Case study 4: Border states industires fuels rapid growth with erp

Border states industires fuels rapid growth with erp Case study 4

SUMMARY:
           - (BSE) or Border State Electric is a wholesale distributor for construction, Industrial, utility and data communication market, the goal of BSE is to provide customers with whatever they need whenever they need it this also include providing custom services beyond delivery of products, BSE decided to customize their system extensively by writing their own software this would allow ERP systems to interface with systems from other vendors during the time that this program had rolled out BSE did not adopt the best practice business process within the SAP software but hired consultants who were not familiar with the program implementing the required changes needed so much customization that BSE had to delay the launch dates for the new ERP system. Until February 1^st 1999.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.) What problems was Border States Industries encountering as it expanded? What management, organization, and technology factors were responsible for these problems?

Ans:

            In the end of 1990 the Rigel legacy ERP system could not support BSE new line of business because the Rigel was prepared to exclusively for electrical wholesalers. In management Factor, the BSE management chooses to create new ERP system. They deal with IBM and SAP to perform the new system. Then In Organizational factor, it was the first enforcement between BSE and SAP software and few consultants familiar with the version of the SAP software that BSE using instead of adopting the best-practice business processes embedded in the SAP software, BSE hired consultants to further customize the SAP software to make it new SAP System look like its old Rigel System in certain area. And lastly, In technology Factor, the company makes a new program for software that provide an opportunity for ERP system to interface automatically with other companies.

2.) How easy was it to develop a solution using SAP ERP software? Explain your answer.

Ans;

            Use of SAP ERP Software was not easy to develop a solution using, because they did not want to make extreme change for the entire system.

3.) List and describe the benefits from the SAP software.

Ans: 

 Manual work for handling receive mail, delivering checks physically; preparing bank deposits to the bank is reduced about 60% of vendor invoices are sent electronically that reduced the numbers of staff accounts payable and the number of transaction mistakes. SAP system creates all of BSE’s planning and budgeting data presented online.it allowed management to make enhanced and faster decisions.

4.) How much did the new system solution transform the business? Explain your answer

Ans: 

This new software allowed BSE to reduced fulfillment period to 72 hours and transaction processing period by 63% it use to take 15 to 30 days for BSE to receive rebates from vendors , BSE was first deployed SAP software in 1998, the sales have been increased to 300 percent, incomes have raised to more than 500% and 60% of accounts payable transactions are done electronically using EDI the organizational looks at its inventory more than for times each year.

5.) How successful was this solution for BSE? Identify and describe the metrics used to measure the success of the solution

Ans: 

Gartner Group consultants performed an independent evaluation of BSE’s ERP implementation .Gartner analyzed BSE data on the impact of the ERP system on BSE’s business process costs, using costs. As percentage of sales as its final metric for assessing the financial impact of SAP software, costs categories analyzed included costs of goods sold overheated and administration, warehousing costs IT support and Delivery.

6.) If you had been in charge of SAP’s ERP implementations, what would you have done differently?

Ans: 

The ERP software is not designed for extensive customization like BSE did during the initial implementation in 1999. Rather than adopting the best practice business processes embedded in the SAP software BSE, decides to customize The SAP software to make its new system look like its old system. The initial training for “expert users” was not handle well, the system was not tested as it would be used in a working production environment before the system actually went live.