TATA Motors is India’s foremost, and the only fully integrated automobile manufacturer. Established in 1945 as TATA Engineering & Locomotive Company (TELCO), to manufacture locomotives and other engineering products, the company is today among the world’s top 10 producers of commercial vehicles. TATA Motors was also previously known as TATA Engineering. It is today one of the biggest and most prominent companies in the TATA group, with an annual revenue of $1.8 billion in 2001-02. Today TATA motors’ vehicles run in more than 70 countries. TATA Motors use a manual dealer management system, where every dealer managed details. With legacy-based systems, the environment produced inconsistent data, making interpretations difficult and resulting in inefficient planning for capacity and spare parts. The basic challenge was to provide a Dealer Management System (DMS) solution. All in all, TATA Motors required a standardized solution that would provide them with: Increase in sales and profitability Continue reading
Management Information Systems
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Concept of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Traditionally, the transfer of data from one company to another has been by paper documents. This is known as a paper-based system. These documents have to be manually forwarded and entered to the destination computer. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic exchange of standard business information, in standard formats, between computers. EDI eliminates the need for a paper-based system by providing an electronic link between companies. This reduces data entry tasks and improves business cycle times. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic transfer of structured business documents in an organization internally among groups of departments or externally with its suppliers, customers and subsidiaries. The documents likely to be used in EDI are invoices, purchase orders, shipping requests, acknowledgements and payments. EDI Continue reading
Computer System – Concepts and Components
The Computer System Concept A computer is more than a high-powered collection of electronic devices performing a variety of information processing chores. A computer is a system, an interrelated combination of components that performs the basic system functions of input, processing, output, storage, and control, thus providing end users with a powerful information processing tool. Understanding the computer as a computer system is vital to the effective use and management of computers. A computer is system of hardware devices organized according to the following system functions. Input. The input devices of a computer system include keyboards, touch screens, pens, electronic mice, optical scanners, and so on. Processing. The central processing unit(CPU) is the main processing component of a computer system. (In microcomputers, it is the main microprocessor.) In particular, the electronic circuits of the arithmetic-logic unit one of the CPU’s major components, perform the arithmetic and logic functions required in Continue reading
Case Study: Can DSS Help Master Card Master the Credit Card Business?
Credit (change) cards have been very big business for several decades. In 2001, over $30 trillion in payments for goods and services were charged using credit cards. The cards have made life easier for many people because they do not need to carry large amounts of cash for most purchases. Many people also use the cards as a way to borrow money because they need only pay a small percentage of the amount they owe each month, although they are usually charged very high interest rates for the unpaid balance. The interest goes to the issuing bank, making credit cards a very profitable service for them. However, the credit card industry is intensely competitive, highly fragmented, and growing at a rate of 3 to 4 per year, making those profits difficult to achieve. Visa and MasterCard are associations of banks that issue the credit cards. They market their cards, often Continue reading
What is Hyperledger Technology?
Hyperledger Fabric is an implementation from blockchain framework, hosted by the Linux Foundation. It is an open source enterprise-grade permission that makes use of distributed ledger technology. It is a platform that deploys blockchain networks with the platform providing smart contracts, the ledger, and providing a consensus between the members through maintenance of the Fabric protocols. Fabric is designed for use by businesses with the blockchain itself being operated by a set of known participants. These participants are re-identified and vetted through a concept called the permission blockchain. The blockchain also provides a way of securing an interaction among a group of entities who know each other and have common business interests. These entities are interested in managing a decentralized network instead of turning the management of their ledgers to one party. Through reliance on the identities and peers, the blockchain can use the traditional crash fault tolerant or the Continue reading
Important Features of Database Systems
A major feature of a database system is to provide users with an abstract view of data i.e. the system hides certain details of how data is stored and maintained. 1) Data Abstraction Data abstraction is the property of showing only the necessary details to a user and hides the rest of the details from that user. Since many database system users are not computer trained, developers hide the complexity from users through several levels of abstraction, to simplify user’s interactions with the system. Physical level – This level describes how data is actually stored in the database. Logical level — This level what data are stored in the database and what relationship exist among those data. The entire database is described to a community of users. The logical level of abstraction is used by Database Administrators (DBA) who must decide what information is to be stored in the database. Continue reading