Chapter 8

• What is SCM and what are the benefits are of effectively managing the supply chain?

Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the provision of product and service packages required by the end customers in a supply chain. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption. When managing the supply chain effectively, companies can have precise purchasing. They can also produce and store at optimum levels with lower costs. At last, SCM ensures that all the work is completed on time.

• What are the  processes that drive the planning and execution of the supply chain?

Demand planning and forecasting, distribution planning, production scheduling, and inventory and safety stock planning.

• What are some emerging trends in SCM?

There are three main emerging trends in SCM - customer portals, supplier portals, and business to business marketplaces.

• What is CRM and its benefits and importance to the organization?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a company-wide business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. Its benefits are quality adnd efficiency, decrease in overall costs, and increase profitability. CRM is important to companies as a whole and their successes. Keeping CRM department up to date with new strategies and using new technology will keep companies current and profitable. As companies keep up good CRM they will have improved relationships with their customers and in turn will see sales increase for their company. Keeping on top of companies’ CRM will insure that companies move forward and increases profit as well as make sure that customers are satisfied and happy.

• What might be some ethical concerns relative to CRM?

To implement CRM, extensive information about the customer must be collected and stored. The two concerns with regard to this system are customer privacy and the accuracy of the information collected.

Database

The kind of stuff that companies keep track of isn't always going to be about only the basics like sales. They definitely want to have that information. After all, if companies plan on doing anything like direct marketing, it is going to be important to know exactly how much work to get done by knowing how many people to send to.

When companies are dealing with a lot of customers, it is not going to be as easy to keep all of the information straight in their heads. Most of the companies are going to have extensive databases about all of their sales along with any other information they feel like keeping track of. No matter what the size of the company is, they should always be prepared to use a database to keep track of all of the information.

The more important fact is that companies can use the information from the database, improving their productivity effectively. 

3 ERP systems

SAP is probably the best known supplier of ERP software. SAP offers two solutions. The first is the R/3 suite and the second is the B1 suite, sometimes called "business one." R/3 is an integrated software system that can support everything from very small companies to very large corporations. It is customizable to meet your specific business needs. B1 is targeted more at small and medium-sized businesses and offers pre-built modules for finance, warehousing, customer relationship management, e-commerce, purchasing and reporting.

Baan ERP software is designed for manufacturing industries working on complex products with complex supply chains that work on different methodologies. Baan is especially suited for large made-to-order and engineering-to-order companies. It is highly customizable and supports flow chart based process and procedure documentation.


Microsoft AX 2009 is designed for medium to large organizations and has functions that are useful for companies doing business in multiple countries. It is focused on improving individual productivity and is best suited for service organizations, manufacturing companies, wholesalers and retail-oriented companies.


Ma, Jie Wen. "Types of ERP Systems." EHow. Demand Media, 04 Sept. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/about_5366970_types-erp-systems.html>.

(made-up work) Excel Blog Function

In Excel, VLOOKUP stands for vertical lookup. It can help to find specific information in large data tables such as an inventory list of parts or a large membership contact list.

On the other hand, companies can use spreadsheets for collecting, sorting, and analyzing data. It helps organizations make strategic decisions based on the data. It also helps to keep track of production, inventory and  finances of the company which are all important when making decisions. To make good strategic decisions, thorough organizational planning is required and hence companies use spreadsheets to calculate balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and cash books.

How companies can benefit from a database?

Databases can be created specifically for stock control. By simply glancing at a database, it is possible to see what is nearly out of stock and what is not. It is even possible to automatically reorder stock once it reaches a certain level. And thus, database can help companies to create an effective stock management.

Access

I have heard of Access for many times yet, I never knew what it actually was or used it. After watching the videos, I know that we can use Access to manage all of the information in one file. Within an Access database file, we can use tables to store your data, queries to find and retrieve just the data that you want, forms to view, add, and update data in tables and reports to analyze or print data in a specific layout.

Another new thing I learned was the tables and relationships. We can create a table for each type of information that being tracked. To bring the data from multiple tables together in a query, form, or report, the relationships between the tables are defined.

Social Networking - Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service launched eight years ago. It has over one billion active users. Facebook users must register before using the site. Afterwards, they may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college.

