Enterprise Systems for Management, 2e (Motiwalla/Thompson)
Chapter 3 Enterprise Systems Architecture
1) Implementing a new ERP system is mainly a question of installing ERP software.
2) The hard part of installing an ERP system is changing the business processes of the people
who will use the system.
3) An ERP system architecture should adapt to future business challenges.
4) ERP systems need both current and historical data.
5) Understanding the enterprise architecture is helpful because it helps everyone understand the
various components of the enterprise system better.
6) The functional view of the enterprise system architecture defines the physical components of
the system.
7) The databases used are components of the ERP system architecture.
8) Organizations rarely selectively implement different ERP modules.
9) ERP software provides business functionality for everything except human resources.
10) In ERP software, the procurement module includes the best practices on purchasing.
11) Logistics is an example of a typical ERP module.
12) Marketing automation is an example of a typical ERP module.
13) Production modules have evolved from MRP II into ERP systems.
14) ERP vendors generally use the same names for all their different modules.
15) The purchasing module must be tightly integrated with the inventory control and the sales
logistics modules.
16) The inventory module helps maintain the appropriate level of stock in a warehouse.
17) Most ERP vendors offer an online storefront as part of the sales module.
18) Sales modules have to be closely integrated with the organization’s network module.
19) The HR module is usually the last module implemented by companies.
20) When a new employee is hired and enrolled in the company benefits plan, this would involve
using the human resources module.
21) Project management is an example of a non-traditional ERP module now being offered by
some vendors.
22) A performance management module is useful for empowering employees and managers by
giving them easy access to all their relevant information.
23) One benefit of using a financial module is that it provides strong support for Sarbanes-Oxley
reporting.
24) The procurement and logistics module benefits the organization by helping to reduce
transportation costs.
25) In an ERP architecture, hardware layering has had a significant impact on scalability.
26) ERP applications are most commonly deployed in a distributed and often widely dispersed
manner.
27) ERP system architectures are organized in layers or tiers to help manage the complexity of
the system.
28) Legacy systems and third party applications can be linked to ERP systems through the GUI.
29) Middleware provides generic interfaces with which integrated applications pass messages to
each other.
30) SAP developed its own platform for systems integration called OASIS.
31) A web-based portal allows users to get access to their ERP applications through their
browser.
32) OLAP is the foundation of the business intelligence module in ERP systems.
33) Today’s IT infrastructure focuses on integrating the corporate architecture with the GUI and
extending it beyond the organization.
34) Three-tier architectures are scalable in that it is easier to add, change and remove
applications and hardware.
35) With the addition of the extra tier, the three-tier architecture is considerably less complex
than the two-tier architecture.
36) The ERP system ________ determines the relationships between all the complex IT
components.
A) network
B) layout
C) architecture
D) middleware
37) The IT components of an ERP system architecture include the hardware, software and the:
A) security.
B) data.
C) organization.
D) middleware.
38) The enterprise system architecture can be viewed from two different angles; the functional
angle and the ________ angle.
A) system
B) network
C) decisional
D) logical
39) ERP vendors break the software up into ________ which organizations can selectively
implement to support their different functional areas.
A) programs
B) systems
C) applications
D) modules
40) ERP vendors embed their best business ________ in their software to help businesses
improve their productivity and performance.
A) decisions
B) products
C) practices
D) tasks
E) functions
41) If the ERP vendor’s software and best practices do not match the organization’s needs, it may
be necessary to ________ the ERP software.
A) proceduralize
B) customize
C) compartmentalize
D) individualize
E) upgrade
42) Manufacturing capacity is planned and optimized using the ________ module.
A) purchasing
B) sales & marketing
C) production
D) accounting
43) If a company wants to streamline their procurement processes, they would probably choose
to implement the ________ module.
A) inventory management
B) purchasing
C) logistics
D) finance
E) asset management
44) Order placement and schedule is handled in the ________ module.
A) sales and marketing
B) purchasing
C) logistics
D) finance
E) asset management
45) Employee data is managed in the ________ module.
A) database
B) purchasing
C) sales and marketing
D) credit management
E) human resource
46) The core of many ERP systems is the ________ module.
A) sales and marketing
B) purchasing
C) logistics
D) finance
E) process management
47) The ________ module provides tools and data warehousing capabilities.
A) self-service
B) project management
C) business intelligence
D) database
E) asset management
48) One benefit of the ________ module is that it helps companies comply with the government
rules of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
A) accounting
B) sales and marketing
C) production
D) finance
49) A ________ module helps customers get more direct access to applications such as tracking
the status of their orders.
A) self-service
B) project management
C) business intelligence
D) database
E) sales management
50) The ________ module uses data collection technologies such as RFID and bar codes to
improve resource allocation for cross-docking processes.
