Information Systems Offer Public Service Management

In business, it is important for companies to be able to communicate effectively. Each department of a company relies on the other departments as they add to the value chain. One way for a company to integrate its different departments is enterprise resource planning. ERPs are software programs that allow companies to join together data across operations on a company wide basis (Jessup and Valacich 248). ERPs store company information in a common database and allow all departments to access it from one central location (Koch). Companies without ERPS may contain many legacy systems, each operating with different

The UK Public Services use various types of technology which enables them to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Without this technology, they wouldn’t be able to do any tasks to the high standard that they are able to do now. Technology can be extremely helpful and can save time when fully operational but when it fails it can become more of a hindrance than help. The main problem being, when technology fails we don’t normally have an alternative, or if we do it is time consuming and not a productive method. Technology is always developing which means that more training will be required. This is due to the fact that technology changes from one year to the next. In turn, technology must be easy to manage and understand.

Today Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is extensively adopted by many organizations regardless of kind and size, mainly because it provides enterprise-wide view of information across all their business operations and help organizations achieve consistency across all their functional departments. The potential benefits of ERP system implementation include improved coordination across functional areas, increased efficiency, reduced operational costs, rapid access to information for decision making, managerial control and support for strategic planning.

Adoption of an ERP system enables an organization to eliminate dozens or even hundreds of separate systems and replace them with a single, integrated set of applications for the entire enterprise.

Technology is the final important term when leading a public agency toward becoming and remaining a high-quality public organization committed to excellence. Technology allows for the organizations or agencies to connect to the citizens. Berman (2006) states, “governments have focused on improving customer/citizen interactions with agencies through improved electronic access to information and services, thereby reducing costs and improving response times” (p.116). Technology can also assist with issues organizations may have regarding security and reliability.

Advantages Koch (2005) and Montgomery (2003) state advantages of using the ERP are; Improvement in the time taken to process the data as each department have same standard and can access to the data easily. Communication between each department will be improved as well. More flexibility in the system as it comes from one vendor and the software has been developed to be applicable for all departments in a company. Easier to predict the costs of buying ERP systems as it only comes from one vendor. Having integrated applications solutions with no complex interfaces. All of the data is stored in one central database.

Enterprise resource planning enables firms to replace different departmental information systems and database silos with systems that collectively work as a single cross functional database. ERP systems are available for every key business function such as order processing, production control, HR, warehouse, marketing, finance and much more. By having a common technology and database platform throughout the firm, systems and processes from various departments can be integrated that achieve superiority in terms of enhanced cost, operational and productivity benefits. Implementing an ERP system requires careful planning to achieve the targeted benefits and minimize the risk of project failure.

An ERP system is the combination of applications and modules with software and hardware components integrated together to manage various functions in a company.

Whatis.com [19] defines ERP as follows: An industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that help a manufacturer or other business manage the important parts of its business, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP can also include application modules for the finance and human resources aspects of a business. Internet.com’s Webopedia [10] defines ERP as follows: A business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, manufacturing, sales, and marketing. As the ERP methodology has become more popular, software applications have emerged to help business managers implement ERP. All of these three definitions identify ERP as a tool of business processes integration. They mention that ERP can integrate several business functions, such as sales, manufacturing, human resources, logistics, accounting, and other enterprise functions.

The Enterprise System focuses on the external issues and it was developed to deal with buyers and suppliers. It assists the top management in making decisions such as where to market, whom to deal with and from where to purchase the raw materials. Whereas the ERP system gives solutions in a form of modules, it is developed to monitor the flow of information and to provide a real-time reports to management in order to make a good business decisions. These two approaches relate to each other in this way for an example in a manufacturing company, when the ERP receive an order the system will start by checking if the material is available, then it will assist in production planning, it will keep track of every process until the products is delivered to the

It improves operational efficiency for municipal agencies and helps in economies of cost. Gone are the days when files used to move physically through a messenger for reviews and approvals.

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are also used in healthcare industry to optimize the operational and strategic capabilities. Some of

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are recognized for their distinguished features and integrative information systems in organizations, such as data circulation in financial accounting systems and human resource information systems. However, they are also known to be complex systems with multiple operating systems and applications that require several strategies to follow; for organizations to achieve their corporate growth objectives. Hence, a good approach to solving the problem of complexity is in adopting a high-level architecture model which can be used to describe the components of the system and their relationship. In this paper, an effective approach to systems development is discussed alongside several ERP architecture methods. Several ERP implementation strategies are highlighted and requirements are shared.

In today's public sector environment virtually all federal, state and local government use computers. Computerization has streamlined repetitive processes, promoting a more cost effective and efficient use of information technology. " Studies suggest that managers look to information technology to streamline work processes, enable easier access and retrieval of information, provide better products and services, save money by avoiding workforce expansion, speed up transactions and provide better data security."[iii]

ERP management system is the mode of the modern enterprise management. It is a company-wide application, highly integrated system, covering the customer, project management, inventory and purchasing supplies production, by optimizing the enterprise resources to maximize resource efficiency.