Course Project Essay

They be Public Website, Manufacturing Support System (MSS), Human Resources System (HRS), and Sales and Marketing System (SMS). Public Website erects information about distributively of the growths, locations where soul can bribe them, and information about how to get warranty support. Details of warranty support and defect rates be not tracked, but the cater has anecdotal stories. The Manufacturing Support System (MSS) maintains the supply chain information necessary for manufacturing the phoners products, such as raw materials, vendors, and prices.The Human Resources System (HRS) maintains and tracks force and well-beings information. And the Sales and Marketing System (SMS) track the sales and marting efforts of the callers sales force. Orders from this musical arrangement ar printed and sent daily to the MSS to be filled. As a senior member of the IT Management Team for SAI Toys, I agree with the Board of bearors and the CEO decision to stay on the forefront of ge ekness, and therefore the confederation should integrate all ofits IT agreements.In addendum, they want to develop a more robust Web presence and sell their products proposely to individual customers in addition to selling by means of traditional retailers, as they currently ar doing. My recommendation is that we need to engross more staff if SAI Toys want to stay on the forefront. The company needs to hire professional computer specialist. The integration of new the softw ar course into a newly expanded IT administration which utilizes in some cases first genesis coding on legacy hardware can create operational problems which in-ho engage IT staff whitethorn be nable to solve. SAI Toys is not in the computer railway line. While computers are essential to the invention, manufacture and marketing of their products, SAI Toys would be well pay heedd by having their IT systems vertically integrated and maintained in a cloud computing environs, eliminating most of their IT billet employees in the process (Butcher, 2011). In this report, I take into account for show how the company should go about implementing this executive directive. The report should include the following sections.The report will also outline the situation, weighs various alternatives, and I will presents a final recommendation for the company. The report will also include the current IT system, overview of the recommended system, the difference between In Ho using up and Outsourcing development, the stakeholders buy-in, the ERP regorge failed with lessons learned, and the companys ROL amp TCO. Current IT Situation To evaluate SAI Toys, using the basic epitome techniques will help us to have an overview of the company and its environment.SWOT is a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. SAI Toys SWOT Analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). The Strengths of SAI Toys are Experienced and successful marketing team, High brand recognition for their unique products, Substantial 25 member IT team, and Quality control ensuring positive consumer feedback.The Weaknesses of SAI Toys are exceedingly competitive marketplace, Extensive and continuing RampD investment, Cost containment, and Personnel costs for IT staff (Butcher, 2011). The Opportunities of SAI Toys are Direct marketing and sales to consumers through company operated websites, Emerging international markets immediately accessible through the internet, and Substantial IT cost reduction through use of cloud computing. The Threats of SAI Toys are Loss of market share, Major competitors integrating vertically and selling direct, and Changing technology requiring escalating engineering costs (Butcher, 2011).The Competitive Strategy Analysis is the second basis analysis technique to help us to have an overview of the compa ny and its environment. SAI cannot afford the possibility of IT system failure given the highly competitive market in which they operate. New product initiation, manufacture, and marketing require that their IT system be full moon functional 24/7 with no down fourth dimension. To sustain growth and revenue and stay ahead of potency competition SAI Toys will need to invest heavily in Research and organic evolution (RampD) on an ongoing basis (Butcher, 2011).This will include shape up investment in hiring skilled engineering personnel. Because SAI Toys creates unique products which may exclusively dominate a small segment of the market from which all of its revenue is derived, the knowledgeability into the market of a competitors similar product with enhanced features and lower retail pricing may severely impact SAI Toys ability to interpret sales and revenue (Butcher, 2011). Swimlanes Diagram AS-IS Diagram Overview of Recommended SystemThe various systems currently in place wi ll be replaced or integrated into the new system. assuming that SAI Toys has elected to develop an integrated IT system in-house utilizing its current IT structure but expanding operability to allow all four (4) distinct IT systems to communicate with all(prenominal) other, an Organizational forge Performance system evaluation is necessary which will derive quantitative objectives for quality and process performance from the organizations demarcation objectives (Butcher, 2011). The new system will be the ERP Implementation. at that place is a Process of ERP Implementation. While ERP is clearly a software solution for SAI, its instruction execution must be done on an incremental basis to limit interruptions to the existing business structure at SAI. Like all IT changes, problems can and will develop. To minimize the impact on SAIs ongoing business operation the implementation