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Draft instructions:
Please upload a draft of your proposal along with a detailed
description of your company or organization that you are
writing this for (audience). You can use the audience analysis
sheet from previous assignments, or create a paragraph on your
own or use this: Audience Analysis (Links to an external site.)
_____________________________________________________
____________________________
A proposal is a persuasive document that offers a solution to an
identified problem or need. Proposals attempt to sell an idea, a
product or service, or a new concept or plan. Proposals may be
brief or long. A one-page request for a room change written to a
club adviser and a 2,000-page multivolume document selling a
new type of amphibious tank to the Department of Defense are
examples of proposals.
Proposals may be informal or formal, solicited or unsolicited.
Solicited proposals are invited, that is, the awarding
organization calls for proposals from interested
individuals/parties, usually via an RFP. The awarding
organization lays down the requirements that the proposal
should contain. In many cases, a standard format is provided for
the parties to submit their proposals. Unsolicited proposals are a
little more detailed because they must establish more
background information. In this assignment, you'll have a
choice to write an unsolicited or solicited proposal.
· Overall Goal: In this project, you will be writing a proposal
for a company or agency of your choosing. It can be one that
you already work for or perhaps hope to work for one day, but
you should know the company in order to evaluate its issues. If
you don't have a workplace in mind, you can use Temple as
your workplace. Your ultimate task is to write a persuasive
proposal about a change you would like to see. You will begin
by identifying a problem, issue, or conflict and providing some

background on why this problem exists. You will then construct
a convincing and tactful argument about why this change is both
necessary and beneficial. Additionally, you will use workplace
observations, informal interviews with co-workers, and
academic research articles to provide support and justification
for your proposal. You should view your intended audience as
the people, committee(s), or governing body with the authority
to enact your proposal.
· Purpose: This assignment has three main goals. First,
gathering research from a variety of sources will help you to
find credible evidence to support the change you will argue for
in your proposal. Second, this assignment will give you practice
in collecting primary-source research through close observation
and interviewing your co-workers. Third, through searching for
secondary source research, such as trade or academic journals
and online databases, you will gain experience finding,
presenting, and citing secondary-source research in your
writing.
· Audience: You need to clearly define the audience in the
proposal. It will either be a company of your choosing or
Temple University.
Option 1: Unsolicited Proposal for a Company of Your
Choosing
Scenario: You are working for a company that you would like to
see make some changes. There are issues that you believe affect
the company's morale and success. You've taken it upon
yourself to write a proposal to the management team that will
clearly illustrate the problem and provides a solution. You
begin the process of writing the proposal. Since there is no RFP,
you will choose the format on your own.
Option 2: Solicited Proposal for Temple University's RFP
Scenario: You are an independent contractor searching for a
Request for Proposal. In one of the city databases, you come
across Temple University’s RFP for General Improvements for
Campus Life. This RFP was created in response to Temple’s

Day of Complaints, where students were asked to voice their
suggestions for improvements to the Main campus. Since you
are qualified to do the work, you start the process of writing
your proposal.
_____________________________________________________
______________
RFP TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
I. INTRODUCTION
Temple University (“TU”) is seeking responses from firms
interested in providing services to TU by submitting a response
to this Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for renovation and
improvement projects in the Center City campus (collectively,
the “Project”). The selected contractor shall develop a proposal
for the various projects on this campus.
TU will require the successful contractor to comply with TU
Standards, policies, rules and procedures requiring good faith
efforts in subcontracting with emerging small businesses, and
minority and women-owned businesses in the Project.
II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Each proposal should provide an explanation of the project
details as outlined by the student consensus of campus issues.
III. BUDGET AND TIMELINE
The construction budget for the components of this project is
currently estimated to be between $1M - $1.5M. This budget
will include all materials and labor costs, escalation, the
contractor’s fee, general conditions costs, limited reimbursable
expenses, payment and performance bonds, and the contractor’s
contingency.
All work should be completed within 12-18 months of the
proposed start date.
IV. INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS
Your response should be contained in a document that is
approximately 4-6 pages, including pictures, charts, graphs,
tables and text you deem appropriate to be part TU’s review of
your response. A table of contents, front and back covers, and
blank section dividers will not be counted in the page limit.

Make sure to include contact information including email for
communication purposes. The response should be submitted in a
digital format via the Canvas submission box.
Table 1. Format guidelines for the requested proposal.
Aspect
Description
Font for headings
Serif or sans serif: size in accordance with the hierarchy
Font for text portion
12-point serif such as Times New Roman or Book Antiqua
Margins
Standard, at least 1 inch
Paragraphing
Indented paragraphs, line skip between paragraphs in a section
Page number
Bottom centered
Figure names
Numbered: Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, and so forth
Figure captions
Below figure in 10 point type
Table names
Numbered: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, and so forth
Table headings
Above table in 12 point type
_____________________________________________________
___________________
Proposal Writing Process and Components
Gathering Information
There are steps required in the production of this proposal. All
components are counted as part of your grade and therefore
should be completed.
1. Proposal Brainstorm & Pitch - You are required to identify an
issue relevant to your workplace and briefly discuss how you
might like to see it changed. The purpose of this is to generate a
focus for the assignments.
2. Express-Line Observation and Reflection - This assignment

has four subparts in which you will learn about the value and
methodology of qualitative observational research.
· The first part of this assignment asks you to use the express
checkout line at a local grocery store, paying particular
attention to the details of their experience.
· Then write up a 500-word account of your observation and
post it to the online discussion board.
· Next, you read the first chapter from Emerson, Fetz, and
Shaw’s (1995) text, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.
Importantly, Emerson, Fetz, and Shaw also go on to show how,
in three examples
of express-line observations written by their own students,
people’s accounts of similar experiences always differ from one
another’s because of individual backgrounds, biases, and ways
of seeing.
· Finally, you will read at least two observations done by your
classmates and write a reflection and meta-analysis that ties
together the reading, their own observation, and the
observations recorded by your classmates.
3. Workplace Observation - Armed with the new knowledge of
observation, you are asked to conduct a short qualitative
observation in their workplace in which they focus on
interaction and activities related to the issue identified in their
Proposal.
4. Interviews - You are asked to interview at least one person
(though more would be beneficial) or conduct one survey in
your workplace to gather primary data.
5. Secondary Research - You must gather secondary and tertiary
sources that help build your proposal and make it persuasive.
Guidelines for Content:
· Title Page
· a. Title of project in initial capital letters
· b. The sponsoring company and contact person’s name and
information
· c. Team name and individual member names
· d. Date

