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114 Chapter 4 • Development Life Cycle

Discussion Questions

1. Is a surety bond an effective means to establish true 5. How should organizations approach the change
accountability for IT implementation, as presented management strategy to manage their people
in the Jackson Lab case? problems that usually cause many mishaps and are
2. Was the phased implementation a good approach the main reason of failure in ERP implementation
for an organization like Jackson Lab that deploys projects?
an ERP solution for the first time? Would it allow 6. Pick any two rapid implementation methodologies
focus on a critical area, stabilization of the system of ERP. Discuss the benefits and limitations of
usage, and quicker visible benefits? each in a table format.
3. What do you think about the modifications in a 7. What do you think should be the role of consul-
unique business process at the Jackson Lab (e.g., tants in the ERP life cycle? Explain.
raising and distributing the mice)? 8. Discuss why top management support and involve-
4. Discuss the risks and benefits of going for a big ment is important for the ERP life cycle.
bang conversion versus using the phased or parallel
approaches.

CASE 4-2
Real-World Case
Two Short Cases: OilCO & ExploreCO

Source: Based on article by Parr, A., and Shanks, G. (2000). A Model of ERP Project Implementation. Journal of
Information Technology, 15, 289–303.

The first company, OilCO, is a refiner and marketer of a broad range of petroleum products
in Australia and 11 countries in the Pacific. As one of Australia’s major industrial compa-
nies, OilCO directly employs more than 2,000 people and owns assets valued at
approximately $2 billion. OilCO is the Australian subsidiary of one of the world’s largest
multinational oil companies. It has a nationwide network of 1,800 locations, is one of the
four major oil companies in Australia, and enjoys a substantial market share. When the
global oil industry underwent significant restructuring and increasing competition, OilCO
decided to implement a new system to achieve full process integration and automation,
improve customer service, and facilitate planned business restructuring. To meet these
complex business requirements the company selected a mainframe-based ERP solution.
With 1,600 users in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, this ERP system
became one of the largest and most complex mainframe implementations in the world.
It processed 25,000–35,000 transactions per hour and handled more than 1,000 orders
per day across the country.
The implementation of the system at OilCO involved major change to the company’s
business processes, so they matched the ERP’s processing methods. Even though they
recognized that some existing business process changes were necessary, OilCO aimed to
maximize the integration benefits of the ERP while simultaneously streamlining the
company’s existing processes. The implementation also involved the development of an oil
industry–specific module. The ERP (referred to here as ERP-1) implementation resulted in
substantial business benefits for OilCO. They included better sales forecasting, fully
automated ordering and delivery processes, real-time financial data, improved data quality,