ERP System and Enterprise Architecture

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PART 3
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Chapter Outline
The relationship between the client and server is many to many
i.e. a client can request services from many servers. A server can
serve many clients. The actual computer or device that the client
and server reside on is not critical to the discussion of architecture. The client and server are usually hosted on separate
computers but they could be on the same computer.
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Figure 1 - Client Server concept
client
network
server
Client and server processes are separate and autonomous even
though the request is made by the client. The sharing of the
processes between a client and a server is the basis for defining thin and fat clients (these correspond to fat and thin servers
respectively). A thin client has minimal processing responsibilities, which implies that the corresponding fat server does the
majority of processing. On the other hand, a fat client takes on
a larger load of processing. The increase in inexpensive desktop
processing has helped popularize fat clients. On the other hand,
web based client/server architectures are pushing the thin
client (sometimes mobile) paradigm. The client is often called
the front-end or front-end application. The server is called the
back-end application. The network provisions the transmission
of data between clients and servers. A communications middleware it the software that orchestrates the communication over
the network. The middleware plays an important role whereby
client and server computers can run different operating systems,
yet seamlessly channel requests and responses.
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Presentation Logic : The end user interacts with the presentation logic tier.
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The overall application logic that the client/server architecture
is designed to support has several components that can be
distributed across clients and servers. These components are:
Presentation Logic, Processing Logic and Storage Logic (Fig 2).
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In broad terms, a client is a process that makes service requests
to a server. A server, therefore, is a process that responds with
the requested service to a client (Figure 1). The third component of this architecture is the network. The network can provide
communication to multiple servers that service multiple clients.
8.2 Components : Presentation,
Processing, and Storage
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8.1 What is Client/Server Architecture ?
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Most current ERP systems utilize a relational database for the
data layer in three-tier client/server architecture. The logic or
processing layer is the second tier in such architecture. Herein
lays the implementation of business logic, business processes,
business rules, authentication and user management. The
presentation layer forms the third tier. This is usually in the
form of a user interface on a multitude of devices ranging
from workstations to mobile devices. As users interact with the
presentation layer, data is transmitted, read, written, deleted or
updated in the data layer. The orchestration of the read/write/
update is done by the logic layer. In recent years, new technologies have developed that make ERP software less monolithic
and more flexible. As the amount of data stored in the database
and the number of sources of data increase, there is a need for
efficient storage and retrieval of corporate data from a business
intelligence perspective. Data warehouses have evolved to
handle this explosive growth. Finally, advances in embedded and in-memory analytics are providing up to the minute
business intelligence.
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ERP systems are dependent on the consistent storage of large
amounts of data: master and transactional data. An enterprise
class relational database is used for this purpose. Examples of
such databases are Oracle database, Microsoft SQL Server and
IBM DB2. This data is processed by numerous programs within
the ERP software and the results are presented to the end user
through some user interface. The architecture that supports the
connection between the database, processing, and presentation is called Client/Server architecture.
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This chapter introduces the system architecture that ERP
systems are based upon. Understanding the system architecture in addition to ERP functionality (covered in other chapters)
will provide a thorough understanding of ERP technology and
how it benefits enterprises.
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Nitin Kale (University of Southern California)
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Chapter 8 : ERP SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
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CHAPTER 8
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Storage Logic : This component is responsible for handling data
retrieval and storage (in the physical storage devices) requests
from the processing logic component. The database management system (DBMS) is synonymous with storage logic.
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Processing Logic : This component receives user input from the
presentation logic component, validates the data, and applies
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the majority of business rules. This will require communication with the storage logic to retrieve additional data. Business
transactions are processed in this component. Results from the
processing are written to the storage logic.
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It is responsible for formatting the data, rendering the user
interface, presenting the data and also accepting user input.
These tasks are device dependent. Examples of devices include
desktop computers, laptops, notebooks which all have a
keyboard and mouse for input. Also included are mobile devices
such as smart phones that have multi-touch screens which
require different rendering and input logic compared to single
touch screens.
