Transportation Management System (TMS)

Nowadays, markets expand globally and supply chain velocity and complexity increases, we must leverage and optimize our company's transportation management competitively. We must sense changes and react appropriately in real time to network events, while improving visibility and responsiveness.
With the SAP Transportation Management application, we can consolidate orders and optimize shipments across our company to maximize return on transportation costs. We can share information and combine orders directly with carriers and forwarders over the Internet, so can integrate business partners into our company's processes and maintain control of plans.

Transportation management planning capabilities enable your company to:

• Optimize shipments, assign carriers to shipments, and tender shipments to assigned carriers
• Consolidate orders and optimize shipments from a centralized location or distributed business units
• Select carriers, calculate freight costs, settle shipment costs, and print documents
• Use denied-party and embargo lists for international shipping

Transportation management helps to calculate and settle freight costs based on actual shipments and current freight rates, and use this information to verify invoices sent from carriers or from self-billing transportation service providers.

WANT TO SELL YOUR PC??WACTH OUT THE TIPS!!!

The best place to sell is, of course, the internet. It ensures that your advertisement is viewed by the maximum number of people, the sale can be concluded faster and at a price that is more agreeable to you. Many sites on the web offer free classified ad listings; sites such as eBay and Craiglist have become enormously popular of late. The process is extremely easy, requiring only the filling out of a few forms; usually the ad can be viewed online within 30 minutes of submission. Firstly, it is necessary to compare the PC that you wish to sell to other similar models for sale on the net. This will enable you to determine a reasonable asking price. Then note down all the details you wish to include in your ad such as your contact information, the price and any special features that you might want to highlight.
Next, choose a site on which to advertise your PC. It is best to make this choice after careful consideration in order to make sure that the site in question is trustworthy. Once you have made this choice, click on the Place Ad link that is usually found on the home page. These sites usually have a word limit, so check it before you start writing your ad. In case the site does not have a word counting feature, an easy way to check if you are within the word limit is to write out the ad in Microsoft Word, or any similar program, and then cut and paste it onto the web site form. After you have done that, add any other details you might be required to provide, and check your ad for errors before publishing. Note down any details that the site might provide on ad placement, such as the time span for which the ad will be online. Another option that you might choose is to sell the laptop for parts, rather than as a whole. In fact, in certain cases, you might get more money by selling off the separate parts to different customers, rather than letting it go for a single flat rate.

Managing Inventory through Mobile Computers and Barcode Printers

A barcode is a machine-readable representation of information in a visual format on a surface. Barcode is widely used to implement Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) systems that improve the speed and accuracy of computer data entry.

A barcode printer is a computer peripheral for printing barcode labels or tags that can be attached to physical objects. Barcode printers are commonly used to label cartons before shipment, or to label retail items with Universal Product Codes.

Desktop barcode printer has become a commonplace tool for entering product information at retail chains and shopping complexes. Industrial barcode printers are used in manufacturing facilities and large warehouses helping in inventory management and sales process automation.

Barcode Printers employ two major printing methods - Direct Thermal (DT) and Thermal Transfer (TT).

Direct thermal printers use a print head to generate heat that causes a chemical reaction in specially designed paper that turns the paper black. Direct thermal printers are generally less expensive, but they produce labels that can become illegible if exposed to heat, direct sunlight, or chemical vapors. Barcode printers require regular cleaning of the ribbon and the print head. Specks of dust may cause distortion of the bar codes. The outputs of these printers using ANSI software need to be continuously checked in order to check for system malfunctions.

Thermal transfer printers also use heat, but instead of acting directly on the paper, the heat melts a waxy or resin substance on a ribbon that runs over the label or tag material. The heat transfers ink from the ribbon to the paper. Thermal Transfer requires the use of a heated ribbon to produce long-lasting images of data onto a label and/or tag, whereas Direct Thermal process prints the image directly on the label/tag.

Direct thermal and thermal transfer barcode printers can print bar code labels on variety of media. The range of bar code printers vary from light duty printers to rugged and high speed industrial printers for meeting diverse requirements. In industrial printers, the range varies from medium to heavy duty to extra heavy duty printers. These printers can be integrated to existing applications / ERP for on demand label/tag printing.

What are Management Information Systems?

Definition: Management Information Systems (MIS) is the term given to the discipline focused on the integration of computer systems with the aims and objectives on an organisation. 

The development and management of information technology tools assists executives and the general workforce in performing any tasks related to the processing of information. MIS and business systems are especially useful in the collation of business data and the production of reports to be used as tools for decision making.

Applications of MIS

With computers being as ubiquitous as they are today, there's hardly any large business that does not rely extensively on their IT systems.

However, there are several specific fields in which MIS has become invaluable.

* Strategy Support

While computers cannot create business strategies by themselves they can assist management in understanding the effects of their strategies, and help enable effective decision-making.

MIS systems can be used to transform data into information useful for decision making. Computers can provide financial statements and performance reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy.

MIS systems provide a valuable function in that they can collate into coherent reports unmanageable volumes of data that would otherwise be broadly useless to decision makers. By studying these reports decision-makers can identify patterns and trends that would have remained unseen if the raw data were consulted manually.

MIS systems can also use these raw data to run simulations – hypothetical scenarios that answer a range of ‘what if’ questions regarding alterations in strategy. For instance, MIS systems can provide predictions about the effect on sales that an alteration in price would have on a product. These Decision Support Systems (DSS) enable more informed decision making within an enterprise than would be possible without MIS systems.

* Data Processing

Not only do MIS systems allow for the collation of vast amounts of business data, but they also provide a valuable time saving benefit to the workforce. Where in the past business information had to be manually processed for filing and analysis it can now be entered quickly and easily onto a computer by a data processor, allowing for faster decision making and quicker reflexes for the enterprise as a whole.

Management by Objectives 

While MIS systems are extremely useful in generating statistical reports and data analysis they can also be of use as a Management by Objectives (MBO) tool.

MBO is a management process by which managers and subordinates agree upon a series of objectives for the subordinate to attempt to achieve within a set time frame. Objectives are set using the SMART ratio: that is, objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-Specific.

The aim of these objectives is to provide a set of key performance indicators by which an enterprise can judge the performance of an employee or project. The success of any MBO objective depends upon the continuous tracking of progress.

In tracking this performance it can be extremely useful to make use of an MIS system. Since all SMART objectives are by definition measurable they can be tracked through the generation of management reports to be analysed by decision-makers.

Benefits of MIS 

The field of MIS can deliver a great many benefits to enterprises in every industry. Expert organisations such as the Institute of MIS along with peer reviewed journals such as MIS Quarterly continue to find and report new ways to use MIS to achieve business objectives.

Core Competencies 

Every market leading enterprise will have at least one core competency – that is, a function they perform better than their competition. By building an exceptional management information system into the enterprise it is possible to push out ahead of the competition. MIS systems provide the tools necessary to gain a better understanding of the market as well as a better understanding of the enterprise itself.

Enhance Supply Chain Management 

Improved reporting of business processes leads inevitably to a more streamlined production process. With better information on the production process comes the ability to improve the management of the supply chain, including everything from the sourcing of materials to the manufacturing and distribution of the finished product.

Quick Reflexes 

As a corollary to improved supply chain management comes an improved ability to react to changes in the market. Better MIS systems enable an enterprise to react more quickly to their environment, enabling them to push out ahead of the competition and produce a better service and a larger piece of the pie.

Further information about MIS can be found at the Bentley College Journal of MIS and the US Treasury’s MIS handbook, and an example of an organisational MIS division can be found at the Department of Social Services for the state of Connecticut.