Business Process Modelling Assignment: ERP and Business Functions

This assignment solution addresses key concepts in business process modelling, including information silos, ERP systems, and procurement. It defines information silos as the failure of information systems to integrate, leading to database problems like incorrect data and delays, and provides an example. The solution then outlines the different business functions integrated by ERP products, such as finance, marketing, and supply chain management, and highlights their importance. Finally, the document emphasizes the significance of procurement as an organizational process, detailing its role in cost management and business continuity, and includes a diagram illustrating the procurement lifecycle. The answers are well-structured, incorporating relevant references and adhering to the specified word count and Harvard referencing style.

Business Process Modelling
1. What are information silos? What problems do they cause in a database? Give an example.
Information silos are the scenarios where information systems, deployed for various
organizational functions, fail to integrate with one another, to exchange information, and data, or
fails to communicate seamlessly (Gartner, 2016). With respect to database, this inability may
generate incorrect or non-reliable data from the database, develop a redundant data pool, reduce
the data quality and create delays in analytics, forecasting and decision making (de Waal, et al.,
2019).
For example, an organization with different information for operations and sales function,
collaborate to generate business forecasts, sales reports and analytics information. Since the
information exchange between these two are hindered, manual, redundant or inaccurate data
would be shared between the departments, thereby impacting all functions.
2. What are the different business functions integrated by enterprise resource planning (ERP)
products?
An Enterprise Resource Planning system is an enterprise wide information system, that integrates
various business units, divisions and sub-divisions under a single umbrella (Osman, 2017).
Amongst various ERP Products available from different vendors, a few are Microsoft Dynamics
365, Workday, Oracle NetSuite, SAP Business ByDesign. These products provide integration
with business functions like Finance, Marketing and Sales, Human Resourcing, Inventory
Management, Procurement, Governance and Operations, Supply Chain, Customer Service,
Business Intelligence and others. Also, many ERP Products offer development and customization
as well, to entertain the need of specific business function as well (Parthasarathy & Sharma,
2017).
3. Describe the importance of procurement as an organizational process with the diagram.
Procurement is referred to the arrangement and purchase of goods and services, required for
organizations for business continuity, from an external source. It not only includes shortlisting of
suppliers, products and service provider parties, but also includes policies and communication
procedures to be followed (de Araújo, et al., 2017).
Page 1 of 3
Assignment Subject/Title

For any organization, a procurement process plays crucial role in limiting the expense costs,
managing financial decisions, enabling business performance and maintaining business
continuity. Good and streamlined business relationship with service or raw material provider
helps in establishing brand value as well (Kakwezi & Nyeko, 2019). Below is an explanatory
diagram to demonstrate lifecycle of procurement process for businesses.
Fig 1: Procurement Lifecycle – A demonstrative view
Source: https://procurement.sfsu.edu/
Page 2 of 3
Assignment Subject/Title

References
de Araújo, M., Alencar, L. & de Miranda Mota, C., 2017. Project procurement management: A structured
literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 35(3), pp. 353-377.
de Waal, A., Weaver, M., Day, T. & van der Heijden, B., 2019. Silo-busting: overcoming the greatest
threat to organizational performance. Sustainability, 11(23), p. 6860.
Gartner, R., 2016. Breaking the Silos. In: Metadata. Springer: Cham, pp. 87-96.
Kakwezi, P. & Nyeko, S., 2019. Procurement processes and performance: Efficiency and effectiveness of
the procurement function. International Journal of Social Sciences Management and Entrepreneurship
(IJSSME), 3(1).
Osman, S. E. F., 2017. INTEGRATION Solution With ERP (Enterprise resource planning systems).
INTEGRATION, 3(4).
Parthasarathy, S. & Sharma, S., 2017. Impact of customization over software quality in ERP projects: an
empirical study. Software Quality Journal, 25(2), pp. 581-598.
Page 3 of 3
Assignment Subject/Title