Solaricot and System Reliability - Case Study Example

Solaricot and System Reliability [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Contents Enterprise Resource Planning system and its value to Solaricot 3 Introduction 4 Possible reasons for the SiME failure at Solaricot 5 Transition and changeover 5 User training 6 Possible recommendations for Solaricot 6 Business Process Reengineering 6 Project Management 7 User participation 7 Technological and dispute resolutions 8 Importance of Understanding Value by IT/IS graduate 9 References 12 Abstract: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be described as an integrated software application essential for managing businesses by assimilating all aspects of business operation such as sales and marketing, accounting, manufacturing, customer relationship management and human resource management. This paper explores the value of ERP to a business; it further critically evaluates and reports the reason behind the failure of SiME, a type of ERP, at Soloricot based on the traditional systems development life cycle methodology. It further offers possible recommendations. In addition, it details a reflective report on the significance of understanding value by an IT/IS graduate with supported reasons by two academic articles from either MIS Quarterly or MIS Quarterly Executive. Enterprise Resource Planning system and its value to Solaricot Introduction Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system refers to an integrated software program used in the management of businesses. The software assimilates all facets of business operation such as sales and marketing, accounting, manufacturing, customer relationship management and human resource management. ERP system automates these activities using an integrated software program. Typically, the system facilitates information flow across the sections of a company as well as its business processes (Vilpola 2008). For a manufacturing company like Solaricot, the ERP system can prove essential in integrating a range of business operations thus saving time and expense. In effect, Solaricot’s executive management benefits from faster and informed decision-making. By centralizing business data, it can further enable Solaricot to consolidate sales and marketing, accounting as well as human resource thus eliminating the need to harmonize changes. In addition, ERP system can to a great extent enhance the quality and efficiency of the company as it keeps Solaricot’s internal business processes running. It can hence lead to better outputs that are beneficial to the company including its manufacturing and customer service processes. Further, it can also make the company more responsive as well as boost its capacity to adapt to changes, meaning the company is made more receptive, flexible and less rigidly structured. This enables different sections of the organization to function more cohesively. Additionally, ERP system can improve Solaricot’s customer relationship thus eliminating redundancy and tedium from routine activities (Vilpola 2008). In brief, if the ERP system is well implemented, it can substantially lead to reductions in production cost, cost of raw materials and even production time. Possible reasons for the SiME failure at Solaricot When the ERP system is improperly implemented, it can to a considerable extent be detrimental to a company’s overall wellbeing. This can possibly explain the failure of the ERP system called Systems in Manufacturing Enterprises (SiME) that Solaricot had adopted. Three possible factors can explain this failure. Transition and changeover Transition can be suitably defined as the process of changing over from one system to the other. It can also refer to the process of handing over a new system to an organization. It is possible that the transition at Solaricot to adopt SiME was ineffective. After the ERP system was implemented at Solaricot, its employees as well as its upper level management may have greatly expected the new system to serve their needs much better. However, since it was entirely new to the organization, it was only logical that it would take the employees some time to learn how to operate it. Logically, employees would have to first familiarize themselves with its functionality before its expectations are ultimately achieved. However, since in every organization a change in organizational culture must always be met by some form of resistance, a number of the employees must have showed reluctance to submit to retraining on how to use the new system. Logically, the resistance must have been unrelenting if Solaricot had secluded employees in the implementation of the SiME (Vilpola 2008). User training Successful implementation of the SiME was dependent on effective user training. Typically, since the ERP system embraces various sections of the department, its implementation brought a lot of changes that required a new set of skills. Thus training the employees on the use of the SiME helps them adapt to the changes. It also imparts positive attitude on the new system and appreciation of its prospective benefits. Indeed, if the employees lack training on the use of the new system, chances are that they will use the system in the same manner they did to the old system, thus leading to drastic consequences such as failure of the new system or decline in overall performance of the company. In conclusion, Solaricot must have been rash in implementing the SiME, and therefore overlooked the transition period, employment of consultants, and user training. Possible recommendations for Solaricot Business Process Reengineering Business process reengineering (BPR) refers to the elemental rethinking and redesigning of business processes to attain remarkable enhancement in the crucial, up to date measures of performance such as speed, service, quality and costs. Technically, ERP system implementation is a BPR enabler, thus to implement the ERP system effectively, the business processes at Solaricot should have been modified to conform to the SiME model. This means that, if the company had to achieve effectiveness with the new ERP system, it had to apply BPR as well as customize the SiME to suit its needs. However, it has to be cautious as the more customizations and modifications are made on the vendor ERP system, the less effective the implementation becomes. It should however be perceived that even as BPR has its share of rewards, it is also confronted with challenges (Mitra, Sambamurthy and Westerman 2011). Project Management Since the ERP system tends to be all-embracing given that they integrate a range of business processes, ERP projects would naturally tend to be complex in their manifestations. Usually, such a system would call for effective project management skills. With this regard, Solaricat had to employ the virtue of effective project management so that the SiME could be viewed by the company as a series of activities undertaken as a single project. In this case, the major focus of SiMe project should be to get the job done within a specific period and cost. Accordingly, Solaricot should initiate project teams with the right employees from different departments who can drive the project to effectiveness. Thus there should be planning of a well configured task as well as clear-cut estimation of the required efforts. User participation Solaricot should seek to involve