Project Management: ERP Implementation for ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED

This project management report outlines the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED, an Australian agricultural company. The project aims to integrate various departments, address operational inefficiencies, and improve decision-making. The plan includes measurable objectives such as implementing a high-quality ERP system within five months and a budget of $160,000. Key features like Financial, Human Resource, Manufacturing, and CRM management are detailed, along with budget estimations, schedule estimations, and potential risks. The project was successfully completed within budget ($149,730) and ahead of schedule (4.5 months). The report also includes meeting notes and team contracts to highlight the collaborative approach. The ERP system aims to enhance productivity, minimize operational costs, and improve overall business performance by integrating all functional areas and providing real-time information for better decision-making.

Project Management
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The present research has based on ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED organization. It has
deal in Australian agriculture sector. Company has developed Australia’s world class agri-science
research into commercially valuable intellectual property. Organization has faced the issue related
to no integration between all the departments. It has affected overall business operational activities
and other areas. In this context, it has planned to introduce ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) at
the workplace to deal with the problem. The objective of the plan has to develop and implement
high quality advance ERP system within the five month at the cost that will not exceed $ 160, 000.
The following project has delivered some basis features such as Financial, Human Resource,
Manufacturing, Inventory and Material Management, Suppliers and Purchase Order and CRM
management. Along with this, it has improved decision making process of departments of
ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED. After the execution of plan, the entire plan has completed
within $149,730 cost and 4 and half months.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................4
PROJECT BACKGROUND................................................................................................................4
MEASURABLE OBJECTIVE.............................................................................................................4
CURRENT SITUATION......................................................................................................................4
PROBLEM STATEMENT...................................................................................................................5
CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS AND CONSTRAINTS.........................................................................5
ANALYSIS OF OPTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................5
PRELIMINARY PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.................................................................................5
BUDGET ESTIMATION AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS.................................................................5
SCHEDULE ESTIMATION INCLUDING ASSIGNED RESOURCES............................................7
POTENTIAL RISKS..........................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................14
APPENDIX........................................................................................................................................15
PM Team Contract.........................................................................................................................15
PM Meeting Notes.........................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Project management is an important part of every organization. It is a kind of art that helps
the companies to manage their various kinds and sizes of projects in effective and efficient manner.
The present research is based on project management and to understand the following concept,
ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED organization case is taking in to the consideration. Firm is
listing in Australian Stock Exchange. The cited company is dealing in the agriculture area where
Abundant Produce develops Australia’s world class agri-science research into commercially
valuable intellectual property (About us, 2016). In the present time, organization has faced the issue
related to no integration between all the departments. It has affected overall business operational
activities and other areas. In this context, it has planned to introduce ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning) at the workplace to deal with the problem.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
As per the current situation, it has determined that ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED
functional activities have not integrated with each other. It has affected the overall working of the
organization. By this problem, the management has taken initiative to adopt a new system that can
able to integrate all functional areas. This project will fit into the existing program and deliver
various benefits to the organization.
MEASURABLE OBJECTIVE
 To develop and implement high quality advance ERP system within the five month at the
cost that will not exceed $ 160, 000.
 To deliver some basis features such as Financial, Human Resource, Manufacturing,
Inventory and Material Management, Suppliers and Purchase Order and CRM management.
 To enhance overall productivity of the organization by 20% till June 2017.
 To improve decision making process of departments.
 To minimize operational costs and managing day to day activities.
CURRENT SITUATION
The current situation of ABUNDANT PRODUCE LIMITED has stated that there has a less
real time information available for the company to take decision within the respect of business. Due
to this, organization has unable to keep control over the cost and manage the current financial
resource. Along with this, the existing system has not able to maintain the accurate records of all
kind of information.
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PROBLEM STATEMENT
In the context of Abundant Produce Limited, it has found from the investigation that there is
not a single and integrated system present in the organization that can able to align all work in a one
system. With the aim of this, it has planned to implement or introduce ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning) within the workplace (Burke, 2013).
CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS AND CONSTRAINTS
 ERP system will be developed to the specifications and designs as per the mention
requirements of Abundant Produce Limited.
 Working timing on project work will limited to Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 6:00
P.M.
ANALYSIS OF OPTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
There are various options available in front of Abundant Produce Limited. These are CRM
(customer relationship management), SAP, MAP (marketing automation platform), PIM (product
information management), CMS (content management system) and ERP (enterprise resource
planning). But as per the needs and requirements of cited company, the suitable option is ERP. The
reason of selecting the following one is able to take right decision with real time information,
accurate data recording, managing and controlling over cost, enhance operational productivity etc.
PRELIMINARY PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
 Client or server requirements that can allow hosting of resources, systems connected with
networking devices etc.
 Database systems with the features of structured query language that can able to directly
access the data from the database, transaction mechanism that enable access of data, triggers
to initiate actions etc.
 Different development tools like Visual Basic.net or C#.net.
BUDGET ESTIMATION AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
The budget for major activities of ERP project is showing in below table.