· Introduction/Executive Summary
· Content: A brief summary of the proposal
· Length: one-third to one-half page
· Statement of Need/Problem:
· Background information to educate the reader
· Detailed problem description, as you now understand it
· Description of concerns, impacts, alternatives with advantages
or disadvantages
· Project Description/Objectives:
· Design specifications in specific, quantitative terms.
· Critical design issues, constraints, limitations.
· Detailed steps of the process, describing specific concerns and
requirements of each stage
· In this section, you translate the University’s quantitative and
qualitative needs into clear, objective design specifications.
You describe the process of completing the work. Define the
scope of work and clearly state the project objectives, including
the following:
· Timeline: A table of the length of time for each phase of the
project.
· Budget: A table that describes the full cost of all expenses,
including equipment, labor costs, person hours.
· Results expected:
· In this section, you should describe any specific results as
well as any wider benefits or anticipated benefits.
· Contact Information and Qualifications:
· In this section add in your company’s contact info and brag a
bit about how awesome you are. Required Sections
Citations:
You can choose the citation style you
use: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/585/02/ (Links
to an external site.) Pick a style that most closely ties in with
your topic. It doesn't matter which style you use, as long as
you're consistent and use it correctly.
_________________________________
Grading Criteria

This assignment is worth a total of 150 points.
The proposal should:
· Contain all the necessary steps and content
· Be formatted as a proposal with appropriate sections and
headings, including a summary, description, introduction,
rationale, plan, scope, methods, tasks, problem analysis,
conclusion and references (cited appropriately)
· Use a respectful tone and intelligent vocabulary
· Clearly identify the chosen topic and purpose for proposing
the topic
· Clearly state the significance of the topic and reason that a
report should be written on that topic
· Include an appropriate amount of primary and secondary
research sources that help support your argument and persuade
the audience
· Be carefully edited with well-constructed sentences and
effective grammar and punctuation
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Int. J. Production Economics 87 (2004) 251–266
*Correspondin
1482466216.
E-mail addre
0925-5273/$ - see
doi:10.1016/j.ijpe
Enterprise information systems project implementation:
A case study of ERP in Rolls-Royce
Yahaya Yusuf

a,
*, A. Gunasekaran
b
, Mark S. Abthorpe
c
a
Business School, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
b
Department of Management, University of Massachusetts, 285
Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300, USA
c
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1
4BU, UK
Abstract
Economic globalisation and internationalisation of operations
are essential factors in integration of suppliers,
partners and customers within and across national borders, the
objective being to achieve integrated supply chains. In
this effort, implementation of information technologies and
systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP)
facilitate the desired level of integration. There are cases of
successful and unsuccessful implementations. The principal
reason for failure is often associated with poor management of
the implementation process. This paper examines key

dimensions of implementation of ERP system within a large
manufacturing organisation and identifies core issues to
confront in successful implementation of enterprise information
system. A brief overview of the application of ERP
system is also presented and in particular, ERP software
package known as SAP R/3, which was the ERP software
package selected by Rolls-Royce plc. The paper takes an in-
depth look at the issues behind the process of ERP
implementation via a case study methodology. It focuses on
business and technical as well as cultural issues at the heart
of the Rolls-Royce implementation. The case study also looks at
the implementation time scales and assesses the
benefits from the project both tangible and intangible.
r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: ERP; Information systems; Implementation; Success
factors; Rolls-Royce
1. Introduction
The global nature of modern marketplace
requires active players to internationalise their
operations. In the past, companies were used to
competing based on one or two competitive
performance objectives such as price and quality.
However, present markets demand both price and
g author. Tel.: +44-1486466933; fax: +44-
ss: [email protected] (Y. Yusuf).

front matter r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserve
.2003.10.004
quality in addition to greater flexibility and
responsiveness and thus today’s organisations
must compete based on all competitive objectives.
In order to achieve such simultaneity in perfor-
mance objectives, some organisations have decen-
tralised their operations by global outsourcing of
activities. This places enormous challenge on
companies to achieve a co-ordinated and inte-
grated supply chain. The emergence of various
information technologies such as the Internet,
electronic data interchange (EDI) and WWW
facilitate the attainment of an integrated supply
d.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Y. Yusuf et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 87 (2004) 251–
266252
chain and in turn flexibility and responsiveness in
meeting changing market requirements. Informa-
tion systems such as manufacturing resource
planning (MRPII) and enterprise resource plan-
ning (ERP) in particular have gained ground in
providing support for achieving an integrated
supply chain.
Firms around the world have been implement-
ing ERP systems since the 1990s to have a uniform
information system in their respective organisa-
tions and to re-engineer their business processes
(Rajagopal, 2002). ERP system as a packaged

software has the advantages of reduced cost, rapid
implementation, and high system quality (Lucas
et al., 1988). Although application packages have
these benefits over custom design software, pack-
aged software have problems of uncertainty in
acquisition and hidden costs in implementation.
Successful ERP implementation must be managed
as a program of wide-ranging organisational
change initiatives rather than as a software
installation effort. Such IT-driven initiatives re-
quire change of the organisation’s socio-economic
system, which is intertwined with technology, task,
people, structure, and culture. Thus organisational
resistance to change is identified as a critical
success factor for ERP implementation (Hong
and Kim, 2002).
Organisational fit and adaptation are important
to implementation of modern large-scale enter-
prise systems that are built with pre-determined
business process methodology. As a result, custo-
misation is a crucial, lengthy, and costly aspect in
the successful implementation of ERP system, and
has, accordingly, become a major speciality of
many vendors and consulting companies. Gefen
(2002) examines how such companies can increase
their clients’ perception of engagement success
through increased client trust, that is brought
about through respective and dependable custo-
misation.
Considering the importance of ERP in SCM, an
attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the
implementation issues of ERP in a major UK
company. The lessons learned from this company
would be useful for other companies in their

efforts to successfully implement modern ERP
system.
2. Enterprise resource planning
In the 1990s innovations in information tech-
nology led to the development of a range of
software applications aimed at integrating the flow
of information throughout a company, and these
commercial software packages were known as
Enterprise Systems. During this period one parti-
cular enterprise system called ERP caught the
attention of some of the worlds largest companies.
It has been estimated that businesses around the
world have been spending almost $10 billion per
year on ERP systems. ERP aims to integrate
business processes through the support of an
integrated computer information system (O’Brien,
1999).
ERP allows the corporate management of a
business, and aims to integrate individual func-
tional systems such as manufacturing, finance,
procurement and distribution. The systems allow
companies to replace their existing information
systems and also help to standardise the flow of
management information and have been regarded
as the next step in the evolution of MRPII. The
MRPII model actually forms the basic core of
ERP and uses similar modules, however some
ERP systems do contain certain modules that were
not originally used within MRPII such as compu-
ter aided design (CAD), distribution resource
planning (DRP), tool management systems
(TMS), and product data management (PDM)
(Yusuf, 1998; Prasad et al., 1999).

