INTERNAL ASSESSMENT 1
Q.1. Write answers for any two questions from below. (5 marks each – Word limit –
500)
A.What are the other factors that should be considered in addition to the tangible
benefits while justifying ERP investments?
B.What are the major activities of the O&M phase?
C.Discuss ERP implementation lifecycle? In customization (changing the modules to
suit the
customer's requirement) a part of ERP implementation lifecycle? If so how?
Q.2. Write short notes on all of the following topics (1 mark each - Word limit - 100)
A.Data warehouse
B.Discuss the reasons for failure of ERP.
C.Why is change management necessary for ERP?
D.The drawbacks of In-house development of ERP.
E.What are the limitations of ERP?
Answer 1 A)
In addition to tangible benefits, several other factors should be considered when justifying
investments in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems:
● Strategic Alignment: Ensure that the ERP investment aligns with the organization's
strategic objectives and long-term goals. Consider how the ERP system will support
business growth, improve competitiveness, and enable strategic initiatives.
● Process Improvement: Evaluate how the ERP system will streamline and optimize
business processes across departments and functions. Look for opportunities to
eliminate inefficiencies, reduce cycle times, and improve overall operational
effectiveness.
● Data Quality and Integrity: Assess the ERP system's ability to centralize and
standardize data, ensuring data consistency, accuracy, and integrity across the
organization. Consider how improved data quality will enable better
decision-making and reporting capabilities.
● Compliance and Risk Management: Consider how the ERP system will help the
organization comply with regulatory requirements and industry standards. Evaluate
the system's capabilities for internal controls, audit trails, and risk management to
mitigate compliance and operational risks.
● Change Management and Training: Recognize the importance of change
management and user adoption in ERP implementations. Consider the costs and
resources required for training, organizational change, and stakeholder engagement
to ensure successful ERP deployment and user acceptance.
● Vendor Reputation and Support: Evaluate the reputation, reliability, and track
record of the ERP vendor. Consider factors such as vendor stability, industry
expertise, customer support, and ongoing maintenance and upgrade capabilities.
● Integration and Scalability: Assess the ERP system's ability to integrate with
existing systems and support future growth and scalability. Consider how the ERP
platform aligns with the organization's IT architecture and supports interoperability
with other applications and technologies.
● Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Look beyond the initial implementation costs and
consider the total cost of ownership over the ERP system's lifecycle. Include factors
such as licensing fees, maintenance costs, infrastructure requirements, and ongoing
support and customization expenses.
● Return on Investment (ROI): Calculate the expected ROI of the ERP investment,
taking into account both tangible and intangible benefits. Consider factors such as
increased productivity, improved decision-making, reduced inventory and labor
costs, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
● Flexibility and Adaptability: Evaluate the ERP system's flexibility and adaptability
to meet evolving business needs and market conditions. Consider how easily the
system can be customized, upgraded, and scaled to accommodate changing
requirements and emerging trends.
Answer 1 B)
The O&M (Operations and Maintenance) phase involves several key activities aimed at
ensuring the smooth operation, optimization, and ongoing support of the implemented
system or solution. Some of the major activities of the O&M phase include:
● System Monitoring: Continuously monitor the performance, availability, and health
of the system to identify and address any issues or anomalies proactively. This may
involve using monitoring tools, dashboards, and alerts to track system metrics such
as CPU usage, memory utilization, network traffic, and service availability.
● Incident Management: Respond to and resolve incidents, service disruptions, and
technical issues that arise during system operation. Establish an incident
management process with defined procedures for reporting, prioritizing,
investigating, and resolving incidents in a timely manner to minimize downtime
and disruptions.
● Problem Management: Identify and address underlying root causes of recurring
incidents and problems to prevent future occurrences. Conduct root cause analysis
(RCA) investigations, implement corrective actions, and document lessons learned
to improve system reliability and stability over time.
● Change Management: Manage changes to the system environment, configurations,
and software components in a controlled and systematic manner to minimize risks
and disruptions. Establish change management processes for assessing, approving,
implementing, and validating changes while ensuring compliance with regulatory
requirements and best practices.
● Patch Management: Apply software patches, updates, and security fixes to the
system and its components to address vulnerabilities, bugs, and performance issues.
Develop patch management procedures for evaluating, testing, deploying, and
verifying patches while maintaining system integrity and availability.
