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Connaught
Electronics Ltd
7
. Setbacks and Difficulties
The biggest impact on time with this project was the selection
of an ERP system. As a progressive thinking company, CEL wanted
the best system the industry had to offer and were more than
willing to pay for it. The due diligence the company went through
in ensuring they got the best for their money took great time
and effort from everyone involved. Preparation of requirement
documentation involved substantial effort by both CEL and their
consultants, BSM Consulting (www.bsm.ie). The test scripts alone
took approximately one hundred man-days. The testing process
for the selected three vendors took weeks to fulfil and scrutinise.
Once the company had made their final list of two vendors, the
site visits again took considerable time to complete.
Upon
reflection, the site visits proved to be the most valuable lesson
to the company, resulting in a rethink of their entire strategy.
If they hadn't taken the time out to prepare questionnaires
and visit the references sites, they may have made a costly
investment in a system which could, ultimately, not satisfied
their needs. In addition, they would have had to make additional
purchases of software modules in order to compensate for the
short fallings of these ERP systems.
The traceability project was subjected to delays of a different
nature. Unlike the ERP project, the specifications drawn up
for the traceability system were inadequate. CEL failed to realise
the extent of this part of the project from the outset, including
the effort required ensuring the system was comprehensive and
would integrate seamlessly with three third party pieces of
equipment. This resulted in delays during development and deployment
until a prototype was available for testing. Even then setbacks
ensued with bugs hindering the implementation of a robust system.
The original project was first scoped out to cost €15K
but ended up costing the company €40K.
The
shortage of in-house IT expertise also cost the company
in terms of time. The company would have been better
investing, initially, in at least one IT specialist.
This would have saved CEL time in planning both their
ERP strategy and drawing up detailed specifications
for the traceability system.
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