PROJECT REPORT
ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS PROCESS FLOWS & IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OPTIMAL FOR CIMS
NETWORKING ARCHITECTURE
(ERP)
Prepared By: Nitin Kumar ROLL NUMBER : 510933943 NEW DELHI
Executive Summary Dissertation Title: Analysis of business process flows and implementation of an optimal networking architecture for CIMS (Enterprise Resource Planning) Specialization:
MBA in Project Management
Name of student: Nitin Kumar Semester: Fourth Roll No.: 510933943 The ERP, Enterprise Resource planning, market is relatively new and has grown very quickly lately. The main reasons for this growth have been globalization, and the need of better information integration. ERP systems are enterprise-wide systems that automate all of a company’s business process and replace legacy systems, integrating all departments and functions across a company in a single computer system that runs off a single database so that the various departments can more easily share information and communicate with each other. The URC Construction considers the reason of acquiring a standard ERP systemCIMS (Construction Information Management System) as a strategic opportunity to strengthen their competitiveness; an instrument to improve the company’s process flows. In this report, the preparation analysis and the necessary steps for the implementation of an ERP system - CIMS, in URC construction Pvt. Ltd. Erode are described.
This report
first describes the detail of company’s process flows for each individual department required for CIMS-ERP and later networking architecture and unified
coding system to
implement the same ERP system. Finally, factors responsible for successful implementation of ERP. Signature of Student Nitin Kumar ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The satisfaction that accompanies the successful completion of any task would be incomplete, without the mention of the people who have made it possible and whose constant guidance and encouragement served as a beacon light and crowned our effort with success. I consider it as my privilege to express through the paper of this report a few words of gratitude and respect to all of those who guided me in completing this project. Firstly, I would like to thank Prof. K. Padmanaban, Professor, SDM-Institute for Management Development, Mysore for providing me this opportunity and valuable guidance through out the project. I wish to thank Mr. C Sudhakarpandi, DGM (Accounts), URC Construction Pvt. Ltd. Erode for providing me the required information as and when needed during the project work. I record with appreciation the help rendered by IT Hardware and Software team, URC construction Pvt Ltd. Erode, for my project work. I would like to say due to their co-operation and in time help my project work is successful.
Nitin Kumar
iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS •
ASN: Advance shipping Notice
•
ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode
•
BDPMS: Business Development and Project Management System
•
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
•
CE: Customer Edge
•
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
•
DFD: Data Flow Diagram
•
DSL: Digital Subscriber Line
•
EMD: Earnest Money Deposit
•
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
•
FBT: Fringe Benefit Tax
•
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
•
FWP: Fixed Wireless Phone
•
GPRS: General Packet Radio Service
•
GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication
•
GUI: Graphical user Interface
•
HRM: Human Resource Management
•
IPV4: Internet Protocol Version 4
•
IT: Information Technology
•
Kbps: Kilo Bits per Second
•
LAN: Local Area Networking
•
Mbps: Mega Bits per Second
•
MP‐BGP: Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol
•
MPLS: Multiprotocol Label Switching
•
MRIN: Material Issue Indent
•
MRP: Material Requirement Planning
•
NLRI: Network layer Reachability Information iv
•
PE: Provider Edge
•
RFID: Radio Frequency Identification System
•
ROI: Return On Investment
•
SCM: Supply Chain Management
•
SLA: Service Level Agreement
•
SNA: System Network Architecture
•
ST: Sales Tax
•
TDS: Tax Deducted From source
•
VAT: Value Added Tax
•
VPN: Virtual Private Networking
•
VRF: VPN Route Forwarding
•
VSAT: Very Small Aperture Terminal
•
WAN: Wide Area Networking
•
WDVPN: Wireless Dial up Virtual Private Networking
•
XML: Extensible Markup Language
v
List of Figures and Tables Figures No.
Title
Page No.
1.
ERP Structure
5
2.
Methodology for designing ERP system
10
3.
RFID working
32
4.
Positioning of MPLS VPN
62
5.
Cost Vs Performance
62
6.
Networking Architecture for option ‐1
67
7.
Networking Architecture for option ‐2
68
8.
Final Networking Architecture Phase ‐I
78
No.
Title
Page No.
1.
Data Transfer speed Test
65
2.
Network Connectivity Option 1
66
3.
Network Connectivity Option 2
67
4
Hardware Requirement for Network
70
5
IP Address structure
80
Tables
Data Flow Diagram No.
Title
Page No.
1
Recruitment Process
14
2
Training Process
19
3
Inventory Management
28
4
Purchase Process
29
5
Business Development & Project Management
50
6
Execution & Monitoring
51
vi
Contents Ch. No.
Title
Page No.
i)
Certificate
i
ii)
Executive Summary
ii
iii)
Acknowledgment
iii
iv)
List of Abbreviation
iv
v)
List of figures & Tables
vi
1
Introduction
2
2
About Company
6
3
Objectives
8
4
CIMS‐ HR Module
12
5
CIMS‐ Purchase Module
23
6
CIMS‐ Finance & Accounting Module
35
7
CIMS‐Business Development & Project Management
44
8
An Optimal Networking Architecture for URC
55
9
Unified Coding system for ERP
72
10
Factors Responsible for ERP success & failures
74
11
Results and Action taken
77
12
Conclusion
81
13
References
82
vii
Entterpriise Resource Pllanniing
Introduction
1
Chapter 1 ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Introduction
Information technology offers many options to optimize business processes. To succeed in today’s highly competitive environment, there is a need to manage business processes as efficiently as possible. ERP systems are integrated business transaction. Processing and reporting system that focuses on business processes. They are modular application software related to areas of customer order management, manufacturing, planning and execution, purchasing and financial management and accounting. Which enable business to increase their productivity of critical component. ERP is a structured approach to optimizing a companyes internal value chain. The goal of ERP is to support one time entry of make
available
to
all
the
information at the point of creation and to
participants
within
organization.
It
was
significantly complex since no system was originally designed to share information with other system. ERP systems are becoming a fact of business life considering that even small organizations are increasingly installing them. The adoptions of such a system contribute to a more efficient operation of the company and to the removal of faults from multiple registrations supporting all intra and inter business processes.
2
What is ERP?
The initials ERP originated as an extension of MRP (material requirements planning then manufacturing resource planning). ERP systems now attempt to cover all basic functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organizationes business or charter. Non‐manufacturing businesses, non‐profit organizations and governments now all utilize ERP systems. The term ERP is typically reserved for larger broadly based applications. The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance (one system instead of two or more) to easier andfor greater reporting capabilities (as all data is typically kept in one database). ERP acts as the central nervous system. As a fully integrated system, ERP automates all departmental information in to a single relational database. As the entire quotation through shipping process uses the same information from a single dataflow, data is entered only once which improves accuracy and reduces cycle time. Information is retrieved quickly and easily for real hands‐on decision making. ERP breaks the information bottleneck and provides up‐to‐the‐minute information to the right person at the right time. Examples of modules in an ERP, which formerly would have been stand‐alone applications,
include:
Manufacturing,
Relationship Management
Supply
Chain,
Financial,
Customer
(CRM), Human Resources, Warehouse Management
and Decision Support System. (Source: Wikipedia)
3
Structure of the ERP system Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include: Manufacturing Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Work flow Management, guality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow Supply Chain Management Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning,
Supplier
Scheduling,
Inspection
of
goods,
Claim
Processing,
Commission Calculation Financial General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets Projects Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management Human Resources Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering, Benefits Customer Relationship Management Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support Data Warehouse Various Self窶心ervice interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees.
