Question 1i. From an IT project management point of view, discuss at least one positive thing and one negative thing about the strategies that Mr. Tumbler used to select the ERP system for implementation at Broadband-X.

ii. If you were in Mr. Tumbler’s position as Broadband-X’s CEO, explain what you would have done before embarking on an ERP project that can be successfully implemented to address the needs of the company (Hint: SWOT)

Question 2i.Mention and discuss at least four factors that you think might be the biggest challenges and risks that Broadband X will face during the implementation of the project? (Hint: read Ahmad & Cuenca (2013). Critical success factors for ERP implementation in SMEs)

ii. Explain how the challenges you have identified can be managed, from a project management perspective, to ensure that the project is executed successfully.

Question 3 i.Develop an ERP implementation project plan most fitting to Broadband-X’s situation.

ii.As the manager of Broadband-X’s ERP project, discuss how you will implement at least four appropriate project management strategies to ensure that the project is successfully implemented at Broadband-X
Transcribed Image Text:Page 5 9B20E021 CRITICALLY DEFICIENT PROCESSES AT BROADBAND-X Zayan took a couple of weeks to analyze the system in detail, reading the quality management system documentation, reviewing the historical data, and interviewing his co-workers. He needed to understand the entire system to determine which ERP modules would be implemented in what order, whether any customization of the ERP would be needed, and what changes to the current processes would be required. During Zayan's initial discussions with Tumbler, they agreed on two general implementation strategies. The first strategy was to concentrate on real value-adding ERP modules rather than on ones that did not present a functional purpose. According to past research,' one reason ERP projects may fail was the wasted effort of implementing some ERP modules only because they looked fancy, instead of solving a real problem in the company. The other strategy was to keep the historical legacy data (transactions) where they were, instead of migrating them all to the new ERP system. This could initially create various reporting challenges because the data would exist in two different systems before the ERP system went live. However, migrating historical data was a cumbersome and error-prone undertaking, which overshadowed the cost of dealing with some temporary reporting issues. The disconnect between the quotation, purchasing, and production functions was possibly the biggest issue Broadband-X faced. Once a request for quote (RFQ) had been received from a prospect/customer, the account managers needed to estimate labour costs and material costs as well as the time needed to complete the job, so that they could quote a price and a shipping date. Ideally, a quote would be sent back to the customer within 24 hours from the receipt of the RFQ so that the job would not be lost to competitors. However, it started to become routine that customers had to wait approximately two to three days for a quote because of the email-intensive, cumbersome communication procedures between the sales, purchasing, and production departments. In some cases, to avoid losing commission income by missing a sale due to a delayed quote, experienced account managers took shortcuts to produce a quote. Based on the BOM sent by the customers as part of the RFQ, account managers simply conducted a quick online search for the component prices to estimate the material costs. As for the labour costs, they used a mini formula sheet provided by the production department. For the lead time, they made an optimistic guess, making it possible to send quotes to customers quickly, bypassing the production and purchasing departments. Swift as it was, the process often created problems if the job was acquired. First, the online price search was not as reliable as an official quote acquired by the purchasing department from the suppliers. The online price search also did not guarantee the availability of the components. Consequently, at times, the company ended up paying more for the components than was estimated during the quoting process and/or faced longer-than-expected lead times for some components. Second, the existing production schedule might not allow on-time delivery unless it was expedited, creating many other issues. The company had suffered financial losses on some jobs as a result of the delay in communication between departments and employees finding shortcuts. actior Zayan noticed that the ERP's estimation and quoting module would fix the complications mentioned above with some customization. Specifically, the module was lacking certain functionality related to interdepartmental communication; therefore, they would need to generate an additional database application to handle the collaboration between departments before a quote could officially be completed. The ERP provider did allow its customers to customize and manipulate the ERP database within certain limits and produce supplementary applications that would address the communication issues. 'Matus Peci and Pavel Važan, "The Biggest Critical Failure Factors in ERP Implementation," Applied Mechanics and Materials 519-520 (2014): 1478–1482.
Transcribed Image Text:Page 6 9B20E021 Another problem Tumbler wanted to fix was the coordination of the sales efforts, to have account managers work more collaboratively. Tumbler hoped the CRM module would offer a standardized practice in lead management that would give him access to the CRM data, making his communication with account managers more effective. Tumbler's rich market experience made his involvement highly valuable for the account managers. Improved communication would ultimately enable better decisions, increase customer satisfaction while at the same time understanding the needs of current customers better. An additional obstacle was presented by Ratna Anand, the quality manager, who worked very systematically to make sure that Broadband-X continued to comply with the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016 (medical) standards. She did an effective job in organizing the documentation of procedures and work instructions, but she encountered problems collecting and analyzing the necessary quality data from production, such as product defects at various stages, return material authorizations (RMAS) from customers, preventive maintenance planning and execution, and corrective action requests (CARS). Luckily, the ERP had a quality management module that could handle the data collection she needed as well as a separate application dedicated to preventive maintenance. Finally, Broadband-X had two separate coding systems for its raw materials and finished products, which created problems during deployment, especially when dealing with BOM. A coordinated effort between the engineering, production, and inventory control departments were needed to work out a standardized coding system. ADDITIONAL DEFICIENT PROCESSES AT BROADBAND-X During his process evaluation, Zayan leamed that Broadband-X did not have routine management meetings. The management team gathered to make decisions as issues arose, but this arrangement would not be effective because he needed all managers (i.e., sales, accounting, purchasing, production, quality, and inventory managers) on board regularly to get the feedback he needed as the project progressed. He also needed a platform to communicate the progression and direction of the ERP project, and he needed buy-in from all departments, as it would be a company-wide initiative. Zayan also discovered that Broadband-X controlled its production activities with reference to sales orders (SOs). The shop floor employees recorded their activities based on the SOs that came from QuickBooks, which did not have a production management module. However, an ERP system would require work orders (WOs) with coded activities that were normally, but not necessarily, tied to SOs. The updated WO and SO numbering system posed a challenge, as the whole workforce, including engineers, had trouble understanding the rationale behind having separate SOs and WOs. Another issue the company faced was that most employees were so accustomed to working with spreadsheets that they were complaining about some of the entry screens, reports, and built-in dashboards that came with the ERP. Zayan agreed that some of the ERP functions were not efficient and did not serve their purposes. Zayan was requested by employees to produce spreadsheets, such as an SO dashboard, a Wo dashboard, BOM and router analysis reports, BOM mass-entry sheets, and purchase order (PO) mass- entry sheets. It was technically possible to synchronize spreadsheets with the ERP database to create the requested tools, making the workflow easier for many employees. One critical issue was that the payroll function under the HR module of the ERP did not comply with the laws of the country where Broadband-X operated. The same issue was reported regarding the taxation

