The construction of a mobile business application system for ERP

Abstract

Purpose

In today’s complicated and competitive business environment, companies commonly use enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to integrate management information and enhance efficiency. In recent years, due to the development of cloud computing and portable devices, a new mobility era is starting. The popularity of smartphones and tablet computers has changed the behavior of mobile-phone users and enhanced the rapid development of mobile commerce. ERP companies have discovered this trend and want to provide more convenient services and develop more integrated functions for their ERP systems in which practitioners can operate and access company information through various mobile devices anywhere, anytime. However, mobile ERP is still in the development stage. On the whole there has been relatively little research into the framework and system implementation of mobile ERP until recently. The purpose of this paper is to propose a mobile ERP framework for the sales function in an ERP system. The authors also design a mobile type sales application based on an android-based mobile device. In addition, the authors provide sale practitioners and supervisors with a more convenient and rapider service interface in which they can quickly respond to customers’ needs.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop a mobile ERP framework taking into account the requirements of sales and distribution modules. The proposed framework can directly access the ERP system and perform more efficiently than a web service-based framework since middleware services are not involved.

Findings

For the purposes of demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed mobile ERP system, the authors examine three scenarios which are commonly used in world-wide integrated circuit (IC) design companies. In this kind of company, salespersons travel to various cities and collect sales information. The three various scenarios include: (A) sales order creation; (B) order status inquiry; (C) order modification. The results of simulation show that the mobile ERP system indeed enhances the efficiency of processing operations in sales and distribution modules, particularly for salespersons visiting outside offices and traveling world-wide.

Research limitations/implications

The authors investigate and propose a mobile ERP framework for a world-wide ERP system company, SAP, which is a research limitation in the paper, since SAP ERP system is not installed for all companies. In addition, from this investigation, two possible concerns might be useful in further research. The first involves other modules may be included in the proposed mobile ERP framework. The second is the need to integrate other useful analysis systems, such as business intelligence, for a more complete mobile ERP system.

Practical implications

To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed mobile ERP system, three various scenarios which are commonly used in world-wide IC design companies are considered. In addition, the comparisons of the typical procedures in terms of average processing time for existing ERP systems and the proposed mobile ERP system are provided. The simulation times finding show that the mobile ERP system indeed enhances the efficiency of processing operations in sales and distribution modules, particularly for the salespersons visiting outside offices and traveling world-wide.

Social implications

The popularity of smartphones and tablet computers has changed the behavior of mobile-phone users and enhanced the rapid development of mobile commerce. Mobile ERP systems can provide more up-to-date information than typical ERP systems involving order-tracking, real-time stock quantity checking, and sales order creations since salespersons still can access or update their collected information wherever they are world-wide. The contributions of this paper have a great impact on behavior changes of mobile-phone users. It can enhance efficiency and quality of life for users.

Originality/value

In the paper, the authors propose a mobile ERP framework for the sales function which can provide sale practitioners and supervisors a more convenient and rapider service interface in which they can quickly respond to customers’ needs. The proposed framework of mobile ERP perform more efficiently than typical ERP systems and a web service-based framework since middleware services are not involved.

Citation

Tai, Y.-T., Huang, C.-H. and Chuang, S.-C. (2016), "The construction of a mobile business application system for ERP", Kybernetes, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-02-2015-0041