Figure 2 - Components to a Client Server System
PRESENTATION LOGIC
Processing Logic
• User input
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CHAPTER 8
Storage Logic
• DBMS
• Data Output
• Business transactions
and rues
• Rendering the user
interface
• Communicating with
storage logic
• Data retrieval
• Data storage
• Read/write/update
- Physical storage
device
• Managing and
balancing load
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• Input/Output
processing
server. The processing logic server is separate from the storage
logic server. Application partitioning is the process of writing
programs that are distributed onto clients and servers as needed
to maximize performance and data security. Partitioning the
processing logic leads to two, three, and n-tier environments.
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It is important to note that the three logic components can be
distributed across multiple tiers of an n-tier client/server system.
In general, the presentation logic resides on the client. Storage
logic resides on the server, which is usually a database server in
close proximity to the data itself (physical storage). This leaves
the processing logic to be placed on either the client or on the
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8.3 N-Tier Approaches to C/S
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• Presentation Logic
• Processing Logic
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• Storage Logic
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• Presentation Logic
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OPTION 1
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Figure 3 - Option for Two-Tier C/S Architecture : Thin Client vs. Fat Client
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Two-tier Client Server Architecture Three-tier
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• Processing Logic
• Storage Logic
• Application Server
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• User Interface
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• Presentation Logic
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Three-tier Architecture
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Figure 4 - Three-Tier C/S Architecture
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CHAPTER 8
• Database Server
N-Tier Client Server Architecture
Figure 5 - N-Tier C/S Architecture
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• Processing Logic
• User Interface
• Web Server
• Application Server
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• Presentation Logic
• Storage Logic
• Database Server
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The three-tier architecture is the main stay of ERP systems where
thousands of end users may be accessing the application concurrently. Figure 6 shows a typical schematic of an ERP system.
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A transaction processing monitor is used to monitor the load on
an application server. Load balancing is thus achieved amongst
several application servers as needed.
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As depicted in Figure 4, three-tier architecture has two server
layers to manage the processing and storage logic. Generally, the
processing logic resides on an application server that executes
most application programs. The drive towards three and higher
tiered architectures is driven by flexibility and scalability.
By delineating the tiers, it is easier to swap out any one tier’s
technology with a newer one without having to rewrite the
code for the other tiers. Scalability is achieved by introduction
of multiple application servers.
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8.4 3-Tier C/S in ERP Systems
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N-tier Architecture
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Each table of the database has rows of data for the configuration
phase as well as the testing phase. They are identified by the
client number field. The processing tier manages the database
authorizations so that only rows with client number 100 will be
seen by configuration personnel.
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The entire business logic resides in the application server.
A dispatcher is the central control process. The dispatcher
performs the following important tasks :
• Together with the operating system, manages the resources
for the ERP application.
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• Evenly distributes the transaction load among the work
processes.
• Interfaces with the presentation level.
• Manages the buffer areas in the main memory.
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• Organizes all communication activities.
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• Places the client requests in request queues, and then
processes them in order.
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8.4.2 ERP Business Logic
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Before an ERP system is put into production, it must be implemented, configured, tested, and then deployed. Keeping the
data of each phase of the implementation cycle separate from
the other phases would require the use of multiple databases.
This is inefficient and unnecessarily complicated. An innovative
way to utilize the same database for all phases of implementation is to use a field (sometimes called client number) in all
tables, making it a part of the primary key. A primary key is a field
(or set of fields) that uniquely identifies each row in a table. In this
way the configuration phase can use rows with client number
100 and the testing phase can use rows with client number 200.
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Most ERP systems use a relational database to store data about
their customers, vendors, materials etc. in hundreds of tables.
This data is called master data. As the ERP system is put into
production, every transaction that is saved (committed) to the
database will update one or more tables. This data is called
transactional data. As you can surmise, master data changes
slowly, whereas transactional data changes rapidly, growing by
large amounts depending on the volume of business.
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8.4.1 Database Tier for ERP Systems
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Figure 6 - ERP System Architecture
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Figure 7 and 8 show some sample UIs for ERP systems.
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• Ensures proper lock management to maintain data
integrity.
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The client side user interface can be either a custom program
or a web browser. Either way there is a rendering program that
renders the appropriate look and feel of the UI on the client
platform. Mobile apps have limited screen space so UIs have to
be designed specifically for this limitation.