4
Figure 1 ERP structure
5
Chapter 2 About Company Started more than
50 years ago, URC construction is a company with
phenomenal construction experience capable of handling large turnkey projects. It has a very strong machinery infrastructure backed by an experienced team that matches the best in the industry. From petroleum, power, sugar, cement to textiles, tech parks and commercial complexes, URC construction has a wide spectrum of knowledge base that is invaluable to its clients and in turn to its own growth and success story. Mr. U.R. Chinnusamy has founded URC Constructions in 1956. He ventured into construction in 1948 at the age of 19. He was involved in such projects as the Malampuzha Dam construction in 1953�54 and the Upper Azhiyar Dam construction (Porthimund f Kunda Scheme). The undertaking of the canal work of the Lower Bhavani Project in 1956 marked the commencement of URC & CO URC set out on dam and irrigation work, and also powerhouse work in 1964, on mass housing in 1967, and on institutional buildings and sugar factory construction in 1972. URC was awarded in 1977 by the then Tamil Nadu Governor Mr. Mohanlal Sugadia for the successful completion of Thirupathur Cooperative Sugar Factory. URC became a Private Limited Company in 1992. Mr. U.R. Chinnusamy became the Chairman and Managing Director. Mr. C. Kanagasabapathy, Mr. C. Devarajan and Mr. S. Palanisamy became Executive Directors. URC has been serving various sectors varies across from Power, Sugar, Textile to Petroleum, Educational, Chemical and Businesses institutions for past more than 50 years. To serve the various sectors and geographic regions, the group has within its
fold
Devi
Constructions,
C.
Kanagasabapathy
&
Co,
Bharathi
Constructions and URC Builders.
6
Milestones Some major projects completed by URC constructions, which are milestones in the construction industry, are Periyar Nagar, Sampath Nagar and Vellalar Women’s College in Erode were constructed in 1980. The elegant Manchester Towers, a nine‐storied apartment of 1,80,000 sq ft built area, was constructed in Coimbatore in 1997. The six‐storied school & hostel buildings of BGS International School were constructed in Bangalore for Sri Adichunchanagari Mutt. A commercial complex at MEPh Campus in Chennai was constructed for National Building Construction Corporation, New Delhi. Maharaja Engineering College in Avinashi and PGP International Arts & Science College in Namakkal were built in 2001. In 2002 mega dinning hall for Indian Institute of Technology Chennai, Infrastructural buildings and staff quarters for Nuclear Power Corporation, Kudankulam were completed. In 2005 The Netaji Apparel Park was completed for Tirupur Exporters Association. The 185 MLD water treatment plant was constructed in Bhavani under the New Tirupur Water Supply Scheme. Institute buildings, auditorium & substation were constructed for Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam. The flyover bridge at National College iunction in Bangalore was constructed. With five decades of experience and equipped with latest technology URC has carved a niche for itself in the construction industry, known for its integrity, quality, customer relations and promptness. They have established themselves as pioneer and trendsetter in construction industry especially in southern region. URC construction as a group now has an annual turnover of more than Rs.150 core and they have registered a tremendous growth of 100j in last 5 years. 7
Chapter 3 Objectives The company’s objectives for the adoption of an ERP system are twofold: strategic and operational. On the strategic level, the objective is to improve the company’s competitiveness through better quality of service, increased profits, and its consolidation not only in Tamilnadu, but also across India. On the operational level, the objectives of the company are related to information sharing between the involved parties, rational management of resources, facilitation of communication between the departments and worksites, improvement and control of processes, and removal of older technology applications. The installation of an ERP system by incorporating the automated techniques of operation and the most optimal practices of a company will allow the unification of processes and the work of sectors that today function independently. ERP’s major objective is to integrate all departments and functions across the company onto a single computer system that can serve all of the enterprise’s needs. It is an opportunity for the company to dramatically improve its day‐to‐day operations by taking advantage of the capabilities of the new system. ERP forces discipline and organization around business processes, making the alignment of IT and business goals more likely. The administrative structure of the company is supported by management divisions, which are subdivided into departments. The basic management divisions are Human Resource (HR), Finance & Cost Accounting, and Operations or execution, Planning, Purchase, guality Control, Information technology and safety. Although the worksites of the company are under the Operations Division there is communication with the remaining divisions and departments of the company. Under the management of the worksites are the warehouses and procurement.
8
Expected/ realized benefits of the ERP implementation: Project focused
ROI, evaluated based on cost of ownership versus quantifiable benefits
Elimination of isolated applications
Early operation
On time deliveries
Increase of gross profit margin
Data accuracy
Data redundancy
Lower cost
Increased connectivity
Increased information speed
Real time transaction time
Fast deliveries of more precise bids for tenders.
Strategic longterm benefits
Customer satisfaction improvement
Customer loyalty
Holistic view of the enterprise.
Prerequisite for ERP In order for the company to decide on the new system and exploit its advantages, a team from the information’s System Department suggested the required actions and the expected results in the context of the preparation analysis based on the needs of the company
9
Figure �2 Methodology for designing an ERP system
10
Enterprise Resource Planning HRM Module
11
Chapter 4 HR M odule HR (Human Resources) is another widely implemented ERP module. HR module streamlines the management of human resources and human capitals. HR modules routinely maintain a complete employee database including contact information, salary details, attendance, performance evaluation and promotion of all employees. Advance HR module is generally integrated with knowledge management system to optimally utilize the expertise of all employees. Salient features Maintenance of Employee details with respect to department,
designation, status, income tax category, recruitment, payment mode, PF etc. Leave management that involves leave opening balance calculations, over
time and monthly leave calculations. Application, processing and sanction of loan to employee and their
repayment
Payroll generation and management based on every department. Statement creation for pay slip, provident fund, professional tax,
insurance, income tax, hosing loan, salary, etc.
MIS reports based on monthly leave details, leave balance and attendance
Training scheduling, nomination, attendance and trainer feedback and assessing employer feedback after training. Entities • Employee • Directors • Regional Offices • Branches
12
Master Databases
Wage type
Employee structure
Salary structure
Salary component
Pay component structure
Pay structure analysis
Designations
Holiday Master
Departments
Leave Definitions
Resume Bank
Permission Master
PF Master
Travel Policy
Final Settlement
Pay structure modifications
Employee assessment
Processes Recruitment This option is available for giving a new employee request. Whenever a site managerfdepartment head requires an employee for his ongoing project he can make a request to provide an additional manpower for his respective department. This requisition provides an option to opt for an external resource or internal resource (if it is available in other department and possess equivalent required qualifications). HR manager ultimately gives the permission to allot a new employee for requested sitef department.
13
Data flow diagram ‐recruitment process. (DFD‐1)
14
Payroll Process This process contains several sub menus which helps to maintain and track employees daily, monthly record.
Attendance Attendance has to be maintained for each employee and it provide option to maintain employee attendance at three levels ■ ■
Daily attendance (Employee wise) Monthly attendance (Employee wise)
■
Daily attendance (Branch wise)
Salary Process HR manager can generate a salary slip for employees, which fetch the data available in wage type, wage period, pay type, pay structure, and employee master database. It also takes in account for leave available and availed by the employee.
Site Transfer For an employee requested for other site, Site transfer is available to transfer an employee from one site to other site on request or because of site closure.
Department transfer When a person is to be transferred from one department to another department, either on employee request or department requirement. This screen is used to generate transfer request, which after approval of HR manager and respective site manager updates the respective employee database.
Employee relieve After completion of site transfer or department transfer process employee reliever request has to be generated. This screen generates the
15
employee relieve request which is to be initiated by respective site manager and after approval has to be updated in employee master database.
Manual deduction Allowance All tax related, loans or salary advances for an employee are maintained and can be viewed in this screen. It generates a comprehensive list of all manual deduction, loans taken, salary advance availed or tax deducted from source for each and every employee according to their respective branches.
Leave request Employee can apply for leave from the available leave codes e.g. casual leave, earned leave, medical leave or loss of pay. It also fetches the leave records for that employee so while filling request he can check the availed and available leaves.
Leave cancellation An employee can ask for cancellation of his requested leave through this available option.
