Exercise 16

1. Choose ONE of the four ways to manage and develop integrated systems as listed below;

I will chosse the "Business process analysis" method to manage and develop integrated systems.

2. Summarise your understanding and describe its relevance (250 words max) in either your study at university or in your work environment;

From my understanding, every business is a set of processes that govern how the business operates, how much revenue it can makes, how the support of the customer is, etc. “Business processes” in a company is always unique and differentiate it from other market competitors and therefore it is a very important intellectual property (strategic asset) of the company.

My company starts from a very small company and growing becomes a three billion US business company. In the last ten years, we are relied on a lot of independent systems (Enterprise Resources Planning, Customer Relationship Management, and Sales & Operation Planning) to perform the business operations. Each system will have its own workflow, transaction handling mechanism and reporting methodology. In order to have a smooth operation, management needs to understand how individual sub-systems work and how they communicate.

As the company grows, it is very difficult to monitor and analysis the business processes in this model. The company starts a Varian Vision Program (VVP) last year which try to reform the old business processes. This VVP program has been divided into three phases; the final goal is all sub-systems will become system components in a single database system (SAP). New workflows, reports and training processes are developing in order to fully utilize the VVP features (time consuming & costly). The upper management believes that once the system integration is finish, the company can increase revenue by having visibility (monitor), efficiency (no redundant steps), agility (rapid change) and business empowerment (confident to make decision) (savvion, 2009)

3. Edit TWO similar versions (include bibliography) of that summary to CSU Interact:

a. post version A as a wiki page contribution;

Done.
b. add version B as a final entry to close your developer's blog.

Business processes define how a business operates, make profit and perform customer support. It is absolutely the strategic asset of the company. My company business relied on a lot of independent systems (ERP, CRM, S&OP) to perform operations in the last ten years. Each system has its own workflow, transaction and reports. Smooth operation depends on the understanding of the entire sub-systems. A reformation of business processes is held on last year in order to integrate all sub-systems into a single database system in SAP. It is a very time consuming and costly action for defining new workflows, reports and training. After system integration, the company should increase revenue by having visibility, efficiency, agility and business empowerment (savvion, 2009).