Richard Antiques Imports: ERP Implementation using SAGE Evolution

This case study examines the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at Richard Antiques Imports, a family-run business facing challenges in managing growing data volumes. The proposed solution involves using SAGE Evolution software to streamline record-keeping and generate essential reports on revenue, payments, peak times, and location data. The study focuses on improving the company's technology, business processes, and functional aspects through a phased implementation approach to minimize risk. The implementation plan encompasses project planning, scoping and analysis, design and build (including organizational change management), and final preparation, with considerations for hardware installation, employee training, and adherence to standards. The primary goal is to transition from manual systems to an efficient, data-driven operation capable of handling the company's expanding needs.

Running head: ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
Enterprise Resource Planning
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary
This study is based on the usage of a ERP and the implementation of the ERP into the Richard’s
business so that reports can be generated on total revenue generated, payments outstanding and
generated, peak times, and location related data. The aim of the report is to improve the quality
and the technology, business and functional aspects. The ERP system used in the study and the
software used is a SAGE Evolution software which will be used as record keeping software. It is
taken as an assumption that the SAGE software will be user friendly for the employees that will
be using it. While one major constraint is the procedure of implementation of the ERP into the
whole business process.
Phased implementation approach is selected for the study, and it is the best strategy
considering the less amount of risk associated with it. The modules are implemented at a time
and the modules are also implemented in groups and also is often implemented at a single
location. This approach requires a maintenance and attention which is given to the legacy
system.
The implementation plan has the 4 major dimensions namely project planning, scoping
and analysis, design and build, and final preparation. The four major dimension is again sub-
divided into major sections. The design and build section has the provision for the organizational
change management. This will directly impact the implementation of the ERP into organizational
change management. The implementation plan has the set of the standards, installation of the
hardware, training of the employees, training of the end users and the administrators. The goals
of the implementation plan are to bring changes in the manual system and make it easy to
manage the large amount of data generated due to the function and the operation of the company.

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The ERP system that can be used in the SAGE Evolution software can be used as record
keeping software in Richard Antiques Imports. This software is user friendly and is able to assist
the employees and Richard in record keeping and in report generation.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
2. Management of the implementation plan....................................................................................5
2.1. Implementation approach.....................................................................................................5
2.2. Points of contact...................................................................................................................8
2.3. Implementation schedule......................................................................................................9
3. Lewin’s Change model..............................................................................................................12
4. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................14
5. Reference...................................................................................................................................16

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1. Introduction
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can be described as a software based business
process management and this allows a typical organization to performs the various back office
functions that are related to human resources, services and technology. The ERP system is a
software that integrates various operation related to marketing, sales, manufacturing,
development and product planning though a single user interface, application and single database
(Tian and Xu 2015). ERP is considered to be an enterprise application that is used by both the
large and small business entities. The ERP systems integrates and includes the multiple modules
that are based different technical capabilities of the software. The combination of the tasks that
can be performed through an ERP system are, manage payroll and human resources, reduce the
purchase costs, financial and accounting applications, assess the needs of the business, reduction
of the redundant tasks, standardization of the critical business procedures, automate the life cycle
of the employees, facilitation of better project planning, improving the accuracy of the financial
data, configure prices, service knowledge base, supply chain management, distribution process
management (Tasevska, Damij and Damij 2014).
The case study here focusses on Richard who is the owner of Richard Antiques Imports
and it is his family business for over a period of 25 years. His business has grown to large extent
and presently the employees and Richard himself is unable to manage large amount of data
because all the data customer related data, sales related, purchase related and expense related
data are managed manually. This study is based on the usage of a ERP and the implementation of
the ERP into the Richard’s business so that reports can be generated on total revenue generated,
payments outstanding and generated, peak times, and location related data. The aim of the study
is to improve the quality and technology, business and functional aspects. The scope of the study