• Distributes the pending requests to the appropriately
defined work processes.
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• Dispatches the requests to available work processes. A work
process is specialized to process exactly one request type.
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CHAPTER 8
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Figure 7 - SAP ECC Sales Order Transaction
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• Asynchronous remote procedure call (RPC) : Client makes
a request after establishing a point-to-point connection.
Does not wait for response.
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• Asynchronous : In asynchronous communication, the
client sends a message (request) to the server but does not
wait for a response. Examples are email and file transfer.
Middleware examples :
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Several types of middleware are available. Here are some
important ones as classified by Hurwitz (Hurwitz, 1998) :
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Applications need to connect and communicate to a source
of data over a network. The mechanism for orchestrating this
is called database connectivity. The data source is generally a
relational database; however it could be any other form of data,
such as a text file. Middleware is the glue that binds all client
server applications. Interoperability is the reason why middleware exists. One or more middleware solutions are used within
n-tiered client server applications to facilitate this interoperability amongst dissimilar operating systems and components.
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Middleware – ODBC, JDBC
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Figure 8 - Microsoft Dynamics CRM
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• SQL-oriented data access : Middleware that translates
generic SQL requests into the database specific SQL.
• Synchronous RPC : Synchronous version of RPC
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• Object request brokers (ORB) : Object-oriented sending
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• Synchronous : Synchronous communication is used when
a response is required by the client (in real time). Examples
are chat and audio/video communications. Middleware
examples :
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• Message-oriented middleware (MOM) : Uses queues to
store requests from clients, especially those that require
multiple processing steps.
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From an ERP perspective, middleware is important because it
allows data integration and application integration between
one database and another. Application Programming Interface
(API) is used to support interaction between two applications
(or programs). The API is a set of routines, structures, classes and
protocols provided by libraries and operating systems to simplify the creation of software applications. Think of it as building
blocks that a programmer can put together to build applications. Database oriented middleware usually provides an API to
access the database. An example of an API is Google Maps APIs.
This gives developers several ways of including Google maps
within their web pages either for simple use or with extensive
customization. Several APIs are available : Google Maps API for
Flash, Google Maps API for JavaScript etc. A developer could
use the Google Maps AI for Flash to create an interactive map
that shows buildings, departments, residences, services etc. on
a campus map as seen in Figure 9 (Notre Dame Map, 2011).
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• Publish/subscribe : Middleware that pushes information
that subscribers have subscribed to.
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Figure 9 - Google Maps API in Action
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Open Database Connectivity (OBDC) is an interface for accessing databases (both relational and non-relational). Similar to an
API, it provides abstraction from operating system, database
and programming language. ODBC drivers are used to translate
the middleware commands into the DBMS specific commands.
Changes in the database specification only require an update to
the driver (ODBC - Open Database Connectivity Overview, 2010).
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Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) is similar to ODBC. It is an API
for the Java programming language (not language independent
like ODBC) that allows any client program to access a database.
Java applets can harness a JDBC driver (called adapter) to
communicate with a relational database. It has gained popularity because Java is a network oriented language.
Figure 10 shows how a web-enabled ERP architecture may look.
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So far we have mostly discussed client server architectures for
enterprises distributed over a local area network (LAN). However,
since the early 1990s, the web browser is displacing specialized
client user interfaces. The ubiquitous availability of browsers for
desktop and mobile devices is driving this displacement. The
time and cost of web development has gone down significantly.
ERP vendors have responded with user interfaces that integrate
the browser into their presentation logic layer. This poses some
new challenges and opportunities.
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8.6 Web Based ERP Applications
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8.5.1 ODBC
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The web server requires additional security, which is why the
enterprise intranet is behind a firewall. In addition, a proxy
server can be added to serve frequently requested pages (which
are cached) without having to add load to the web server.
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The main difference between a web-enabled and a non
web-enabled architecture is the inclusion of a web server. If
a client requests a static web page (html), it will be served by
the web server and displayed in the client browser. If the client
request requires data retrieval from the database, the web
server will use the processing logic to create a query, which will
be sent to the database server. The results will be formatted for
presentation and returned to the client.
