COIS12073 - Case Study: The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation

This case study examines the strategic process of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation for Supreme Dry Cleaners, a family-run laundry business. The report begins with an executive summary and introduces the need for an ERP system to improve efficiency in managing laundry counts, delivery schedules, and customer orders across its multiple branches. A feasibility analysis assesses the practicality of ERP implementation, considering invoicing, billing, and customer relationship management. The study identifies issues arising from the misalignment of business processes and organizational strategy, such as the need for streamlined processes and strategic mapping. Risks associated with Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and ERP customization are analyzed, including the high costs and data migration challenges. The current business processes are outlined, and proposed changes for ERP implementation are provided, culminating in a conclusion that highlights the benefits of ERP in streamlining operations and improving customer service.

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 0
Title: The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation
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The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 1
Executive Summary
This report summarizes the need for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in the
organization-Supreme Dry Cleaners. A feasibility analysis has been conducted to assess the
practicability of ERP implementation. The issues that arise from the misalignment of business
processes and strategic alignment are studied. The different risks associated with BPR and ERP-
a detailed analysis of the benefits and limitations have been discussed. The current business
processes are studied. Proposed changes to be made for the implementation of ERP have been
provided, followed by a conclusion.
Contents

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
The Requirement for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System...............................................3
A Feasibility Analysis......................................................................................................................4
An Overview of Issues Arising Out of the Misalignment of Business Processes and
Organizational Strategy...................................................................................................................6
Risks Associated with BPR and ERP Customization......................................................................8
Current Business Processes.............................................................................................................9
Proposed Changes to the Business Processes................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 3
Introduction
Supreme Dry Cleaners are one of the biggest names of Sydney. The company operates
six stores in different locations, namely-Earlwood, Ashfield, Rose Bay, Surrey Hills and
Drummoyne. The laundry, cleaning and delivery services are being run in a traditional format.
The Supreme Dry Cleaners need to implement the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System
for recording the data in an efficient way (Chen, Razi and Rienzo, 2011).
The Requirement for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System
The company needs to anticipate the laundry counts, delivery schedules, orders and
provides Laundry management services with its multiple branches to operate with efficiency.
Following points are enumerated below-
1. Invoice ERP system-ERP systems are growing rapidly and the company needs to
identify the need of implementing an Invoicing ERP software. The printing and re-
printing of invoices and application of Invoice templates is a difficult process that
requires the Supreme Dry Cleaners to understand the need for an ERP system. The
company needs to hire the talented managers that can effectively work on the ERP
system and manage the store. The company needs to understand the significance of
intuitive applications and documenting the stock counts requires an ERP system
(Hofmann, 200).
2. Billing system- The management of the core billing process is a cumbersome task. The
evolution of ERP billing system has changed the way the organizations are running their
business. With the launch of customer relationship management systems (CRM), the
management can manage the laundry opportunities. The ERP billing system is integral to

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 4
the success of an organization. The company needs to comprehend the investment
prospects. Supreme Dry Cleaners have to establish the database strategy that can manage
each laundry customer item. The ERP system have been well-established in the market
from 1990s and comprises of a sorting technique that can monitor the product returns
over a period of time (Khaparde, 2012).
3. Customer Relationship Management and ERP Modules-The Company must aim at
decreasing the expenses and must develop policies for customizing the customer orders.
Customer Relationship Management (ERP) is a fast software that takes less than 1 minute
to accept the orders. The company employee will be able to search the customer through
the phone number or a customer order number if the customer has come to the store
twice. The management of the company can charge the payment through a credit card or
cash. The ERP system is simple to use and employees can adapt to the system easily. The
CRM (ERP) will solve the problem of order mix-ups and the employees will know which
order to be resolved first. The customers of Supreme Dry Cleaners are provided with
accurate time of receiving their orders. The client does need to wait for a longer period of
time and order are processed in an easy way. The Customer Relationship Management
(ERP) software processes the cleaning of clothes rapidly (Харакоз and Kharakoz, 2015).
A Feasibility Analysis
The Supreme Dry Cleaners, Laundry Company has been receiving increased numbers of
customer orders when compared with past years. The company needs to manage the requests at
all the multiple branches. In order to do this, the company needs to understand the best action
plan that can manage the customer orders at a reduced expense. The company needs to focus on

