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Enterprise Resource Planning (SEM3101) SI TE/DA 2012-2013 S2

BSc. (Hons.) Software Engineering
Cohort: BSE/1OB/FT
Examinations for 2012-2013 / Semester 2

MODULE: Enterprise Resource Planning

MODULE CODE: SEM3101

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes





Instructions to Candidates:

1. Answer ALL questions.
2. Questions may be answered in any order but your answers must
show the question number clearly.
3. Always start a new question on a fresh page.
4. Total marks: 100.


This question paper contains 4 questions and 5 pages.

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Enterprise Resource Planning (SEM3101) SI TE/DA 2012-2013 S2
ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: (25 MARKS)

Nestl USA has seven business divisions covering beverage, confections and
snacks, food services, foreign trade, nutrition, prepared food and sales. Its annual
revenue is around $8.1 billion with 16,000 employees.

The ERP implementation at Nestl had an estimated cost of $210 million, began in
1997 and was due to be completed in 2003. The projects main goal was to use
common business processes systems and organizational structures across the
autonomous divisions within the United States. These common systems across
Nestl USA would create savings through group buying power and facilitate the
sharing of data.

Jeri Dunn, the CIO of Nestl, joined with executives in charge of finance, supply
chain, distribution and purchasing to form a key stakeholders team for implementing
the SAP. The stakeholder team made it clear to the top management that the SAP
organization would require business process re-engineering and could not be done
without changing the way Nestl USA did business.

The stakeholder team however did not include any members from the groups that
would be directly affected by the new business processes. This caused a rebellion in
the ranks and the employees opposed the changes. Nobody wanted to learn the new
way of doing things. Divisional executives were confused and angry. Morale sank
and employee turnover reached 77 percent. Help desk calls reached 300 per day.

The project team had overlooked the integration points between modules to account
for the Y2K deadline. By the beginning of 2000, the rollout had collapsed into chaos
and the project was halted. In its haste to unify the companys separate brands, the
project team had essentially replaced divisional silos with process silos.

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Enterprise Resource Planning (SEM3101) SI TE/DA 2012-2013 S2
The company reconvened the stakeholder team and started the SAP implementation
process from scratch. The group members decided that they would need to start with
the business requirements and then reach an end date rather than trying to fit the
project into a mold shaped by predetermined end dates. They also made sure that
they had support from key divisional heads and that all employees knew exactly
what changes were taking place.

With SAP in place, Nestl USA has already achieved a significant return on
investment. This also allowed the company to reduce inventory and reduce
redistribution expenses. In 2003, Nestl signed a $500 million, 5 year deal with IBM
for server hardware, software and IT services and integration of its MySAP e-
business software system, giving its workers access to MySAP via an internal portal
customized for their individual jobs. Nestl is attempting to solve the information
management and system challenge by standardizing on a common system globally.

(a) Discuss the objectives of the ERP implementation at Nestl Ltd and explain
whether they were able to achieve these objectives. (6+4 marks)

(b) Why should the implementation of the ERP include a discussion on
organizational structure, business process and people instead of just
information technology and system? (9 marks)

(c) The Nestl USA management team wants to go ahead with the best of breed
ERP implementation. What would your response be to such an approach?
(6 marks)

QUESTION 2: (25 MARKS)

(a) Identify the main points that should be considered when evaluating an
enterprise resource planning (ERP) package. (10 marks)

(b) Describe two types of customer relationship management systems used by
organizations. (6 marks)
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Enterprise Resource Planning (SEM3101) SI TE/DA 2012-2013 S2

(c) You are the Human Resources Manager at an organization where an ERP is
being implemented. Describe how you could use this new system to
streamline the job advertising and recruitment process across the whole
organization. (9 marks)


QUESTION 3: (25 MARKS)

(a) Describe what business process re-engineering is and explain why it is so
important in the current business environment. (6 marks)

(b) List five benefits that can be achieved through business process re-
engineering. (5 marks)

(c) List four criticisms often targeted at business process re-engineering.
(4 marks)

(d) Describe five major organizational impacts of information technology on
business process re-engineering. (10 marks)


QUESTION 4: (25 MARKS)

(a) An organization wishes to create a data warehouse to support its information
processing. Describe three characteristics that a data warehouse should
feature. (6 marks)

(b) Explain how an organization can use data mining and data warehousing to
identify new marketing opportunities and increase its competitiveness.
(10 marks)

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Enterprise Resource Planning (SEM3101) SI TE/DA 2012-2013 S2
(c) An organization is implementing supply chain management to optimize the
use of its resources. Describe the problems closely associated with a global
supply chain. (5 marks)

(d) Explain the positive impact of the web on supply chain management.
(4 marks)









***END OF QUESTION PAPER***