A) procurement
B) production
C) transportation
D) sales
E) accounting
51) The ________ tier acts as the intermediary between the client applications and the database.
A) presentation
B) business
C) logical
D) middleware
52) Users input data in the ________ tier.
A) presentation
B) business
C) logical
D) application
E) database
53) In the ERP system, user ________ are set up to define access right for every user in the
portal.
A) security
B) web-services
C) roles
D) application
54) Research shows that large companies lose up to ________ per minute every time their ERP
system goes down.
A) $3K
B) $3.6M
C) $18K
D) $13K
E) $218K
55) A fully functioning ERP system needs a high availability ________ in order to support the
growth of the user population and its expansion out to the supply chain partners.
A) database
B) application server
C) network
D) API
E) GUI
56) Online Analytical Processing is the foundation of the ________ module in ERP.
A) e-Commerce
B) business intelligence
C) performance management
D) project management
57) In a typical two-tier architecture, the server handles both the ________ and database duties.
A) network
B) security
C) protocol control
D) application
E) user access
58) In the three-tier architecture, the application, database, and ________ layers are separated
into independent operating units.
A) network
B) security
C) protocol control
D) application
E) presentation
59) In the newer Web-based architecture, the ________ layer is split into the Web Services tier
and the Web Browser tier.
A) network
B) security
C) database
D) application
E) presentation
60) In ________ environments, clients only need access to the Internet and a standard browser
like Internet Explorer with a few plug-ins to interact with ERP applications.
A) server-centric
B) web-based
C) client-centric
D) n-tier client/server
61) The term ________ refers to system architectures that can have any number of distinct tiers
including 4-tiers and more.
A) frontier
B) m-tier
C) n-tier
D) 4 tier
E) none of the above
62) The GUI resides on the ________ tier.
A) logical
B) presentation
C) GUI
D) Application
E) none of the above
63) The ________ tier consists of a web browser and a reporting tool.
A) GUI
B) logical
C) presentation
D) application
E) database
64) The global organization that helps to promote the use of a common language is called
________.
A) NCAA
B) OASIS
C) ICANN
D) Netweaver
E) none of the above
65) The web-based portal is part of the ________ tier.
A) application
B) presentation
C) GUI
D) Application
E) none of the above
66) In the ERP system, user ________ are set up to define the access rights for each and every
functional user of the system.
A) accounts
B) GUIs
C) applications
D) roles
E) none of the above
67) Many ERP implementations fail to realize all the benefits because they don’t provide the
system with enough network ________.
A) bandwidth
B) traffic
C) software
D) hardware
E) none of the above
68) Because of the tremendous load that an ERP system places on the corporate LAN and WAN,
it is crucial that companies go through network ________, when deploying an ERP system.
A) implementations
B) upgrades
C) downtime
D) capacity planning
E) none of the above
69) Third party system integration can be done in either the portal or the ________ layer.
A) presentation
B) logical
C) GUI
D) application
E) none of the above
70) The IT infrastructure in organizations has moved from centralized to client-server and
________.
A) distributed
B) recentralized
C) siloed
D) unmanageable
E) none of the above
71) The first generation of the distributed IT architecture involved ________ tiers.
A) one
B) two
C) three
D) n
E) none of the above
72) A drawback of the two-tier ERP architecture is that it requires expensive ________ for
integrating other systems.
A) middleware
B) 1 tier systems
C) 3 tier systems
D) n-tier systems
E) none of the above
73) The GUI resides on the ________ layer of the three-tier system architecture.
A) logical
B) presentation
C) GUI
D) application
E) none of the above
74) The ________ client/server architecture has been shown to improve performance for groups
with a large number of users.
A) one-tier
B) two-tier
C) three-tier
D) four-tier
E) none of the above
75) The next generation web-based architectures will help to deliver ________ access to ERP
systems.
A) limited
B) centralized
C) short term
D) ubiquitous
E) none of the above
76) What are the typical modules available in an ERP system?
77) Describe one potential benefit related to each of the main ERP modules.
78) List and describe the three different layers of a traditional ERP architecture.
79) What resides on the application tier of an ERP architecture? Give an example from a real
system of what resides on the application tier.
80) Why are infrastructure considerations so important when implementing an ERP system?
81) Why is the decision about which architecture to use when implementing an ERP system so
important and complex?
82) Briefly describe three different drawbacks of using an SOA for an ERP implementation.
83) Briefly describe three different benefits of using an SOA for an ERP implementation.
84) What is a Service Oriented Architecture? How is this being used to implement ERP
systems?
85) What is a Web-based Architecture? What impact will it have on ERP systems?