CIS 3009 SEMESTER 3, 2013

CIS 3009   SEMESTER 3, 2013 

Assignment 3 specification

Description	Marks out of	Wtg(%)	Due date
ASSIGNMENT 3	100.00	25.00	20 January 2014

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The total submission for this assignment should consist of two files:

1.      A file containing the Case Study Evaluation Report, SAP Reflective Essay and Journal Entries. A Word document (.doc or .docx) is preferred but a refined text file format (.rtf) is also acceptable. 

2.      A second file containing only the SAP Exercise 2 answers.  These will need to be collated into one file by cutting and pasting into either a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or a .pdf file. 

Instructions for submission:

1.      Submit the FINAL version of file containing the Case Study Evaluation Report, SAP Reflective Essay and Journal Entries to Turnitin for review as instructed on the course Study Desk.

a.       If your Turnitin report is acceptable, it is ready for submission. 

b.      If the Turnitin report stands at more than ten percent, you should revise the applicable sections before submitting. Even if it is below ten percent but there is a significant match with the work of another student, some revision is advisable.

2.      You should not submit your Turnitin report as we are able to access them in Turnitin.

3.      Submit your assignment file and your SAP exercise file electronically via EASE by the due date.   The EASE link will be available on the CIS3009 StudyDesk. 

4.      If you experience issues with the submission process please:

1.      Check and ensure that the size of each file is less than 5MB and that it is either a .doc, .docx, .rft  or .pdf file type (as per instructions above), then attempt to submit again,

2.      If you continue to have problems submitting, contact AskUSQ for technical assistance,

3.      If no technical causes are identified and you continue to have problems submitting, send me an email with your name, student number and details of the problem you are experiencing and I will advise you what to do next.

4.      Please DO NOT send your assignment files via email. 

 

SECTION A: CASE STUDY (50 marks)

In-text citation and references (or sources) are required using the Harvard referencing style

This section is based on the following case study.

Brown, V & Vessey, I 2001, 'Nibco's "Big Bang"', Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-42.

As an external consultant, you have been hired by NIBCO to conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of the processes NIBCO undertook in choosing SAP as its ERP system and to present your analysis in the case study format to NIBCO’s Leadership Triad addressed to Mr. S. Beutler. 

Your tasks:

1.      Read the complete case study to ensure you fully understand the SAP implementation and its outcomes.

2.      Focus on the Case Study sections VIII-XV, pp. 20-39 and use your knowledge of the Motiwalla & Thompson textbook, chapters 5-9 inclusive and at least 6 academically sound external sources, to develop your report. 

3.      As the case study highlights many issues, too many to be addressed in this assignment, you are required to restrict your analysis to following topics:

a.       The implementation strategy adopted,

b.      Risk management,

c.       Gap analysis, and

d.      Change management

4.      Your report should end with an evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the Implementation Process (in relation to the above topics only), and a ‘lessons learned’ section to inform any future ERP purchase process.

 

Length: 2500-3000 words.

 

SECTION B (50 marks) - SAP Practical Exercise 2, Journal and Reflective Essay

In-text citation and references (or sources) are required for the reflective essay using the Harvard referencing style

SAP Exercise 2, Journal and Reflective Essay.

1.      Complete the SAP exercise as directed in tutorials 7-9 and record the outputs in a word or refined text file. 

2.      Continue to keep a journal of your activities and experience of using SAP.  Include a copy of your full journal as an appendix to the reflective essay.

3. Reflective Essay: Using your journal written as you completed both SAP exercises, write an essay of between 800 and 1200 words reflecting your end user experiences of the SAP software.  To assist you in your reflection, you must:
1. Identify five appropriate end user criteria with which to evaluate the SAP software.  The five criteria should be based upon the course readings and your research of suitable academic and highly regarded industry papers.  That is, this essay should be based on your journals but should also draw upon the theoretical knowledge you have gained during the semester.

In the allocation of marks, your inputs in the SAP GBI database (as shown in a SAP report of your activity by User ID), your submitted journal and SAP exercise outputs will be taken into account.  Please note, no marks will be given for this section if the SAP report generated does not produce a record of any activity by your User ID).

