MS 07 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment What are integrated software applications? Talk about their advantages and business utility.

Question. 3)What are integrated software applications? Talk about their advantages and business utility. Write notes on the business software solutions provided by:

 a) SAP

b) PeopleSoft

c) Oracle

d) Microsoft

Ans :

Integrated software is a single program that contains "modules" for many popular business applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, database management,  graphics and communications. The user can easily switch from one type of application to another without exiting the program.

The advantages of integrated software are:

1.      Low cost

2.      Only one program to install and learn

3.      Consistent interface from one module to another

4.      The ability to share information between modules

5.      Usually only one reference manual

6.      Ideal for personal use or small business

The disadvantages are:

1.      Each module is limited to basic functions

2.      May not be compatible with other popular business software

3.      Not suited for large companies or professional use

Integrated software usually costs around $200 and offers basic word processing, spreadsheet, database management, graphics and communications features. To obtain the same assortment of features by purchasing individual applications, you would have to buy five programs at a total cost of over $1000.00!

Integrated software might not be such a bargain for many users because a lot of features are left out in order to keep the cost down. Many users eventually outgrow this type of program and end up buying the full-featured equivalent software.

a)      SAP

SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) is SAP's enterprise application integration (EAI) software, a component of the NetWeaver product group used to facilitate the exchange of information among a company's internal software and systems and those of external parties. Like other NetWeaver components, SAP XI is compatible with software products of other companies.
SAP calls XI an integration broker because it mediates between entities with varying requirements in terms of connectivity, format, and protocols. According to SAP, XI reduces integration costs by providing a common repository for interfaces. The central component of SAP XI is the SAP Integration Server, which facilitates interaction between diverse operating systems and applications across internal and external networked computer systems.

SAP has certified the AWS platform for SAP Business Suite production deployments. Enterprise customers may now run their mission critical applications, including SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM), SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM) and SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and the complete SAP NetWeaver ABAP and Java technology stacks on the AWS cloud. This recent certification follows other prior certifications of SAP Business Objects, SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS), SAP All-in-One ERP, SAP Afaria, and SAP HANA One, to offer customers of any size more options to run their SAP production workloads on the flexible, secure, low cost, and elastic AWS cloud infrastructure.

b)     PeopleSoft

         PeopleSoft products continue to be very creative and innovative. They also tend to make simpler and more intuitive products. SAP is harder to learn and use while Oracle products are widely considered to be more buggy. PeopleSoft have really revolutionized ERP software with the introduction of their PIA (PeopleSoft Internet Architecture). This enabled their applications to be rolled out with no client footprint at all. The PeopleSoft community is actually a pretty small community where it feels like we all kinda know each other. Bottom line, it's a fun community.

It provides businesses with an unmatched competitive advantage. The Real-Time Enterprise sets the standard for business performance in the 21st century, and PeopleSoft is at the forefront of enabling businesses to make this model a reality.

PeopleSoft was the world's second largest provider of enterprise application software. PeopleSoft's business solutions are built with the flexibility to fit your business today and the adaptability to change with your business over time.

A broad portfolio of applications with industry-specific functionality gives you unprecedented flexibility to optimize business operations and compete more effectively.

PeopleSoft is a worldwide leader in providing complete solutions for more than 24 industries—from industrial manufacturing and consumer goods to financial services, healthcare, and public sector organizations.

More than 12,200 organizations worldwide—from mid-sized manufacturing companies to the largest service enterprises in both the private and public sectors—are using PeopleSoft solutions to build stronger and more profitable businesses.
PeopleSoft applications are built on innovative and open technology, enabling easy integration with third-party applications and legacy systems. And PeopleSoft's pioneering Total Ownership Experience initiative ensures the best overall user experience at the lowest cost of ownership.

c)      Oracle

Based in Redwood, California, Oracle Corporation is the largest software company whose primary business is database products. Historically, Oracle has targeted high-end workstations andminicomputers as the server platforms to run its database systems. Its relational database was the first to support the SQL language, which has since become the industry standard.

Along with Sun Microsystems, Oracle has been one of the leading champions of network computers.

Oracle has many advantages and features that makes it popular and thereby makes it as the world’s largest enterprise software company. Oracle comes with new versions with new features implemented in new version while the features of earlier versions still being maintained. One important aspect is Oracle databases tend to be backwards compatible. Also when Oracle releases a new version, their documentation contains a list of all the features new to that version thus makes it user friendly for one to learn the new features. 

Oracle takes a lead role because of some of the following reasons:

Oracle is used for almost all large application and one of the main applications in which oracle takes its major presence is banking. In fact ten of the world’s top 10 banks run Oracle applications this is because oracle offers a powerful combination of technology and comprehensive, pre-integrated business applications, including key functionality built specifically for banks.

Some similar databases like Sybase, SQL-Server one have facilities for using loops, conditions, arrays and so on in a program and also facilities like cursors and temp tables but all this would be used in a convoluted fashion which are very slow and resource consuming operations. The operations are not implemented as in Oracle which is efficient enough.

