ERP System at Abu Dhabi Police Headquarters - Essay Example

ERP SYSTEM AT ABU DHABI POLICE HEADQUARTERS (Name) (University) Abstract Enterprise Resources Planning systems has been instrumental in numerous business management systems, offering benefits of seamless communication and real-time capabilities. ERP systems are designed with the objective of improving operational efficiency in improving organizational processes while decreasing operational cost. One such system is the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 whose benefits is witnessed at Abu Dhabi’s Police HQ. Nevertheless, the system’s implementation has been faced by a number of complications, whose mitigation process has adequately satisfied its operational capabilities. As such, this retrospect paper seeks to evaluate the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8  system in line to its operational efficiency, encountered complications and probable recommendation for future systems. List of Acronyms ERP- Enterprise Recourse Planning TQM-Total Quality Management HQ-Head Quarters 1.0 Introduction The Human Resource General at the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ sought to improve the police headquarters as an electronic work environment. Evidently, the projects began in 2004 and has continued to improve significantly over the years. The present global competitive environment compelled the organization to maintain its effectiveness in operation. The implementing information system at Abu Dhabi Police headquarters was created with the objective of sustaining its business and competitive advantage in dispensing security services. The realization of thisinitiativenecessitated the incorporation of divergent approaches and philosophies such as business excellence and Total Quality Management. Evidently ERP has had asubstantial effect on supply chain operations with respect to the resource-based theory and contingency theory (Hwang & Min, 2013). Abu Dhabi Police department had to address a number of pertinent issues affecting the functionality of the headquarters, per se, about its Total Quality Management (Fend, 2006& Ionica, 2010). Arguably, TQM is suggested to be a prerequisite practice enhanced prior to the establishment of any ERP system. With the quest of attaining excellence in its operation,the incorporation of Abu Dhabi ERP system, rolled out by the government was significantly important. Abu Dhabi Police HQ has greatly benefited from investing on Oracle the secure and superior database essential for the government organizations. Additionally itaddressesnecessaryrequirements that safeguard privacy, data consolidation and regulatory compliance. Overview of System The vendor, Oracle built the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8  systems which effectively automates and streamlines the messages throughout the business process. The solution has effectively served over 5000 internal users (Oracle, 2013). Oracle deployed the systems with the objective of managingthe entire electronic messaging systems that replaced the circulars and manually drafted letters between different external entities. Eventually, its implementation resulted to the reorganization of different documentation and correspondence as accessible and searchable. The integration of the e-faxes and emails has resulted to an efficient response on the dispensation of Abu Dhabi Police services. Uncertainly, the systems have achieved a smoother updates of permissions and responsibilities. As a dynamic entity in Abu Dhabi, the police department has an increasing pool of external and internal IT users whose functionalities is imperative in attaining organizational success. Oracle’s content management has significantly equipped the Abu Dhabi Police with a unified architecture which securely manages different external and internal documentation. As such, a considerable reduction on cost and administration has been realized. 2.0 Enterprise System and Vendor  Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 is one of Oracle’s most scalable engineered designs. It is a comprehensively engineered systems that optimally runs the applications and databases on a single framework. The system is ideal for private clouds and massive consolidation. Its design is efficient in the integration of the run business-critical enterprise applications and efficiently dispenses cloud services through an efficient and cost saving approach. The system’s versatility, along with bundled virtualization capacities, increases the system’s effectiveness in consolidating a large number of the database, multi-user development, deploy complex, middleware workloads and development environments. The systemconsolidates highly scalable technologies including optional Oracle Database 12c, optional Oracle Solaris Cluster software and 11g Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle, 2013). The system’s architecture is capable of isolating high isolation degree on the concurrently deployed applications consisting of different reliability, security and performance requirements. The system offers an appropriate solution for divergent workloads, ranging from scan-intensive data warehouse application to highly concurrent online transactions and process application. With the consolidation of the Oracle Exadata Storage servers, latest hardware component and Oracle Database software, the systems deliver an extremely powerful and highly performing platform in a highly secure environment (Gartner, 2011). Abu Dhabi Police HQ has integrated the Oracle SuperCluster systems