Implementing ERP system of Qantas Airline in Australia

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Qantas Airline in Australia (Implementing ERP system)
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Introduction
Accounting is the lifeline of any business. Accounting usually deals with summarizing,
analyzing as well as reporting to the financial data along with data about a business (Whittington,
2014). An accounting software records and processes on the accounting transactions of the
business within its functional modules (Ali and Miller, 2017). The financial statements usually
comprise of the balance sheets, profit and loss account along with the statement of changes in the
financial position could easily be prepared with accounting software. There are a number of
accounting software which are used across Australia (Ali and Miller, 2017). The country has a
number of the small and large organization which utilizes accounting software. According to Ali
and Miller, (2017) argued that the use of the accounting software usually depends on the number
of factors. The need of the accounting software for the large business might not be the same as
the need for the accounting software for the small or the mid size business (Amrollahi,
Ghapanchi and Talaei-Khoei, 2014). Through definition, accounting software usually highlights
the kind of programs which records and processes the accounting information system.
In this literature it will focus on the Qantas airline in Australia. This airline is the oldest airlines
in Australia as well as the 3rd oldest still running airlines in the world. The organization begun its
operation activities in the 1920s as the domestic passenger airline and they begun their
international services in the year 1935 (Amrollahi, Ghapanchi and Talaei-Khoei, 2014). The
airline they have been able to retain their brand image for almost a century now and they are still
regarded as one of the favorite airlines among the Australia customer across the world. In this
literature review it will focus on the accounting system used by the business to execute and
record their financial as well as accounting transactions across the domestic, international, cargo
along with the other subsidiary services of the business which are all under their brand.

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Part 1
The current organizational structure
To be able to understand on the organizational structure of Qantas airline, there is need to
understand on the organization business operational products and services along with their
subsidiaries that are part of executing on their operation in association to the Qantas Airline.
Qantas airline usually offers domestic and international passengers services to the clients across
the world (Amrollahi, Ghapanchi and Talaei-Khoei, 2014). The organization is also part of the
fleet services that carries the cargo as well as couriers from one destination to another
(Amrollahi, Ghapanchi and Talaei-Khoei, 2014). The organization operates express ground
handling services for their own benefits and also on behalf of the small and the regional airlines
that could not manage on their own.
The organizational structure of this business is a complex one in nature and at the same time it is
decentralized. The decision making process of the organization is assigned to various managers
as well as the top executives to the relevant subsidiaries so as to ensure that the process of
making decision has been executed (Granlund, M., 2011). The top management of the business
is the one which is responsible for the vital and the strategic decision making for the business.
The managers in the organization are also allowed to make decisions which are based on the
situation (Granlund, M., 2011). They usually follow a given functional organizational structure
which is separately to every subsidiary to ensure that they could maintain a transparent process
of delegating of the responsibilities and the authorities (Granlund, M., 2011).. Such a complex
organizational structure could lead to delays in the process of making decision particularly

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during some of the crucial time when the organization needs to make fast decision in regards to a
given issue.
Operational problems
Qantas Airline there are executing various operational activities and they needs to make sure
they are capable of executing their activities with the minimum level of errors and ensure there is
maximum accuracy. There are numerous operational issues which the organizations are
encountering as result of the structure and this is the main reason why there is delay in the
decision making process (Clark, Shoaib, Hewitt, Stanford and Bate, 2012). The airline market
has been dynamic and the top management of the organization has been responsible for strategic
decision making process which is undertaken. In case the market offers an opportunity to adapt
to the new technology and there is delay in process of making decision this could lead to the
inefficiency to the business aspect and thus they would not benefit (Granlund, M., 2011).
Moreover, complex structure exhibited in the organization might lead to miscommunication
between management and the ground level workers and this leads to delay in offering of service
and sometimes lead to service failure (Granlund, M., 2011). An example is when the booking
team fails to identify that the airplane is full or overbooked, in this case the clients might feel
irritated due to miscommunication or there was failure in the service provision since they were
not informed. On their part it is a major inconvenience since they did not fly at the time they
wanted due to wrong misrepresentation by the booking personnel.
Most likely system acquisition method (commercial software, custom software, or ERP)
When a company has numerous activities within the business and other operational activities
which are associated to them, the most effective method for acquisition would be Enterprise

