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System
Label
5.2 Third Party Selection
The search for a third party was reasonably straightforward
for Maurice Buckley and his team. Following a brief
look at the potential developers in the market (in
both Germany and Ireland), System Label selected Galway
based GenBase (www.GenBase.ie)
to build the two modules.
In addition to having designed and built previous
modules for System Label, GenBase also had extensive
experience with the Microsoft development suite of
programs including Microsoft Access. This was critical
in vendor selection as the system that System Label
had built was complex and thus required the skills
of a high-level MS Access developer.
“Reliability is important in situations like
this”, commented Buckley, “we felt that
it was a great advantage that GenBase had worked on
the system in the past and so were building on their
own work”
5.3 The Project Team
Unlike most companies, where development is totally
outsourced, a lot of the technical development work
was carried out in-house by the System Label team.
The split of work between Maurice and his team and
GenBase, the software developer chosen to build the
modules, varied throughout the project:
- Development
–
80% GenBase / 20% System Label
- Testing
and refinement – 50%
GenBase / 50% System Label
5
.3. 1 Internal Team
- Maurice
Buckley, Managing Director –
Maurice was involved in the technical software development and overall
project management. He was the main technical competence within System
Label.
- Alan
Beirne, Graphic Designer and IT –
Alan’s main responsibilities were hardware and networking configuration
and testing.
- Rebecca
McManus, Logistics and IT –
Although Rebecca left before the full implementation of the two new
modules, she was responsible for the raw materials module.
- Birgit
Bischoff, Project Manager for Data Integration – Birgit
was responsible for the smooth implementation of the Data Integration
module into the German plant.
5
.3 .2 External Team
- Michael
Duggan, GenBase – Michael was the overall project manager in
GenBase and was responsible for requirements analysis, problem definition
analysis, development and testing. He also supported User Acceptance
Training.
- Tom
Horgan, GenBase –
Tom’s main task was integrating technical production orders into
the system.
5.4
Timeline
The two modules implemented as part of the Enterprise Ireland eBusiness
Accelerator Fund project took approximately 24 months to implement. The
raw materials management module was started in May 2001 and was fully
implemented in both plants by the end of 2001. The Data Integration module
was started in September 2001 and went live in October 2002.
5.5 Setbacks and difficulties
The beauty of the EI project was that it focused the team during the time
System Label was eligible for the grant. When the grant period closed,
development slowed - had it have continued at the same pace, it is likely
that the Data Integration module would have also been in place by December
of 2001. Unfortunately, due to resource issues, and without ongoing funding
from Enterprise Ireland, the project was put on hold for six months.
This stop meant that development of the Data Integration module took almost
a year and subsequently, it is only just being delivered now.
5.6
Budget
System Label ended up drawing down around 80% of the grant within the time
period allowed. The overall cost to the company was double that originally
budgeted. Commented Buckley “We’re not too worried about the overspend
as we can see that the return is also going to be far greater than was originally
anticipated”.
5.7 System Rollout
In order to ensure that the system was fully implemented and running correctly,
a training program was put in place to tutor staff in the usage of both
the new modules and of MS Access itself.
MS Access Training
Following consultation with GenBase, certain staff members were sent on
a general MS Access training course. Following this training, GenBase provided
ongoing support in specific areas. User Acceptance Training (UAT)
The UAT was undertaken by Maurice and his team. As each module impacted
on a number of different groups, training was imperative. The training was
originally given to users (in both plants) based on what the team thought
the system would be able to do. Once it was completed and implemented, the
team realised that it could actually do much more than was originally envisaged
and thus a second round of training was given to update staff on previous
training.
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