I.T.'s role on Businesses

I want to share the topic in my Financial Management class the "Order Management Cycle." This is vital in the aspect of Information Technology in every organization because it focuses on the asset and to the full execution of business cycle. This 10-step process actually summarizes the operation and managerial expertise of the management itself:

1. Order Planning – Sales Forecasting and Capacity Planning which take place in the first stage of strategic planning is very much patterned with careful analysis on the product, operation and customers.
2. Order Generation – This is the materialization of the planned capacity or forecasted sales. This is the “actual ordering.”
3. Cost Estimation & Planning – This impacts mostly on profitability because in here, optimal equation is desired to maximize profit and minimize cost.
4. Order Receipt & Entry – Order receipts happens in a customer service department while entry happens in a field office or a central administrative location.
5. Order selection & Prioritization – Some companies have this but many of the companies do this in specific manner.
6. Order scheduling – Manufacturing, and/or service management often performs scheduling.
7. Physical Order Fulfilment – This covers Procurement, Manufacturing, Assembling, Testing, Shipping and Installation.
8. Post Sales Service – This often gets minimal management attention but is significant to the customer.
9. Billing & Payment – Also, this is visible to the customer and not too much top management attention is needed.
10. Returns & Claims – This is extremely important for repeat purchasers and can often be handled by an administrative function. This is under finance or legal department.

The fundamental idea in the OMC is not the customer, not the accountant, but the order. This supports the enduring management concept- customer focus. Communication is the vital aspect here and that is why, Information System can be viewed as the backbone of an organization. The idea is making everybody involved in the corporate way of life. Amidst the complexity of operations, still, the voice from different levels are being heard and recognized for the development and continuous improvement. Continuous improvement should be spotlighted and with this, customers are analyzed to come up with strategies on how to improve their product and services.