● Backup and Recovery: Perform regular backups of critical data, configurations, and
system files to safeguard against data loss, corruption, or disasters. Implement
backup and recovery strategies, schedules, and procedures to ensure data integrity,
retention, and availability in the event of hardware failures, cyberattacks, or other
emergencies.
● Performance Tuning: Optimize system performance, resource utilization, and
response times to meet user requirements and service level agreements (SLAs).
Conduct performance analysis, tuning, and capacity planning activities to identify
bottlenecks, optimize configurations, and scale resources as needed to support
growing workloads and user demands.
● Security Management: Implement and maintain robust security measures, controls,
and policies to protect the system from unauthorized access, data breaches, and
cyber threats. Monitor security events, conduct vulnerability assessments, apply
security patches, and enforce access controls to mitigate risks and ensure
compliance with security standards and regulations.
● User Support and Training: Provide ongoing user support, training, and guidance to
help users effectively utilize the system and its features. Offer technical assistance,
troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing to address user inquiries, issues, and
feedback and promote user adoption and satisfaction.
● Documentation and Reporting: Maintain comprehensive documentation, logs, and
records of system configurations, changes, incidents, and performance metrics.
Generate regular reports, metrics, and analytics to track system health, operational
status, and compliance with service level objectives (SLOs) and key performance
indicators (KPIs).
Answer 2
A. Data Warehouse:
A data warehouse is a centralized repository that stores and integrates data from various
sources within an organization. It is designed for analytical purposes, providing a platform
for querying, reporting, and analyzing large volumes of data to support decision-making
processes. Data warehouses often use techniques such as data modeling, ETL (extract,
transform, load) processes, and dimensional modeling to organize and structure data for
easy access and analysis.
B. Reasons for Failure of ERP:
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementations can fail due to various reasons,
including inadequate planning, poor project management, lack of user involvement,
resistance to change, inadequate training, customization complexity, data migration
challenges, and unrealistic expectations.
C. Change Management for ERP:
Change management is necessary for ERP implementations to address resistance to
change, foster user adoption, mitigate risks, and ensure successful deployment. It involves
preparing stakeholders for the changes brought by the ERP system, communicating the
benefits, involving users in the process, providing training and support, and managing
organizational culture and expectations.
D. Drawbacks of In-house Development of ERP:
Developing an ERP system in-house can be costly, time-consuming, and
resource-intensive. It requires expertise in software development, project management,
and domain knowledge. In-house development may lack scalability, reliability, and support
compared to commercial ERP solutions. Maintenance, upgrades, and customization may
also pose challenges, leading to higher total cost of ownership (TCO) and lower ROI.
E. Limitations of ERP:
ERP systems have limitations, including complexity, inflexibility, high implementation
costs, long implementation timescales, potential for customization challenges, integration
issues with legacy systems, and difficulty in accommodating changes in business
processes or requirements. ERP may also lack industry-specific functionality or fail to
meet the unique needs of certain organizations or industries.
INTERNAL ASSESSMENT 2
Q.1. Write answers for any two questions from below. (5 marks each – Word limit –
500)
A.Briefly describe the major subsystem of HR module.
B.How is Project Management different from Business Process Reengineering?
C.Discuss the issues to be considered in planning, design and implementation of cross
functional integrated ERP systems.
Q.2. Write short notes on all of the following topics (1 mark each - Word limit - 100)
A.Who are the people involved in the ERP implementation?
B.What are the subsystems in the Finance module?
C.Is ERP too expensive for Indian companies?
D.What does business process reengineering mean?
E.What are the Problem areas in an ERP implementation?
Answer 1 A)
Major Subsystems of HR Module:
The HR (Human Resources) module of an ERP system typically consists of several major
subsystems to manage various aspects of human capital and workforce management:
● Employee Management: Tracks employee information such as personal details,
employment history, qualifications, skills, and performance evaluations.
● Recruitment and Applicant Tracking: Manages the recruitment process, job
postings, candidate applications, interviews, and hiring decisions.
● Training and Development: Facilitates employee training programs, skills
development initiatives, certification tracking, and performance improvement plans.
● Benefits Administration: Administers employee benefits such as healthcare,
insurance, retirement plans, and other fringe benefits.
