COIS12073 Enterprise Systems

Week 10

jacklu17 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:57:28 +0000

Q.2 Using Sumner (2005), read the article on pages 149 – 150. Answer the following:

a. What aspects of BI have been employed in this case example?

b. What would you expect to be the challenges facing the development of a BI approach for such a large organisation?

c.Would Dow Corning be a suitable candidate for a shared services approach using an ASP? Justify and argue your answer

Week 8

jacklu17 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:57:17 +0000

Using Sumner (2005), answer questions 1 and 3 on pages 97 – 98.

Question 1

Many people argue that MRP is a precursor to ERP and that ERP systems were designed to integrate MRP systems with financial and accounting systems.

Given the interrelationship between MRP and ERP does it make sense for a non manufacturing company to adopt an ERP system?

Question 3

The production and planning and materials management modules within ERP have interfaces to other modules, including Human Resources, Sales and Distribution and Financial Accounting. Describe these interfaces: What information is shared with Production Planning and materials management module; Human Resources, Sales and Distribution, Financial Accounting.

Week 9

jacklu17 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:53:14 +0000

Q.3 What external factors (non-implementation project related) could affect how and when an ERP goes live? Explain and justify.

External factors as follows:

Organizational structure includes official, centralised degree and organisational complex which all will influent the result of the ERP implementation.

When ERP implementation, the support from the top management is a very important factor. The top management announces ERP implementation and morale inspiration to the employee that will effect when an ERP goes live.

The ERP implementation is very hard to achieve the benefit in short period of time. Therefore, there will be a lot of complaints, resistant, against and etc under the pressure. Those factors will effect how and when an ERP goes live.

An ERP is a management tool that needs heavy investment to be successful. Therefore organisnation don’t have enough money to invest, it will effect an ERP goes live.

Have a look at assignment 5. Search the web or go to some other source to find some hints and tips on giving presentations. Post to your blog what you think was the most helpful and why?Useful tips on preparing a presentation as follows:

Stories and Characters – With few exceptions, a presentation is an opportunity for you to tell a story to an audience (Brogan 2006).

Touch Their Eyes – Presentations are not opportunities for people to read in a group setting (Brogan 2006).

A Presentation Doesn’t Equal a PowerPoint Side Deck (Brogan 2006).

You are an Entertainer – Presenting, even to your coworkers and colleagues, is an entertainment experience (Brogan 2006).

I find this tips are useful because he mention about what to do if you are horribly shy. There tips also help me to get more prepare for my presentation.

Reference:

Brogan C. 2006, My Best Presentation Tricks, viewed 1 October 2007, http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/my-best-presentation-tricks.html

Week 7

jacklu17 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 01:52:56 +0000

Q.3 Imagine that in the ERP implementation you are involved with, users that are reluctant to get involved with phase 2. What issues, problems and risks, both short and long term, does this present?

In any ERP implementation project, there will be many people assigned to the project. Involving users in your ERP project phases, said Andy Klee, president of Klee Associates, Inc., a consulting firm in Cedaredge, Colo. “The software is not going to do you much good if you don’t have employee buy-in,” he added. Involving users than just top management in the decision implementation planning process will go a long way to make users feel more ownership, which will reduce end-user resistance in the future. Resistance is the primary reason why so many projects fail. According to Lozinsky (1998, p71), ‘phase 2 is the most critical phase because during its development all concept associated with the operation of the software package will be defined. If users are reluctant to get involved with phase 2, it may cause delay an ERP implementation’s project or project failure.

Way to minimise the end-user resistance:

Give more training to key users
Get users involved as much as possible

Short and long term problems arising due to reluctant users could be the following:Short Term:

User may have a fear of the new system
The fear may cause users won’t cooperate with the work team
User will influent each other in negative way which will cause delay ERP implementation
An organisation will cost more money due to the delay ERP implementation
The lack of the communication will increase conflict between users and project team

Long Term:

The goal of the project will fail
An organisation will lost million of moneys and resources
An organisation may need to hired a external consultants advice
An organisation may lost customers and can not make more money

Following on from the previous two weeks provide a rough draft of your introduction and your executive summary. Dot points are fine.

