Q1.Why are ERP systems said to be flexible? Explain with an example.

1Ans :

A flexible ERP system can bring consistency and profitability to your company. A flexible ERP system allows your business to respond rapidly to any changing condition - it lets your business provide any company department or employee with the data required to improve decision-making, regardless of whether data is needed from one or several systems. ERP System Flexibility Benefits Choosing the right ERP system allows you to transfer your business processes onto your business systems, offering the consistency and timeliness to manage variability. This eliminates the need and high cost of integrating your existing systems. Also with effective ERP systems manual processes are eliminated as theres no need for time-consuming and unreliable paper-based procedures. ERP systems allow data to flow easily throughout your operations the moment it appears in your systems. This provision of timely information allows for a quick and efficient response from every employee in your company. With ERP systems manual, makeshift processes are replaced with wellorganized ones allowing for overall business flexibility and effectiveness. ERP systems allow increased visibility into real-time processes which enables prompt ordering of the right goods and materials. Choosing an ERP system that allows you to deal with changes to your business will prove a valuable investment well into the future. See our free white paper on 9 Things to Consider When Selecting an ERP System. Example: Sage Accpac ERP Sage Accpac ERP is an award winning business management system built for small and mid-sized businesses. Sage Accpac ERPis a true browserbased ERP solution that is flexible and customized for your specific needs.

Sage Accpac ERP Freedom Sage Accpac ERP gives you freedom of choice and advanced functionality regardless of your size, industry and, functional requirements. Select from Microsoft SQL, Pervasive SQL, or Oracle, databases relying on a world-class, object oriented multi-tiered architecture. Sage Accpac ERP Solution To learn more about why Sage Accpac ERP is the perfect solutions for your business, download On The Hotseat and find out more on what your peers are facing with their current ERP systems and how your peers are tackling the questions that matter now. Business is all about being prepared for the tough questions. Ensure that you are looking at the right ERP systems for your business. Accounting and Operations The most successful companies today are those that excel at managing their finances, their operations, and their customers. At its core, Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suite provides you the tools to outperform your competition in these areas, and more . Q2. Explain with an example the concept of supply chain management? 2 Ans: A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chains exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm. Below is an example of a very simple supply chain for a single product, where raw material is procured from vendors, transformed into finished goods in a single step, and then transported to distribution centers, and ultimately, customers. Realistic supply chains have multiple end products with shared components, facilities and capacities. The flow of materials is not always along an arborescent network, various modes of transportation may be

considered, and the bill of materials for the end items may be both deep and large.

Traditionally, marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing organizations along the supply chain operated independently. These organizations have their own objectives and these are often conflicting. Marketing's objective of high customer service and maximum sales dollars conflict with manufacturing and distribution goals. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughput and lower costs with little consideration for the impact on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. Purchasing contracts are often negotiated with very little information beyond historical buying patterns. The result of these factors is that there is not a single, integrated plan for the organization---there were as many plans as businesses. Clearly, there is a need for a mechanism through which these different functions can be integrated together. Supply chain management is a strategy through which such an integration can be achieved. Supply chain management is typically viewed to lie between fully vertically integrated firms, where the entire material flow is owned by a single firm, and those where each channel member operates independently. Therefore coordination between the various players in the chain is key in its effective management. Cooper and Ellram [1993] compare supply chain management to a well-balanced and well-practiced relay team. Such a team is more competitive when each player knows how to be positioned for the hand-off. The relationships are the strongest between players who directly pass the baton, but the entire team needs to make a coordinated effort to win the race. We classify the decisions for supply chain management into two broad categories -- strategic and operational. As the term implies, strategic decisions are made typically over a longer time horizon. These are closely linked to the corporate strategy (they sometimes {\it are} the corporate strategy), and guide supply chain policies from a design perspective. On the other hand, operational decisions are short term, and focus on activities over a day-to-day basis. The effort in these type of decisions is to effectively and efficiently manage the product flow in the "strategically" planned supply chain. There are four major decision areas in supply chain management: 1) location, 2) production, 3) inventory, and 4) transportation (distribution), and there are both strategic and operational elements in each of these decision areas.

Q3.Differentiate between open Source and commercial ERP. Briefly explain the key principles to a proper ERP system selection process. 3Ans: Here is the comparison between Commercial and Open Source ERP software systems. This study has been made considering different parameter. Study concludes commercial erp softwares are suitable only for big corporations and open source business software should be the choice of small and medium scale industries.Know what is open source ERP before proceeding with this study. Study has been made on following 10 factors while comparing commercial and open source ERP softwares. Pricing Flexibility Duration Dependence Results Training Security visibility Ease of integration with current systems Longevity Pricing Most open source software is freely distributed with no up-front licensing fees. Further savings come from ease of deployment, training and integration. Companies that implement open source ERP solutions often report a 50% savings over proprietary systems. With free systematic open source ERP training methodology like SOSE! site you can own your software for no cost. Commercial ERP is an expensive package and suitable only for bigger corporations. The prices do vary significantly but according to the size of the company and volume of business. In any cases they have been found to be extremely costly irrespective of the quantum in which they are purchased. These packages are not subject to flexibility and molding. Their usage