Question

Question 1i. From an IT project management point of view, discuss at least one positive thing and one negative thing about the strategies that Mr. Tumbler used to select the ERP system for implementation at Broadband-X.

ii. If you were in Mr. Tumbler’s position as Broadband-X’s CEO, explain what you would have done before embarking on an ERP project that can be successfully implemented to address the needs of the company (Hint: SWOT)

Question 2i.Mention and discuss at least four factors that you think might be the biggest challenges and risks that Broadband X will face during the implementation of the project? (Hint: read Ahmad & Cuenca (2013). Critical success factors for ERP implementation in SMEs)

ii. Explain how the challenges you have identified can be managed, from a project management perspective, to ensure that the project is executed successfully.

Question 3 i.Develop an ERP implementation project plan most fitting to Broadband-X’s situation.

ii.As the manager of Broadband-X’s ERP project, discuss how you will implement at least four appropriate project management strategies to ensure that the project is successfully implemented at Broadband-X

Page 5
9B20E021
CRITICALLY DEFICIENT PROCESSES AT BROADBAND-X
Zayan took a couple of weeks to analyze the system in detail, reading the quality management system
documentation, reviewing the historical data, and interviewing his co-workers. He needed to understand
the entire system to determine which ERP modules would be implemented in what order, whether any
customization of the ERP would be needed, and what changes to the current processes would be required.
During Zayan's initial discussions with Tumbler, they agreed on two general implementation strategies.
The first strategy was to concentrate on real value-adding ERP modules rather than on ones that did not
present a functional purpose. According to past research,' one reason ERP projects may fail was the wasted
effort of implementing some ERP modules only because they looked fancy, instead of solving a real
problem in the company. The other strategy was to keep the historical legacy data (transactions) where they
were, instead of migrating them all to the new ERP system. This could initially create various reporting
challenges because the data would exist in two different systems before the ERP system went live. However,
migrating historical data was a cumbersome and error-prone undertaking, which overshadowed the cost of
dealing with some temporary reporting issues.
The disconnect between the quotation, purchasing, and production functions was possibly the biggest issue
Broadband-X faced. Once a request for quote (RFQ) had been received from a prospect/customer, the
account managers needed to estimate labour costs and material costs as well as the time needed to complete
the job, so that they could quote a price and a shipping date. Ideally, a quote would be sent back to the
customer within 24 hours from the receipt of the RFQ so that the job would not be lost to competitors.
However, it started to become routine that customers had to wait approximately two to three days for a
quote because of the email-intensive, cumbersome communication procedures between the sales,
purchasing, and production departments.
In some cases, to avoid losing commission income by missing a sale due to a delayed quote, experienced
account managers took shortcuts to produce a quote. Based on the BOM sent by the customers as part of
the RFQ, account managers simply conducted a quick online search for the component prices to estimate
the material costs. As for the labour costs, they used a mini formula sheet provided by the production
department. For the lead time, they made an optimistic guess, making it possible to send quotes to customers
quickly, bypassing the production and purchasing departments. Swift as it was, the process often created
problems if the job was acquired. First, the online price search was not as reliable as an official quote
acquired by the purchasing department from the suppliers. The online price search also did not guarantee
the availability of the components. Consequently, at times, the company ended up paying more for the
components than was estimated during the quoting process and/or faced longer-than-expected lead times
for some components. Second, the existing production schedule might not allow on-time delivery unless it
was expedited, creating many other issues. The company had suffered financial losses on some jobs as a
result of the delay in communication between departments and employees finding shortcuts.
actior
