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226 Chapter 8 • Program and Project Management

CASE 8-1
Opening Case
ABC Manufacturing: A Hypothetical Case in Unresolved Issues

The manufacturing company called ABC Manufacturing, which produces do-dads and
thing-ama-bobs that fit on the dashboards of cars, decided to take a look at their competi-
tion. A team made up of senior management, area directors, and staff concluded that a new
ERP system would help to integrate its processes and speed up order processing, thereby
improving time to market. Several competitors had already completed an ERP implementa-
tion and claimed dramatic improvements in order processing and increased customer
satisfaction. Even though the company believed that the ERP would improve the overall
bottom line, many of the staff were skeptical. The company proceeded to purchase an ERP
system, and the project teams were assembled. A project manager, Mr. Trevor Mackenzie,
was assigned to the project from the internal IT department, but no one in that department
had ever implemented an ERP before. The staff assigned to the project were chosen by the
department heads to work on the project full time, and an implementation consulting firm
was chosen to work with the manufacturing company to implement the system.
All of the teams were excited and eager at project start-up. The teams evaluated the software
based on current practices and identified areas that did not fit the current environment. The
team leads passed the recommendations along to the project manager for review and submis-
sion to the change control board. The board agreed to all but four changes. Those four
changes were turned down because there were indications that there were workarounds and
that the business practice needed to change. The subject matter experts on the teams believed
that the four modifications should be made and that the workarounds would be very time
consuming. Several months went by as the implementation proceeded and modifications
were made to the system. Testing the system was now well under way. During the testing
phase it was clear a number of changes needed to be made for the system to work in the man-
ufacturing company’s environment. The project slowed, more changes were made, and the
testing time was extended. Training was delayed due to the changes in the system, and users
continued to make requests for changes. After several delays the system testing was at a
standstill. At this point the project executive, Kathleen Taylor, called a halt to the project to
find out what was happening and what needed to be completed for the system to go live.

CONCLUSION
Management often does not realize that ERP projects are doomed for disaster. ABC
Manufacturing seemed to have a number of components in place to be successful: enthusi-
asm and buy-in from both management and staff, along with a good rationale for change.
Without realizing what was happening, initial project decisions, especially in the skill set
and experience of the project manager and those assigned from the functional departments,
set the project up for failure. After several delays caused the project to flounder, Kathleen
Taylor made the right call to halt what was happening in order to evaluate what needed to
be addressed for the implementation to move ahead.