Specification
FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION- "INTEGRATED SUGAR ERP SYSTEM"
APPLICANT :
NAME : CHAITANYA MOHAN KODKANI
NATIONALITY : AN INDIAN
ADDRESS : SHREE CHH. SHAHU SAHAKARI SAKHAR
KARKHANALTD.,
SHRIMANT JAYSINGRAO GHATGE BHAVAN, KAGAL, DIST. KOLHAPUR 416216. MAHARASHTRA
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED.
BACKGROUND
The Indian sugar industry is the second largest agro-based processing industry, after the cotton textiles industry in the country. It has a large share in accelerating industrialization and bringing socio-economic changes in the under developed areas [1],
The sugar industry depends on agro-climate; a vagary of weather significantly affects the sugarcane production in the state. It also faces challenges such as high cane price, problems of cane cutters labour troops, decreasing yield of sugar cane, high production cost, over staffing and so on. To curb these challenges, the sugar industry has to minimize its expenses on salary, production, maintenance and other unproductive work. In today's highly competitive and globalised business environment, there is an urgent need of professional management for the successful conduct of the affairs of the sugar manufacturing units. One way to revive from these challenges is by automatization of process, leading to a reduced requirement of human resources and by implementing Enterprise Resource Planning-ERP software systems in sugar manufacturing units [2].
ERP is a business software system that allows an organization to effectively and efficiently manage its resources which include materials, human resources, equipments, finance and marketing across the whole organization. It allows data sharing among all the processes or modules of an organization. Using the present ERP software system, sugar factories can computerize all their administrative work which involves intricate, exhaustive and time consuming calculations, thereby simplifying their operations.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides integrated Enterprise Resource Planning-ERP software system applicable to a sugar manufacturing unit: 'Integrated Sugar ERP system'.
DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART
US8126754 (Bl) titled "Resource management and planning for manufacturing organizations" provides a method for planning manufacturing activities which include detailing of business records, real-time information on the resources, inventory and production. It facilitates the communication of the data derived from the above activities to the resource management system and affiliated organizations. This prior art demonstrates a very broad spectrum of application and seems to require tangible changes to be used in different manufacturing units and is not specific to any organization.
KR1020090073643 titled "System for providing information about a production spot and a method therefore, capable of automatically and periodically collecting information about the production and operation of production equipment or the quality of products, and then providing an ERP system" offers a system to provide information about a factory or a production spot and methods for management of the manufacturing process by detailed analysis of the entire process, thereby maximizing the operational efficiency. It employs wireless terminals which obtain information periodically and does not provide real time information.
US7748622 titled "Direct customer ERP access" describes an improved ERP and business logic handling system implementations which provide direct customer access to the data available in a merchant's business logic handling system. Hence die user or customer may request to perform functions of business logic handling system, the output of which is displayed in the computing device. This prior art provides a platform for interaction between the customer and the merchant's system.
US7197741 titled "Interface for an enterprise resource planning program"
illustrates a method for interfacing with an ERP system. The method comprises a data file containing information to be fed into the ERP system and a file containing at least one parameter with a conditional logic associated with it. The information in the data file is processed according to the associated parameter and loaded onto the software. The present invention provides direct entry of data into the ERP system avoiding the complications of providing an extra file with conditional logic associated with it.
US7970729 titled "Enterprise architecture analysis framework database"
provides methods for modelling an enterprise by defining elements or core objects such as information objects providing the information used in an enterprise, participant objects defining participants in an enterprise, activity objects providing the tools used in an enterprise and relationship defining objects which define the interactions between two or more objects. Similarly the present invention provides a framework database for a sugar manufacturing unit, defining the core objects associated with the Sugar enterprise.
SUMMARY
The present ERP software system has an advantage over the prior art by being developed by experts having a good domain knowledge of a sugar industry. This software system provides an internet based real time access to the daily operations and incorporates online and offline features to enable it to be used at remote places. This feature helps the individuals associated with the manufacturing unit get real time information about the factory even when they are travelling. It has several modules and sub-modules that ease the functioning of a sugar manufacturing unit by keeping in mind the work culture and methodology of the
unit. Users can enable or disable features of the software system modules as per their requirements without having to compromise on the security.
