Cisco Erp Essay Example Essay Example

Cisco Erp Essay Example Paper Cisco Erp Essay Introduction Cisco Systems Inc. : Implementing ERP come ride with us your cowboys: bill atkinson denisa kubricka edmond lui georg wittenburg iman sharif Company Background †¢ Founded in 1984 by two Stanford computer scientists †¢ Became publicly traded in 1990 †¢ Primary product is â€Å"router† †¢ By 1997, Cisco was ranked top five companies in return on revenues and ROA in Fortune 500 †¢ In 1998, market capitalization was over $100 billion Markets Cisco was a key infrastructure supplier for the â€Å"New Economy† in the mid-90s. †¢ That market went through a period of amazing growth since Cisco formed. †¢ This fast growth rate was directly reflected in Cisco’s sales figures. †¢ The future was looking bright. Company Structure †¢ Three functional divisions: – Order Entry – Finance – Manufacturing †¢ Initial IT Strategy: – Let division take care of themselves. – Overall architecture is shared , enabling sharing of data. History of IT at Cisco UNIX-based software package to support its core transaction processing: – Functional areas supported: financial, manufacturing and order entry systems – Used common architecture and common databases †¢ Growth of Cisco resulted in scalability problems. †¢ Cisco was the largest single costumer of that vendor, resulting in a strategic weakness. Point Blank †¢ Would the software developed for a $300 million company fit the use of a $1 billion company? Point Blank †¢ Why would a multi-million dollar company want to avoid ERP? A Big Need †¢ Recognized the need for change, but left actions to each functional division: †¢ Thus: – Little progress was made in the year – Each functional area was reluctant to replace the legacy system because of high risk involved – Systems outages became routine – Unauthorized method for accessing the core application database malfunctione d, corrupting Cisco’s central database †¢ Company was shut down for two days Selecting an ERP product †¢ The planning was driven only by timing constraints and panic. There was no business case †¢ Cisco emphasized the need for: – – – – Strong team Strong partners Speedy decision making Getting Executive Board approval Project Team Partners †¢ Team: – Know that very best people are needed – Pulled best business IT people out of their current jobs at Cisco †¢ Partners: – Important that partner could work on the selection as well as implementation of project – KPMG as integration partner – KPMG team of 20 (highly experienced; not â€Å"greenies†) Cisco Erp Essay Body Paragraphs Teams selection strategy †¢ Teams strategy – use experiences of other companies and best practices to accumulate knowledge †¢ Selected five packages within 2 days †¢ After a week of high level evaluation – two packages selected: ORACLE and another major player in the ERP market †¢ 10 days on request for proposals Point Blank †¢ Is it wise to make a decision so quickly? Are there things that should be done to mitigate the risk? Did they do due diligence? Team Selection Strategy Cont’d Oracle other vendor given two weeks to respond to RFP †¢ Current vendor customers were visited by the team during these two weeks †¢ After response, received a 3-day software demonstration by each vendor (used Cisco’s sample data) †¢ Goal is to show how software meets or does not meet Cisco’s requirements Final Vendor Selection Criteria †¢ Three main criteria used: – Manufacturing capability – Long-term develop ment of functionality of package – Flexibility of Oracle’s being close by (location wise) Other motivations – Oracle’s first release of new ERP product – if Cisco project goes well, favorable product launch of Oracle ERP package †¢ Oracle chosen – team decision, no management approval at this point Time †¢ After 75 days from start of project, major TODOs are: – Negotiations between Oracle Cisco – Write up a Proposal to Board of Directors †¢ Time and non-interference with annual accounting as main considerations. †¢ Famous last words: – â€Å". there’s no way we’re going to take 15 months to get this done. That’s ridiculous. † – â€Å"Well, can we do it in five months? That just didn’t seem right. † – Let’s try nine. Point Blank †¢ Was nine months realistic? Should other criteria have been used to estimate the time, rather than quarte rs as primarily criteria? Costs †¢ No formal business case for project †¢ Concentrating on system failure as motivation to project start †¢ $15 million budget estimated †¢ Not approached from the justification prospective (no cost/benefit analysis) †¢ Costs:  »  »  »  » Software 16% Hardware 32% Headcount 14% System integration 38% Point Blank †¢ How do you think should project