ERP uses Internet technologies to integrate the
flow of information from internal business func-
tions as well as information from customers and
suppliers. The system uses a relational database
management system, within client/server network
architecture, to capture valuable management
data. The key principle behind the system involves
entering the data from a series of modular
applications only once. Once stored, the data
automatically triggers the update of all related
information within the system. The systems can
support virtually all areas of an organisation,
across business units, departmental functions
and plants. The development of an ERP system
within a large manufacturing organisation requires
the integration of working practices and the
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266 253
information systems (Davenport, 1998; Mandal
and Gunasekaran, 2002).
Companies that use ERP can gain a competitive
advantage from the way they implement the
system and then exploit the resulting data. Many
companies that have installed ERP have claimed
to be more nimble within the marketplace than
their competitors with hard-to-change custom
made systems (Latamore, 1999).
ERP systems offer companies the following
three major benefits:

* Business process automation.
* Timely access to management information.
* Improvement in the supply chain via the use of
E-communication and E-commerce.
A vital task when implementing an ERP System
is to understand the difference between functions
and modules. Functions are defined as actual
physical tasks that are performed within a
company. Whilst modules can be considered as
pieces of software that help to provide the
functions, different ERP vendors have different
modules that perform the functions. The enor-
mous growth of the Internet and Microsoft
Windows packages, complementary as they are
as collaborative tools has made the argument for
ERP more compelling (Loizos, 1998). It is now a
general industry view that ERP will take them to
new heights of efficiency by enabling them to move
financial and other data speedily from one
department to another (Holt, 1999).
Companies have spent billions of dollars and
used numerous amounts of man-hours installing
elaborate ERP software systems. The ERP soft-
ware vendor market has experienced rapid growth
in the late 1990s. In 1998 there were five major
software vendors offering ERP solutions to
businesses worldwide. The largest of these was
SAP AG (http://www.SAP.com) who earned over
$5 billion in revenue. The Oracle Corp. was the
second largest with $2.4 billion in sales. Followed
in third place by PeopleSoft (http://www.People-
soft.com) who earned $1.3 billion. In fourth place

was J.D. Edwards with $979 million. And finally in
fifth place was the Baan Co. (http://www.Baan.
com) with $743 million in sales (Holland and
Light, 1999).
Van Stijn and Wensley (2001) focus on problems
that may arise after ERP systems have been
implemented—the in-use phase. Various problems
have been identified regarding the ERP systems in-
use. Because of the organisational unwillingness or
inability to make technology upgrades (Markus
and Tanis, 2000), the enterprise system may take
on the appearance of a legacy system in disguise.
3. Implementation of ERP
ERP when successfully implemented, links all
areas of a company including order management,
manufacturing, human resources, financial sys-
tems, and distribution with external suppliers and
customers into a tightly integrated system with
shared data and visibility (Chen, 2001). Potential
benefits include drastic declines in inventory,
breakthrough reductions in working capital,
abundant information about customer wants and
needs, along with the ability to view and manage
the extended enterprise of suppliers, alliances and
customers as an integrated whole (Escalle et al.,
1999).
The term ERP stands for enterprise resource
planning, however it is not good enough to just
plan resources required to run the enterprise, they
need to be managed as well. An organisation must
assess itself, to see if it is ready for ERP. It must
determine if it is ready for the competitive business
environment of today and then strengthen its
position for tomorrow’s changes. Some of the

companies that implement ERP systems do not
realise the full benefits that the system offers
because most organisations are not organised in
the correct fashion to achieve the benefits. Many
companies that attempt to implement ERP sys-
tems run into difficulty because the organisation is
not ready for integration and the various depart-
ments within it have their own agendas and
objectives that conflict with each other (Langen-
walter, 2000).
While companies such as Cisco Systems, East-
man Kodak, and Textronix have reaped the
expected benefits of ERP systems, many businesses
are discovering that their ERP implementation
is a nightmare. FoxMeyer Drug, a $5 billion
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266254
pharmaceutical company, recently filed for bank-
ruptcy (Al-Mashari and Zairi, 2000; Chen, 2001).
Dell Computers spent tens of millions of dollars
on an ERP system only to scrap it because the
system was too rigid for their expanding global
operations (Trunick, 1999). ERP implementations
involve, in truth, broad organisational transfor-
mation processes, with significant implications to
the organisation’s management model, organisa-
tion structure, management style and culture, and
particularly, to people (Wood and Caldas, 2001).
ERP software is very adaptable but not very

malleable and companies that wish to use them
correctly have to change their working practices to
fit the software. The key factor of an ERP
implementation is the way in which the software
is configured. The most important issue to identify
before an implementation is the ‘core’ of the
business, which can be identified by the use of the
business model (Chung and Snyder, 2000).
One original motive for buying an ERP system
was to automate business processes, but the
modern view has shifted to the quick access of
up-to-date and timely management information.
The majority of difficulties experienced by ERP
implementations have been the costly development
of additional software to help ‘bridge’ or retrieve
information from legacy systems. Before ERP
management reports can be generated and dis-
tributed to managers, the data has to be created
first which can be a costly and inefficient process.
In an attempt to improve the timeliness and
accuracy of management data, many software
vendors are making end-users responsible for
updating their own information rather than
relying on IT resources.
ERP software consists of a number of modules
that link together to form a complete business
solution, however the main difficulties experienced
by ERP users have been in manipulating the data
stored within the system. Software developers have
begun to address the need for additional informa-
tion tools. Some of these tools include the need for
detailed and advanced planning and advanced
scheduling and customer relationship manage-
ment. Abdinnour-Helm et al. (2003) discussed

the pre-implementation attitudes and organisa-
tional readiness for implementing an ERP system.
Huang and Palvia (2001) analyze the ERP
implementation issues in advanced and developing
countries. Umble et al. (2003) presents the
empirical findings on implementation procedures
and critical success factors for ERP. Van Stijn and
Wensley (2001) address some concerns, methods
and directions for future research on organisa-
tional memory and the completeness of process
modelling in ERP systems.
Most ERP software vendors supply their
customers with an implementation programme as
part of an overall solution package. For example
SAP provides some of its customers with acceler-
ated SAP (ASAP). ASAP suggests the adoption of
a ‘big bang’ implementation. This programme opts
for a quick implementation that is specifically
designed for small and medium sized companies.
‘Big bang’ implementations offer lower costs and
generally use only a few of the software’s inter-
faces, however the risks are greatly increased, as
less time is spent on development and assessing
business needs. There are several more papers on
ERP implementation and some of the most recent
ones include Mabert et al. (2003), Olhager and
Seldin (2003), Umble et al. (2003) and Wood and
Caldas (2001).
4. Systems, applications and products in data
processing
Five former IBM employees originally founded
systems, applications and products in data proces-
sing (SAP) in Mannheim, Germany in 1972. Their

aim was to produce standard software application
programmes that could integrate with each other
to form a business solution. SAP has been
dedicated to produce products that improve the
return on information gathered by an organisa-
tion. The company began its life with the name
‘Systemanalyse Und Programmentwicklung’ and
eventually became known as SAP.
SAP’s first product known as R/2 was built and
prototyped for a subsidiary of ICI. The system
they produced was simply known as system ‘R’,
which stands for ‘Real-time’ processing. This
system was fully integrated and could be used on
the IBM mainframe. The R/2 solution was
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266 255
launched in 1979 and was developed for a
computer mainframe environment, at the time it
was perceived as the most comprehensive system
available to businesses in the world, and it received
great interest from industries in the 1980s.
SAP saw the future potential for the delivery of
information to the end-user via the PC, so SAP
reinvented and developed their product further by
developing a business solution for the client/server
architecture environment, this became known as
R/3 and was released in 1992. In the 1990s SAP
and its R/3 solution would go on to become the
dominant ERP solution, and also become one of