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Resource Planning also regarded as ERP software (Granlund, M., 2011). This software could be
used to streamline on all business activities operations and offer on time data to all the associated
as well as relevant departments and prevent any disruption which may arise or inefficiency in the
performance. The ERP system is the most preferred system for the Qantas airlines since the
system could assist the airline to maintain a much better database management as well as storage
system other than other commercial software (Granlund, M., 2011). This software would assist
all the operational along with the other related department so as to coordinate them in relation to
the requirements of the raw materials, customer services and the maintenance of services and
provision of quality product. ERP system usually has the efficiency to support on the airline in
order to perform an analytics on the behavior of the clients as well as the preference pattern and
the development of much better services and products which depend on the expectations and
requirements (Ladewi, Susanto, Mulyani and Suharman, 2017). ERP system could help the
organization to reduce on the probability to the occurrence of the number of the errors as the data
is transferred to the appropriate departments in the right time with minimal defects.
Describes and prepare a system flowchart of the sales procedures for Qantas Airlines
On the system flowchart of the Qantas Airline starts with the development of products and a
target audience has been identified. In case the passenger’s airline, the target audience are
usually the passengers that are much willing to use services of airlines in order to fly from one
destination to another (Granlund, M., 2011). On the aspect of the sales procedures it begins with
inquiring with the client in regards to the services to the preferred destination as well as the
complementary services and the cost in the services (Whittington, 2014). The sales executive in
the organization would offer details to the clients and a pitch to them so as to convince them to

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use the services the business is providing and at the same time give them discounts (Mouritsen.
and Hansen, 2009).
The next step would entail the customer purchase services for a given flight to where they would
want to go at a given time; they then book a seat in the airplane. Clients they have options when
it comes to booking a ticket to the preferred airplane via internet or even through 3rd party
vendors that are the partners to the airlines in offering of the service to the customer (Leyh and
Sander, 2015). The fleet sales procedures are usually different from regular client flowchart
procedure.
Control problems in the system and what sorts of fraud are possible in this system
There are numerous control issues in this system which the airline service organization could
encounter (Chang, Kuo, Wu and Tzeng, 2015). One is on the sales execute individuals making
fake promises to the clients in regards to the complimentary services that might damage on the
image of the organization. The automated online system for the payment could be compromised
by attackers in case it is not well secure or the details of the account could get leaked (Chang,
Kuo, Wu and Tzeng, 2015). Another issue is when the 3rd party vendors in greed to increase on
their sales revenue which make them to commit fraud (Creed, Daly, Dowdle & Stevens, 2008).
They might charge more than the stipulated amount of money for travel especially to the clients
who are in urgent need to travel. Another issue is that the cashiers who are at the counter could
steal money and at the same time make false representation of date so that they could protect
themselves from getting caught (Kilic, Zaim and Delen, 2015). The data for this organization is
important since the details of the clients and the passengers modes of the payment could be

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stored or even reused by the cashiers to make a payment for their personal need without the data
to the client.
PART 2
Development and adoption of the accounting software packages
The accounting software package need to record accurate to all the details of transactions
especially in a systematic manner (Chang, Kuo, Wu and Tzeng, 2015). The software need to be
user friendly to the workers so that it could reduce on the time which is taken in learning as well
as getting hand on the experience when using the software (Susanto, 2015). This accounting
software need to minimize all the steps which entails the recording of the information and at the
same time improving on the efficiency of the workers and the storage of the data in ensuring
there is a maximum data which has been stored at any particular time (Chang, Kuo, Wu and
Tzeng, 2015). The software need to offer all the important data any department in the
organization without wasting of the time as well as retraction of the process which is necessary
to extract data in a manner that is quick and secure.
There are numerous accounting software which are available in the market but not all that fulfil
the requirements of organization such as Qantas airline since they have processes that are
complex (Cassidy, 2016). This would entail a good and an effective ERP system that is capable
of supporting on the technological requirement in airline in order to reduce all the possibilities of
occurrence of any kind of the errors especially in the accounting as well as the cash flow in the
airlines (Granlund, M., 2011). As a result of the complex process, airline might not afford the
implementation of the various systems in order to satisfy on the technological requirement needs