Permission entry In URC an employee has to take request before leaving out of the office so this permission entry option provides to fill the permission request to go out whether official or personal purpose. But this permission is limited for maximum 2 hours. If the employee wants to go for more than 2 hours he has to apply for leave. Permission entry has to be approved by his respective site or department head. Finally it has to be updated in respective employee database.
Final settlement check list While an employee leaving or resigning from company HR manager has to check issued item to him. The checklist fetched from employee database, which is updated by different departments who has issued the accessories to the employee. After approval of store in charge for receipt of items Checklist should be escalated to head of department concerned 16
for approval. Employee shall be notified after approval of all departments concerned. Finally updated checklist should be escalated to the HR manager and respective site manager for issuance of no objection certificate for final relieving.
Leave encashment The employee can encash his available excess Earned leave if its more than 90 days. (According to company policy Earned leave more than 90 days are available for encashment for an employee). Leave encashment screen fetch the data from employees attendance sheet and employee master database. Leave encashment request has to be escalated to HR manager. After encashment data should be updated in employee database.
Training and appraisal
Training schedule HR manager or authorized HR personnel are maintaining a schedule (on the basis of available training and requested training by employee) for the current financial year. This schedule has to be updated in training master database.
Training request Employee can make a request to arrange training for himself in a specified area.
Training Nomination Head of department or site manager also can nominate an employee for any specific training.
17
Training Vs employee After escalation of training request, HR manager should approve the training request and the employee should be assigned for that specified training.
Training attendance During the training, attendance for the employee has to be entered and maintained in training database. It fetches the information for ongoing training and makes available the list of training and employees availing that training so their attendance can be filled.
Training feedback After completion of training the trainer shall provide feedback for the employee performance during training period.
Employer feedback After evaluating the performance of trained employee, the head of department shall provide the performance feedback for the employee, which is to be maintained in employee database and could be considered for performance appraisal of the employee.
18
Data flow diagram for training process (DFD�2)
19
Reports from HR Module • MIS report • Attendance report • Leave balance as well as details • Salary structure • Pay Slip • Pay Slip details • Deductions • Employee PF list • Leave Reports ⇒ Leave Cancellation
⇒ Leave Request status
⇒ Leave cancellation request •
Employee requisition • Site Transfer
• Form 12A, 5, 3A, 10, 6A
Recommendation
Employee recruitment While filling a request for a new employee from internal resources, it should not accept a person from other than required qualifications and department. For respective designation only filtered qualifications should be produced in list menu.
Training Process
Training schedule has to be maintained regularly and should include all available training for the current fiscal year and requested specified training by the employees.
20
Training schedule should be made available for an employee while he is making a training request, so he shall be informed better regarding available training programs for current year. Similarly training schedule should also be available for site manager or head of department while filling training nomination for an employee. Which will help them to opt from available training module and schedule during their requested period.
Other processes Grievance
log or Employee suggestion system: Employee and
HR staff can interact more efficiently through a single point of contact. Which will increase employee satisfaction as it ensure that each employee receives prompt, personalized answers to issues or request, resulting in increased employee satisfaction Equipment
card: Employee can monitor their equipments and
can raise a request to repair them. Which will reduce the burden to track and maintain working equipments used by employees. Injury
tracking: Tracking the health of employee and
maintaining the record of injury happened.
In employee records
‐ competency data
(regarding skills,
knowledge, attitude, behavior) disciplinary actions against employee and key events for employee should be included. Inclusion
of maternity leave and half pay leave in leave
application (if available in company policy).
21
Enterprise Resource Planning Purchase Module
22
Chapter 5
Purchase Module CIMS purchase modules cover the entire purchase and stores function aspects of an enterprise. It is tightly integrated with the inventory, payment and legal modules. Purchase manager can accurately and easily access information about vendors, stock levels, purchase analysis, etc. in real time. Store manager can easily deals with all the items or products required by the organization. It maintain tight control over purchasing process, ensuring that items arrive when needed, but not so early that carrying cost add up while extra inventory sits on shelves. Salient features
Get complete purchase history such as cost average, cost difference and average lead time for each vendor, item and delivery schedules
Easy templates for calculation of taxes, shipping charges and vendor terms and conditions
Maintaining product wise preferred vendor list
Preparation of purchase bill
Tracking transfer of stock from company to work site and vice versa
Updation of stock after receipt of resources
Price comparison of quotation and finalization of best quotation
Generation of request for the quotation of the procurement
Compilation of available resources from various project sites for procurement analysis.
Check stock opening balance
Stock transfer
Generate material receipt
Inventory management
23
Entities • Supplier
Master databases
Material
Supplier
Spares
Machinery equipments
Centering materials
Tools
Processes Procurement process Purchase requisition Employee can place purchase requests for goods and services, to be procured from external sources. The purchase requisition enables the streamlining of the purchase requisition processes followed in the organizations thereby enabling stores manger to better manage and raise purchase orders on time. With all the purchase requisitions available at a single area, the time taken by the manager to view, evaluate and approve the requisition is reduced. The demand for certain item can be created automatically e.g. assigning a certain minimum level for each item which is mandatory to have in stores and if the level goes below that the system automatically can generate the purchase request. Alternatively the employee can enter the purchase requisition manually. Purchase requisition amendment It enables employee to make any amendment in purchase requisition at later stage. Once the purchase order is finalized after this amendment it cannot be further changed.
24
Enquiry Placing an enquiry for the products to the particular vendors. Enquiry either can be placed on purchase requisition or it may be a fresh enquiry. It makes available the selected vendors list for that requested product thereby enquiry can be escalated to the particular vendors for their quotations. Quotation guotations received from vendors for requested products are to be updated here. These quotations either may be a direct quotation from vendor or for requested products. Quotation amendment This screen enables to make any amendment in quotation for a negotiated value from vendors Comparative statement Before placing a purchase order purchase manager should know all the available quotations from different vendors. To make his purchasing decision more appropriate and optimal he should be facilitated with a comparative statement, which helps in comparing all quotations on price, quality, vendor support and other critical factors. Purchase order Purchase order can be raised directly without any requisition or enquiry alternatively it can be raised on the basis of comparative statement prepared for requested or enquired products. It includes the supplier name, item details, other salient features e.g. payment type (advance or on delivery bill payment), date required and also term and conditions with supplier which includes packing and forwarding, insurance of shipment, delivery mode and freight charges. Purchase order amendment After negotiation with vendors there are chances of some modifications in purchase order that can be done in this available screen. Ultimately final purchase order is to be sent to suppliers.
25
Inventory management process
Material receipt Entering the details of material received from vendors before sending to the stores. It requires all item detail with supplier namek order no., order quantity, received quantity, item rate and other terms and conditions related to shipment. To save the transportation cost and taxes material directly being sent to the respective sites instead of main store. Respective sites store does the material receipt entry in system.
Material acceptance After quality clearance shipment has to be entered in store. For that it provides the option of entering received quantity, accepted quantity and rejected quantity. Only accepted items shall be updated in material master database. Other rejected items are to be considered during raising supplier invoice. Supplier invoice entry Entering of received supplier invoice with all requested details. Bill passing Supplier bill has to be raised and for this supplier invoice and material acceptance report and rejected item reference has made available in this screen thereby purchase manager can raise the bill for the supplier. Issue indent Entering of requested item details from other department or sites and issuing them requested item if available in store. If item is not available in store purchase request will be raised to get it from supplier. It maintains the records in database of how much item quantity has been asked and how much is being issued to other departments.
26
Issue return Some non�consumable items being issued from store to sites or employee e.g. tools, machines. These items are to be returned after completion of work. Purchase return Material received from supplier may have some damaged part thereby after quality check these items are to be returned back to supplier. Material In After closure of sites some leftover materials to be returned to store which can later be issued to other construction sites. Material Out Issuance of leftover material from closed site to other construction sites
27
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT (DFD -3)
28
PURCHASE PROCESS (DFD - 4)
29
Reports • Vendor Detail list • Indent details report • Enquiry generation • guotations • Purchase order • Store receipt note • Purchase invoice • Stock report (updated stock, stock as on date, periodic stock)
Recommendations
Automated purchase request: Inventory management system could be added with feature of maintaining minimum or maximum level of material and if any material goes below a certain level system can automatically generate a purchase request of required quantity that later can be approved by purchase manager.
