Project Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of New ERP Solution

This project assignment focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a new ERP system for the Access Group of the UK. The project encompasses several key stages, including project initiation with market research, defining client needs, and establishing project objectives. It details the creation of a project plan, resource allocation, and the implementation phase, which includes coding, networking, and monitoring. The assignment includes technical and operational specifications, a flowchart, and a detailed project plan with a Gantt chart and network diagram. It also addresses project risks, resource management, and the selection of the best ERP system. The evaluation phase includes interpreting outcomes, making recommendations, and presenting the project's findings, concluding with a discussion of project management principles and procedures. The project emphasizes time management, financial management, risk management, and communication strategies throughout the development lifecycle.

Project Design,
implementation and
evaluation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
introduction....................................................................................................................................6
assignment 1....................................................................................................................................6
task 1................................................................................................................................................6
Setting up system to record all the events relating to your project..............................................6
Proposal and list of resources that will be required to complete ERP project.............................7
Discussion with manager and deciding a project title.................................................................7
Factors that contribute to the selection of project........................................................................7
Difficulties and ways to overcome these difficulties...................................................................8
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................8
Technical specification................................................................................................................8
Operational specification.............................................................................................................8
Flowchart with a set of procedures..............................................................................................9
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
Detailed project plan for New ERP solution...............................................................................9
Assignment 2.................................................................................................................................12
Task 1.............................................................................................................................................12
Demonstrating project development throughout the project’s lifetime.....................................12
Resources which are being used to develop the project............................................................12
Project timing (Gantt chart).......................................................................................................13
Risks with resources and control measures...............................................................................13
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................14
Discuss key elements of the specification.................................................................................14

Risk at achieving specification requirements and control measures.........................................14
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................14
Review of developed solution on the basis of technical specification......................................14
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................15
Task 5.............................................................................................................................................15
ASSIGNMENT 3...........................................................................................................................16
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................16
Three potential solutions which meet requirements of technical specifications.......................16
Selection of best ERP system for development.........................................................................16
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................17
Interpretation and analysis the outcomes in terms of the original project specification............17
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................17
Recommendation and justification areas for further consideration...........................................17
assignment 4..................................................................................................................................19
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................19
Produce a record of all project procedures used........................................................................19
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................20
2 a. Presentation of the outcomes of the project to an audience................................................20
2b. Role of project management principles in ERP project development.................................20
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
references.......................................................................................................................................21
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TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Flowchart for project planning.........................................................................................9
Figure 2: Gantt chart for ERP solution project..............................................................................13
Figure 3: Network diagram............................................................................................................13

