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MITS6004MajorAssignment

MITS6004

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING

Major Assignment

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

Opening Case

Of Men and Mice: An ERP Case Study

Source: Based on the article by Katz, D. (2001). Of Men and Mice: An ERP Case

Study, CFO.com, March 21.

Jackson Laboratory is a non-profit, independent, world-renowned genetic research

institute founded in 1929. Located in Bar Harbor, Maine, it had a budget of $80

million and 1,200 employees, including 32 in IT. Jackson Laboratory decided to install

an ERP system with a $5 million budget and a one-year time frame. Despite the

installation challenges, the project’s actual cost was close to the budget and took only

about six months longer than expected.

Jackson Lab’s major installation challenge was the integration of its unique mouse-

development functions into Oracle’s ERP system. One of the problems faced by

Jackson stemmed from an internal HR issue (i.e., the risk that the action or inaction

of the software provider would hinder the implementation). Jackson Lab coped with

these challenges by modifying the ERP system to accommodate its business process,

placing special emphasis on training, seeking a fixed-fee contract with Oracle, and

purchasing a surety bond to reduce project risk. The surety bond was issued by an

entity on behalf of a second party, guaranteeing that the second party would fulfil an

obligation or series of obligations to a third party.

In the event that the obligations are not met, the third party would recover its losses

via the bond. Every year about $3 billion worth of surety bonds are generated by

construction projects compared with a mere $8 million for IT (mostly for

governmental contracts); however, there is insufficient commonality and

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

standardization in the IT industry on the bonds. A surety bond works well only for a

fixed-fee contract because it provides the benchmarks needed to frame a bond price.

Jackson Lab selected an integrated ERP suite from Oracle rather than a best-of-breed

option. The Oracle applications suite included modules for process manufacturing,

accounting, e-procurement, and HR, among others. Their biggest challenge was

modification of the Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM) module to accommodate

the lab’s unique business processes of raising and distributing mice. The OPM module

was designed for companies that mix ingredients together to produce such products

as bread or beer, not for a lab environment.

The implementation team chose a phased-implementation approach instead of a big

bang approach. The first phase initially went live in February, including the

management of production capacity, accounts receivable, some general-ledger

functions, and the purchasing of manufacturing material; in April, they launched

other modules including accounting for research grants, the rest of general-ledger

functions, accounts payable, and fixed assets.

For the second phase, which began in June, the remaining modules including process

management, human resources, payroll, labor distribution, and a grant filing

application were installed. Jackson faced personnel problems during ERP installation

when the best and brightest employees were involved in the implementation

process, leaving them shorthanded to do the everyday work. In addition, Jackson’s IT

staff lacked experience with ERP, only one person had some experience in installing

an ERP.

Further cost overruns resulted from training, an especially big-cost item. The time-

and-materials basis contract would have increased the risk of overtime and going

over budget because vendors and consultants have an interest in quoting low and

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

seeing the work grow as the project proceeds. There is a natural competitiveness

between the buyer and the ERP vendor.

The vendor benefits by placing a “veil of complexity” over their work; the buyer wants

to get the system up and running with the least amount of work and customization.

The service-level agreements generally tend to be very complex because a much

clearer definition of roles and responsibilities between client and service provider is

needed. From a consultant’s and vendor’s perspective, a high (>25 percent)

contingency is quite reasonable depending on the nature of the work, whereas this

is too much from the buyer’s perspective.

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

Objectives(s):

This assessment item relates to the unit learning outcomes as in the unit descriptor.

This assessment is designed to improve student collaborative skills in a team

environment and to give students experience in constructing a range of documents

as deliverables for different stages of the Enterprise Resource Planning using a

simulated industry case study.

INSTRUCTIONS

Major Study Assignment – 30% (week 12) Group Assignment

In this assignment student will work in small groups to develop components of the

phased implementation approach discussed in lectures. Student groups should be

no more than four. Each group needs to complete the group participation form

attached to the end of this document. Assignments will not be graded unless a

group participation form is completed.