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 5
delivering the value to the customers and manage the customer’s requirements through
conducting an ERP feasibility study.
How to begin with the ERP analysis is the prime question? The company needs to
apprehend the current traditional approach of handling the customer orders at various Laundry
branches (Beheshti, 2006). Foremost, the company needs to find about the benefits and
difficulties experienced in handling the customer queries. The answer lies in implementing an
ERP software that can handle the customer orders at a fast pace and data management can be
done in a shorter span of time. The Supreme Dry Cleaners Laundry needs to gauge the aggregate
demand and determine the return on investment, considering the present cost outlay. It is to be
mentioned without the technical expertise the Enterprise Resource Planning System cannot be
executed within the company. The company is required to hire the best ERP expertise and
trainers to train the present employees of the company and come up with an innovative approach
to solve the risks associated within the system (Yılmaz and Ozcan, 2011).
The feasibility analysis of the ERP project must not be undertaken for a lengthier period.
The CEO of the company needs to carry out an assessment of the present conditions and the
future circumstances, conditions applicable with respect to cost. One of the key aspects that
cannot be ignored are that the IT developers and management committee may not take the same
course of actions, and this needs to be resolved with the best possible ERP recommendations/or
outcomes. The CEO of the company must take the employees’ opinions before the installation of
the ERP system begins. The CEO of the company must form an ERP assessment committee that
must find out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the present installed system.
The different alternatives to ERP implantation must be considered and possible outcomes must
be found. The company needs to take the feedback from all the employees and form periodic

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 6
goals from now onwards. These roles and responsibilities must be distributed within the
organization and primary elements of the installation project must be given due importance
(Candra, 2011).
An Overview of Issues Arising Out of the Misalignment of Business Processes
and Organizational Strategy
The simplest theory behind providing value to the customers is streamlining the business
processes and described strategy. The present study is undertaken for Supreme Dry Cleaners
Laundry which aims at providing the laundry, dry cleaning services to the community at large.
The company follows a traditional invoicing system and records all the transactions. The
Laundry Company needs to follow the coordinated approach towards the measurement of
different variables that are affecting its overall returns. The company needs to adopt the process
management theory to cognize the different variables such as customer order number, date in,
date out and total cost payable by the customer. The main challenge is to ensure a smooth flow
of different operational decision making strategy and performance management business
processes (Hustad, Haddara and Kalvenes, 2016).
An overview has been provided for the different issues arising out of the misalignment of
business processes and organizational strategy-
1. The organizations may undergo through the business process disconnect with the strategy
formulation. Due to which there are no concise goals and objectives in the organization
resulting in the management practice which is not favorable for the company. The
Company needs to have an understanding of the conceptual views. The identification of a
strategy has to be done with a strategic mapping and must be shaped with operational

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 7
value chains. A practical framework must be created within the organization setting for
performance innovation and improvement (Al-Sabri, Al-Mashari and Chikh, 2018).
2. Detailed business models are required in a corporate setting for streamlining the business
process and organizational strategy. The non-existence of inter-relationships between the
operational processes, IT Processes and business processes creates coalition with the
business management activities. Strategic planning is one of the key concepts that must
not be ignored by the company. A specific direction needs to be followed and adopted by
the company for adding value in the operational chain. The company needs to define the
set criteria according to the product or services offered to the customers. The strategy
implementation in the corporate organization must enhance the interaction with its
employees and reduce the errors arising out of business processes. The Supreme Dry
Cleaners may use the BPM (Business Process Management) tools that can facilitate the
strategic implementation in the corporate structure. The different stages of strategic
management process must be adhered and information must be made accessible to the
employees (Chang, Ok and Park, 2008).
Risks Associated with BPR and ERP Customization
Integration of all business functions into a single system is possible through the
implementation of ERP in an organization. The company must comprehend the benefits and
limitations associated with the BPR and ERP customization. With reference to Supreme Dry
Cleaners, the benefits can be enumerated as follows-

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 8
1. The smooth transition of workflow across all functional departments is ensured
through the implementation of BPR and ERP in the corporate structure of an
organization. The senior management personnel are able to analyze the information
with the unique business reporting system. Cross-functional department activities can
be analyzed Enterprise Resource Planning system (Supramaniam, Abdullah and
Ponnan, 2014).
2. The Company must be involved with the development of an eCommerce site and
integrating the same with ERP. The business processes must be streamlined with the
ERP and effective data management is possible. The different modules of ERP
system must be implemented as per the requirement of the organization. The
company needs to keep track of all the transactions and this possible through the ERP
systems. BPR (Business Process Re-engineering) and ERP make order tracking,
inventory tracking, sales forecasting easy and user-friendly. The organization needs to
develop the centralized security guidelines that are applicable to the ERP systems.
Risks Associated with BPR and ERP -
1. The cost associated with the configuration of a new system is too high. The IT team
needs to find do the testing and assessment of ERP within the overall organization
and find the best possible solution that can fit with the needs of the management. The
company needs to find the payback cost that went on for the implementation of a new
ERP business model into the business. The company may not be able to recover the
total investment made due to the limitation of employee training or the exhaustive
BPR systems and ERP projects (Ravindrakumar Rajput et al., 2015).

