Barmy - company case study - management

• Company Staff: While the sales staff is traveling, they need detailed product, sales and upgrade information that can be accessed easily. They must be able to access the company’s information from anywhere, through the company’s internal website using a login ID and a password.

Data regarding product returns needs to be tracked and the reason and complaints need to be looked into to avoid future returns and to identify possible defects in the manufacturing or design process. The data will be collected through an online questionnaire to obtain customer suggestions and complaints to assess the quality of customer service.

 Data regarding manufacturing needs to be maintained to identify returned items to their batch of production. The sales data is needed for procurement schedules to align it with the sales forecasts. Raw materials data and suppliers’ terms are required to sustain smooth working conditions and to schedule production with suppliers.

Management needs data in determining profitable sales lines, products in demand and emerging trends which can also be used by the sales and manufacturing departments, in assessing their prevailing strategies. The human resource department requires sales staff records to reward employees and track their success, salaries and benefits. In addition, the accounting department needs data about sales, Accounts receivable and payables to prepare financial statements, and in assessing the profitability of certain product lines.

• Delivery and Distribution: Barmy will lease trucks to deliver its goods, and therefore needs updated data regarding the best quotes as well as their tracking system. Customers track their product delivery online and need to be contacted for any schedule changes.
• Inventory: As Barmy wants to keep inventory levels at a minimum, it needs information regarding sales forecasts, customer orders and the quantities and prices being offered by suppliers. This data will allow it to reduce storage costs and avoid costly rush orders and enable an efficient use of its resources.

USER REQUIREMENTS

Managers and Associated Sales Staff: On a managerial level, managers must be able to monitor the performance of the sales staff according to their sales data. The system must be able to analyze the sales data such that it accounts for all the information regarding the quantities sold by each salesperson. Mangers also have to communicate with other departments through a network to ensure that all departments are aligned with the company’s objectives and strategies so that there is goal congruency.

Sales staff also need to access information when they are traveling, so they will need authentication to enable them to access the company’s data. Each staff member is assigned a password corresponding to their payroll number, to ensure information security. This feature prevents past employees from accessing confidential information; therefore, the system will automatically deny access to an invalid payroll number. The website has to be user-friendly and straightforward to ease in the information gathering process.

The human resource staff will be responsible for the employees’ payroll and benefits. With current economic conditions, recruitment will be put on hold. The HR staff will also work on employee development, through training programs and continuous feedback on each employee’s performance. They will set up guidelines and procedures for managers to evaluate their employees.

 The manufacturing department should be integrated with the purchasing department to efficiently receive orders and schedule production cycles.  The warehouse needs to be connected to the manufacturing department to manage inventory and plan supply orders.

Miscellaneous Requirements:

• Upgrades:

System upgrades should follow a set of documented steps to and make provisions for contingencies. There should be an ease of installation such that the entire system doesn’t have to be down for a long time. The upgrades should be value adding, with the benefits exceeding the cost.

