Details of the Paper
This paper is initially addressed towards the students of MIT who are in the field of information technology. However, the authors have openly shared this paper so that the IT students worldwide can learn about ERP systems, ecommerce and other related subjects. Moreover, the paper also contains significant information regarding development of softwares for ecommerce (inventory, order tracking, payment and other softwares). Other than the actual authors, other researchers had key roles in preparation of this paper like the students and other faculty members of the IT department in MIT. The paper was first published in “Productions and Operations Management” journal that is one of the most reliable journals for the subject of operations management. This journal accepts papers from only selected writers worldwide and provides a huge amount of reliable information. Hence, this journal can be selected as a reliable source for conducting research on operations management topics.
Summary: The main area that this paper addresses is supply chain business that utilizes ecommerce as one of its main operational features. The authors have discussed various aspects of supply chain business and how it is affected by ecommerce operations. The authors have emphasized on the ecommerce as it is growing to be one of the most popular business systems nowadays. Ecommerce is a rapidly growing business system where a customer orders a product using the internet and the product is directly delivered to the doorstep of the customer. However, the authors have identified the main issues with this ecommerce system. According to them, the main issue with the ecommerce system is the products often get lost or misplaced. This happens due to the lack of tracking system of the products. There are two systems working in the ecommerce operations – when the products are dispatched for delivery, the company needs to track whether the products are delivered correctly whereas the customer needs the track the location of the order so that they can estimate the time required for the order to reach his location. One possible solution is a delivery tracking software that can be integrated with mobile application for the ecommerce site. Using this software, both the company and the customer can track the location of the order. This software is also expected to significantly reduce the chances of misplacement or loss of the products. The authors have suggested the use of serial inventory system integrated with the tracking system. The authors have also discussed the different types of tracking system that can be used with the system. According to them, some tracking techniques that can be used are 2D Bar Code, GPS and RFID. Of these three, the authors have expressed their preference towards RFID system as the implementation and maintenance costs are much lower. The RFID system can be deployed by attaching a location tag with the product and installing the tracker at the tracking centre. According to the authors, this RFID system can easily track the location of the product until it reaches the customer where the tag is detached.
Summary
Critique: In this paper, the authors have described the possibility of using RFID system for tracking the deliveries in the ecommerce system. Their main point of argument is that in RFID, installation, maintenance costs are significantly low, and hence, the system is extremely feasible for medium and small sized ecommerce organizations. However, they have not discussed the limitation of the RFID technique. The main limitation of the RFID system is that it only works within a limited distance and will not work beyond certain distance. RFID utilizes radio waves for tracking the product and hence, once the distance limit is crossed, the tracker will not be able to track the location of the tag. As a result, long distance deliveries cannot be tracked using the RFID technique. In this respect, GPS tracking system is a much more useful technology instead of RFID as GPS system does not have a distance limit for tracking the location of the product. GPS utilizes the satellites for tracking the location of a product. Few years back, GPS was not a very useful technology as there were not many satellites installed. However, GPS is now a very useful technology as the number of satellites has increased significantly. Although the implementation of the GPS technology is costlier than RFID, it will be much more useful of a technology for tracking the deliveries dispatched by the ecommerce organizations. From the analysis of the paper, it can be said that the main limitation of this paper lies on the fact that the authors have not discussed about other tracking technologies like GPS and 2D Bar Code. Due to their preference of RFID technology, they have only discussed about its benefits only. However, without comparison with the other techniques, the readers will not be convinced that RFID is the best technology for tracking deliveries in ecommerce system.
Synthesis: This research work can be further developed by explaining more about the RFID and 2D Bar Code systems. Due to their preferences, the authors have discussed only about the RFID technique and its advantages. However, the GPS and 2D Bar Code systems are discussed more along with RFID, then the readers will automatically understand which one is the more beneficial technology and why. Moreover, the authors did not give sufficient data points in support of their choice of technology. These limitations can easily be solved by adding more data points and more elaboration on the other tracking techniques.
Critique
This is an IEEE research paper addressed towards the regular readers of IEEE. Other than the actual authors, other researchers had key roles in preparation of this paper like the researchers associated with IEEE. IEEE journal accepts papers from only selected writers worldwide and provides a huge amount of reliable information. Hence, this journal can be selected as a reliable source for conducting research on operations management topics.
