BISY2005/ISY2005/ISY205 Discussion and Case Analysis of Implementation and Trends of ERP Assessment 1 Answer

ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

The business processing including the production functions, sales and marketing, inventory management, shipment, supply chain and logistics management. These activities are taken care under the effective integration of the ERP system. The approach and installation of the ERP systems are done by different multinational companies. Some of these brands have been made a successful attempt to apply the use of this system for overall business structuring and processing. However, some of the brands have failed to do so (Chofreh et al. 2018). There are some of the basic case studies that extract the success and failure of ERP system. The essay produces detailed discussion and case analysis of implementation, challenges, success and trends of ERP. 

Case Study 1: Cadbury-

ERP or enterprise resource planning is a system and software which is used for planning, managing and organising the activities of the supply chain, production procedure, manufacturing activities and financial operations of the business. Kraft initiated ERP 6.0 has been introduced for the Cadbury, this system is called as one of the advanced systems in the market (Biz Learners 2020). The primary function of the ERP system is to overview the core processing and database system assessment of the business. Many of the big multinationals implement the application of the ERP system to improve their production and financial functions. The data mentoring, assessment and information generation engaged through the system can be applied for product planning, cost savings, development of the operational income.  

The Cadbury has introduced the ERP system from the SAP naming SAP ERP 6.0. The Kraft credited system of ERP is capable of advancing the operational process with efficient processing and manage the cost of production of the business. One of the reasons for the success of an ERP system by the Cadbury has been its choice of selecting the ERP vendor in the market (Biz Learners 2020). The reputed entities like Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP has been prime vendors in introducing an advanced system of the ERP software. 

In the year of 2005, Cadbury has been left by a glut of chocolate bars to be produced. There has been late production seen within the business. However, with the implementation of the ERP, the company has been able to increase employee engagement and organise a systematic procedure to increase producing excess number of chocolate bars. The new ERP system has been one of the IT transformation systems which have been introduced in the UK. The implementation of these ERP systems has developed transformation in the manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, financials, marketing and sales activities of Cadbury.      

Challenges- The Cadbury has been in a slow-paced growth in the market, many of the projects have been introduced by the business were delayed due to improper operational activities. The existing system which has been applied by the company has a slow packed and inefficient to match the fast-paced growth of the company in the market (Jenko and Roblek 2016). With the implication of an advanced version of the ERP system, Cadbury has been able to increase its efficiency of production and operational activities. 

Success- The implementation of an ERP system has helped the company to introduce a new warehouse management system; it has helped to structure the depots and branch offices of the entity. With the engagement of the ERP system, the Cadbury has been able to increase its competitive edge in the market (Poranki et al. 2015). The maintained supply chain and operational activities have boosted the quality aspects of the chocolate products in the market. There has been a wide rise in the customer experiences of the Cadbury products due to fast and quality-based production function initiated through the ERP system. The initial and overall implementation of the system has taken time, although it has gained success in cash saving for the company (Biz Learners. 2020). As per the implementation process, it is believed that the company has received a cross-functional operation of the ERP system. This has helped to check out all the operations of the business, fixing the issues and enhance the efficiency of production and operational activities. 

Trends- The development of an ERP system has developed a multi assets system, which has helped to extend the activities of all the supply chain for the entity.  It has been stated that the implication of the ERP systems has been initiated based on the streamlined process. The advancement of the ERP system that has been engaged by the company has helped with structuring, managing and maintaining the stockroom of Cadbury (Biz Learners. 2020). The investor management system is also taken care of the help of the system, which has increased the quality and processing of the chocolate products in the market. According to the trend following, the implementation system is also deployed to the vendors. ERP vendors have been able to make plans and implement the system for effective inventory management. The vendors have a platform known as vendor connect, which has provided information about the working process and systematic destruction of the ERP in the business of their clients.   

Case study 2; Hershey Chocolate

Hershey’s Chocolate is one of the largest producers of chocolate products in Northern America. The company has faced emended of a creative environment in the market, due to the presence of many multinational brands proposing similar products in the market. For enhancing the competitive edge in the market, the Hershey’s Chocolate has implemented the ERP system (Flinders 2018). The company has made an approval from all the managerial executives to go for the implementation of the system in the project name of Enterprise 21. The company has appraised to different business entities to introduce differentiated software’s R/3 ERP from SAP, software of SCM from Manugistics and CRM software system from Seibel. The company has also approached the global integration services of IBM to analyse, evaluate and initiate the selected three systems for the operations and production function of Hershey’s Chocolate (Gross 2019). The company has introduced big bang approach in the place of a phased approach to implementing the ERP system in regards to increase innovation and creativity through it. 

 Challenges- While the implementation of the ERP systems, the central team of Hershey Candies-hays faced several challenges due to some incorrect decisions. The central team of the business entity has made the mistake of forgoing the testing aspects of the ERP system about the expediency of the ERP system (Jenko and Roblek 2016). Thus, the management was faced with challenges of understanding the suitability and reliability of the selected ERP system and it’s processing.  The avoidance of testing of the ERP systems has been diverted the information about critical data, system and process relates issues, which might have created bug-based hurdles in the production functions of the business. There are three major implementation phases conference room phase, departmental phrase and integration phase involved in the programming and processing of the ERP system effectively. As per another challenge which has been created by Hershey's Chocolate while the implementation of the system is related to scheduling (Pohludka et al. 2018). It has been stated that the digital transformation procedure of an ERP system is introduced in a step by step manner. This includes a longer time to complete. However, management of the entity has been unnecessary developed a short time for implementation of the ERP system.   

