Week 8 blog

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

Week 10 blog

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

Following on from the previous week develop a rough outline of your presentation. Post this rough outline to your blog.

Post an entry to your blog that answers the following questions:

What was the most difficult assessment item you completed so far in COIS12073 this term?

What was difficult about it and how would you suggest it could be improved?

If you could provide three (3) pieces of advice to a student who will be doing this course next term what would they be?

How will you be able to use this knowledge/these skills in your future career?

A)     Dow Corning Corp has employed aspects of business intelligence through integrating their global business process by implementing a “Basic ERP backbone”. This means replacing the current legacy systems that are running on mainframes and incorporate R/3 SAP AG which will enhance the capabilities of the business intelligence.

B)      As with all large and diverse companies, ensuring that the implementation phase is as well planned out as possible and that plan followed will be a challenge. As the amount of users and variety of different types of applications used throughout the business will increase the likely hood of problems, this detracting from the potential benefits of the business intelligence.

C)       

 

Difficult project

By far the most difficult project of the course would the Case study, as it required a high level of research and reading to form ideas and arguments to properly argue the case, added to that it had a 5000 word limit making it the largest assignment of the course.

What I found difficult was finding relevant journal references to help support my argument, while I did find some useful journals that did help my argument they didn’t contain as much detailed information as I was hoping.

The 3 pieces of advice I would give to students who will do this course next term would be to try and keep up with the required reading as much as possible to help give as much knowledge about the subject and better prepare you for the assessment. The second would be that the assessment pieces require more time to complete as they do need thorough research to achieve a satisfactory mark. The final piece of advice would be try and find real life examples of the topics in the course to gain a better understanding of them, this will help you better prepare your arguments in your assessments pieces.

This course has given me a good grounding of knowledge about the benefits and problems of ERP systems, and as many businesses around the world make use of ERP it will valuable knowledge to prepare me for working in an industry that makes use of ERP or if I have any involvement in the implementation of an ERP, I will at least I will know of some of the dangers of implementing them.

 

Presentation Outline:

I will be arguing that the university has spent too much time and money on this project to give up now and that with better management of the project the ERP can be salvaged and made a beneficial asset to the university.

To justify this argument i will need explain why the ERP will be beneficial to the univeristy and if these benefits are worth the risks of a second attempt. I will also need to identify the problems that have lead to failure and how these problems can be corrected to ensure that this time the project will be successful.

My powerpoint should helpful include useful information and data such as graphs to support my finding in great detail.

Week 9

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

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.

Once the project team is happy that all phases haven’t been completed and all goals achieved, the final step for the project is to have system Go-live. This step is one of the most suspenseful times for the project team as they will be witnessing either the successful completion of their long and hard work or the bitter reality of failure, with a long road of more hard work to find and correct the problems causing the system to fail. Though the factors that can lead to a delay of the system going live can also be external to the project team, these external factors are:

·         clients,

·         users

·         unforeseeable events – power failure

·         suppliers/vendors and

·         governments

With all new systems it can take time for users understand how to use the system to gain the most benefits from their new system. Some users make take longer in learning how to use the system or may encounter problems along the way that they are unprepared for, these users may have to be re-trained, and this of course can take time to successful complete and will result in time and productivity lost from having to re-learn.

It doesn’t take much for a client to change their mind on some of the features of a system or are not satisfied with the current system and therefore may ask for changes or improvements to the system before going live, similarly with government implementation new policies or laws, particularly with taxes that aren’t catered for in the current system and going live will need to be delayed so the project team can add the changes.

ERPs rely heavily on system support from vendors and suppliers, lack of proper support can lead to problems becoming increasingly frequent and damaging resulting in a delay for going live until the proper support is available.

Most of these external factors cannot be helped but companies should plan appropriately for the possibility of some form of delay along the way, as it would be unwise to be believed that any project is immune to problems internal or external.

 

Presentation Ideas:

Don’t over fill your powerpoints with unneccessary information

use powepoint to give visual support to your speech not take attention away from what you are saying.

 

powerpoints are one of the most poorly used presentation assets, therefore I should make sure I try to use my powerpoint effectively.

Week 7 Blog

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?