 

 

MARKING CRITERIA

CIS3009 Assignment 3	Marking Criteria	Max Mark
Section A: Case Study   As an external consultant, you have been hired by NIBCO to conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of the processes NIBCO undertook in choosing SAP as its ERP system and to present your analysis in the case study format to NIBCO’s Leadership Triad addressed to Mr. S. Beutler.  Your tasks: 1.       Read the complete case study to ensure you fully understand the SAP implementation and its outcomes. 2.       Focus on the Case Study sections VIII-XV, pp. 20-39 and use your knowledge of the Motiwalla & Thompson textbook, chapters 5-9 inclusive and at least 6 academically sound external sources, to develop your report.  3.       The case study highlights many issues, too many to be addressed in this assignment.  Consequently you are required to restrict your analysis to following topics: a.       The implementation strategy adopted, b.       Risk management, c.        Gap analysis, and d.       Change management 4.      Your report should end with an evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the Implementation Process, and a ‘lessons learned’ section to inform any future ERP purchase process.	1. Case study follows required format (5 marks)	5
	2. Demonstrates knowledge of relevant sections of the study materials (10 marks)	10
	3. Demonstrates insight into the core issues and stimulates interest. (5 marks)	5
	4. Essay demonstrates the ability to develop an argument and draw appropriate conclusions. (5 marks)	5
	5. Correct use of citation and referencing using the Harvard referencing style. (10 marks)	10
	6. Essay is structurally and grammatically sound, with well-developed paragraphs. (-5 marks)	0
	7. Essay is free from spelling and punctuation errors. (-5 marks)	0
Section A - Total Mark		35
Section B – SAP exercise, journal, and reflective essay:
SAP exercise, journal	SAP report shows few if any section(s) of the exercise was attempted (-10  marks)	0
Reflective Essay: To assist you in your reflection, you must: 1.       Identify five appropriate end user criteria with which to evaluate the SAP software.  The five criteria should be based upon the course readings and your research of suitable academic and highly regarded industry papers.  That is, this essay should be based on your journals but should also draw upon the theoretical knowledge you have gained during the semester.	Identify five end user criteria with justification of appropriateness (5  marks)	5
	Essay demonstrates insight into the student’s experience learning and using SAP based upon their chosen criteria.  (10 marks)	10
	Essay is grammatically sound; exhibits clarity and facility of expression; grammatically sound; and is free from spelling and punctuation errors. (-5 marks)	0
Section B - Total Mark		50

 CIS 8000 global information system

CIS 3009 SEMESTER 3, 2013

CIS 3009   SEMESTER 3, 2013  

Executive summary

1.0 Overview

NIBCO is a mid size pipe and fitting manufacturer having more than 3000 employees working in the organization with total revenue of $460 million. NIBCO has implemented SAP R/3 recently in organization with help of Boston Consulting group. NIBCO has implemented ERP with one day implementation i.e. Big Bang which creates quiet risky proposition for the organization in case anything happens wrong while at the time of implementation.

The aim of present report is to analyze various implementation elements for the ERP system which has taken through Big Bang approach. Present report would analyze the implementation strategy adopted by NIBCO, management of risk while implementing ERP, carrying out Gap analysis, exploring change management strategy adopted. Further present report would look into the overall effectiveness of the implementation adopted by the company for their ERP implementation and lesson which has been learnt through present ERP implementation. Lesson learnt section would help the management consultants in case of future purchase for the ERP software so that better measures can be adopted for the purchase of ERP software.CIS 3002

2.0 Implementation strategy adopted

There are several elements of ERP implementation process which needs to be discussed while assessing the implementation strategy adopted by an organization for ERP and the two important elements of implementation strategy includes ERP implementation approach (vanilla or big bang) and team formation strategy used. For implementation of ERP system cross functional team were selected and these cross functional teams were responsible for entire ERP implementation process starting for the need assessment to final go live phase. An executive leadership team was formulated in order to develop change management in the organization. A triad team was formed where in technology team was lead by Wilson, business coordination was lead by Beutler and change management was lead by Davis.   

