Hd assignment on Proposal
Satocthcm09
Assessment3Details_Proposal_SBM4203_S12019_Final1.pdf
Page | 1 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
Unit Code and Title: SBM4203 Management Information Systems
Assessment 3: Proposal
Due date: Week 10
Group/individual: Individual
Word count / Time provided: 1500 words
Weighting: 30%
Unit Learning Outcomes: ULO-1, ULO-2, ULO-3, ULO-4, ULO-5
Course Learning Outcomes: CLO-1, CLO-4, CLO-6, CLO-8, CLO-9
Graduate Attributes: GA09, GA11, GA12
Marking Information: The Proposal will be marked out of 100 and will be weighted 30% of the total
unit mark.
Assessment Details:
Read the case study below and complete the exercise at the end.
Case study: How Tumi Cut Inventory and Increased Sales
A decade ago, Tumi, Inc.’s customer fill rates were below 80%, and the company had an excess
of inventory - among other problems. But when the travel products maker decided to retire
its legacy systems and standardize on SAP Business Suite, it experienced business expansion
and better customer service. This profile details Tumi’s implementation success story and its
transition to a more retail-focused company
At a Glance Tumi, Inc.
Headquarters: South Plainfield, New Jersey
Industry: Maker of luxury luggage, handbags, and other travel accessories
Company details: Founded in 1975 First retail store opened in 1997 140 retail, department, and specialty stores in 65+ countries 100+ patents for product design and component parts
Assessment-3 Details
Page | 2 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
SAP solutions: SAP ERP SAP CRM SAP NetWeaver BW
The agenda of any executive meeting usually addresses the same topic, whether directly or
indirectly: how to expand the company’s customer base and keep existing customers satisfied
and coming back. At luggage and travel products maker Tumi, Inc., when management
meetings concentrated on the company’s bulging inventories and poor customer fill rates,
everyone looked to the IT organization for answers. And when the discussion turned to
accelerating the company’s European expansion, again the group looked to IT for a solution.
At that time, in 2001, IT didn’t have an easy answer. Tumi’s patchwork of homegrown, US-
centric legacy systems provided little capability for improved inventory management,
customer satisfaction, and global expansion. Disparate systems for important processes such
as order-taking, warehousing, and financials weren’t connected and relied on periodic batch
updates to provide a somewhat consolidated but infrequent view of operations.
In short, the company’s growth was being stifled at a critical time, and the IT organization did
not have the appropriate technology in place to handle the business’s demands for a new
direction.
“We knew our customer fill rates were below 80%, and we had a ton of capital sitting in
inventory,” says Jim Walsh, Vice President of IT. “We heard this once a month at our
management meetings, and we would tell the group we were working on solutions — but, in
reality, those were just Band-Aids.”
Today, almost a decade later, those management meetings at Tumi operate very differently,
and senior business leaders’ view of IT has shifted dramatically. According to Walsh, “The IT
organization is much more of a business driver today than it was in the past.” Now, business
process owners seek out the IT organization’s advice and support in designing and executing
their business strategies.
“When we have steering committee meetings and discuss the three-year plan, no one asks if
there will be an IT issue,” says Walsh, adding that there really aren’t “IT problems” anymore
but rather “business problems,” which are collaboratively solved with IT being one of the
organizations contributing to the solution.
Page | 3 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
What’s behind this shift isn’t simply an increase in the size of the IT organization. (Walsh’s
core team remains steady at 12 people.) The difference has been Tumi’s decision to retire its
legacy systems and standardize on a single integrated enterprise system, which started with
a “big-bang” implementation of SAP Business Suite solutions to produce a large amount of
change in a short amount of time. Matching Technology to Business Needs
The first step in Tumi’s IT-driven business transformation was perhaps the most important —
selecting the right enterprise system. After managing with its legacy systems for so long, one
of Tumi’s top priorities in evaluating an enterprise system was scalability. The company
wanted to be sure that no matter where its business initiatives took it, growth would not be
constrained by IT systems. It also wanted the flexibility to deploy solutions that would directly
affect its most pressing — and often changing — business challenges.
To address these needs, Tumi deployed SAP Business Suite, specifically for the following
functionality: SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) to improve relationships with
both wholesale and retail customers SAP Sales for Retail and Wholesale Distribution to alleviate poor customer fill rates SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) to streamline inventory turns SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) to centralize data and
improve reporting SAP Forecasting and Replenishment for Retail and Wholesale Distribution to determine
customer trends earlier and react better to consumer market demands
Page | 4 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
SAP ERP Financials to accurately track financial data and streamline quarterly closing processes
But technology alone would not solve all of Tumi’s challenges. Through its close partnership
with SAP implementation specialist Answer think, Tumi identified SAP installation best
practices and then redesigned some of its business processes to better leverage the new
systems. “We agreed ahead of time that we would make nothing custom to Tumi,” says
Walsh. “We wanted to implement proven solutions that other companies have used already
very successfully.” How Technology Drives Business Expansion
With a foundation of new, scalable solutions in place, business expansion at Tumi is
happening more rapidly than previously expected. Since its SAP implementation go-live, Tumi
has opened two new US distribution centres, increased distribution to overseas markets, and
become a much more retail-focused company. “We were predominantly a wholesaler when
we implemented our SAP solutions, but we’re now becoming a retailer as well,” Walsh says.
“It was the natural migration of our business, but it would have been impossible with our
legacy systems. Now we’re distributing to our own stores and have offices and sales teams in
many more countries.”
High-Impact Results
Tumi has seen some dramatic business results since implementing SAP Business Suite
solutions, most notably: 30% reduction in inventory levels 38% reduction in warehouse space 44% reduction in days sales outstanding 25% increase in sales
The new IT strategy and SAP implementation not only drove the operational aspects of the
retail expansion — the improved inventory management processes actually helped free up
working capital to allow Tumi to pursue its retail channel. Walsh says, “We brought our
inventory levels down by 30% while increasing sales by 25%.”
As Walsh explains it, in the past, Tumi forecasted using spreadsheets. And because the
manual process took so long, it was done infrequently, providing longer-term forecasts at
best, which required higher inventory levels. However, the visibility provided by the SAP
Business Suite solutions allows Tumi now to develop more accurate and timely forecasts and
then base its manufacturing and supply chain decisions on real demand instead of longer-
term forecasts.
Page | 5 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
“When actual demand starts coming in, we can see how close we are to the forecast and plan
our inventory based on that,” Walsh says. “We are talking with our manufacturing suppliers
about inventory, telling them to push out certain purchase orders and bring others in, which
we weren’t doing before because we had nothing to base our recommendations on. This is
where we get our efficiencies — in exchanging information, in being able to alert everyone in
our supply chain of potential delays, issues, and shortages, and in being able to react quickly.”
The “actual demand” data comes from Tumi’s retailers being connected to its SAP CRM
application, which provides instant data on product pricing and availability throughout its
various sales channels. And on a broader scale, Tumi is using SAP CRM to analyze consumer
buying trends to better respond to consumers’ changing needs and put products where they
are needed most.
The result is a dramatic 30% reduction in the inventory it carries and a corresponding 38%
reduction in warehouse space, which equates to a significant increase in the working capital
available for new projects, such as launching a retail sales channel. Providing Customers with Better Service
Today, Tumi operates roughly 90 retail stores worldwide, with many additional partner-run
locations in operation. Going forward, Tumi plans to continue its transition from wholesaler
to direct-to-consumer retailer, both online and in its stores. But retail requires a more hands-
on customer service model than wholesale, which is another area where Tumi’s SAP CRM
application is driving the business forward.
“When a retail customer calls to find out where an order is, we used to have to put the
customer on hold while we called the warehouse. Our customers expect more than that,”
Walsh says. “Now with SAP CRM, we can provide better service to those consumers. If they
sent a bag in for repair, we can tell them exactly where it is, no matter who picked up the
phone. It’s all in the same system now.”
These various customer-facing enhancements, such as improved inventory levels, fill rates,
and customer service — made possible by Tumi’s new SAP solutions — are setting the stage
for happier, more satisfied consumers, which leads to repeat business and more sales
opportunities.