costs be estimated for Cisco’s project? Getting Approval From Board †¢ Met with CEO – comment about ‘jobs lost over much lesser amounts of money’ †¢ Got CEO’s support †¢ Met with Board of Directors – chairman says ‘show me the money’ as first thing †¢ Board approves project †¢ Single largest project ever undertaken by company †¢ CEO makes project priority for Cisco Building implementation team †¢ As not enough time KPMG performed well during planning phase †¢ KPMG relationship e xtended for implementation †¢ Extra 80 team members added on from the Cisco’s business community †¢ Five tracks (process area teams) used: Order Entry Track  » Manufacturing Track  » Finance Track  » Sales/Reporting Track  » Technology Track Point Blank †¢ Was it worth removing important people from the regular business positions to work on the IT project? How can an IT department in another company convince upper management that this is worthwhile? Steering Committee †¢ High level execs from Cisco, Oracle, and KPMG †¢ Shows commitment and importance of project Point Blank †¢ How important is it to have support of upper management to ensure success? Implementing Oracle †¢ A development technique known as â€Å"rapid iterative prototyping† †¢ Implementation broken into a series of phases called â€Å"Conference Room Pilots† (CRPs): – CRP 0 / 1: Build on previous work to develop a deeper understanding of the s oftware and how it functioned – CRP 2 / 3: Implement the ERP system. CRP0 †¢ Training the implementation team and setting up the technical environment †¢ Two parallel efforts: – Training the team in the Oracle applications Normal 5 day training pushed to two 16-hour days! Getting the application up and running by a small â€Å"tiger team† CPR0 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Configuring the Oracle package Hundreds of parameters in the applications Team members â€Å"locked† together for two days 1 % effort with 80 percent accuracy Completed one week after the meeting, leading to the realization that changes to the software were needed to support the company effectively Point Blank †¢ Do you think that having 80% accuracy with only 1% effort was just a matter of luck? Taking into account that typical ERP system configuration takes up to 6 months, not 2 days!! Any risks involved with this approach? CPR1 †¢ Goal of this phase each track makes the system work within its specific area †¢ Details and procedures for completing a process were created †¢ Realized that a lot of business processes were not supported by the software needed modifications †¢ Modifications were classified into: †¢ Green †¢ Yellow †¢ Red, needed to go to the steering committee for approval there were few reds CRP1 30 developers needed for 3 months to modify Oracle †¢ Modifications led to unplanned changes in the project plan and budget †¢ Realized that Oracle could not support the after-sales support needs †¢ Chose a service support package and planned to lunch both packages together Point Blank †¢ Would it have been possible to avoid most of these major changes and the need for a new service package had they spent more time in their initial design and decision making? †¢ Does it help to prioritize the required changes and control scope? CRP2 Continued scope change †¢ Major tech nical issues †¢ Creation of data warehouse for centralized data communication CRP2 †¢ 100-person IT department started decommitting from other projects †¢ Bore most of the responsibility for the project additions †¢ â€Å"IT did nothing else that year† Point Blank †¢ Is it wise to commit all of your resources to a new project, when your existing systems are barely scraping by? CRP3 †¢ Focus on testing the full system †¢ Assess readiness to ‘go live’ †¢ Captured one day’s worth of actual business data and ‘re-running’ it on a Saturday Point Blank †¢ Would you consider one day of testing adequate (with a subset of data), if you were planning a clean cutover of your entire IT infrastructure? The Aftermath †¢ The new ERP system went live on January 30, 1995, but it took two months before it was operating at a reasonable level of quality. †¢ Problematic areas were hardware architecture and sizi ng. – Test hat only been run sequentially and with a subset of the real database. †¢ Side-note: How is it possible that no one in the team noticed this before? Cisco Systems (1995) Cisco Systems creates five distinct business units that reflect its major networking product groups — Workgroup, ATM High End, Access, Core and IBM Internetworking. †¢ â€Å"While leveraging economies of scale in areas like manufacturing, sales and support, the business units can move quickly in product development and expedite time to market. † †¢ Cisco Systems is the first major supplier of internetworking products to be awarded global ISO 9001 certification. Cisco Systems (2004) †¢ John Chambers, president and CEO: â€Å"Our strong position in the core switching and routing business continues to be complemented by positive momentum in our Advanced Technologies, especially this quarter in storage, security, wireless and IP telephony. † †¢ Positive Q2 2004 figures: – Q2 Net Sales: $5. 