In this class the main topics of discussion were: Infrastructure,
Infrastructure, in its business terms describes the layout, configuration, and interrelation of the hardware in an organization. The major function is to apply the Enterprise architecture. The basic idea behind an infrastructure is the architecture on which it is made. An infrastructure should be reliable (robust), scalable (possibility of expansion), and accessible.
Talking about architectures, there are two major types of architectures. Open architectures and closed architectures. As the name suggests, open architectures allows easy connectivity to different systems, where as closed architectures are in house designs and are difficult to connect. Key point to note: open architecture is not the same as open source. Other factors of consideration in an ES system are its availability, flexibility, performance, and capacity planning.
There are various advantages of Enterprise system infrastructure, such as, integration, streamlining, time reduction, inventory management, and improved communication.
The main capabilities of an ES infrastructure are; its ability to have processes in modules. So if the organization wants, then it can implement only the selected modules. The database in an ES system is central, which covers all the problems of distributed data. In my opinion, the best feature is the availability to customize the system for different countries.
Companies can customize ERP systems to suit their needs. They can add/remove functionality and configure the system according to their business requirements.
Another advantage of Enterprise systems is the client/server architecture, where most of the data process and core work is done by the server. The client on the other hand generates process requests and accepts the result from the server. In earlier days, the clients were just dumb terminals, but now clients are also smart systems, which can do a lot of processing at their end. SAP works as a Distributed Function, which divides the work between the server and the client. All the application functions are performed on the local system and after that the main process communicates with the server.
This kind of architecture provides with improved processing power, and reduces work load. Also, it is user friendly and has high scalability.
SAP uses a three tier architecture which is as follows;
1) The first tier is the client,
2) The application (business rules), and
3) Data tier (server)
An interesting thing to know about operating systems; is the growing demand and application of “Linux”. It is good to know that finally people are moving towards a system that is reliable and robust. “To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up your Windows box, you just need to work on it”
