Author Question: Describe how businesses used computers for inventory purposes before the advent of the Internet. ... (Read 97 times)

aabwk4 · **on:** Jul 7, 2018

Describe how businesses used computers for inventory purposes before the advent of the Internet.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Explain how a sales order is created in an organization that follows a typical sales process but has not implemented SAP.

What will be an ideal response?

lkanara2 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 7, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Although the term enterprise resource planning (ERP) is relatively new, businesses have been using IS to support their processes for 50 years, well before the Internet. In the 1960s, a business could use a dedicated phone line, a computer card reader, and punch cards to send inventory orders to a supplier. By the 1970s, businesses began to buy their own mainframe computers, and manufacturing companies began to use software called material requirements planning (MRP) to efficiently manage inventory, production, and labor. As computing power became cheaper, manufacturing resource planning (MRPII) was developed that added financial tracking capabilities as well as the opportunity to schedule equipment and facilities. The business environment continued to evolve with the advent of just in time (JIT) delivery, which integrated manufacturing and supply.

Answer to Question 2

The first activity in a typical sales process is Pre-Sales Actions. In this activity, the sales representatives contact customers, give price quotes, verify the availability of products, check on special terms, and confirm delivery options. If the customer decides to order, then a sales order is created.