Introduction:

Background information of CQU
The aim of the CQU case report
The scope of the report which give an overview of the content of the report

Executive summary:

The background of the case study (CQU)
Provide clear guidelines and recommendations on what direction CQU should take with their ERP system
The recommendations for CQU should continue with the ERP or stop the ERP or other options

Reference:

Lozinsky, S 1998, Enterprise wide software solutions, 1st edn, Addison Wesley.

Week 6

jacklu17 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:36:01 +0000

Q.3 Can an informed ERP adoption and selection decision be made without fully understanding the problem? Why or why not – justify your answer.

No, the organisation must have full understanding of the problem before an ERP adoption and disicion is made.

According to Donovan (2001) p.1 said ”To receive benefit from implementing ERP there must be no misunderstanding of what it is about, or underestimation of what is involved in implementing it effectively, and even more important, organisational decision makers must have the background and temperament for this type of decision making.”

Donovan (2001) said that organisation too often ‘plunge’ into ERP less than fully informed, with limited knowledge of what to expect.

People may say “implement an ERP first and then find out the problem and customise the ERP later”, but that approach will mean spending even more money and time, especially for an ERP worth millions of dollars. Therefore, an informed ERP adoption and selection decision can not be made without fully understanding the problem.

Following on from the previous week provide a rough skeleton of what you are going to put in your conclusions and recommendations.

My conclsion and recommendations

Continuing with the ERP system currently in place.
Upgrading the current system to meet the needs of organization
Re-engineering business processes.

Reference:

Donovan, M., 2001, “Successful ERP Implementation the First Time“, viewed 27 August 2007, http://idii.com/wp/donovan_erp_success.pdf

Week five

jacklu17 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:14:12 +0000

Q.2 Provide examples of events that you think may trigger alterations in a work plan. What would the consequences of such events be?

Events that may trigger alternations in a work plan as outline by Sumner (2005):

Conflicts of people, time and project scope due to insufficient personnel;

Inability to communicate with the system user;

Failure to use effective software development approaches, such as structured analysis/design;

Poor organisational structure, lack of leadership, or excessive span of control;

Failure of hardware/software to meet specification and failure of the vendor to deliver on time, or unreliable products;

Lack of effort, stifled creativity, and aggressive attitudes cause failure;

Caused by unclear assignments, insufficient project management and tracking tools;

Failure to perform the activities needed while unnecessary activities are performed;

Consequences of events outline by Sumner (2005):

Incorrect system with poor reliability, difficulty with maintenance, and dissatisfied users;

Causes inadequate requirements specification, poor reliability, high maintenance costs, scheduling and budget problems;

Leads to poor coordination of tasks, schedule delays, and inconsistent quality;

Time delays and budget overruns occur, poor project specifications, and system is difficult to maintain;

Work assignments may overlap, deliverables may be poorly defined and poor communication may result;

References:
Sumner M, 2005, Enterprise resource planning, Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ

Have a look at assignment 3. The purpose of this assignment is to provide a case study report. Provide a rough skeleton (dot point form if you wish) of what you are going to put in the main body of your report. You should make clear what the problem is and also outline what the options are.

Week four

jacklu17 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:13:37 +0000

Q.2 Read the Sumner (2005) case study on pages 52 – 56. Address the following questions: b. What advantages would an ERP provide to Wingate Electric? What other options does Wingate Electric have instead of adopting an ERP?

An ERP would provide advantages as following:

Instead using multiple legacy system, ERP provide one for all solution;

ERP use integrated database to reduce data redundancy and improve data consistency;

Integrated database allows data sharing across the company;

Improved productivity and reduce cost;

ERP provides the foundation for new opportunities, such as eBusiness;

ERP establishes security and permission, so users have the access they need;

Other options instead of adopting an ERP as following:

Design the system themselves;

Hire someone to design the system for them;

Improve their current system;

References:
Sumner M, 2005, Enterprise resource planning, Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ

Week Three

jacklu17 — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:21:55 +0000

Q.3 If an organisation has business processes that do not match any commercially available ERP, should the organisation adopt an ERP? Provide factors for and against and suggest other possible considerations that would factor in your reasoning.