modalities are rarely liberal and cause troubles when they are modified. Hence the deployments also turn out to be costly and inconvenient due to the procedures involved, in the future. Another major allegation against the package is that they consist of lot of hidden costs. Flexibility When you compare commercial and open source ERP, commercial systems are not flexible in nature. They let business with no other choice but to change their way of business. However when it comes to open source ERP everything was decided by the code .Therefore companies can do the necessary modifications in code and without much support from the vendor. Another advantage of open source is that it does not interfere with the regular schedule of the company during the implementation stage. This is a major difference between commercial and open source ERP applications. You should use business software for your needs, you should not change the way of your business to fit into software needs. Duration When you study commercial and open source ERP,The time allotted for implementing open source ERP is very less when compared with commercial ERP. The innumerable number of complexions in commercial ERP calls for longer time span. It consumes a lot of time not only during implementation but in every stage of ERP process due to the nature of work involved. With use of SITE ERP implementation methodology you can reduce time required for open source ERP to the minimum. Dependence When it comes to the question of relying on the vendor the open source ERP owners enjoys a considerable edge than the commercial ERP. Since open source is license free users have full freedom for taking care of needs by themselves. The productivity is also high in open source ERP systems and the failure rates are very low. Results Success rate of open source ERP are considerably more compare to proprietary ERP softwares. Read open source ERP success stories for more details. Training Lots of training is required for using commercial ERP. It calls for lots of

investments in terms of time and money. If they don't give the necessary impetus the results will be poor. Similarly validity of training sessions designed and handled exclusively by the ERP vendor is also debatable. On the other hand Open Source ERP does not require much training. The results are also bound to be effective because the user gets to learn through the process of self training. The company need not spend much on training and makes a minimal utilization of the resources. This is another way of reducing the level of dependence on the ERP vendor. You can get free online ERP training with SOSE!. Security On comparing commercial and open source ERP applications, Commercial ERP systems are less secure. They are by and large prone to the traps and pitfalls of hackers. Even though open source ERP makes everything transparent and available in the public domain it bring into the notice of user whenever something goes wrong. visibility Few end users change the underlying code of an open source application. But when the need arises, open source provides access to the code to make changes to suit each distributors unique business needs. Open source customers enjoy a refreshing level of transparency from their vendors around activities such as bug reporting and fixing and road map planning. Ease of integration with current systems ERP solutions touch every aspect of a company, from warehousing to accounting. As such, a companys ERP solution should easily integrate with existing IT infrastructure components, such as application servers, directory services and storage arrays. Open source solutions are compatible via standards-based interfaces with multiple technologies, including support for lowest-cost commodity operating systems, databases, utilities and hardware. Longevity Virtually any ERP solution will work well when initially deployed, but time is the true test of every ERP solution and vendor. Unforeseen opportunities will likely drive changes to a business objectives and necessitate changes to its ERP solution. Independently, a vendors commitment to supporting a solution could change over time. An open source solution with a flexible foundation addresses todays needs and safeguards the solutions future. Because the

user has the source code, a solution can never be bought or merged out of existence, meaning the investment lasts as long as needed. Independent services for ERP implementation support is also available for free with open source ERP. Conclusion Functionality is the top consideration when reviewing ERP solutions, but it should be closely linked with evaluating open source and proprietary options. The demonstrable benefits of open source products reach deep into a companys infrastructure. You can evaluate and select business ERP software which give functionality you need. The differences between commercial and open source ERP show the Edge enjoyed by open source ERP players. And independent free ERP trainer like SOSE! will help open source ERP to reach people.

Q4. What is ATO and how is it different from ETO? List the advantages of CAD/CAM. Ans:-

Assemble-to-Order (ATO) A business production strategy where products ordered by customers are produced quickly and are customizable to a certain extent. The assemble-toorder (ATO) strategy requires that the basic parts for the product are already manufactured but not yet assembled. Once an order is received, the parts are assembled quickly and sent to the customer.

ATO Different from ETO

CAD stands for Computer Aided design. CAM stands for Computer Aided Manufacturing Advantages of CAD/CAM are 1.Higher Productivity 2. Reduced Design Time 3. More Accurate Designs 4. Less Time Required for Modifications 5. Repeatability

Q5. How does the plant maintenance module help in achieving competitiveness? Write a note of Quality Management.

5 Ans: The achievement of outstanding performance demands delivery of quality products expeditiously and economically. Organisations simply cannot achieve excellence with unreliable equipment. The approach towards maintenance management has changed as a result of quick response manufacturing. Just-in-Time (JIT) reduction of work in process inventory and the elimination of wasteful manufacturing practices. Before breakdown in machine and idle time for repair was once an accepted practice. Times have changed. Today, when there is a break down in a machine, it can shut down the production line and the customers entire plant. The Preventive

Maintenance (PM) module provides an integrated solution for supporting the operational needs of an enterprise-wide system. The Plant Maintenance module includes an entire family of product; covering all aspects of plant/equipment maintenance. It becomes vital to the achievement of process improvement. The major subsystems of a Plant Maintenance module are: Preventive Maintenance Control Equipment Tracking Component Tracking Plant Maintenance Calibration Tracking Plant Maintenance Warranty Claims Tracking 5.6.1 Preventive Maintenance Control Preventive Maintenance Control (PMC) provides planning, scheduling, and control of facilities and equipment. Equipment lubrication, component replacement and safety inspection can be planned, scheduled, and monitored. Maintenance tasks can be tracked for each piece of equipment or machine, by two user-defined modes, as well as calendar day frequency. These modes include tracking by hours of operation, units of production produced, gallons of fuel consumed, or the number of days in operation since the last service interval. Preventive Maintenance Control enables organisations to lower repair costs by avoiding downtime, machine breakage, and process variability. Companies achieve higher machine utilisation and improved machine reliability and tolerance control, along with higher production yields. Equipment Tracking Equipments are an asset that needs to be protected and monitored. In many situations, costs of equipment maintenance constitute the single largest controllable expenditure of an organisation. All facets of plant location history and utilisation history are described and tracked. This history includes acquisition of disposition information and associations between different pieces of equipment to pinpoint operational dependencies. Running totals for operation units to date (miles, hours, days, units of production, and so on.) are also provided. Each piece of equipment is defined by, a serial number and model. User-defined data sheets are developed, which allow for the grouping of user data into formats that can be linked to equipment records. All of this