The present software system provides better monitoring of inventory and receivables along with effective cost management due to the availability of accurate and timely online information using the MIS software. It leads to improved utilization of human resources and better cost control. It has a common database as a repository of information, supporting all modules. It also has a feature of a consistent format through all the modules. Every aspect of a sugar manufacturing unit can be automated with this integrated software application.
The present software system can be installed without much efforts and technical know-how by Information Technology - (IX) Department. As the software is developed after thorough business process re-engineering (BPR) of a sugar manufacturing unit, there is a little scope for a wide scale customization.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates a flowchart of ERP software system developed for sugar manufacturing and allied units- 'Integrated Sugar ERP system'; and Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart explaining the operation of the Management Information Software (MIS).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The integrated ERP software system employs Microsoft's Dot Net technology (Microsoft Visual Studio 2008) as a front end tool and Oracle lOg as a back end tool. The platform can easily be shifted to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Oracle llg (or even higher), without any changes to the existing software. The application is in c# and is a windows based application. It can be run on windows XP or even higher version of windows OS. For generating the reports, crystal reports 11.0, a product of the 'Business Objects' is used.
Figure 1 illustrates the software system consisting of a number of integrated modules, the main modules being- Centre 1, Registration 2, Payroll 3, Shares 4, Time and attendance 5, Marketing 6, Inventory 7, Distillery 8, Inward/outward 25, Online system 26, Legal 27, Website 28, finance 17 and Management Information System-MIS 29.
Registration 2 is subdivided into- (a) Agriculture 9 providing information on Cane Development 12 and Cane Yard 13; (b) Harvesting & Transportation (H & T) 10 further containing Accounts [H & T] 16 and Diesel Pump 14 information and (c) Manufacturing 11 information.
The Marketing 6 module is subdivided into Sugar Sale 18, Sugar Counter 19 and Go-down 20, each of these sub-modules report to the Finance 17 module. The Inventory 7 module in this application has (a) A sub module for Purchase 21, which has a facility to invite tenders/quotations and after processing can despatch purchase or sale order on-line to the e-mail ID provided by the vendor; (b) A sub module for Store 22 that contains information relating to the stock and; (c) A sub module Store Account 23.
The module Distillery 8 houses information on the Bi-products 24 obtained during the sugar manufacturing process. Some modules such as the Online System module 26 and MIS module 29 are designed to display online information.
The module "Website" 28 incorporates a feature to accept data online and store it directly to the server which is located at a distant place. This is particularly required at the agriculture centres 9, where registration of sugar cane is necessarily online. Cane producers and suppliers are stake holders of any cooperative sugar factory. Since the cane producers (farmers) live at places remote to the factory's main operational site, they are blind to the information of their cane harvested and crushed by the factory, cane bill amount, deductions from it and finally net amount transferred to their bank accounts. Therefore, this module is badly needed by any sugar factory.
Finance 17 stores the financial status derived from various modules including account (Harvester - Transporter / HT) 16, Diesel Pump 14, Cane Account 15, Sugar Sale 18, Sugar Counter 19, Go-down 20, Bi-products 29, Store Account 23 and Shares 4,.
The Management Information System-MIS module 29 is used to incorporate reports from various modules such as the Finance 17, online system 26 and Website 28.
Figure 2 further elaborates the MIS module 29 used in Integrated Sugar ERP system. It further consists of two major sub modules i.e., Numerical information 52 and Graphical Presentation 55. Numerical information module contains the information on the five seasons 54 of cane production and information on live crushing 53. The Graphical Presentation module 55 is further divided into modules Agriculture 56 and Distillery 57. The Agriculture module 56 has (i) Registration module 58 which is categorized depending on variety 62, Centre 63 and Area 64; and (ii) Crushing 59 which is also categorized depending variety 65, Centre 66 and Area 67. The Distillery module 57 further comprises of Production 60 and Sale 61 modules.
Access to the modules depends on the level of the end user associated directly or indirectly with the factory. Depending on the user level, a pop-up box, activated on right click of the mouse displays the names of the modules to which the logged - on user has an access.
