Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EL
GEORGE
GAUTENG
BBA
ABP
I, AYANKOYA, K A_____ DECLARE THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS AN ORIGINAL WORK AND ANY OTHER SIMILAR WORK HAS BEEN APPROPRIATELY REFERENCED IN THIS ASSIGNMENT.
MODULE:
Operations Management.....
ASSIGNMENT:
1...
LECTURER:
STUDENT: 212400096
SIGNATURE:
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Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Corporate Strategy - Our Business ................................................................................................ 4 1.2 Vision............................................................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Mission .......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Business Strategy. ......................................................................................................................... 5 2.0 SERVICE DESIGN ................................................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Service Specifications .................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Service Guarantees and Recovery ................................................................................................ 8 3.0 PROCESS FLOWS ............................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 New Customer Registration .......................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Support Call Logging, scheduling and monitoring process ......................................................... 10 3.3 Processes Efficiency Metrics and Measurement ........................................................................ 11 4.0 OFFICE LOCATION AND DESIGN ...................................................................................................... 12 4.1 Location ........................................................................................................................................... 12 4.2 Office Design ............................................................................................................................... 12 5.0 STAFFING......................................................................................................................................... 13 5.1 Skills Management Process......................................................................................................... 13 5.2 Employee Performance and Appraisal........................................................................................ 14 6.0 CAPACITY PLANNING ...................................................................................................................... 15 6.1 Forecasting .................................................................................................................................. 15 6.2 Capacity Utilization and Bottleneck ............................................................................................ 15 6.3 Buffering Strategy ....................................................................................................................... 16 7.0 SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN .................................................................................................................... 17 8.0 QUALITY MANAGEMENT................................................................................................................. 19 References ............................................................................................................................................ 20
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system provides a variety of information that can be used to coordinate decision making processes within an organisation (Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatham, 2011). Thereby helping managers to streamline and properly structure their businesses for effective performance to gain competitive advantage by having the right information available to the right people at the right time. Hence they invest in the implementation of ERP Systems that can help them to run their organizations more effectively. However, because of the complexities of the ERP system companies that have implemented ERP systems require experts to provide technical and business process related support for their staff to be able to get the best out of their ERP system and to avoid very costly downtimes. This study will be looking at the design of the operations of a ERP support and maintenance consulting company based in Port Elizabeth.
It has been argued that the design of the operation and the business processes that drives businesses has become more of a strategic issue that is controlled at the executive and management level because of the demands of todays business (Binney, 2012). The pressure to reduce cost together with an increased demand to localize product/service offering is making many companies to design their operation in such a way that they can derive optimum benefits. The design of the operation for EPI Consulting CC will focus on how to achieve operational strategy that will position the business for a competitive advantage.
Since the global economic melt-down in 2008, the Information Technology Consulting business has been experiencing a slowdown. In a recent survey, the technology and business survey giant - Gartner, discovered that the budget for Information Technology is increasingly on the decline, especially for companies that see Information Technology as a tool for operational automation, integration and control. However, it was noted that effective leaders use technology, which includes Information Technology, to strengthen the customer experience and eliminate costly
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internal distortions. They are using technology to 'amplify' the enterprise (Gartner Executive Programme). With Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatham, 2011. defining operations strategy as a consistent pattern of decisions for the transformation system and associated supply chain that are linked to the business strategy and other functional strategies, leading to a competitive advantage for the firm. While Davis, Heineke and Balakrishnan rightly sees it as the development of a long-term plan and the configuration of the organizations resources in achieving the plans and objectives of the firm. This study will seek to design the operations of EPI Consulting CC An ERP Support and maintenance Consulting firm to achieve around the ability to be able help its clients to strengthen the customer experience and eliminate costly internal distortions.
1.2 Vision
The Vision of EPI Consulting is to be a one shop stop partner for ERP system support and maintenance with the manufacturing, warehousing & distribution (FMCG) industries by generating superior value for our customers.
1.3 Mission
Our Mission is to capture the ERP manufacturing, warehousing & distribution industries, through: Provision of top-notch technical and business processes support;
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Optimisation of ERP systems for our customers to maximize their ROI from their investment on ERP; The provision of a flexible service with the shortest possible turn-around time.
