Integrated Management Information Systems (IMIS) are modularly organized comprehensive information systems that support all spheres of an enterprise’s operations, ranging from marketing, planning, and procurement, through technical production preparation and control, distribution, sales, and maintenance management, to financial and accounting tasks and human resources management (St. Abt).
Among its most important features are:
– integration of procedures and data
– compliance with MRP requirements
– implementation of the controlling concept.
The set of features cited above places very high demands on information systems used in enterprise management. Undoubtedly, the SAP R/3 system can be included in the group of information systems that meet these criteria. It is worth adding that SAP is the third-largest IT company in the world. R/3 has been implemented in 120 countries worldwide (over 36,000 installations, 10 million users). In Poland, the R/3 system has been implemented in over 140 companies, including: Amica Wronki, TVP, Energetyka Kaliska, Orlen, Stocznia Gdynia, Zakłady Ceramiczne Rokita, and others. These relatively few implementations in Polish companies result from many reasons, among which the following are of particular importance:
– lack of financial resources for investments
– personnel, technical, and technological limitations.
Such a state of affairs significantly hinders the technical progress of enterprises, simultaneously causing significant differences in their level of development and, as a result, limiting cooperation and collaboration between enterprises both domestically and abroad. For example, a company that does not use one of the latest solutions (from SAP), mySAP.com, in the field of using the Internet in business, may have limited access to information and thus to the market. Furthermore, it may encounter reluctance to undertake joint economic initiatives from better technically and technologically prepared companies. Such isolation will eventually mean partial or total elimination from the market. The structure of the R/3 system visible in Fig. 1 allows for the implementation of only those modules that the enterprise deems necessary (e.g., AA, FI, SD, etc.) with the possibility of further expansion or a full installation, which is unfortunately quite expensive. It should be noted that among the modules presented in Fig. 1, all are equally important and require the undertaking of many complex and organizing activities within the enterprise itself, on which the effectiveness of the implemented information system depends. Errors made in the design, planning, or implementation phase of a specific module will limit the potential capabilities of the module and, subsequently, the entire system. For example, errors made at the FI module level (poorly defined corporate chart of accounts – the layout of synthetic and analytical accounts) will compound at the CO, AA, etc. module levels.
Taking into account the assumptions of logistics as a scientific and research field concerning the organization of processes for moving and storing raw materials, materials, and finished goods in a systemic approach aimed at optimizing supply chains (from raw material acquisition to the consumer), as well as dealing with the management of post-consumer products, those IT solutions within (IMIS) that meet the cited idea take on particular importance. In enterprises where there is a very strongly developed supply-production-distribution infrastructure, the MM module (Materials Management Module) of the R/3 system can be successfully used. This module supports functions and processes used in daily operations carried out in the enterprise. The goal of the module is to implement economic processes necessary for the proper functioning of enterprises in areas such as material requirements planning, inventory management, invoice verification, or material valuation.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 1/2004.