After logging-in, the system asks for the user's consent to set an expiry date for the set password as a security measure. Thereafter, it will ask for selection of a year and season. After successful logging on, a blank screen with a window pane on the left side is visible. Name of the module (Department) selected is displayed on the top of the window pane. This pane contains menus (forms) for master data feeding 'Primary', detail transactions feeding (Transactions) and finally Reports section. All the modules have similar look and format for menu to avoid confusion and simplify the process of data feeding.
All the forms within the menu have control buttons with captions 'Save', 'Cancel', Delete', 'Report 'and 'Exit'. User level decides the properties of the control buttons i.e. whether the control should be enabled or disabled. Every report is backed by a stored procedure and the report parameters required are supplied through various controls on the forms. The menu is designed in such a way that reports can be designed and added to the main menu of the module or any report can be removed from the menu without any addition or deletion to the source code.
The ERP software system has a feature which takes care of future requirements of sugar factories. For example, now-a-days farmers expect to receive cane information on their mobile phones through SMS. The ERP system is flexible enough to incorporate this feature (Short Message Service-SMS facility) without any major changes in the source code. The present ERP software system is fully adaptable to accommodate any module(s) as per the customers' demand.
I CLAIM
1. An integrated Sugar Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for
distributed processing of information pertaining to the maintenance and functioning of sugar-producing industrial units with one or more distributed users with different levels of access having (a) Centre module 1, (b) Registration module 2, (c) Payroll module 3, (d) Shares module 4, (e) Time and Attendance module 5, (f) Marketing module 6, (g) Inventory module 7, (h) Distillery module 8, (i) Inward/Outward module 25, (j) Online System module 26, (k) Legal module 27, (1) Website module 28, (m) Finance module 17 and (n) Management Information System-MIS module 29; the system comprising
a. Means to enable one or more authenticated users to interact with
the system to optimize functioning of the industrial units across
seasons;
b. Means to accept data online via a website; and
c. Means to graphically depict various functional elements in the
industrial unit's functioning.
2. An integrated sugar ERP software system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein
the means to enable one or more authenticated users to interact with the system to optimize functioning of the industrial units across seasons includes authenticating the user and setting expiry dates on passwords as a security measure on a seasonal basis.
3. An integrated sugar ERP software system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein
the means to accept data online via a website includes aggregating information from one or more remote locations from one or more authenticated users.
4. An integrated sugar ERP software system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein
the means to graphically depict various functional elements in die
industrial unit's functioning further includes agricultural 56 Registration 58, Crushing 59 information and Distillery 57 Production 60, Sale 61 information.
5. An integrated sugar ERP software system as claimed in Claim 1 wherein
a. Registration module 2 further comprises
i. Agriculture module 9 which houses information on Cane Development 12 and Cane Yard 13,
ii. Harvesting & Transportation (H & T) module 10 which has sub-modules for Accounts [HT] 16 and Diesel Pump 14 information, and
iii. Manufacturing information module 11;
b. Marketing module 6 further comprises
i. Sugar Sale module 18, ii. Sugar Counter module 19, and iii. Go-down module 20;
c. Inventory module 7 further comprises
i. A sub module for Purchase 120 which despatches purchase or sale order on-line to the e-mail ID provided by the vendor,
ii. A sub module for Store 22 which contains information relating to the stock, and
iii. A sub module for Store Account 23;
d. Distillery module 8 further comprises means to store information
on the Bi-products 24 obtained in the sugar manufacturing unit;
e. Finance module 17 further comprises means to store the
financial status derived from account (Harvester & Transporter
/HT) 16, Diesel Pump 14, Cane Account 15, Sugar Sale 18,
Sugar Counter 19, Go-down 20, Bi-products 29, Store Account
23 and Shares 4 modules ;
f. Management Information System (MIS) module 29 further
comprises modules to incorporate reports from Finance 17,
Online System 26 and Website 28 modules
i. Numerical information module 52 which contains information on the past five seasons 54 of Cane Production and Live Crushing 53, and
ii. Graphical Presentation module 55 further comprising
• Agriculture module 56 having Registration 58 and Crushing 59 modules each categorized depending on Variety 62, 65 Centre 63, 66 and Area 64,67, and
• Distillery module 57 further comprising of Production 60 and Sale 61 modules; and
g. Website module 28 which incorporates a feature to accept data
online and store it in the server which is at a distant place.
