Assessments of Information Systems at Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Agri-food Sector

Integrated information systems under large-scale company conditions have become widespread over the past decades. Information, data management and systematic information produced from these data and arranged according to needs, however, are required by not only large-scale companies but small- and medium-sized enterprises as well in the agri-food sector. The improvement of information and communication technologies continuously influence the development of information systems, the introduction of different solutions in architecture and the application of new business models. Our research goals was to analyse the evolution of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), functional analysing of SME’s (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) information systems and developing decision support tools for selection, comparison of ERPs and economical evaluation of ERP investment. This tools are partly developed and usable for SMEs in the agri-food sector

DSS for selection and evaluation of information system in SMEs

In the agri-food sector the SMEs demand more efficiences in marketing, logistics, production planning and controlling, bookkeeping and information services. For these tasks they need correct information in any time and anywhere. The best solution can be an integrated information system, an ERP system. The tendency is that these types of organization introduce ERP system successfully. It can give a flexible solution, enabling us to meet and exceed our business requirements. The introduction of a computerized information system, similarly to any other investment requires pre- and post calculations for the economic efficiency, repayment and efficacy of the fixed assets and if possible for its profitability as well. In small enterprises human resources are restricted. For this reason project analyse are neglected in most of the cases. The SMEs and ERP dealer need tools for selecting the right system and evaluate the investment

Support tools for ERP selection

The first step in ERP implementation is a selection process. In general ERP selection is a two-stairs process. The first task is supply narrowing and after that it fallows the ERP comparison. Inasmuch as an ERP system is not only a software product, in the assessment process have to be evaluated all fallow-up services too. These is true all the more, if we take new technologies platforms is consideration. In small enterprises human resources are restricted. For this reason project analyse are neglected in most of the cases and this enterprises need standard methods and services for evaluation

Temperature scaling of the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction in the spin wave spectrum

The temperature scaling of the micromagnetic Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya exchange interaction is calculated for the whole range of temperature. We use Green's function theory to derive the finite-temperature spin wave spectrum of ferromagnetic systems described by a classical atomistic spin model Hamiltonian. Within this model, we find universal expressions for the temperature scaling not only of the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction but also of the Heisenberg exchange stiffness and the single-ion anisotropy. In the spirit of multiscale models, we establish a clear connection between the atomistic interactions and the temperature-dependent coefficients in the spin wave spectrum and in the micromagnetic free energy functional. We demonstrate that the corrections to mean-field theory or the random phase approximation for the temperature scaling of Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya and Heisenberg exchange interactions assume very similar forms. In the presence of thermal fluctuations and Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction an anisotropy-like term emerges in the spin wave spectrum which, at low temperature, increases with temperature, in contrast to the decreasing single-ion anisotropy. We evaluate the accuracy of the theoretical method by comparing it to the spin wave spectrum calculated from Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure