The Building Blocks-Enterprise Applications Part 1- Overview and ERP

1. Key Messages

-An organisation's application portfolio consists of a wide variety of larger and smaller systems, that evolve and are replaced at a different pace.

-Enterprise Applications are large-scale software hosted on server(s) and delivered to end-users over a network to directly support or inform the execution of business processes.

-Enterprise Resource Planning is a packaged business software system that sits at the heart of the application architecture of many large organisations and allows a company to automate and integrate the majority of its business processes, share common data and practices across the entire enterprise, and to produce and access information in a real-time environment.

2. Gartner's Three EA "Pace-Layers"

System of Record(Record of business transactions)

Established packaged applications or legacy homegrown systems that support core transaction processing and manage the organization's critical master data. The rate of change is low, because the processes are well-established, common to most organizations, and often subject to regulations or recommended practices.

System of Differentiation(gives you competitive advantage-eg. CRM)

Applications that enable unique company processes or industry-specific capabilities. They have a medium life cycle (one to three years), but need to be reconfigured frequently to accommodate changing business practices or customer requirements.

System of Innovation

New applications that are built on an ad hoc basis to address emerging business requirements or opportunities. These are typically short life cycle projects (up to 12 months) using departmental or outside resources and consumer-grade technologies.

3. Enterprise Applications

-Enterprise Applications are large-scale software hosted on server(s) and delivered to end-users over a network to directly support or inform the execution of business processes.Today, most enterprise-scale applications are packages developed and sold by specialist vendors (rather than built in-house).

-Such applications are usually complex and costly to implement (fit Gartner's "system of record" definition).

-In order to innovate and differentiate themselves from competition, organisations often build smaller, targeted solutions to extend and/or complement these enterprise-scale applications or to experiment with new technologies.

4. Question

What are the strengths and weaknesses of packaged enterprise applications as compared to in-house built 'legacy systems'?

Strengths	Weakness
Best practices Cost-effective Single-Source Interoperability Real-time Support effective error free?	Vendor dependent Complex Risk-failure Not fit(different culture)

Why or why not could the diagram on EA 'Ecosystem' or/and EA Integration?

5. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

An Enterprise Resource Planning system is a packaged business software that allows a company to:

-Automate and integrate the majority of its business processes

-Share common data and practices across the entire enterprise

-Produce and access information in a real-time environment.

Core focus was initially on 'back-office' functions, particular Finance and manufacturing (successor of MRP)

ERP could be thought of as a 'generalist' system that lies at the core of the application architecture of most large organisations

Major vendors include: SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Sage

6. ERP: Five Views

What is an ERP system? 6 different perspectives:

-Top Management View (value proposition)

-Architectural View (fit with the IT platform)

-Functional View (what can the system do)

- Process View (mapping to organization processes)

- User View (getting my job done)

Aside: When communicating about architectural issues, architects have to tailor their message to align with the view of the relevant stakeholders

7. Summary

An organisation's application portfolio consists of a wide variety of larger and smaller systems, that evolve and are replaced at a different pace.

Enterprise Applications are large-scale software hosted on servers and delivered to end-users over a network to directly support or inform the execution of business processes.

Enterprise Resource Planning is a packaged business software system that sits at the heart of the application architecture of many large organisations and allows a company to automate and integrate the majority of its business processes, share common data and practices across the entire enterprise, and to produce and access information in a real-time environment.