Question (a):  The possible aspects which could be associated with Business Information are that Dow Corning Corporation gained efficient opportunities to do transactional processes by being able to extract the superior functionalities of the SAP BI and the system performed well and faster.  The company also got benefits such as the full automation and integration of their business processes and the sharing of common data practices around the world.  The SAP Software also gave great benefits to the company like the capabilities to merge the internal and external information and made the company take the advantage of its Strategic Enterprise Management tools and processes. 

Question (b):  The potential challenges which a large organisation can face in the future regarding the development of a Business Information approach are that they can face challenges in processing and analyzing large amounts of data and in turn make them to generate profits.  Another challenge could be the up gradation of the Business Intelligence products by the vendors’ which are basically sets of tools and technologies developed to efficiently to exploit useful information from vast amounts of data.  Another challenge which can occur is the adoption of this Business Information software.  Challenges include high costs and the need for the BI systems to incorporate and interoperate with many corporate data sources.

Question (c):  In my opinion, Dow Corning Corporation can be a suitable candidate for a shared services approach because the company had previous sucess with their SAP Business Information Software and achieved great beneifts and competitiveness.  The company has the capability to leverage its skills and technology to get connected with R/3 implementation to benefit the speedy scale-up of data warehouse capabilities.  The company has opportunities to explore software-evaluation process.  According to the company, the data warehouse is seen as an important infrastructure and it can help businesses connect the gap between operations and strategies.

Answer to the Question: 

An ERP implementation project is often a very complex and difficult project and involves the implementation of a new Information System (IS) together with the realignment of work processes.  Most often, it is the biggest Information System project ever implemented in an organization.  The project is very risky because it engages difficulties, large size, high costs, a big development team and a strict time schedule.  The one factor which has an influence over organizational success and which supports strategies is a strategic IS application.  However, such an application can exploit a big threat for the organization.  A non-strategic application involves organizational tasks which are not important for success.  Therefore, it does not become a threat to the company.  On the other hand, an ERP system is very much strategic because it integrates all the processes of the organization and at the same time, the system comprises of a significant number of non-strategic applications.  Other factors include hiring consultants to implement the software package which involves the scope of the system, the experience and know-how of the Information System unit in implementing similar systems and the previous experiences of the consultants.  An ERP project also needs high skilled human resources during the actual implementation phase who are not needed in later procedures.  Many organizations tend to employ consultants to implement the ERP system and also to get better advices from the experts of the consulting team who have participated in other ERP implementation projects.   

Answer to Question 1(a):  MRP stands for Manufacturing Resource PLanning which incorporates the following tasks like identifying stocks, the time to achieve the stocks from the suppliers, calculation of stock levels, calculation of order quanitites, production of purchase orders in the right amounts etc.  The evolution of manufacturing system shows the reordering of stocks by using a re-order point to systems which accepted production schedules to meet the needs of the customers.  However, the previous manufacturing systems also had some big problems like lack of integration between production planning, sales, purchasing and accounting etc.  Production must meet the demands of expected sales levels.  Otheriwse, there might not be enough inventories to meet those demands.  ERP, on the other hand, integrates the business processes and realign the supply chain so that the customers’ can easily access the needed information about their desired products and services.  ERP systems incorporates the supply chain and the manufacturers are able to sell products straight to the customers.  Regarding the matter of accepting an ERP system by a non-manufacturing company, it can adopt an ERP system because ERP system’s revolutionized the business processes and most of the processes has been automated and can be easily done without the need manufacturing resource planning.  Since, it is a non-manufacturing company we are talking about, most of the processes like finance, marketing, human resources can be done by the ERP system with integrated modules which involves very less manufacturing processes.  The ERP system can adapt with the business processes of the company and realign the tasks without any major changes within the system.  

