Globalization and Information Technology Case

Globalization and Information Technology Case Study

The case of Building Blocks, Inc. (BBI) and its failed attempt to implement a modern integrated enterprise resource planning system, as presented by management researchers Walter W. Austin, Linda L. Brennan, and James L. Hunt of Mercer University, describes the organizational dilemmas faced by complex institutions searching for an efficient way to enhance their use of information technology (it) resources. Despite employing a rigorous process of requirements analysis and vendor selection, the executives at BBI ultimately chose to contract the services of a highly reputable consulting firm to assist these efforts, a decision which proved to have no beneficial impact on the risk management component of this ERP implementation. Rather than use, or in this case misuse, third-party consultants who have no familiarity with the firm's preexisting manufacturing requirements, such as BBI's reliance on the S/400 hardware platform, an alternative may have been found by exploiting the knowledge of the former information systems manager who had recently been named to the position of Director -- Information Systems. The case study states that this woman had 17 years of experience in the field, and she "recruited and developed a competent, experienced staff, several of whom had degrees in information-technology fields" (Austin, Brennan & Hunt, 2011), but despite the presence of this invaluable resource, who had worked for the firm in an executive role for several years, BBI management elected to gamble millions of dollars on the services of an unknown consultant with no vested interest in the success or failure of this ERP implementation.

The case study also reveals that "SupERP provided BBI with a list of 25 of its customers that were already using the human resources and financial modules of the SupERP software on the as/400 hardware platform" and while "the BBI project manager was reassured by the number of customers using SupERP; however, it is unclear whether anyone from BBI contacted any of these customers to determine their level of satisfaction" (Austin, Brennan & Hunt, 2011). This oversight on the part of BBI's project manager represents a mortal sin in the world of it project management, as the effective mitigation of environmental risk factors requires a thorough review of all project components, as well as the host of variables they inevitably introduce into the project's implementation phase (Yang & Su, 2009). By not exercising a pragmatic level of precautionary research, through the use of telephone conferences with clients of SupERP to gauge their overall levels of customer satisfaction, BBI failed to establish clear project metrics that may have been used to successfully screen company's like SupERP during the requirements analysis and vendor selection process. A clear set of project metrics, in this case a survey used to assess the approval of SupERP's clients in regards to as/400 compatibility, is an essential tool in the competent it project manager's repertoire, because these data points can be used to effectively remove subjectivity and human error from any number of commonly employed vendor selection methodologies (Motiwalla & Thompson, 2009). The authors of the case study conclude by observing pointedly that "despite efforts to conduct a thorough requirements analysis, to perform a systematic vendor, and to provide adequate resources for implementation, BBI had an unsupported, and essentiall unusable ERP system" (Austin, Brennan & Hunt, 2011), and it is clear that although BBI displayed a modicum of effort, the firm failed to apply the foundational concepts of modern it project management theory to their overall processes.