the worlds biggest software houses.
SAP R/3 applications are a range of software
modules. They can be used either alone or
combined to form business solutions. SAP state
that their R/3 applications offer comprehensive
functionality for all standard business needs within
an enterprise. SAP R/3 uses a programming
language called advanced business application
programming (ABAP).
The following are SAP R3’s 12 application
modules: financial accounting, treasury, controlling,
enterprise controlling, investment management, pro-
duction planning, materials management, quality
management, project system, human resource man-
agement, sales and distribution, and plant main-
tenance and service management.
5. Rolls-Royce—case study
In this section, a case study conducted at Rolls-
Royce investigating the implementation of ERP
(SAP) is discussed. The case study starts with
introducing the company and its background,
presenting the status of IT before and after the
implementation of SAP, and giving the detail
chronological phase of the implementation of SAP
in Rolls-Royce. Also, the research methodology is
discussed. The implementation of SAP in the
company and project risks is presented.
5.1. Company background
Rolls-Royce returned to the private sector in
1987 and acquired Northern Engineering Indus-
tries in 1989. This acquisition allowed Rolls-Royce

to consolidate its capabilities in the area of
industrial power. A further acquisition was made
in 1995 when Rolls-Royce bought the Allison
Engine Company in the United States, thus
enlarging the company’s presence in aero propul-
sion and industrial gas turbines. The acquisition
allowed Rolls-Royce a major foothold within US
markets. The most modern family of engines is the
Trent series, which are also powerful three-shaft
turbofan engines similar to the RB211, and are
used to power the Airbus A330, A340-500/600.
The Trent series of engines offer greater thrust,
long range flight capabilities and economical
operating and maintenance costs. The Rolls-Royce
Power Generation Market includes both electrical
and nuclear power, which also includes marine
applications, such as providing power plants for
nuclear and naval vessels. Rolls-Royce is a truly
global business offering a range of first class world
leading products. It has facilities over 14 different
countries and also offers first rate after sales
services, covering mechanical overhauls and spare
part distribution. In March 1998 a new organisa-
tional structure was adopted that recognised the
strategy and the need for change to reflect
customer requirements.
5.2. The situations before ERP
Rolls-Royce used over 1500 systems before the
ERP project was started, many of which were
developed internally by Rolls-Royce over the last
two decades. These legacy systems were expensive
to operate and difficult to maintain and develop.
They did not provide accurate, consistent and
accessible data that was required for good and

timely decision-making and performance assess-
ment (e.g. delivery performance, quality metrics).
These ageing systems often did not lend themselves
fully to a modern manufacturing environment.
Some of the legacy systems were so old that they
had year 2000 compliance problems. Work within
Rolls-Royce was functionally orientated and
various departments worked in isolation.
The last major manufacturing system to be
developed and implemented by Rolls-Royce
was MERLIN, which stands for mechanised
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266256
evaluation of resources, logistics and inventory,
the system was basically a scheduling system which
ran on MRPII system principles. The system was
developed in the 1980s and, although it was
capable, it was prone to manual manipulation.
One particular down fall of the system was the lack
of communication between individual sites. MER-
LIN often had difficulty communicating with
another manufacturing system named IBIS, which
stands for inventory based instructing system.
IBIS was an older manufacturing system that
was used at the Bristol and Ansty facilities. Work
in progress was often transferred between sites and
could not be tracked accurately, often causing
inventory and stock take problems.
An additional system named corporate cost

accounting (CCA) was used to financially monitor
transactions, which covered pipeline inventory and
inter-site transport. Rolls-Royce also had a range
of individual systems for controlling and monitor-
ing commercial, financial and procurement func-
tions, these systems had problems interfacing with
each other, as they had different databases and file
formats. The legacy systems did not allow Rolls-
Royce to establish direct, on-line communication
with customers, partners and suppliers. In fact,
these systems did not support significant growth of
the business and were not sufficiently agile to keep
pace with the changing business environment.
5.3. IT at Rolls-Royce
In 1996 Rolls-Royce formed a partnership with
electronic data services (EDS). The Rolls-Royce
IT department was outsourced to EDS, which
meant that EDS were responsible for the develop-
ment of the company’s IT systems as well as taking
over the existing structure and providing adequate
IT resources. This move was made in order to
allow Rolls-Royce to concentrate its efforts on its
main area of expertise—the making and selling of
aero engines. Rolls-Royce decided that a partner-
ship with a world leading IT outsourcer would
benefit the company far more than designing and
maintaining their own IT systems. EDS were
chosen because of their substantial experience
within the aerospace industry. EDS also had the
responsibility for employing specialist consultants.
In 1998 changes were made to flatten the
structural hierarchy. The customer focused busi-
ness units (CFBU) were made responsible for
making sales deals within the various market

segments. Whilst the operational business units
(OBU) formed the manufacturing support for
producing the product, the Executive Group
controls the whole business and makes decisions
on the overall direction of the company.
5.4. The implementation project
The ERP project consists of a management team
of specialists from the external outsourcing com-
pany EDS. EDS also have the specialised talents of
SAP consultants. Within the project team are
specialist internal managers and staff that have
vital knowledge of cross-functional business rela-
tionships and experience of the old internal
systems. In conjunction with this team each OBU
has its own ERP planning team, which is
responsible for implementing working changes
and training. The project implementation pro-
blems can be grouped into three areas of cultural,
business and technical difficulty.
5.4.1. Cultural problems
The implementation project team expected a
high acceptance of the system in areas that provide
just as good or better functionality than the old
system. However some functions and processes
might not get the full appreciation the legacy
systems once had. The project team decided to
resolve this by illustrating the improvements made
to the company as a whole, thus breaking the
traditional segregation of OBUs and departments.
The original implementation plan was increased in
an attempt to address training and cultural
changes. Training took the form of organised

seminars, which were split into two distinct groups
of specialists and mass users. The specialist
training was carried out and conducted by SAP
and was technically based. These specialist experts
then in turn trained expert users. The remaining
training for end-users was conducted internally in
collaboration with EDS consultants. The training
carried out within the seminars was supported by
demonstrations within the workplace, along with
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266 257
information meetings and presentations to relay
information to all employees about the changes of
working practices. In all, more than 10,000 people
would have been trained.
5.4.2. Business problems
SAP R/3 requires a fairly rigid business struc-
ture for it in order to work successfully. The
participants of cross-functional workshops soon
understood that their working practices must be
adjusted in order to fit SAP, ultimately changing
the way Rolls-Royce does business. They achieved
this by using an internal business process re-
engineering (BPR) programme. The programme
consisted of four steps, the first involved drawing
and mapping the current processes. The second
step involved identifying any problems or issues
raised from the mapped process. The third step
involved applying some of these issues to a

demonstration of SAP, to identify potential
problems within the new system. The fourth step
involved the re-mapping or modification of the
processes in line with SAP. The modifications to
the Rolls-Royce business process meant that the
SAP R/3 software need not be modified. Mod-
ifications to the software would have been
extremely expensive both in terms of implementa-
tion resources and the fact that newer software
versions would be difficult to install in a modified
Create
Customer
Solution
s
Build
Customer
Relationship
Plan the
Business
Resource the
Business

