Essentials of Business Processes and Information Systems

2

Enterprise Systems

Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter you will be able to:

• Describe the different types of enterprise systems (ES) and their roles in managing business processes.
• Identify the different vendors that supply ES and analyze their market positions.
• Explain the architecture of a typical ES.
• Compare and contrast the different types of master data in an ES.
• Portray the hypothetical company Super Skateboard Builders (SSB) in terms of its history and growth, products, customers, suppliers, and the types of information systems it uses.

In Chapter 1, we briefly introduced enterprise systems (ES) in the context of the business processes that are discussed in this book. In this chapter, we will explain enterprise systems in greater detail, and we will illustrate their role in managing and executing business processes. We will also describe different types of ES, explain the architecture of a typical ES, and identify the major ES software vendors in the market today. We will introduce you to the world's largest ES vendor, SAP^®, in greater detail to improve your understanding of the business model that ES vendors employ and how ES vendors aid companies in managing their specific business processes. Next, we will discuss the various types of data in an ES and how they relate to business processes.

In addition to discussing ES, we will introduce the hypothetical ...