At the time of adopting implementation strategy i.e. whether Big Bang and Vanilla several case studies for the implementation of ERP system were referred along with success. BCG recommended 3 to 5 years of phased implementation which was not found suitable as per the top management analysis for the final implementation. Further case studies used by the team formed for the ERP implementation found that several companies which used go slow, phased approach for the implementation were not among the successful organization for the implementation of ERP system. Another reason which was pointing towards adoption of Big Bang approach was the quick implementation demanded by the business team in NIBCO. Further current implementation also included moving from mainframe system to the client/server systems which would give due importance to R/3 licenses required for the system. Executive leadership team formed for the ERP implementation recommended usage of Big Bang approach looking into the consulting cost and increase in information system cost against the perceived benefits which would be obtained through current ERP system.

After formation of decision at ground level and middle management level entire proposal for the purchase of R/3 system and Big Bang implementation was finally presented to the Board of Directors for NIBCO from where proposal got signed off along with the remarks that Big Bang implementation for ERP is high risk and high reward scenario hence NIBCO need to put its best resource at work in order to make system implementation successful. NIBCO selected two partners for the consultation and these two were Cap Gemini and IBM. IBM was selected as NIBCO was already a hardware shop for IBM hence supporting hardware was the prime motive behind selection of IBM for the ERP implementation while major objective behind selection of Cap Gemini was the strong change management program which company has with them.

In order to implement ERP system in the organization NIBCO used Big Bang approach which was high risk and high reward strategy for the implementation of SAP. The issue with Big Bang approach adopted by the organization was requirement of high degree of change in the organizational technology and processes which has high threat for the change fatigue to occur in the organization. Further with Big Bang approach it was important that business initiatives in the organization have new ideas for the implementation of ERP. Further implementation through Big Bang approach would allow high consulting cost for the organization but this consulting cost would sustain for over 3 to 5 years of time period.

Final implementation for ERP system kicked off on 30^th September and total 14 months time was taken in order to plan for ERP system implementation while total ERP system implementation took 15 months of hard work from the organization. First week of implementation was spent in order to build project team while second week of the project implementation was spent by IBM in order to discuss about changes which would be required for the implementation of ERP system. Further introductory level training along with R/3 module training was imparted through 2 to 5 days of compulsory courses.

3.0 Risk management

Risk management is a critical aspect for the NIBCO ERP implementation and well taken care by the management of NIBCO. Below are some of the points showing risk and the mitigate strategy used by NIBCO in order to successfully execute ERP implementation in the organization:

v  High consulting cost: NIBCO is a mid-sized organization having revenue of $460 million while the consulting cost was one of the most critical costs incurred by NIBCO in entire ERP implementation plan. More than 50% of the budget was spent on consulting cost to the two vendor hired by the company i.e. IBM and Cap Gemini. There was an inherent risk that in case of failure of ERP implementation the entire cost would go in vain unlike hardware cost which would still remain with the organization despite of unsuccessful implementation. This could have been a severe financial loss for the organization and in order to mitigate the risk of high consulting cost NIBCO developed an integrated strategy where in vendors were involved in the project to high extent and time to time management was reviewing the project implementation strategy developed by vendor which lead the overall project to success. 

v  Great degree of change needed and possibility of change fatigue: Implementation of ERP system in NIBCO was challenging from the perspective of high degree of change which would be brought in the organization and there was risk that change fatigue might occur in the organizations due to which there are high chances of failure of the ERP implementation project. In order to mitigate the risk of high degree of change and change fatigue from the initial ERP system proposal top management lead to the development of mindset for change so that processes and systems are so flexible that high degree of change can be implemented without change fatigue to take place in the organization. Consultants hired by NIBCO were assigned the responsibility to design business process re-engineering in such a way that system and processes are so well coordinated to lay down smooth path for the implementation of ERP system in the organization.  

v  IBM was not able to manage a successful ERP till date: Another major risk for the organization was with vendor hired by the organization. IBM was the major consulting organization helping NIBCO in their ERP implementation. But the major issue was with IBM as till the time of ERP implementation in NIBCO, IBM has never implemented ERP successfully which was a point of risk for the organization. In order to mitigate risk of lack of experience Cap Gemini was included and even help of external consultants were obtained so that ERP implementation plan can be supported for NIBCO.     

v  Change management

4.0 Gap Analysis

5.0 Change management

6.0 Overall effectiveness of implementation process

7.0 Lesson learned for future ERP purchase process

Conclusion

References