Many companies around the world use Facebook as an advertising platform. Through Facebook companies make online sales and get in touch with customers more effectively. When it is done successfully, people spread the word about your qualities on Facebook.

I suggest BoarDome to create a page on Facebook. They can simply take pictures and put on details of their products. As there are over one billion active users around the world using Facebook daily, or even on their mobile devices, it is a very effective way for people getting know about BoarDome. They do not need to worry about losing customers because customers can easily leave messages on Facebook and they can reply it in a more simple way, and thus, it is a greater chance for them to make online sales.

I personally have been using Facebook since I was 15 years old so I am pretty familiar with this social network. I love it so much and I use it daily. As an international student, I can always share what happen in the USA with my family and friends in Hong Kong. They do not have to worry about me that much if I keep them updated often. Moreover, when I get upset or stressed out and do not want to talk with anybody, I write my feeling on Facebook. It has become a place for me to relieve and relax.

Critical Thinking Chapter 4

An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to share information, operational systems, or computing services within an organization.

Extranet is a form of a computer network that allows for safe access from the outside, it is mainly for business or educational purposes. For example, in a business-to-business example, the extranet is an extension of an organization's intranet that is extended to users outside the organization (partners, vendors, and suppliers), while isolated from other internet users. In contrast to this, a business-to-consumer (B2C) model involves known servers of one or more companies communicating with new consumer users. An extranet can be thought of as an area that provides access to needed services for channel partners, without allowing access to the entire organiztion's network.

BoardDome can use the intranet as a communication tool - to post weekly reports, memos, and goals. And thus, all the employees are on the same page.
Intranet eliminates the time of talking or sending emails one by one. It is great when you have to communicate with more than one person at the same time.

For the extranet, BoardDome's customers can log in to it and take account of their orders and communicate with the sales and service stuff. If they have any questions, they no longer need to call to the company and wait for a long time on phone. Suppliers can also use extranets to make online catalogs available to vendors.

Chapter 3 Excel

I personally think...

1. The first bar chart shows data clearly. However, it does not contain all the information.
2. The two dimensional line chart was the easiest one to be made among all three charts. Moreover, we can tell how the prices go from this chart and compare the prices just by looking at it.
3. The three dimensional column chart looks way too complicated. It is hard for people to read the data. I personally do not like looking at this kind of chart.

In conclusion, I like the two dimensional line chart the best out of the three charts due to the reasons above.

Excel (Chapter 2)

I took Accounting 211 in the first semester at Behrend so I am actually quite familiar with the income statement and balance sheet and stuff. I also took SCM 200 last semester, so that I did not have too much problem while doing the Excel assignment.

There was still something new I learned from this assignment - formating the workbook for printing. Turning off the gridlines was easy. However, it took me a while to set the page breaks. I got some help from my friend, Alvin, and eventually got it done.

I personally think the instruction for this assignment was not clear enough. For example, the ninth point on the first page said we had to break it into three pages. On the third page, it said we had to give page four and five as well. Moreover, It said the output requirements should be without formulas yet, the pictures shown below were with formulas. That was quite confusing.

Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet program. It allows us to setup charts and reports which makes it
powerful. We can also easily get the totals and figures. I have learned to use Excel for keeping track of my personal finances and I definitely love it because I can figure out how much I spend in a period of time without any difficulties.

Nowadays, the use of Excel is indispensable in financial modeling and analysis. It is used for data input, consumer data, and other types of analysis information that a business will keep track of. The functions and formulas in Excel help the financial analysts out and make their work easier. Excel helps organizing a company as well.

The Career that I am Interested In

I have not actually picked a specific major from Business Administration yet, but I am quite interested in Finance and Risk Management. However, I doubt myself if I could really handle Risk Management. So at this moment, I think I am going to pick Finance for now.

Financing provides entrepreneurs and businesses with advice and support to ensure they understand their options for getting the money to start, sustain and grow.

If I want to engage in the Finance field, a detailed  knowledge of economics, mathematics, and all applicable laws is essential. The minimum requirement is a bachelor's degree in finance or a related field. Having a master degree of course is even better. I can also earn a certificate from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.

I personally think information system is important not only to Finance, but to the whole Business field. The information comes from some transactions that have been processed by the companies. Investors will know how to allocate their assets over time and price assets based on the risk level.