Information Systems Infrastructure (IS3314)

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Information Systems Infrastructure (IS3314)

• 3rd year BIS 2006 / 2007

Fergal Carton Business Information Systems
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2 weeks ago

• Integration definition benefits of sharing,
  while retaining own identity
• Integration examples
• Dell
• Sun MicroSystems
• Bank branch
• Integration downsides
• ERP project resources
• Business process
• Project
• Technical (data and IT)
• Topps Case study (handout)

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This week

• Integration examples
• Dell
• Sun MicroSystems
• ERP Project issues
• Topps Case study

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Integration example Dell

• Suppliers using 18 different s/w packages
• Missing integration
• Seamless processing
• Reduces costs
• Speeds up customer responsiveness
• Develop system to interface to 18 others?
• For 40 biggest customers one click shopping
• Customers continue to order on-line
• Dell simultaneously enters the order into the
  customers procurement system

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Dell update 2007

• Michael Dell back as CEO
• Biggest challenge is bureaucracy

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Integration example Sun Microelectronics

• Fabless manufacturer
• Uses contract manufacturers
• Chip demand forecasts based on sales and internal
  demand
• Forecasts loaded into web based SCM s/w
• Contract manufacturers check demand against
  inventory and capacity
• Enter component and materials needs into system
• 2nd tier suppliers (memory and CPU) commit to
  deliver by certain dates
• Sun sees a picture of upcoming product flow

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ERP projects resources required
Technical
Project
Business process
Users / power users User management Steering
Committee
Functional analysts Application expert DBAs /
Sys Admin
Project team Process leads Project Managers
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ERP projects resources required
Project
Technical
Business process
Project team Process leads Project Managers
Users / power users User management Steering
Committee
Functional analysts Application expert DBAs /
Sys Admin
Software vendor Hardware vendor
Systems Integrator
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Project issues

• Availability of team members / users
• Decision making processes
• Developing workarounds
• Timeline too tight to allow resolution of issues
• Massive learning curve for team
• Expectation management
• Retaining ownership of process related decisions

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Resources Financial Controller

• Having seconded the AP manager to the project for
  18 months
• Just after go-live, lost the AP manager
• Basic functionality missing
• Statutory reports for countries
• Unmatched receiver report
• arguments over Break-Fix vs. Enhancement
• Lost understanding of why things were done in a
  certain way
• Knowledge of application
• Knowledge of business processes in the US
• Worse lost ability to get things fixed!
• Prioritisation of SIRs (System Investigation
  Requests)
• Reports written by end-users (eg. AP Manager)
• Local IS or global IS now working to gobal
  requirements
• Cant customise the application

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Resources Technical (data)

• Data clean-up team
• Data conversion team
• Data conversion programmer
• Legacy data team
• Data quality testing and maintenance

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Data issues

• Getting and maintaining clean data
• When creating a new customer, who has control?
• 42 occurrences of Siemens in your customer
  database, what do you do?
• Customers exist in ERP core database, but also in
  several legacy systems. How do you make sure they
  are in synch?

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Resources Technical (IT ops)

• Database administrator
• Systems administrator
• Operators core apps
• Server operators
• Storage technicians
• HelpDesk

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Database issues

• Guaranteeing high availability
• How often should Test be refreshed?
• How many environments should I have
• Test
• Production
• Development
• Training
• Business Simulation
• If I implement a change to Production, do I need
  to implement the same change across all
  environments?
• 20 programmers developing / testing new code
  every day how do I track releases to production?

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Systems admin issues

• Ensuring system access for users
• New users
• Changes to existing profiles
• System downtime for maintenance
• Forcing users out of system
• Tracking source of corrupt data to user profile

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HelpDesk issues

• Calls arriving at HelpDesk are either
• Forgotten password
• New user
• Changes to user profile
• Printing problems
• Connectivity problems
• Response time problems
• System crashes
• System error messages
• PC problems
• I need more training

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HelpDesk issues

• or
• Functionality questions (how do I transact an
  invoice?)
• Process questions (when should I post to GL?)
• Reporting (I need a revenue report)

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Project handover to HelpDesk

• Prior to go-live, implement procedures for
• Logging calls such that it will be routed to the
  right person and tracked, reported on and
  escalated
• Training for HelpDesk to be able to ask the right
  questions concering an application issue
• Troubleshooting application issues to be able to
  deal with simple fixes
• Ongoing consultation with application team
  regarding new functionality being rolled out,
  common errors, planned outages,

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Topps questions

• Describe the limitations of current processes
  (un-integrated)
• What were the potential failure points for the
  business?
• What are the potential benefits of ERP
  (integration) for Topps?
• Why did the decision to implement ERP take so
  long?

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Case study notes

• Entertainment products
• 3 warehouses
• Cork (stocks manufactured in Cork)
• Liverpool (stocks for UK market)
• Rotterdam (stocks of imported products)
• Only 20 of goods manufactured locally
• Product lifecycle short rotation critical
• Rapid growth of business
• Increase in trading -gt increase paperwork

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Topps systems as-is
Issues with Spreadsheets?

• Spreadsheet based (eg. mini PL accounts)
• Payroll / invoicing / inventory obsolete
  systems
• No local IS support

Risks?
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Systems issues
Shipping Credit Control Treasury

• Lack of on-line stock control
• Paperwork delays on shipping
• Lack of control of debtors balances / invoices
  due
• Lack of detail on reporting profitability
• Too much information in peoples heads
• Too much time gathering information, not analysis

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Potential business failures

• Sales order processing
• Invoicing

Execution
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Benefits for Topps

• Results in 1 week
• Drill-down capability
• Live data on inventory shipment

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Why did it take so long

• Match with IT strategy?
• Support issues
• Project champion
• No analysis of processes