Graphical representation of samples:
Along with the quotation
received from supplier, samples of required material could be asked and their picture and analysis should be posted along with quotation. That will further help in making appropriate decision on supplier.
More enhanced Comparative analysis statement:
comparison
statement of received quotation from suppliers can be depicted by using different graphs on different scales like quality, price, availability, supplier support, reliability. These graphs can be viewed along with comparison table generated from comparative statement. Generated comparative statement should be based on received quotations from supplier as well quality check report of received samples of required material from supplier.
30
Implementation of RFID for supply chain automation Supply chain is a complex multi�stage process, which involves everything from the procurement of raw materials used to develop products, and their delivery to customers via warehouses and distribution centers. The efficiency of the supply chain has a direct impact on the profitability of a company. It is no surprise thereof to find that many organizations have invested heavily in software system ERP or SCM and IT infrastructure to control inventory, track products and manage associated finance. RFID brings a new dimension to supply chain management by providing a more efficient way of being able to identify and track items at the various stages throughout the supply chain. It will allow product data to be captured automatically, and therefore be more quickly available for use by other processes such as stock management and real time billing. Not only in supply chain management but also for a construction company RFID has emerged as a technology that can be effectively applied for real time measurement of projects information, such as labor management, safety management, equipment management and progress management of various works including concrete, pipe, earthwork, structural steel works, and walls. In general terms, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification system) is a means of identifying a person or object using a radio frequency transmission. The technology can be used to identify, track sort or detect a wide variety of objects. Communication takes place between a reader (interrogator) and transponder (silicon chip connected antenna) often called a tag. Tags can either be active (powered by battery) or passive (powered by the reader field), come in various forms of including smart cards, Tags, Labels, Watches and even embedded in mobile phones. The communication frequencies used depends to a large extent on the application, and range from 125KHz to 2.45GHz. How RFID works In a typical system, tags are attached to objects. Each tag has a certain amount of internal memory in which it stores information about the object, such as its
31
unique ID (serial) number, or in some cases more details including manufacture date and product composition. When these tags pass through a field generated by a reader, they transmit this information back to the reader, thereby identifying the object. Main benefits of RFID in the supply chain Even though RFID application are still at the early stages of deployment many companies running pilot systems have been able to demonstrate some of the significant benefits that RFID promises.
Figure3: RFID Working
Advance Shipping Notices (ASN) RFID is able to automatically detect when either shipment has left or arrive at the warehouse. This will allow to not only generating an electronic ASN and can update in databases, but also to bill clients in real time instead of waiting until the end of week or month. Shrinkage or losses: One of the major problems in the inventory management is product loss or 32
shrinkage. As in Construction Company there are several materials like cement, steel works, glass material or sand, bricks, which can account for anything 2 to 5j of stock. The causes may vary from misplaced orders, employee and customer theft or inefficient stock management. RFID with its superior tracking and identification capability will be able to localize where losses are occurring. Purchase return goods Full visibility and automation can be potentially achieved on returned goods thereby reducing frauds. Inventory efficiency RFID will enable the traceability and reduction in the number of discrepancies between what a supplier invoiced and what a customer actually received. Reduction in labor costs At warehouses labor accounts a huge costs. RFID could reduce this by removing the need for manual intervention and use of barcodes when loading or unloading cases.
Concerns with RFID Investing in RFID on the scale required for the supply chain management will be a very costly exercise and if not managed properly could lead to unnecessary losses. The technology is not plug and play and will have to be adapted to each application. Furthermore RFID is still in initial stage and it is not widely known the adaption of this technology in Construction Company. Therefore deployment of RFID in Construction Company is subject to further analysis. ROI (Return on Investment) of RFID and its integration issue with existing ERP system is also require further analysis to be carried out.
33
Enterprise Resource Planning Finance & AccountingModule
34
Chapter 6 Finance & Accounting Module The Finance module is the core of ERP software systems. It can gather financial data from various departments, and generates valuable financial reports such as balance sheet, general ledger, trail balance, and quarterly financial statement. CIMS Accounts module is a business application capable of totally managing most accounting needs of a company. It enables to optimize accounting with inventory control along with integration of payroll, sales, purchase and engineering modules thus delivering a comprehensive picture of company’s financial robustness at any given point of time and at any given place through web connectivity. Finance & Accounts module is a powerful browser architected enterprise module, providing a completely integrated approach to an organization’s accounting needs, delivering control, speed and responsiveness with cost savings. Salient Features
Maintains financial year wise transaction details Helps in generation of different types of vouchers such as Credit, Internal Transfer, iournal and Petty cash etc.
Calculations of TDS, VAT and other taxes possible before releasing payments
Maintenance of all payment details made to external parties under various accounting heads
Bank reconciliation and Cheque return status maintained iob cost reporting in real‐time, including work‐in‐progress schedules and detailed bonding reports
Billing and cost tracking by lot, plan and elevations
The ability to import payroll time cards.
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Entities Main entities for Finance & Accounts module are: Banks Investments Auditors
Master databases Accounts: It’s a master database of all accounting heads, which includes Assets, Liabilities, Expenses, and Income.
Assets database is divided in 3 areas: o Fixed Assets Buildings Plant and Machinery Vehicles
Furniture and Fittings (Electrical and plumbing fitting)
Capital Work In Progress o Investments o Current Assets, Loans & Advances Work in progress & Inventories Sundry debtors Cash & Bank balance Others (IfT Accounts, FBT, EMD, ST etc.) Labor advances Staff advances Rent Advances Deposits 36
Advance to sundry creditors Prepaid expenses • Liabilities o Share Capital o Reserve & surplus o Secured & unsecured loans o Current liabilities (creditors) and provisions made for IT, FBT, proposed dividends etc. • Expenditure o Administrative Expenses: salary to staff or labors, General expenses and other maintenance expenses. o Financial Expenses: Related to bank interest or interest paid to shareholders or directors o Cost of direct material: Purchasing of materials. o Transport charges • Income o Bill Receipt o Interest on income o Insurance on claim o Miscellaneous Income
Cost centers Cost centers are divisions that add to the cost of the organization, but only indirectly add to the profit of the company. In CIMS cost centers are divided in four divisions: a. Administration b. HR (Human Resources)
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c. Tender Activity d. Safety
Commodity master All Tax related information is to be maintained in this database. Taxes like VAT (Value Added Tax) or Sales Tax to be paid are varies according materials classification. According to their classification and tax rate, database is being updated and will be further used in material procurement or account preparation processes. Voucher type It’s a database of all voucher types and definitions, which are to be used in accounting routine operations. Vouchers are further categorized as follows: • Bank o Bank payment with or wfo receipt o Bank Receipt o Cash deposit to bank o Cash withdrawn from bank • Cash o Cash payment with or wfo receipt o Cash receipt o Cash receipt direct o Cash transfer InfOut • iournal Vouchers • Purchase Vouchers Payment request definition It’s a database for maintaining all type of payment requests, which
are
categorized as:
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•
General Expense payment request: o General expense o Staff Advance o Labor Advance o
Cash purchase payment advice •
Bill payment Request • Advance payment Request: o Advance against purchase order for supplier o Tender document purchase payment
Processes Payment request Asking for payment from Accounts department, a payment request to be generated. These payment requests can be categorized as follows: Advance payment Request For making an advance payment to supplier or any other services hired which required to make some advance payment. Advance payment to be paid against purchase order to supplier Tender document purchase payments General Expense request This process is used to request money for some general routine expenses. These options also include the advances taken by staff or labor or any payment to be made against cash purchase. Bill payment Advice This process is designed to request money for making bill payments. These payment requests had already been defined in payment request definition master databases. And once the payment request to be made, respective 39
information will be fetched from databases. Payment requests are to be authorized from authorized person to make available them for issuing vouchers. Vouchers Vouchers to be issued against the payment request made. Voucher heads are to be assigned according to payment request. Later voucher entries will be updated in Accounts database according to their treatments, which follows the prescribed accounting standards. For instance a payment request being made for Earnest money deposits in cash. After authorization, voucher will be issued against the payment request and Accounts master database will be updated according to double entry bookkeeping system and Earnest money deposit field of the same amount will be added under the head of lLoan & Advances�mDeposits�mEMDn. Other side cash of the same amount will be deducted from the head of lcash & bank balancen. Treatment of all other voucher entries can be reviewed in lTrial Balancen. Trial Balance In accounting, the trail balance is a worksheet listing the balance of each ledger in two columns, namely debit and credit. The trial balance is prepared in each financial period as summary of the closing of the previous ledger. The total of the debit side should always be equal to the total of the credit side. Entries from Voucher are updated in trial balance according to their treatment as double entry bookkeeping accounting standards. Reconciliation Reconciliation provides the option to resolve discrepancies in accounts. It refers to comparing departmental records of anticipated financial transactions for the period of actual detail. Typical transactions includes copies of invoice payments forms, travel expense reports, petty cash form, deposit slips, salary changes, invoices sent to customers billing them or purchased for inventory etc. Reconciliations are the important part of keeping track of department or project budget.