Answer to Question 1(b):  We can see from the history of manufacturing system that they were created to help high-volume production of products.  These manufacturing systems used huge databases and they were created to implement production plans to meet demands.  HOwever, if production were over produced then the excessive inventories were a problem.  HOwever, in the later years, the manufacturing system changed.  Suppliers had to create new products and services to meet the customer’s expectations.  Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) were invented to provide continuous feedback and management over manufcaturing processes in order to estimate the chanmging market needs.  MES offered parts to manage machine resources, to increase prosduction schedules, to control workforce, to control labor and to automate documentation flow.  In the ’90s, ERP systems were invented to incor[porate manufacturing processes with other busines processes.  ERP ssytems control the processes across the supply chain in order to meet the customer’s need for information about products and services.  So, we can say that, manufacturing systems have been the basis for ERP systems. 

Answer to Question 3: 

• HUman Resources is related to Production Planning and Material MAnagement because organizations hire people to organiza tasks in the production planning.  People work together in the production process and at different areas to meet the deadlines of gthe customer’s and to ensure that the products are delivered on time.  THey are also heplful in Material Management because they have to make the recipe of materials neede to make products which is also known as BOM (Bill of Materials).  ALso, they have to calculate stock levels, order quantities, purchase orders etc. 
• Sales and Distribution is related because Production has access to sales estimation.  So, people can determine how much sale has been made and how much are the expectations. 
• Financial Accounting is related because purchasing maintains seller’s data which are categorized jointly with Finaancial Accounting. 

Answer to the Question:  The variety and types of user resistance to ERP systems are many.  There are some questions which the top management must ask themselves if they want to control user resistence to an ERP system and they are:

• Who are the resisting individuals and groups?
• What are their needs?
• What beliefs and values do they have?
• What are their interests?

User resistance to an ERP system can cause many problems.  In Short- term, it may hamper the many undergoing production processes which are monitored by the new system.  This is due to the user not knowing about ohow to use the system.  Thus, no new input of data is not given to the system to obtain information about the production processes.  Long-term crisis may include a huge loss of profit to the company due to the stoppage of production and not meeting the desired requirements of the orders which are issued by other big companies and trading houses.  The company may lose profit due to the hamper of rpoduction and also the implementation costs behind the ERP system because of user resistance.  Users’ can raise many questions regarding the huge change which the ERP system has brought in and they are that some users’ might point out computer illiteracy or, may say that they have done a good job for a long time without the help of the ERP system.  Other users’ might think that their jobs are at stake or, they will not know how to the use the system within a completely different environment.  Some users’ might question about power and authority values which can be destroyed by the new ERP system. Although, an ERP system strengthen a company’s position in the marketplace, some companies experience failures by implementing ERP systems because some organizations are not properly aligned with their business processes to chieve potential benefits from the ERP system.  Many companies which wish to implement ERP systems experience difficulties because the organization is not yet organized enough for the integration with the ERP system and the departments within the company also have their issues which leads to conflict with one another.  Companies such as Cisco Systems, East Man Kodak and Textronix have achieved benefits from their ERP systems but companies like FoxMeyer Drugs almost experienced Bankruptcy.  Companies have to change their business processes in order to adapt with the ERP system because that is what the ERP system is there to improve the business.  It is important to know the configurations of the ERP system while implementing.  The main business processes of the business needs to be identified before the implementation so that it best suits the functionalities of the ERP system.  User resistance can even cause a company majorly hamper its processes and lose profits because simply he or she does not want to adapt with the changes which the ERP system brought into the organization.  This can avoided by giving proper training to the employees and give them some tiime to adapt with the new ways of doing things and also with the new functionalities of the ERP system so work processes can go on smoothly afterwards.     

Answer to the Question:  An informed ERP adoption and selection process cannot be made without understanding what kind of problems lies within an organization.  The Project Managers have to have to look in every available path to decide whether the particular ERP system they are trying to propose for the organisation will be able to meet all the requirements and improve the business processes of the company or not.  The Project managers hae to see through all kinds of opportunities which can be of benefits to the company and which matches with the functions of the ERP system.  If they implement the ERP by overlooking the problems which exists within the company, then the implementation would not be a success because some of the problems are still exist within the organization and the ERP system would not be able to perform correctly if those problems arise.  In other words, the problems will be barriers against the system because the functionalities required to overcome those problems are not integrated within the system.  So, the system does not know how to solve those problems and improve the business processes.  So, the Project Managers have to understand all of the problems and propose the right ERP system which can solve all of the problems of the organisation and give them opportunities to improve its business processes. 