of ERP should occur during the lapses between product launches or product design and development stages and implementation should be accomplished on a step-by-step basis, one application at a time.Limiting IT installations and disruptions to non-critical time periods will permit the least stressful adoption of the IT structure and allow SAI to maintain its revenue stream without incurring a loss (Butcher, 2011). There are numerous vendors who get rid ofer ERP software which would be easily configurable for SAIs item requirements. Microsoft, Oracle, Sage, Exact, SAP, and Intuitive each offer ERP software solutions which can manage companies like SAI with up to 1,000 users.Each of these can incorporate e-commerce platforms into the production and supply chain and provide SAI Toys focusing with instantaneous information reports including warranty claims, product claims, and defective product losses to together with consumer feedback in real-time (Butcher, 2011). rough new features in this system will include 1) Improved customer satisfaction 2) Increased shekelsability 3) Reduced co sts ) Improved quality and processing times 5) Improved business culture by bridging the gap between the production line and management 6) Improved business performance by focusing team members on eliminating run out crossways key business processes and workflows (Butcher, 2011). There are umpteen companies out there that have successfully made the transition from a brick and mortar business to an E-Commerce. The E-Commerce can help the company grow and expand.An e-commerce platform can be used for advertising, production, supplier enquiries, negotiations, contracts, orders, billing, payments, and after sales service and other business activities in the process of interactive program management that can simplify the transaction process (Butcher, 2011). SOA would be of benefit to this ramble. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design principle can be utilized during the phases of systems development and integration. A system based on SOA will package functionality as suite of interoperable work that can be used within multiple separate systems from the four separate systems.SOA also generally provides a way for consumers of go such as web-based applications to be aware of available SOA based services. For example, several disparate departments within a company may develop and deploy SOA services in antithetic implementation languages and their respective clients will benefit from a well understood, well defined interface to access them. SOA defines integration for widely disparate applications for a web-based environment and uses multiple implementation platforms (Butcher, 2011). Rather than defining an API, SOA defines the interface in terms of protocols and functionality.An endpoint is the entry point for such a SOA implementation. Service-orientation requires loose coupling of services with operating systems and other technologies that underlies applications. SOA separates functions into distinct units, or services, which developers make accessible over a network in order to allow users to combine and reuse them in the production of applications. These services and their check consumers communicate with each other by passing data in a well-defined, shared format, or by corresponding an activity between two or more services.SOA is therefore a continuum as opposed to distributed computing or modular programming (Butcher, 2011). Swimlanes diagrams- TO-BE diagram In-House versus Outsourcing Development The benefits and costs of developing this system in-house versus outsourcing the development or purchasing off-the-shelf are very important to consider. Off-the-shelf ERP packages are tested and proven performers which are an essential requirement for a company like SAI Toys which cannot afford the inevitable downtime associated with fragmented software design and installation.On a cost benefit analysis basis the investment in purchasing an off-the-shelf ERP software package is substantially less than the cost of downtime and syst em inoperability where an in-house software design fails (Butcher, 2011). The ability of the software vendor to de-bug an off-the-shelf system can be handbilld in minutes or hours versus the possibility and probability of several days of downtime with in-house developed software.The purchase price of an ERP software package can be amortized over a useful lifespan of five years or more and when compared to the prospective recur downtime of in-house developed software the advantages of an ERP off-the-shelf solution cannot be ignored (Butcher, 2011). To avoid as more pitfalls as possible in the overhaul of SAIs IT system it is recommended that SAI avoid in-house software development of this magnitude. While some of SAIs IT staff may be proficient in software development there are the issues of minimum and exacting standards employed in the industry which may not be a consideration for in-house development.CCMI and ISO certifications should also impact the decision here. CMMI and ISO certification are an inherent part of these off-the-shelf software solutions which pull offs the uncertain standards that may be employed in in-house software development (Butcher, 2011). We should develop the system by Some best practices for managing the project type to having a better chance of success are Stakeholder Buy-in and Internal Politics The stakeholders of this system are essential. Once stakeholders are on board with the system development, they are likely to remain involved, supporting the program over its lifetime.We can get them to buy-in and support the system development