information can be used to create equipment stipulation, which provide detailed information for technical specialists working in equipment operations, maintenance, and transportation control. Component Tracking Components are subsets of larger equipment and deserve the same amount of cost controlling scrutiny. Component Tracking helps equipment managers to; identify components with chronic repair problems. They can determine if either repair or replacement must be covered by warranty. Planning component replacements, rather than waiting for component failures to occur, reduces unscheduled equipment downtime. Component tracking includes repair/exchange history and component service life. Plant Maintenance Calibration Tracking Plant Maintenance Calibration Tracking (PMCT) allows organisations to leverage their investment in the Plant Maintenance module by, providing for the tracking of equipment calibration in support of ISO 9000 requirements. Plant Maintenance Warranty Claims Tracking Plant Maintenance Warranty Claims Tracking (PMWCT) is an administrative system designed to, provide control of all items covered by manufacturer and vendor warranties. It helps plant management to recover all of the warranty; reimbursements to which they are entitled but have not been able to recover in the past. Features include the ability to establish the length and type of warranty. For example, elapsed day, months, operating units, or mileage stipulation. A complete history review is performed for each item covered by the warranty and complete information regarding the warranty service provider is generated. Quality Management Basics and Overviews About Quality Management includes many links about basics and overviews of quality management. Benchmarking is the use of standard measurements in a service or industry for comparison to other organizations in order to gain perspective on organizational performance. Continuous Improvement, in regard to organizational quality and performance, focuses on improving customer satisfaction through continuous and

incremental improvements to processes, including by removing unnecessary activities and variations. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is an approach that helps identify and prioritize potential equipment and process failures. ISO9000 is an internationally recognized standard of quality, and includes guidelines to accomplish the ISO9000 quality standard. Organizations can be optionally audited to earn ISO9000 certification. Lean Management is a process of maximizing customer value while reducing waste. Any activity or process that consumes resources, adds cost or time without creating value becomes the target for elimination. Total Quality Improvement (TQM) is a set of management practices throughout the organization, geared to ensure the organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements. TQM places strong focus on process measurement and controls as means of continuous improvement. Six Sigma is a quality management initiative that takes a very data-driven, methodological approach to eliminating defects with the aim to reach six standard deviations from the desired target of quality. Six standard deviations means 3.4 defects per million.

Q6. Explain the working of Warehouse Management and Purchase department with an example.

6 Ans:

The evolution of warehouse management systems (WMS) is very similar to that of many other software solutions. Initially a system to control movement and storage of materials within a warehouse, the role of WMS is expanding to including light manufacturing, transportation management, order management, and complete accounting systems. To use the grandfather of operations-related software, MRP, as a comparison, material requirements planning (MRP) started as a system for planning raw material requirements in a manufacturing environment. Soon MRP evolved into manufacturing resource planning (MRPII), which took the basic MRP system and added

scheduling and capacity planning logic. Eventually MRPII evolved into enterprise resource planning (ERP), incorporating all the MRPII functionality with full financials and customer and vendor management functionality. Now, whether WMS evolving into a warehouse-focused ERP system is a good thing or not is up to debate. What is clear is that the expansion of the overlap in functionality between Warehouse Management Systems, Enterprise Resource Planning, Distribution Requirements Planning, Transportation Management Systems, Supply Chain Planning, Advanced Planning and Scheduling, and Manufacturing Execution Systems will only increase the level of confusion among companies looking for software solutions for their operations. Even though WMS continues to gain added functionality, the initial core functionality of a WMS has not really changed. The primary purpose of a WMS is to control the movement and storage of materials within an operation and process the associated transactions. Directed picking, directed replenishment, and directed putaway are the key to WMS. The detailed setup and processing within a WMS can vary significantly from one software vendor to another, however the basic logic will use a combination of item, location, quantity, unit of measure, and order information to determine where to stock, where to pick, and in what sequence to perform these operations.

At a bare minimum, a WMS should: Have a flexible location system. Utilize user-defined parameters to direct warehouse tasks and use live documents to execute these tasks. Have some built-in level of integration with data collection devices.

Do You Really Need WMS? Not every warehouse needs a WMS. Certainly any warehouse could benefit from some of the functionality but is the benefit great enough to justify the

initial and ongoing costs associated with WMS? Warehouse Management Systems are big, complex, data intensive, applications. They tend to require a lot of initial setup, a lot of system resources to run, and a lot of ongoing data management to continue to run. Thats right, you need to "manage" your warehouse "management" system. Often times, large operations will end up creating a new IS department with the sole responsibility of managing the WMS. The Claims: WMS will reduce inventory! WMS will reduce labor costs! WMS will increase storage capacity! WMS will increase customer service! WMS will increase inventory accuracy! The Reality: The implementation of a WMS along with automated data collection will likely give you increases in accuracy, reduction in labor costs (provided the labor required to maintain the system is less than the labor saved on the warehouse floor), and a greater ability to service the customer by reducing cycle times. Expectations of inventory reduction and increased storage capacity are less likely. While increased accuracy and efficiencies in the receiving process may reduce the level of safety stock required, the impact of this reduction will likely be negligible in comparison to overall inventory levels. The predominant factors that control inventory levels are lot sizing, lead times, and demand variability. It is unlikely that a WMS will have a significant impact on any of these factors. And while a WMS certainly provides the tools for more organized storage which may result in increased storage capacity, this improvement will be relative to just how sloppy your pre-WMS processes were. Beyond labor efficiencies, the determining factors in deciding to implement a WMS tend to be more often associated with the need to do something to service your customers that your current system does not support (or does not support well) such as first-in-first-out, cross-docking, automated pick replenishment, wave picking, lot tracking, yard management, automated data collection, automated material handling equipment, etc.

