CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDY: LEGO: COMBINING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE WITH A FLEXIBLE INFORMATION SYSTEM

1. Explain the role of the database in SAP’s three-tier-system.

Through our discussion, SAP’s business suite is based on a flexible three-tier client-server architecture that can easily be adapted to the new Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) available in the latest versions of the software. In the first tier, a client interface-a browser-type graphical user interface (GUI) running on either a laptop, desktop, or mobile device-submits users’ requests to the application serves. The applications servers send the processed requests to the database system-receive and process clients’ requests to the database system-the third tier-which consists of one or more relational databases. SAP’s business suite supports database from different vendors, including those offered by Oracle, Microsoft, MySQL, and others. The relational database contain the tables that store data on LEGO’s products, daily operations, the supply chain, and thousands of employees. Managers can easily use the SAP query tool to obtain reports from the databases, because it does not require any technical skill. Additionally, the distributed architecture enables authorized personnel to have direct access to the database system from the company’s various locations, including those in Europe, North America, and Asia.

2. Explain why distributed architectures are flexible.

Based on the discussion, distribute architectures are flexible because they adapting company operations to these  changes required a flexible and robust IT infrastructure with business intelligence capabilities that could help management perform better forecasting and planning. As part of the solution, LEGO chose to move to SAP business suite software. SAP AG, a German company that specializes in enterprise software solutions, is one of the leading software companies in the world. SAP’s software products include a variety of applications designed to efficiently support all of a company’s essential functions and operations. LEGO chose to implement SAP’s Supply Chain Management (SCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) modules.

3. Identify some of the business intelligence features included in SAP’s business software suite.

Based on the case study, we can see that SAP’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) included features such as supply chain monitoring and analysis as well as forecasting, planning and inventory optimization. In SAP’s Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) module enables managers to optimize development processes and systems. SAP’s Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) modules includes among another applications, the Human Capital Management (HCM) application for personnel administration and development. SAP’s business suite is based on a flexible three tier client-server architecture than can be easily adopted to the new Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) available in the latest version of the software. The first tier, a client interfaces which a browser type running on either a laptop, desktop or mobile device. The second tier is application servers that receive and process client’s requests. In the third tier, it is consists of one or more relational database.

4. What are the main advantages and disadvantages of having multiple database in a distributed architecture? Explain.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Mutiple database contains the tables that store data on products, daily operation, supply chain and thousand of employees.	The additional overhead of these transactions can be a performance penalty when the total amount of data in the network is small. Users also see slower performance when accessing user data that is not local.
Managers can easily use the SAP query tool to obtain reports from the database because it does not require any technical skill.	Increased the use of database space.E very table must exist in every database. When the number of tables is very large, the amount of space used this way can be significant. Administrators must use database storage parameters to size tables and reduce database space consumption.
Distributed architecture enables authorized personnel to have direct access to database system fronm the company’s various locations including in Europe, North America and Asia	Administrators must keep the schemas of all databases synchronized and ensure that the network is configured to take optimal advantage of the distributed-database environment in terms of availability and performance. Although database backups are more flexible in a distributed-database environment, multiple databases add complexity to the backup process.