Development Of An ERP System Using SDLC Methodology For Blach Construction Company

Internal and External Operating Environment Analysis

The paper mainly reflects on the seven steps of SDLC methodology that is used by Blach construction company for developing a new ERP system. The main aim of the organization is to implement ERP system in order to avoid the problems that occur due to the use of manual system. In order to develop the information system, sponsorship from the top management of the organization is needed.

The report illustrates the organizational context that includes description about the selected organization, internal and external operating environment as well as the problem of IS/IT. The paper also provides proper justification about the proposed system by undertaking cost benefit analysis. Moreover, the paper reflects on the system analysis as well as system design methods including the steps that are used for developing, testing and implementing the ERP system. In addition to this, the paper also discusses project management, risk management as well as the changes that are mainly associated with the implementation.

Brief description of the organization

Blach construction company is one of the construction company of Australia that helps in providing commercial building as well as construction management related services in Northern part of California (Blach.com 2019). This construction company helps in providing number of services including sustainability consultation, program management, pre-construction services, virtual design, building information modelling and more.

Mission: The main mission of the organization is to build proper people, projects as well as relationship that helps in enhancing the communities in which one live and work.

Vision: The main vision of the Blach construction company is to become of the best company to work with within Northern part of California.

The Balch team works properly with the clients of the organization in order to develop proper customized solution that helps in providing proper roadmap for achieving success. The roadmap that is mainly considered depends on the project budget as well as schedule. In addition to this, it is found that for managing the business process, the organization helps in providing number of services that include program management, IES, in-house scanning tools as well as pre-construction services.

Internal operating environment analysis

SWOT analysis is considered as one of the useful techniques that is mainly used for understanding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as threats that are associated with the operating environment of Blach construction company.

Strengths: The main strength of Blach construction company is that they are very much efficient which helps in reducing the expenses of the company and improving the profit. Moreover, the construction company have experienced and skilled project managers with the help of which they can be able to complete the project on time (Almajali et al. 2016).

Proposed ERP System Features and Benefits

Weaknesses: The main weakness of Blach construction company is that the organization works only in Northern California with some specific clients and therefore they are vulnerable to slowdown. In addition to this, they lack in proper team member skill which is considered as one of the major disadvantages.

Opportunities: The company wants to expand and therefore the company is trying to leverage its present operations so that they can be able to work effectively with different clients on various other types of projects (Shatat 2015). Moreover, the organization is keeping eye on the various developing trends that assists in creating one of the easiest ways for creating much more sustainable work.

Threats: Changing market preferences is considered as one of the major threats for the Blach construction company. Moreover, the cost structure of the organization is higher as compared to its competitors and therefore it can cause major threat to the organizational operations.

External operating environment analysis

Porters Five force model will he helpful in providing a simple perspective for analyzing the external environment of Blach construction company. It is identified that both the bargaining power of the customers as well as threat from substitutes are considered as two forces of framework competition.  

Threats from new entrants: New entrants will bring innovation as well as new ways of tackling the construction projects but the pressure that will be created on the Blach construction company due to the new entrants are high with the help of lower pricing strategy.

Bargaining power of the suppliers: The raw materials for the construction purpose in Northern California will not be buy the raw materials from a single supplier and therefore the bargaining power of the suppliers are low because the suppliers are not be dominant (Saade and Nijher 2016).

Bargaining power of the buyers: the buyers of the organization generally demands a lot and they generally help in buying best offer that is available by paying the minimum process as possible. It is found that as the Blach construction company is small therefore the bargaining power of the buyers are high.

Threats of substitutes: As there are number of construction company in Northern California, therefore the customers can be able to get better services of construction from some other company and thus the threat from substitutes is high (Altamony et al. 2016).

Rivalry from the present customers: If the rivalry from the existing industry is intense then it will be helpful in driving down the prices as well as helps in decreasing the entire profitability of the industry.

SDLC Methodology for Developing the Proposed System

Presently, the Blach construction company uses manual system in order to manage its business operations. However, it is found that due to the use of manual system the organization faces number of problems including more time consumption, misinterpretation as wellas inconsistency. It is quite necessary to implement ERP system within the Blach construction company so that the company will be able to manage the operations of the organization effectively.

If ERP system will be used in the Blach construction company, then the organization will be able to remove the repetitive processes and helps in reducing the requirement of manually entering the information and data. The new system will be helpful in streamlining re entire business process by making it much more efficient for the company to properly engage in data collection (Bakunzibake, Gronlund and Klein 2016). Moreover, ERP system will be helpful in making much more accurate forecasting and as the details and information are accurate therefore the business can be able to make proper business-related decisions that further enhances organizational profit.

 It is found that the entire ERP system will be developed with the help of seven step SDLC methodology. According to Ibrahim et al. (2018), SDLC methodology is mainly defined as one of the systematic approaches that is used for solving the problems by developing the new information system. The ERP system that will be developed will be helpful in managing the business operations by eliminating the repetitive processes that helps in reducing the need of manually entering information.

Identification of the selected system

 There are different types of ERP system in the market like SAOP R/3, SAP B1, LN, Microsoft Dynamics, JD Edwards and more. The development of the ERP system by using proper software mainly depends on the objectives of the organization (Permana 2015). As ERP software helps in collecting, storing, managing as well as interpreting various types of data therefore, it is quite necessary to identify the business needs first and as per the need of the organization, proper system must be selected.