Purchasing refers to a business or organization attempting for acquiring goods or services to accomplish the goals of the enterprise. Though there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between organizations. Typically the word purchasing is not used interchangeably with the word procurement, since procurement typically includes Expediting, Supplier Quality, and Traffic and Logistics (T&L) in addition to Purchasing.

Details Purchasing managers/directors, and procurement managers/directors guide the organizations acquisition procedures and standards. Most organizations use a three-way check as the foundation of their purchasing programs. This involves three departments in the organization completing separate parts of the acquisition process. The three departments do not all report to the same senior manager to prevent unethical practices and lend credibility to the process. These departments can be purchasing, receiving; and accounts payable or engineering, purchasing and accounts payable; or a plant manager, purchasing and accounts payable. Combinations can vary significantly, but a purchasing department and accounts payable are usually two of the three departments involved. When the receiving department is not involved, it's typically called a two-way check or two-way purchase order. In this situation, the purchasing department issues the purchase order receipt not required. When an invoice arrives against the order, the accounts payable department will then go directly to the requestor of the purchase order to verify that the goods or services were received. This is typically what is done for goods and services that will bypass the receiving department. A few examples are software delivered electronically, NRE work (non reoccuring engineering services), consulting hours, etc. Historically, the purchasing department issued Purchase Orders for supplies, services, equipment, and raw materials. Then, in an effort to decrease the administrative costs associated with the repetitive ordering of basic consumable items, "Blanket" or "Master" Agreements were put into place. These types of agreements typically have a longer duration and increased scope to maximize the Quantities of Scale concept. When additional supplies

are required, a simple release would be issued to the supplier to provide the goods or services. Another method of decreasing administrative costs associated with repetitive contracts for common material, is the use of company credit cards, also known as "Purchasing Cards" or simply "P-Cards". P-card programs vary, but all of them have internal checks and audits to ensure appropriate use. Purchasing managers realized once contracts for the low dollar value consumables are in place, procurement can take a smaller role in the operation and use of the contracts. There is still oversight in the forms of audits and monthly statement reviews, but most of their time is now available to negotiate major purchases and setting up of other long term contracts. These contracts are typically renewable annually. This trend away from the daily procurement function (tactical purchasing) resulted in several changes in the industry. The first was the reduction of personnel. Purchasing departments were now smaller. There was no need for the army of clerks processing orders for individual parts as in the past. Another change was the focus on negotiating contracts and procurement of large capital equipment. Both of these functions permitted purchasing departments to make the biggest financial contribution to the organization. A new terms and job title emerged Strategic sourcing and Sourcing Managers. These professionals not only focused on the bidding process and negotiating with suppliers, but the entire supply function. In these roles they were able to add value and maximize savings for organizations. This value was manifested in lower inventories, less personnel, and getting the end product to the organizations consumer quicker. Purchasing managers success in these roles resulted in new assignments outside to the traditional purchasing function logistics, materials management, distribution, and warehousing. More and more purchasing managers were becoming Supply Chain Managers handling additional functions of their organizations operation. Purchasing managers were not the only ones to become Supply Chain Managers. Logistic managers, material managers, distribution managers, etc all rose the broader function and some had responsibility for the purchasing functions now. In accounting, purchases is the amount of goods a company bought throughout this year. it is also refers to information as to the kind ,quality,quantity and cost of goods bought that should be maintained. They

are added to inventory. Purchases are offset by Purchase Discounts and Purchase Returns and Allowances. When it should be added depends on the Free On Board (FOB) policy of the trade. For the purchaser, this new inventory is added on shipment if the policy was FOB shipping point, and the seller remove this item from its inventory. On the other hand, the purchaser added this inventory on receipt if the policy was FOB destination, and the seller remove this item from its inventory when it was delivered. Goods bought for the purpose other than direct selling, such as for Research and Development, are added to inventory and allocated to Research and Development expense as they are used. On a side note, equipments bought for Research and Development are not added to inventory, but are capitalized as assets. Purchasing: Acquisition Process The revised acquisition process for major systems in industry and defence is shown in the next figure. The process is defined by a series of phases during which technology is defined and matured into viable concepts, which are subsequently developed and readied for production, after which the systems produced are supported in the field.[1]

Model of the Acquisition Process. The process allows for a given system to enter the process at any of the development phases. For example, a system using unproven technology

would enter at the beginning stages of the process and would proceed through a lengthy period of technology maturation, while a system based on mature and proven technologies might enter directly into engineering development or, conceivably, even production. The process itself includes four phases of development:[1] Concept and Technology Development: is intended to explore alternative concepts based on assessments of operational needs, technology readiness, risk, and affordability. Concept and Technology Development phase begins with concept exploration. During this stage, concept studies are undertaken to define alternative concepts and to provide information about capability and risk that would permit an objective comparison of competing concepts. System Development and Demonstration phase. This phase could be entered directly as a result of a technological opportunity and urgent user need, as well as having come through concept and technology development. The last, and longest, phase is the Sustainment and Disposal phase of the program. During this phase all necessary activities are accomplished to maintain and sustain the system in the field in the most cost-effective manner possible. Selection of Bidders This is the process where the organization identifies potential suppliers for specified supplies, services or equipment. These suppliers' credentials and history are analyzed, together with the products or services they offer. The bidder selection process varies from organization to organization, but can include running credit reports, interviewing management, testing products, and touring facilities. This process is not always done in order of importance, but rather in order of expense. Often purchasing managers research potential bidders obtaining information on the organizations and products from media sources and their own industry contacts. Additionally, purchasing might send Request for Information (RFI) to potential suppliers to help gather information. Engineering would also inspect sample products to determine if the company can produce products they need. If the bidder passes both of these stages engineering may decide to do some testing on the materials to further verify quality standards. These tests can be expensive and involve significant time of multiple technicians and engineers. Engineering management must make