together with the Oracle undertones through the use of Infiniband expansion ports, in addition to optional data switches. InfiniBand technology offers a high-bandwidth, security, low-latency and hardware level reliability (Oracle, 2013). The department was able to integrate Oracle SuperCluster systems with the existing data centresinfrastructuregiven the availability of the 10 GbE ports on the SPARC servers (Oracle, 2013). Oracle SuperCluster Components Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 consolidates Oracle Exadata Storage server’s technology, paramount in the performance of the Oracle Database (Oracle, 2013). As such, it incorporates the optional Exalogic Cloud Software that increasingly accelerates Java performance applications and middleware. Simply put, the systems are engineered in a way that hosts the complete Oracle Software solution pack. Customer-developed software and third party ISV software can be incorporated in Application Domains (Oracle, 2013). Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 has been structured in a way that completely leverages the internal InfiniBand fabric linking all the storage components and processes within the system, hence forming a large computing device (Oracle, 2013). Tentatively, the system’s functionality utilizes the following components: i. SPARC T5-8 Servers The servers offer a large storage capacity that significantly highlights the integrated design which provides virtualization and integration of essential applications. The system’s half-rack configuration has SPARC T5-8 servers (Oracle, 2013). Each server consists of the following. a. 2 TB or 1 TB of Memory. All the operating servers are equipped with 128 or 64 dual inline memory modules, otherwise denoted as DIMMs. b. Eight or Four SPARC processors equipped with 16 cores that utilize advanced S3 core design (Oracle, 2013). c. Eight Disk Drives; The systems consists of eight SAS2 disk drives of 900 GB. d. Sun PCIe Dual Port Adapters essentialin the system given their low latency 40 Gb/sec host channels adapters. e. PCIe 2.0 Low Profile Adapter & Sun Dual Port 10 GbE SFP; These cards offer the customers efficient access to the SPARC T5-8 server. ii. ZFS Storage ZS3-ES Appliance feature provides a flash enabled Hybrid Storage Pools. Its application is instrumental in managing shared application throughout the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 (Oracle, 2013). iii. Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switch 36 which provides a low-latency and high-throughput vital for the inclusion of interprocess communication. Three types of Infiniband are available on the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8, hence provisioning operative connectivity within the system. iv. Ethernet Management Switch provides management connectivity within the management ports on all available switches and servers in the system (Oracle, 2013). 3.0 Problem Encountered During Implementation 3.2 Reengineering Although the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8  is structured for minimal changes to the system’s functionality, its incorporation necessitates for re-engineering in adhering to most proffered business standards. Throughout the integration process aligning employees to the new system proved problematic. Several departmental process were unique and needed preservation;attributed to their importance in the organizational process. Altering the organizational process to the system’s functionality took a longer period that anticipated. However, the system was eventually adopted. 3.3 Implementation Time Oracle packages are sometimes general and may require a particular type of business. Hence,customization for public organizations such as a police department, takes a lengthier period. Notwithstanding the shorter development time and proffered utilization, the systemconfiguration takes more protracted period (da Silveira, 2013). For instance, SPARC servers need to be configured independently, whereas HA are configured in pairs. Tentatively, InfiniBands need a high precision during assembly and connection. Such important aspects are essential in facilitating simplified installation and increased performance. 3.4 Employee Perception An additional factor that was not successfully considered was the employee perception of Oracle SuperCluster T5-8. Rumours among staff suggested that the implementation of the system would lead to increased staff truncation. Markedly, thestaff of various departments would be truncated by just30 percent of the original staff members. Hence, resistance was inevitable. Due to the gaps in system implantation, inaccurate data was occasionally acknowledgedin some of its transactions thatreduced the system’s integrity. Compatibility between the new systems and the outdated ERP system was increasingly difficult. The implementation of the new systems suggested that the primary data needed to be maintained in one department while it was used by a different department. 