Comprehensive Report: ERP System Analysis for Gracious Industries

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for Gracious Industries, a company experiencing challenges due to competitive pricing issues. The report begins by outlining Gracious Industries' business requirements, including planning and scheduling, inventory management, customer relationship management, and reporting simplification. It then identifies major control risks, such as inadequate training and lack of senior management support. The core of the report focuses on system requirements, emphasizing accounting, data analysis, automation, and integration capabilities. It evaluates three potential ERP software solutions: Microsoft Dynamics ERP, SYSPRO, and IQMS, comparing their features and suitability for Gracious Industries. The report concludes with a recommendation for a suitable vendor and ERP software package, considering factors like accounting needs and data analysis capabilities, to help the company meet its business goals and mitigate risks. References are provided to support the analysis and recommendations.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM 1
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Business requirements:...............................................................................................................3
Planning and scheduling:.......................................................................................................3
Managing Inventory:..............................................................................................................4
Integrated consumer relationship management:.....................................................................4
Simplifying reporting:............................................................................................................4
System requirements:.................................................................................................................5
Accounting:............................................................................................................................5
Data analysis:.........................................................................................................................5
Automation:............................................................................................................................6
Integration:.............................................................................................................................6
Software Selection:....................................................................................................................7
Microsoft Dynamics ERP:.....................................................................................................7
SYSPRO:................................................................................................................................8
IQMS:.....................................................................................................................................9
Vendor selection:.......................................................................................................................9
Compare and contrast:............................................................................................................9
Suitable vendor and ERP software package:.........................................................................9
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
The gracious industries are one of the private limited company that is having thirty
five employees as well as the sales revenue of the company is more than 10.5 million dollars
from the last year. The company is doing the business from the last forty years as well as they
are supplying the electronic parts including super market and hardware stores but the problem
that is being faced by the company is they have lost some of the major accounts for the
unproductivity of some of the major products at a price that is competitive. For the issue the
company has hired an accountant who was keeping records for them as well as producing
statements that are related to finance in every year. The organisation thought that more
information is being required for running the business efficiently. The purpose of this paper is
to discuss the business requirements, software requirements, selection of the software and
vendor selection of the company Gracious Industries and at the end the paper will provide a
brief conclusion based on the entire report.
Business requirements:
The mission of Gracious Industries is to provide quality products to the vendors in a
competitive shopping environment (Abdinnour and Saeed, 2015). The vendors will get quick
assistance and they will get the seasonal needs and will get the better product than ever. The
key business processes for the Gracious Industries are as follows:
Planning and scheduling:
As the ERP systems have been designed for helping of managing and analysing data,
the business processes are for the excellent for the improvement of the scheduling
procedures. The reports of enterprise resource planning will give the allowance to the
managers for looking at the breakdown of the data of previous section. The functionality will

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give an ability to the head of the departments or project heads for allocating streamline for the
future and appropriate man power.
Managing Inventory:
Most of the organisations are having a process that is already existed for the
management of inventory, switching over the ERP based system, will allow the gracious
industries for an enhanced management of inventory as well as a greater flexibility for the
improvements (Abu-Shanab, Abu-Shehab and Khairallah, 2015). The distribution software of
the ERP system will allow the users to set up the notification as well as the flags that are
customize for the management of some of the specific adjust levels and stock levels
accordingly. Each of the seasons is having their unique and own demand on the demand of
the consumers. The gracious Industries is needed to focus on the pattern as well as need to
attract the local vendors by marketing their products in such price that is competitive.
Integrated consumer relationship management:
The management of customer relationship is one of the most separated suites that is for the
applications. The integrated customer relationship management is the most needed business
process for the company Gracious Industry (Arvidsson, Holmström and Lyytinen, 2014). The
first selection of the consumers will find at the time they will enter is the resource area of the
project or repairing that the consumers can use for planning of the projects for repairing the
products. Some of the functions of the CRM are having the ability to overlap the ERP system
(Sun and Lam, 2015). Both of these are necessary for the gracious industries. The focus of
CRM is to improve the relation of the company with the consumers.
Simplifying reporting:
The reporting is one of the most important part for each of the organisations, such that
the report process is also required for the company gracious industries. Most of the

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businesses are needed to build some of the extra times in the working days for allowing the
employees to submit and compile a daily stack of the reports (Shatat and Ahmad, 2015). With
the implementation of the ERP system the consumption of time and resources will decrease
drastically. However, most of the packages of the software will decrease drastically. To
switch from a legacy Enterprise management system to a suite of an updated ERP software
can seem to be daunted.
Major control risks:
The major risks that are needed for the Gracious Industries for making significant
tactical and strategic decisions about the changes in the businesses are as follows:
 Failure to Redesign Business Processes to Fit the Software
 Insufficient Training and Reskilling of End-Users
 Inability to Obtain Full-Time Commitment of Employee to Project Management and
Project Activities
 Lack of Integration (Rajnoha et al., 2014)
 Lack of Change Management
 Lack of Senior Management Support.
System requirements:
The Gracious Industries requires an ERP system to meet its business goals and to reduce the
risks of the business. The full form of ERP is Enterprise Resource planning is a management
software for the business procedures. It allows the company to use a system application that
are integrated in order to manage the business of the company and to automate the functions
of back office that is related to technology, human resources and services (Sykes, Venkatesh
and Johnson, 2014). The features and the functionalities of the ERP system that the company
should consider in order to meet the goal of its business and to reduce the risks are:

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Accounting:
The management of finances are the one of the most important functions in any of the
business. The Gracious Company also needs some help in accounting and they have hired an
accountant for this task (Tarhini et al., 2015). The ERP system consists of strong tools for
accounting. The systems of ERP help to manage the procedures like the accounts that are
payable, accounts that are receivable, management of fixed asset, the management of taxes
and the management of risks. These are required by the Gracious Company in order to meet
the business goals.
Data analysis:
The gracious Company need to collect the data and analyse the data for producing the
financial statements. ERP analyses data that is related to the operations of the business that
includes the data of the client, statistics of the production, sales data and many more (Rajan
and Baral, 2015). ERP can help the Gracious Company to predict the demand, create budget
for the company and then analyse the functions of the HR. The analysis of data offers entry to
the business data that are important and gives tools to the organization in order to track the
efficiency and productivity of the Gracious Organization.
Automation:
The capability of ERP automates tasks that are tedious that includes payroll, entry,
accounting, reporting and invoicing. For these the Gracious Company hired an accountant,
but it can be done with an ERP system. Automation saves time and focuses on the
assignments that are more important. It optimizes the time of the employees and make sure
that workdays are more effective (Nwankpa and Joseph, 2015). The Company can automate
the procedures that it is ding with the help of an accountant. Automation helps to minimize

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the errors of the humans. Automation will also help the employees of the Gracious Company
to reduce the mistakes hence, meeting the goals of the business.
Integration:
The task of the accountant of the gracious Company is mainly data driven. ERP gives a fully
integrated and a platform that is intuitive by which the data driven tasks can be analysed,
monitored and conducted easily. The ERP system stores, collects and analyses the data from
all the departments by a database that is single. This task is cannot be done by the accountant
single handily (Nwankpa and Roumani, 2014). The integration will allow the business of the
company to work with components that are multiple. The gracious company can use the
integrated customer relation management in order to get the information of the customers and
the history of orders. This results in the increase of efficiency on the scale of the company
and also makes sure about the smooth workings and increase in the productivity of the
Gracious Company.
Software Selection:
The vendors provide the Organizations with the ERP software so that they plan their
resources well and meet their business goals and reduce the risks of the business.
Microsoft Dynamics ERP:
Microsoft Dynamics ERP is ERP software that is geared towards the organization that is
midsize and also the subsidiaries and the divisions of company that are large. The
applications of the ERP software are a part of the Microsoft Dynamics. The ERP of Microsoft
Dynamics consists of five products that include Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft
Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics SL and Microsoft Dynamics
C5. This ERP vendor is selected by the Gracious Company to help in its accounting and also
the other information that are required to run the business efficiently (VORONKOVA et al.,

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2017). The applications of Microsoft Dynamics ERP are basically designed in order to help
the clients.
 Manage the chain of supply.
 To make the reports and the data of finance accessible for the planning of business and
the compliance that are regulatory.
 Reduce the cost and the complication of administering recruiting, benefits, performance
and management of salaries (Supramaniam, Abdullah and Ponnan, 2014).
 To meet particular needs related to the industry with the functions for the business
procedures that are vertical.
The ERP of Microsoft Dynamics focuses on five industries:
 Manufacturing
 Public sector
 Service industry
 Retail, and
 Financial services.
SYSPRO:
SYSPRO is a development of Software Company that gives business software that are
integrated and that include manufacturing, accounting and the distribution of operations
across many industries The SYSPRO vendor is selected by the company mainly for the
purpose of accounting, information about the customers and the analysis of the data of the
Gracious Company (Beheshti, 2014). It will help the Gracious Company to meets its business
goals and reduce the risks of their business and to reduce the risks that are related to their
business. The other particular areas of interest that is delivered by SYSPRO consists of:
 Business process modelling

