Introduction to Operations & Supply Chain Management, 5e (Bozarth)
Chapter 12S Supply Chain Information Systems
12S.1 Understanding Supply Chain Information Needs
1) Customer segment analysis, product life cycle forecasting, and what-if analysis for capacity decisions
are capabilities that a(n):
A) execution and transaction processing supply chain information system might possess.
B) strategic supply chain decision making information system might possess.
C) routine supply chain decision making information system might possess.
D) tactical supply chain information system might possess.
2) The ability to handle some exceptions while supporting rule-based decision making in fairly short time
frames are capabilities that a(n):
A) execution and transaction processing supply chain information system might possess.
B) strategic supply chain information system might possess.
C) routine supply chain decision making information system might possess.
D) tactical supply chain information system might possess.
3) Which of these supply chain activities is the most day–to–day, routine activity?
A) control of monetary flows
B) capacity decision making
C) warehouse location determination
D) sales and operations planning
4) Which of these supply chain activities is the most strategic?
A) inventory leveling
B) entering new markets
C) supplier evaluation systems
D) job scheduling
5) A key performance measure for an execution and transaction processing system would be:
A) flexibility.
B) form.
C) function.
D) accuracy.
6) Flexibility is a key performance dimension for information flows in a(n):
A) strategic decision-making activity.
B) global planning activity.
C) routine decision-making activity.
D) execution and transaction processing activity.
7) A supply chain information system that links a company with an entity upstream is called a(n):
A) customer relationship management system.
B) supplier relationship management system.
C) internal supply chain management system.
D) business process modeling tool.
8) The three ways information adds value, ranked in order from lowest to highest value are:
A) visibility, mirroring, creation of new customer relationships.
B) mirroring, creation of new customer relationships, visibility.
C) visibility, creation of new customer relationships, mirroring.
D) creation of new customer relationships, mirroring, visibility.
9) The purpose of the execution and transaction processing supply chain activities are to record and
retrieve data and execute and control physical and monetary flows.
10) At the lowest level of the organization, the information flows are highly automated.
11) Accuracy is a key performance dimension for strategic decision-making information flows.
12) Customer relationship management refers to planning and control activities and information systems
that link a firm with its downstream customers.
13) Internal supply chain management is used to link higher level planning and location decision making
with lower level activities within the same supply chain.
14) All information systems are computer-based.
15) The greatest user discretion is found at the ________ level of supply chain information system use.
16) Accuracy and timeliness are key performance dimensions for information flows at the ________ and
________ levels of supply chain information system use.
17) A(n) ________ is a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and distribute
information to support decision making, coordination, and control in an organization.
18) The term ________ represents the most basic function of information in the supply chain.
19) ________ takes visibility a step further and seeks to replace certain physical processes with virtual
ones.
20) The third, and most important, way information adds value is through the ________, involves taking
raw information and organizing, selecting, synthesizing, and distributing it in a manner that creates
whole new sources of value.
21) Why are information flows a necessary part of the supply chain?
22) What are the information needs at the four levels (execution and transaction processing, routine
decision making, tactical planning, and strategic decision making) of supply chain activity?
23) What are the functions and relationships between both customer and supplier relationship
management and internal supply chain management?
12S.2 Supply Chain Information Systems
1) A supply chain information system that is used in the internal supply chain at the strategic level is a(n):
A) CRM.
B) DSS.
C) ERP.
D) SRM.
2) An execution and transaction processing level system that is used throughout the supply chain is a(n):
A) CRM system.
B) DS system.
C) ERP system.
D) SRM system.
3) Which of the following statements regarding enterprise resource planning systems is NOT correct?
A) Most companies using ERP use their system to serve all of the information requirements.
B) The primary advantage of ERP systems is that they pull together all of the classic business functions
into a single, tightly integrated package.
C) All of the business functions running from an ERP system use a common database.
D) Making ERP systems integrate with other applications in a business presents a significant
technological challenge.
4) Logistics information systems that support tactical planning efforts by allocating fixed logistics
capacity in the best possible way given business requirements are known as:
A) decision support systems.