We will accomplish this by giving attention to understand the business processes of our client much more than they do.
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While the implicit service offering will include; Timely resolution of problems Providing a one-stop solution always The client should be able to depend on the firm to solve their problems Provision of adequate information All services to be provided in a friendly and professional manner
This study will design a service system that will assist the firm to be able to deliver to the customers expectation. As described by Schroeder, Goldstein and
Rungtusanatham (2011), that system includes that processes that the company will use to deliver services through the use of the resources available to it. To be able to serve client properly and define the type and level of service that the customers can expect, the company should have the following standard options that the clients can choose from;
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1. Gold Category: Customers in this category will receive premium unlimited support for all support calls. This category will require an annual contract and service level agreement.
2. Silver Category: Customer will receive 50 hours monthly of premium support for all calls received. Extra hours will require the approval of the IT manager or designated official in the clients company. This category will require an annual contract and service level agreement.
3. Bronze Category: Customer will receive 20 hours monthly of premium support for all calls received. Extra hours will require the approval of the IT manager or designated official in the clients company. This category will require an annual contract and service level agreement.
4. Adhoc Category: Customer will be assisted on the adhoc basis and clients with a contract and SLA will always take preference to clients in this category.
From service design perspective, the proposed service options falls in the co-routed service design on the service matrix as adapted by Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatham (2011). This service design will allow for only four standard choices that the customers can choose from, with each of the choices following a standardize work procedures. The company should therefore focus its effort more on having the right systems and human resources that will deliver the best service to the clients. The following systems are suggested in order to achieve the best services.
1. Automated Support Call Logging, Monitoring and Scheduling System 2. Service Level Feedback System 3. Knowledge Sharing/Transfer System among the employees 4. Skill development for employee
Each of the systems will be discussed in details in this document. Overall, the services, processes and employees of the company need to understand that the
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direct impact of the companys services on the clients business. Also, every contact with the clients via telephone, face to face or even with the systems and processes of the company must portray the companys values and deliver the value propositions beyond technical support to the customers. Based on the companys vision and objectives, its services should be geared towards the human experience and making the services look tangible and visible to the clients.
In cases where customers feel that this guarantees are not met, the feedback system should be used to measure the success or failure of service and hour spent will be credited back to the customers in such cases with a written apology.
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Start
Yes
Client is Prospected
Prospect Ends
No
No
No
When a call is allocated, the consultant should call the owner of the problem at the client site either to get more details on the problem or to let the company know that the call has been received and is being attended to. In the Support Contract, the client must agree to provide the support team with a remote access into the network. This will reduce the need for the team to travel to client site by 90%. Only very critical issues should require the physical presence of a consultant.
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The support team should also have a monitoring system that displays the all the open calls logged by each customer, call that has not been allocated and the cycle time (Actual vs Expected) of calls that the team is working on. This will ensure that the team is focus on prompt service delivery and will also help in measuring the efficiency of the consultants. The diagrams below show the flow of the Support call process.
Customer is satisfied
Consultant is notified
End
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4.1 Location
The office should be located in Port Elizabeth. This will give the business access to manufacturing companies in and around Port Elizabeth. Because of the nature of their businesses, most of the clients will prefer to have their ERP support consulting company as close as possible for them to be able to reduce the turnaround time and to reduce their down time to the barest minimum. The location of the business in Port Elizabeth will give the client more sense of dependability and accessibility which is one of the values offering that the company is pursuing. Although, the plan should be to solve most of the clients problems using remote access into their computer networks using the internet, the location of the business in Port Elizabeth will reduce the cost of travel when it becomes necessary to visit the client sites.
Beside the ease of accessibility to the clients, the location of the company in Port Elizabeth can provide the company with an opportunity to access employees that will be will to live in port Elizabeth for reasons besides financial gains. Port Elizabeth provides a type of life that attracts many that want to get away from the rush-rush in other cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town.
5.0 STAFFING
In the service industry such as ERP support and maintenance, productive employees are essential in delivering value to customers (Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatham, 2011). It will take the companys ability to attract, develop and retain knowledgeable employees to be able to deliver on its promise of one stop service and resolving problems at the shortest possible time. It must be understood that each employees, especially the account managers carries valuable knowledge about clients business environment. From the point of recruiting an employee, the selection criteria must include the choice of the employees to work in Port Elizabeth so that employees that are passing time or not comfortable living in the city will not be employed.