by property them informed throughout the process of the system, including during the evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting phases (Innovation Network, 2002-2012). Stakeholders are valuable assets in evaluation planning, offering * Assistance in decision-making about continued and prospective funding * Perspective that helps the program learn, grow, and improve, and * Experience tha t informs program replication at other sites or organizations.The Stakeholders fall into three levels of program participation or involvement. There are * Primary stakeholdersare typically major decision makers within a program, and are often the motivators behind an evaluation effort. They are often program staff, supervisors, senior managers, and funders. * Secondary stakeholdershave less contact with the administrative side of the program, but are still important to the evaluation effort. They include program participants and their families direct service staff and possibly other professionals providing subsequent services to program participants. Tertiary stakeholdersare more distant but are likely to be interested in evaluation findings for example, potential program participants, the general public, or members of the same profession (Innovation Network, 2002-2012). There are other issues that may arise as a result of the internal politics in our company that could have a nega tive impact on the project. The best thing to do is to cringe the risk of project failure due to internal issues. Many systems development problems are in practice caused by a failure to perceive that particularised stakeholders viewpoints were relevant.That failure causes whole groups of requirements, typically those related to scenarios involving the missing stakeholders to be missed. A similar result is obtained when one stakeholder assumes one scope for a product period another stakeholder assumes another. This occurs when a developer assumes that it will be sufficient to design, code, and test software but the purchaser hopes to have everything set-up and operators trained (Butcher, 2011). Stakeholder composition is a good soothsayer of project risk and therefore it should be cost- impressive to characterize projects at their initiation according to their stakeholder impact.SAI can minimize internal politics by fully evaluating each stakeholder and assuring them that their input is critical to the overall success of the project. Each stakeholder then becomes part of the project team and has a vested interest in ensuring the supreme success of the project. Team meetings bring all of the stakeholders together to discuss differences and eliminate issues which would delay or derail the project. Each team member realizes that their participation is evenly important within their area of specialization or expertise fully under their direct control and unchallenged by direct confrontation.In this manner, each team member must demonstrate how their participation and overall cooperation contributes to the overall success of the project (Butcher, 2011). ERP Project Failures and Lessons Learned Studying ERP project failures is an essential part of project success. By identifying the same or similar issues that lead to failure in one company, SAI can take steps to avoid or eliminate those problems as they arise. Case studies also provide a precursor to the fores eeable problems that occur in ERP implementation allowing SAI management an opportunity to prepare for these problems by formulating a contingency plan.ERP project failures are common but this not unique to ERP. Every system has glitches regardless of the quality of design or the expertise of design personnel (Butcher, 2011). In the Case Study for Implementation Failure at Hersheys Chocolate it was established that Hersheys failed to use an incremental method of implementation, preferably installing full software during periods of peak business. The resulting disaster from inoperability due to bugs and glitches resulted in a loss of peak season revenue for Hersheys. Both corporate management and IT staff developed an immediate dislike for the ERP implementation.This could easily have been avoided had Hersheys implemented the new software on a step-by-step basis during the off season when sales and revenue would have been less dramatically affected (Butcher, 2011). Hersheys also tri ed to implement a variety of enterprisingness applications simultaneously which added to the stress of a seemingly failed project. In fact, there was nothing wrong with the ERP software but its implementation was a complete failure as the company tried to modify their business processes to suit the enterprise application which created further problems.The lesson learned is that implementation should be conducted one step at a time, each successful Installation reinforcing managements initial decision to purchase. The ERP problems at Hersheys are commonly repeated where management fails to realize the complexity of implementation and the necessity to proceed cautiously and maintain focus (Butcher, 2011). Return on Investment and Total Cost of Ownership Some poetic rhythm that we can use to determine if the system was a success is a disciplined methodology has been developed calledtotal cost of ownership(TCO).It is designed to properly analyze the full cost of an IT investment. In o rder to calculate TCO properly, all related costs must be identified and captured. TCO models organize costs into two broad categories 1. Direct costsCosts in this category are usually for activities and investments that are related to IT or support. They can usually be calculated by examining the demonstrable or projected costs of hardware, software, people, and facilities. 