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highlights the ERP system used in the study and the software used is a SAGE Evolution software
which will be used as record keeping software. It is taken as an assumption that the SAGE
software will be user friendly for the employees that will be using it. While one major constraint
is the procedure of implementation of the ERP into the whole business process.
2. Management of the implementation plan
2.1. Implementation approach
There are several approaches that organizations can take in order to implement the
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and thus it is always necessary to implement the correct
strategy which will be applicable for a specific type of business. The four major type of the ERP
implementation methodologies are as follows:
 Big Bang rollout- the implementation takes place at one go and all the users of
the gradually move to the new adopted system on a given date
(Katerattanakul, Lee and Hong 2014).
 Phased rollout- the implementation occurs in several phases for an extended
period of time. The users of the system move into the new system through a
series of steps (Khaparde, Somani and Malde 2015).
 Parallel adoption- in this strategy, both the ERPs system and the legacy run
parallel and the users of this system works with the new system while also
working with the old system (Ilin, Ivetić and Simić 2017).
 Pilot- this strategy relates to the implementation of the new ERP system
within the organization and it is trialled over a period of time (Seethamraju
2015).

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The big bang rollout implementation relates to the need of maintaining and revising a
legacy software, since very little resource and time is required. Whereas, there is a high risk for
the failure. It is important to highlight that malfunction is a single module can an entire failure of
the system. The implementation time required is very short in comparison to the other
implementation strategies. While one the disadvantage of the Big bang implementation strategy
is that the project manager is unable to show how the system works until the whole system is
installed properly (Vaidyanathan and Fox 2017).
The phased strategy is comparatively exhibits lower risks in comparison to the big bang
strategy. Whereas the risk is involved in the process of losing the management before the
strategy implementation is properly accomplished. The project manager can showcase the
working of the system before achieves the complete status. One of the major drawback is that the
implementation is very expensive in order to accomplish the entire system (Ahmad, Ibrahim and
Garba 2015).
The Parallel implementation strategy provides the basis of the comparison where the old
system is compared with the new system. This strategy requires double the number of the human
resources and the double the number of the computing. Thus, in short the method is a time
consuming process. One of the advantage is that if the new system fails, the implementation does
not fail entirely. While, running two systems at the same time takes a lot of resources and it is
expensive (Lyytinen and Newman 2015).
In the Pilot implementation strategy, the project manager has the provision of showcasing
the working system and this is accomplished in a particular department. To accomplish the
implementation of this strategy, it takes a lot of resources and is expensive. The duration of the

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implementation strategy is less compared to the other strategies. While the need to revise and
maintain the legacy system is still high (Ptak and Schragenheim 2016).
Among the four strategies, the phased implementation strategy is the best strategy
considering the less amount of risk associated with it. The modules are implemented at a time
and the modules are also implemented in groups and also is often implemented at a single
location. This approach requires a maintenance and attention which is given to the legacy system
(Nagpal, Khatri and Kumar 2015). The various advantages and the disadvantages of the phased
implementation strategy are provided below:
Advantages Disadvantages
This strategy has a lower amount of risk
associated with it in terms of the total
implementation failure, and it is
comparatively safe in comparison to the Big
bang implementation strategy.
This strategy is on the high risk of losing the
involvement of the management and before
the accomplishment of the project.
At each of the implementation stage the
employees get benefitted by gaining
knowledge.
The phased implementation is a longer
process approach.
One of the biggest advantage is fallback of
the legacy systems. This facilitates the
organization to gain greater opportunity and
ensure about how a module will work and
before any alternative turns off. Thus this
The requirement of revising and maintaining
the legacy systems is high in comparison to
the Big bang implementation system.

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approach provides a backup.
The project manager can demonstrate the
completed phase of a working system.
The total implementation of the system is
very expensive (Nagpal, Khatri and Kumar
2015).
2.2. Points of contact
Points of contact (Bradds et al. 2017)
Person associated Role
Sponsor Provide the necessary funds for the implementation of
the ERP system software.
Project Lead Supervise and guide the team for the smooth
implementation of the strategy. The project lead also
show case the progress of the project
Configuration management staff Look into the issues of security breaches, maintain
improved relation between the customers and internal
staff.
Database administrator data security, data management, data synchronization
Employees First-hand experience of the usage of the ERP software

