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.