Success- Due to several flaws in the systematic implementation of the ERP systems, Hershey's Chocolate has been failed to make a successful attempt to transform the efficiency of its operational activities through the software. The engagement of the system has been improper, which has created issues of appropriate fulfilment of orders, issues in the processing and shipping have been witnessed (Flinders 2018).  It has included a cut over planning which has introduced employee engagement with the help of the ERP systems. During the festive seasons such as Halloweens or Christmas, the aggressive orders of chocolate products are seen in the market. The Hershey’s Chocolate has been focused on meeting the demands of the product by introducing the employee’s engagement program including the ERP system and cut corners over the phases of testing over the new system implementation (Gross 2019). Some unforeseen issues have been not addressed properly by the company. As a result, the company has been incapable to handle and meet the large bulk of orders of chocolates within the delivery time frame. The prudent approach of the system implementation of ERP might not have been approved for cut-over under the situation of excessive demands. This has failed in the project and the project has been delayed by one whole year bring loss to the company   

Trends- During the implementation of the ERP system by the Hershey’s Chocolate, the company has been selected approach of holistic management. It has been focused on the working community of the organisation The Company might have been included slack time for increasing the slow processing of the business. The ERP system is been initiated for management of the complex large scale projects like Hershey’s Chocolate (Biz Learners 2020). The issues and mistakes caused by the company might be guided through the implementation of the ERP system for gaining effective results. The specific IT system is capable of understanding the complexities of a project, based on which it provides a proper breakthrough for commencing and completing it. The change in the business procedure, methodology and systematic scheduling of the system is considered as the supporting aspects to the ERP system (Bukamal and Wadi 2016). These aspects of the business should not be changed at the end time, which might make the ERP system ineffective as it has created for the Hershey’s Chocolate. 

Case Study 3: Nestle 

In the year of 2000, Nestle SA has been entered into an agreement with sap for installation and implementation of an ERP system within the business. The Nestle has been focused on centralising it’s all the brands and conglomerate products for better management and maintained through the application of the new system (CIO. 2020). The company has been desired to maintained and manage the performance level of about 200 brands operating under it. The goal of the implementation of ERP system into the company is to create a systematic structure for the business, operations, business process and develop the distributional process of the company and its autonomous divisions available in the United States (Torres 2020). It has been stated that the implementation of the specific system certainly helps the company to innovate business processes and realise the digital transformation of the whole business processing. The Nestle has been able to save the costs from the buying power of the customers and other subordinate networks (Torres 2020). The completer infiltration and application of the ERP system has been processed in the late 90s and completed in the year of 2003. There are various requirements which have been seen while implementation of the system including issues with the organisational policies. 

Challenges– While the implementation of the ERP system into the company, they were issues which have been faced by the management. The first issues have been the lack of experience of handling the SAP-based ERP system by the employees and manage of the entity (Torres 2020). The upper-level management has accepted that neither the management nor the employers were trained properly for this system. When the company has approved the decision of introducing the ERP system, an ongoing project of the company has a deadline of 1999. In that time, the management has focused on the current issues of the new Y2K project, which has been expected to provide a huge amount of revenue and income for the business (Torres 2020). The product has been expected to cover all the investments planned to develop the global units of Nestle. Thus, the application and implementation of the ERP software and system has been rushed. The management has been rushed to implement and installation of the ERP system, resulting the company has not been able to make proper coordination for the cross modulation of the system (Torres 2020). The improperly coordinated modules applied in the ERP system has started to miss some of the details and financial transactions made by the company in the books of accounts such as discounts proposed and provided to the customers.

Success: Despite several challenges and issues faced Nestle; the company has been finally able to install the ERP system completely. The company has been focused on not repeating the issues and mistakes done by other firms, which has failed in integration of the ERP systems. The rightful approach, testing and systematic phrasing of the ERP software’s ha provided different benefits and advantages to the company (Poranki et al. 2015). It has been sated that evolvement of the system has helped to prepare a consolidated structure of the financial statements that can define the financial transactions in much transparent manner. A Realise digital transformation in the financial processing of the business is carried out through the application of the system. The outdated accounting structure has been replaced by the new system, which can estimate and measure every single transaction of the business to present the actual financial position of the entity (Torres 2020). The positive effects of the ERP system have also been seeing in the supply chain structure of Nestle. With the application of the ERP system, optimisation of the business process and its systems has been evaluated. The Nestle has been able to create much effective managerial structure and process for its supply chain.      

Trends- As per the trends and aspects, the ERP system has increased empowerment of the workforce with insight. It has been stated that the data handling, information gathering, data transfer and management, development through information has increased confidence of the workforce.  The engagement of the ERP system has been focused to adopt and implement in three units of Nestle that are United States, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Learning from one to another, the ERP system and approaches have worked for one of three business processing units of Nestle (CIO. 2020).  It has been stated that the goal of the implementation of an ERP system is unification.  The successful journey of Nestle implementing the ERP system has been by the improvement of the united system that has been applied in the business units. As per the ERP system, the SAP and other vendors has been engaged a customised and natural systematic advancement in the ERP system that is been renamed as material requirement planning (Chofreh et al. 2018). An extended version of the ERP system is tasked to manage the production process as per the suitability of the policies, process and system of the business. 

The case analysis has stated different versions of adaptation, implementation and integration of the ERP system. The company like Cadbury and Nestle has gained success on the implementation of the ERP system due to their coordinated changes in the business policies and decision making of the approaches. While Hershey's Chocolate has not been able to succeed in the project due to the negligence of phase testing and moulding of the ERP system. The case analysis has slated the fact that ERP system is customised and presented to manage the programming production, business processing, supply chain operations and other activities of business through data analysing, structuring the digital business platform and developing a proper system of business activities for the business entities.