INTRODUCTION (AUTOMATED BUSINESS PROCESS)

INTRODUCTION

• A large organization typically has several different kinds of Information systems built around diverse functions, organizational levels, and business processes that can automatically exchange information.
•  This fragmentation of data in hundreds of separate systems, degrades organizational efficiency and business performance. For instance – sales personnel might not be able to tell at the time they place an order whether the ordered items are in inventory, and manufacturing cannot easily use sales data to plan for next production.
• Enterprise Information Systems solve this problem by collecting data from numerous crucial business processes in manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, and human resources and storing the data in single central data repository.
•  An Enterprise Information System (EIS) may be defined as any kind of information system which improves the functions of an enterprise business processes by integration. This means classically offering high quality services, dealing with large volumes of data and capable of supporting some huge and possibly complex organization or enterprise. 
• All parts of EIS should be usable at all levels of an enterprise as relevant. The word ‘enterprise’ can have various connotations. Frequently the term is used only to refer to very large organizations such as multi-national companies or public-sector organizations. However, the term may be used to mean virtually every type of enterprise as it has become the latest corporate-speak buzzword.
• An EIS provide a technology platform that enable organizations to integrate and coordinate their business processes on a robust foundation. An EIS is currently used in conjunction with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) to automate business processes. 
• An EIS provides a single system that is central to the organization that ensures information can be shared across all functional levels and management hierarchies. It may be used to amalgamate existing applications. An EIS can be used to increase business productivity and reduce service cycles, product development cycles and marketing life cycles. Other outcomes include higher operational efficiency and cost savings.

For example, when a customer places an order, the data flow automatically to other fractions of the company that are affected by them leading to the enhanced coordination between these different parts of the business which in turn lowers costs and increase customer satisfaction.

•  The order transaction triggers the warehouse to pick the ordered products and schedule shipment.
•  The warehouse informs the factory to replenish whatever has depleted.
•  The accounting department is notified to send the customer an invoice.
•  Customer service representatives track the progress if the order through every step to inform customers about the status of their orders.