ERP/MRP/SCM

What: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an Integrated Computer-Based Information Management System used to manage relationships between all internal and external resources of a business including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. It is a software architecture whose purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. Built on a centralized database and normally utilizing a common computing platform, ERP systems consolidate all business operations and related data flows into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment. Why: The greatest ROI from capital investment in any business in the coming decades will undoubtedly be achieved as a result of establishing systems for providing continuous intelligent mining and evaluation of an ever growing volume of data generated across and throughout the global market place. While an ERP system, in and of itself, does not, and is not intended to, handle such mining and evaluation beyond that related to normal day-to-day business functions and process task and cash flows yet it is more and more the common point through which such data relevant to company's business activity naturally becomes collected and thus available. In addition, as a business itself grows and thus, most likely nowadays becomes more and more impacted by being involved within a global market place, so the need for a common point of integration and dissemination of key data relative to the performance and processes of the business becomes that much more important just as each member in an orchestra must be playing from the same music sheets and following a single conductor in order to present a positive result to the audience (investors). How: MISSI can help you with evaluating your current needs in anticipation of moving up to investing in an ERP system if you have not already so done and/or can help you with evaluating and customizing your existing system in relation to possibly upgrading or extending your existing system in order to meet your needs for better data management to facilitate your profit growth and improve your businesses ROI. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Data Mining

What: Coal mining, Gold mining and Diamond mining are all exploratory processes conducted all over the globe to uncover and extract valuable commodities around which to build particular types of value-added business. Data mining can also be a globally oriented exploratory process; a process comprised of methodically digging amongst large amounts of assorted data looking for any discernible patterns of business behavior that would point to potential new market opportunities that may not otherwise have been apparent and that therefore, once found, could then be pursued to profitable advantage. Why: Data mining can be used to help you create a model of your business in the real world by letting you look at data gathered from a variety of sources both internal and external to your organization. This includes such factors as customer performance histories and demographics, product performance histories, supplier performance histories and operating performance histories; even publicly available and subscription based data sources could be tapped to bring in related information to help build a picture from which to draw conclusions for competitive advantage. This model could then be used to discover patterns in the information that could potentially predict new business opportunities and create new knowledge to help insure that decision makers are presented with better information before they act. How: MISSI can help you with your Data Mining projects at all stages of the process from creating the tools to enable you to manage your own data mining to actually doing the mining process for you and feeding back the results in whatever information presentation format would best suit your needs. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Data Gathering

What: Aside from mining for information amongst existing and historical data resources, any live or on-going process of any kind is also a potential resource from which otherwise seemingly disconnected pieces of information could be collected and organized into data-relational structures that could be used for decision making purposes. Data Gathering is simply the process of obtaining data from any process or resource into a database for subsequent analysis. Why: Because things change in even the most ordered of situations over time and they also often change even in spite of efforts made to prevent or avoid change. So it is necessary to constantly gather information in order to be able to monitor and manage change so as to be prepared to mitigate problems and take advantage of opportunities. How: Data Gathering may take many different forms such as direct, manually-keyed data entry into a database via an application data window or a browser-based web application or automatic or programmed input of data from some other data resource, application or data-collection device such as a credit card-reader, cash-register, production machinery or medical health monitoring device. MISSI can help you here by creating the data applications and tools to handle your data gathering needs. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Data Transferring

