Lecture 2 by Sangyoun Han

Lecture 2

In today’s lecture, new topics were learned. We explored reasoning behind why firms should or should not implement an ERP system. I also discovered that although many companies invest in ERP, it does not guarantee success, as many firms still fail in its business due to issues such as end users not using the system properly. An example of employees in the Sales Department was used as an example of how improper data implementation within an ERP can actually make the company worse off.

In order to determine whether a company should use an ERP system, several steps can be taken. First a SWOT analysis of the firm should be performed, in order to analyze all internal and external aspects of the company. Next, strategies should be formed, to help the organization determine where the company should go in the future. From this comes the firm’s objectives, which are more direct and give exact figures of what the company wishes to achieve. Finally, after all these steps are performed, a GAP analysis should be carried out in order to discover how well the firm is meeting its present performance in relation to its future goals. Thus, this thorough analysis will help determine whether an ERP system would be beneficial to the overall firm or not.

The final lesson learned today was the Elevator Speech, in which it teaches us how to make our points clear in a minimum amount of time and words.

All of these steps learned in today’s lecture reflect last nights reading of the article, “Decision making in the evaluation, selection and implementation of ERP systems”. The article emphasized and displayed several approaches in choosing the right ERP system for an entity. Several steps are needed such as using the Six decision-making model to choose which model best firsts a certain description. These models were then used in a case example to demonstrate how firms determine which ERP systems work best.

In the last part of the day, we went to the computer lab to experience how real ERP systems worked. We were introduced to the SAP system and were taught how basic transactions within the system were executed.