Categories Cost in $
Software costs
Application 1500
Software 2500
Additional 3rd party software 600
Database software 180
Hardware costs
Application server 800
Others items 1000
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Network costs
Cabling 500
Racks 400
Routers 450
Switching devices 800
Employee compensation
Salary 100,000
Bonus and commissions 6000
Employee incentives 5000
Other expenses 30,000
Total 149730
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SCHEDULE ESTIMATION INCLUDING ASSIGNED RESOURCES
The ERP Project for Abundant Produce Limited has contained an action plan which has included several lists of events. The preliminary
scheduling of the project plan including with assigned resources is showing in below table.
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Resource Names
ERP System development 147 days Tue 1/3/17 Wed 7/26/17
Initiation 10 days Tue 1/3/17 Mon 1/16/17
Problem recognition 3 days Tue 1/3/17 Thu 1/5/17 Project manager,
Project consultant
Selection of project 5 days Fri 1/6/17 Thu 1/12/17 3 Project manager
Overview of organization structure and
culture 2 days Fri 1/13/17 Mon 1/16/17 4 Project consultant,
Project manager
Planning 28 days Tue 1/17/17 Thu 2/23/17
Defining the project 3 days Tue 1/17/17 Thu 1/19/17 5 Project manager
Estimation of project time and costs 8 days Fri 1/20/17 Tue 1/31/17 7 Financial manager,
Project manager
Developing project plan 12 days Fri 1/20/17 Mon 2/6/17 7 Project consultant,
Project manager
Managing risks 5 days Tue 2/7/17 Mon 2/13/17 8,9 Project manager, Risk
assessor
Scheduling resources 8 days Tue 2/14/17 Thu 2/23/17 10 Project manager
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Implementation 80 days Fri 2/24/17 Thu 6/15/17
Develop different modules 50 days Fri 2/24/17 Thu 5/4/17 11
IT engineer, Project
manager, Software
developer
Integration of all modules 20 days Fri 5/5/17 Thu 6/1/17 13 Project manager,
Software developer
Testing 10 days Fri 6/2/17 Thu 6/15/17 14
Project consultant,
Project manager,
Quality analyst,
Software developer
Monitoring and review 19 days Fri 6/16/17 Wed 7/12/17
Review project 5 days Fri 6/16/17 Thu 6/22/17 15
IT engineer, Project
consultant, Project
manager, Risk
assessor, Software
developer
Taking corrective actions 8 days Fri 6/23/17 Tue 7/4/17 17
Project consultant,
Project manager,
Quality
analyst ,Software
developer
Ensuring quality 6 days Wed 7/5/17 Wed 7/12/17 18 Project manager,
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Quality analyst
Project Closer 10 days Thu 7/13/17 Wed 7/26/17
Project documentation 5 days Thu 7/13/17 Wed 7/19/17 19 Project consultant,
Project manager
Releasing of resources 3 days Thu 7/20/17 Mon 7/24/17 21 Project consultant,
Project manager
Sign off of project 2 days Tue 7/25/17 Wed 7/26/17 22 Project consultant,
Project manager
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Project network diagram
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Network diagram is graph depicting the sequence in which a project terminal element is needed to be completed by showing terminal
factors and their dependencies. It is a visual representation of a project’s schedule. This is a most important tool of project management to plan
and track the project from starting to end (Pritchard, 2013). By considering the proposed project for Abundant Produce Limited, network diagram
is as follows:
From the above network diagram of Abundant Produce Limited ERP project, it has been found that it has been completed within 147
days. But the expected completion duration for this plan was about to 154 days i.e. 5 months. So, entire plan has been finished before the planned
timeframe.
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POTENTIAL RISKS
Every project contains several risks which negatively hamper the outcomes and deliverables
of the project work. In the context of ERP project for Abundant Produce Limited, project manager
has appointed a Risk Assessor that can able to determine the best possible hazards in the plan and
their impacts on entire working plan (Azimi and et.al., 2011). From the risk assessment, there are
five types of risks in development of ERP project which are as follows:
New and unproven technologies: In general, majority software projects needed the application of
use of new technologies. In the ever changing tools, methods, techniques, standards, protocols and
increase the requirement of system developments have increased the risks related to technology. In
the case of ERP project for Abundant Produce Limited, the changes of occurrence of this type of
problem has raised because improper use of technologies have lead directly to failure of project
(Hazır, 2015).
Users and functional requirements: At the time of development of a project, it becomes important
to consider the all requirements of the users such as system features, functions, and quality of
service. In the case of ERP project of Abundant Produce Limited, users and functional requirements
risk has occurred because at the time of development different modules and their integration, the
client requirements have varied along with the new system functioning (Meredith and Mantel Jr,
2011).
Application and system architecture: The less understanding towards application and system
architecture of new ERP system for Abundant Produce Limited, it has increased the risk for the
entire project. This has moved the plan in the opposite direction which may affect the overall
outcomes of activities (Müller and et.al., 2013).
Performance: It becomes most important to ensure to measure the performance of the project as per
the expectations and set performance criteria. By considering the case study of Abundant Produce
Limited, project manager has not developed some performance methods to evaluate the
effectiveness of entire plan. The overall impact of this has made on the functioning of the plan and
its deliverables (Kerzner, 2013).
Rather than the above stated risks, some other occurred risks in ERP project has resource
allocation, improper communication, unavailability of skilled staff, ineffective scheduling of the
plan, scope creep etc (Mar, 2013). To overcome all these risks along with their impacts on action
plan, the project manager has adopted the risk management plan which has as follows:
Objective Probability
VL L M H VH
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