INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT

Submitted To : Dr. P. Sridevi

Submitted By : SAMIT DAS

Department : MANAGEMENT STUDIES

Roll No. : 215120086

Trimester : SECOND

Assignment On –

 Based on the given video, describe how the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) could
enhance the whole process of a store or a supermarket, i.e., Warehouse automation, Showroom
automation, and Checkout automation.
(Link: https://youtu.be/rBXJ9Razofw)

 Create a Skeletal – Framework of an Enterprise application in details, showing the integration of

business process of your choice.

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  Assignment: 1

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to a wireless system comprised of mainly two components,
one is tags and another is the readers. The reader is a type of device that consists of one or more antennas
that emit radio waves and receives back signal from the RFID tags. Tag, attached to an object contains all
types of information regarding the object and using radio waves generated by the readers, tags communicate
their identity and other information to nearby readers. RFID tags can either be the passive tags, which are
powered by the reader or the active tags which are powered by batteries.
The video (link: https://youtu.be/rBXJ9Razofw) gives a virtual tour of a supermarket and describes how
RFID could enhance the whole process and improve customer satisfaction level. In the beginning of the
video a customer enters the supermarket and took a cart and used her smart card or membership card to
access the cart. It was shown that the smart card contains a RFID tag which has the identification and all the
necessary information about the specific customer. The cart also contains a tag reader, which read the smart
card’s tag and using the information about the customer, it recollects all the customer’s data from the
database. Now after gathering all the information from the server, the cart act as a persona shopping
assistant to customer. It not only shows the customer what was her last shopping list but also suggest some
other products that she may buy (all suggestion is based on customer’s prior shopping interests).
In the video it was shown that a scanner named as “Intelligent Scale”, scans three apples and generates a
RFID tag which consists of unique identity of the product, weight, and type. Whenever she picks any
product to buy, she scans all the tags attached and the scanned products gets added to her shopping list and it
also can be seen on the display of the cart. As all products in supermarket contains a tag, it becomes easy for
the customers to know the location of the products and the cart also contains a navigation facility. When a
customer chooses a product that he or she is interested to buy, the cart shows the direction of the product’s
shelf by sending and receiving signals to and from the product tags, respectively. Thus, all this makes the
customers’ shopping experience better and more convenient. Within the supermarket, an information
terminal was also present. It basically scans the product’s RFID tag and displays all the information
regarding the product, and these increases the customer’s trust.
Using RFID tags and reader, also makes the checkout process easier and faster. From the video we can
interpret that the cart which the customer was carrying already contains all the details about the products she
wants to purchase. Now checkout process can be of two types, one in which a customer needs to pay the
billed amount in person (i.e., paying cash or by card) or fully automated RFID checkout, in which the billed
amount will be automatically deducted from the customer’s bank account. Now after checkout process gets
completed, it is necessary for the customer to deactivate the RFID code using a RFID De-activator. All the
shelves of the supermarket contain a sub-reader which reads the quantity or amount of the products left on
the respective shelves. These readers read the available tags and when the quantity or amount of the product
on the shelf falls, it generates a message (example: Shelf X is having Y number of products left. It needs to
be refilled) and transmit it to the nearby Merchandise Management System (RFID Foods Flow System).
Now the message will be redirected to any or all nearby employees.
RFID also plays a vital role for Inventory Management system. All information related to products and stock
available can be accessed by all parties of the Supply Chain via the Merchandise Management System.
When stock of a product goes down, it gets updated on the M.M. System and this information can accessed
by the distributor as well as the manufacturer via Data Warehouse. Now, distributor will supply the product
from manufacturer to the supermarket. As all the new products will contain their unique RFID tags, it will
be easy to register al the products in the M. M. System and it is also easier to check the order and delivery
by using RFID system. Using RFID system also helps an organization to keep a precise information on the
storage location of the products in stock and in transits.
RFID reduces the labor costs, improves visibility, contains more information, scans more items faster and
prevents overstocking and understocking but on the other hand the overall cost can be higher. Certain
materials, like heavy metals and sources of radio waves, may interfere with the process and upgrading
equipment time to time becomes necessary.
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  Assignment: 2

1. Enterprise Application: EA are systems that span functional areas, focus on executing business
processes across the business firm, and include all levels of management. Enterprise applications help
businesses become more flexible and productive by coordinating their business processes more closely. The
four major enterprise application are Enterprise systems, Supply chain management systems, Customer
relationship management systems, and Knowledge management systems.

2. Enterprise Application Integration: It is an integrated framework composed of more than one

technology and services. It acts as a middleware-framework which enables an enterprise or an organization
to integrate systems and applications across different platforms or domains.

3. Database: A database is a collection of related data which represents some aspects of the real world. A
database system is designed to be built and populated with data for a certain risk.

4. Database Management System: It is a software for storing and retrieving users’ data and it also
equipped with necessary security measures. It allows database managers or appointed people to manupulate
the database using predefined commands. DBMS allows enterprises to store different types of data into one
place and access the information across different softwares, applications, platforms etc. within the
enterprise.

Figure-1 (DBMS Three schema Architecture)

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5. E-Commerce Order’s Flow Chart:
Figure-2 (E-commerce Process Flow-Chart)

 Step 1: Customer open the e-commerce website and search for the product.
 Step 2: Selects the product to check more information regarding the product.
 Step 3: If the customer wants to surf other product and does not buys the product after selecting,
then it will get added to the cart and the customer can exit that page and search for other products.
Else, the customer will be redirected to the payment gateway where he or she needs to choose how to
make the payment, i.e., cash on delivery or online payment method.
 Step 4: If the customer goes for online mode of payment, they need to choose either online payment
application or by using credit/debit card.
o If payment through online payment method – customer need to enter required details and
make the payment.
o If payment through Credit/Debit card – customer need to enter card’s details and make the
payment.

Else, the customer need to select Cash-on-Delivery option.

 Step 5: After the order is placed, a message will be generated with the invoice and the message will
be transmitted to the warehouse.
 Step 6: After receiving order details from the Order section, Warehouse will start the process of
packaging and shipping of the ordered product.

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  Step 7: If the payment was done while ordering, then the product will be shipped, and the process
will end.
Else, the billed amount will be collected in-person (Cash-on-Delivery) and then the process will end.

6. E-Commerce Architecture:

Figure-3 (A "typical e-commerce system" architecture)

In this architectural system, only Customer is connected to database through internet, whereas all other
entities are connected to the database through intranet. Whenever, a customer places an order it gets stored
into the database. Now, the fulfillment center (or the entity which starts the process after receiving the order)
will retrieve the order’s data and start the process of shipping. Now if the ordered product is available then it
will be packed and sent for shipping, but if the product is not available then fulfillment center will send a
request to the supplier and all the data regarding the request made will be saved in the database. Supplier
after receiving the request will fulfill the demand and if the supplier fail to fulfill the demand due to lack of
resources, then supplier will send request to the 2 nd degree suppliers. After supplier delivers the request to
the organization, the fulfillment center will process the product which includes packaging and shipping. If
shipping failed due any reasons, then the product will get return to the fulfillment center and the information
regarding the failed shipping process will be saved in the database.

All the queries raised by a customer get saved in the database. Customer Relationship Management will
access the query data and will try resolve it. Resolved queries also get saved in the database, which can be
accessed by the respective customer.

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