Selection of ERP Packages - Maxima Inc.

Maxima Inc. 1
SELECTION OF ERP PACKAGES
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Maxima Inc. 2
The top management team of Maxima Inc. did not make the right decision in the choice and
selection of ERP packages. Firstly, the company decided to implement the use Oracle weighted
average method instead of FIFO for costing. FIFO had served the firm well over the past years
and it was only after implementation of the ERP thinking that it would create a competitive
advantage only to come and realize later that FIFO was much better than the weighted method
thus calling for changes.
According to Barrons et al (2018) despite the fact that RMA module was also important for
Maxima Inc. as it would help the firm to track the information on the returned goods. It became
cumbersome for the users and customers since it required them to create a line for each of the
returned goods that called for greater efforts in data input in addition to the fact that they were
prone to error. This arose to the fact that the firm was not willing to change some of the process
as they were considered competitive advantage for the firm. The workarounds that were
available were tedious and increased the time needed for processing (Aremu et al. 2018, p.245)
The problems that arose between the users of the software and the company were also due to
poor SC consultants. In actual sense, the problem was due to poor selectin of the consultants.
The firm had only one-experienced consultants and the rest were just fresh graduates. The
continuous replacement of the consultants also propelled the problem since each new consultant
would come up with a new idea thus leading to the discontinuation of the project. Since the
consultants had no knowledge about the distribution process, they ended up lacking the
confidence to tackle the questions asked by the users hence increasing their problems (Hepner et
al. 2013, p.321)
Another mistake that was done by the management team is failure to consult the end users and
the management teams at the subsidiaries. The management did not take into consulting thus