• Maintenance: The system provided should be able to identify problems early in order to optimize equipment usage, lower costs to allow for expansion plans in the near future and improve return on assets so as to maximize asset productivity and minimize any disruptions in the business processes.
• Training: Barmy must ensure that employee objectives are aligned with those of the company through an integration of training and learning techniques to ensure that the sales staff and office staff are aware of new product features and changes in the corporate environment.  The abundance of information must be communicated with the staff to establish goal congruence. This will require functional, technical and sales training to help gain expertise, knowledge of the business and understanding of system processes.
• Backup:  The company must have a reliable source of backup for all the data and information, in the event of a system crash or fire.  Barmy may have an on-site back-up in case of a mechanical failure or system crash but it must have an off-site backup in case the a major disaster.
• Restore:  The company should be able to restore data from an off-site location in order to allow the company to run and meet its objectives despite the system breakdown. Hence, the system should be able to restore data given backups are created correctly in the first place.
• Security: Since we are a new company with limited resources, protection of our equipment and information is a big concern.  Therefore it is important to have strong internal controls to reduce the risk of theft or damages.  Protection from hackers through strong firewalls and virus attack controls requires a system that authenticates users, access and prevents leaks of company information  Our information is what gives us our competitive edge and therefore it should be password protected to ensure privacy of both clients and company information.  The system should be able to display emergency alerts, tracks resources and inform related parties of potential threats and provisions to deal with them.
• Procurement: Barmy should adopt a system which assists in eliminating unnecessary transactions and simplify supplier analysis; in addition it should integrate and streamline procurement processes to minimize associated costs.
• Implementation: The system should be implemented quickly to allow it to start its operations. As Barmy is a start-up company and has no prior information system, compatibility is not an issue, therefore allowing for faster implementation.
• Customization: As the company begins to expand and gain market share it might have to differentiate its product line; therefore, the system must allow for customization to meet new customer demands.
• Portability: To accommodate the traveling staff, they need to access product information; hence portability is another concern.  It is essential that staff be equipped with laptops and wireless internet connection to enable them to log into the company website.
• Integration:  Integration allows improved coordination of  the business activities such as order taking and dispersing, assisting with complaints and providing customers with new product information as well as with marketing strategies, ultimately resulting in customer satisfaction.  
• Cost:  All decisions relating to the business requirement need to analyze the derived costs and benefits and redundant processes may be eliminated. The overall system including start-up, maintenance and technical support costs must be affordable. We assume that Barmy as a start-up company has a resource constraint. (Information regarding specific costs is unavailable)
• Innovation: Barmy should have provisions for having innovation to diversify their product line.  

VENDOR 1 ANALYSIS

Since Barmy is a new manufacturing company it is important for them to have low start-up costs but also the ability to upgrade their system as they expand into the rest of North America (which they are hoping to be within five years).  

Background:

PeopleSoft, the world’s second largest enterprise application software supplier, provides flexible business solutions built to fit the needs of any business.  In order to remain competitive, PeopleSoft has over 5,000 employees on their research and development team giving them a budget of 433 million in 2003.  The company is not only in a strong financial position with average revenues of $2.3 billion but an equally impressive position in the industry.1   It should be noted that Oracle attempted a hostile tender offer however, the United States Department of Justice rejected this saying that if the takeover were to proceed, it would greatly lessen the amount of competition in the industry.2

Vendor Products:

PeopleSoft’s EnterpriseOne Rapid Start for Manufacturing is an integrated solution that aids manufacturers in producing high quality products at low prices. This package includes preconfigured software, services and hardware to get the system running and it provides on-site training to get users up to speed quickly and effectively. Their integrated solution includes: Financial Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Human Capital Management, Asset Lifecycle Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Customer Relationship Management and Project Management.3

Financial Management

PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne Financial Management allows the business to respond effectively to the changing environment and ensures accuracy in the streamlining of financial operations and financial reporting. 

EnterpriseOne Accounts Payable:  This module allows Barmy to select the method of payment that the supplier would prefer.  The Accounts Payable system allows for calculation of taxes and discounts enabling Barmy to take advantage of specific supplier discounts thus decreasing costs. Barmy can ensure effective cash management as you are able to consider a wide variety of variables (such as the discounts offered and available cash) before submitting payment to the supplier.

EnterpriseOne Accounts Receivable:  This feature provides real-time receivable information by accelerating the process of applying receipts.  More importantly, it allows Barmy to effectively respond to negative credit and collections issues. The module displays the tax rate, terms and payment method that a customer prefers and also allows AR staff to get an accurate picture of customer balances and payment history.

EnterpriseOne Financial Planning and Budgeting:  This will allow Barmy to access historical data about how their company is doing with regards to sales, expenses, payables, receivables, etc.  This module also enables Barmy to create certain growth patterns and assign them to its business units and revise prior forecast budgets.   