Satisfy the
Shareholder
Manage
Cash
Fig. 1. Business pr
system. SAP named this unmodified software
implementation ‘Vanilla SAP’.
5.4.3. Technical problems
The main technical problems that Rolls-Royce
has encountered have been with the accuracy of
data. The new system requires the retrieval of old
data from the legacy systems that has to be
normalised, screened and stored in a sensible data
format within the new systems data repository.
The duplication of data was a major concern that
Rolls-Royce had to address. In some special areas
the old systems was kept running until such time as
they could be phased out by the new systems, and
to do this EDS built interfaces between the
systems. The CAD system used by Rolls-Royce

remained the same, as the process to alter the file
formats would be too expensive and require use of
valuable resources that are needed for the core
implementation.
Rolls-Royce has nine principal business pro-
cesses, which when taken together describe every-
thing the company does. Fig. 1 is a schematic
representation of the business processes and the
interfaces.
Rolls-Royce decided to adopt and utilise the
SAP solution offered for the aerospace and
defence industry. The SAP aerospace and defence
industry solution is the market leader in its
Resolve
Customer
Problems
Generate
Orders
Fulfil
Orders

ocess model.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266258
industry and is highly configurable for flexible
‘vanilla’ implementation. Predetermined imple-
mentation points from the Rolls-Royce Steering
Committee and Implementation Team defined the
release strategy for the project. Any future third
party software products must first be accredited by
SAP to safeguard the upgrade process and would
require a justified business case. Business reports
that are generated by SAP have to be fully justified
in a business case, which follows a standard format
for internal use. Data entering the project has to be
identified, validated, cleaned, loaded, archived and
then maintained within a Data Warehouse.
Rolls-Royce have estimated that over 1000
additional PCs will be required and the total cost
for the network infrastructure was about two

million pounds. The company required over 6000
SAP licences for users across all the business. The
server was provided by Sun Microsystems and in
1 Strategy & Direction
2 Planning Analysis & Conv
3 Early Deployment
4
5
6
Wave 1 – Focus on Operat
Wave 1 – Pilot
Wave 2 – Focus on Assem
Key
Phase 1

Phase 2
Phase 3
1
2
3
4
1998 1999
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
Phase
1
Phase
2
Phase
3

Fig. 2. ERP implementation mo
excess of 2 Terabytes of disk space. The system
required almost 35 weekly MRP runs cascaded by
plant. A UNIX server bridges the data from legacy
systems and testing and training required an NT
server. The detail implementation model plan with
project time-scale is shown in Fig. 2.
5.4.4. Phase 1 (strategy and direction)
The first phase of the project was a short
intensive study to set the scope of the project
and provide an outline plan and costing. A
steering committee was formed to administer the
financial guidance of the project and a ‘ERP Core
Team’ was formed to control and oversee the
actual implementation process.
5.4.5. Phase 2
During the second phase a detailed plan was
created and a prototype system was installed. An
ergence
ions

bly & Spares
5
6
2000
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1
2001
SAP
‘Go Live’
del with project time-scale.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266 259
enterprise model was developed based on the

Rolls-Royce Allison model, and all the existing
projects within Rolls-Royce were drawn together
and merged. Many issues were addressed including
the integration of Better Performance Faster
(BPF) initiatives. A series of workshops known
as ‘High Level Process Confirmation Workshops’
took place, which involved over 200 line personnel
and the ERP core team, and took into considera-
tion the various business processes within the
scope of the project. These workshops were closely
followed by ‘Business Simulation Workshops’,
which involved approximately 300 line personnel
and were used to forge a strong relationship
between the ERP core team and line personnel
and avoid possible pitfalls, such as initiative
fatigue or lack of co-operation. Activities carried
out during the second phase of the project
included:
* Preliminary design review—developing a design
and implementation strategy, defining the scope
of the project, and developing the business
process model.
* High level design review—analyse the enterprise

model, and develop ‘Vanilla’ prototype.
* Critical design review—detailed design and
customisation of the prototype.
* Implementation realisation—integration test-
ing.
* Technical/operation review—user acceptance
testing.
* Post implementation review—system deploy-
ment, systems conversion, user training before
the ‘Go Live’.
During phase two the projects core structures
were identified. Integrated programme manage-
ment (IPM) was also adopted for research and
development and would eventually cover the
whole business. Additional activities included the
support of finance and staff work booking. Phase
two was completed at a cost of d5.2 million, within
two weeks of the plan.
5.4.6. Project changes

During phase two a significant change was made
from the original timing of phase one, the
completion of wave one was deferred for about 6
months. This has resulted in a knock-on delay to
wave two by a corresponding amount. The change
in schedule was possible without a significant
increase in cost because the problems were
addressed early enough in the programme. There
were four main reasons for the change:
* To give the line organisations more time to
prepare, train and clean up data.
* To provide an additional 5 months period for
pilot running and early development of the
system.
* To provide additional time for the completion
of other pre-requisite projects being managed
by BPF. Specifically the deployment of product
data manager (PDM) and shop floor data
manager (SFDM) on which SAP is critically
dependent.

* To provide additional time for resolving diffi-
culties with successful use of SAP at RR
Allison.
5.4.7. Phase three (implementation)
This phase was too large to implement in one
go, and thus was divided into two ‘waves’. Both
waves were concerned with the physical imple-
mentation of the system and its architecture. The
waves were also concerned with changing working
practices within the company.
5.4.8. Wave one
This wave was concerned with the replacement
of legacy systems. IPM was also introduced for
new production projects during wave one. The
new manufacturing execution system, known as
shop floor data management (SFDM) was also
introduced during wave one. The ultimate end to
wave one was a SAP pilot project at one of Rolls-
Royce facility. The pilot laid the foundation for
the full ‘go live’ throughout the company about a
year afterwards. The first wave had the ultimate

aim of providing new capabilities for gas turbine
operations.
5.4.9. Wave two
The second wave was approximately 1 year in
duration, and was not operational until after the
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266260
first wave finishes. The second wave was concerned
with implementing engine assembly, spares, logis-
tics and human resource elements within the
project. By this time the legacy systems was
switched to ‘view only’ as SAP becomes the
executive system. Once the new system shows a
positive response the older systems was phased
out. IPM completely covered the whole business
by the end of the second wave.
5.5. Changes to the existing system