4.0 Overcoming Legacy Systems Challenges Evidently, legacy systems do not function in an ERP environment. In countering the legacy problems associated with the implementation of the Oracle SuperCluster T5-8, the comprehension and mapping of the legacy structure were instrumental in data integration. Hence,attunity assisted the organization in overcoming the challenges fronted by legacy systems. The attunity replicate was instrumental in the automation of the complex processes affiliated to creating data copies. Hence, attunity replicate facilitated data replication through; i. Continuous extraction of data from the legacy database essential in utilizing low-impact CDC technology. ii. Handling of optimized and parallel data loading to the warehouses. iii. Mapping data-automation components by consolidating a hierarchical model such as VSAM or IMS and updating the relationship throughout the replication process. The simplification and acceleration of data wererealized by using; i. MainframeDB2 data ii. Open VMS RMS data iii. Mainframe IMS data iv. HP Non-stop Enscribe data 5.0 Similar Enterprise System Oracle SuperCluster M6-32 As the newest member in the ERP market, the Oracle SuperCluster M6-32provides new capabilities that exceed its predecessor. For instance, it offers higher processing capability enabled through its 32 SPARC M6 processors with a memory of about 1 Terabyte per physical processor (Oracle, 2013). It consists of increased I/O 64 PCLe Gen 3 slots typified by three virtualization levels namely Logical Domains, Oracle Solaris Zones and Physical Domains (Oracle, 2013).The Exadata Storage Serves employs the Extradata Smart Flash loggings which increases the user transaction response time, while augmenting the database on the I/O intensive workloads (Oracle, 2013). Given its improved functionality, the system has been highly intergraded by banks and data intensive institutions. Although Oracle SuperCluster M6-32 is at its early stages, it is highly likely that it will receive a higher preference than its predecessor. Ideally, the Oracle SuperCluster M6-32 offers hardware isolation through the groupings of memory, CPU and I/O availability (Oracle, 2013). 6.0 Recommendation 6.1 Management Practice Initiating change in any organization is an imperative aspect aimed at improving the organization’s productivity. As witnessed in the integration at Abu Dhabi police HQ, ineffective change management process affected the organization’s process at divergent levels. Therefore, an efficient management process limits organizational resistance at various staff levels. Lewin and other scholars have outlined proffered strategies that may be used in implementing and managing organizational change (Perk, 2008). In this regard, Abu Dhabi Police HQ should employ Kotter’s approach in creating a sustainable change process (Browning, 2007). This approach offers least resistance to change because it conforms to appropriate change process. Employee Training It is increasingly difficult to measure the success of an implementation practice. Therefore, it is important that the project team initiates a successful training program. However, after the training programs 60 percent of the staff were unable to operate the systems. This was a major failure. Hence, a grace period one month was allocated for training. Therefore, the organization were forced to use its primary strategy. Moreover, the provision of smooth access to the ERP systems necessitates for the incorporation of a large number of aspects. These elements include the provision of information, software, training and hardware (Peterson, 2009). 6.2 Re-engineering and system’s customization Business process re-engineering offers a profound change in the organizational process in order to sustain the ERP functions. Consequently, in the case when an organization seeks to maintain its process, it could significantly customize its ERP services through the re-engineering process. 6.3 Implementation toSuperior Systems Oracle SuperCluster M6-32’s superiority supersedes the functionality of the present systems. Therefore, over time the organizations should improve its systems through its subsequent implementation. Not only is the systems faster, but it offers superior capabilities in managing data flows and information. 7.0 The Enterprise Trend and Perspective ERP systems have increasingly subjected its popularity in different institutions, through its provisioning of seamless communication and real-time capabilities. Hence, the system have been subjected to increased usage in developed nations and public sectors. Given the increased usage of the systems, future studies ought to be implemented in the creation of sustainable ERP systems that are increasingly simplified. Complications arising from legacy systems can be avoided at all cost. On the other hand, simplified user configurations and interfaces need to be developed with the aim of improving its incorporation in various organizations. 8.0 Conclusion It is evident that Abu Dhabi Police HQ has significantly benefitted from the implementation of Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 systems. As such, the organization has maintained its productivity efficiency in intra and intercommunication in various practices. Although it experienced significant challenges, the organization has used effective mitigation strategies such as attunity replicate in addressing these issues. Oracle SuperCluster T5-8 systemshave built a strong foundation for streamlining its police communication processes. As a highly competitive industry, the Dubai Police HQ have increasingly grown as a pool of external and internal users as. Abu Dhabi police havetacticallyrationalized productivity and operation by implementing IT infrastructure in its business processes in line with the government’s e-government ERP initiatives References Armstrong, M. (2009). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page. Barclay, A. (2009). Employee change agents: the foundation for effective organizational Change.International business research, 2 (1), 3-7. Browning, B. W. (2007). 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