4 Billion (14. 5% increase year over year; 5. 8% increase quarter over quarter) – Q2 Operating Cash Flows: $1. 7 Billion Oracle Corp. (2004) †¢ Third quarter revenues were up 9% to $2. 5 billion while net income grew 11% to $635 million as compared to the third quarter last year. Chairman and CFO Jeff Henley: – â€Å"Oracle’s fiscal third quarter was another solid quarter, with new software license revenue growth of 12%, which is identical to last quarter. † †¢ Oracle CEO Larry Ellison: – â€Å"This was a very strong quarter for our database business. † groupthink Point Blank †¢ Would they be able to do it again? – Which were to key factors to the success of the project? – At which points could it have failed? – Are these one-time events or can we generalize them? Pete Solvik CIO of Cisco Systems †¢ Heads the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) †¢ One of the top 25 unsung heroes of the Net by =/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection class=__cf_email__ data-cfemail=7f36110b1a0d3f1c0b16091a>[emailprotected] Week Pete’s Tips for CIOs †¢ Make sure that the company’s â€Å"business owners† make and fund IT spending decissions. †¢ Use infrastructure as a strategic enabler. †¢ Tie IT’s objectives and rewards to the goals of the company business units. †¢ â€Å"Pete Solvik’s Three Tips for CIOs† http://www. voicendata. com/content/top_stories/101010311. asp Thank you for your time! We will write a custom essay sample on Cisco Erp Essay Example specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Cisco Erp Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Cisco Erp Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

To Curry Favor

To Curry Favor To Curry Favor To Curry Favor By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, Does the expression Curry Favour have anything to do with curry? Short answer: â€Å"No.† But the long answer is pretty cool. The gastronomical word curry derives from a Tamil word for sauce, whereas, the curry in the expression â€Å"to curry favour/favor† is a verb meaning â€Å"to comb a horse.† curry (noun): A preparation of meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric, and used as a relish or flavoring, especially for dishes composed of or served with rice. Hence, a curry = a dish or stew (of rice, meat, etc.) flavored with this preparation (or with curry-powder). curry (verb): to rub down a horse with a comb. The word favor in â€Å"to curry favor† is the product of folk etymology. The original expression was â€Å"to curry Favel,† in which Favel is the name of a fictional horse. Satirical allegories featuring anthropomorphized animals were popular in the Middle Ages. The name Favel came into English from the French tale Le Roman de Fauvel, in which a horse named Fauvel parodied the hypocritical behavior of the courtiers and ecclesiastical lords of the French royal court. The horse’s name derives from his color: he’s a â€Å"fallow horse.† As an adjective, fallow refers to a pale brownish or reddish yellow color. It’s probably cognate with Latin pallere, â€Å"to be pale.† Both English and German had an idiom that may have preceded the French tale: â€Å"to ride the fallow horse.† The expression meant, â€Å"to practice duplicity.† One academic theory as to why riding a fallow horse was associated with hypocrisy is that the expression may have originated with â€Å"the pale horse† in the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation). The rider of the pale horse, â€Å"one whose name is Death,† was thought by some commentators to represent the duplicitous Antichrist. When the word Favel became meaningless to English speakers, they substituted it with the familiar word favor. In sum, to curry chicken is to cook it with curry. To curry favor is to seek to gain an advantage by means of flattery and hypocrisy. Here are some recent examples of the use of curry in the nonfood sense: Leadership PACs generally attempt to curry favor with other lawmakers, hoping to win support for legislation or other political aspirations. If we change [the law], Mr. Lynn said, were going to see politicians running around seeking support of churches and hoping that they can curry favor with those churches by promising them money and favors. Not only did he flout those laws in order to curry favor with a prospective employer, but he also illegally disclosed the identity of a whistleblower, as the Complaint alleges. The lobbying campaign, reconstructed by  Newsweek  and The Daily Beast through interviews and documents, speaks volumes about the efforts of big business to curry favor, even among perceived enemies.   