Engineering Homework Help

In the resources of this module, you read about the implementation of ERP systems and how that implementation enabled different departments of the organization to share data to interact more effectively with each other. For this discussion, you are going to explore the benefits of an ERP from a different perspective. You will consider how systems functioned prior to the implementation of an ERP and the issues that arose from the lack of integration.

In your initial post, address the following:

How were enterprise functional areas integrated before ERPs?

What were some of the issues that arose from the lack of integration?

• Did the sales department talk to the marketing department?
• Did marketing talk to manufacturing?
• What is the impact of each department having its own system and database?

Post 1

Alan Fairfield posted Nov 1, 2021 11:22 PMSubscribeHello class!How were enterprise functional areas integrated before ERPs?Before Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was commonplace, augmented by various technologies, businesses used logistics to integrate business functions. Before the levels of technological integration that we experience today, information propagated more slowly. Logistics teams would be used to facilitate business communications and solve problems, as well as plan for operations in the broader context of the organization, based on available resources.What were some of the issues that arose from the lack of integration?Naturally, resource provisioning was less efficient before ERP. One of the primary issues which could have surfaced, is the use of several different software applications to meet the same business needs. This may also create interoperability issues, further impeding resource planning. Then, issues could arise from a lack of central planning and central knowledge base, as records may lose integrity if inter-departmental communications are stifled. Technical issues would be solved less quickly, and resources may be excessively placed on the IT department, which could be inflated due to the lack of compatibility between system components, and communication issues.Did the sales department talk to the marketing department?Before ERP, sales did talk to marketing, on some level. However, there was little-to-no automation, and enterprise information was not as available, meaning that communication was far less. With ERP, there is a strong automation component which adds functionality to enterprise systems.Did marketing talk to manufacturing?Marketing may have communicated with manufacturing, but only on an ad-hoc basis. With the ERP, marketing and manufacturing may interface with each other, but only at the rate of human-driven communication. With ERP and automation, marketing may tailor products to the company’s manufacturing strengths, and use each other’s data as indicators. The degree of data-sharing brought forth by the ERP is the largest contributor to its streamlining of processes, and efficiency for modern organizations.What is the impact of each department having its own system and database?When each department has its own system and database, this allows for data collection, processing, storage, and transmission between different branches of an organization, while each department maintains a repository of historical data. Then, for them to communicate, enables for a branch like marketing to adjust their strategies based on the engagement data reported by sales, and offer the resultant data to IT, to customize organizational webpages towards specific user-personas, or product/service selections.Let me know what you all think!

Post 2 

Alec Smith posted Nov 2, 2021 11:01 AMSubscribeHow were enterprise functional areas integrated before ERPs?From what I can gather, Before ERP was used by most businesses, everything had to be manually. With this process of doing everything by hand, it meant that all documents were stored physically. This resulted in many errors being created and difficulty managing a large array of files all physically stored in one area.What were some of the issues that arose from the lack of integration?Without the usage of ERP it lead to the issue of having to contain all files, information, and documents mostly physical. This resulted to large files being stored in one single location which then resulted in difficulty finding specific information, lost, documents, etc. With everything being recorded by hand this led to potential errors when editing/creating documents.Did the sales department talk to the marketing department?Before ERP was the norm, the sales department did have to directly communicate with marketing in order to achieve tasks. After ERP was implemented however, that soon changed. Now no longer did sales have to communicate directly with marketing but instead could transfer information automatically to marketing through its internal/external applications.Did marketing talk to manufacturing?They did more back during the era of non ERP usage but direct communication is still utilized a good deal after ERP was used. This is mainly because marketing needs to decide/plan with manufacturing on how to design whatever devices, tools, or resources are to be made which can’t be done properly over non-physical communication.What is the impact of each department having its own system and database?With each department having its own data with an integrated system it allowed easier flow of work process’s and data sharing between different departments. This also allowed better understanding of what each department is currently at with their assigned work and allowed any department to integrate their work into another departments work automatically. The system in place would then make sure said information will properly integrate into each other.less