Enterprise Systems and Architecture Final Exam Practice

Vocabulary flashcards covering accounting, HR, process modeling, and emerging technologies in Enterprise Systems (CIS 239).

Financial accounting

Records and reports financial transactions for external users such as investors and regulators, focusing on historical data.

Managerial accounting

Supports internal planning, control, budgeting, and profitability analysis for internal decision-making.

Balance sheet

A financial statement showing what a company owns (assets) and owes (liabilities) at a specific point in time.

Income statement (P&L)

A financial statement that shows revenues minus expenses over a period of time.

General ledger in SAP ERP

A system where business transactions automatically update in real time, allowing multiple modules to feed in accounting data.

Direct costs

Costs tied directly to a product, such as materials and labor.

Indirect costs (overhead)

Costs that cannot be easily traced to one specific product.

Standard costs

Predetermined expected costs for producing a product used as a benchmark to measure actual performance.

Cost variances

The difference between actual costs and standard costs, used to identify inefficiencies or savings.

Activity-Based Costing (ABC)

A costing method that assigns overhead to products based on the specific activities that drive those costs.

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)

A law passed in response to Enron requiring stronger internal controls, financial transparency, and auditor independence for public companies.

XBRL

eXtensible Business Reporting Language — a standard format for tagging financial data to enable electronic sharing and analysis.

Human Capital Management (HCM)

Managing the workforce as a critical business asset, covering recruiting, development, payroll, and relations.

Management by Objectives (MBO)

A performance approach where goals are negotiated between manager and employee, focused on results rather than activities.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of end-to-end business processes to achieve major improvements.

Swimlane (deployment) flowchart

organized into lanes per department or role, showing responsibility and process handoffs.

Event Process Chain (EPC) diagram

A process modeling notation using an alternating sequence of events (states) and functions (activities) with connectors.

Value analysis

Classifying process steps as real value (customer pays), business value (operational necessity), or no value (waste).

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification — uses tags and readers to track items without requiring line of sight.

Business Intelligence (BI)

Technology and processes that extract and analyze large amounts of data to support decision-making.

In-memory computing

Storing and processing data in RAM rather than on disk, enabling real-time analysis of large datasets.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Software hosted by a provider and accessed via a browser, where the vendor manages infrastructure and maintenance.

NPV (Net Present Value)

A financial calculation that converts future cash flows into today's dollars to compare long-term investment costs.

Hurdle rate

The minimum acceptable rate of return on an investment.

ERP purchase

Buying requires large upfront investment and ongoing IT staff.

SaaS disadvantages

Security concerns, potential bandwidth/response time issues, limited customization/flexibility, and dependency on the vendor's roadmap.

SaaS advantages

Lower initial cost, faster implementation, lower support complexity, and no need to manage on-premise infrastructure.

SAP NetWeaver

SAP's Web-services platform for integrating SAP and non-SAP systems. Components: Enterprise Portal, Mobile Infrastructure, BI, Master Data Management, Exchange Infrastructure.

Cloud computing

Software and services delivered over the Internet rather than hosted locally, enabling more flexible and scalable IT delivery

Mobile computing challenges

Device variety, OS fragmentation, support complexity, and security risks from employee-owned devices accessing corporate data

Traditional BI vs. AI-driven BI

Traditional BI reports on what happened (descriptive). AI-driven BI predicts what will happen and prescribes actions (predictive and prescriptive analytics).

AI-enhanced BI

Uses machine learning to detect patterns and anomalies, generate forecasts and recommendations — beyond traditional BI's static reporting.

EPC connectors

AND = all paths execute; OR = one or more paths execute; XOR = exactly one path (exclusive or).

Problems with unintegrated accounting systems

Data may be out of date, research and reconciliation take more time, data sharing is not real-time, operational decisions may be based on inaccurate information.

Credit management in ERP

ERP provides real-time accounts receivable data and automates credit checks so decisions are based on current customer balances, not stale records.

Management reporting with ERP

Uses a centralized database, reporting and query tools, built-in drill-down capabilities, document flow, and electronic audit trails

Why Enron mattered

committed massive accounting fraud with conflicts of interest between auditors and consultants, leading to billions in losses and loss of investor trust.

Why real-time accounting data matters

Enables accurate, timely decisions; prevents credit and inventory errors; allows management to respond to issues as they happen rather than after the fact.

Human Capital Management (HCM)

Managing the workforce as a critical business asset — covering recruiting, development, payroll, performance evaluation, and employee relations

Core HR responsibilities

Recruiting and hiring, employee development and training, payroll and benefits, performance evaluation, and communication with employees and supervisors.

Fitter Snacker HR problems before ERP

Paper-based records, poor information flow, inaccessible and inconsistent information, benefit and payroll errors, recruiting delays, and communication breakdowns.

Recruiting and hiring process in ERP

Short listing → scheduling interviews → making offers → background checks → onboarding

How ERP supports HR after hiring

Performance evaluations, tracking turnover, managing job satisfaction and compensation, maintaining secure and accurate employee records

ERP HR: role/task/job/position/person

ERP distinguishes these organizational concepts, allowing precise staffing plans and reporting. A position exists independently of the person who fills it

Advanced ERP HR features

Time management, payroll, travel management, training and development, succession planning, mobile time management, family/medical leave, global employee management, personnel cost planning, MBO

Management by Objectives (MBO)

A performance approach where goals are negotiated between manager and employee, focused on results rather than activities. Goals can be linked to compensation and qualifications.

Why mobile time management matters

Employees can record time from the field in real time, reducing errors, delays, and payroll inaccuracies — especially important for remote or traveling workers.

BPA

Business Process Automation (automate as-is)

BPI

incremental improvements

BPR

radical redesign for major gains

Role of IT during BPR design phase

Model, analyze, and redesign processes; capture IT requirements; workflow design.

Role of IT during BPR deployment phase

Automate processes, digitize documents and forms, improve coordination and information sharing.

What a model is

An abstraction of real-world phenomena. Types: physical, graphical, mathematical, and simulation models.

Process redesign sub-phases

Scoping → model as-is process → analyze → design to-be alternatives → select to-be design → plan integration.

scoping in bpr

Defines modeling objectives, process boundaries, key process issues, performance targets, data collection plan, benchmarking, and best practices

Five phases of BPR methodology

1. Vision 2. Project mobilization 3. Process redesign 4. Implementation 5. Maintenance

BPR project triggers

Customer dissatisfaction, competitive pressure, high cost, long cycle time, broken process, or a better-known way of doing business.

Why process modeling matters

Enables communication between business and IT, supports process analysis and redesign, and helps evaluate alternatives before costly implementation.

SaaS

trades capital cost for ongoing subscription fees. NPV and hurdle rate are used to compare them.