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Process Modeling, Process Improvement, and ERP Implementation

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Source Line: SAP AG.

FIGURE 7-16 Manager’s Business Workplace with workflow task
SAP’s workflow tool provides a number of useful features. Employees can track the
progress of workflow tasks they have an interest in, reviewing their status at any time.
The system can be programmed to send reminders to the employee(s) responsible for a
task after a predetermined period of time. Managers can also build flexibility into
workflow tasks in terms of who can perform the task. For example, suppose that the
Accounts Receivable (A/R) Department has three employees who can set credit limits.
The A/R manager could create a workflow task to set a new customer’s credit limit and
send it to the Workflow inbox of all three A/R employees. When one of the employees
completes the task, the system removes it from all three Workflow inboxes. The manager
could also generate statistics on the number of workflow tasks handled by each employee
and the average time taken to complete the tasks, resulting in better staffing decisions.
For regular, day-to-day business processes, workflow tools are not required. But for
sporadic processes—those that are repeated frequently enough to justify the development
costs—workflow tools are a powerful way to improve process efficiency and effectiveness.

IMPLEMENTING ERP SYSTEMS

In Chapter 2, you learned about some of the issues and challenges in implementing ERP
systems. Implementation was particularly challenging in the late 1990s, as many firms rushed
to implement ERP systems to avoid the Y2K problem. The explosive growth in demand for ERP
implementations at that time caused a significant shortage of experienced consultants. Since
2000, the pace of implementations has slowed considerably. Most Fortune 500 firms have

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