Question 1

A friend of yours, who happens to be an engineering genius, approaches you for advice regarding her growing electrical bicycle business. She formed her company a couple of years ago in her garage and eventually moved to a small manufacturing plant. Her business has been very successful, and sales have been growing at a rate of 20% a year. She currently runs her business using QuickBooks and Excel spreadsheets. The management of her supply chain is completely manual.

She confides in you that it is difficult to get meaningful information from QuickBooks and Excel to make sound business decisions. Unless she automates the flow of information in her business, she is not going to be able to grow. She tells you that she has been approached by companies selling something called ERP. These companies tell her that their complete suite of integrated modules will significantly benefit her business. Her gut tells her that she needs an information system of some sort, but she has several questions and would like your guidance. Her questions are -

What is ERP, and what are its benefits for me?

Do I have to implement all the modules? If not, which ones are most important for my manufacturing business? Can I implement ERP in phases? How do I prioritize the modules?

Will the implementation of ERP impact my business processes and employees? How?

Do you recommend that she implement an ERP system in her business? Why?

Please write a 3 4 page, double-spaced report to help your friend determine what actions to take regarding ERP.

Question 2

Lets assume that your friend has decided to implement an ERP system. When implementing an ERP system, a corporation can choose to either adapt their business processes to the standards of the ERP package, customize the ERP package to match their existing processes or do some combination. Please discuss the pros and cons of these strategic choices and provide your opinion as to which strategy you think is preferable for your friend.