Carefully read the associated case study above and from this Assignment you are to

prepare the following documents.

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

1. System Description

2. Scope of the System

3. Executive Overview

3.1 Project Identifiers

3.2 Project Summary

4. Software Requirement Specification

4.1 Functional Requirements

4.2 Non-Functional Requirements

5. ERP Selection & Implementation

5.1 ERP Selection

5.2 Vendor Satisfaction

5.3 Deployment Options

5.4 Implementation Approach

6. System Description

6.1 Analysis and Design

6.2 Methodologies

6.3 Prototype

6.4 Acquisition & Development

6.4.1 Hardware and Software

6.4.2 Customization

6.4.3 Configuration

7. Feasibility Analysis

8. Issue, Risk & Change Management

8.1 Open risks

8.2 Open change requests

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

9. ERP implementation costs

9.1 Project costs

9.2 Project duration

9.3 Success & Failure

10. Conclusion

The above list of documents is not necessarily in any order. The chronological order

we cover these topics in lectures is not meant to dictate the order in which you collate

these into one coherent document for your assignment.

Your report must include a Title page with the title of the Assignment and the name

and ID numbers of all group members. A contents page showing page numbers and

titles of all major sections of the report. All figures included must have captions and

Figure numbers and be referenced within the document. Captions for figures placed

below the figure, captions for tables placed above the table. Include a footer with the

page number. Your report should use 1.5 spacing with a 12 point Times New Roman

font. Include references where appropriate. Citation of sources is mandatory and

must be in the Harward style.

Only one submission is made per group. The group should select a member to submit

the assignment by the due date and time. All members of the group will receive the

same grade unless special arrangement is made due to group conflicts. Any conflict

should be resolved by the group, but failing that, please contact your lecture who will

then resolve any issues which may involve specific assignment of work tasks, or

removal of group members.

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

What to Submit

All submissions are to be submitted through turn-it-in. Drop- boxes linked to turn-it-

in will be set up in the Unit of Study Moodle account. Assignments not submitted

through these drop-boxes will not be considered.

Submissions must be made by the due date and time (which will be in the session

detailed above) and determined by your Unit coordinator. Submissions made after

due date and time will be penalized at the rate of 10% per day (including weekend

days).

The turn-it-in similarity score will be used in determining the level if any of plagiarism.

Turn-it-in will check conference websites, journal articles, the Web and your class

member submission for plagiarism. You can see your turn-it-in similarity score when

you submit your assignment to the appropriate drop-box. If this is a concern you will

have a chance to change your assignment and re-submit. However, re-submission is

only allowed prior to the submission due date and time. After the due date and time

have elapsed you cannot make re-submissions and you will have to live with the

similarity score as there will be no chance for changing. Thus, plan early and submit

early to take advantage of the feature. You can make multiple submissions, but

please remember we only see the last submission, and the date and time you

submitted will be taken from that submission.

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

Please Note: All work is due by the due date and time. Late submissions will be

penalized at the rate of 10% per day including weekends.

MITS6004 MajorAssignment

Group Participation Form

This form is to be completed by the group and returned to your tutor/lecturer as soon as possible.

We, the undersigned, agree to contribute individually and as a team to complete the Group Assignment for MITS 6004 Enterprise Resource

Planning in the time specified. (It should be noted that failure to participate in a group may result in a fail for the assignment component of the

subject.)

Group membership:

Surname First name Student ID Date Signature

1. / /

2. / /

3. / /

* All members in the team will receive the same mark for an assignment, unless there are extenuating circumstances whereby an

individual’s mark has to be altered by the tutor/lecturer, or if the peer group assessment warrants it.

** Team members should contact their tutor/lecturer immediately if problems arise within the team that may cause completion of an

assignment to be severely delayed, or the quality of the submission to be substantially lowered.