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see? What sort of issues might arise for suppliers and cus-
tomers during an ERP implementation?
10. Many organizations are moving to a collaborative process
with their major customers to get their input on planning
future inventory levels and production rather than relying
on an internally generated demand forecast. Explain how
such a process might work. What issues and concerns might
a customer have in entering into an agreement to do this?
PROBLEM-SOLVING EXERCISES
1.
Assume that you are forming a consulting firm to perform
an external audit of firms' accounting transaction process-
ing systems. Use a word processing software package to
develop a survey questionnaire. Develop a list of at least five
questions you would ask as part of your audit that cover the
firm's overall approach to control and security. Develop
another set of at least five questions specific to each of the
accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general ledger
systems. Now use a spreadsheet program to devise an audit
scorecard that rates how well a firm performs on the audit.
Consider assigning weights to the various questions so that
100 points is a “perfect score.” Develop some sort of scale
for each firm's score (e.g., 95-100 is excellent, 90-95 is very
good, etc).
2.
Use a spreadsheet program to develop a sales forecasting
system for a new car dealership that can estimate monthly
sales for each make and model based on historical sales
data and various parameters. Suggestion : Assume that this
month's sales will be the same as the sales for this month
last year except for adjustments due to the cost of gas and
each make of car's miles per gallon. You can further refine
the model to take into account change in interest rates for
new cars or other parameters you wish to include. Docu-
ment the assumptions you make in building your model.
TEAM ACTIVITIES
1.
Your team members should interview several business man-
agers at a firm that has implemented a CRM system. Try
to define the scope and schedule for the overall project.
Make a list of what they see as the primary benefits of the
implementation. What were the biggest hurdles they had
to overcome? Did the firm need to retrain its employees to
place greater emphasis on putting the customer first?
2.
As a team, develop a list of at least seven key criteria that a
small to medium-sized manufacturing firm should con-
sider in selecting an ERP system. Discuss each criterion and
assign a weight representing the relative importance of that
criterion. Develop a simple spreadsheet to use in scoring
various ERP alternatives.
WEB EXERCISES
1.
Do research on the Web and find a Web site that offers a
demo of an ERP or CRM system. View the demo, perhaps
more than once. Write a review of the software based on
the demo. What are its strengths and weaknesses? What
additional questions about the software do you have? E-
mail your questions to the vendor and document their
response to your questions.
2.
Using the Web, identify several companies that have imple-
mented an ERP system in the last two years. Classify the
implementations as a success, partial success, or failure.
What is your basis for making this classification? Do you
see any common reasons for success? For failure?
 
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