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Some other screens available in Finance & Account Module Voucher Matching Denomination change Currency balance Day end process DD (Demand Draft) updation Account opening Account bill passing
Reports • Balance Sheet • Trial Balance • Profit and Loss Account • Account Books like day cash, bank transactions etc. • General Ledger and multiple ledgers • Stock Report • OfS Report • Payable f Receivable • MIS Repots • Ratio Analysis, etc.
Since Finance & Accounting module still in development phase so there are so many processes and reports are not developed yet, nevertheless they are expected to be completed soon. These include Balance sheet, Profit and balance Account and Ratio analysis etc.
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Recommendations Variance analysis I strongly recommend, inclusion of variance analysis in finance analysis reports. A variance is the difference between a budgeted, planned or standard amount and the actual amount incurredfsold. Variances can be computed for both costs and revenues. lVariance analysisn is a tool of budgetary control by evaluation of performance of the ongoing project. It helps in identifying the reason of over budgeting of a project. Project Management Availability of
lProject managementn option generally facilitates the accounts
department to analyze one project, not only for the current fiscal year but also for its overall duration. Accountant personnel should be able to analyze the budget or other cost drivers for one particular project throughout the period since its conception.
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B u s i n e s sD e v e l o p m e n & t P r o j e c t M a n a g e m e n tM o d u l e
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Chapter 7 Business Development and Project Management Module CIMS’s BDPMS module is a powerful project management tool to monitor and control project data, evaluate projects and enable consistent monitoring and execution to optimize construction costs. The solution divided in three parts, first part related to tendering process, second is budget preparation and authorizationk third and last part deal with execution and monitoring of ongoing project. This module is also designed to integrate with other modules like Accounting, Inventory, and HR etc. Salient Features
New business enquiry to tender submission Providing required prequalification and overhead profits details while filling tender.
Tracking the tender activities and its status
Project execution management and running bill generation
The user can maintain the detailed library of resources, units, overhead charges and activities
Daily reports for the site engineer
Total inventory management of site
Customized reports generation
Daily labor entry and material consumption entry
Maintaining record of piece work and subcontracting
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Entities • Clients • Piece workers • Labors
Master databases •
Overhead Profit definitions
•
Measurement type
•
Labor work
•
Centering material work
•
Machine work
•
Labor category
•
Capital goods
•
Spares
•
Tools & consumables
•
Materials
•
Centering materials
•
Machine equipments
•
Activity
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Processes 1. Tendering process Business enquiry Every business needs customers, and CIMS enable the maintaining of clients’ and work detail. Before starting a project company needs to gather information regarding nature of work, clients detail, and other project details offered by clients. This enquired new project information is to be entered in business enquiry screen, which initiates the tendering process. It also provides option to fill prequalification details, if asked by client along with tender. Tender entry Information regarding tender floated by client gets enter in this process, which are required further while working on tender. Site investigation Before going to tender process, company has to know all vital site details in depth. Gathered information from proposed sites such as site location, soil condition of site, availability of labor and material resources etc. has to be entered in this process so that can be used further while working out the tender. Rate enquiry Unit price rate of required resources has to be investigated in site investigation process. It’s a sub process of site investigation, and provides the unit rate of resources required, while working out the estimated budget for the project. Rate approval Investigated rates are to be approved by planning and accounts department. They should be able to compare current prices with previous rates of same material available in database, and accordingly they give approval for the resources unit rate while preparing estimated budget.
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Tender working The most important process is Tender working. Obtaining a project depends on the filled tender details. Working out on tender requires certain pre collected information such as client detail, site investigation report, rate approval report of resources and reference of previous accomplished budgets, while quoting the estimated budget for new project. Therefore this additional but vital information should be made available to user while preparing the tender. Tender working fetches all required information from respective databases and make available for user to use them. Tender working process is integrated with several databases and processes such as client detail, site detail, resources rate, prequalification, overhead profit calculation, and previous budget references. This helps in preparing foolproof tender and timely submission to client, which result in less rejection of tenders from client and certainly enhances the tender strike rate for company. Tender submission Tender submission details are to be entered in system such as submission date, company and work name, submitted by, and mode of submission. Tender reworking This screen enables reworking of tender detail in any required situation. After reworking tender again submitted to the client. Tender status Feeding the status of tender after the submission.
Tender may be in three
statusesk awarded, reworking or rejected. It helps in tracking of tender status after submission and keeps company always updated with ongoing tender process.
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2. Budget Budget preparation Preparation of budget is the essential and vital part of the project management. Budget preparation should be facilitated with all related information like clients offered budget, reference of previous budget details, new investigated rate details, required material and labor resources, overhead profit and other specific project details.
This information is to be fetched from respective databases
while working on budget preparation process. Budget authorization After the preparation of budget, it should be approved from authorized person. After the authorization the budget is to be stored in budget database and has to be escalated to respective project manager and accounts department. Budget revision In some certain situations budget revision may be required. In that case this screen will be helpful to make some revision in budget. After making amendments budget should be again escalated for approval.
3. Execution and maintenance Daily progress report Project execution module starts with recording daily activities at site. It provides the option of entering the details of daily execution activities, which are further, categorized as scheduled activities, non�scheduled activities, non�claimable, and non�measurable activities.
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Labor bill preparation This screen provides bill generation for work done by temporary labors or other sub contracting work along with required basic information, such as fixed basic rate for labor or sub contracted work, labor name etc.
Piece worker/ labor worker rate fixing The fixed basic rate for labor workerf piece worker has to be entered here, which further to be made available for preparing labor bill. Daily piece worker attendance While preparing the labor bill, apart from basic rate, other information is required that includes the attendance report of piece worker.
Daily attendance
has to be maintained in a database, which will be available for user while preparing the labor bill. Over time request If any labor does over time, for that over time request has to be generated for his over time bill clearance. While generating the labor bill for a labor this information is to be made available for user reference so it can be included in his bill.
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Business Development & Project Management (DFD-5)
50
Execution and Monitoring (DFD-6)
51
Reports •
Sub Contractor detail list
•
Activity details
•
Business enquiry
•
Consolidation of material rate
•
Consolidation of centering material requirement
•
Consolidation of material requirement
•
Consolidation of resource requirement
•
Submitted tenders
•
Tender info
•
Budget reports
•
Daily labor report
•
Work order processing
•
Daily progress report
•
Stores inventory reports
•
Site activity and other MIS reports
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Recommendations Variance analysis Aforementioned variance analysis should be used in the project management modulek so that project manager can analyze the status of ongoing project and can take certain measures. Quality inspection guality inspection process should be included in project management. Regular updation of quality inspection will help the management in maintaining certain quality standards
and will prevent from any deviation
from predefined
standards.