Zayan noticed that the ERP's estimation and quoting module would fix the complications mentioned above
with some customization. Specifically, the module was lacking certain functionality related to
interdepartmental communication; therefore, they would need to generate an additional database
application to handle the collaboration between departments before a quote could officially be completed.
The ERP provider did allow its customers to customize and manipulate the ERP database within certain
limits and produce supplementary applications that would address the communication issues.
'Matus Peci and Pavel Važan, "The Biggest Critical Failure Factors in ERP Implementation," Applied Mechanics and Materials
519-520 (2014): 1478–1482.

Page 6
9B20E021
Another problem Tumbler wanted to fix was the coordination of the sales efforts, to have account managers
work more collaboratively. Tumbler hoped the CRM module would offer a standardized practice in lead
management that would give him access to the CRM data, making his communication with account
managers more effective. Tumbler's rich market experience made his involvement highly valuable for the
account managers. Improved communication would ultimately enable better decisions, increase customer
satisfaction while at the same time understanding the needs of current customers better.
An additional obstacle was presented by Ratna Anand, the quality manager, who worked very
systematically to make sure that Broadband-X continued to comply with the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO
13485:2016 (medical) standards. She did an effective job in organizing the documentation of procedures
and work instructions, but she encountered problems collecting and analyzing the necessary quality data
from production, such as product defects at various stages, return material authorizations (RMAS) from
customers, preventive maintenance planning and execution, and corrective action requests (CARS).
Luckily, the ERP had a quality management module that could handle the data collection she needed as
well as a separate application dedicated to preventive maintenance.
Finally, Broadband-X had two separate coding systems for its raw materials and finished products, which
created problems during deployment, especially when dealing with BOM. A coordinated effort between
the engineering, production, and inventory control departments were needed to work out a standardized
coding system.
ADDITIONAL DEFICIENT PROCESSES AT BROADBAND-X
During his process evaluation, Zayan leamed that Broadband-X did not have routine management meetings.
The management team gathered to make decisions as issues arose, but this arrangement would not be
effective because he needed all managers (i.e., sales, accounting, purchasing, production, quality, and
inventory managers) on board regularly to get the feedback he needed as the project progressed. He also
needed a platform to communicate the progression and direction of the ERP project, and he needed buy-in
from all departments, as it would be a company-wide initiative.
Zayan also discovered that Broadband-X controlled its production activities with reference to sales orders
(SOs). The shop floor employees recorded their activities based on the SOs that came from QuickBooks,
which did not have a production management module. However, an ERP system would require work orders
(WOs) with coded activities that were normally, but not necessarily, tied to SOs. The updated WO and SO
numbering system posed a challenge, as the whole workforce, including engineers, had trouble
understanding the rationale behind having separate SOs and WOs.
Another issue the company faced was that most employees were so accustomed to working with
spreadsheets that they were complaining about some of the entry screens, reports, and built-in dashboards
that came with the ERP. Zayan agreed that some of the ERP functions were not efficient and did not serve
their purposes. Zayan was requested by employees to produce spreadsheets, such as an SO dashboard, a
Wo dashboard, BOM and router analysis reports, BOM mass-entry sheets, and purchase order (PO) mass-
entry sheets. It was technically possible to synchronize spreadsheets with the ERP database to create the
requested tools, making the workflow easier for many employees.
One critical issue was that the payroll function under the HR module of the ERP did not comply with the
laws of the country where Broadband-X operated. The same issue was reported regarding the taxation

Accepted Answer

The full form of ERP is enterprise Resource Planning and it refers to a software in which the system…