EnterpriseOne Financial Reporting:  At present this module will allow Barmy to create and customize financial statements.  In addition, it will allow access to information for any specified time period and allow for consolidation of different plants.

Supply Chain Management

These internet-enabled software modules, present in all stages of SCM, assist the company from planning to execution.  It streamlines all events from sales forecasts to the customers’ acknowledgement of the received orders and allows Barmy to set up complex supply chain scenarios such as future supply and demand and unexpected constraints.

EnterpriseOne Customer Order Management:  This will allow Barmy as well as the customer to track the order throughout the entire lifecycle. This component allows for the coordination of order management through departments such as marketing, manufacturing, and customer service centers.  In addition, it allows Barmy to increase its revenues through cross-selling, up-selling and accurately applying promotions to certain products. 

EnterpriseOne Logistics:  The main concept behind logistics is that it controls the last link to the customer, meaning that it ensures that the product the customer has ordered is delivered to the right place on a timely basis and in quality condition.  It will allow Barmy to obtain real-time access to inventory quantities and conditions and if required, to improve the flow of materials, therefore reducing the costs.

EnterpriseOne Manufacturing:  This module will allow Barmy to develop, manufacture, and distribute products in an effective manner.  It is able to manage all manufacturing processes such as common inventories, raw materials, planning and purchasing making it ideal as it ensures flexibility and updateability as growth occurs.

EnterpriseOne Supply Chain Planning:  In order for Barmy to be successful and expand its customer base, proper planning has to be in place.  This module will aid the company in strategic, tactical and operational planning, which allows coordination of demand and supply.  Barmy will also be able to organize sales and operation components making it possible to adjust certain processes in response to unanticipated events.  It can also create detailed schedules to be followed for the effective delivery of the product to the customer. 

Human Capital Management

This system uses collaborative Human Resource Management applications to help organize and manage HR, payroll, time accounting and employee performance.  It includes many self-service features, which answers questions and aids Barmy employees in finding out information thus freeing up the staff and lowering costs.

EnterpriseOne Human Resources Management:  This system automates multiple HR tasks which will allow Barmy’s employees and management to focus on more strategic events such as workforce planning and employee development.  It maintains a database of all the employees, their positions, successes (or in contrast their failures), length of employment, etc which aids management in assessing performance and therefore rewarding or reprimanding their staff.

Asset Lifecycle Management

This system will help to ensure that Barmy is getting the greatest value from their assets.  This solution aids in capital planning (which is important as Barmy is looking to expand its operation) and budgeting, as well as procurement, operations, maintenance, and repair.

EnterpriseOne Capital Asset Management:  The main purpose of this module will be to give Barmy a more complete picture of its assets. These projections will allow management to better understand the type of equipment required to run the business in the most effective and efficient manner.

Supplier Relationship Management

PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne Supplier Relationship Management solution will allow Barmy to use role and relationship-based criteria to help management in the procurement process. The modules allow Barmy to work with the suppliers to efficiently forecast anomalies, demand changes and possible disruptive supply chain interruptions.

EnterpriseOne Buyer Workspace:  The purpose of this module is to provide buyers and planners with a central location to work from.  In the case of Barmy, the head office manages orders, customers, suppliers, inventory and their showroom.  Buyer Workspace has an important feature that will alert Barmy when inventories are rapidly being depleted or if production schedules are being delayed therefore, allowing for corrective action to be taken.

Customer Relationship Management

Every interaction that the customer has with Barmy is an opportunity to build or maintain customer loyalty.  With this system in place, real-time and relevant information is easily accessible thus allowing Barmy employees (such as the sales and customer service staff) to instantly react to customer inquiries.