During phase two, modifications were made to
the legacy systems. These modifications were
adopted in a series of suites.
5.5.1. Suite 1
Plan the supply chain: This takes place as part of
the corporate business planning activity with a 2–5
year horizon. A review was undertaken of all
potential future sales, including engines and
spares, identifying the probable minimum and
maximum levels. The supply chain capacity
was compared to the range of possible sales
scenarios.
Master schedule key programmes: Suite 1 sup-
ports the sales and operating review board
(SORB), which is a director level meeting, which
strategically plans engine sale and factory capacity
on a 2–5 year rolling forecast. The SORB makes
decisions affecting changes to achieve capacity in
terms of manpower, machines, technology, and
ultimately for factories to meet the potential sales
forecast. The SORB process has often been

referred to as the ‘Evaluation and Commitment
Acceptance Program’. The SORB meet every 3
months to decide what has to be made and when.
The SORB records baseline data from the previous
meeting and then identifies new changes. For
example if 20 engines were required last, it does
not necessarily mean that 20 were actually built, a
particular manufacturing unit may have had
machine breakdowns, which could have effected
the amount of work leaving the factory. A copy of
the plan gets taken from the Project System
module within SAP and then the new requirements
are input into an inactive version of the SAP
module Demands Management. This copy can
then be used in ‘what if’ simulations before finally
being transferred to the master copy as the latest
SORB.
5.5.2. Suite 2
Plan and schedule the factory: This converts the
agreed schedule from suite 1 into a production
plan and enables all the manufacturing units to
plan capacity to produce the required components.
The production plan may include schedule

smoothing. Schedule smoothing is a process,
which converts erratic customer requirements into
a consistent production plan that allows the
facility to operate efficiently on a regular pattern.
The operations businesses will have the responsi-
bility of holding excess inventory that is created by
schedule smoothing.
Schedule the shop: This converts the production
plan into a detailed shop plan. It generates when to
launch material (either raw material or part-
finished details) onto the shop floor, and when
the material should meet identified stages of the
manufacturing process.
5.5.3. Suite 3
Operate the factory: Suite 3 covers the control of
workflow through the shop from the initial
generation of launch paperwork, right through to
delivery of finished products. It gathers informa-
tion on the booking of work at identified stage
points in the manufacturing process, and collects
operating data for cell level management. It
controls inventory between the manufacturing

units and controls the flow of components through
the make process. Once SAP has become executive
these suites will be replaced by SAP modules and
SFDM, which will handle and perform these
tasks.
The complete systems architecture for the
project is extremely complicated, however for the
purpose of this discussion a brief overview can be
seen in Fig. 3. The core business operations are
supported by SAP and integrate with other
strategic software products (highlighted in brack-
ets). Rolls-Royce are using 11 out of 12 SAP
modules. They decided not to use the plant
maintenance module as they already have an
adequate system called MAXIMO (Fig. 4).
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Plan the supply chain
Master Schedule Key
Programmes

Plan & Schedule the
Factory
Schedule the Shop
Operate the factory
Suite 2
Suite 1
Suite 3
APS – Enterprise Level
APS – Factory Level and
SAP
SFDM and SAP
Fig. 3. The five box diagram of suite implementation.
266 261

5.6. The ERP pilot
A small-scale pilot of the system was run for 3
months and throughout this period, a facility
known as number 4 shop, which was part of the
transmissions and structures operations unit be-
came the central focus of attention for the whole
company. This facility was chosen for the pilot run
because the facility only produced 280 parts, and
material flowed into the facility at low volumes
from external suppliers and internal operational
units. The purpose of the pilot was to demonstrate:
* business principles;
* processes;
* procedures;
* role definitions and behaviours;
* software, hardware and data transfers.
‘‘We initially looked at over 1000 part numbers,
identified which ones had a schedule against
them, its the ones that have a schedule that we
did the data clean up on, which came down to
280 part numbers. If we had to do it across the
1000 part numbers we would never have got it

finished. For each part number there are
around about 30/40 operations, there had been
7 of us working full time on it, that’s included
Saturdays and Sundays as well!’’—Core Im-
plementation Team Member (a).
The implementation of ERP has created two
new roles at Rolls-Royce, these key roles were:
* MRP controllers;
* Capacity owners.
‘‘We had to go through symmetric tests,
aptitude tests, interviews, it was quite daunting
really, I mean to think that here I am, quite
settled but I’ve got to make these moves. I’m
told that I’ve got to spend X amount of time
around a PC, it’s a bit strange as I must spend
around 80 percent of my time on the shop floor
to day, and that’s going to change dramatically.
I will own the men and machines, the capacity
y’’—Core Implementation Team Member (b).
‘‘An MRP Controller is going to be in charge of
the inventory, and getting the raw material in,

and talking to the supplier and the customer.
But they’ve also got to release the material to
the shop floor, and then release the material
when its finished as a component to the
customer.’’—Core Implementation Team Mem-
ber (c).
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Finance
Core Organisation & Finance
Structure
Asset Management
Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
Product & Inventory Accounting
Profitability Analysis
Programme Management
Research & Development

Series Production
Spares & Other
Profit & Cost Accounting
Staff Work Booking
Human Resources
Resourcing
Compensation & Benefit
Payroll
Health & Safety
Organisation Development
Employee Development
Pensions
Product & Process
Development
Assembly Configuration
Component Configuration

Assembly Process Planning
Component Process Planning
ERP (SAP R/3)
Integrated Business Processes &
Systems Applications
Supply Chain Planning
Sales & Operations Planning
Demands Management
Master Production Scheduling
Material Requirements Planning
Forecasting & Provisioning
Supply Chain Optimisation
Procurement & Inventory
Sourcing
Procurement
Inventory Management
(Manufacturing)

Inventory Management
(Assembly)
Warehouse Management
Manufacturing & Assembly
Execution
Manufacturing Execution
Assembly Operations
Tool Management
Plant Management
Order Management
Sales Order Administration
Service Management
Manufacturing
Execution (SFDM)
Work StatusRoutings Work
Launch

Product Data
Management
(Metaphase)
Bill of
Materials
Material
Master Basic
Data
Assembly Instruction & Control (CAPP)
Process Planning
Execution
Product
Structure
As-built
Data
Kits & Tools