this decision based on the cost of the products they are likely to procure, the importance of the bidders product to production, and other factors. Credit checks, interviewing management, touring plants as well as other steps could all be utilized if engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain managers decide they could help their decision and the cost is justifiable. Other organizations might have minority procurement goals to consider in selection of bidders. Organizations identify goals in the use of companies owned and operated by certain ethnicities or women owned business enterprises. Significant utilizing of minority suppliers may qualify the firm as a potential bidder for a contract with a company or governmental entity looking to increase their minority supplier programs. This selection process can include or exclude international suppliers depending on organizational goals and criteria. Companies looking to increase their pacific rim supplier base may exclude suppliers from the Americas, Europe, and Australia. Other organizations may be looking to purchase domestically to ensure a quicker response to orders as well as easier collaboration on design and production. Organizational goals will dictate the criteria for the selection process of bidders. It is also possible that the product or service being procured is so specialized that the number of bidders are limited and the criteria must be very wide to permit competition. If only one firm can meet the specifications for the product then the purchasing managers must consider utilizing a Sole Source option or work with engineering to broaden the specifications if the project will permit alteration in the specifications. The sole source option is the part of the selection of bidders that acknowledges there is sometimes only one reasonable supplier for some services or products. This can be because of the limited applications for the product cannot support more than one manufacturer, proximity of the service provided, or the products are newly designed or invented and competition is not yet available. Bidding Process This is the process an organization utilizes to procure goods, services or equipment. Processes vary significantly from the stringent to the very informal. Large corporations and governmental entities are most likely to have stringent and formal processes. These processes can utilize specialized bid forms that require specific procedures and detail. The very stringent

procedures require bids to be open by several staff from various departments to ensure fairness and impartiality. Responses are usually very detailed. Bidders not responding exactly as specified and following the published procedures can be disqualified. Smaller private businesses are more likely to have less formal procedures. Bids can be in the form of an email to all of the bidders specifying products or services. Responses by bidders can be detailed or just the proposed dollar amount. Most bid processes are multi-tiered. Acquisitions under a specified dollar amount can be user discretion permitting the request or to choose who ever they want. This level can be as low as $100 or as high as $10,000 depending on the organization. The rationale is the savings realized by processing these request the same as expensive items is minimal and does not justify the time and expense. Purchasing departments watch for abuses of the user discretion privilege. Acquisitions in a mid range can be processed with a slightly more formal process. This process may involve the user providing quotes from three separate suppliers. Purchasing may be asked or required to obtain the quotes. The formal bid process starts as low as $10,000 or as high as $100,000 depending on the organization. The bid usually involves a specific form the bidder fills out and must be returned by a specified deadline. Depending of the commodity being purchased and the organization the bid may specify a weighted evaluation criterion. Other bids would be evaluated at the discretion of purchasing or the end users. Some bids could be evaluated by a cross-functional committee. Other bids may be evaluated by the end user or the buyer in Purchasing. Especially in small, private firms the bidders could be evaluated on criteria or factors that have little if anything to do with the actual bid. Examples of these factors are history of the bidder with the company, history of the bidder with the companys senior management at other firms, and bidders breadth of products. Technical evaluation Technical evaluations, evaluations of the technical suitability of the quoted goods or services, if required, are normally performed prior to the commercial evaluation. During this phase of the procurement process, a technical representative of the company (usually an engineer) will review the proposal and designate each bidder as either technically acceptable or technically unacceptable. Commercial evaluation

Payment Terms Cost of Money is calculated by multiplying the applicable currency interest rate multiplied by the amount of money paid prior to the receipt of GOODS. If the money was to have remained in the buyer's account, interest would be drawn. That interest is essentially an additional cost associated with such Progress or Milestone payments. The manufacturing location is taken into consideration during the evaluation stage primarily to calculate freight costs and regional issues which may be considered. For instance, in Europe it is common for factories to close during the month of August for Summer holiday. Labor agreements may also be taken into consideration and may be drawn into the evaluation if the particular region is known to frequent labor unions. The manufacturing lead-time is the time from the placement of the order (or time final drawings are submitted by the Buyer to the Seller) until the goods are manufactured and prepared for delivery. Lead-times vary by commodity and can range from several days to years. Transportation time is evaluated while comparing the delivery of goods to the Buyer's required use-date. If Goods are shipped from a remote port, with infrequent vessel transportation, the transportation time could exceed the schedule and adjustments would need to be made. Delivery Charges - the charge for the Goods to be delivered to a stated point. Bid Validity Packing Bid Adjustments Terms and Conditions Seller's Services Standards Organizations Financial Review Payment Currency Risk Analysis market volatility, financial stress within the bidders Testing Negotiating Negotiating is a key skillset in the Purchasing field. One of the goals of Purchasing Agents is to acquire goods per the most advantageous terms of the buying entity (or simply, the "Buyer"). Purchasing Agents typically attempt to decrease costs while meeting the Buyer's other requirements such as an on-time delivery, compliance to the commercial terms and conditions (including the warranty, the transfer of risk, assignment, auditing rights, confidentiality, remedies, etc). Good negotiators, those with high levels of documented "cost savings", receive a premium within the industry relative to their compensation.

Depending on the employment agreement between the Purchasing Agent (Buyer) and the employer, Buyer's cost savings can result in the creation of value to the business, and may result in a flat-rate bonus, or a percentage payout to the Purchasing Agent of the documented cost savings. Purchasing Departments, while they can be considered as a support function of the key business, are actually revenue generating departments. For example, if the company needs to buy $30 million USD of widgets and the Purchasing Department secures the widgets for $25M USD, the Purchasing Department would have saved the company $5M USD. That savings could exceed the annual budget of the department, which in effect would pay the department's overhead - the employee's salaries, computers, office space, etc. Post-Award Administration Post-award administration typically consists of making minor changes, additions or subtractions, that in some way change the terms of the agreement or the Seller's Scope of Supply. Such changes are often minor, but for auditing purposes must be documented into the existing agreement. Examples include increasing the quantity of a Line Item or changing the metallurgy of a particular component. Order Closeout Is the closing of order.