What: There are many situations in today's busy and technologically advancing world where information of all kinds needs to be exchanged between various data systems. Sometimes these systems may not even be directly compatible with each other such as when data resides initially on a LAN based system but needs to be sent to a mainframe system for additional processing purposes. Why: A metaphor for Data Transferring or Data Exchanging might be that of databases (computer systems) talking to each other to share information. The sharing of information between systems has become a critical element in growing such activity as B2B (business to business), B2C (business to customer) and eCommerce in general. How: MISSI is very familiar with developing the tools to handle Data Transfer between systems and is well equipped to help you in this arena. This functionality can be accomplished in a number of different ways depending upon the circumstances of the interface between the systems and requirements of the data exchange situation. For example, we can provide you with the requisite tools to work with either the older information-exchange standard of EDI (Electronic Data Exchange) or with the newer XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) technology which facilitates using the internet for the exchange of specific information that can also be viewed in a web browser. We've also used OLE technology to interactively exchange information between LAN based systems with MS Windows work-stations and remote Mainframe systems such as IBM AS400 or 360, Tandem systems or even Sun Unix systems. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Data Trending

What: While Data Mining is the process of looking for particular data buried amongst various data resources that may come from one or many different sources, as described above, Data Trending is the process of portraying such extracted data in such a manner as to graphically show the patterns and trends within the data in ways that is meaningful in business terms. Why: Data Trending can be used to forecast or predict a potential outcome if the circumstances behind the origin of the data were to continue unchanged. For example, in its simplest form, plotting the trend of sales revenue for a particular product line against time in the market could show sales growth continuing up to a point at which sales shows signs of peaking and then going downwards in which case this would show the point where, without tactical intervention into the sales process, the product may no longer be a viable product in the market place. Likewise, plotting production costs against sales revenue could show if the margins are being maintained, shrinking or growing thus giving indicators of a cause for action. There are, of course, many other factors that could be compared in graphical form to yield valuable indications for decision support purposes. How: At MISSI we can take your data from the uninformative state of a general collection of numbers in a data table and turn that around into a meaningful Excel style spreadsheet or graphical presentation. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Data Analyzing

What: Data Analysis is arguably a generic definition that could be applied as an umbrella term covering all of the other processes enumerated above since it is likely that Data Analysis gives rise to a need for Data Mining, Gathering and Transferring and these processes in turn provide the fabric that would then be subjected to Data Analysis processes which also include Data Trending. As used here, however, it relates more particularly to the processes of developing Histograms, creating Linear Regression charts, extracting statistics and doing any other form of reduction of masses of data into representational models of a process or activity. Why: Because the end objective and overall goal of all data gathering and analyzing processes is to produce some form of representational model of an evolving situation such that observations and conclusions can be drawn in support of making strategic decisions. How: Do you want or need to include, for example, a histogram or some other form of graphical representation of a data scenario in your Word or PowerPoint document or web page? At MISSI, we have just the resources and capabilities ready for you to be able to do just that. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Data Developing  The Tools & Applications

What: In order to accomplish any one of the above processes, Data Tools are needed. These could take the form of a full blown Client-Server Database application development or the development of a Browser-Based application or just the development of a simple, single-purpose data client. Any of these approaches could be used to access and manipulate or report data with either an Oracle or MS SQL Server database back-end. The browser based application enables Users to access all aspects of data via either Netscape or Internet Explorer browsers over the internet or intranet with no programming code or program installation being needed on the User's WorkStation. Why: We've planned this page to show you how, using the services of MISSI, you will Save your Time, Save Effort and Make More Money. Actually, you may find that there is plenty of evidence to that fact shown also amongst the other pages of our web site. How: Because we can help you by doing the things we're good at so as to FREE You Up to do the things you're good at. Let us help you by developing the tools and applications you need to get the information you need to grow your business presented in a manner that helps you and your team make the critical business decisions based upon informed knowledge or lets us do the whole data-analysis thing for you and present you and your team with the results so you get to focus entirely upon your business without the distraction and expense of building your own, specialized-skills, data management team. Go Back
Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW for a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead.

Check out the rest of our site for yourself via our MISSI Services Map or, for a quick overview of our overall service offerings, take a look at our "Yellow Pages" style page at Summary - What Do We Do? Talk to MISSI Today or Create a "Inquiry" NOW For a FREE Consultation to find out how we can help you achieve your objectives while also minimizing overhead. We guarantee your will be totally satisfied.