B) network design applications.
C) warehouse management and transportation execution systems.
D) warehouse and transportation planning systems.
5) A typical SRM application is:
A) negotiations.
B) market analysis.
C) order management.
D) service center management.
6) A typical CRM application is:
A) design collaboration.
B) the sell process.
C) sourcing decisions.
D) supply collaboration.
7) Enterprise resource planning applications span the supplier, customer, and internal supply chain areas.
8) ERP system’s traditional strengths lie in routine decision making and in execution and transaction
processing.
9) Warehouse and transportation planning systems support strategic planning efforts by allocating fixed
logistics capacity in the best possible way, given business requirements.
10) Design collaboration is a typical customer relationship management application.
11) SAP and Oracle are ERP vendors.
12) Computer-based information systems that allow users to analyze, manipulate, and present data in a
manner that aids higher-level decision making are called ________.
13) A system that controls all aspects of a company’s business from production, through human
resources, to accounting and other departments and accomplishes this with a centralized database is
________.
14) Long-term strategic questions such as facility location and sizing are addressed by ________.
15) ________ are logistics information systems that initiate and control the movement of materials
between supply chain partners.
16) Warehouse and transportation planning systems support ________ planning efforts.
17) Market analysis, order management, and service center management are all examples of applications
found in a(n) ________ system.
18) Sketch the supply chain and indicate which information systems address which areas of the supply
chain.
19) What is the purpose of an ERP system and what advantages does it hold over the more traditional
system it replaces?
20) What functions do warehouse management and transportation execution systems perform? What
capabilities or services do you think they might possess ten years from now?
12S.3 Trends to Watch
1) Which of these is NOT an essential characteristic of the cloud model?
A) preservation of metadata
B) on-demand self-service
C) broad network access
D) resource pooling
2) Which of these is NOT an essential characteristic of the cloud model?
A) rapid elasticity
B) telepresence
C) on-demand self-service
D) resource pooling
3) Which of these is an essential characteristic of the cloud model?
A) distributed intelligence
B) third normal form
C) on-demand self-service
D) hierarchical functionality
4) Which of these is an essential characteristic of the cloud model?
A) distributed intelligence
B) third normal form
C) asynchronous communication
D) resource pooling
5) Which of these is an essential characteristic of the cloud model?
A) broad network access
B) third normal form
C) asynchronous communication
D) address mapping
6) Business process modeling tools allow the user to:
A) connect to the cloud without using the Internet.
B) manage internal supply chain relationships.
C) manage external supply chain relationships.
D) simulate the performance of a new process.
7) Business process modeling tools differ from business process management systems (BPMS) in that
business process modeling tools are aimed at business process analysis and design and BPMS are used
only to manage processes.
8) Before the Internet was widely adopted by business, the vast majority of computer systems were
completely isolated from one another.
9) Before the Internet was widely adopted by business, most computer systems shared a common
database but sharing software was a difficult task.
10) Cloud computing affords users the ability to rapidly scale capacity up or down depending on
demand.
11) Cloud computing has made it more difficult for firms to outsource portions of their business.
12) One characteristic of cloud computing is that the provider’s computing resources may serve multiple
consumers with the resources dynamically allocated according to customer demand.
13) An organization can use ________ as a repository to access documents or other files from anywhere in
the world whenever they are needed.
14) ________ enable users to perform tasks such as charting work flows, developing cost estimates for
processes, and simulating process performance.
15) At one time, if an organization wanted to automate using a computer system, they had to develop the
program on their own. Today, there is software available to perform virtually every business function
although most of them will not conform exactly to what a company needs. Describe two software tools
that can be used for business process analysis and design.
16) What are the salient features of cloud computing?
17) How will cloud computing impact operations and supply chain management?
18) Provide an example of a business transaction you recently conducted that took place with the help of
the cloud. Describe the front and back office activities that would have been required to conduct the same
business transaction in a pre-cloud business world.
19) The authors make the point that cloud computing has in many respects made life easier for business
and for consumers. Discuss three negative aspects to cloud computing.