EnterpriseOne Customer Self Service:  An important component of this module is that it will allow Barmy’s customer 24-hour, real-time access to their purchase order using the internet.  Further, the customer interface is extremely user-friendly and enhances the customer experience by providing relevant information, all the while promoting Barmy products.  This allows customer service representatives to focus on customers who have very specific and specialized needs.  In addition, the customer has continuous visibility of their product through all processes and will receive personalized alerts as to when product will come.

EnterpriseOne Marketing:  This module will help Barmy in effectively managing all components of their marketing campaign.  For example, it will aid in analyzing the outcomes of campaigns, give a comparative competitive analysis and finally manage product information and literature. 

EnterpriseOne Mobile Sales:  Barmy has indicated that it will require its mobile sales staff to have updated, detailed and relevant product information.  With this module, the sales staff will have access to contacts, leads, opportunities, forecasts, and real-time information regardless of where they may be.  In addition, the sales staff will also be able to quote sales orders for customers in a timely fashion which increases productivity while away from the actual office.

EnterpriseOne Support:  This module will allow Barmy’s customer service agents to instantly access all information pertaining to a customer including, billing, sales orders, and recent interactions.  It also allows for the call centre to receive, prioritize, manage, and solve customer concerns therefore ensuring customer satisfaction. 

Project Management

In order for Barmy to expand to the rest of North America, it must account for and properly manage project costs.  With this system, Barmy will be able to view their current project budgets and evaluate how these estimates have compared to what the actual costs are. 

EnterpriseOne Project Costing:  This module will be used when Barmy decides to expand into the rest of North America.  Therefore, this module will provide the company with real-time data regarding the costs associated with the project as well as adjust originally stated budget amounts so that the best projections are being used.  In addition, the reporting function that the module has, gives detailed analysis on historic profits, field progress reports, productivity and labour analysis and finally on finances..

Vendor Analysis for Vendor 2

Oracle is one of the leading software providers that allow organizations and firms to receive timely and accurate information from their business systems. "Oracle delivers scalable, reliable and secure database software and integrated Oracle e-business suite applications that provide quality information and transactional efficiency at a lower cost of ownership."1 It comprises of four basic principles - simplify, standardize, automate and innovate, so it provides businesses that use such vendors to achieve more from their organization's information.2 

         Its revenues for the three months ended May 31st, 2004 were $3,000 million, which gives them a good standing as a software supplier compared to other software providers.4 Oracle has tendered an offer to purchase Peoplesoft's outstanding shares recently, and this offer will expire on November 19th, 2004. The value and certainty of their offer are far preferable to PeopleSoft's uncertain future as an independent company. 5 

The E-Business Suite provided by Oracle is one of its solutions for small to mid-size industries. It is an application that allows for easy upgrades, which is important for Barmy, as its investment into such application should meet their goals of expanding in the next five years. It provides all type of products and solutions for Barmy such as Financials, Human resources, Maintenance Management, Manufacturing, Marketing, Order Management, Supply Chain and Planning, Procurement, Product Lifecycle Management, Projects, Sales, Service and Supply Chain Management.

Financials

Oracle Activity Based Management allows management to create and analyze information that would help Barmy improve on profitability and allocation of resources. Through this module, management can make decisions based on their product profitability, customers and markets. Such a module will help Barmy in their operations as they decide to expand in the next five years.

Oracle Assets: This is a management system that maintains the scheduling of assets, such as streamline tracking, scheduling of assets and depreciation. With this type of feature, it will allow Barmy to gain maximum tax benefits and the risk of loss or damage to their assets will be minimized.

Oracle Cash Management is a solution to controlling cash. This module gives access to cash flows that are generated from the operations of the company. This will allow Barmy to analyze their cash requirements through forecasts based on their sales transactions, managing cash flow efficiently and effectively.

Oracle iReceivables would help Barmy improve their customer service as it allows customers a "secure online account management application" 6 where customers can order online, review payments and invoices. This reduces paperwork and transaction costs with customers entering their own information and there is less room for error since it is self-serve.