SET 2

Q1:What is web ERP? What are its benefits? List out the different modules under ERP Inventory management Web ERP has become a necessity for businessmen to be aware of their stock and inventory from anywhere, at anytime. Web ERP is an absolute webbased ERP system that requires only a web browser and PDF reader. It has now become an open source application and is offered as a free download. Web ERP systems are gaining popularity than ever. It allows businessmen to update their systems in large organisations without the need of installing updates at any remote locations, almost immediately. It provides real time information about finance, inventory, employee management, etc by providing advanced levels of service to consumers and suppliers 8.3.1 Benefits of Web ERP Web ERP Inventory system has many benefits. Some of them include: It processes data on the server side. Therefore, no installation is required on the client machines. It provides Multilanguage support; users can view the interface in their preferred language. It provides Multi-theme support; users can view the interface in their preferred graphical theme. It runs on any web server and suitable for both high speed and low speed internet connections. It can be installed on any device that has internet access. Web ERP is developed using PHP as a web development language. These scripts are developed with stability and ease so that the application becomes readable with a minimum knowledge of scripting in PHP and the structure of ERP. The logic is made as clear and simple as possible in order to remove any generalisation from the code, and to make it readable for all kinds of employees. It can also be configured easily on any operating system and the processing constraints required are also economical. Web ERP has many features that make it suitable for maintaining organisations of different sizes. It provides an easy structure of processing by supporting features such as multiple inventory locations and multiple currencies. .Web ERP maintains all records that provide information like, amount of inventory stock available, amount of inventory ordered, amount of inventory sold, and amount of inventory that is defective. ERP Inventory management module takes care of transactional workflow in an organisation in sequential order. ERP Inventory module is subdivided into different modules such as: Inventory requisition: The function of inventory requisition is to take the inventory constraints from various departments of an organisation. This is

achieved when various departments fill the inventory requisition form. On filling the form, the head of the department fills up the quantity/quality of the inventory required, considering the minimum inventory required, maximum inventory required, and the current inventory available. Inventory order assessment: Once the form is filled, inputs are taken from the form and processed. The inventory wanted by the various departments is compared with the minimum inventory required. Once the comparison is done, the final requirement for various departments is fixed and a list of suppliers for the inventory is then formulated Inventory placing: Once the supplier is chosen, an order is placed by filling the order form Supplier Performa: In this sub module, the supplier provides quotation for further transactions Order received: In this sub module, a comparison between order placed and order received is recorded i.e. a comparison is done between Date of placing order with Date of receiving order, and Quality with Quantity of order placed. Once the comparison is done, the amount to be paid to the supplier and the mode of payment is decided. Quality checks: It is necessary to check if the deliverables have met the expected outcome. Therefore, quality check becomes an important phase where Research and Development(R &D) department performs a check and the department head acknowledges it by filling up a quality assessment form. Inventory bills and challans: In order to ensure safe payment, bills and challans are chosen to represent the amount paid, payment mode along with the ID of supplier and Receipt ID. Minimum inventory assessment: Minimum inventory assessment aims at assessing minimum inventory inputs or requirements from various departments of an organisation. The assessment is done by preparing a Performa which is circulated to various departments and they are expected to fill up their minimum inventory requirements. This assessment is done, considering various factors such as costumers order received, inventory in hand and scrap. Minimum inventory requirement: Minimum inventory requirement is the amount of inventory less than which employees cannot work i.e. it is that minimum amount of inventory required to perform any task. Maximum inventory assessment: In this sub module an assessment is done for maximum amount of requirements. This information is gathered from various departments to guarantee that no wastage happens. The assessment is done by considering factors such as customers order received, inventory in hand, etc. Maximum inventory requirement: It is the amount of inventory which is sufficient to perform any task. Q2:Briefly explain the functionalities of CRM sub modules. List out the benefits of CRM Systems.

Sub Modules in CRM The functionality of a CRM system can be studied under three sub modules. They are Marketing, Service and Sales. All these modules are Operational, Collaborative and Analytical. Marketing Module The functionalities of marketing module of CRM comprises short term execution of marketing related activities and long term planning within a company. It also helps in activities like campaign management, lead management, and planning. Marketing module enables your company to run marketing campaigns using different communication channels. This targets potential buyers using a product or a group of products as a message. It generates sales related opportunities which then can be converted into sales. Service Module The service module of CRM focuses on managing planned and unplanned customer service. This module helps in activities such as Service Order Management, Service Contract Management, Planned Services management, Warranty Management, Installed Base (Equipment) Management, Service-Level Agreement Management, Resource Planning and Scheduling and Knowledge Management Sales Module The sales module of CRM focuses on managing and executing the pre-sales process of the company by making it more organised. The sales teams in most companies are responsible for capturing opportunities and customer interaction. The CRM helps the sales team in processing this data and following-up it in the future. The CRM also helps in organising all relevant data received and captured for a deal, into one place. Some of the captured data can include expected budget, total spending, prospective customers, key players, products interested in, important dates and expected closing dates of a deal. Each of these modules can be stand alone applications depending on organisational need. It is important that the right software is selected and implemented correctly. Then only any CRM can be effective. Benefits of CRM An excellent CRM is the heart of every business success. With CRM, you can easily understand customer requirements, meet those needs effectively, predict market trends and enhance your business bottom line. A properly implemented CRM system can bring significant benefits to your organisations. System means, the complete consortium of 3 Ps, People (employees, culture), Procedures (way of doing business), and Programs (supporting applications and not just an application running on a computer). The advantages that a CRM can bring are: Shared or distributed data: Customer relationships are happening at many levels and not just through customer service or a web presence. They start to understand the need for sharing all available data throughout the