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 9
2. The data migration is a very time-consuming and hectic process. The company may
incur additional costs like-up gradation of WAN, formation of a new IT infrastructure
and recruiting new employees in the organization. This may increase the total cost of
the ERP project. The companies have to work at the discretion of the single vendor
and this increases the disparity among the organization and the relevant party. The
assessment of ERP system before implementation is a critical step and this is not
possible with the testing done at the initial level (Mahmoodzadeh, Jalalinia and Nekui
Yazdi, 2009).
Current Business Processes
The Supreme Dry Cleaners have inter-connected business processes that are linked to the
achievement of a delivery of a product or service to the client. The company needs to achieve the
goals and objectives and list all its current business processes for the installation of ERP in its
organization.
1. Product Service/Delivery-The Laundry is operating via traditional systems. The
company is worried about the data management services and inter-linked
variables where the value automatically generates the ‘null’ value. The CEO of
the company needs to understand the importance of delivering value oriented
services to the customers where the orders are generated automatically. The
company must plan to develop an E-commerce site that can link all the services
online. The customers’ orders can be generated in a user-friendly way and the
time-in, time-out data sets are easily recorded on the handsets. The customer just
needs to log in to the E-commerce site and enter the customer order id number or

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 10
name or phone number via which the system recognizes the customer and sales
generated over the system (Fui-Hoon Nah, 2004).
2. Customer Acquisition- The Supreme Dry Laundry aims at reducing costs and
implement workflows that can enhance customer acquisition. ERP has been
popular since 1990’s, but the organization is unable to realize the centric value of
this software. This is an in-built technology system that can easily handle millions
of customers and retain the records. The company needs to incur one time
implementation cost. The automation of a process is a tough task and the
company needs to focus on BPR Techniques (van der Aalst, 2004).
3. Quality Improvement and Change Management- Transforming through a
conventional set of IT systems to modern approach requires a hefty amount of
investment at all the functional levels. The Company needs to prepare for change
management practices and ensure quality at all levels. The quality improvement is
achieved at all functional units only when the central decision making body exists
within the organizational setting. At times, the company may not have the he
adequate expertise to offer the fact based solution as required. The need is to
make a difference with the right approach and management practice that not only
result in profit generation and satisfaction of clients. With a viewpoint of
implementing the ERP at a central level, the company must evaluate all the costs
associated and measurement of defect variables is must. The CEO of the company
must record the changeover time and mapping of business processes in a precise
way (Nadarajah and Syed A. Kadir, 2016).

The Strategic Process of ERP Implementation 11
Proposed Changes to the Business Processes
1. Process Mapping is one of the techniques that must be making the effective decision
making in the organizational context. Business processes must be analyzed
effectively and proposed changes in the system must be implemented effectively.
Customer queries are quite extensive and proposed business model must be
effectively handled by the ERP system and employees. This is in reference to
continuous improvement of the system and IT scenario.
2. The purpose of the project must be enhancing the formal and informal processes. The
company must be able to create the different steps for BPR and ERP. The strategic
plan of action must be outlined and an evaluation analysis must be provided to the
employees of the organization (Trkman et al., 2015).
3. The company must get involved in conducting the market research and encourage
employees to communicate in an efficient way. The formal strategic steps must be
documented and presented to the management. The company must have a procedure
for submitting the invoice and aim at reducing the overall costs.
4. The resolution of a complaint is a significant matter of concern. The missed
deadlines, increased stress and inaccurate data management are some of the prime
reasons behind the installation of ERP system. The resources present must be
effectively utilized to bring the maximum output (Marjanovic and Freeze, 2012).
5. An impact assessment program must be adopted by the company and the proposed
changes must be defined. The Supreme Dry Laundry needs to identify the present and
the future conditions, all conditions applicable. This involves defining the investment
plans in advance and risk mitigation steps. The company needs to decide whether to