Payables is a management application that eases the way in which Barmy can handle their payment processes and reduce their procurement cycle time.7  This feature serves to control cash flows and disbursements, yet paying all creditors on a timely basis. Barmy would need such a feature as the company is just starting out and cash management is important to maintain.

Human Resources

Oracle Human Resources is one in which information can be shared across the entire company. This allows head office to coordinate their operations with the manufacturing facility. Barmy employees are able to integrate their intelligence with management to achieve set goals and objectives.

Oracle Advanced Benefits feature is one that offers Barmy employees easy and accessible information regarding affordable benefits packages. All eligibility rules and criteria's can be created for employees at all levels of the company. This is done using a web-based interface, which include compensation and support plans which saves the company time and enrollment costs in preparing such documents manually.

Oracle Payroll is an added feature that would help Barmy as it provides accurate and timely features to pay employees according to the benefits and compensations set out by the company. It contains detail on how many hours an employee worked, along with their positions, and wages that are specific to an employee. It is fundamental that such a business requirement is met in order to stay organized and competitive, and would stay confidential (only Barmy HR management may have access to such information).

Maintenance

Oracle Maintenance Management helps keep track of assets, such as maintaining the asset activity and costs related from these activities. Keeping track of asset activities is important to a manufacturing company such as Barmy, since they have a manufacturing facility that need to ensure that work requests are completed, and can be tracked, as this is an important requirement to maximize asset productivity and optimize equipment usage.8

Manufacturing

Oracle Flow Manufacturing allows an easy manufacturing process. It controls inventory levels and calculates how to produce so that JIT inventory is maintained. In this way the sales department is able to communicate levels and availability of the product to the manufacturing facility as well as management who keep track of performance. This reduces manufacturing cycle times and inventories in order to remain efficient and competitive.9 In this way, customers are able to view the availability of a product, so that they are aware of exactly how long an item will take to reach them. This keeps them up-to-date and well as meet customer satisfaction.

Oracle Discrete Manufacturing allows the employees at the manufacturing facility to meet demand for their sports equipment. A feature like this is key to gaining customer loyalty, as it supports customization and special requirements for customers who trust in Barmy's products. When employees are able to meet this requirement, costs are controlled and quality is assured. It creates a method in which they can follow to create their products so that schedules are met with their suppliers, as well as customers who order these products and expect to receive in the timely fashion.

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Oracle Shop Floor Management makes "shop floor information available at the enterprise level to combine manufacturing excellence with customer responsiveness."10 This is beneficial because there is consistency in the information that flows from manufacturing employees to customers (who order products through a web-based interface) via management. Shop floor transactions for Barmy would include issues related to quality of products, through customer returns and possible flaws in product information or defects in the product.

Oracle Manufacturing Scheduling along with flow manufacturing coordinates and enhances efficiency as resources and manufacturing assets are utilized. Barmy can graphically view production jobs and reschedule based on constraints. Part of Barmy's business requirements is to be able to respond to urgent customer requests when inventories levels are low. The scheduling of manufacturing process helps to alert the company of such information in order to keep customers aware of delivery time. This product meets the inventory maintenance requirement that Barmy has set out to deliver items on time as well as real-time information on inventory levels.

Supply Chain and Planning

Supply Chain Planning is a module that helps make decisions for the future based on sales, costs, inventory and customer satisfaction. It optimizes the 'flow of materials, cash, and information across your supply chain.' 11Barmy needs this information in predicting demand in order to expand their business into North America in the future. It allows for a plan on operations and continuation of the business, with low cost and delivery commitments.

Procurement

Procurement is essential to Barmy as it is a new company that is conscious about keeping their costs low, but at the same time streamline their procure-to-pay cycle. The product enables them to 'purchase better, faster, and smarter' 12 along with the benefits of saving. Management would find this very useful as they purchase their materials from suppliers to meet customer demand and satisfaction.