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Figure 10 - Web-Enabled ERP Architecture
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• Simple object access protocol (SOAP)
• Privacy and confidentiality breach : As users, enterprises,
banks, and governments put personal and financial data
on databases, there is a greater threat of loss of privacy
and confidentiality. A breach in security can lead to theft,
fraud, blackmail, financial hardship, and even national
security risks.
Using Web services, one can convert an application into a Web
application which can then be shared and consumed by others.
The repository of Web services can be found at the Universal
description, discovery, and integration (UDDI) business registration. An example of a Web service would be Amazon fulfillment Web service, which allows merchants to send orders to
Amazon.com with instructions to fulfill customer orders on
their behalf.
• Human error : Accidental compromise or loss of data by
humans is possible and not uncommon.
• Software bugs : Software is very complex and communicates with other software. This multiplies the probability of
unforeseen bugs that can introduce unexpected and potentially damaging errors.
There are two major advantages to Web services :
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• Web services description language (WSDL)
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• Compromise of data integrity : At the core of a database is
the integrity of data, which must be guaranteed at all times.
A loss of this integrity can cause costly errors unless there is
a backup and recovery plan.
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• Loss of system/services availability : Computer viruses,
worms, and sabotage can all cause unplanned system
downtime. Corporations and customers cannot afford
system unavailability.
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As the web takes center stage in ERP systems, the concept of
loosely coupled yet interoperable application components
has gained momentum. Web services are a set of protocols
to support computer to computer interaction over the web
through the use of XML and HTTP. XML stands for Extensible
Markup Language. It is a markup language similar to html but
with different goals. It is used to structure, store and transport
data. The tags in XML are wrappers for data. The sender and
receiver must have software to send, receive, and process the
XML file. Many languages have been developed using XML.
• Interoperability : Allows applications to exchange data
easily
• Reusability : Web service can be consumed as needed
without the need to rewrite code
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Security is not a single task that can fix threats and attempts. It
is a multilevel, multipronged approach to securing all components in an ERP environment.
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We have discussed APIs as a way to facilitate interoperability.
SOA provides a suite of services that can be consumed by other
applications in a loosely coupled environment. Although SOA
is often enabled using web services, it is not mandatory to do
so. The benefit of the SOA approach to enterprise systems is
that businesses can be more agile. They can respond quickly to
changing market conditions by reducing the time to develop
applications. Chapter 10 will discuss SOA in more detail.
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• Authorization rules : Authorization rules restrict who can
access what type of data, and what actions they can take
on that data. They can also be applied at the application or
operating system levels. Data administrators are responsible for creating and implementing these rules. They must
also ensure that the rules are reevaluated from time to time
to ensure their continued relevancy and efficacy.
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Cyber-security has emerged as a major concern in the client
server model of ERP application development and deployment.
Most applications we use today are based on this model, which
can pose serious risk to security if not properly addressed. Data
has to be secured from both accidental and intentional threats.
Web based access to data, often through mobile devices, has
made securing such systems more difficult.
• Database security : All servers within the ERP system must
be protected against intrusion, but the most critical is the
database server. The physical server and data must be
properly secured with access limited to a very high level of
authorized personnel. Server and administrator passwords
provide key defenses against attacks.
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• Hardware failure : Although not avoidable, hardware
failure does occur. Server administrators must have comprehensive backup and recovery procedures in place.
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There are several targets for data security threats – the database,
the network, the operating system (on both the client and server
side), physical hardware, physical buildings, and users. Security
threats could lead to the following potential crises in an enterprise :
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8.6.1 Web Services
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specific type (read, write, update, delete) of access to the
authorization object. The authorization object belongs to
an object class. See Figure 11 to see the matrix of an authorization table for a user ERP100 named John.
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An authorization table is maintained using users, their
profiles, their authorizations, the objects, and classes of
objects. Each profile can have many profiles. Each profile is
assigned multiple authorizations. The authorizations allow
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Figure 11 - Authorization Rule Matrix
Authorization
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ERP100 - John
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• Authentication : Once a user has been assigned the appropriate authorization rule using the matrix above, he/she is
assigned authentication to access the ERP system. There
are three methods of authentication. One can also enforce
a combination where two modes of authentication are
required for high security access.