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Implementation plan
Start date: 25/8/2018 End date: 11/9/2018
Project planning
Start date:
25/8/2018
Duration- 12 hr
Budget: $2310
Design and build
Start date: 2/9/2018
Duration: 14hrs
Budget: $1800
Scoping and
analysis
Start date:
28/8/2018
Duration- 13hr
Budget- $510
Final Preparation
Start date:
7/9/2018
Duration: 18hrs
Budget: $1600
Plan project
Start date:
25/8/2018
Duration: 2 hrs
Budget: $500
Set up of
implementation
standards
Start Date:
26/8/2018
Duration:2hrs
Budget: $100
Perform system set up
Start Date: 27/8/2018
Duration: 2 hrs
Budget: $500
Install production
hardware
Start Date:
27/8/2018
Duration: 2 hrs
Budget: $1000
Project preparation
Start Date:
27/8/2018
Duration: 2 hrs
Budget: $10
Quality check Start
Date: 27/8/2018
Duration: 2 hrs
Budget: $200
Define system
environment
Start date: 28/8/18
Duration: 1hr
Budget- $10
Business
requirements
Start date:29/8/2018
Duration- 2hr
Budget- $100
Document training
and testing plan
Start date: 1/9/2018
Duration: 6hrs
Budget: $200
Collection of
configuration
needs
Start date:
30/8/2018
Duration- 4hrs
Budget- $200
Validate system
configuration
Start date: 2/9/2018
Duration: 2hrs
Budget: $300
Validate business
process
Start date:3/9/2018
Duration: 3hrs
Budget: $300
Conduct
organizational change
management
Start date: 4/9/2018
Duration- 4hrs
Budget- $500
Plan user training
Start date:5/9/2018
Duration- 2hrs
Budget: $300
Internal review
Start date- 6/9/2018
Duration:3 hrs
Budget: $400
Refine cutover
plans
Start date: 7/8/2018
Duration: 3hrs
Budget: $200
Train end users and
administrators
Start date: 8/8/2018
Duration: 4hrs
Budget: $500
Start production
Start date: 9/8/2018
Duration: 5hrs
Budget: $400
Close open issues
Start date: 10/9/2018
Duration: 6hrs
Budget: $500
Project closing
End date: 11/9/2018
2.3. Implementation schedule

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The implementation plan consists of subsections that include the project planning,
scoping and analysis, design and build, final preparation. The project planning starts from the
25th August and the entire duration of the project is 12hrs with an overall budget of $2310.
Scoping and analysis starts from 28th August and the entire duration of the project is 13hrs with
an overall budget of $510. The design and build part initiates from the 2nd September and the
entire duration of the project is 14hrs with an overall budget of $1800. The final preparation
starts from 7th September and the entire duration of the project takes 18hrs with an overall budget
of $1600.
Security and privacy requirements: Security and privacy issues- there are two issues that
has been noticed in the FTP site as well as the ERP software. the FTP site is considered to be a
site for sharing the pubic file share site and is also used for the distributing the patches to the
customers. Thus, if the users share their private data then it can cause privacy issues. Due to this
the site was shut down and the version of the software is updated through the HTTP for the
Updates. The data is managed by a pervasive database that is present within the SAGE evolution.
It has been found to be unsecured and this means anybody can copy the files that underlies the
data. Thus, it is important to mention that the ERP SAGE evolution software requires firewall
software, antivirus software and internet security suits to protect and secure the localized stored
in the computer and prevent any kind of data theft. The system will also require an authentication
system for the employee that will access the software (Tullett 2018).
Hardware and material requirements (sage.com 2018)-
In order to implement the ERP system into the Richard Antiques Imports, certain
hardware requirements need to be fulfilled to streamline the implementation of the ERP systems.

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The Hardware and the materials requirements are the recommended hardware peripherals which
will be necessary for the implementation of ERP system.
Areas Server (supporting 10 users)
Minimum system requirement Dual core 2.3 GHz/i5
Recommended system requirement Dual core 2.7 GHz/i5
Operating system
Minimum Windows server 2008 R2 standard edition
service pack 2 or later versions
Recommended Windows Server 2012 standard edition
service pack 2 or later versions
RAM
Minimum 6 GB or more
Recommended 8 GB or more
Screen resolution
Minimum 1024x768
Database Server
Minimum Microsoft SQL server 2008
Recommended Microsoft SQL server 2012/ Microsoft SQL
server 2014
Compatibility Microsoft SQL server 2016
Additional software required
Minimum Microsoft Excel 2007or later
Minimum .Net 3.50 or 4.5 framework