Summary: This paper is chosen for the research as this paper presents a slightly different idea from the previous one. The previous paper describes the tracking techniques that can be used for ecommerce system. However, the authors of this paper have described the idea of a software driven tracking system that will benefit the ecommerce system. The authors have emphasized on the ERP system rather than only the ecommerce system. They have argued that a suitable ERP system is the driving force behind the success of ecommerce. Accordingly, ERP system requires suitable software support that helps to manage and process the business data. Due to the importance of the softwares in ERP system, the authors have suggested the use of software for order processing and tracking as well. Hence, they proposed the use of the OAS module – a software that can be used for management, processing and tracking of the orders. The OAS module is a software that keeps records and specifications of all types of products present in the inventory. When the customer enters his specifications for desired products, the OAS module selects all the specifications and matches it with all the available products in the inventory. When the match is found, the OAS specifies the product and places it on the delivery list. The OAS module also records the location of the customer and also the location of the product during delivery. The staff responsible for delivering the product has to update his location and the OAS module automatically updates itself accordingly. The authors have also suggested a suitable user interface for the module so that the users and company employees can easily understand all the aspects and use the model. The authors suggested different layouts for the user interfaces – one for the company and one for the customers. The user interface for the customers will contain blank spaces for product specifications. For instance, if the customer wants to buy an electrical motor, he needs to provide the motor specifications in the blank spaces. The module will evaluate all the specifications and match it with the available motors in the inventory. On the other hand, the user interface for the company will contain the customer location, order ID, inventory position and price information. After the product is dispatched, another option will appear i.e. location of the delivery. The delivery staff will ping the system at regular intervals and the module will accordingly update the location of the order in course of the delivery.
Synthesis
Critique: Although the authors have suggested a very efficient and unique tracking technology without implementation and maintenance costs, the main limitation of the system is that the delivery tracking system is restricted for the company only. The users cannot access the user interface of the company and hence, will not be able to track the location of his order. Another major limitation is that, if the delivery staff does not ping the system, the module will not be able to track the location of the order. This module is suitable for order entering and processing system but not very efficient for tracking. In actual words, this is a pseudo-tracking system unlike GPS, RFID or 2D Bar Code systems. Since the main purpose of the authors is to discuss the benefits of the tracking system on the ERP systems, they have more or less ignored the actual tracking option and discussed on the user interface benefits on the order processing and management only. Moreover, the authors did not discuss about the limitations of the OAS module on tracking orders and others. Without the discussions of the limitations, the views cannot be accepted as ultimate truth. Once the views are justified with the benefits and limitations (including supporting data points), then only, the views can be accepted as a reliable source of information for the selected topic. On the other hand, in this paper, the authors have first discussed ERP systems and their benefits on ecommerce system. Then they chose a model (OAS module) that they selected for order processing, dispatch and tracking. The authors described the OAS module in sufficient detail especially emphasizing on the graphical user interface as well as the features of module. Hence, this paper provides sufficient insight on the chosen model and the model can be prepared by gathering the information from this paper. However, the authors have ignored the limitations of this module and hence, the issues and risks associated with this model are not known. Hence, implementation of the model is not suggested unless the limitations are known and sufficient steps are taken to remove these limitations.
Synthesis: This paper could be greatly improved by publishing the limitations and risks of the chosen model. The authors did not discuss about the limitations of the OAS module on tracking orders and others. Without the discussions of the limitations, the views cannot be accepted as ultimate truth. Once the views are justified with the benefits and limitations (including supporting data points), then only, the views can be accepted as a reliable source of information for the selected topic. This discussion can be greatly enriched by adding more data points instead of just discussing the user interface and the features. Moreover, adding a separate chapter or paragraph for discussion of the risks and issues associated with the module would have greatly enhanced the quality of the paper.
From the analysis of the two papers, the following research questions can be prepared.
How will tracking system benefit the ecommerce system?
How will the costs of tracking system installation and maintenance affect the small and medium sized organizations?
What are the different tracking techniques currently available?
Which one is the best tracking technology among all and why?
How can an organization implement the chosen tracking technology?
Is there any other way of tracking an order (software, etc.)?
If so, how can such software be developed?
What will be its benefits and limitations?
References
[1] Kim, C., Klabjan, D., & Simchi-Levi, D. (2015). Optimal expediting policies for a serial inventory system with stochastic lead time. Production and Operations Management, 24(10), 1524-1536.
[2] Wei, J., & Ma, Y. S. (2014). Design of a feature-based order acceptance and scheduling module in an ERP system. Computers in Industry, 65(1), 64-78.
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