Information Systems and Software Applications

Information Systems and Software Applications

BIS219

September 11, 2010

Information Systems and Software Applications

The days of manual data entry to document everyday business functions has become obsolete and is replaced by information systems and software applications that save business’ time and money by improving efficiency and productivity.

At my company, a defense manufacture, SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) is the main software used to handle the majority of day-to-day functionality by integrating sales order management, transportation, and warehouse processes, and by linking to back-end financials, manufacturing, and purchasing. SAP provides goal setting, forecasting, optimizing, and time scheduling of materials, and other resources. The planning functionality enables maximizing returns on assets and ensures a profitable match on supply and demand. SAP’s supply chain visibility design gives network wide visibility to perform strategic as well as day-to-day planning (SAP Business Management, 2010).

For Materials Management, SAP ensures that the materials are in the right place at the right time by sharing information about inventory and purchase orders. Planned purchase orders, inventory management and invoicing closes the feedback loop between demand and supply and improves order fill rates through increased replenishment speed, delivery confirmation and invoice accuracy (SAP Business Management, 2010).

For Manufacturing, SAP supports all production processes. It takes into account real-time material and capacity constraints to generate optimized production schedules. By integrating manufacturing with other supply chain processes, SAP enables a quick, flexible approach to responding to engineering changes and customer requirements (SAP Business Management, 2010).

SAP’s Warehouse Management software reconciles open purchase orders with incoming shipments, supports a stocking system that remembers where goods are stored, and...