a part of supply chain or not, some of the examples of integration can be vertical integration and horizontal integration.