I discussed the definition of a DSS and looked at some of the different types of DSS. The article concluded with the statement that a DSS is a highly specialised and powerful tool that can add tremendous value to your business, but that it is not always affordable or necessary for every business. So this week we will investigate how your ERP / Business Management System can be utilised to help you make better decisions.

I am always putting emphasis on the fact that the real value of having the right ERP / Business Management System is because it allows you to take better decision, since you will have correct information available in real time.

“Better” decision in this sense is obviously very wide, but it can be anything from better timed decisions (early warnings of products selling more or less than expected), decision that will save you money (e.g. keeping less inventory of a certain product) or a strategic decision (e.g. spend more/less money on marketing for a product).

This week we will look at forecasting, a business process that is used in almost every business area, whether it is done on the back of a cigarette box, or with sophisticated computer systems!

This week we will look at another “sub-component” of the whole supply chain, the warehouse function. This is such an important function in most supply chains that we will deal with this in a separate article.

Rikus discussed the concepts of Supply Chain Management and Just in Time last week. To elaborate on this, I am going to discuss two concepts of a more advanced nature relating to supply chain management today, namely Inventory Optimisation and Supply Chain Visibility. I will kick-off with Supply Chain visibility, as this is a fundamental concept applicable to everyone.

This week we will continue this series by investigating some of the more popular philosophies within SCM and their relevance to the Namibian business environment. The first one I will look at is Just-in-Time (JIT), a term which many have seen in text books and articles, but few have seen in reality!

This week we will start with a series on Supply Chain Management (SCM) and the involvement of an ERP/Business Management System on this business function. We will look at the definition of SCM first.

As discussed last week, sales force automation basically includes all of the technologies, techniques, and strategies on which successful sales are built. We will continue with this topic this week by looking at the concepts of contact management and pipeline management in the sales function and the involvement of ERP / Business Management Systems.

This week we will highlight the concepts of management by exception and, a fairly new concept of business alerts, which result from the use of management by exception.

This week we will look at the concept of Workflow, what it is, the participation of a business management system in this concept, and how it can improve efficiency.

Last week we kicked off the discussion by investigating the redesigning of your business processes through the practice of Business Process Reengineering (BPR). We looked at the definition of BPR and touched on the involvement of IT in this practice. This week we will look at a success story of BPR initiated by an ERP system implementation

This week we will focus on another way of becoming more efficient, namely by improving or redesigning your business processes. There are a lot of terms associated with this practice, but the most widely used and probably the most well-known term for this is Business Process Reengineering or BPR.

We are busy looking at efficiency and the role of IT and more specifically the role of your business management system in improving efficiency. We will discuss in this week’s article how an integrated phone can increase efficiencies in your business.

We are busy looking at efficiency and the role of IT and more specifically the role of your business management system in improving efficiency. We have looked at the definition of efficiency and last week we looked into more detail on how you can utilise your business management system to do proper document management and improve efficiency. We will dedicate this week’s article to look at how your business management system can be utilised to control, measure and improve the efficiency of your business.

We are busy looking at efficiency and the role of IT and more specifically your business management system in improving efficiency. Last week we discussed the definition of efficiency and also touched on the role of proper document management in achieving efficiency in your business. This week we will investigate further on how you can utilise your business management system to do proper document management and improve efficiency.

Last week we finished off with the important concept and very powerful process of Knowledge Management. This week we will start with a new series that will look at efficiency and the role IT and specifically Business Management Systems has to play in becoming more efficient. We will kick this series off by looking at the most common and well-known administrative nightmare, which is usually at the heart of all inefficiencies: Document Management.

Last week we looked at few terms and definitions to put knowledge management into perspective and gave a quick overview of the concept of a knowledge management system. This week we will continue this discussion and go into more detail on knowledge management systems, technology to support knowledge management and the role of the business system in all of this.

In the last two articles we discussed mobile technology and the possibilities of using it to give your business a competitive advantage. In these articles it became evident that it is all about having the right information at the right time to make the right decisions. This is a concept that has featured almost in every article we had about business management systems and brings us to this week’s article in which we will give a name to this “right information at the right time to make the right decision or take the right action” – phenomenon! It is called Knowledge Management.

In the previous article we gave an overview on mobility and the options it creates for doing business today, as well as discussed a view issues to keep in mind when you consider a mobile solution. Since connectivity and service provider options in Namibia are getting better, cheaper and more user-friendly, this is becoming a big reality in our local business environment. We will use this week’s article to look at a few success stories of mobile business solutions.

Last week we discussed the importance of the business management system in a manufacturing environment. This week we will start with part one of a number of articles on the mobility of business systems, as well as the convergence of business management systems and communications.

In the previous article we looked at the history of ERP systems, and just gave a broad overview on the manufacturing/production module. Productivity, Efficiencies, Quality, Inventory Management and Optimisation are very important concepts in a production/manufacturing environment. This week will focus on the role of the business management system in these areas.

We hope that everyone had a deserving break over the festive season and we wish all the Namibia Economist readers a very prosperous 2008!

Last year we covered a lot of information on the Business Management System. We looked at the definition of an Integrated Business Management System (IBMS), when your business needs a new system, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), how to search for and decide on a system, how to implement the system, and lastly we started to go into the detail of the different modules, with specific reference to the Accounting and Sales side of the business. This year we will kick-off by looking at the manufacturing and production modules. These business functions were the main reason for developing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which eventually evolved into Integrated Business Management Systems.

Last week we looked at the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) module of the business management system. The information and business intelligence that is available in this module is a competitive advantage of note, especially in the sales environment. This week we will finish the sales cycle by looking at the business process that starts the whole cycle: Purchasing.

Last week we looked at the sales module of the business management system. The sales process is probably the most important of all business processes, because it generates revenue for the business and integrates with nearly all of the other modules. This week we will look at how the Customer Relations Management (CRM) module compliments the Sales and other modules in order to give your business a competitive advantage of note: Excellent Customer Service!

This week we will look at an even more important module - that is the reason for existence for the stock module and probably your whole business - it is the function that brings in the money for the business: Sales.

Last week we discussed the functionality of the financial / accounting modules of the business management system and also touched on solid business practices within these modules. This week we will look at the stock control / warehousing modules of the business management system. This is a very important business area, because you need to manage stock optimally to satisfy customer demand without carrying too much stock (which soaks up cash flow), and also because this area is especially exposed to theft, fraud and other risks.

Last week we discussed the meaning of having a fully integrated business management system and also touched on the benefits that such a system can add to your business. This week we will start to go into the details of the different modules, starting with the financial / accounting modules. We will cover the basics of the modules and also look at specific functions that the system must be able to perform in this very important business area.

Last week we discussed functionality of a business management system in general and we did an overview of the most widely used modules. This week we investigate the concept of having an integrated system and the advantages it brings for your business. We will first look at the definition of an integrated system and then look at the benefits.

We have up till now discussed how to search for - and decide on - the proper business management system, and also have looked at the implementation of a new business management system, with the focus on the “Big Three” of implementations: Project Management, Risk Management and Change Management. From here on we will go into the detail of the required functionality of the system, and we will start by looking at functionality in general and how to determine which is needed for your business.

The actual process of evaluating and selecting a business management system is never the same for any two companies. Unique internal conditions are going to determine exactly what work needs to be done. There are, however, common steps and exercises that a company and its evaluation team should take, which we evaluate in this article.