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Project plan for ERP solution............................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Project design can be defined as an early phase of the project where major key features,
structure, success criteria and major deliverables are planned out. It helps in implementation and
evaluation of projects in effective manner. The current research is based on project design,
implementation and evaluation. Regarding this, project has been chosen Access Group of UK
which is a software consultancy and developer. It offers number of business software to
organizations of UK (Schenkelberg, Kieny Bianco and Koff, 2015). These software are relevant
to finance, expense, business intelligence, CRM, human resource, CRM, etc. The current study
will focus on new product development project. As per the given case study a trainee design
engineer is accountable for designing, implementation and evaluation of this project. The current
research will include a detail description of the project formulation process. Afterwards project
manager will develop an implementation plan within agreed project specification. Further, focus
will also be given on evaluation and presentation of the project outcomes. Overall, the current
study will describe a very systematic process of designing, implementation, management and
evaluation of a new ERP system for Access Group of UK.
ASSIGNMENT 1
TASK 1
Setting up system to record all the events relating to your project
At the time of development of ERP solution project manager of Access needs to develop
appropriate record of different activities which are required for completing this project.
Regarding tis, design engineer can use database management system because it is effective for
maintaining record for long term (Akalin, Huang and Willems, 2016).
Along with this, For ERP solution project design engineer will require to complete the
following events:
 Market research
 Determining needs and requirements of clients
 Formulation of objectives of the project
 Developing project plan
 Deciding activities for developing new ERP solution
 Arrangement of resources
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 Implementation of project plan
 Allocation of resources
 Coding and networking for ERP system
 Monitoring and review of the project performance
 Testing
 Quality analysis
 Making necessary changes
 Project closer
Proposal and list of resources that will be required to complete ERP project
Before selecting project Design engineer will conduct research on existing products and
services of Access group. It will help in determining scope of the new product development as
well as also play important role in getting ideas about the project (Archibald and Archibald,
2016). Project relevant to information technology will require number of resources to complete
it; these are as follows:
 Technical resources
 Human resources
 Operational resources
 Financial resources
Discussion with manager and deciding a project title
New product development project: ERP solution
Factors that contribute to the selection of project
Project selection is based on benefits and feasibility of the project. For the new ERP
solution development project manager has considered the following factors:
 Financial aspect
 Political factor
 Marketing influence
 Economic elements
 Technology dynamic
 Requirement of resources such as time, quality and specification
 Associated complexity and risks (Chiu-Chi and et.al, 2013)
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Difficulties and ways to overcome these difficulties
Difficulties Strategies used by project manager to
overcome different difficulties
Time management problem Project manager has been used Gantt chart,
PERT and critical path method for scheduling
activities and managing time.
Difficulties in managing finance Budgeting control and management strategies
have been used by project manager for
managing finance.
Inappropriate risk management Design engineer has developed risk register for
managing risks.
Poor communication Project manager has been used number of
communication channels for making
communication these are internet, mails,
telephonic and video conferencing
(Kloppenborg, 2011).
Unclear goals and deliverables Developing most appropriate project plan
Lack of resources Optimum allocation of resources
TASK 2
Technical specification
For developing a new ERP solution Access Group will require lots of techniques
specifications which are as follows:
 For getting business intelligence
 Ecommerce integration
 For developing application programme interface
 Developing centralized system (Kloppenborg, 2011)
Operational specification
 Improvement in productivity
 Increasing efficiency
 Declining cost
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 Streamline business process
 High quality customer service
 Improvement in security and availability
Flowchart with a set of procedures
Figure 1: Flowchart for project planning
TASK 3
Detailed project plan for New ERP solution
Development of the ERP solution is not an easy task for project manager because
regarding this project manager needs to develop appropriate plan. It will focus on different
aspects such as timescale, deliverables, Milestone, quality assurance systems and quality plan
and progress monitoring, etc (Smyth and Lecoeuvre, 2015).
Table 1: Project plan for ERP solution
WB
S Task Name Duratio
n Start Finish Predecessor
s
1 New product development of ERP
solution 45 days Tue
8/9/16
Mon
10/10/16
1.1 Initiation 4 days Tue
8/9/16
Fri
8/12/16
1.1.1 Market research 2 days Tue
8/9/16
Wed
8/10/16
1.1.2 Determining needs and 2 days Thu Fri 3
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requirements of clients 8/11/16 8/12/16
1.2 Planning 11 days Mon
8/15/16
Mon
8/29/16
1.2.1 Formulation of objectives of the
project 2 days Mon
8/15/16
Tue
8/16/16 3,4
1.2.2 Developing project plan 5 days Wed
8/17/16
Tue
8/23/16 6
1.2.3 Deciding activities for
developing new ERP solution 4 days Wed
8/24/16
Mon
8/29/16 6,7
1.3 Implementation 18 days Wed
8/24/16
Fri
9/16/16
1.3.1 Arrangement of resources 5 days Wed
8/24/16
Tue
8/30/16 7
1.3.2 Implementation of project plan 10 days Tue
8/30/16
Mon
9/12/16 8,6,7
1.3.3 Allocation of resources 4 days Tue
9/13/16
Fri
9/16/16 10,11
1.4 Designing 7 days Mon
9/19/16
Tue
9/27/16
1.4.1 Coding and networking for ERP
system 7 days Mon
9/19/16
Tue
9/27/16 12
1.5 Monitoring and control 6 days Wed
9/28/16
Wed
10/5/16
1.5.1 Monitoring and review of the
project performance 2 days Wed
9/28/16
Thu
9/29/16 14
1.5.2 Testing 2 days Wed
9/28/16
Thu
9/29/16 14
1.5.3 Quality analysis 2 days Fri
9/30/16
Mon
10/3/16 16
1.5.4 Making necessary changes 2 days Tue
10/4/16
Wed
10/5/16 16,17,18
1.6 Execution 3 days Thu
10/6/16
Mon
10/10/16
1.6.1 Documentation 2 days Thu
10/6/16
Fri
10/7/16 19
1.6.2 Project closer 1 day Mon
10/10/16
Mon
10/10/16 21
 Timescale: As per the project forecasting ERP solution project will take 45 days in
completion.
 Deliverables: final outcomes of the project are known ads deliverables and new ERP
solution with high quality is the major deliverable of this project.
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 Milestones: for completing this project, design engineer of Access Group needs to
complete different activities such as initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring and
control and project closer, etc. so, these are considered as milestone of the project.
 Quality assurance systems and quality plans: As per this activity quality of SRP solution
must be matched with the needs and requirement of customers. Along with this, project
manager needs to supervise each team member about how to develop ERP solution using
quality standards. Including this, design engineer will need to conduct quality review of
the entire process (Kloppenborg, 2011).
 Progress monitoring: Project manager or design engineer of Access Group will use Gantt
chart as a monitoring and evaluation tool because it will help in determining progress of
each and every activity on time.
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ASSIGNMENT 2
TASK 1
Demonstrating project development throughout the project’s lifetime
 Initiation: in this phase of project lifetime project manager has decided the major aim
and objective for developing ERP solution.
 Planning: After deciding aim and objectives design engineer has been developed an
appropriate plan including different activities to complete this project.
 Implementation: In this phase of project lifetime, manager has implemented the entire
project plan for developing ERP solution for client of Access Group. In this phase of
manager has monitored performance of the ERP also (Kutsch and et.al, 2015).
 Closing: After developing new ERP solution project manager will close this project
including appropriate documentation of project for future reference.
Resources which are being used to develop the project
Design engineer has been used different resources for completing this project and these
are human resources, technical resources, financial resources and operational resources. All these
resources are allocated as per the needs and requirements of different activities (Calvo-Mora,
Navarro-García and Periañez-Cristobal, 2015).
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