2. Indirect costsThese costs are not always visible and can be very difficult to measure and quantify.This type of cost crosses the entire organizations business operations. Some examples of these indirect costs are Administration, Downtime, and End-user operations (Devry, unknown). In order to measure the metrics and figure out when service lines should be compulsive, we should developed methodologies for determining TCO. The first methodology is the Project initiation. This can be one of the most critical phases of a project. The think why is because the following are determined the expectations of the clie nt, the type of relationship the organization will ave with the client (This can influence the management costs. ), and the projects scope. Ideally, the objectives of the project should be defined at this stage, and the categories for TCO can be aligned with these project objectives. To determine the impact of any deviations from initial projections, an up-to-date TCO should be maintained at all times (Devry, unknown). The second methodology is the Cost Modeling. Through the entire TCO process a major activity is the TCO cost analysis. This continues to be refined as new information becomes available during the project.This activity includes classifying the costs according to the financial policies of an organization as well as defining the financial model for the project. The one-third methodology is the Cost Collection. Once the financial and cost model has been determined, all available cost estimates are collected. Once these are entered into the financial model, a baseline is determined. The total cost of ownership that is presented in this deliverable should be considered a snapshot in time. It is important that all stakeholders understand this and that the TCO may or may not change substantially from this point forward (Devry, unknown).The fourth methodology is Evaluation/Final Report. This is the development of a TCO project deliverable that goes to the organizations stakeholders and decision makers. It typically includes the final project evaluation and a correlation of all finding recommendations and results. The last methodology is Ongoing Refinement of the TCO Model. It is very disused for all costs and contract negotiations in a large project to be finalized at the same time. Additionally, an implementation plan usually cannot be determined at the same time as, or even immediately after, delivery of the final report.As a result, the TCO is an estimate of project costs based on the data and decisions available when the report was researched and w ritten. As key decisions regarding rollout and implementation strategy are reached, the TCO model should be refined to include the most current project cost estimates (Devry, unknown). Another metrics that we can use to determine if the system was a success is Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI (return on investment) is how much profit or cost savings is gained. An ROI calculation is sometimes used along with other business practices to develop a business case for an IT proposal.The overall ROI for an enterprise is sometimes used to determine how well a company is managed. The work performed to determine the TCO can be used to calculate the ROI. Even though many TCO costs are long term, they can be applied solely to the initial investment or divided between the initial investment and serve as an ad bonnyment to the final value. While both methods are valid, they can give different results it is important that the organization establish a policy for ROI computations across all proje cts (Devry, unknown).One of the more difficult aspects of an ROI calculation is determining the soft, or people benefits. Three considerations that impact these soft benefits follow * Speed of adoptionThis benefit considers how quickly employees come up to speed using the new process, system, technology, or tools provided by the implementation. It indicates how quickly employees demonstrate the new skills or behaviors and adapt to the new roles that are required by a change. * Ultimate utilization or participation rateThis evaluates the percentage of employees that are engaged and practicing the new way of doing things.Surprisingly, in many implementations, employees can avoid actively participating in workflows and procedures, and this can undermine the project in subtle ways. * ProficiencyAs the change is implemented, this examines how proficient and effective the employees have become. Many times, this proficiency, or ability to better perform their job function, is a significant part of the changes original motivation. It measures not just the status after the change, but the ongoing improvement to the organization with the new systems, tools, and processes in place and the organizational and job changes fully implemented.Some examples include the time saved in performing a particular operation while using the new system, the improved close rate for sales and contracts brought by the use of a competitive information database, and the amount of waste reduced by new streamlined activities or processes (Devry, unknown). Conclusion In conclusion, my recommendation to SAI Toys is that they need to hire more staff if they want to implement this executive directive.If they cant afford it or can cope with integrating all of their IT systems, then I would suggest they stick to manufacturing the toys in-house and shipped to brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Best Buy and Target, as well as e-Commerce only sites, such as ThinkGeek. com and Buy. com.