ERP: Maximizing Application Functionality

ERP Framework

In this blog post I will be discussing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and how this system is designed to simplify the modern complex organization. I will be presenting a case study of the City of Tucson's current ERP implementation and will be discussing opportunities within the system on how to maximize system functionality.

Typically, the complex organization is composed of several department's with each department having their own "legacy", a.k.a. outdated, system. In this case study, the City of Tucson has 23 departments. As one can imagine, an organization that would have to maintain 23+ different and equally complex systems would be left in the stone-age with a lot of headaches. These legacy systems are high maintenance, hard to manage, and lacking in efficiency.

Fast forward to the modern-day ERP system. An Enterprise Resource Planning system is an integrative software solution that aims to combine, streamline, and centralize all of these once separate systems, into one fully comprehensive solution for the modern organization. Here's a quick video on the explanation of what an ERP solution looks like:

Fast-Forward to the case study of the City of Tucson. The City of Tucson currently deploys a CGI Advantage ERP solution for all of their organizational needs. Although system functionality is under-utilized, discussed later, the City of Tucson currently houses their Financial, Human Resource Management, Employee Self-Service, InfoAdvantage (reporting), Administration, and soon-to-be Procurement modules all on the ERP. Also, important to mention is that the City of Tucson houses their ERP on the cloud through their ERP vendor PSMAG as opposed to in-house. Below is a visual representation of the City of Tucson's current ERP framework:

As mentioned before some best practice ERP guidelines feature one integrative system solution, transfer all/most legacy processes to ERP, and maximize system functionality. Upon review of the City of Tucson's ERP framework, there were three areas in the system that screamed utilization opportunity. These three areas included time-keeping functionality, accounts payable - check printing, and best practices job process scheduling.

The issue of time-keeping can be handled by the ERP but instead an outside system is currently being used to track, record, and maintain time for all city employees. This not only foresees an additional cost to the City of Tucson, but also foresees additional maintenance of a separate system outside the ERP. The second area of concern is in the area of Accounts Payable. The check printing functionality for accounts payable is currently maintained on a system separate the ERP, even though the ERP is more than capable of handling this type of functionality. Lastly, job processing can be improved in the area of a series of jobs called "Finance Charges". Finance Charges are interest-bearing accounts outstanding from customer of the City that owe the City of Tucson for their services provided. Currently the City of Tucson only runs the job once a month instead of accruing the charges daily.
Each of these areas mentioned above would increase system utilization. Presented below are three suggestions to utilize the system functionality.

First off, I would recommend training the users within the system. Following the people, processes, technology framework, people play an important role in maximizing the functionality of a system, especially during an upgrade of an ERP system. The people are responsible for customizing the ERP system and determining which processes are necessary to utilize in the system. Next, is education and knowing the environment that the system operates under. Every organization has its own context in which it operates under and a good understanding of organizational processes will help better the maximization of system functionality. Lastly, I would implement an analytical approach to determining how to continuously improve the ERP system. With each of these in mind, your ERP system is well underway to becoming fully utilized.

Have you had any experience with ERP solutions? Also, what recommendations would you have for maximizing the utility of an ERP system?

Fiber Optics in the US

An optic fiber is a thin piece of glass or plastic that light travels along, like electricity traveling through a metal wire. That’s basically the gist of it. Fiber optics is simply another way we have figured out to transmit data or power. Benefits to using fiber is: 

• One fiber can carry 3 million voice calls or 90,000 TV channels (aka “broad bandwidth”)
• Optic cables aren’t prone to electrical problems as copper—optic cables don’t pick up other signals and they don’t conduct electricity (meaning they can be placed in a lot more variety of places and aren’t affected by a lightning strike).
• The light in the cables can travel much further without needing an energy boost (aka “low attenuation loss”). For example, the usual distance information can travel in copper wire without assistance is 100m (330ft), while in an optical cable it’s 2000m (6500ft).
• It’s harder to tap into information traveling along a fiber optics cable than down a copper one.
• They are also smaller, thinner, lighter, more flexible, and cheaper to make, making installation much easier (although installation costs are more than for copper wires).

The US ranks 18th among countries in the OECD, a group of the world's largest economies, in fiber-optic penetrations rates, as this chart from Statista shows. Its 9.4% penetration rate is nearly half of the OECD average, and almost an eighth of what the top-ranked Japan has.

Fiber optic connections are several times faster than the speeds you get with your standard broadband connection. It's usually fast enough to download a full two-hour movie in just a few seconds.


The low fiber-optic percentage doesn't come as a big surprise, given the US has some of the slowest internet speeds in the world. But the results show the US may have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the world in next-generation internet technology as well.

The main reason why the US is the slowest in internet speeds and is due to the market. US ISPs are narrowed down to two Comcast and Cox.  These companies have an infrastructure already in place for years that supports copper.  Changing to Fiber would cost them billions of dollars, which in return would increase our internet bills.  Because of poor planning and maximizing on the market, these two companies are slowly introducing Fiber optics to only those who can afford the big bill. Many of new companies who want to offer fiber are being destroyed by the tech giants. Few companies such as Google have brought fiber into some major cities at a lower cost, but the growth rate is small. A handful of companies, like Google and Comcast, have been working on bringing super high-speed, fiber-optic internet connections to the US, but the penetration rate is still lagging the rest of the world.

This video below shows an effort between the US and some Asian countries to connect via Fiber optic cables. A few smaller companies have joined together to run fiber through the ocean which will help develop the infrastructure for all those countries, enhancing trade and communications. The video only talks about a handful of countries, however more have been working together over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziCHn6F_6rg
https://ecurrent.fit.edu/blog/panther-voices/cant-live-without-fiber-optics/
http://www.businessinsider.com/fiber-optic-penetration-in-us-is-low-2016-2
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/why-its-so-hard-to-bring-gigabit-internet-to-the-us

Fiber Optic Communication

 

Fiber Optic Communication

Tracy Nguyen

Fiber optic communication has not only impact in the telecommunications industry but also in the data networking community. Optical fibers can be used to transmit light and information over long distances with much lower level of loss in the transmission and higher data rates.  Fiber-based systems have largely replaced radio transmitter systems.

Fiber optic mostly used for telephony, Internet traffic, long high-speed local area networks (LANs), cable TV (CATV), and for shorter distances within buildings.

Silica fibers are most common use for long distances

In short distances, plastic optical fibers can be advantageous.

Compared with systems based on electrical cables, the approach of optical fiber communications (lightwave communications) has advantages, the most important of which are:

• The capacity of fibers for data transmission is huge: a single silica fiber can carry hundreds of thousands of telephone channels
• The losses for light propagating in fibers are very small: ≈ 0.2 dB/km for modern single-mode silica fibers, so that many tens of kilometers can be bridged without amplifying the signals.
• Compared with electrical cables, fiber-optic cables are very lightweight.
• Fiber-optic cables are immune to problems that arise with electrical cables, such as ground loops or electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Mostly due to their very high data transmission capacity, fiber-optic transmission systems can achieve a much lower cost than systems based on coaxial copper cables, if high data rates are needed.

How optical fiber works

  

MultiMode vs. SingleMode Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber Laser:

References:
Optical Fiber Communications 
https://www.rp-photonics.com/optical_fiber_communications.html 

Femtosecond laser glass processing:
https://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=51733