ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS (EIS)

Program / Bachelor in Management
Instructor: / Associate Professor S. Mischenko
Department: / Information technologies in management
Course status / Elective
Concentration / International Management, Financial Management, Marketing
Year / 3-d year
Term / Fall – 2011
Workload: / 3 ECTS, 45 hours of classes
Prerequisites: / Information technologies in management-1, 2
Course aim and objectives: / The traditional business education covers in great details the topics of marketing & sales, management, accounting & finance and other functional disciplines. However, when it comes to first job, the SOM graduates will doubtlessly start dealing not with the functions as such, but with the information systems (e.g. 1C, SAP, Oracle, other purchased or “homegrown” systems). Systems cover most of the functional management stuff. Not a single business transaction could be performed apart from systems.
One can hardly succeed in management, keeping low-level competence in systems deployed across his/her business units. The systems are getting more and more sophisticated, and they rely on rapidly evolving information technologies. It takes a long time for not prepared newcomer to gain the systems’ skills. How can it be that students spend years studying business topics and don’t bother to give tangible respect to information systems knowledge to contribute to their prospect employer's mission, as well as to their own career opportunity?
The objective of this course is to bridge the gap between the fundamentals of how businesses operate (processes) and the tools that business people use to accomplish their tasks (enterprise systems). Because the modern business environment is highly complex, we have focused our course around generic processes: purchasing, sales, production and finance. We are to provide students with a clear understanding of how different functional groups inside a company interact with systems to accomplish work . We also use this process-based approach to introduce students to the role of enterprise systems in eliminating (or multiplying?) inefficiencies and improving (or spoiling?) performance. We illustrate these discussions with multiple examples from real-world companies, and those operating on the Russian marketplace.
We aim to prepare students for their encounters with modern business systems lie in their future, so that they are not disadvantaged by a lack of understanding of sophisticated logic and technology these systems employ! Provided students got clear understanding how enterprise information systems handle generic business-processes, they should feel quite confident in front of any business system, weather it is manufacturing, trading, retail, logistics, construction, finance, state agency or municipal office.
Course content: / 1. Organizations, Business Processes, and Information Systems.
The functional view of the Organization: the typical departments, type of works in each. The process view: Core Business Processes, various flows associated with them. Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) in organization. Types of data in EIS. Master data. Harmonizing master data across business units & functions – the challenging task for system integration.
2. EIS Technology.
Three-Tier architecture of EIS: presentation, application, database. Evolution of EIS: mainframe, client-server, service-oriented architecture. Types of EIS. ERP systems. Core ERP & and Bolt-Ons. Configuring and customization.
3. Accounting information systems (AIS).
Basic accounting systems - predecessors /parents of EIS/ERP. The backbone of EIS data logic: Accounting model of the business. Chart of accounts. Why book-keeping is often so lousy, how to prevent it? AIS architecture, typical Bolt-Ons: Bank-client, Tax & statutory reports filing, Payroll. Evolution of AIS. Banking & Global Payment systems.
4. Key operational business processes handled by EIS.
4.1 The Procurement (requisition-to-pay) Process.
Key steps, document and information flows (Purchase requisition Purchase order, Packing List, Invoice payment), role of different functional areas, financial impact. Supply chain management enablers. Warehouse accuracy. Electronic data interchange.
4.2 The Order Fulfillment (order-to-cash) Process.
Key steps, document and information flows (Quotation, Sales Order, Shipment, Invoicing, Payment processing) role of different functional areas, financial impact. CRM evolution. Retail Sales management.
4.3 The Production Process.
Processes and strategies (to order, to stock). Master data in production (Bill of Material, Work Centers, Product Routing). Document and information flows (Planned order, Production Order, Material withdrawal, Goods receipt). Product life cycle management. How to handle “Production” for special industries (e.g. Logistics, Construction, Communications… )
4.4 The EIS Financial & other Processes.
EIS support to Cash Management, Receivables/Payables Management, Asset Management, Payroll, Taxes filing. Billing systems.
5. Management Business-Processes. Business Intelligence.
Management data categories: Actual, Budget, Estimate. EIS support to Actual periodic reporting & consolidation of business units’ statements. Budgeting & Rolling Estimates cycle. Investments planning, HR management.
6 EIS Life Cycle: Planning, Implementation and Operation and Maintenance.
Why Organizations Change Their Information Systems? Planning project, EIS costs and benefits analysis. Implementation methodologies. Maintenance & upgrading.
Teaching Methods: / The course is based on interactive teaching style with intensive student participation. As a part of the course, students should prepare a software BI solution during their lab works.
Grading Policy: / Student’s work for the course will be assessed in 3 key aspects: success in lab works, lectures attendance and activity and knowledge of the course topics (exam).
Exam is held as a written test based on all course issues and materials.
The final assessment is composed as follows:
•Final exam – 55%
•Student lab work – 30%
•Students’ activity in class – 15 %
Required reading: / Simha R. Magal, Jeffrey Word. Essentials of Business Processes and Information Systems, 2009.
Marianne Bradford. Modern ERP: Select, Implement & Use Today's Advanced Business Systems, 2010