11.7. Summary
Key Takeaways
- The advent of information technologies has had a huge impact on how organizations design, implement, and support business processes.
- From document management systems to ERP systems, information systems are tied into organizational processes.
- Using business process management, organizations can empower employees and leverage their processes for competitive advantage.
- Using business process reengineering, organizations can vastly improve their effectiveness and the quality of their products and services.
- Integrating information technology with business processes is one way that information systems can bring an organization lasting competitive advantage.
- An ERP system stores all data in a centralized database that is made accessible to all programs and departments across the organization.
Review Questions
- What does the term business process mean?
- What are three examples of business processes from a job you have had or an organization you have observed?
- What is the value in documenting a business process?
- What is business process reengineering? How is it different from incrementally improving a process?
- What is a transaction processing system, and how is it different from an enterprise system?
- List and describe the types of enterprise systems.
- What components or functions are contained in an ERP system?
- What are some benefits and concerns of an ERP system?
- What is a supply chain and how can a supply chain management system improve a supply chain?
- How can the internet be used to improve supply chain activities?
- What tasks can a CRM do, and how does this impact the customer relationship?
- Why is knowledge management a good idea?
Assignment
Overview
This assignment requires you to document a business process and discuss whether automation of this process can be beneficial .
Assignment
- Think of a business process that you have had to perform in the past. How would you document this process? Would a diagram make more sense than a checklist? Document the process both as a checklist and as a diagram.
- Consider whether this process could be automated and what benefits would be experienced from automation. Discuss some potential challenges with automation as well.
