Hi, teacher, this is a textbook question, yet without answers, it is important so please try you best to be as detailed as possible. Thanks!

Please only answer it when you know it, thanks, then I will thumb u up! But answer something hardly(a few people do that) related would not receive my thumb.

Thank you very much. Here is the question:

A large pharmaceutical company (MedicHuge) decided they needed an upgraded information system to increase their efficiency, in, amongst other areas their distribution facility, inventory handling, customer orders, shipping and billing.

MedicHuge formed a team of staff members to review the different products that were available in the market and after some significant evaluation decided on SAP an integrated enterprise system. Additionally, the management team purchased a data warehouse in order that transactional information be stored more conveniently and in a format that enabled speedy and effective analysis. The business, it noted, would also benefit from collecting, storing and analysing all manner of external data eg: social media feeds, photographs; if they were to truly seize the opportunity for cutting edge business intelligence.

Subsequently, MedicHuge purchased SAP and hired a consultancy firm to manage the implementation of the system. Management believed that this technology provided an integrated approach to their business and would improve their value chain ultimately driving more profit.

Implementation took over two years following the original purchase and appointment of the consultancy. MedicHuge management believed that this process would take just one year. During the implementation staff were unsettled by the consultants looking over their shoulder' and examining exactly what their business processes were. Then teams were expected to collaborate and draw their business processes on large pieces of paper and hang them on the walls of the conference rooms. The consultants then consolidated these and distributed the drawings in PDF's from a software package. Areas of risks and controls were also documented.

Employees and particularly the finance team were unsettled, as the system threatened the jobs of many employees, and they felt that they were losing control of their finance processes due to the integrated nature of the new system. Post implementation there were large volumes of errors in many of the organisation's transaction cycles, but more particularly, the order to cash cycle. Training in these new business processes took place months before the system went live and employees could not remember how to use the system. Delays in processing were experienced. The help hotline had a large number of outstanding calls to respond to and in some cases staff had to wait 3 days for a resolution.

The customer master file and the material master file (product master file) contained contaminated and inaccurate data and were generally considered not to be the single source of truth. Inventory levels displayed were not always accurate. Therefore, sales orders were not filled in an accurate and timely manner, ultimately impacting delivery, the three way match, and payment of the account from the customer.

Additionally, the data warehouse faced serious issues. Transactional data inaccuracies compromised the ability to analyse trends. Although external data was able to be imported without any problem, MedicHuge's information was significantly compromised.

MedicHuge management knew they were facing a crisis and that they had neglected to manage the risk of this implementation. Ultimately, it was found that the consultants who were hired to complete the implementation were not sufficiently skilled and their internal turnover was high.

The planned project was a complete disaster with the final cost blowing out to ten times the original budget.

MedicHuge has sacked the consultants and decided to work with their in-house IT staff and skilled employees to completely review the situation. Management does not want to discard the enterprise system or the data warehouse as it represents a significant financial investment, and they have benchmarked their business with other pharmaceutical companies who have had successful implementations of the same systems.

Additionally, this has seen MedicHuge's objective to implement integrated financial reporting very much delayed. In order to meet governance requirements and address some serious stakeholder trust issues MedicHuge had planned to begin the journey to integrated reporting. This financial year the objective was to 'cut the clutter, with a full implementation completed in four years.

You have recently been employed by MedicHuge as the senior accountant. In your panel interview the Board identified that you had studied Business Information Systems at University and were skilled in these critical areas of the crossroads of accounting and IT. Further you discussed in the interview that understanding how to store data, analyse data and safeguard data were key considerations in moving MedicHuge from its current dire position to one of successful operation.

It was a difficult decision for you whether to accept the position. MedicHuge will meet its demise if there is not an urgent project to fix the issues. Ultimately, you decided you were up for the challenge!

Question 1

1. How does an integrated enterprise system, like SAP, benefit the preparation of financial reports? Specifically include in your discussion silo architecture versus integrated architecture (3 marks)
2. Describe the impact of the current situation to MedicHuge's financial reports for the current financial year. Specifically include in your discussion feeder processes (3 marks)

Question 2

Identify and describe one sustainable type of report MedicHuge might produce for its stakeholders, and why?

Question 3

Can MedicHuge use its enterprise system (SAP) to produce business intelligence reports ?

If so, explain why and how?

If not, explain why not?

Question 4

Explain how the current situation at MedicHuge, might impact their business intelligence and data visualisation capabilities?