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[Networking Architecture PlanforURC]
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Chapter 8 An optimal Networking Architecture for URC
URC requires a robust and scalable networking architecture to implement their ERP package. A Wide Area Network (WAN), which will integrate and interconnect all offices and various sites to access the centralized ERP server and database.
Existing Network
URC has one Head Office and Registered Office in Erode and 5 Regional offices at Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy, with total 30�35 working sites. (Refer site map Appendix) They have total 150�160 computer systems working in their organization, which needs to be integrated on a single networking architecture so every one can be connected and access the ERP. Presently URC has the connectivity of Broadband Internet with bandwidth of 8 Mbps and 512 Kbps from BSNL at Head office Erode and one 512 Kbps broadband Internet from Airtel. All regional sites also well connected with Internet. In head office, registered office Erode and Regional office all systems are connected with each other over a respective Local Area Network.
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Network requirements When it comes to connecting multiple sites with WAN links, there are now a variety of viable choices. Naturally, the solution that is right for a business will vary depending on the size of your company, the type of traffic need to transmit, and preferences for security, latency, and reliability.
Essential attributes of WAN Scalability The Network architecture must adapt to meet ever‐changing bandwidth and connectivity needs in today’s fiercely competitive, dynamic market environment.
From low to very high speed access for sitesf users
Users can use any access technology
It can accommodate small to large number of sites.
Security It is essential that the Network should protect sensitive data so that it remains confidential and it should have protection from the open Internet QoS (Quality of services) Support for goS enables the Network to prioritize mission‐critical or delay‐ sensitive traffic such as voice and video, and also to manage congestion across varying bandwidth rates. goS mechanisms include queuing, network congestion avoidance, traffic shaping, and packet classification. Reliability and Redundancy The Network must be able to deliver the predictable and high service availability that business customers expect and require. A combination of reliability and
56
redundancy is the key to maintaining business continuity and recovering from failures.
Technology available In the not‐too‐distant past, a business could choose from dial‐up circuits, dedicated point‐to‐point circuits, and ultra‐expensive ATM. In the late 1990s, frame relay generally replaced dedicated point‐to‐point circuits as the top choice because of its ability to create a fully or partially meshed network that provided better fault tolerance. However, with the popular spread of the Internet and the increasingly low cost of connecting to it, encrypted site‐to‐site VPN tunnels have taken the top spot from frame relay. The service goal of VPNs is to provide customer connectivity over a shared infrastructure, with the same policies enjoyed in a private network. A VPN solution must protect against intrusion and tampering, deliver mission‐critical data in a reliable and timely manner, and be manageable. Following are essential attributes of VPN architectures.
VPN A virtual private network (VPN) is a private data network that makes use of the public telecommunication infrastructure, maintaining privacy through the use of a tunneling protocol and security procedures. A virtual private network can be contrasted with a system of owned or leased lines that can only be used by one company. The main purpose of a VPN is to give the company the same capabilities as private leased lines at much lower cost by using the shared public infrastructure. Phone companies have provided private shared resources for voice messages for over a decade. A virtual private network makes it possible to have the same protected sharing of public resources for data. Companies today are looking at using a private virtual network for both extranets and wide‐area intranet.
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MPLS VPN MPLS is a high performance packet forwarding technology that integrates the performance and traffic management capabilities of data link layer (Layer 2) switching with scalability. MPLS‐based VPNs are created in Layer 3 and are based on the peer model, which makes them more scalable and easier to build and manage than conventional VPNs. In addition, value‐added services, such as application and data hosting, network commerce, and telephony services, can easily be targeted and deployed to a particular MPLS VPN because the service provider backbone recognizes each MPLS VPN as a secure, connectionless IP network. The MPLS VPN model is a true peer VPN model that enforces traffic separations by assigning unique VPN route forwarding tables (VRFs) to each customeres VPN. Thus, users in a specific VPN cannot see traffic outside their VPN. Traffic separation occurs without tunneling or encryption because it is built directly into the network.
Characteristics of MPLS VPNs MPLS VPNs have the following characteristics:
Multiprotocol
Border
Gateway
Protocol‐Multiprotocol
(MP‐BGP)
extensions are used to encode customer IPv4 address prefixes into unique VPN‐IPv4 Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI) values. NLRI refers to a destination address in MP‐BGP, so NLRI is considered oone routing unit.o In the context of IPv4 MP‐BGP, NLRI refers to a network prefixfprefix length pair that is carried in the BGP4 routing updates.
Extended MP‐BGP community attributes are used to control the distribution of customer routes.
Each customer route is associated with an MPLS label, which is assigned 58
by the provider edge router that originates the route. The label is then employed to direct data packets to the correct egress customer edge router.
When a data packet is forwarded across the provider backbone, two labels are used. The first label directs the packet to the appropriate egress PEk the second label indicates how that egress PE should forward the packet.
MPLS CoS and goS mechanisms provide service differentiation among customer data packets.
The link between the PE and CE routers uses standard IP forwarding.
The PE associates each CE with a per‐site forwarding table that contains only the set of routes available to that CE.
Principal Technologies There are four principal technologies that make it possible to build MPLS‐ based VPNs:
Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol‐Multiprotocol (MP‐BGP) between PEs carries CE routing information
Route filtering based on the VPN route target extended MP‐BGP community attribute
MPLS forwarding carries packets between PEs
(across the service
provider backbone)
Each PE has multiple VPN routing and forwarding instances (VRFs)
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What MPLS VPN offers? Following are essential attributes of VPN architectures.
Scalability VPN has the ability to scale the unplanned growth and changes driven by customer demand. Service providers that have the potential to support tens of thousands of VPNs over the same network maximize their revenue and profit potential. Security Security mechanisms used in VPNs include tunneling, encryption, traffic separation, packet authentication, user authentication, and access control. Which protect sensitive data so that it remains confidential. QoS VPN support the gOS, which enables the network to prioritize mission‐critical or delay‐sensitive traffic such as voice and video, and also to manage congestion across varying bandwidth rates. The traffic on VPN can be divided in different class of services that has given priority for accessing available share of bandwidth. Different class of services can be defined as
Real Time VoicefVideo (25j of Available Bandwidth) Business interactive High priority data applications‐ SNA, SAP Rf3, Telnet (80j of Available bandwidth)
Best effort Data applications‐ FTP, Email, Internet
(20j of available
bandwidth) Manageability Typical VPN management tasks include: p Provisioning
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p Distributing and installing VPN窶親nabled customer premises equipment (CPE) and VPN software clients where needed p Installing security and goS policies p Managing and making changes to VPNs p Billing p Supporting service窶人evel agreements (SLAs) Reliability and Redundancy The VPN is able to deliver the predictable and high service availability that business customers expect and require. It has the mechanisms to improve service availability include enabling the VPN network to provide server stateful failover, VPN redirect, VPN session keepalive, VPN redundant server and backup sites, which makes a combination of reliability, redundancy and recovering from failures. Flexibility VPN has a simple architecture with any to any communication unlike of other networks where one to one communication is available. It provides the flexibility of easily removal or addition of usersfsite. Performance Service providers offer a service level agreement (SLA) with predictable latency, throughput, availability, packet loss and jitter for VPN connectivity, which cannot be offered with other network solutions. Price/ cost efficiency VPN connectivity is cost effective in compare of leased line and ATMfFrame Relay network. It provides a best access solution for every connected sitefuser.