Answer to the Question:  Events which can trigger alterations in work plans are of various types.  The chain of events which might occur are disturbing events, consequential events, business impacts.  Disrupting events are classified as natural disasters like earthquakes, flood, hurricane etc.; infrastructure failures such as poer failure, fire; enterprise failures like server crash, voice communication failures and finally, human caused failures such as terrorism, biohazard.  Natural disasters like earthquakes, flood , hurricanes ,msnow storms can harm busineses in amny ways and in many ways are also helps businesses such a snow stron would not affect the business if the business is providing games which are being doenloaded froom the Web.  However, a snow storm can cause trouble for the business in other ways and the most consequential result would be the interference of transportation.  It can give problems to to the employees and the customers to get to the office on time and the consequence would be revenue loss of the business since the customers cannot buy anything from the business and the business cannot sell any services to the customers.  A snow storm can cause harm in another way as well and that is the collapse of a roof and snowfall on the roads and for example, a truck may get off track causing an accident destroying valuable equipments; sudden melting of snow may cause floods; These chain of events may cause other harms for the business such as the loss of facilities, loss of a key instrument, loss of important records etc.  All the other chain of events would produce a same consequential result which is the incapability to get to the desired location due to flood, terrorism, biohazard, snow storm etc. causing loss of revenue due to the incapacity of serving the customers.  The business impacts which will normally follow after these events would be the loss of revenue and high expenses.  The loss of revenue are of two types:  ‘Current revenue’ which causes the inability to serve the customers and ‘Future revenue’ which causes the customers to withdraw from the services which the business could not provide due to the events and customers choosing the services of the competitors’ of that business.  High expenses are also of two types: ‘Current expenses’ which will cause productivity losses such as distressed staffs and ‘Future expenses’ which will cause extra insurance and legal action. 

Answer to the Question:  The Company, Wingate Electric can implement an ERP system which will help the company retain its glory and the system will improve the company’s daily business processes and earn some profit as well.  The ERP system will help the company by upgrading the MIS system and efficient storage of transaction processes like sales order processing, inventory control, accounts payable, accounts receivable etc.  The system will surely overcome the problem of redundancy by using only one file system to store all the data.  In that way, no repition will occur.  A database has to be created in order to sort the datas so that the company can access any data and its attributes within a short time.  The ERP system will re-engineer the manufacturing of data by creating that database.  The system will support production planning and manufacturing by adding different modules in the system. 

if Wingate Electric Company does not order and implement the ERP system which they want to implement so badly, then the company will surely fall to its demise as it is already is in bad shape with its MIS system, repetition of datas regarding accounting and financial transaction processes.  It will be a waste of time because all the resources which they have used to order the ERP system such as thinking, remodelling the organisation, how to improve the manufacturing process etc.  will be of no help to them.  Also, the RFP which the top managemant board of the company thought of after a long time of consideration will fade away if no ERP system has been implemented to support the RFP module.  The company can go on for maximum six months but after that it will lose all of its resources to make anymore production thus experiencing a great loss and the CEO will be forced to shut the company as it will be too late to recover the loss. 

Answer of week 2 question:  If the IT Department want to adopt an ERP system, they should first see what kind of resources they have in order to support the new system and also consider the implementation failures.  A lot of companies fail to implement ERP systems and that is why this company have to analyse what are the possible failures that might arise when implementing the system.  The possible failures which might occur are customizations.  Every ERP project has its own unique customizations. It is the customization which makes the ERP system capable of working according to the needs’ of a particular business and its business processes.  However, this customization process is expensive and sometimes because of this the project is not completed by the deadline and also the budget is gone over the estimated one.  Customization also makes the software vulnerable and difficult to maintain.  Changes are necessary in later stages when the system is being implemented in the company due to inadequate requirements.  When evaluating the right product for the company in order to support the system, the IT Department might be confused due to a various range of products available in the market.  Also, choosing the right product might be difficult because a lot of products will have the same functionalities and capabilities to support the system but the longevity of the products might not be the same.  So, the Department have to analyse from a range of products and make sure the selected product meet all the requirements with the resources of the company.  After that, they can recommend the right product to the CEO of the company. 