Oracle Purchasing is a necessary yet useful feature of the Oracle Procurement module as it automatically searches for requisitions of purchasing needs that are set by the company in conjunction with business requirements. This is useful as this generates invoices on purchases with receipt information.13 This simplifies Barmy's purchasing transactions as it is web-based and effortless as it is all automated with a focus on requirements.

Oracle iSupplier Portal is an important module for Barmy for the sales staff and management team as it provides tracking of inventory balances and receipt verification via web service. This feature also enables their staff to make any appropriate order changes to their purchases, which is critical as needs are met and supplier relationships become stronger. This helps increase quality while lowering their costs.14 

Marketing: The Oracle marketing enables automation of campaign and budget management, list creation, execution and analysis. It generates reports and charts for analyzing budgets, campaigns, channels and return on investment. It integrate with Oracle 9i Data Mining to build predictive models and customer retention risk. This is important for Barmy as it can assess its customers and maintain customer information, credit risk and buying trends.

Oracle Marketing allows prospects and customers the option to respond through multiple channels. All responses are then funneled to either direct sales or partners and managed as leads for follow-up and then tracked to fulfillment. This enables the tracking of a campaign's success across channels. As barmy has sales staff which will be on the go, data mobility that is updated is required; customers can also track their purchases.

Oracle Marketing allows the bundling and personalization of promotional pieces by customer segments and channels. This allows Barmy to identify its segments and to cater to their specific needs.

Oracle Trade Management will enable Barmy to plan, organize, allocate, implement, track, and evaluate marketing and sales trade promotions, claims and budgets with its suppliers thereby developing its B2B relationships. 

Order Management: Oracle Order management supports multi-channel demand capture. It allows tailoring of pricing strategies by defining and applying pricing models, promotions and deals to meet various customer segments. It provides configuration orders that guide customers in placing orders. This is useful to Barmy as it allows returning customers to make online orders and thus must provide data to facilitate the process.

Oracle Global Order Promising will enable Barmy to make accurate promises of order delivery while providing support. As Barmy’s provides delivery to its customers, this is a useful module because it allows transparency to the customer resulting in customer satisfaction.

Oracle Warehouse Management supports an array of fulfillment models such as ship-from stock, ATO, PTO and drop shipment. It automated and optimizes warehouse processes thereby reducing labour costs, improved facility utilization, increased order accuracy and execution according to customer requirements. This fulfills Barmy’s requirements for managing its inventory, warehousing and will allow it to maintain low levels of inventory.

Oracle Transportation streamlines transportation processes to meet delivery requirements. It automatically selects carriers, delivery rates, generates shipment information and tracking information from departure to receipt. This is extremely useful to Barmy as it plans on selecting its trucks based on the best tracking system and competitive prices.

Product Lifecycle: Oracle Product Lifecycle Management is a collection of applications a centralized repository of product and project information that helps manage product activities collaboratively, identifying profitable products, maximizing the value of the product portfolio, enabling investment planning. Its key benefits include improvement in decision-making with consolidated, accurate information, maximizing the value over a product or service's lifecycle, secure collaboration with internal and external business partners and visibility and control with integrated information. These features will assist Barmy in tracking its products through their lifecycle and assessing their sales strategies. Oracle E-Business Suite helps in making more informed decisions that improve business operations-while reducing expenses. The cost-savings is very beneficial to Barmy as it has a resource constraint.

Oracle Sourcing simplifies negotiation of supplier contracts with effective online collaboration to develop requirements, identify potential sources of supply and manage complex negotiations, support the entire identification-to-contract process with integration to procurement, planning, and design execution systems. Barmy can use this application to coordinate its various activities along its various stages of production and assist in planning and management.

 http://www.oracle.com/applications/marketing/solutioncatalog.html

 http://www.oracle.com/applications/order_mgmt/catalog.html

 http://www.oracle.com/applications/plm/catalog.html

Ideal candidate is Vendor 1.

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