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Positioning of MPLS VPN Performance Availability Security
Leased Line
MPLS VPN
ATM Frame Relay Frame Relay
IP Sec VPN IP VPN
Public Internet
Flexibility Scalability
Figure4
Coverage
Cost Vs Performance: Increasing cost
Leased Line
ATM Frame Relay MPLS VPN
Public Internet
Performance Figure 5
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MPLS VPN Constraints Last Mile feasibility
This is the issue with the MPLS VPN where service
providers cannot provide their services to all sites, as they do not have sufficient network coverage across India. MPLS VPN is still in growing stage in India and service providers still investing in this to increase their network coverage to provide last mile connectivity.
Other feasible technology URC has several remote sites where MPLS窶新PN is not supported or cannot be provided by service providers. Therefore we had to consider other available networking solutions for connecting those remote sites. In that case we have discussed over wireless media connectivity, which has the option of using data card, Fixed wireless phone (FWP), GSM Mobile phones or VSAT.
(a) GSM Mobile phones: Global System for Mobile communications is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM is a cellular network, which means that mobile phones connect to it by searching for cells in the immediate vicinity. GSM networks operate in four different frequency ranges. Most GSM networks operate in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Some countries in the Americas (including Canada and the United States) use the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands because the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands were already allocated. GSM 2.5 G technology is enables with the General packet radio service (GPRS) with data transfer speed of 64 Kbps to 114 kbps (theoretically) but we did not find it suitable for our consideration because of uncertain data transfer speed which will cause in latency and increased cost .It fails on the ground of reliability, scalability and cost effectiveness.
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(b) VSAT: A Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), is a two‐way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3 meters (most VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m). VSAT data rates typically range from narrowband up to 4 Mbitfs. VSATs access satellites in geosynchronous orbit to relay data from small remote earth stations (terminals) to other terminals (in mesh configurations) or master earth station ohubso VSAT has the advantage of availability, deployablity, diversity and homogeneity. Advantages of VSAT Availability: VSAT services can be deployed any where even at the remotest place as it access the satellites. Diversity: VSAT provides a wireless link completely independent of the local terrestrialfwireline infrastructure ‐ especially important for backup or disaster recovery services Deployability:
VSAT services can be deployed in hours or even minutes
(with auto‐acquisition antennas) Homogeneity: VSAT enables customers to get the same speeds and Service level agreement (SLA) at all locations across their entire network regardless of location. Disadvantages Latency: Since they relay signals off a satellite in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth, VSAT links are subject to a minimum latency of approximately 500 milliseconds round‐trip. Environmental concerns: VSATs are subject to signal attenuation due to weather (oRain Fadeo)k the effect is typically far less than that experienced by one‐way TV systems (such as DirecTV, DISH Network or British Sky Broadcasting) that use smaller dishes, but is still a function of antenna size and transmitter power and frequency band. Encryption: The acceleration schemes used by most VSAT systems rely upon the ability to see a packetes sourcefdestination and contentsk
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packets encrypted via VPN defeat this acceleration and perform slower than other network traffic. (c) Data Card / FWP: Data cards or FWP use CDMA
(Code Division Multiple
Access), is a form of multiplexing and a method of multiple access that divides up a radio channel not by time (as in time division multiple access), nor by frequency (as in frequency division multiple access), but instead by using different pseudo‐ random code sequences for each user. CDMA is a form of lspread‐spectrumn signaling, since the modulated coded signal has a much higher bandwidth than the data being communicated. CDMA 2000 technology enables data transfer at the rate of 144 Kbps.
Data transfer speed test We have tested the access speed to ERP server by using different media like Broadband (BB), data card (DC) and FWP. We have tested the time taken in loading, saving and refreshing of various applications in ERP. From The comparison result of test has shown in table‐ below.
Table‐1 Data transfer speed testing
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From comparison table it is clearly evident that broadband and FWP access time is in acceptable criteria. Thus we have decided to go with broadband and FWP for remote sites with VPN for additional security. Users from remote sites will access the server via FWP as wireless dial up VPN (WDVPN).
Network Architecture Option 1: The ERP server to be placed at ABT data center Pollachi, 200 Km far away from Erode. This option is considered because of available network and Internet facility, which was not readily available at other place. The server maintenance work has to be taken by a third party.
Table �2 Network connectivity� option 1
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Figure �6: Network architecture for option 1
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Table 3: Network connectivity (ERP Server at Head Office Erode) option 2.
Figure 7: Networking architecture for option 2
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Cost/ benefit analysis for both options Benefits of option 1: Networking and Internet facility is readily available at ABT data center Pollachi site that is very helpful to implement ERP in one go. Which is not readily available at Head Office Erode so that can cause some delay in ERP implementation schedule. Placing server at Head Office needs one extra server room with 24 hrs Air Conditioning and UPS facility, which may increase to some extent.
Benefits of option 2:
Placing server at head office will cut down the incurred extra cost of 3 Mbps MPLS VPN, one extra router and one extra VPN Firewall. Which is a large amount in compare of building a new server room at Head office.
24‐hour maintenance is available from in house ITf hardware team.
Server maintenance by third party in option 1 is also incurring some extra cost.
ERP can be implemented in phased manner and that will not cause an extra burden on financial budget of company.
Service Level Agreements (SLA) requirements 1. Port uptime Assurance percentage: up to 99.5 j 2. Mean Time to Recovery: up to 4 hours 3. Network latency (PE to PE): qr 80 milliseconds 4. Packet Loss (PE to PE) qr 1j 5. iitter less then 15 milliseconds
Hardware Requirements To configure the network and implement the ERP on that to all sites we have finalized the following hardware requirements. 69
Table 4: hardware requirement for Network
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Recommendations (1) Flexible Bandwidth: since our office working hours are in daytime and maximum time we used to access network and data transfer in daytime so we can consider of enabling flexible bandwidth option in MPLS VPN. In which we can opt for higher bandwidth let say 2 Mbps in daytime or peak hours and lower bandwidth during night or off peak hours. Which will help in reducing MPLS VPN implementation cost. (2) Implementation of CoS: ERP data is the preferred and most required data to be transfer on network. So we can use and implement the Class of services facility of MPLS窶新PN where we can allot higher bandwidth for most preferred data that is ERP data in our case. This will help in optimal utilization of network bandwidth. (3) Fixed peak hour duration: it can be decided to implement certain fix duration as peak hours, that peak hour duration will be varied for different sitesfusers, during that period only all maximum data transfer shall take place. Which will help in reducing congestion in network and better management of bandwidth and human resources as well. (4) Backup Policy: implementation of separate backup server and a dedicated tape drive and external hard disk to take and maintain back up periodically. Which will help in any unwanted failure of system. (5) Restriction of connected VPDN user at concurrent session: Restriction of allotted user name password to users so concurrently only limited no. Of users can connect to the network, which may reduce the congestion in network and misuse of allotted password. (6) Discus
SLA
parameters
with
service
providers
and
review
the
performance quarterly and bring in the penalty clause in agreement.
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Chapter 9 Unified Coding system for ERP According to prerequisites described in earlier section, after networking next thing to identify is unified coding or platform on which ERP can be developed. Therefore here we are with Microsoft .NET. .NET, Microsoft’s web services technology, provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, security‐enhanced solutions. .NET‐ connected solutions enables businesses to integrate their systems more rapidly and in a more agile manner. If adhered to diligently, it helps companies realize the promise of information anytime, anywhere, on any device. .NET is an architecture, a framework, a language, an overall development philosophy in a way that enables applications to share data across intranets and Internets alike.
Why .NET Software is Better Software Managed Code. NET provides a new set of tools and prefabricated components of unprecedented power that can be used to write a new type of software called lmanaged coden. The .NET platform not only runs this new type of code but also oversees its execution allowing software errors to be caught and halted before serious problems can occur. Better Security. We all know our systems are susceptible to hackers. Managed code follows a security model that is inherently different. Attribute of the software itself such as who wrote the software, where it came from, and where it is located are used to dictate and police what the software is allowed to do.
