The Design and Implementation of a bespoke Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) for an acoustical engineering company

This paper will describe the tasks completed so far as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University of Hertfordshire and Acoustical Control Engineers (ACE) a ‘small and medium sized enterprise’ (SME) based in Cambridgeshire, UK. ACE’s 25 personnel design, manufacture and install noise and vibration control systems to solve a wide range of acoustic problems. The projects undertaken include acoustic enclosures for supermarket refrigeration plant and for generators used in many situations, together with other more diverse applications such as controlling noise in the workplace and even on a luxury boat. Before the current KTP project the company used some partially computerised systems consisting of spreadsheets to perform acoustic analyses, pricing and project management functions supplemented with a paper based system to ‘fill the gaps’. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems provide an integrated database for all parts of the organisation allowing decisions to be based on a complete understanding of the organisation’s information, avoiding the problems due to duplication of data and ensuring that the consequences of decisions in one part of the organisation are reflected in the planning and control systems of the rest of the organisation. ERP systems became popular from the 1990’s mainly in relatively large organisations due to the complexity and cost of these systems. This project is unusual in that rather than adapting an off-the-shelf ERP solution to ACE’s very specific and specialised requirements we are taking an ERP development approach in an SME whose legacy systems are made up of spreadsheet and paper based systems. For the software development an Agile approach has been used. Agile involves software development methods based on iterative and incremental development. The initial attempt was to start developing the ERP from an Open Source ERP Source Code; however this effort was futile as a result of the bespoke nature of ACE’s business and product lines. Mapping ACE’s data model to the database which any existing ERP system could be adapted to, proved to be a very difficult problem. Therefore, developing the ERP from first principles was inevitable. Several of the ERP modules have been developed, user training has taken place and the core modules have been signed off. The project is due to complete in September 2014 and by this time we will have further information on how the ERP system has increased the competitiveness of the company, as well as experience of introducing an ERP into an SME. However, as would be expected the work undertaken developing the system so far has had several significant effects on ACE and acted as a catalyst for change in various parts of ACE’s business.Non peer reviewe

Using ERP as a basis for Enterprise application integration

Architecting and implementing e-Business supply chain solutions across and within the modern day enterprise, is now becoming a necessity in order to maintain competitive and be adaptable to market needs. As such, the integration of information and processes is a vital step, using technologies such as using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and enterprise portal platforms. The effective sharing of resource planning and other enterprise related data across and within the enterprise is typically seen as a facet of a business to business (B2B) platform. However, such infrastructures typically involve a tight integration across intra and inter-organisational systems. This paper examines an Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) initiative taken by a global manufacturer of industrial automation products, which attempted to utilise ERP as an integration tool across its internal B2B infrastructure, to achieve such an aim. This paper discusses those integration considerations and complexities, experienced by the case company upon embarking on an EAI integration programme through the adoption of a core ERP as a catalyst for organizational change. In doing so the authors present an analysis of the inherent risks and limitations of this approach in terms of previously published literature in the field, relating to technology-driven organizational change and EAI impact and adoption frameworks

Emergence of ERPII Characteristics within an ERP integration context

It is widely accepted that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can provide organizations with efficiency and productivity gains, in terms of aggregating and streamlining internal business processes. It is also well understood that embarking upon the implementation of such an IT project, also presents many risks and challenges to the incumbent corporation, as witnessed by numerous cases in the normative IS literature on this subject. Through the description of a case study organization’s ERP integration experiences, the authors highlight the emergence of those characteristics which define the componentization, and extension of ERP functionalities (i.e. so-called ERPII) in terms of a failed ERP-led, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) implementation within an industrial products organization. As a result of the exploratory research approach used, it is hoped that the definition of such factors will provide an insight into the development and management of such technology investments

A Model-Driven Approach for Business Process Management

The Business Process Management is a common mechanism recommended by a high number of standards for the management of companies and organizations. In software companies this practice is every day more accepted and companies have to assume it, if they want to be competitive. However, the effective definition of these processes and mainly their maintenance and execution are not always easy tasks. This paper presents an approach based on the Model-Driven paradigm for Business Process Management in software companies. This solution offers a suitable mechanism that was implemented successfully in different companies with a tool case named NDTQ-Framework.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Applying model-driven paradigm: CALIPSOneo experience

Model-Driven Engineering paradigm is being used by the research community in the last years, obtaining suitable results. However, there are few practical experiences in the enterprise field. This paper presents the use of this paradigm in an aeronautical PLM project named CALIPSOneo currently under development in Airbus. In this context, NDT methodology was adapted as methodology in order to be used by the development team. The paper presents this process and the results that we are getting from the project. Besides, some relevant learned lessons from the trenches are concluded.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Software test automation : a design and tool selection approach for a heterogeneous environment

textThis report describes a design approach for implementing a software test automation solution that can accommodate existing test processes in an organization. The process of implementing a software test automation solution is a large undertaking and requires careful planning to avoid unsuccessful implementations. This report outlines a design that can integrate with existing business and development processes in an organization, and recommends automation and development frameworks for achieving the test automation goals. Considerations for a heterogeneous test environment with varying types of supported operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, and multiple test execution environments, such as Java and .NET, have been made in this design and in the tool selections for the system implementation. The report also describes some of the challenges and caveats of automation in a heterogeneous environment along with recommended solutions to these challenges.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Исследование стоимости и трудоёмкости разработки программного обеспечения для решения задачи управления запасами предприятия