Answer of week 3 question:  If a business has business processes which does not match with a commercially available ERP system, then the business should not adopt the ERP system because that would result in confusion with operating the system with unchanged business processes.  If the business processes are not re-engineered, then the new system would not be supported by the processes and it will not work for the organisation.  The business will survive but it will face loss every moonth and little profit.  Adopting an ERP system means changing the business processes so that the business can improve its performance in the long-run.  On the other hand, if the business does adopt the ERP system without changing its business processes, then they will have to make a lot of changes within the ERP system.  They will have re-organize the functions of the system in order to cope with the business processes.  However, in the long-run, this approach may not be suitable for the business because sooner or later the business has to change its business processes to support the ERP system due to the changes in the marketplace and arrival of new competitors. 

Answer to question 1: There are six elements in business process re-engineering and they are:

• Business processes which computerize the activities of day-to-day business.
• Integration which combines business processes.
• Technology which which uses advanced technology to redecorate business processes.
• Cross-functional coordination which redecorate the developments of daily business.
• Timing which upgrade processes and
• Objective which applies market-driven policies created to offer a competitive edge.

If a business does not want to change its business processes and sets a goal that it will improve without embracing any values from an ERP, then the business will surely fall to its demise and will not improve. It will face a lot problems and risks if they do not change their processes and do not apply the ERP within the organisation. The risks that the business will encounter will be wastage of a lot of money because the ERP system which they ordered took a lot of time to built and the business ordered it by paying a lot of money. So, the business has experienced a great loss instead of profit. They will gain no profit if they do not use the system. Another risk is that the business will lose a great amount of their resources. The business has spent a lot time thinking about improvements within the organisation and alot of changes has been made in the previous sytem to invite the new ERP system. If they do not use the ERP system, then all the resources like time, money, manpower which they used to improve the organisation will be a big wastage and no profit will be gained.

Answer of question 2: There are some ups and downs between Best of breed and ERP implementations. The best of breed tends to emphasize on the buyer’s perspective. For example, If a business wants to purchase some parts for is system, would it buy the parts from different marketplaces? The Best of breed has the tradition of acquiring diffrerent things from different buyers’. However, the ERP system only emphasizes on a one-stop approach in order to buy all the parts needed for the system of that particular business.

The advantage and disadvantages f both of the approaches are given below:

The advantages of ERP system:

• One-stop approach – It gives the option to the buyer to correspond with one supplier.
• Viability – Established ERP firms can capture the market when they see possible opportunities to make profits.
• Broader offering – many companies which acquires financial solutions need more products along with it such as Hr, procurement, order entry etc. and ERP firms are offering those products to those businesses.

The advantages of Best of breed system are:

• Expertise – The buyers’ choose selected product ranges which best suites their core competencies.
• Time – The system can be implemented easily without having to worry about the final decisions made by the executive board.
• Choice – The sellers’ of this system have more opportunities to offer the requirements of the buyers’.

The disadvantages of the ERP system are:

• Time – The implementation of the system takes a bit of time.
• Diversity – there are too much product ranges’ available by many vendors’ in the marketplace. Therefore, at a point, their entrance in the marketplace will cause their demise as many products will not be needed by the buyers’.

The disadvantages of Best of breed system are:

• Consolidation – If a seller is not favored by the buying organization, the the relationship between them is broken and the seller makes no profit.
• Interfacing options – The system needs interfaces to pass information. However, some interfaces are complex and hard to implement. So, choosing a proper interface is time consuming.

Additional considerations which would affect the decision of which system to choose are Cost. Costs are always important when it comes to selecting a particular system. When it comes to selecting between ERP and Best of Breed, the business needs to calculate pricing options and should determine what would be a predictable cost to buy the system. Implementation costs are also important in order to successfully apply the system within the organization and maintaining the standards of it.

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