Case Study For Enterprise System

Case Study: Mobile Health Electronics Ltd

Manufacturing – Make to stock

Background

Mobile Health Electronics Ltd (MHE) is an Australian manufacturer of wearable monitoring devices that

are sold for use in hospitals and retail outlets. Their home office is in Melbourne, which is also the

headquarters for the main sales office. A sales office is also located in Sydney, NSW. The company has

two manufacturing plants in Australia: one in Melbourne, and another one in Liverpool, NSW.

Distribution centres are also located at each of the current manufacturing plants. The company recently

added a China sales force in Beijing which includes a manufacturing facility and a distribution centre.

The company is keen to expand into India, to develop and sell healthcare mobile hand-held computers

there, and also open a sales and trainings office in the UK to expand its operation in Europe and North

America.

Each of the manufacturing plants acts as an independent company maintaining separate sets of books

and operating more or less autonomously. The Melbourne home office has had their own ERP system

for 7 years but Liverpool and Sydney’s operation have been supported by using a variety of legacy

systems to assist their manufacturing plant, human resource, financials, procurement and sales and

distribution.

With a wide range of IT systems in place, the company thinks a centralised and robust ERP system will

allow for process standardisation across its plants and offices, particularly to enable centralized

procurement and sales functions. They also want to be able to consolidate financial statements as well

as look at sales by product across the companies.

Selling of the products is done with a sales force that calls on warehouse and retail sales outlets such as,

JB Hi Fi, OfficeWorks, and Harvey Norman stores, or by directing visiting hospitals and healthcare service

providers. The Company also manufactures and sells replacement parts.

Traditionally, the company’s CEO and marketing manager travel to trade fares around the world to

promote their scanners and mobile hand-held computers. However, they have been also looking into

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starting an on-line shopping cart web site where they could promote their products and sell parts and

products online. They are also considering providing online trainings to their sales representatives and

staff across the world.

Current Challenges

Mobile Health Electronics Ltd is a growing company that needs standard operations across its

manufacturing, sales and inventory activities. Currently, its IT systems lack the flexibility and scalability

to support its growth into new markets over the next decade. Furthermore, the current IT systems do

not provide the data standardization needed for analysing the costs and profitability of different

products, by sales regions and customer. Mobile Health Electronics Ltd is yet to develop a healthcare

mobile hand-held computer which can be used in both developed and developing countries but again

their systems need to be upgraded to allow for this strategic direction. Another key strategy for MHE is

its commitment to customer satisfaction by delivering the product(s) at the right time, right place, and

at the right price. This may require make to order as well as make to stock products. MHE is organized

around processes that are focused on the value add to customers.

Some additional high-level facts about MHE are as follows:

 MHE products need to be customized for value added resellers (VARs) by application of the

reseller’s logo at assembly.

 Individual customers do not have direct influence over the product or its function, shape, and

size; however this is something that the Board of Directors (BoDs) is considering changing in the

future to allow individual customers the opportunity to create specialised mobile devices.

 Sales planning and product design are determined by management in cooperation with other

staff members.

 All sales are maintained in Australian/US currency only, even though the company does business

with other countries like China.

 The company currently sources “raw materials” – parts, subassemblies and even one final

product from Korea, Japan, and Germany. These components require strict quality assurance

processes. The company is keen to maintain its current network of suppliers but also seeking

possibilities of working with more suppliers from other countries such as the US and New

Zealand.

Emerging Business Requirements and Future Challenges

With the fast changing and highly competitive business environment, the management of MHE have

realised that the current implementation of their legacy ERP and other enterprise systems which have

been in operation for about 7 years has its share of limitations. The management has realised that new

business requirements and drivers are emerging. They have also realized if they are not proactive, the

emerging requirements can negatively influence the company’s competitive advantage and market

share and as such, they need to act quickly.

Also, the traditional hyper-connected customer centric business models adopted by MHE are causing

the company to fall behind in its interactions with its customers as customers are the real drive for

change. However, the company is currently very slow to respond and adapt to changing circumstances.