If an organisation has business processes that do not match any commercially available ERP, the organisation should adopt an ERP. ‘ERP provides an opportunity to redesign business processes. With re-engineering, business processes are simplified and business rules are improved. Re-engineering with ERP enables organisations to be more responsive to changing markets and to shifts in competitors’ strategies’ (Sumner 2005).

Factors for adopting an ERP as outline by Sumner (2005):

ERP has integrated databases, which provides data sharing, reduced data redundancy, improved data consistency, data independence and improved data integrity;

The combination of re-engineering job and information technology is the key to improved productivity and reduced cost;

Increased efficiency;

Improved user interface;

To attain ‘Best Practices’;

With re-engineering, business processes are simplified and business rules are improved;

Factors against adopting an ERP:

EPR implementation can be very costly;

User commitment may not be strong during the implementation;

ERP projects represent considerable time commitment and cost;

Other possible consideration:

Many risks are involved in implementation and these risks can activate time and cost overruns;

IT infrastructure of the company;

Testing and training are activities that need to take into account;

Select an ERP vendor according to business and budget requirements;

References:
Sumner M, 2005, Enterprise resource planning, Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ

Week Two

jacklu17 — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:21:01 +0000

Q.4 Stuff-Up.Org (fictitious organisation at the time or writing) has an ailing set of in-house developed legacy systems (if you don’t know what a legacy system is – look up the term on the web). It has been decided that the IT department will be tasked to investigate the possibility of adopting an ES. If they recommend ES adoption, then it has also been decided that they will be tasked with evaluating products and recommending a product to the CEO. What might be wrong with this situation? What problems do you see arising?

Stuff-Up.Org has only let IT department do the evaluation and recommendation of adopting an ES without involvement of other departments. This will cause users resistance. During the implementation of ES, Stuff-Up.Org may not gain full support from the other departments. And the information give to the CEO will not be complete and precise to meet the requirement of the company needs. ‘With everyone’s participation, the project will belong to everyone, and not just to a small group of people who are out to prove their hypothesis, while the rest of the company sits back to watch the initiative’ (Lozinsky 1998). Therefore, obtaining strong commitment of everyone to the project is to involve representatives from various company departments; together they will be charged with reporting to top management. By using this everyone of the company will get the idea that the project belongs to everyone and everyone will benefit from the products of the implementation project.

Problems may arise as below:

The recommendation made by the IT department to the CEO may not meet the majority for company’s needs;

Most likely will have the user resistances from other departments;

During the process of adopting ES, it will have lack of participation from the users;

Increasing the probability of the project failure;

Reference:
Lozinsky, S, 1998, Enterprise wide software solutions, Addison Wesley

Week One

jacklu17 — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 01:59:04 +0000

Q.2 ERPs are often touted as providing ‘best practice’ in functionality and business processes. However, many organisations have their own business processes and often do not want to change. If an organisation is unwilling to change its business processes, can it gain any value from an ERP? How could this be achieved? What are the risks?

If an organisation is unwilling to change its business process, it can gain some value but not all of them from an ERP. According to Sumner (2005, p35) the business process change associated with making reengineering work is essential to the success of ERP. However, it is possible for an organisation to gain value from an ERP without changing business process. This could be achieved by modifying the ERP software to meet the organisation needs. Nevertheless, there may some risks when modifying the ERP software as outline by Sumner (2005): The potential benefits the package could offer are limited. For example, the technical support may not available from the vendor; An organisation may need to hire a full time employees to maintain the software’s performance and efficiency; The organisation may be less responsive to changing markets and to shifts in competitors’ strategies; An organisation would need more time to implement the ERP software package. An organisation would spend more money to modify the change of the software;

The data may not integrate functionally through each module. Many of the inconsistencies may not be eliminated;

An ERP may not support these unique requirements/business processes;

Customisation is difficult, since modules are integrated;

Customisation is not constrained by the tool ‘best practices’;

Customisation may entail the expense of much external consulting;

Q.6 In recent times, there has been a trend away from total (or vanilla) ERP implementations towards ‘best of breed’ systems. Research this trend and describe how it differs from standard ERP implementations. Contrast the approaches and describe advantages and disadvantages. What are some of the considerations that would affect the decision to use the ERP or best of breed approach?