organisation. A CRM system is an enabler for making decisions and follow-up at levels. Better customer service: All data concerning interactions with customers is centralised. The customer service department can greatly benefit from this because they have all the information they need. And through the use of push-technology, customer service representatives can lead the customer towards the information they need. The customer experience is greatly enhanced. Increased customer satisfaction: The customer feels that he is more "part of the team" instead of just a subject for sales and marketing. Customer service is better and the needs of the customer are anticipated and addressed. Many companies believe that more satisfied customers means a good predictor for repeat business. Better customer retention: If a CRM system can help to fascinate customers, it increases customer loyalty. Customers keep coming back to buy again and again. Hence, higher customer retention is assured More business: If you are delivering the ultimate customer experience, this seeds the word-of-mouth buzz, which brings in more new business. More profit: More business at lower cost equals more profit. Q3:Illustrate the role of ERP systems in Human Resources. List out the benefits of Human Resource management systems. Human Resource maintains huge volumes of information of employees and becomes complicated and difficult for management. Therefore, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that maintains a centralised database is a powerful tool that can be deployed to maintain an efficient processing. ERP[3] maintains a database which includes employee details such as contact information, salary details, attendance, promotion details, and performance details of all employees. Deploying ERP in Human Resources department reduces processing time and cost issues. ERP system also helps in decision making and controlling reports. Communication within the departments of an organisation is very necessary. ERP systems also maintain policies and standards, suggestion box, opinion surveys, business calendar, recruitment letters, news, forum and other related features of the organisation Human Resource (HR) technology bridges the gap between Human Resource Management (HRM) and information technology. The activities of human resources are generally specific to companys norms and policies and vary from one organisation to the other. The function of HR can vary from keeping track of employees skills, achievements and salary. To reduce the burden of manually managing activities of the organisation, electronic automated process has become necessary. The HRM systems mainly have two objectives. They are: To make the workflow cost effective and less time consuming.

 To provide self service benefits to the employees of an organisation. To provide flexibility to the employees to change their policies taken, update their contact information anytime, etc. The HRM system has many benefits. This system has many portals that help the HR department to work faster and efficiently. Some of them include: HR employee portal: This portal maintains information such as attendance, leave records and other employee related activities. Employee self service portal: This portal helps employees to avail or claim for travel expenses and other benefits of an organisation. Security portal: This portal maintains security of an organisation by keeping track of the visitors visiting the organisation. Candidate portal: This portal maintains information of candidates applying for jobs advertised by the HR department. The various advantages that the Human Resources derive from deploying ERP system are listed below: Automates the processes which requires minimum customisation Allows the user to access computing support for different departments of an organisation Provides security of information as database is made centralised Facilitates users to authorise accommodating processes between various departments of an organisation and external agents Allows instant updates of information in the database Provides access to every employee to browse information such as personnel development, and personal costs Q4:Describe how you would go about the different phases of the ERP implementation lifecycle, if it were being done in your company One important factor that must be realised is that the post-implementation phase is very critical. Once the implementation is over, the vendors and the hired consultants will go. To reap the full benefits of the ERP system, it is very important that the system must get enterprise-wide acceptance. There must be enough employees who are trained to handle the problems that might crop-up. There must be people, within the company, who have the technical prowess to make the necessary enhancements to the system as and when required. The system must be upgraded as and when new versions or new technologies are introduced. Here the organisation must think in terms of the incremental benefits of the new enhancements. Since with any up gradation or enhancements, there will be a lot of other aspects like user training that have to be considered. So instead of going in for up gradation when vendor announces a new version, the organisation must first analyse the costs and benefits of he new version. After finishing the entire phases of the ERP implementation the organisation will need a different set of roles and skills than those with less integrated kinds of systems. It must be made sure that every individual who uses these

systems needs to be trained on how they work, how they relate to the business process and how a transaction ripples through the entire company whenever they press a key. The training will never end. It is an ongoing process. New people will always be coming in, and new functionality will always be entering the organisation. We need to know that, the conditions and measures that have to be adopted during the implementation process are unique. The same cannot be applied by the management of the company after the implementation. Different set of guidelines and measures have to be adopted for successful functioning of the system after the implementation. Projects on the ERP system implementation get a lot of resources and attention. However, an organisation can only get the maximum value of these inputs if it successfully adopts and effectively uses the system. Q5:Discuss briefly about JD Edwards and PeopleSofts applications and their various modules PeopleTools is an integrated set of client/server business application development and customisation tools from PeopleSoft. These tools enable customers to implement, modify, and maintain PeopleSoft applications as well as to extract, analyse and manipulate data. PeopleTools includes several tools for reporting, customisation and workflow. PeopleSoft continually adds and refines technology to optimise their customers information systems. They help customers take advantage of new and emerging technologies, giving them more choices and freedom to develop their own innovative business processes. Some of them are given below: Self-Service Applications: Helps to improve productivity throughout the organisation. PeopleSoft focuses on providing the occasional user with easy access to information and functionality specific to their role. They have developed a set of self-service applications to help companies quickly and cost-effectively distribute functionality throughout the enterprise over the Internet, and intranets. Built with a spontaneous interface based on a standard Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer. These Java-based, cross-platform applications enable employees, customers, suppliers, and other occasional users to perform self-service administrative tasks easily. Self-service applications are linked to PeopleSoft core product lines. Such as PeopleSoft Accounting and Control, Human Resources Management, and Materials Management. Web Client: Self-service applications use the PeopleSoft Web Client. The Web Client is downloadable on demand and runs on a Web browser across multiple platforms. Its affordability, open architecture and simplicity provide an ideal framework for delivering enterprise solutions to a large number of people. Applications dont need to be installed at every desktop; they are accessed easily through a browser. In addition to supporting self-service applications, the PeopleSoft Web Client has a Work list and Query interface. This improves the flow of the companys business processes and improves access to information for occasional users. Furthermore, all data transmitted

