The name of the proposed system is Information Enterprise Resource Planning (IERP). It is a business management platform that allows an organization to use tools to optimize and automate processes, creating more economical, accurate, and efficient work (Jackson et al. 197). IERP combines the capabilities of customer management, human resources, business intelligence, financial management, inventory, and supply chains in one system. This management information system (MIS) can be used in stores, warehouses, websites, and hospitals.
The scope of the inventory system covers many needs, including inventory assessment, measurement of inventory changes, and planning for future inventory levels. The inventory value at the end of each period serves as the basis for the financial statements on the balance sheet (Jackson et al. 194). Measuring inventory changes allows a company to determine the value of inventory sold over time. This allows the company to plan for future inventory needs.
There are several functions that the MIS has, the first being goods specification and prioritization. Next, IERP is responsible for barcode implementation and control. The proposed MIS will monitor replenishment, manage inventory, and create real-time warehouse reports. Finally, the system will include capabilities for accounting and tax operations (Jackson et al. 194). IERP will be able to maintain a facility with up to 150 users.
It is an online Software-as-a-Service that allows companies to manage all key business processes, data, and departments in a single system. A unified business management package with accounting and ERP, CRM, e-commerce, and retail point of sale in a single, fully integrated software. A unique selling point is that IERP is a powerful, effective solution to reduce costs, increase productivity and efficiency and achieve an advantage over competitors. The hardware required for the MIS includes computers with the necessary peripherals, tablets or smartphones for moving employees, laser scanners for barcode reading, and scanners and sensors for warehouse inventory tracking.
The action plan includes about 4-6 months to develop an inventory system. The main stages of the project include concept design, project planning, solution development, integration, data migration, deployment, user training, and post-launch support. It will also need a team of a project manager, a business analyst, a solution architect, a user interface and user experience designer, interface and server developers, and quality control engineers. The financial resources are approximately $90,000, and the team of developers will need a set of computers with programming software.
The stages of inventory system development include developing and designing requirements for an inventory system for approximately four weeks. This phase includes identifying functional and non-functional requirements for the inventory system, defining user roles, and necessary integration with other ERP, CRM, and accounting systems. Moreover, the team will review data migration actions to move data from currently used spreadsheets or inventory management solutions and choose the type of inventory system: software only or with barcode/RFID support. Finally, a high-level solution architecture with the main components and their interaction will be designed, resulting in a user interface prototype. Here, the primary resource is hardware and software used for project design. To increase cohesiveness, the project manager’s support is necessary to oversee the process and converse with team members.
The next stage is developing an inventory system, which will take up to 5 months and require such resources as programming software. Developers will provide the backend of an inventory solution that will consolidate and process inventory data uploaded by users and generated by inventory tracking devices in the case of a barcode/RFID-enabled system. The system is also expected to initiate actions based on this data to automate inventory operations. User-oriented web and mobile applications will be created and tested. A demand forecasting module will be integrated based on machine learning to optimize inventory management processes. Quality control procedures will be performed to check the quality of inventory software and correct errors before starting production.
The next stage – integration with other systems – is expected to last up to 12 weeks. Here, the team will implement and test the system with other business-critical systems, for example, ERP, accounting, CRM, and business analytics for inventory and visualization of inventory-related data. The next phase is the inventory data migration, which includes the development of a migration script, scripts for automating migration, and data matching. At this stage, it is vital to use hardware that will be installed at customers’ facilities.
This is followed by the deployment of the inventory system, which consists of several stages:
- Configuring the software/hardware infrastructure, backup, and disaster recovery procedures.
- Deploying the solution at one of the target facilities’ warehouse/distribution centers for a pilot launch. This step is about two weeks for systems with hardware support.
- Monitoring the functioning of the system in actual conditions. Handling possible change requests. The duration of the trial operation is about 1-2 months.
- Rolling out the final version of the solution to all targets. The duration may take about two months to deploy RFID/barcode-based systems.
- Training users to work with the new system in a 4-week course.
The proposal has several selling points, including its flexibility and a wide variety of proposed features. IERP can be utilized in several types of organizations, offering essential software for modern warehouses and stores. It is a software product developed to be highly adjustable to customer needs, and businesses can add or remove features from the proposed list. The increased customization makes the product highly desirable to small and medium enterprises.
Work Cited
Jackson, Ilya, et al. “Review of Inventory Control Models: A Classification Based on Methods of Obtaining Optimal Control Parameters.” Transport and Telecommunication, vol. 21, no. 3, 2020, pp. 191-202. Web.