A standard ERP system provides cost saving, convenience and efficient data sharing (Sumner 2005). It has an integrated database supporting different modules in an organisation. The Best-of-breed approach therefore usually provides richer functionality (On line Consultant Software 2007). The Best-of-breed approach is designed specifically in just one application but the ERP system provides multiple applications with a common database and consistent user interface.

Some disadvantages of a standard ERP system are:

ERP system can be very expensive to install often ranging from $US 30,000 to $US 500,000,000 for multinational organisations (Wikipedia 2007);
ERP system can be difficult to use;
ERPs are often seen as too rigid and too difficult to adapt to the specific workflow and business process of some companies—this is cited as one of the main causes of their failure (Wikipedia 2007);
There are frequent compatibility problems with the various legacy systems of the partners (Wikipedia 2007);
An integrated ERP system has taken longer to implement. It is very time consuming (Sumner 2005);

Some advantages of a standard ERP system are:

One vendor solution typically allows the users to communicate with just one source (Geishecker 2007);
The ERP system may have lower licensing costs and does not require costly interfaces and is usually less expensive (On-line Consultant Software 2007);
The ERP system has an integrated database with easier access to shared data (Sumner 2005);
The shortage of IT people who can integrate and maintain disparate systems is a big advantage to the integrated approach (On-line Consultant Software 2007);
Fewer inconsistencies; reduction in clerical overheads; better responsiveness to customers (Sumner 2005);
Timely decision making; more effective customer service; elimination of redundant tasks and bottlenecks (Sumner 2005);
Ability to integrate systems, instead of maintaining many separate systems (Sumner 2005, p43);
Ability to use timely operational data (Sumner 2005, p43);
Reduction in time and cost systems development and maintenance (Sumner 2005, p43);
Ability to enhance systems without incurring the time and cost of custom development and modifications (Sumner 2005, p43);

Some advantages of a best-of-breed approach are:

In general Best-of-Breed vendors have selected a product offering that matches their core capabilities. They have taken the path of “doing one thing and doing it well” (Geishecker 2007). As a result, they have total experience relevant to that one thing (Geishecker 2007). Expertise potential of Best-of- breed approach is better than an ERP implementation;
Best-of-breed there is no need to worry about the impact of implementation decisions on other products so it can take less time to implement (Geishecker 2007);
With best-of-breed, there may have more options that match the functional requirements of an organisation (Geishecker 2007);
Specialised feature of Best-of-breed can create a competitive advantage which may cut cost or increase revenue (On-line Consultant Software 2007);

Some disadvantages of a best-of-breed approach are:

Emerging technologies have seen the reality of components and open systems, but the interfaces to external packages still have limitations (Geishecker 2007);
Lack of integration;
Growing complexity;
Higher overhead costs as more tools are added over time;

Some of the considerations that would affect the decision to use the ERP or best-of-breed approach are:

Consider the user productivity tool being replaced – Will you be able to modify or configure the application to suite organisational needs? (Benjamin 2007);
Consider the organisation’s existing technology infrastructure – ensuring the technology of the chosen system fits together with the organisation’s existing IT infrastructure will help minimise implementation and support costs for the project (Benjamin 2007);
Think about the flexibility of the system – will it help the organisation to survive in a competitive marketplace for 5 or 10 years (Benjamin 2007);
Think about the competitive advantages (i.e. functionality) of the system – what can it offer an organisation? (Benjamin 2007);

References:

Benjamin H 2007, Best of breed vs. Suite – what to consider before making a CRM decision, viewed 26 November 2007, http://www.crm2day.com/library/50163.php.

Beth C 2007, ‘Best-of-breed or integrated approach to monitoring tools?’, InformationWeek, viewed 26 November 2007, http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=172300953.

Geishecker, L 1999, ‘ERP vs. Best-of-breed’, Strategic finance, viewed 26 November 2007, http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/computer-software/282133-1.html.

On-line Consultant Software 2007, Best of Breed vs. Integrated Systems, viewed 25 November 2007, http://www.olcsoft.com/select_0800.htm.

Sumner M 2005, Enterprise resource planning, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.