 

Phase 2 is where ideas and theories are transformed practices and results it is time to plan in detail how the package is going to work for the company. Where the system is tested to see if it gives the desired results, to determine how effective the system is. If there are any problems or unforeseen results arise from the test, in this phase solutions must be developed.  Having the many different users involved in the step helps implementation process greatly and the long term

Reluctance by users is not uncommon in implementation on a new system but can be damaging to a successful implementation as it creates problems between users who feel that the others aren’t being helpful or supportive to the project. Users experience and suggestion which could have been useful to the project will go unheard if they do not participate in phase 2.

Users who show reluctance in understanding system may also be less than enthusiastic in learning about the system and how it works, meaning that forms of training or information seminars could be wasted on them and lead to more problems down the tracks as the user has resisted getting to know the system.

With these problems caused by the reluctance of some users, valuable knowledge is not shared between users for, resistance to learning how to make use of the system could delay work goals and cost the business money and place more undue pressure on the other users of the system. While there is no easy way of getting all users to see that getting involved with the system from the beginning is best for all concerned, management should do all it can to try and convince or encourage users to try and help out where possible and not be discourage by change, or else the business could lose out big time.

Week 6 blog

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

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

A person or a company cannot make an informed decision on selecting and implementing without knowing as much as they possibly can about a problem. While you can never fully understand a problem, you can understand enough to find away to correct it or prevent it from happening again.

If a company was to select and implement an ERP without properly understanding the problem, the company could be wasting a lot of time and money without actually addressing the problem, possibly open the company to even more problems down the track and since the company didn’t fully understand what they were doing in the first place they might find it even harder to determine what have done wrong. While this would indicate that the business is operating in a dangerous way, as this type of decision making in the business world is more than not advisable, it could lead to the collapse of the company as shown by companies who have failed to implement a ERP properly. Entering into anything without properly understanding what you’re getting yourself into will only lead to more problems.

 As there is no one ERP that suits all businesses and correct all problems, this means that simply they would be taking a shot in the dark and hoping for the best outcome and this can only lead to trouble for everyone concerned, as this shows a reckless attitude to making business decisions.

 

Conclusion

Throughout my research of ERPs I have found that a common factor about ERPs is that they are very fragile in the implementation phase, and if not done right in this stage there could be many problems down the track, including ERP failure. As RMIT has been plague with problems since the beginning it would seem that ERP could be damage through the actions of the implementation team and therefore could be more costly than it’s worth to try and fix it. Especially when it will most likely be fixed by those who were behind the original implementation phase, as the cost of the ERP is already way passed budget, it would recommended that RMIT should abandon this course of action and try and minimize any more loses and try to find a more simple way of getting the job done without the cost of an ERP. Failing that RMIT should try and salvage some of their work and see if they can get certain modules of the ERP to work, so that the project wasn’t a complete waste of time and money.

Week 5 Blog

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

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.

 

In Life, planning ahead doesn’t mean things will go according to plan, this rule applies in the business world where planning a implementation of an ERP system doesn’t always follow the plan. There are many reasons for alterations to a work plan as work is commenced and problems arise along the way. The implementation of an ERP is reliant on many things to ensure that the process is carried out in a proper and efficient way, some of the problems that could affect the process are:

·         Loss of Personnel – Whether by illness, resignation or even death, the loss of personnel or key personnel could reduce the amount of work done or loss of critical skills could lead to massive delays and therefore put the project behind.

·         Resource Problems – If certain required resources aren’t available or don’t do what they are meant to do, this can cause serious time delay as the personnel try and determine the reason for the problem and then try and find a way to correct it, this all takes time.

·         Unforeseen Developments – In many projects there events that occur that aren’t or cannot be foreseen until they happen, such as testing a prototype system and discovering system failures or incompatibility with the current hardware.

·         Problem Solving – When problems occur some may take longer than others and this can lead to longer waiting times before the project can continue.

·         Change of leadership – A new project leader could lead to many changes or improvements to the work plan, in hopes of improving the project, but may not always work out that way, as changing plan mid way through a project could cause more problems.

These problems are some of the most common problems that can occur in projects, causing lost time, money and putting more stress on the team to try and find ways of getting back of schedule, sometimes by cutting corners, that down the track may come back to haunt them with more problems.

 

Assignment 3

Some of the main points that I am considering placing in my body of my report, which is for the removal of the ERP, are:

·         Extremely Costly

·         Lengthy implementation time

·         ERP are fragile and seem to fail if aren’t properly implemented in the beginning

·         The cost of failure is high, with some companies collapsing from the failure.