The article describes the process of estimating the cost and complexity of software development for the task of inventory management of a commercial enterprise to improve the decision-making process at the stage of formation of requirements for similar software products. There are different approaches to inventory management of a commercial enterprise. The algorithms implemented in the system are based on the constraint theory tool –dynamic inventory buffer management. Inventory management according to the theory of restrictions allows to provide a high level of availability of goods with minimal inventory in the system. After analyzing the subject area of inventory management and the methodology of dynamic inventory buffer management, a list of functional and non-functional software requirements was formed, and a data model was designed. The information obtained was used to compile a list of logical files and transactions specific to a particular requirement. From the resulting list of files and transactions, it is determined which elementary data, elementary records and links to files they consist of. The information obtained was used to estimate the size of the software at non-aligned functional points. To take into account the impact of non-functional requirements on the complexity of software development, the VAF alignment factor was calculated, for which it is necessary to give a qualitative assessment of the impact of system-wide requirements on the complexity of the software. The estimation of the complexity of the development was obtained using the COCOMO II methodology, namely, using seven multipliers of the complexity for the case of the initial assessment at the stage of approval of requirements. The calculations were obtained for teams with different professional level and equipment, in the conditions of a significant tightening of the development process, a high level of certainty of risks, without a rigid schedule of work. The cost of development was calculated for several common programming languages: J2EE, C#, C++.В статье описывается процесс оценки стоимости и трудоемкости разработки программного обеспечения задачи управления запасами торгового предприятия для улучшения процесса принятия решений на этапе формирования требований к аналогичным программным продуктам. Существуют различные подходы к управлению запасами торгового предприятия. Алгоритмы, реализованные в системе основаны на инструменте теории ограничений – динамическом управлении буфером запасов. Управление запасами по теории ограничений позволяет обеспечить высокий уровень наличия товара при минимальных запасах в системе. Проанализировав предметную область управления запасами и методологию динамического управления буфером товарных запасов был сформирован список функциональных и нефункциональных требований к программного обеспечения, а также спроектирована модель данных. Полученная информация была использована для составления перечня логических файлов и транзакций, характерных для конкретного требования. Из полученного списка файлов и транзакций определено, из каких элементарных данных, элементарных записей и ссылок на файлы они состоят. Полученная информация была использована для оценки размера программного обеспечения в не выровненных функциональных точках. Для учета влияния нефункциональных требований на трудоемкость разработки программного обеспечения был посчитан фактор выравнивания VAF, для чего необходимо дать качественную оценку влияния общесистемных требований на трудоемкость программного обеспечения. Оценка трудоемкости разработки была получена с использованием методологии COCOMO II, а именно с использованием семи множителей трудоемкости для случая первичной оценки на этапе утверждения требований. Расчеты были получены для команд с разным профессиональным уровнем и оборудованием, в условиях значительного ужесточения процесса разработки, высоким уровнем определенности рисков, без жесткого графика работ. Стоимость разработки была рассчитана для нескольких распространенных языков программирования: J2EE, C#, C++

A review of information flow diagrammatic models for product-service systems

A product-service system (PSS) is a combination of products and services to create value for both customers and manufacturers. Modelling a PSS based on function orientation offers a useful way to distinguish system inputs and outputs with regards to how data are consumed and information is used, i.e. information flow. This article presents a review of diagrammatic information flow tools, which are designed to describe a system through its functions. The origin, concept and applications of these tools are investigated, followed by an analysis of information flow modelling with regards to key PSS properties. A case study of selection laser melting technology implemented as PSS will then be used to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. A discussion based on the usefulness of the tools in modelling the key elements of PSS and possible future research directions are also presented

A QFD framework for quality, innovation and high-tech product development dynamics

The customer mostly chooses a product on the base of its quality, which therefore arises as the main cause of its commercial success. In a nearly axiomatic drawing, it follows that the effect of innovation is the improvement of quality, which itself becomes the aim of innovation. Even though the previous statement relates quality and innovation, it still does not explain their dynamics. To stress them, the ‘quality' concept must be analyzed in more detail. In fact, in addition to the ‘perceived quality', the quality ensured through `design, manufacturing and marketing' combined domains should be dealt with. This paper enhances this issue taking advantage of principles and models made available by control theory schemes coupled with quality function development (QFD) and best practice software modeling based on unified modeling language (UML