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Better Connectivity. The new .NET software development tools and the standard based nature of managed code makes it easier to develop systems that employ state of the art connectivity technique such as XML web services. Faster software, faster development, easier deployment. .NET is a completely new software technology, created from scratch, both to leverage groundbreaking technologies such as XML and to eliminate the old inefficient internal layers. Managed code is lean, speedy , and lightweight. Lower Cost of ownership. Each of the managed code advantages listed above promise to contribute to lower IT costs due to easier software development, easier and more trouble‐free deployment, installation, maintenance, and security. Apart from above‐mentioned benefits following are just few more benefits: • Platform Neutral • Better stability • Better Integration • Better GUI • Extensible to mobile devices • Greater Scalability • Better memory management To flourish in the coming years, mission critical corporate software systems such as ERP must be designed from the ground up for connectivity and integration, delivering maximum corporate agility at the lowest possible cost. An enabler of such agility is a .NET software architecture that represents business logic in a way that prevents the need for the multiple sets of business rules to support multiple sources of transactions.
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Chapter 10 Factors responsiblefor ERP Success & failures To know how to get the best from an ERP package, it is important to first analyze the key factors that are responsible for ERP failures. Some major factors are described below:
Incorrect Expectations In an ERP implementation, inaccurate expectations are the standard. In the case of most ERP implementations, cost and schedule overruns are common. This indicates a lack of understanding of the complexities of ERP implementation. There are underestimates such as the cost of implementing and the time required to implement as well as overestimates such as the scope of what organizations are able to implement. Inaccurate Data Accurate data is the lifeline of an ERP system. Experience has shown that at least 98j of inventory records and bills of material must be accurate to make the system usable to control the business. Inability to accurately map business processes If professionals who do not have adequate knowledge about the business implement the ERP package, it leads to improper mapping of the business processes. This can lead to an increase in implementation costs with no real business benefits. Since ERP systems attempt to get the most out of planned information, they are most useful when the existing procedures of the organization as well as the data structures can be adapted to match those implemented by the ERP. Compatibility issues with the new ERP system is mostly found when going live with the new system.
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Inability to factor in hidden costs In addition to the cost of purchasefdevelopment, most organizations often fail to factor in hidden costs during evaluation, consulting, implementation, training and post implementation support. All the above factors can lead to cost overruns, schedule overruns and functionality overruns. This ultimately results in negative ROI and a prolonged payback period.
ERP Success factors Implementing an ERP system is a large undertaking. It is much more than just installing new software. So what are the factors that can make a successful implementation of ERPs These factors are to be considered while planning for an ERP implementation
Resource commitment It’s useful to assemble a cross�functional team to assess processes, recommend improvement and guide the implementation. This team often serves to make understands the ERP system from the stockroom to the executive level and carries out their role in the implementation and the subsequent use of the new system.
New technology The new technology infrastructure may be very different from existing system, and the IT department will likely need further training to make the transition. Users also across the company may be less efficient as they adjust to new entry displays and functionality. During this time, employees may need more education on new technology.
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Adhering to the implementation methodology A structured, detailed plan should be focused on the defined processes and strategies as well as on the users. Follow it scrupulously for the shortest path to payoff and the fewest risk.
Expecting the unexpected With a well�structured methodology and experienced consultant guiding the project, unexpected events can be accommodated without significantly impacting the momentum.
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Chapter 11 Results & Action taken After considering all above discussed issues regarding network architecture and hardware requirements, we have decided to go with option 2, as it is more beneficial and cost effective. Which not only save the cost in networking but also in required hardware. Moreover we have decided to implement the network architecture in two phases. Phase I: (1) 2 Mbps MPLS VPN connectivity to Head office and registered office (2) WDVPN on CDMA FWP for other 30 remote sites (3) A 2 Mbps Leased Line between Head office and registered office. (4) A dedicated 512 Kbps wireless (1:1) Internet leased line to Head office, which can be used to provide Internet facilities to Head office and other remote sites as well in near future.
Phase II (after 6 months): (1) Min. 64 Kbps�256 Kbps MPLS VPN to all 5 regional sites. (2) Implement Video conferencing that will connect Head office, registered office Erode and all 5 Regional offices.
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Figure 8: Final Network Architecture Phase I
ďƒ¨
To decide on service provider, we had in depth discussion on different service providers on their network base, infrastructure, cost effectiveness and service parameters. After discussion with other service provider we have zeroed upon Reliance Communication service providers. They will provide the MPLS VPN connectivity to head office and registered office and WDVPN to all 30 remote sites. For wireless 512 Kbps leased line we have zeroed upon Tulip IT service.
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We have considered the given recommendations and after discussion we had negotiation with service provider over flexible bandwidth and SLA parameters and bringing penalty clause in agreement.
Recommendation of fixing peak hours per sites still in discussion and may be implemented soon.
Restriction of VPDN user with limited simultaneous login session is not possible as discussed with service provider.
SLA parameters have been discussed with service providers and final term and conditions have been zeroed upon as follows: i.
Network uptime guarantee: 99.5 j calculated on a quarterly basis.
ii. No single downtime more than 6 hours. iii. Packet loss: less than 1j iv. Latency: q80 ms (PE to PE) v. Last mile interface: Fiber at Head office and Registered office Erode vi. Bandwidth
guarantee
for MPLS VPN and leased line:
uncompressed 1:1 vii. Price Review: price will be reviewed annually in accordance with the market prices.
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Implementation of New IP series Plan for network I have proposed a Change in existing IP series for entire network from Class C (200.200.200.XXX) to class B (172.16.XX.XX) • New proposed IP series plan:
IP series: Class B network 172.16.XX.XX
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.128
Available network: 512
Available host address in each network: 126 (excluding network and broadcasting address)
Network ID
Network Address
Host Addresses Range
Network 1
172.16.0.0
172.16.0.1
Network 2
172.16.0.128
172.16.0.129 ‐‐ 172.16.0.254
172.16.0.255
Network 3
172.16.1.0
172.16.1.1
‐ ‐ 172.16.1.126
172.16.1.127
Network 4
172.16.1.128
172.16.1.129 ‐ 172.16.1.254
172.16.1.255
‐ ‐ 172.16.0.126
Broadcasting Address 172.16.0.127
Table 5: IP address structure Similarly addresses for rest 508 networks can be assigned.
In ERP Modules some given recommendations, such as availability of training schedule, quality inspection has been implemented and some are yet to be discussed further.
Inclusion of variance analysis, Ratio Analysis, Project Management etc. is to be done in phase II.
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Chapter 12 Conclusion Increased competition and globalization, coupled with new legislation in many countries, are forcing organizations to make detailed evaluations as to how their businesses are performing and how they can improve productivity and profitability through the introduction of new business processes or the modifications of existing ones. To meet the expectations, URC construction has developed a new generation ERP solution: CIMS (Construction Information Management System). It provides a greater flexibility, seamless business integration, and an increased capacity for innovation across enterprise � all of which represent significant competitive advantages. In addition tighter integration functions enable more streamlined business processes, as well as better integration with third parties for more effective information exchange and greater transparency among organization. URC has a vision to make their CIMS (ERP) as a brand product and sell it to other construction companies at very minimal cost and effort. ERP is an investment in more than the just technology. It is an investment in the business and its people. It is not difficult to place a system within organization and let them try to use it with training lhow�tosn. What is more challenging is implementing the system into a companyes culture where it becomes an integral part of developing a business and fulfilling a vision. The later takes an investment in time and resources.
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References Carl Dahlen & iohan Elfsson (Feb 1999) lAn analysis of the current and future ERP market Cisco System l Introduction to MPLS VPN Technologyn LARAN RFID (April 2005) l A Basic Introduction to RFID Technology and its use in the supply chain Peter i. Welcher lBGP and MPLS based VPNsn
Software used Microsoft visio 2007 has been used to draw all networking architecture diagrams. Edraw max (trial version) has been used to draw all data flow diagrams.
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