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(Oster, 2012). Moreover, they also need to be compatible to each other and they do not cost any
extra money on the part of the airline.
The current market size
Due to the development in information technology as well as advancement in the information
system, it is crucial to any organization such as small, medium or large to implement various
accounting technology (Granlund, M., 2011). The current players in the Australia market for the
small as well as the medium organization are MYOB, Xero, Reckon and QuickBooks (Oster,
2012). These organizations are competing against each other in order to maintain their market
size share. Presently, MYOB has the maximum share in the market with account to
approximately 35%, then followed by the QuickBooks, Reckon and the last is Xero which
currently has been gaining speed and also occupying the share in the market away from the
MYOB (Laudon, 2016).
The large organization in Australia cannot depend on small accounting system thus they would
prefer the large technology from companies such as Oracle, SAP and IFS (Cassidy, 2016). These
software vendors’ organizations are usually the best in the market especially in the provision of
the ERP solutions that could support the business needs as well as other operational function so
as to ensure there is efficiency leading to improvement of the productivity (Supramaniam,
Abdullah and Ponnan, 2014).
Leaders in the market and what gives them the competitive advantage
Presently the leaders in the ERP system in market are Oracle and the SAP organization which
are the major leading large scale organization in providing this accounting software. The Oracle

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organization has Net suite software as well as the SAPS which are among the most popularly
known in the market to the large scale businesses (Cassidy, 2016). Qantas airline organization is
amongst the largest organization that has complex structure in the business, thus they require
accounting software that is more flexible in nature and that can be handled well by the
employees (Oster, 2012).
NetSuite software is popular technology due to its flexibility nature since any worker could alter
the fields within the software when they have correct access and the authority. The use of this
software does not utilize the traditional technique where alteration could be done via IT
individuals or the administrators of the system like in the past (Oster, 2012). The software is
scalable and could offer opportunity when making additions to the modules or even delete them
when required (Oster, 2012). This software is a complete ERP solution system that could
automate all the operations of the business and at the same time incorporate them to a single
application. The software has the ideal benefits when it comes to collaborating data from the
numerous entities subdiary to one point of operation and at the same time incorporates them to
single application (Shatat, 2015). The software also offers benefits when it comes to
collaborating data from numerous entities within the organization into the application and is able
to streamline and at the same time evaluate on the performance of the decision making process
on the strategic aspects.
Current gaps or the challenges encountered by users or clients of accounting software and
relevant recommendations
There are numerous problems which are related to clients booking which take place in 3
locations (Morecroft, 2015). The booking might be done at the airport, internet or perhaps

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through the 3rd party vendors. In such situations it could lead to mis-coordination between the
workers and the services providers in regards to the capacity of the plane and the distribution of
the tickets as well as fulfillment of seats (Morecroft, 2015). There has been rise in regards to
complaints about overbooking of the tickets by the clients who are traveling with this plane and
this has caused a lot of issues to the clients. There have also been complaints in relation to the
payment portal which is not supportive especially to the model of windows since it does not
allow the payment to go through for the clients (Jadhav and Sonar, 2009). This could lead to huge
losses in the business on the part of the airline
Recommendations
The new accounting software which would be implemented in the organization would offer
services as compared to the traditional software they had. Qantas airline is one of the largest
businesses therefore, they require more powerful as well as flexible software for the business
such as NetSuite that would fulfil on all the requirements of airline as well as streamline on their
business operations to one single software. The requirements of this organization are complex
thus they could not be satisfied through use of small scale accounting software that cater for
small business.
Conclusion
Qantas airline organization should identify on all their requirements before they could take any
decision in relation to the implementation of new accounting software. This software requires
huge capital and also time for implementation. ERP system would be advantageous to the
business since it would improve on efficiency as well as productivity which lead to reduction in

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the errors thus making all the process transparent within the entire department in the
organization.

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