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Furthermore, workforce engagement is an important priority. The increasing mobility of managers, staff,

clients and competitors, has created a huge network of mobile information and expertise. The company

has realized that they need an effective and efficient way of supporting, managing and taking advantage

of the networking opportunities that such a network of mobile workforce and clients offer. They are

particularly interested in taking advantage of such a network for improving the design of their products

and also developing a collaborative marketing strategy.

You are employed by Mobile Health Electronics Ltd as a Business Systems Requirements Analyst on a

contractual basis. You have had extensive experience with enterprise systems projects, specifically in

managing software implementations in manufacturing organisations.

Your Task:

You have been asked by the Board to work on the Enterprise System adoption and implementation. You

need to prepare a report that helps the BoDs to make an informed decision with regards to purchasing

an ERP system. Your report and recommendations should include the following information:

A – An analysis of the current situation

A1 – Business requirements and drivers

Develop a list of MHE’s business requirements and business drivers (at least 10 items). Provide a brief

description for each item on the list. Make sure your description is linked to MHE and its business

context.

A2 – Linking requirements to ERP functionalities

Using the list you developed in A1, create a table that includes:

1- A column of the identified items on the list

2- A column that specifies whether each item is a business driver or a business requirement

3- Identify business process(es) that can support or fulfill each of these business drivers or

requirements

4- Identify the type of data or information that is required for the successful completion of each

business process.

5- Against each business driver or requirement in the table, choose ERP functionalities that can

help MHE to meet/achieve its specific business requirements/drivers.

6- Provide a justification for each choice you made in step 5.

B – Software selection process

Using the table A2, your research of the existing enterprise systems in the market suggests that there

are four suitable ERP solutions for MHE:

 SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (a.k.a SAP S/4HANA)

 SAP ECC6

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 Sage X3

 Oracle Cloud Accelerator

What other information would you require for recommending the best solution to MHE? What are other

considerations to take into account? Adopt a Rich Picture approach to justify your answer.

C- Laying the foundations for business value and digital transformation

through digital disruption

The management team of Mobile Health Electronics Ltd is fully aware that they need to lay the

foundations for business value and digital business transformation. This focus was an aspect they

considered when they decided to implement a new ERP system suite. The Board of Directors is

concerned that if they do not focus their future approach on digital transformation, they will lose their

competitive advantage with their customers and be left behind.

The CEO of Mobile Health Electronics Ltd has recently attended a Deloitte presentation: “Harnessing the

‘bang’: Stories from the digital frontline.” Findings indicate that 13 industries comprising 65% of the

Australian economy are facing significant digital disruption by 2017.

(Located at:

http://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/building-lucky-country/articles/digital-disruption-harnessingthe-

bang.html)

 Define what is meant by digital disruption by using case studies as examples to aid your

definition.

 Discuss the major advantages and disadvantages (risks) to Mobile Health Electronics Ltd should

they not focus their attention on digital disruption.

 Identify specific ways in which Mobile Health Electronics Ltd can improve:

 Their digital disruption performance,

 competitive differentiation and

 growth in the future

 Conclude with a recommendation on your findings for Mobile Health Electronics Ltd.

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Structure of the report

Total: 60 marks (30% of overall assessment in the unit)

Your report should include no more than 3000 words and include:

1- Title Page (0.5 mark)

2- Exec Summary (2 Mark)

 No more than 2/3rds of a page

 Should provide an overview of the report outcomes

3- Table of contents page (0.5 Mark)

4- Introduction (5 Mark)

 You will be required to provide the purpose and a brief overview and the structure of

the report.

5- Scope (1 Mark)

 This section discusses the breadth and depth of the project

6- Audience (1 Mark)

 This section discusses who the report is going to

7- Project Background (5 marks)

 This section briefly discusses the project and its motivations

 This section should not be less than one page

8- Analysis and Evaluation (40 Marks)

 An analysis of the current situation

 Software selection process

 Analysis of digital transformation through digital disruption

9- Overall summary (5 marks)

 An overall summary of the report should be identified here. This should link to findings

at each point and be able to sell the project to the BoDs and CEO. This should cover at

least half a page.

10- References

Citation: You need to follow Harvard Style

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