6. An Integrated sugar ERP software system as claimed in Claim 1
comprising (a) one or more menus for each module with control buttons having captions 'Save', 'Cancel', Delete', 'Report' and 'Exit', and (b) one or more reports which can be modified dynamically over time.
7. A computer program product containing software code means loadable
into the internal memory of a computer performing integrated sugar ERP for distributed processing of information pertaining to the maintenance and functioning of sugar-producing industrial units with one or more distributed users with different levels of access, with machine instructions having (a) Centre module 1, (b) Registration module 2, (c) Payroll module 3, (d) Shares module 4, (e) Time and Attendance module 5, (f)
Marketing module 6, (g) Inventory module 7, (h) Distillery module 8, (i) Inward/Outward module 25, (i>\ Omine System module. 26., 04 Legal module 27, (1) Website module 28, (m) Finance module 17 and (n) Management Information System-MIS module 29; the system comprising
a. Means to enable one or more authenticated users to interact with
the system to optimize functioning of the industrial units across
seasons;
b. Means to accept data online via a Website; and
c. Means to graphically depict various functional elements in the
industrial unit's functioning.
8, A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein
a. Registration module 2 further comprises
i. Agriculture module 9 which houses information on Cane Development 12 and Cane Yard 13,
ii. Harvesting & Transportation (H & T) module 10 which has sub-modules for Accounts [H/T] 16 and Diesel Pump 14 information, and iii. Manufacturing information module 11;
b. Marketing module 6 further comprises
i. Sugar Sale module 18, ii. Sugar Counter module 19, and iii. Go-down module 20;
c. Inventory module 7 further comprises
i. A sub module for Purchase 120 which despatches Purchase or Sale order on-line to the e-mail ID provided by the vendor,
ii. A sub module for Store 22 which contains information relating to the stock, and
iii. A sub module for Store Account 23;
d. Distillery module 8 further comprises means to store information
on the Bi-products 24 obtained in the sugar manufacturing unit;
e. Finance module 17 further comprises means to store the
financial status derived from account (Harvester & Transporter
H/T ) 16, Diesel Pump 14, Cane Account 15, Sugar Sale 18,
Sugar Counter 19, Go-down 20, Bi-products 29, Store Account
23 and Shares 4 modules ;
f. Management Information System (MIS) module 29 further
comprises modules to incorporate reports from Finance 17,
Online System 26 and Website 28 modules
i. Numerical information module 52 which contains information on the past five seasons 54 of cane production and live crushing 53, and
ii. Graphical Presentation module 55 further comprising
• Agriculture module 56 having Registration 58 and Crushing 59 modules each categorized depending on Variety 62, 65 Centre 63, 66 and Area 64, 67,and
• Distillery module 57 further comprising of Production 60 and Sale 61 modules; and
g. Website module 28 which incorporates a feature to accept data
online and store it in the server which is at a distant place.
9. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein Microsoft's dot net (.Net) technology is employed such that
a. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is used as a front end tool and
Oracle lOg is used as a back end tool specifically developed for
sugar manufacturing and allied units; and
b. Application can be easily shifted to Microsoft visual studio 2010
and Oracle llg or even higher without changing the existing
software.
10. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the windows
based application is run on windows XP or even higher version of windows OS with crystal reports 11.0 as a reporting tool.
11. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 which includes reports
added or removed from the menu without modifying the source code and backed by a stored procedure, the parameters of which are supplied through various controls on the forms.
12. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the product
further includes
a. A short message service-SMS service without modifying the
source code; and
b. New modules as per the customer's demand.
13. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the means to
enable one or more authenticated users to interact with the system to optimize functioning of the industrial units across seasons includes authenticating the user and setting expiry dates on passwords as a security measure on a seasonal basis.
14. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the means to
accept data online via a website includes aggregating information from one or more remote locations from one or more authenticated users.
15. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the means to
graphically depict various functional elements in the industrial unit's functioning further includes Agricultural 56 Registration 58 and Crushing 59 information and Distillery 57 production 60 and Sale 61 information.
16. A computer program product as claimed in Claim 7 wherein comprising
(a) one or more menus for each module with control buttons having captions 'Save', 'Cancel', Delete', 'Report' and 'Exit', and (b) one or more reports which can be modified dynamically over time.