Ref:
Tumi case study (n.d.) https://sapinsider.wispubs.com/Assets/Case-
Studies/2011/January/How-Tumi-Cut-Inventory-And-Increased-Sales visited on March 7
2019
Page | 6 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
Exercise:
Imagine you are a manager of a company which is also running a business like TUMI with
similar capital and infrastructure. It has many departments such as sale, marketing, finance,
HRM etc. By reading the above article, you are motivated to upgrade your system to ERP. You
are required to make a business proposal to convince your CEO about installing ERP system
in your company. You must address the followings in your proposal through considerable
amount of literature review.
1. What is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)? Its benefits and limitations. 2. Why do you believe your company should be upgraded with ERP? 3. List the top 10 brands which offer ERP solution to SMEs. 4. Do a comparative analysis among of them. 5. Which brand do you think is feasible to your company, other than SAP, and why?
Justify your arguments with a detailed cost benefit analysis.
Marking rubric: The assessment will be marked out of 100 and will be weighted 30% of
the total unit mark
Marking Criteria
Not satisfactory
(0-49%) of the criterion mark
Satisfactory
(50-64%) of the criterion mark
Good
(65-74%) of the criterion mark
Very Good
(75-84%) of the criterion mark
Excellent
(85-100%) of the criterion
mark
Introduction (10 marks)
Poor Introduction with irrelevant details
Introduction is presented briefly with some relevance and missing elements such as the impact of phishing attack on the society/ the report outline
Introduction is generally presented in good fashion, however missing one element such as the impact of phishing on the society/ the report outline
Introduction is well written with clear discussion about the impact of phishing on the society, and the report outline
Introduction is very well written with very clear background, discussion about the impact of phishing on the society, and the report outline
Content Understanding
of the Key components of
writing a proposal
including ERP, CRM and SCM,
cost benefit analysis.
Lack of evidence of adequate understanding of the selected project case. Majority of information irrelevant and significant points left out.
Evidence of unsatisfactory knowledge and skills of developing project scope statement including ERP, CRM and SCM,
Has given a factual and/or conceptual knowledge and skills base in developing project scope statement. Evidence of average
Reasonable knowledge and skills of developing project scope statement. Demonstrated enhanced understanding of ERP, CRM and
Has excellent skills in developing project scope statement. All questions answered. Comprehensive and complete coverage of information. In-
Page | 7 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 13th February 2019 & Version 1
(30 marks) cost benefit analysis.
knowledge of ERP, CRM and SCM, cost benefit analysis.
SCM, cost benefit analysis.
depth and profound understanding of ERP, CRM and SCM, cost benefit analysis were noticed
Essay organization How logically
arguments are stated and how
critically problems are
analysed (20 marks)
Does not clearly state a conclusion or point of view or else little or no supporting reasoning or evidence is presented. Problem situation is not critically analysed
States a conclusion or point of view but does not organize the evidence or reasons in a logically adequate way. Analysis of the problem situation is not that satisfactory
States a conclusion or point of view but expected to be organized more logically. Analysis of the problem situation is so far reasonable.
Presents an argument using evidence and /or logical reasoning in support of a point of view. Problem situation is analysed with satisfactory level of critical analysis skills.
Develops a clearly articulated argument, using evidence and/or systematic logical reasoning in support of a conclusion or point of view. The way problem situation is analysed requires high level of critical analysis skills.
Working Mechanism
(20 marks)
Poor discussion with irrelevant information
Brief discussion about working mechanism of phishing attacks
Generally good discussion about working mechanism of phishing attacks
Very clear working mechanism of phishing attacks
A very detailed and very clear working mechanism of phishing attacks
Summary (10 marks)
Summary not relating to the report
Brief summary of the report with some relevance
Generally good summary of the report
A section clearly summarizing the overall contribution
A section very clearly summarizing the overall contribution
References and citation
(10 marks)
Lacks consistency with many errors.
Unclear referencing/style
Generally good referencing/style
Clear referencing/ style
Clear styles with excellent source of references.