-User biometrics : Fingerprint or retinal scan
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• Encryption : Sensitive information such as personal information, financial information, social security numbers,
credit card numbers, and other account numbers must be
protected by encrypting them even if they are stolen from
the database or during transmission. Encryption scrambles
• Web security and privacy : ERP systems now have web
access as the presentation logic. In the past, many ERP
systems used customized client side user interfaces to avoid
some web related vulnerabilities. But as web access has
become the de facto standard, extra security measures have
to be taken. The Web Server is usually protected behind a
firewall. In addition, encryption can be used to encrypt all
data that travels between the client and the server. Web
servers should have the lowest possible number of ports
open for communication.
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Passwords need to be strong enough so as not to be
guessed by a computer (before being locked out by the
system defense). Basic guidelines for passwords are : at least
8 characters long, include alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, should not be dictionary words, and
should be changed periodically.
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-User possession : Magnetic card or similar
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• Network security : The network that connects the components of an ERP system must be secured as well. Routers can
be monitored to identify attacks from specific clients. They
can be configured to restrict access by client IP addresses,
country and regions.
-User supplied authentication : Password
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the data in such a way that humans cannot decrypt them,
at least not without using supercomputers that would take
days or months. A common encryption available is called
Secure Socket Layer (SSL). The 128-bit version provides
extreme high security by using a public and private key for
locking and unlocking the encryption.
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8.9 New Directions
In the past few years, some new developments have taken place
in Enterprise Information Systems. Although the Client/Server
architecture is same, the implementation and consumption of
these services is seeing disruptive innovation. These types of
innovations fundamentally improve upon a service or product
in unexpected ways by providing a significantly lower cost of
ownership, or by identifying a new customer base. Enterprise
software companies and IT professionals have to be extremely
vigilant of disruptive innovation because it can cause sudden
shifts in their customer base and profitability. Ultimately their
survival in the market will depend upon how rapidly they can
adapt to change.
8.8 Data Warehouses and Business
Intelligence
A transactional system such as an ERP generates enormous
amount of data on a daily basis. To keep the database size
manageable, older data is archived periodically. What if you
wanted to know the buying history of a customer for the past
10 years? Or the average price of a raw material for the past 5
years? You would need the entire data history of all master data
and transactional data of your company. In addition to the data
you already have, you may want to access data from data providers such as the stock market or demographic information. The
challenge, therefore, is to collect and store data from multiple
sources into one coherent structure based on which business
analytics can be performed.
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Business Intelligence for ERP is the user-centered process of
exploring data, data relationships and trends - thereby helping
to improve overall decision making for enterprises. This involves
an iterative process of accessing data (usually stored in the enterprise data warehouse) and analyzing it, thereby deriving insight,
drawing conclusions, and communicating results to authorized
users.
The ERP world, although stable and generally slow changing,
is susceptible to disruptive innovation as well. Several new
technology and business ideas are changing the traditional
landscape of in-house ERP systems, which require huge investments in IT infrastructure and personnel. In addition to the cost
of acquiring and maintaining hardware, software, and networking for ERP systems, there is also the tremendous cost of hiring,
training, and keeping IT professionals to run such systems.
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Enterprise Data Warehouses aim at physically framing multiple
sources of data (e.g., databases and other) in an architecture
that requires the mapping of data from one or more operational
data sources to a target database management system (DBMS)
that supports the many decision making processes and business
intelligence (BI) systems of an enterprise. (Inmon, 2005)
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A highly visible example of disruptive innovation is Netflix.
Netflix revolutionized the video rental business a few years ago.
It severely disrupted the traditional business model used by
neighborhood brick and mortar stores such as Blockbuster for
years. Netflix’s monthly subscription model allows customers to
order movies through a website, have them delivered to their
homes and to keep movies for as long as they wish. As network
bandwidth increased, Netflix added free streaming video
service for their customers. This on-demand streaming video is
another disruptive technology used by Netflix. Both the disruptive business innovation and disruptive technology innovation
have left the competition playing catch up.
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• Personnel security : Organizations routinely have controls
in place to keep personnel from conducting fraud or
sabotage. This applies to ERP system users as well. Apart
from training users on security issues, it is also important to
separate duties so that there is no conflict of interest and no
single employee has full control over a process or system.