In order to retain the employees of the company, the company should implement programmes that will ensure that the staffs are satisfied. This should include the work environment, availability of resources, and easy accesses to information, regular training, and internal support system that will ensure that employee are able to excel in their tasks. Also, a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of each of the employee will go a long way in improving the productivity of each of the staff and the organization as a whole. Beside, a reward programme that is attached to the turnaround time and customer feedback should be implemented to give the staff the sense of value that the company attach to service delivery and satisfying the customers.
Despite that programmes mentioned above, it is obvious that at some points, employees will leave the company for different reason. Therefore, the company should ensure that consultants update the call logging system on how they have been able to solve the problems at the client site. This will form a knowledgebase that can be used for training purposes and as a backup in case the employee is no longer available.
this category will only attend to simply technical problem and should NOT have customer contact. While the technical and business process management skills of the fellows are being developed in-house, each of them must complete a definite soft-skill development programme before they can be regarded as consultant. 2. Consultant: A consultant would be an employee that has the required
experience in deliver technical and business related solutions in a way that meets the objectives of the company. It is suggested that the company develop its Consultants in-house through the fellowship programme and keep them satisfied to ensure retention. Employees from other companies with relevant experiences can also be brought on board. However, there must be an adequate communication of the companys objective and value proposition to the clients beyond the technical and business solutions.
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6.1 Forecasting
Proper forecasting helps to determine what will happen in the future. Through the use of Service Level Agreement (SLA), the service options that the customers have selected, the company will be able to predict the monthly man hours requirements. However, scientific forecasting using time series model to determine the expected requirements of the customer especially in the long term. This will help in the scheduling of labor resources especially for premium clients. For example, the time series model can assist in determining periods that premium client require maximum attention due to their internal processes like stock taking etc.
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In this case of an ERP support system, the most important contribution to success in the industry will be the building of strong relationships with the customer base (Cook, DeBree and Feroleto, 2001). Hence the supply chain effort should be geared at creating loyal customers, increasing the companys revenue, low customer turnovers, winning new customers through referrals and generally keeping the customers happy.
Again, It is understood that the employees of the company will play the major role in the business of this firm. The quality of the employees of the company will therefore determine what the company is able to offer to its client and its ability to reach its main goals. In this regard, the company through its employee would seek to control the costs of doing business, Quality it is able to offer, delivery of its services to the customers and the actual service that is offered. The continuous training and mandatory updating of the skills-set of the employees is therefore very important and must be address at the management level with definite programmes like career path management. As a knowledge-based service provider, the company would control the source of information and skills to it employees in order to manage the content of the information that flows to the customer. This can be modelled as shown below
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION
CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
Technical Requirements
internet
Besides understanding the employees as the key factor in the supply chain, other factors that must be considers for the success of the supply chain include forecasting, capacity planning/utilization and the active monitoring of the Support call logging and scheduling process.
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This will be achieved through the use of survey at the end of each transactions and periodical quarterly of bi-annually survey to monitor the quality of the of the services provided by the company. From the use of surveys the aim of the company would be to measure and continuously improve on the value that the company adds to its clients, how this achieved and reduction of cycle time that the organization spent in solving problems without leading to reworks.
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References
Barnes d., 2008. Operations Management: An International Perspective. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Binney D. , 2012. From operations to Strategy: the new business process design agenda [Online]. Available at: <http://strategytheoryandpractice.com/fromoperations-to-strategy-the-new-business> [Assesses 07 July 2012].
Cook J. S., DeBree K., Feroleto A., 2001. From Raw Materials to Customers: Supply Chain Management in Service Industry. Sam Advanced Management Journal, PP 14-21.
Davis M., Heineke J., Balakrishnan J., 2007. Fundamentals of Operations Management. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Gartner Executive Programs, 2012. Gartner Newsroom [Online]. Available at: <http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1897514> [Assessed 20 June 2012].
Schroeder R. G., Goldstein S. M. and Rungtusanatham M. J., 2011. Operations Management: Contemporary Concepts and Cases. 5th ed. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
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