Project feasibility including cost-benefit analysis

Economic feasibility is considered as one of the terms that is mainly utilized for measuring the expected saving of cost or benefit from the proposed new system. The Blach construction company mainly utilizes cost benefit analysis for analyzing whether the investment that is made on the development of the system will be beneficial and it will be helpful in providing some benefit to the entire organization. The cost benefit table for the proposed ERP system development is generally provided in the table that is mainly given below:

Cost-Benefit Analysis

In addition to this, another feasibility analysis is mainly considered in technological area. Technical feasibility is mainly undertaken for making sure that the hardware as well as software that will be used for developing the ERP system for the Blach construction company successfully (Dawson, Leonard and Rahim 2015). ERP is considered as 360-degree projection that requests proper technological implementation. The Blach construction company is capable of developing the ERP system by using the required hardware and software.

After proper evaluation of the project feasibility, the Blach construction company generally plans a formal as well as approved document for the execution of the project. The plan that is developed must contain proper information including the schedule, scope as well as resources for the proposed project.

Requirement gathering: After the development of formal plan, proper requirements that are needed for the development of the ERP system are gathered. It is the responsibility of the organization to properly understand the various management structure, people as well as business. The higher authority of the organization must appoint a project team including the developer, IT manger, risk analyst, quality analyst and more for developing the system successfully (Mousaei and Gandomani 2018). The Blach construction company also provides proper guideline that helps the adding all the details about the organizational operations within the ERP system. As per the analysis, the ERP system must have features which includes accounting, payroll, human resources, marketing and more.

Creation of process diagram: The arm of setting proper process modelling must be developed in order to represent the capturing, manipulation, storing as well as distribution of the information between a system. Data flow diagram is one of the approaches that is mainly used in order to represent the entire system of ERP which will be developed for the organization “Blach construction company”.

Design system helps in illustrating the steps with which the system will be able to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. It is quite necessary for an organization to develop proper IT infrastructure for supporting the entire IT system. As the risk that is related with the internet security as well as confidentiality of data, it is suggested that the ERP system must be properly installed (Joslin and Muller 2015). It is found that the design that is made for the project must be strictly followed by the developers for developing as well as implementing the ERP system within the Blach construction company.

Conclusion

Development phase helps in formalizing the detailed design of the documents into the actual system from the design step. The main activities of the stage include development of database, IT infrastructure as well as programs. There are four different types of approaches that are mainly used which mainly includes internal development, outsourcing, acquisition as well as application service provider (Raman 2017). It is important to have a trial version ERP system for meeting certain modifications within the entire system. After analyzing the benefits that is achieved from the different development phase, it is found that ASP approach can be used for meeting the objectives of the organization.

Testing is considered as one of the important steps that helps in avoiding and eliminating the software related problem before it is generally converted to a business operating system. It is found that testing phase generally involves assembling all the sections of the project together (Akbar et al. 2018). It generally helps in controlling the quality of the entire system for verifying whether the system is able to meet all the objectives of the organization or not. There are four different types of tests that are generally undertaken in order to make sure that the system is working properly with the help of different combing approaches.

The implementation phase of the project is considered as one of the steps that is mainly undertaken in order to implement the ERP system successfully within the Blach construction company. The steps that are generally executed during the implementation phase of the project mainly includes the following:

Formulation of the user documentation

It is necessary to create proper user documentation that must include details about the utilization of the system, system requirements, guidelines about handling the system as well as administration. Proper literatures are generally used for providing training facility to the employees.

 The implementation method that can be used for the implementation of the project mainly includes plunge, parallel, phased as well as pilot (Kostic 2017). It is found that the analysis of each of the method of implementation is generally provided in the table that is provided below. For the development of the ERP system, it is found that phased approach must be considered as most appropriate for the implementation of the ERP system as this implementation method helps in providing a chance of fixing the issues before the system is installed within the system.

System maintenance generally emphasizes for continuously monitoring, evaluating as well as modifying the operation system after the entire system is implemented. The main activities include post implementation review, building proper assistance for supporting the system users, for making performance changes and for giving proper supportive environment (Raman 2017). The project team must properly examine the new ERP system and check whether the entire system is working properly or not. All the historical performance related changes must be recorded for helping the system improvements. The activities that are needed to be undertaken in the post implementation of the ERP system mainly includes:

• Reviewing the project
• Making proper documentation
• Analyzing the problems as well as issues for providing solutions
• Stakeholder sign off

Project management

Project management is defined as the application of the knowledge, skills, tools as well as techniques that is used for meeting the requirements of the project. It generally involves management of scope, quality, time, as well as human resource, risk as well as procurement aspects of the project quite successfully. It is found that in order to manage the project successfully, it is quite necessary to follow the project plan that is used for the development of the ERP system within the organization.

The risk management plan that is provided below reflects on the risks that are mainly associated with the development of the ERP system with proper mitigation strategies for resolving the project risks.

Change management is mainly considered as the changes that are generally required within the mission, vision, strategy as well as within the organizational structure of the organization. It is quite important to develop proper change strategy that helps in reducing the risks as well as cost. During the development of the ERP system, some of the changes are required which must be done so that the system will be developed effectively. The changes that are needed within the Blach construction company include creation of changed vision statement of the organization.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the entire report, that seven steps of SDLC methodology is used for developing the ERP system for the organization successfully. It is found that with the help of the ERP system, the organization will be able to manage the operations of the organization effectively. The paper properly illustrates the benefits that is gained by the organization with the help of the new ERP system. In addition to this, change management, project management as well as risk management steps are properly followed for properly managing the entire project.

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