Also with the features available in oracle with the earlier versions in market the oracle company keeps upgrading and releasing new products into market, new versions releases which serves better than the earlier versions and thus the performance is improved much in later versions and thereby retaining the market growth and thus proves greater satisfaction to the customers using this technology. Thus the advantage of a higher version is that one would have more features and better capabilities.

For instance oracle 8i version has many new features which helped users namely like with oracle 8i one could run Java in the database, had features like new features on partitioning to support large database and so on. With the next version 9i oracle had these facilities maintained and had more new facilities added to it namely like new features added to help the DBA to handle change database configuration and so on.

Oracle is a database that responds very well with excellent performance in demanding environments. Oracle is a major database which along with its added features passes the ACID test, which is important in insuring the integrity of data. This is very important because data is the heart of any system in organization. A reliable and adequate database system has the following properties:

Atomicity:
That is Results of a transaction’s execution are either all committed or all rolled back. 

Consistency:
The database is transformed from one valid state to another valid state. Illegal transactions aren’t allowed and, if an integrity constraint can’t be satisfied then the transaction is rolled back. 

Isolation:
The results of a transaction are invisible to other transactions until the transaction is complete thus increasing the security on data. 

Durability:
Once committed (completed), the results of a transaction are permanent and survive future system and media failures and thus ensuring maintenance and protection of data.

All the above are well maintained by Oracle database.

The latest version oracle 10g has many features and one new feature is the introduction of recycle bin. This option when enabled could be used by users just like Windows recycle bin or Mac Trash. Dropped tables go "into" the recycle bin, and can be restored from the recycle bin.

One of the main advantage of oracle over other databases is in its recent version oracle has the concept of Flashback technology. That is we all know that data is the heart of any application or organization and thus this requires careful maintenance. But sometimes application outage can occur and mostly DBA claim the reasons for this as hardware failure and apart from this the reason would be human errors like accidental deletion of valuable data, deleting the wrong data, or dropping the wrong table. So it is very essential to take care of such situation and this is done in oracle’s latest technology called flash introduced in its latest version. By Flash technology it helps in recovery by working just on the changed data. Thus Flashback provides an

§  Efficient recovery from human errors 

§  Faster database recovery 

§  Helps in simplifying the management and administration processes

and so on.  

Thus oracle has many advantages and features that give security, protection, maintenance, reliability and performance on operation of data and with this in addition its main popularity and stability is because it keeps on adding new features which makes it user friendly for users and popularly used database among organizations.

d)     Microsoft

Microsoft dubs OneNote a note-taking and management program, a rather bland description considering all the cool things the software can do.

Those of you who are still scratching your heads wondering what exactly OneNote is, you're not alone; I'm assuming that Microsoft hasn't done enough to market the software or has focused its marketing on the tablet pc niche market, which is a shame.

Although tablet pc users will probably get more use out of OneNote's extra features, like the ability to incorporate hand-written notes, it would be a mistake to assume that OneNote holds no benefits for desktop or laptop users.

In fact, I will be so bold as to venture that it is best suited for use on laptop computers: One can harness the portability factor (I'm guessing most people will want to take notes while they're in the "field," whether that's on the job, at the library, or hanging out at a coffee shop) and bypass the temptation to rely on the handwriting and opt for the keyboard instead.

After all, the purpose of the program is to help one organize notes one intends to incorporate into a lengthier document -- we have PDA's to handle our to-do lists and other notes to ourselves that never need to make it into print.

That said, the ability to incorporate and prioritize to-do lists is beneficial when one is working on a lengthy research project.

For those who are relatively comfortable in Word but who are wary of new programs, you can relax: OneNote's appearance and controls resemble a 

trimmed-down version of Word.

This is deliberate, as the program is designed to complement Office and integrate seamlessly with its components -- think of it as a go-between for Word and Outlook.

There are, of course, features not represented in Outlook or Word, but these are easily learned.

The one thing that may trip new users up is the handling of files. OneNote is clearly intended to be used by one person, and one person only, as the program creates a single Notebook in which all notes are saved (I've tried to create additional notebooks but haven't been able to find a way yet).

Within the notebook, there are folders, sections, pages, and sub-pages. Navigating through the notebook is easy enough, but one can become confused until comfortable with the controls.

While it is difficult enough to explain what OneNote is, it is even more difficult trying to explain fully the features of the program and how they work.

Users can move pages of notes or portions of notes around as one sees fit, and this is one of its greatest strengths; one can use OneNote to plan a project, conduct research for the project (yes, there are built in features to help you with online research, as well as integration with an encyclopedia and thesaurus), and then arrange the research notes to come up with a structure for written materials related to the project.

No longer is one constricted by the structure imposed by Word, yet it is easy enough to send information to Word when one is ready to produce a complete, polished document.

Other nifty features include flagged notes that are readily accessible via a task pane (great for to-do items), prioritized lists, the ability to share notes with others via net meetings, the ability to incorporate handwriting and audio clips, and an outstanding screen-clip feature.