Requirements
Facilities & Services
Management (MAXIMO)
Financial
Consolidation
(Hyperion)
Fig. 4. Systems applications architecture overview.
266262
MRP Controllers and Capacity Owners were
sent on a residential behavioural course for 2
weeks and for most of them this was their first
glimpse at how they would be working in the
future.
‘‘We’ve got 20 users at Ansty, in the pilot and to
connect those users we’ve had to install a lot of
fibre network throughout the Ansty site. Its
such a huge task of delivering the infrastruc-
ture, that’s the reason why people have been so

frustrated, saying things like, I go live in 4
weeks and I haven’t got a piece of kit yet!
Once they’ve been trained and know how to
use that piece of kit they will have it there
and then. The second thing to bear in mind
is to really understand what roles the user is
going to play in the pilot. This is to ensure
that we have the right access permission
correctly set-up for the user so they can use
SAP correctly.’’—Core Implementation Team
Member (d).
Systems testing and getting the user to accept
the system were important roles undertaken in the
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266 263
pilot. The following quotes give some insight:
‘‘Before the system can go-live the team needed
to check that it works properly in their
operational environment. User acceptance

training is all about buy off, we’re trying to
make sure that the ownership is with the
business not the core team. They have to say
we’re happy!’’—Core Implementation Team
Member (e).
‘‘I thought that when we first started the
programme it would be pretty black and white,
finishing the unit testing, starting the integra-
tion testing, starting the user acceptance testing,
its not that simple! What you have are different
bits of either configuration or bridges that you
have to phase in at different parts of the testing
cycle. They cannot be missed but they cannot be
finished in time to say, I’ve finished all unit
testing, I’ve finished all integration testing its
actually quite blurred.’’—Core Implementation
Team Member (e).
Loading clean data into the new system also
produced many difficulties. The following quotes
give some insight:
‘‘Its not until you actually try and load the data,
get the data in the system and then hopefully let

it feed into SAP that you really start to
understand that things aren’t quite right. We’ve
lost something like a week and a half so far
trying to get the bill of materials into metaphase
and then feed them into SAP.’’—Core Imple-
mentation Team Member (e).
‘‘We are going to load into SAP about 2 percent
of the part numbers that we would actually load
in wave one, and we are finding it incredibly
difficult!’’—Core Implementation Team Mem-
ber (d).
The initial problems experienced on ‘going live’
were:
* User authorisation problems, such as, password
and user level clearance.
* Work was temporarily halted on the shop floor,
as route cards were unavailable.
* Values between the systems were incorrect, so
comparisons were made on the values from the
legacy system with those on the new system,
such as inventory levels and WIP.

* Transaction problems occurred from the first
MRP run, so comparisons were made, between
the old and new systems, and corrections were
made.
A second pilot was also carried out for non-
production purchasing. The second pilot ran
executively, covering Derby-based purchasing of
ground support equipment. A third pilot also
was run by the Airline Business. The third pilot
was non-executive, but designed to specifically
explore the interplay between Metaphase PDM
and SAP.
5.7. The ‘Go Live
As the main ‘Go Live’ of the new system was
planned, the most difficult part of the cut over
process was in transferring the data from legacy
systems. The shear volume of data that has to be
transferred is far greater than any normal transac-
tion load that will be carried out by the system

thereafter. In order for this process to be successful
the data must be kept in a ‘stable’ state for a
period of roughly 10 weeks. The initial data to be
transferred includes some transaction data and
master data, for example, lists of suppliers. If any
changes occur to the data on the old systems after
the transfer, they are logged and then passed
through to the new system. The remaining data
was loaded in after the ‘Go Live’.
The next step during the ‘Go Live’ process
involved running the MRP system to initialise the
whole system. Purchase orders and purchase
requisitions was not transferred from the old
system, instead the MRP run should create them
fresh. The whole ‘Go Live’ process took roughly 2
weeks to complete, and during this time the new
system was ‘off the air’.
Immediately after the ‘Go Live’ the existing
legacy systems was switched to view only mode.
The view only mode enabled comparisons to be
performed between the old and new systems.
However, the legacy systems ceased to be executive.

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266264
5.8. Project risks
The ERP Project at Rolls-Royce covers many
different departments and many different topic
areas, all of which have associated risks. In order
to address and take positive action to avoid failure
or potential errors the ERP implementation team
maintained and recorded in a great detail, a risk
register. Every issue within the company, which
involves risk has been catalogued and continu-
ously reviewed. The risk register is very large,
however the Rolls-Royce ERP Intranet page offers
a brief summary of some of the major risks:
* The possible failure or inability to align goals
through conflicting directions within the orga-
nisation.
* The non-delivery or non-availability of reliable

IT hardware and infrastructure both before and
during implementation.
* The possible failure of providing inadequate
and ongoing support after implementation,
from both Rolls-Royce and EDS.
* The resistance of change to new process
methods by management and supervision.
* Management and supervision may treat the
project as merely an IT implementation, rather
than change in process methods.
* Inadequately educating the workforce to oper-
ate the new system properly.
* Possible failure to cut over to the new system
through an inability to load data.
* Possible failure to cut over to the new system
through the inappropriate systems testing of
volume, stress and data conversion.
* Possible failure to give ERP adequate priority

due to the number of existing and ongoing
business improvements.
* Maintenance difficulties may occur on bridged
legacy systems.
* The project may impact on company interim
and end of year accounts.
* The PDM project may not be sufficiently
positioned in time with the ERP project.
* Possible changes to kitting demand during ‘go
live’ may stretch the new system and those
operating it on a learning curve beyond
capacity.
* The decision to implement Wave 1 separately
from Suite 3 may fail to integrate the new
systems.
* Airline Business After-sales may not be able to
analyse and manipulate inventory investment in
stock target groups (MERLIN functionality
which helps to control forecasting for
Airline Spares stock targets will be removed in

Wave 1).
6. Summary and conclusions
Rolls-Royce has a large complex business
process and the project has had to assess the
effects throughout the whole business, which is
equivalent to ten medium sized companies pulling
together as one. This has caused administrative
difficulties, particularly in the first phase of the
project, whilst setting the strategy and overall
direction. Rolls-Royce decided to make these
radical changes to their business, in response to
increased orders from the market place, and also
from the fact that ERP has become a standard
solution world-wide within the Aerospace and
Defence industry. The introduction of SAP R/3 at
the facility in the USA was a major factor in
influencing the UK implementation. Rolls-Royce
produce a range of quality world class turbine
engines, and have recognised that they must
change in order to compete effectively with their
competitors. Accurate information systems and
direct communication with suppliers are vital
when offering customers a committed promise to
deliver.

Rolls-Royce has understood the business, cul-
tural and technical difficulties of such a large
project, and has developed a solid core implemen-
tation team. The team has used the specialist skills
of consultancy specialists. The partnership with
EDS has produced a sound architectural frame-
work for the project, thus allowing Rolls-Royce to
concentrate its efforts on manufacturing turbine
engines. A project of this size would never run
smoothly and difficulties have occurred through-
out the implementation and will no doubt occur in
the future. The company have taken a different
approach to IT systems but have not let the project
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266 265
become just another IT system. The core imple-
mentation teams have taken into account the
needs of both the managerial and end-user. The
following list contains just some of the problems

encountered:
* Matching the process to the software config-
uration.
* Training people to accept change, and getting
them to do business in a totally new way.
* Teaching employees to use modern IT equip-
ment.
* Equipment not delivered on time, or delays in
technical equipment installation.
* Data clean up has been particularly time
consuming as many legacy systems have been
involved.
* Training the behaviour of SAP users such as
MRP Controllers and Capacity Owners.
Many activities have taken place, which have
been vital to the overall success of the project, such
as:

* Bridging the legacy systems and cleaning up
suspect data has given the company more trust
in its management of information.
* Training senior management, particularly the
executive group, who are responsible for the
overall direction of the company and are not
technically orientated.
* Managing effective relationships and leading
teams in both technical and non-computer
based environments.
* Manufacture simulation exercises.
* Transactional training.
* Shop floor communication with line workers
was an exercise that occurred during the
implementation of suite 3. This required line
workers to attend workshops to learn new PC
skills in order to book work.
SAP guarantee that newer versions of their
software will upgrade SAP reports, whilst specially
created reports will require re-writing of the

software. The future of the project will eventually
lead to the need for a Data Warehouse. A Data
Warehouse is an integrated collection of data. The
data is stored centrally and is extracted from
operational, historical and external databases. The
data is first screened then edited and finally
standardised for future retrieval. The data is
stored in a logical user-friendly format. It allows
non-technical users to create database queries
allowing the simple retrieval of management
information for business intelligence and manage-
rial decision making. The database continually
absorbs new data and integrates it with the
previous data.
The full benefits of the project will not be fully
experienced or achieved until the system becomes
executive and has a period of stability, for at least
a whole year. Once the system has become stable
and users have had time to adjust to new working
practices the benefits of lower IT cost will become
visible. An immediate benefit that will be achieved
by the system will be the ability to promise and
then deliver to the customer on time. This was
something that the older systems could never

achieve, as they often used due dates that were in
the past. SAP can only use current information.
The ability to deliver on time will improve
customer satisfaction and also improve customer
confidence, which should lead to an increase of
orders in the future. The system will also improve
the relationship in the supply chain, as transac-
tions will be made easier via the use of Electronic
Communications.
The sustainability of enterprise information
systems (EIS) during the post-implementation
period needs to be looked into. There is a lack of
clear understanding about the strategic needs and
requirements for sustaining the effectiveness of
large-scale information systems after a period of
relative stability following initial implementation.
Sustainability management of EIS is therefore a
very important research dimension that needs to
be explored to maximise the benefits of an
expensive information system investment such as
ERP.
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to two anony-

mous referees for their constructive and helpful
ARTICLE IN PRESS
266266
comments which helped to improve the presenta-
tion of the paper considerably.
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Enterprise information systems project implementation:A case
study of ERP in Rolls-RoyceIntroductionEnterprise resource

planningImplementation of ERPSystems, applications and
products in data processingRolls-Royce-case studyCompany
backgroundThe situations before ERPIT at Rolls-RoyceThe
implementation projectCultural problemsBusiness
problemsTechnical problemsPhase 1 (strategy and
direction)Phase 2Project changesPhase three
(implementation)Wave oneWave twoChanges to the existing
systemSuite 1Suite 2Suite 3The ERP pilotThe ’Go LiveProject
risksSummary and conclusionsAcknowledgementsReferences
HOLMES
INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF
HIGHER
EDUCATION
UNDERGRADUATE
PROGRAM
Prepared by: Afrooz Purarjomand March, 2020

Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T1 2020
Unit Code HS2041
Unit Title Enterprise Systems
Assessment Type Individual Assignment
Assessment Title Individual Assignment 1
Purpose of the
assessment (with
ULO Mapping)
Students are required to conduct critical analysis of the ERP
implementation in given case
study and present it in a professional report.
Learning outcomes are

1. Explain and apply enterprise system’s tools and techniques to
solve arising business
needs.
2. Apply problem solving using different tools and techniques
of ERP and execute
simple business processes using an ES tool (i.e. SAP)
3. Analyse and develop arguments in relation to an
organisation’s ERP selection,
planning, implementation and ongoing support phases.
4. Assess risk factors associated with an ERP implementation
project, and the
alternatives for managing risks.
5. Communicate using effective oral and written communication
tools, act in a
professional manner, be an effective team member or team
leader
6. Understand the ICT profession and professional expectations
in enterprise systems

Weight 25% of the total assessments
Total Marks 25
Word limit 1000-1500 words
Due Date Week 7
Submission
Guidelines
along with a completed
Assignment Cover Page.
-
pt Times New Roman font and
2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate
section headings.
report, and
listed appropriately at the
end in a reference list using Harvard style.

HS2041 Individual Assignment Page 2 of 3
Assignment Specification
Purpose:
This assignment aims at analysing a case study on ‘ERP
Implementation’ (uploaded on Blackboard as a separate file)
and
reporting their understanding/perspectives, answering the
following questions
system.
nd evaluate case study ERP implementation
approach.

ERP implementation and propose appropriate
strategies.
Report structure should be as the following:
Introduction: Discuss the report objective and structure
Purpose and Scope of ERP: Describe Enterprise Resource
Planning systems (ERPs) in the given context.
Evaluate implementation approach: Brief case study
implementation approach and discuss your opinion with quality
arguments.
Analyse Change management: Analyse case study change
management activities, roles of key stakeholders and
propose your strategies.
Conclusion – Draw conclusion and summarise findings
References (make sure to use Harvard referencing)
Marking criteria

Marking criteria Weighting
Presentation (Report structure, Grammar and spelling, Written
style and expression) 2%
Introduction 2%
Purpose and Scope of ERP 5%
Evaluate implementation approach 6%
Analyse change management 6%
Conclusion 2%
References 2%
TOTAL Weight 15%
Assessment Feedback:

HS2041 Individual Assignment Page 3 of 3
Marking Rubrics
Marking Criteria Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Introduction Demonstrated
excellent ability to
describe the report
purpose and
structure clearly
Demonstrated
very good ability
to describe the
report purpose
and structure
Demonstrated

good ability to
describe the
report purpose
and structure
Demonstrated
ability to
describe the
report purpose
and structure
Did not demonstrate
ability to describe
the report purpose
and structure
Purpose and Scope
of ERP
Discussed the
scope of work and
objectives very
clearly
Discussed the

scope of work
and objectives
clearly.
Discussed the
scope of work
and objectives .
Discussed the
scope of work
and objectives
briefly
Did not discuss the
scope of work and
objectives briefly
Evaluate
implementation
approach
Demonstrated
think critically,

analysed
implementation
approach critically
and described very
well
Demonstrated
very good ability
to think
critically,
analysed the
implementation
approach and
described very
well
Demonstrated
ability to think
critically,
analysed the
implementation
approach and
described well
Analysed the

implementation
approach and
described
briefly
Did not analyse the
implementation
approach
Analyse change
management
Assessed critically
in depth and
suggested
excellent strategies
logically and
presented in very
convincing manner
Assessed
critically and
suggested
strategies
logically and

presented in
convincing
manner
Assessed well
and suggested
strategies
logically and
presented in
well
Assessed and
suggested
strategies
Argument is
confused and
disjointed.
Conclusion Demonstrated
summarise findings
very well.

Demonstrated
very good ability
to summarise
findings well.
Demonstrated
good ability to
summarise
findings
Demonstrated
ability to
summarise
findings
Did not summarise
findings
Presentation,
Language and
Grammar
Professional
presentation with

excellent writing
skills
Professional
presentation
with very good
writing skills
Professional
presentation
with good
writing skills
Professional
presentation
and well
written
Poor presentation
References 5 relevant
references
4 relevant
references

3 relevant
references
2 relevant
references
no relevant
references

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