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 Enterprise architecture
 Customization
 Enterprise Resource Planning
 Software as a service
 Service oriented architecture.
From supply chain management to scheduling and production, SYSPRO gives applications
with technology that are particular to the industry and it is designed in order to integrate the
aspect of the business (Kilic, 2015). The various applications that SYSRO offers are:
 Management of inventory
 Management of order
 Scheduling and planning
 Management of production (AlQashami, 2015)
 Supply chain management, and
 Management of warehouse.
IQMS:
IQMS is a software company that is globally known. It is based in Paso Robles, California.
The company evolves and markets producing ERP and producing execution systems that are
real time to the medical, automotive, gods of the consumers, defence and the other producing
industries. The Gracious Company must select this company as a vendor for the Enterprise
resource Planning software (Ali and Miller, 2017). It helps in the monitoring of the products
and the quality control. The main focus of the Gracious Company is on the accounting
purpose that is related to the data. This vendor will help in the accounting of the company and
any problem related to data. This will help the Gracious Company to meet the business goals

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of the company and also to reduce the risks in their business and take their business to next
level.
IQMS gives manufacturing, monitoring of production, control of quality, supply chain
management, management that is related to customer and the solutions of E-business through
ERP software and the other type of software for the medical, plastics, automotive and the
general production industries. The solutions of the company can be employed as cloud based
and it supports the UNIX and the Microsoft Windows operating system (Nagpal, Khatri and
Kumar, 2015). The headquarter of the company is in California. The IQMS Company mainly
focuses on manufacturing, software, ERP and the management of supply chain.
Vendor selection:
Compare and contrast:
The company needs one of the ERP systems for meeting the goals of the business for
reducing the risks that are related to the business. The ERP system give the allowance to the
company for using the system application that are integrated in order to manage the business
of the company and to automate the functions of back office that is related to technology,
human resources and services. The features and the functionalities of the ERP system that the
company should consider in order to meet the goal of its business.
The data analysis is needed for collecting the data as well as analysing the information
and data for the production of the statements that are financial. ERP can help the Gracious
Company to predict the demand, create budget for the company and then analyse the
functions of the HR. The analysis of data offers entry to the business data that are important
and gives tools to the organization in order to track the efficiency and productivity of the
Gracious Organization. The integration is another process that is required for the company
Gracious Industries. On the other side the process integration is the task that is for accountant

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who has been appointed for the company. The enterprise resource planning provides an
integrated as well as a platform that is intuitive by which the data driven tasks can be
analysed, monitored and conducted easily (Kandananond, 2014). The ERP system stores,
collects and analyses the data from all the departments by a database that is single. This task
is cannot be done by the accountant single handily. The integration will allow the business of
the company to work with components that are multiple. The gracious company can use the
integrated customer relation management in order to get the information of the customers and
the history of orders. The process automation is having the capability for the tedious tasks
that are including entry, accounting, payroll, invoicing and reporting. Automation saves time
and focuses on the assignments that are more important. It optimizes the time of the
employees and make sure that workdays are more effective. The Company can automate the
procedures that it is ding with the help of an accountant. Automation helps to minimize the
errors of the humans.
Suitable vendor and ERP software package:
The ERP software vendors that are discussed above needs to be compared in order to
analyse their strength and weakness. The comparison between Microsoft Dynamics ERP and
SYSPRO are:
Financials: By analysing the functions of the financials and the characteristics that is offered
by both the vendors, we see that the SYSPRO outspaces marginally the ERP of Microsoft
Dynamics. SYSPRO excels in the functions that are to be out of the box.
Human resources: The dynamic ERP has more capability than the SYSPRO. The Dynamic
ERP excels in the features of human resources and also in functionalities.

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Management of Manufacturing: Neither the Dynamic ERP nor the SYSPRO has no
difference in terms of the features and the functions that is related management of
manufacturing.
Management of Inventory: With respect to the features and the functionalities that is related
to the management of inventory, the Dynamic ERP and SYSPRO has a support that is
identical.
Management of Quality: In terms of characteristics and the functionalities, the Dynamic ERP
is slightly good over the SYSPRO in the management of Quality. Management of sales:
SYSPRO dominates slightly Dynamic ERP when looking at the management of sales
module. Technology of product: The Dynamic ERP has a much better score when it comes to
the technology of the product than the SYSPRO (Sykes, Venkatesh and Johnson, 2014). In
this module, the Dynamic ERP is a step ahead of SYSPRO in terms of characteristics and the
functionalities. From supply chain management to scheduling and production, SYSPRO gives
applications with technology that are particular to the industry and it is designed in order to
integrate the aspect of the business. The various applications that SYSRO offers are,
Management of inventory, Management of order, Scheduling and planning, Management of
production, Supply chain management, and Management of warehouse. On the other side the
software IQMS gives manufacturing, monitoring of production, control of quality, supply
chain management, management that is related to customer and the solutions of E-business
through ERP software and the other type of software for the medical, plastics, automotive and
the general production industries. The solutions of the company can be employed as cloud
based and it supports the UNIX and the Microsoft Windows operating system. The company
evolves and markets producing ERP and producing execution systems that are real time to the
medical, automotive, gods of the consumers, defence and the other producing industries. The
Gracious Company must select this company as a vendor for the Enterprise resource Planning