between the Web Client and the application server is coded for added security. Because the Web Client takes advantage of PeopleTools, selfservice applications can be deployed across the Internet or existing corporate intranets with common business rules workflow logic and security features. Multi-layer Transaction Processing: The ability to support large numbers of parallel users, while maintaining reliable, and superior performance, is critical to enterprise-wide data processing. PeopleSoft works in a variety of settings over Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Network (WANs), throughout organisations. In the latter, the application logic runs on an application server instead of the client. The application server is designed to relieve the client from processing intense SQL transactions, thereby reducing LAN traffic and improving performance across WANs. Three layered architecture also provides increased scalability to accommodate high volumes of parallel users while maintaining a consistent and reliable performance level. PeopleSoft continues to support its traditional two layered architecture as well. OnLine Analytical Processing (OLAP): Companies must be able to quickly extract and analyse the information they require for effective decision-making. OLAP, or online analytical processing, is a powerful method for interactively analysing data online. PeopleSoft integrates popular OLAP tools including Cognos PowerPlay and Arbor Essbase that enable users to easily share multidimensional data stored in various locations. With the Cube Manager application, users can define the data they want to extract into an OLAP cube. It enables them to quickly view information from all different angles to test conclusions, conduct what-if scenarios and compare alternative strategies. With multidimensional information presented in quick-read formats, managers can make better decisions, react faster to competitive threats and identify inefficiencies. Workflow: An essential part of the solution, PeopleSoft workflow capabilities help communications companies achieve enterprise-wide integration of information, applications, and people. Workflow enables a company to automate many time-consuming clerical tasks, while putting useful data into the hands of users. With workflow, the companys PeopleSoft applications do more of the work. For example, if managerial approval is needed for a work order, the system automatically forwards the request. Workflow can also help the company track projects, by initiating a workflow message to the appropriate person when a project exceeds a predetermined cost. The company can even bring non-PeopleSoft users into the workflow process, using e-mail systems and the Internet for collecting, and distributing data. The different product modules available from JD Edwards are: Foundation Suite: Consists of Back Office, CASE Foundation, Environment/ Toolkit, Financial Analysis Spreadsheet Tool and Report Writer, WorldVision GUI, Electronic Burst & Bind. Financial Suite: Consists of General Accounting, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets, Financial Modelling and Budgeting, MultiCurrency Processing, Cash Basis Accounting, Time Accounting) Logistics/Distribution Suite: Consists of Forecasting, Requirements Planning, Enterprise Facilities Planning, Sales Order Management, Advanced

Pricing, Procurement, Work Order Management, Inventory Management, Bulk Stock Management, Quality Management, and Advanced Warehouse. Management: Consists of Equipment Management, Transportation Management, Job Cost and Service Billing Services Suite: Contract Billing, Subcontract Management, Change Management, and Property Management. Manufacturing Suite: Consists of Configuration Management, Cost Management, Product Data Management, Capacity Planning, Shop Floor Management, and Advanced Maintenance Management) Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Mining and Real Estate Suite: Consists of Procurement, Inventory Management, Equipment Management, Job Cost, Work Order Management, Subcontract Management, Change Management, Contract Management, Contract Billing, Service Billing, Homebuilder Management, and Property Management. Energy and Chemical Suite: Consists of Agreement Management, Advanced Stock Valuation, Sales Order Management, Bulk Stock Management, and Load and Delivery Management. Government, Education, and Not-for-Profit Solutions: Consist of Financial Administration and Reporting, Budget Administration, Fund and Encumbrance Accounting, Grant and Endowment Management, Purchasing and Material Management, Warehousing and Central Stores Management, Human Resources Management, Service and Work Order Management, Capital Project and Construction Management, Contract Management, Plant, Equipment, and Fleet Maintenance. Utility and Energy Solutions: Consists of Customer Information System, Human Resources Management, Work Management, Regulatory Reporting, Supply Chain Management, Project Management, Enterprise Maintenance Management. JD Edwards offers customers the means of achieving greater ongoing control of their businesses. It is enabled by their ability to define and redefine the way they do business as markets, customers and competitive conditions change. Behind this customer commitment is a twenty-two year history of listening to customers, understanding what they ask of business technology. At the same time learning the problems and requirements of their industry and developing solutions accordingly. By emphasising solutions, relationships, and value, JD Edwards maintains its focus on what truly matters to its customers. Q6:What is BAPI? Why BIAP is considered as commanding tool in the SAP consultants toolkit BAPI (Business Application Programming Interface) is a set of interfaces to object-oriented programming methods that enable a programmer to integrate third-party software into the proprietary R/3 product from SAP. For specific business tasks such as uploading transactional data, BAPIs are implemented and stored in the R/3 system as remote function call (RFC) modules.[2]

BAPI is the most dominant tool in the SAP consultants toolkit. It is one of a set of tools for interfacing with an SAP R/3 system. The priority of BAPI is calling data in and out of SAP. For the SAP consultant, BAPIs are the small, powerful ships that keep these barges of data moving. SAPs R/3 system is now open by releasing the specifications for some 170 business application programming interfaces (BAPIs). This helped third-party applications interact with R/3 directly. BAPIs can be called as sets of methods that allow external applications to collaborate with specific R/3 business objects such as customers, accounts, or employees. As R/3 data is addressable through callable methods, BAPIs gives flexibility to the third party application vendors to build supporting applications for the R/3 system.