employees to actively participate in the ERP system project. Critically, employees often view the implementation of systems as a potential threat to their work. In some other cases, the perception may influence them to resist changes brought about by the system. By involving the employees in the implementation of SiME, it enables them to have a positive attitude towards the new system. In addition, Solaricot should initiate effective use training on the use of SiMe. Thus training the employees on the use of the SiME will help them adapt the changes. It will in addition enable them to have a positive attitude towards the new system as well as appreciate its prospective benefits. When employees receive training on the use of the new system, chances are that they will use the system appropriately thus eliminating the chances of further breakdowns or failures of the new system. Technological and dispute resolutions After Solaricot introduced SiME, it is possible that the new system must have triggered conflicting interests between the employees who were opposed to the system and the upper level management. Thus it’s is imperative that Solaricot’s top level management must carefully investigate the likely conflicts and resolve them if further implementation of the SiME has to be pursued without resistance. In fact, a major barrier that faces effective implementation of the ERP system includes resistance to change and conflicts -- since the system brings significant changes within the organization. For instances, a number of activities that were initially done manually are dramatically automated, which means some employees may be rendered redundant, or lose jobs. On the issue of technological conflicts, Solaricot should deploy the virtue of seeking the help of consultants to assist with the implementation of the SiME. Consultants who are knowledgeable with the ERP system implementation can be of substantial benefit to its implementation at Solaricot. With the consultants or technological experts, unforeseen complications in the system can be solved before they worsen (Vilpola 2008). In conclusion, the effective implementation of the ERP system at Solaricot would mean that the organization derives the possible gains of the integrated processes as well as a standardized process and to create prospects to re-engineer business processes beyond the scope of the organization. (Word Count = 1461) Importance of Understanding Value by IT/IS graduate Value can be described as the contribution that information technology and its effective organization make to the company with regard to what the business appreciates and accepts. Measurement and communication of value contributed by the IT has continued to be a challenge for businesses and universities as it can be quite difficult to demonstrate the connection between the business-level financial metrics and the IT function actions that benefit from a high level of standing such as profitability or revenue. On critical reflection below, understanding of value is showed as important for an IT or IS graduate. In the knowledge of technology curriculum, researches have tended to link how value affects the manner in which a field of knowledge manifests itself at the macro level. In technology education for instance, a similar macro relates to factors that influence the decisions that IT or IS graduates make in selecting technology innovation, thus the perception of value adding solutions are correlated with strengthening the values of the dominant cultures (Seemann 2006). At the university, technology study is based on valuing innovation, the holistic technology study as an economic, human and social process and the concept that craftsmanship skill performance as well as their value in problem solving and making informed decisions are linked to management and display of the value associated with the nature of the technology choice (Luftman and Kempaiah 2007). In another scenario, studying technology education has always called for the appreciation of the value employed in innovation. IT or IS graduates are often asked to demonstrate commitment to research as well as appreciating self even in instances of idea failures during the efforts to innovate technology. Here, the concept of value links to “faith in individual efforts” and the underlying factors that triggers one to persist on. In this way, being innovative is highly associated to self-judgment of what is important (Seemann 2006). Through the understanding of the factors that lead to greatly innovative and creative ideas and the circumstances that lead to their introduction, the uptake and transfer is crucial for any graduate who aspires to lead a company, or prospective employer, in making breakthroughs in business processes (Luftman and Kempaiah 2007). It can further be argued that value is specifically important for an IT or IS graduate in instances when task importance is placed on competition with what the graduate views are other values of greater importance to them (Seemann 2006). Generally, value metrics would aim to encourage more competitive, effective and innovative IT-enabled business processes. For example, in the case of the manufacturing industry that faced decline in product demands and highly competitive pricing, the value metrics led the company to place significance on using high-tech technology to ensure quality demands. Significance was further placed on enhanced customer service and distribution. For instance, through the use of Satellite technology, the company can track location. Through the Internet, customers can directly contact the company to review the status of the delivery. In addition, it enables the graduates to assume an effective approach for tracking, communicating and measuring performance on the organization and use of IT in businesses. In addition, conventional IT metrics such as IT spending or IT budgets can be used by the IT or IS graduate to reduce IT costs instead of emphasizing on the value of investing in IT, their position in improving business processes as well as their capacity to enable business innovation (Mitra, Sambamurthy and Westerman 2011). In conclusion, this paper constitutes a critical reflection on three cases. The first case is based on the cross-cultural technology education. The second is based on the issues faced by graduates who are expected to inculcate innovation to prospective employers, and the third one on how to leverage the internal value metrics in a company to gain a competitive edge. In all the three cases, the significance of value was suggested as the predominant driver for the effectiveness of task performance. (Word Count = 662) References Mitra, S, Sambamurthy, V & Westerman, G 2011, Measuring IT Performance and Communicating Value, MIS Quarterly Executive, 10 (1) 47-50, 57-60 Luftman, J & Kempaiah, R 2007, An Update on Business-IT Alignment: “A Line” Has Been Drawn1 MIS Quarterly Executive Vol. 6 No. 3 pp166-171, 174-176 Seemann, K 2006, The role of values in graduate performance in cross-cultural and innovation education, Proceedings of Values in technology education: the 4th biennial International Conference on Technology Education, Centre for Learning Research, Griffith University, pp 2-6 Vilpola, I H 2008, A method for improving ERP implementation success by the principles and process of user-centred design, Enterprise Information System,s 2 (1): 47–76. Read More