Procedures for dismissal also have to include de-authorization from the ERP system. Data privacy controls have to be
in place to prevent unauthorized people within a company
from viewing information about others. In the health care
industry this is critical, and is regulated by state and national
laws.
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The database underlying the data warehouse is generally separate from the transactional database that supports the ERP.
Data in the data warehouse is periodically extracted, transformed, and loaded from several data sources. Once in the data
warehouse, the data is read-only from an end user perspective.
A star schema is used to model a multidimensional cube where
dimensional tables contain master data, and a fact table contains
transactional data. Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a set of
tools to slice, dice, and drill down into this cube to gain insight.
You will learn more about data warehouses and business intelligence in Chapter 16.
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Open ports are vulnerable to attack. Client side privacy
cannot be ensured because websites often leave cookies
for tracking purposes. These cookies can be used by other
websites without the user’s knowledge. Individuals have to
be vigilant in protecting their privacy.
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Changes in software versions, operating systems, and DBMS
versions require expensive upgrades and time commitment.
In today’s rapidly changing global economic environment,
companies need to be more agile, requiring such changes to
be quick and painless. In response to this need, cloud based
solutions are emerging to capture a share of the ERP market.
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2.Little or no IT infrastructure needed.
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5.A-la-carte model allows clients to pick and choose functionality as needed by business growth.
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6.High reliability.
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7.Access to expertise from solution provider.
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8.Higher security, particularly for small businesses that do not
have adequate in-house expertise.
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Should I buy a house or should I rent an apartment? The
answer depends on many variables, and both options have
pros and cons. A similar option has emerged in the ERP world
where Software can be rented on-demand. Instead of making
huge initial investments in IT infrastructure, a business simply
subscribes to the software on a pay-as-you-go model. A monthly
fee per user is assessed by the software provider. The software
and its accompanying technology stack are hosted in the cloud.
The business accesses this service over the Internet with little
involvement in the maintenance and upgrade of the technology
underneath the service.
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8.9.1 Software as a Service (SaaS)
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4.Pay-as-you-go subscription model reduces risk of IT costs
when business slows down. Low commitment.
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3.No upfront cost of system (servers and software) ownership.
Low total cost of ownership (TCO).
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9.Access from anywhere, at anytime.
10. Scalability.
There are certain disadvantages to SaaS :
1. Businesses have to trust SaaS vendor to provide security,
privacy, and confidentiality of corporate data.
2. Low control over customizing SaaS software to fit business
needs.
Here are some important advantages to SaaS :
5. Future of business data after termination of contract or end
of SaaS vendor.
3. SaaS for vertical market is still relatively rare.
4. Subscription costs can add up quickly especially in per-user
model of payment.
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Several disrupters have emerged in this SaaS market. Free services include Google Docs, Google Apps, Google Sites and Gmail.
Paid service examples are NetSuite for ERP, Salesforce.com for
CRM, Oracle CRM, SAP Business ByDesign (Figure 12), Rackspace
for IT hosting etc.
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1.Short implementation time.
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Figure 12 - SAP Business By Design On-Demand ERP Solution and Salesforce.com CRM Solution
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Upon making connection with the ERP system, the Sales Order
is updated in the database. Additional details can be added at a
later time either by the sales rep or other personnel.
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Other areas of mobile app development are work lists, business
communications, collaboration, analytics, approvals, travel and
reimbursement management, and mobile offices.
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Mobile apps for ERP (Figure 13) have several advantages –
increased productivity, convenience, lowering lead to deal time,
quick access to customer information for making informed
decisions, reduction in waiting time for approvals, increased
profitability, and better customer service.
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A simple task like entering a Sales Order or potential lead can
be entered into a mobile app at a client site. Many apps now
have online (wireless connection to ERP backend) or offline
(out of wireless range or no connection to ERP backend) modes
whereby a sales representative can enter a Sales Orders without
concern for wireless access.
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To add to Tom Friedman’s famous book (Friedman, 2005),
the world is not only flat, it is also going wireless!, Business,
communications, and entertainment are going increasingly
more mobile. There will be nearly one mobile device per capita
by 2015 (Deans, 2011). As mobile devices gain more popularity and capability, business users will rely on them more to do
business activities that were traditionally relegated to the office.
