Author Question: What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different integration strategies of ERP modules? ... (Read 89 times)

pragya sharda · **on:** Jul 7, 2018

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different integration strategies of ERP modules?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

The term ________ refers to gateways that provide access to a variety of relevant information from many different sources on one screen.

A) dashboard
B) portal
C) mashup
D) data cube

karlss · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 7, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The engineered suite offers solid integration on the back-end and consistent user interfaces throughout. Its single architectural foundation can translate to lower IT support costs because staff can focus on just one platform. However, the individual modules may lack all the rich features users want. Also, switching costs are far higher for ERPs in which all the modules are so interdependent.
Another drawback is that tightly integrated ERP systems can be more difficult to modify to meet changing business needs, compared to more loosely linked best-of-breed systems. What seems like a simple change in the structure of a field will ripple throughout the organization with unintended consequences. Making changes in such systems to meet new business needs can often take longer than expected.
Organizations that use either the synchronized or best-of-breed approach must pay close attention to master data management, since the same information will appear in more than one system. Avoiding the fate in which the different systems report inconsistent versions of the truth is a constant challenge.

Answer to Question 2

B