Curry may also be followed by approval and good will: Jorge is explaining to his men that Nikita Khrushchev has permitted a few chosen writers to travel abroad,  hoping to curry approval  from the worlds cultural elite. Kuwait used its resources to  curry good will  among Arab countries, especially Egypt. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Punctuating â€Å"So† at the Beginning of a SentenceAcronym vs. Initialism50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Start Up Shoe Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Start Up Shoe Business - Essay Example high heel, medium heel and low heel. All these three heights can be adjusted in a single product. The heel of this innovative product will be of hard plastic. It can be rotated to adjust the desired heights from three default sizes. This feature is the key attractive feature of the product. Manufacturing cost of this product would be $25. The company will manufacture this product through their own production unit. It will source leather and other required raw materials from the local suppliers. The quality of this multi-featured shoe will be of premium standard so that it can be positioned in the market among the premium brands. Quality will be checked by the expertise of the company’s manufacturing department. Quality control activity involves checking of quality of lather and pasting. These two components of a shoe determine the overall quality of the product. Customers’ feedbacks about the product at initial stage need to be evaluated to find out necessary revisions in production process or product raw materials. Quality control is one of the most important parts of production process. The quality control department always needs to focus on the industry quality standard and position the brand by comparing general feedback of the customers about quality of this product with respect to other brands. This product will be offered in the market with high standard of customer service like 6 months after sales warranty for any kind of damages of the shoe. New shoe will be provided in case of major damages within 6 months. Production flow of this product will be controlled on the basis of the demand of the product in the market. This strategy will be adapted to faster liquidation of the inventory and lower inventory cycle. Customers’ feedback will be given higher priority for further product development in terms of quality and design of this innovative product. Location HIGHLOWS shoe will be manufactured in Springfield, MA. Springfield is one of the most popular cities in England. The manufacturing unit of this product will be established in this location. Therefore, availability of resources needs to be analyzed in this location. For developing manufacturing and warehousing unit, a large hall will be leased for the next 5 years, and the interior of the hall will be designed. This includes separating the total space into two different divisions like manufacturing unit and warehouse. In the manufacturing unit, required machineries will be installed. Electric wearing will be fixed before the installation of the machineries. The generator facility will be necessary to ensure 24 hour electric supply. Renting the required building will be cost effective for this new business as the initial investment needs to be allocated in various activities like marketing, transportation, working capital management etc. Therefore, the cost of developing a building will be allocated in other operating activities. It is the most effective busi ness strategy for a new business to use rented fixed assets at initial stages, which also helps the company to easily withdraw the business in case of the worst case scenario in terms of market demand of the product. 2 to 3 vehicles are necessary for carrying raw material and also for supplying the products to the wholesalers as well as retailers. Again, to reduce initial capital requirements, this service will be outsourced from local transport service providers. To avoid delayed supply of raw materials, local suppliers will be involved in the production of this product. Legal Environment In order to obtain the licensing of the shoe business, an experienced attorney will have to be hired in order that all the legal requirements of the business are fulfilled and necessary