The explosion of apps for such devices is now providing mobile
interfaces for ERP systems.
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8.9.2 Mobile Applications for ERP
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8.9.3 In-Memory Analytics
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Figure 14 shows how a mobile app integrates within an ERP
framework.
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Figure 14 - Mobile Apps in ERP
The standard process that businesses utilize for analytics consists
of business intelligence tools that query a data warehouse. This
data warehouse is a historical repository of transactional data
from one or multiple sources. The data has been cleansed, transformed, and mapped to provide a single source of truth, which
is critical for business intelligence. A multidimensional model
is used model a cube that stores the vast amount of data that
can be sliced and diced by a variety of tools. Many techniques
are used to optimize the manipulation of this cube for fast data
access. However, as data warehouses grow in size to several peta
bytes, there is greater demand for fast access and easy analysis. Cubes require significant expertise to model, maintain, and
optimize.
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Mobile Device - Presentation Layer
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Presentation Logic Layer - Application Provisioning
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Application Logic Layer
A new development in increasing analytics performance is
in-memory analytics. The main innovation is that data is stored
in memory (RAM) instead of in database tables. Data is stored
in a much simpler format. Table joins are made as needed for
querying. This greatly improves performance through faster
data retrieval, calculations, and querying.
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Web Services Layer - HTTP(S)
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Figure 13 - iPhone and iPad Apps for ERP CRM
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Deans, D. (2011). Visualizing Global Mobile Data Traffic Growth. Retrieved from
http ://blogs.cisco.com/featured/visualizing-global-mobile-data-traffic-growth/
Friedman, T. (2005). The World is Flat. New York, United States of America : Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
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References
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CHAPTER 8
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Hurwitz, J. (1998). Sorting Out Middleware. Retrieved from
http ://web.archive.org/web/20061017153344/http ://www.dbmsmag.com/9801d04.html
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ODBC - Open Database Connectivity Overview. (2010). Retrieved from
http ://support.microsoft.com/kb/110093
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Notre Dame Map (2011). Campus Map. Retrieved from
http ://map.nd.edu/#/placemarks/1028/zoom/16/lat/41.69826290628501/lon/-86.23395323753357
5
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Inmon, W. H. (2005). Building the Data Warehouse. Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America : Wiley.
Scheer, A.-W., Abolhassan, F., Jost, W., and Kirchmer, M. (2011). Business Process Automation : ARIS in Practice. Saarbrucken,
Germany : Springer.
Further Readings
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Bradford, M. (2010). Modern ERP Select, Implement & Use Today’s Advanced Business Systems, Cary, North Carolina, United States of
America. Retrieved from : lulu.com
A Leading Research and Consulting IT Company. Extensive Repository of Research Papers and Case Studies. Retrieved from
http ://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp. Subscription required.
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Readings on Enterprise Resource Planning
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so nto
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SAP. 2011. Advances in In-memory Computing. Retrieved from
http ://www.sap.com/platform/in-memory-computing/index.epx
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Langenkamp, J. (2011). Magazine and Website Related to Information Management. Retrieved from
http ://www.information-management.com/
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3.More and more people are using mobile apps for communication and business. Discuss some solutions for apps
to continue working when the device is offline. (Hint : HTML5)
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2.Contact a system architect for an enterprise that uses an ERP system. Research and draw a schematic of the client
server architecture of that enterprise. Identify the three (or more) tiers of that architecture. List and explain the
hardware and software choices that were made in that particular implementation.
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1.Research and draw a schematic of the client server architecture of your university’s information system(s).
Identify the three (or more) tiers of that architecture. List the hardware and software choices that were made in
that particular implementation.
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CHAPTER 8
4.Cloud computing and cloud services are the buzz words these days. Explore the service from Amazon called
Cloud Drive for buying, storing, and playing music. Also explore the CRM solution from salesforce.com. Discuss
the advantages and disadvantages of each of these services in light of personal and organizational needs.
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5.Why is in-memory analytics faster than on-disk analytics ? How is data persistency achieved in an in-memory
database ? What are the differences and similarities between an in-memory database and an on-disk database ?
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