·         Problems can occur over time and give inaccurate data to the users

·         Can disrupt the business, while implementing, and

·         The system may not do what the company needed it to do.

Companies wanting to implement ERPs need to do a lot of research into ERPs to know what they are getting themselves into and what problems could occur they should also research the success and failures of the many implementations of ERPs and determine what are common factors involved in these causes. Using this knowledge they then should make an educated decision on the right path of implementation and ensure they avoid the many common factors that lead to failure. If the company is open to other alternatives there are other forms of systems that could be used in the business such as “Lean”, but again should defer to the side of caution when dealing with the idea of implementing the system and should do a full investigation into all facets of the system, good and bad.

Week 4 Blog

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?

 

Wingate Electric case study appears to a prime example of where an ERP will shine bright and improve many of the Wingate Electric company problems.  Instead of using a system patched together over the years, that may lack reliability, consistence, integrity and security, an ERP would bring a standardised systems across the company, with improved efficiency and reliability. With an ERP the company could take advantage of the new improvements that modern technology provides instead of relying on old legacy systems that have been replaced because of their flaws and problems. ERPs can not only can make Wingate more competitive and will also reduce a lot of the problems that the company is experiencing back office systems as an ERP has far superior organizing abilities then  most older systems.

If Wingate Electric does not want to implement a fully integrated ERP, then the other options that Wingate can choose other then remaining with the status quo are:

·         Developing their own in house ERP – Where the company develops their own ERP, takes longer, dependent on how well the company is equipped to handle the project, costly but offers a unique system that is design by the people who will eventually use it. Or a

·         A best of breed system – Where a company simply buys certain select modules from different vendors to satisfy their essential needs. Cheaper, not standardised, dealing with multiple vendors, best module in each field.

Week 3’s Blog

If a company’s business processes do not match the current commercial ERP systems that are available there are still other options for the business to take and still gain the advantages of an ERP. Commercially available ERP’s usually are designed more for generalised markets or for those business who are in a large industry such as Accounting or Human resources, therefore companies who are specialists or are from a small industry, they usually have to either make do with what’s available and modify to suit or make their own in house ERP to suit their business.

While supporters of ERPs state that companies who do not adopt an ERP will be at a great disadvantage compared to their competitors and will miss out on the many benefits, ERPs are not the almighty business solution that it is made out to be. While ERP can give businesses a variety of benefits to help them compete in the highly competitive business world, business can still operate without them.

The advantages of ERP can result in:

·         Cost reduction

·         Inventory reduction

·         Improved operating performance

·         Increased Response time

But the disadvantages are:

·         Disruption to business process

·         Long time to implement

·         Failure can be damaging if implementation isn’t done right

·         Costly to implement

In considering what path a company should take, the company really needs to analyse their current business process and determine what they believe needs to be corrected or improved upon and what processes they feel should be continued, if any. After determining what the company needs from a ERP the company can then decide whether it would be easier to find a similar ERP and modify to fit or build it themselves. In house ERPs can be very costly and can take long time to fully implement and may cause more problems along the way but will be made to fit the business requires from the ground up. Modified ERPs can be faster to implement and may save money compared to in house ERP, but problems can arise if the modifications are properly tested for the job it is intended for.

Week 2’s Blog

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?

Over time companies need to decide whether it is time to update or improve upon some of tools that the companies uses in the course of operating a business. In this situation the company has pretty much left the overall recommendation to the IT Department who, while they have superior knowledge about IT related topics, do not always understand that they are responsible for choosing a system that will be beneficial to all users of the company and not just from an IT point of view. Such as choosing a system that is easy to network, meaning less work for them to maintain it, but might not be a usable as some other systems.

Having the IT department solely in control on what recommendation should be made to the CEO leaves out the opinion of the other departments who might not want any changes or might have some suggestion that the IT department should add to their considerations when looking for a new ERP. This means that the company could end up replacing their ailing system for another system they might not fix any of the problems of the last one and cost the company lots of money in the process.

A company’s success is widely built off of team work by its workers, if one department is failing then it will pull the others down, therefore in situation such as this is, there should be a companywide task force involved in deciding what should be done or atleast have a meeting of departments so that they can give their ideas to the IT department to help them find a system to suit all.

