2 Information Systems in the Enterprise - Main Web

Employee
master
file
Employee data
(various departments) To payroll
Data elements in
employee master file:
Employee: Number
Name
Address
Department
Age
Marital status
Sex
Salary
Educational background
Job title
Date of hire
Date of termination
Termination reason
Human
Resources
System
On-line
queries
Date
11/12/2000
12/1/2000
1/12/2001
Figure 2-11 An employee record keeping system.This system maintains data on the firm’s employees
to support the human resources function.
Chapter 2 ❙ INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN THE ENTERPRISE 17
Management
reports
Termination Report
Name
John Hansen
Patricia Carlyle
Ellen Quimby
Number
29433
14327
21224
Reason
Position
eliminated
Retired
Left
company
hand, business processes are concrete workflows of material, information, and
knowledge–sets of activities. On the other hand, business processes represent unique ways in
which organizations coordinate work, information, and knowledge, and the ways in which
management chooses to coordinate work. Table 2-6 describes typical business processes for
each of the functional areas.
Although each of the major business functions has its own set of business processes,
many other business processes are cross-functional, transcending the boundaries between
sales, marketing, manufacturing, and research and development. These cross-functional
processes cut across the traditional organizational structure, grouping employees from different
functional specialties to complete a piece of work. For example, the order fulfillment
process at many companies requires cooperation among the sales function (receiving the
order, entering the order), the accounting function (credit checking and billing for the
order), and the manufacturing function (assembling and shipping the order). Figure 2-12
TABLE 2-6 Examples of Business Processes
Functional Area Business Process
Manufacturing and production Assembling the product
Checking for quality
Producing bills of materials
Sales and marketing Identifying customers
Making customers aware of the product
Selling the product
Finance and accounting Paying creditors
Creating financial statements
Managing cash accounts
Human resources Hiring employees
Evaluating employees’ job performance
Enrolling employees in benefits plans