Summary Business process integration
Lecture 1 – Business process integration
Business function
Refers to an activity that a company performs, like order management, marketing, selling,
finances, product design, and so on.
Business functions may be carried out by one or more departments and may be organized
hierarchically.
People speak different languages between different business units. For example there is a big
difference between business and IT language.
Business process
The complete & coordinated set of collaborative activities that respond to a business
requirement for action, that deliver value to customers.
Integration
The need for integration is caused by business drivers. These are business demands
(customers, employees, supply chain partners).
The drive for integration is supplied by technology drivers. These are mobile devices, legacy
applications and packaged software solutions supported by the internet.
Business Process Integration
Business process integration (BPI) is the techniques and mechanisms for
managing the movement of data, and the invocation of processes in the
correct and proper order to support the management and execution of
common processes that exist in and between applications.
Business Process Integration (BPI) is the synchronization of a company's
internal operations with those of its other divisions and its trading
partners by connecting disparate systems in real-time.
Three Integration Waves
Legacy integration
Enterprise application integration – Application to application
Business process integration – Business to business
Business Process Redesign and Integration
Designing a business process model was first step in BPR;
BPR: organizational effectiveness and efficiency;
BPI goes beyond organizational retooling of processes aiming at:
o integration of internal with external processes
o process models are used to specify cross-organizational process requirements
Lecture 2 – The World of e-Business
,E-Commerce
Definition: The buying and selling of information, products and services via the Internet and
the World Wide Web.
Types of e-Commerce
Business-to-Consumer
o E-commerce between organizations and individual consumers
Business-to-business (e-Business)
o Definition: The conduct of transactions by means of electronic communications
networks (e.g., via the Internet and/or possibly private networks) end-to-end.
o E-commerce between businesses
o Accounts for a much larger portion of e-commerce than business-to-consumer.
Business-to-administration
Consumer-to-administration
e-Commerce vs e-Business
Compared with e-Commerce, e-Business is a more generic term, it refers not only to
information exchanges related to buying and selling but also to servicing customers &
collaborating with business partners, distributors & suppliers.
o It implies Business Process Integration!!
e-Business processes are integrated end-to-end across the company, with key partners,
suppliers and customers & can respond with flexibility and speed to customer demands and
market opportunities.
o companies link their internal and external processes more efficiently & flexibly, work
more closely with suppliers to satisfy the needs & expectations of their customers.
Internet-based e-Business
Reasons for firms to create the ability to exchange transactions over the Internet
o The Internet is a publicly accessible network with few geographical constraints. Its
largest attribute, large-scale connectivity (without the need to have special company
networking architecture) is a seedbed for growth of a vast range of business
applications.
o The Internet global inter-network connections offers the potential to reach the widest
possible number of trading partners of any viable alternative currently available.
Characteristics of e-Business
e-Business is about integrating external company processes with an organization’s internal
business processes:
o Collaborative product development.
o Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment.
o Procurement and order management.
, o Operations and logistics.
Ingredients of e-Business solution
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems:
“front-office” systems that help the enterprise deal
directly with their customers. CRM integrates &
automates customer-serving processes within a company
(personal information gathering & processing, and self-
service throughout the supplying company in order to
create value for the customer).
Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP):
management information systems that integrate &
automate many of the business practices associated with
the operations or production aspects of a company. An ERP system includes:
o Production: manufacturing resource planning and execution process
o Buying a product: procurement process
o Sales of products and services: customer order management process.
o Costing, paying bills and collecting: financial/management accounting and reporting
process.
Supply Chain Management (SCM): A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution
options that performs the functions of procurement of materials; transformation of these
material into intermediate and finished products & distribution of these finished products to
customers. A supply chain essentially has three main parts, the supply, manufacturing and
distribution.
Knowledge management: knowledge regarding markets, products, processes, technologies, &
organizations that a business owns that enable its business processes to generate profits. Also
includes the subsequent planning and control of actions.
e-Market: an electronic gathering place that brings multiple buyers & sellers together,
provides to its participants a unified view of sets of goods & services & enables them to
transact via automated means.
e-Business Roles & their Challenges
e-Business applications have two sides:
o Buy side: organizations that use e-Business facilities for their buying needs, e.g., spot
purchasing and/or enterprise-wide procurement.
o Sell side: businesses that sell their products via the transaction mechanisms offered in
e-Business applications.
Manage multiple selling channels.
Ability to take multiple types of orders from customers.
Ability to differentiate and customize products and services from other
suppliers.
ability to adapt and grow the e-Business without dramatic technology changes,
organizational restructurings, business processes or radical new investments.