Annotated Bibliography

Alan S Brown, Lies Your ERP System Tells You, Mechanical Engineering; Mar 2006; 128, 3; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 36

“Lies Your ERP System Tells You” contain a group of cases were companies ERP’s have given inaccurate information or lied which in turn has caused the company a great deal of problems. Using these cases it is the papers aim to explain how these problems occur and that it is not the fault of the fundamentals of  ERP’s but more of the fault of those who use it. Certain experts give their opinions into why these particular ERP’s have failed where others have been very successful. They explain how for the system to maintain its integrity it must be trusted by all those who use it and that the ERP should be used in the way it was designed for and users should stick to a strict protocol so that ERP has all necessary information to do its job properly.

 

Week 1’s Blog

Sorry for the delay, I had the wrong impression that we were meant to have them posted by the due date not weekly.

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?

ERP’s offer a range of benefits for companies who choose to utilize them in their many forms. While ERP’s can help companies stay competitive by introducing “best practices” for their business practices, which basically means “simply the best way to perform a process”, however there are more issues involved with implementing an ERP then just the benefits. While vanilla ERP’s is considered the best way to achieve “best practices”, it also takes longer to implement and cause more of a disruption to the company’s operations and for the company to achieve successful implementation, re-engineering of business practices around the ERP software is a critical component to integration of an ERP. Those companies who do without re-engineering when they are implementing the ERP will miss out on the full benefits of a total integration and could leave them vulnerable to problems down the track, such as budget blow out or project being behind schedule.

For a company who wants to maintain their current business process an ERP can still gain from an ERP, with an alternatives such as partial ERP or in house ERP system. These alternatives can allow a company to keep some or all their old business process and still have the benefits of an ERP.

With a partial ERP the company can choose the modules that they believe they need and not update their whole business process, such as an ERP for the accounts department but the other departments remain in the status quo. This is cheaper and less disruptive and is faster to implement, of course the business doesn’t reap the benefits of a full integration but it is less costly. The other alternative is where the company builds their own in house ERP, this allows for a more unique system that is tailored to the companies needs and can be more reliable because the people who will be using it have say in its design. Though this option is the most costly and time consuming then the other alternatives.

There are risks in all the ERP options, this is unfortunately apart of the business world, nothing is a sure thing, will a vanilla ERP will offer a more reliable system as it is designed by experience vendors and will offer the complete benefits of a ERP it can disrupt the business for a longer period of time. The other options do not gain from the full benefits but can be more beneficial to the company by not messing with business processors that are trusted by the company.

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?

“Best of Breed” systems are where a company purchases different modules from different vendors where as a total ERP system is a full integrated system from one vendor (A one stop shop). The advantages of such a system is that you can choose the modules you most need and can shop around to find the best modules for a specific job at the right price, instead of being stuck with a full ERP system which may have a great Accounting solution but may lack usability for the HR side of the business.

The “Best of Breed” system can give the company an advantage over competitors by having a larger variety of benefits offered from the different vendors instead of their competitors who have only the one vendor benefit. With multiply modules from different vendors, the damage that could be caused to a company if there is a fault in the module or if the vendor collapses and can no longer offer support, is minor because the company has only lost one module, compare to a full integrated system which could be seriously damaging.

Of course having a complete ERP system does offer a more standardised version across the system, which gives more reliability and less compatibility problems that may occur when using different products together as done in the “Best of Breed”. Also having a different modules from different vendor means that there needs to be more staff training since there could be three different systems to know how to use, lack of training or understanding about the difference between modules could lead to problems and can make the transition of staff rotation or exchange between departments take longer as they need to be trained up into a new module.

When deciding on which option would best suit the company some of the things to take into consideration are Time, Cost, Support, Usability and Functionality. Implementing a full ERP can take a lot longer, cost more and cause more disruption then a “best of breed” approach, where as full ERP has better support since the company is only dealing with one vendor with one system, instead of multiple vendors having to work with multiple modules. The usability consideration goes into deciding on whether the whole company needs an ERP or if only a few departments would benefit and finally functionality does the company want the best solutions from each individual module compared to a standard system.

These questions would have different answer depending on the type and size of the business, therefore there will never be a simple answer to which option is best, it all depends on each individual company setup. Though companies must take care in making a decision on which path to follow, as choosing the wrong option for the company could cause more problems for the company then doing nothing.