Pre-sales activity--planning and availability support for
the sales personnel
Sales Order--The actual entry of the sales order into the
system done by the salesperson at the point of sales perhaps using a PC and
Internet connections.
Determining where the most efficient source of the ordered
product is in inventory and shipping it.
Delivery
Customer Billing
Customer Payment
Production
Sales and Operations Planning SOP where the sales forecasts
are used in a production planning model to check feasibility.
Master Production Scheduling MPS--The actual plan for the
whole production process
Material Requirements Planning MRP--Where the production
plan is actually converted into raw materials input requirements.
Planned Order--When materials are available and capacity
exists this plan is created and then converted into a
Production Order.
Shop Floor Control where the actual production takes place
and is registered into the system as finished goods.
Purchasing
Requisition--Once the Production manager plans to
manufacture something a requisition for the raw materials required but not on
hand must be prepared.
Vendor Selection--made by the purchasing department
Purchase order sent
goods receipt increasing inventory
Invoice verification as it is received from vendor
Payment to vendor.
Finance and Accounting
Sales events must be captured at the proper time into the
ledger system
Inventory must be adjusted to match goods shipped
Inventory must be adjusted to match raw materials
received
Inventory must be adjusted to move value from raw materials
to work in process
Inventory must be adjusted to increase finished goods when
they are produced
Accounts Payable must be set up for purchases
Accounts Receivable must reflect goods billed but not yet
paid for
Business Process Engineering must not only identify all these
steps but must also find the most efficient way to minimize redundant actions.
For example, when sales are made, inventory and manufacturing plans should be
automatically updated. When manufacturing plans are updated raw materials
should be automatically ordered from vendors. When finished goods are shipped
customers should be automatically billed at the same instant. Real situations
are far more complex than the simple explanation above.
