Enterprise Resource Planning

Running head: ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING 1
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ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING 2
Question 1
1. Distinguish between a business function and a business process. Describe how a
business process cuts across functional lines in an organization. How might a manager
organize his or her staff in terms of business processes rather than functional
departments? What benefits would there be with this type of organization? What
challenges would it pose?
Solution
A business functions refers to a business activity like production scheduling, order
processing, cash- flow management, recruiting of staff. A business process refers to a
collections functions that takes either one or more inputs kinds and produces an output that
creates a value to a customer.
A business process transpires when variety of activities are accomplished in more than
functional area. Creating and selling of products to clients is a process that includes,
production, sales and accounting functions. People who are working on each and every
activity must work as a team to ensure that sales of goods go smoothly- taking customers
order, scheduling productions, shipping the goods, recording all necessary data about creation
and sales and the records of customer’s payment (Hamidi, 2018).
Business managers today are thinking their strategies basing on business processes that
integrates the functional areas of business, these promotes competitiveness and efficiency. A
vital aspects of functional areas integration is the ability to share data between the functional
areas of business. And the business partners. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software
enables this capability by utilizing a single database (Fan, 2018).
In the current high competitive environment, the better an organization can integrates its
business activities to every functional area the more it will be successful. Integration also

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING 3
helps in improving the cash flow and communication. Every section of information systems
relies of data of other business functional areas (Fiaz, Ikram & Ilyas, 2018).
Question 2
Go to the Amazon Web site (http://www.amazon.com), and step through the process of
buying an item without actually purchasing the item. You then answer the following
questions in details:
2. a. Based on this experience, describe the flows of information between Marketing and
Sales, Accounting and Finance, and Supply Chain Management at Amazon. How easy is
it to buy that item? (You have to think from 'Supplier' point of view to answer this
question in order to improve the customers’ shopping experience with your company!)
Solution
It is very easy for a customers to use Amazon online shopping by following the following
order process:
1. Marketing and sales: Customers select an item they need to purchase and add to the
shopping cart.
2. Accounting and finance- receives data from sales and marketing that the clients need
to checkout
3. Accounting and finance- calculate total payments that the customer need to pay
4. Supply chain management – supply order to the client after receiving confirmation
from the finance and accounting department regarding the payment status.

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING 4
b. Create a process map that describes your online shopping experience at
www.amazon.com. Include the steps involved in the processing and shipment of your
order.
Solution
The steps that are involved in the above online process map of Amazon are:
Step 1: The customer choose the product to purchase
Step 2: The customer submit an order for processing
Step 3: the system checks the availability of the commodity, if out of stock the customer gets
the message that the commodity is out of stock, but if the stock is available the process move
to the next step
Step 4: The commodity is prepared for delivery
Step 5: The delivery process starts and the shipment notice is send to the customer.