● Payroll Management: Calculates and processes employee salaries, wages, bonuses,
deductions, and taxes in compliance with regulatory requirements.
● Time and Attendance: Tracks employee attendance, work hours, leave requests,
overtime, and absences for payroll processing and workforce planning.
● Performance Management: Sets performance goals, conducts performance
appraisals, provides feedback, and manages performance improvement plans.
● Employee Self-Service: Provides employees with self-service portals to access HR
information, update personal details, submit leave requests, and view pay stubs.
Answer 1 B)
Difference between Project Management and Business Process Reengineering (BPR):
● Focus: Project Management focuses on planning, organizing, and controlling
resources to achieve specific project objectives within defined constraints such as
time, cost, and scope. It involves managing tasks, schedules, budgets, and resources
to deliver projects successfully.
● Scope: Project Management deals with individual projects or initiatives, typically
involving the implementation of new systems, processes, products, or services.
● Purpose: Business Process Reengineering (BPR), on the other hand, focuses on
redesigning and optimizing existing business processes to achieve significant
improvements in performance, efficiency, and effectiveness. It involves analyzing
and rethinking end-to-end business processes to eliminate redundancies, streamline
workflows, and leverage technology to drive fundamental changes in how work is
done.
● Approach: While Project Management follows a structured approach to plan,
execute, monitor, and control project activities, Business Process Reengineering
takes a more holistic and strategic approach to reimagining and transforming
business processes from the ground up.
● Outcome: The outcome of Project Management is the successful completion of a
specific project within defined parameters, whereas the outcome of Business
Process Reengineering is the redesign and optimization of business processes to
achieve strategic objectives such as cost reduction, quality improvement, customer
satisfaction, or competitive advantage.
Answer 2
A. People Involved in ERP Implementation:
The ERP implementation process involves various stakeholders, including:
● Executive Sponsor: Provides leadership, support, and resources for the project.
● Project Manager: Oversees the implementation process, coordinates activities, and
manages timelines and budgets.
● ERP Implementation Team: Comprised of functional experts, IT professionals,
consultants, and end-users responsible for configuring, customizing, and testing the
ERP system.
● End-Users: Individuals within the organization who will use the ERP system in
their daily operations.
● Consultants: External experts or vendors who provide guidance, expertise, and
technical support throughout the implementation process.
● Training and Support Staff: Responsible for training end-users, providing ongoing
support, and addressing issues post-implementation.
B. Subsystems in the Finance Module:
The Finance module of an ERP system typically includes several subsystems to manage
financial processes efficiently:
● General Ledger: Manages financial data, journal entries, and account balances.
● Accounts Payable: Handles vendor invoices, payments, and expense management.
● Accounts Receivable: Manages customer invoices, collections, and revenue
recognition.
● Cash Management: Tracks cash flow, bank reconciliations, and treasury operations.
● Fixed Assets: Manages asset acquisitions, depreciation, disposals, and asset
tracking.
● Financial Reporting: Generates financial statements, reports, and analysis for
management and regulatory purposes.
C. Expense of ERP for Indian Companies:
The cost of ERP implementation varies depending on factors such as the size of the
organization, scope of implementation, complexity of business processes, customization
requirements, and choice of ERP vendor. While ERP systems can be expensive upfront,
the long-term benefits such as improved efficiency, productivity, and decision-making
capabilities can outweigh the initial investment. Indian companies may find ERP
implementations costly, but the potential benefits and competitive advantages can justify
the expense over time.
D. Business Process Reengineering (BPR):
Business Process Reengineering refers to the radical redesign of business processes to
achieve dramatic improvements in performance, efficiency, and effectiveness. BPR
involves analyzing existing processes, identifying inefficiencies or bottlenecks, rethinking
workflows, and implementing fundamental changes to optimize processes and align them
with strategic goals. BPR often accompanies ERP implementations to streamline
operations and leverage the capabilities of the new ERP system.
E. Problem Areas in ERP Implementation:
Common problem areas in ERP implementation include:
● Inadequate planning and scope definition
● Resistance to change from users
● Poor data quality and data migration challenges
● Customization complexity and scope creep
● Integration issues with existing systems
● Lack of executive sponsorship and leadership
● Inadequate training and user support
● Unrealistic expectations and project management challenges
● Poor communication and stakeholder engagement.
