CISM $4000$ Information Systems in Accounting

Assessment $2$

$($Individual Assessment$)$

$$Response to Request $-$ For $-$ Proposal $($RFP$)$ for an ERP System$$

Aim:

This assessment is designed to give you the opportunity to learn about ERP systems and to

make decisions based on your investigation.

Assessment:

The assignment contains two connected parts:

$1.$ Slide Deck $10\%$

$2.$ Presentation $20\%$

Background

Hyde Park Technologies Pty Ltd $($HPT$),$ a medium$-$sized enterprise with a turnover of $$100$

million per year is considering the purchase of an ERP system.

As they have an urgent need to update their accounting system, they plan on purchasing an

ERP financial module as the first step and then over time, they plan on integrating this

module as part of a larger ERP rollout through the company.

Eileen Dover, the CEO of HPT recently issued a request for proposal $($RFP$)$ to a number of

ERP vendors.

To assist the vendors in the preparation of their responses, Eileen has provided the

following information:

$$ HPT was founded by Eileen$$s father $($Hans Dover$)$ in $1986.$ Even though Hans is now

in his $70$s$,$ he still plays an important figurehead role in the company and will have

influence in the choice of vendor. Eileen has emphasised that whilst the presentation

materials be to a high professional standard, it is imperative that they clearly and

simply articulate the $$Hansefits$$ of the new system and don$$t just contain $$cut and

paste$$ from the company$$s website as her father would be very disappointed by

such an approach.

$$ The current IT systems could best be described as $$home grown$$ and have become

increasingly difficult to maintain. These systems support the major accounting

functions including: sales order processing, inventory control, accounts receivable,

accounts payable and the general ledger. These applications use multiple legacy file

systems which create both data redundancy as well as data inconsistencies. As could

be expected from such a $$home grown$$cobbled together$$ system, almost no

documentation is available, and it is difficult to produce management reports.

$$ Many of HPT$$s competitors have adopted or are adopting fully integrated ERP

systems that enable web$-$based front ends for order processing, order tracking and

order follow$-$up$.$ However, HPT$$s back$-$office systems are in disarray, and they cannot

offer these services to their clients. One of their largest clients has indicated that

they will shift their business to HPT$$s main competitor Wayville Technologies $($WT$)$ if

HPT cannot provide a similar $($or better$)$ level of service to the current level of service

being offered by WT$.$

$$ Ideally the selected ERP system will support, HR$,$ Customer Relationship

Management and eBusiness. It is anticipated that these capabilities will eventually

be implemented in subsequent phases.

$$ HPT currently has approximately $100$ computers, uses a Windows based network

system and has a Hewlett Packard server that supports the legacy systems.

$$ The budget for the new financial module of the ERP system is $$1\mathrm{.}2$ million $($including

the cost of acquiring the necessary upgrades in hardware, software and networking

facilities$).$

Mission Statement

Hyde Park Technologies empowers businesses to thrive through innovative technology

solutions. With a focus on simplicity, reliability, and efficiency, HPT is dedicated to

providing tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of each client, now and into the

future. At HPT$,$ we are not just implementing software, we are shaping the future of

business.

Eileen has also indicated to the ERP Vendors that whilst price will be an obvious

consideration, their proposal will be evaluated using the following selection criteria:

Selection Criteria

Vendor Related

$1.$ Vendor history & market strategy

$($trading experience, market share, strategy & strengths$)$

$2.$ Product offerings, integration & scalability

$($ERP product line, module integration strategy, web$-$based application strategy, new

offerings$)$

$3.$ Consulting support available

$($support for configuration of organisational data, technical support for system

implementation, cost of consulting support, availability of consulting support

$4.$ Availability of vendor training

$($training in configuration of master data, training in operations

ERP Modules Supporting Sales & Financial accounting

$5.$ Fit with current business processes

$($specifically$,$ sales order, receivables, payables and financial reporting processes$)$

$6.$ Cost

$($ERP module, configuration and implementation support, initial and ongoing training,

maintenance and software licensing$)$

$7.$ Reporting applications

$($Current reporting capabilities, database query and reporting tools, web$-$based reporting

capability$)$

$8.$ Ability to integrate sales & financial accounting with other ERP modules

$($with production and manufacturing, marketing, and human resources modules$)$

$9.$ User friendliness

$($availability of tutorials, application module documentation, technica