ENTERPRISE BUSINESS SYSTEMS $($AEBS$)$ X$420\mathrm{.}18$

ERP System Organization Exercise

Background:

ERP systems provide generally the same functions. How those functions are organized and how they work can be quite different.

The purpose of this exercise is to introduce you to the different ways in which ERP systems can be organized. This will be helpful in subsequent exercises when you are looking for particular features and functions.

It may also be helpful in the job market where you do not know what ERP software you will encounter in different businesses.

Exercise:

Investigate the organization of systems to which you have access.

Instructions:

a$.$ Screen Print

$1.$ Top$-$Level Organization

$2.$ Next Level of Organization down

b$.$ Systems:

$1.$ Business Central

$2.$ NetSuite

$3.$ Sage $300$

$4.$ SYSPRO

c$.$ Following the Screen prints, answer the following questions:

$1.$ Describe how each system is organized.

$$ BC $$ N$/$S $$ Sage$300-$ SYSPRO

$2.$ How are their organizations similar?

$3.$ How are their organizations different?

$4.$ Which way of organizing the systems features and functions do you prefer? Explain why.

$5.$ How do Roles and Dashboards affect the determination of system organization?

$6.$ Search is an important feature. What is Search$$s major limitation with respect to finding features and functions in a system?

$7.$ What insights did you gain from this exercise?

Workproduct Instructions:

$$ ERP Organization

$$ Paste Screen Prints into a Word document.

$$ Be sure the screen prints are legible. Illegible work may be returned for resubmission.

$$ Answer the seven comparative questions listed above.

$$ Give particular attention in the last question.

Think in precise short sentences or phrases; lengthy narratives are not necessary nor preferred.

$$ Submit everything via Canvas. Do not email submissions.

Notes:

$$ Ignore Roles, Home Screens and Dashboards.

$$ Roles are designed to control access which means they hide rather than reveal system structure.

$$ Also, Home Screens and Dashboards are also not designed to show organization. Dashboards are generally tailored according to the user$$s role, i$.$e$.,$ users in the Sales Department tend to see Sales information, users in the Purchasing Department tend to see Purchasing information and so on$.$

Hint: Think about a deck of playing cards.

In what ways, can the $52$ playing cards by sorted $($organized$).($Think about different ways of ordering the cards.$)$