Week 6

Question 3

Can an informed ERP adoption and selection decision be made without fully understanding the problem? Why or why no – justify your answer.

Every organisation is different with different problems. Each problem must be fully understood and related back to the ERP, so that decision makers can define how the ERP package will operate for certain functions. Problems must be explored so that project managers can identify how to maximise the operation of software selected by the company.

In order for companies to fulfil their corporate visions, their ERP system must be operating efficiently and effectively. This is only likely to be achieved if all problems are initially clearly understood and addressed. If problems are misunderstood, even bigger problems may arise down the track, therefore it is best practice to recognise problems in the selection process. The whole objective of the selection process is to analyse the current situation in detail, to discover problems and inefficiencies and get a full understanding of them so the company can progress further economically and competitively.

References

Lozinsky, S. 1988, Enterprise-wide software solutions: integration strategies and practices, Addison-Wesley, Reading Massachusetts.

Week 5

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

Initial assumptions that have failed to be met can cause major alterations in a project work plan. A work plan is vital to the success of an ERP implementation, it plans for stages, dates, hours of labour and foreseeable problems. Even with a detailed work plan, particular events may not go to plan which can set the whole project back. Events such as;

• Defective equipment
• Unexpected system performance, requiring additional hardware and space
• Certain key staff members falls sick or become unavailable
• Testing raised certain problems with future business processes
• Testing takes longer then anticipated due to bugs or programming errors

These examples would all trigger alternations and perhaps even a review of the whole work plan. Which consumes more time, resources and money. Management is never impressed by this, as it places more pressure on the project and on management. There is great dependencies on the fulfilment of these tasks, hence careful preparation is needed when preparing the work plan. However sometimes, there is just no way of anticipating such occurrences, consequently many work plans are altered.

References

Sumner, M 2005, Enterprise Resource Planning, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.