Title:"Identification of trends in the Integrated Business Management. Functional analysis and tools design for the development of a vertically ERP adapted to the sector"
Author: Raul Francisco Oltra Badenes
Directors: Dr. Hermenegildo Gil Dr. Faustino Gomez and Alarcon Valero
SUMMARY
During the last decade, advances in information technology have had an enormous effect on the business environment. The rapid emergence of communication networks and also of extremely powerful versatile hardware and software, they all connected worldwide, has allowed organizations to more effectively develop their products and services and to market in less time. These changes have marked the transition between the industrial and the information age in which everything is connected and works much faster and dynamically. In this context, information and knowledge are the keys to creating value and wealth.
In recent times these systems have been forced to evolve dramatically and they are currently in a continuous process of improvement, with companies that develop these systems having to devote much of their resources to research, development and innovation. It is therefore important to study how these systems can evolve in the near future, how they will integrate the technological changes that are occurring and is expected to be given in the future, and how this may affect companies that use or may use these systems.
This thesis analyzes the evolution of business management systems from its beginning, and identifies the trends that information systems will follow in the coming years, especially in the case of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP's). Then we analyze in detail some of the trends identified, such as the use of m-business, free software and verticalization of solutions. The trend of verticalization, is analyzed more in detail, moving to a real case study focused on the ceramic industry. In this study, we study a specific problem in the sector, as is the lack of homogeneity in the product (LHP) and proposes a solution, including a mathematical optimization model and a data model that can be used to develop vertical ERP solutions, adapted to the ceramic sector.
This study can serve the existing major players in the life cycle of ERP's (mainly manufacturers and users) to know what is the expected evolution in these systems for the near future. So, on that basis, may raise their strategies and make decisions regarding information systems that will use or develop.