CIS319: Decision support and

executive information systems

Assignment #1

3/15/2010
Student #060339366
Kirt Lee Baptiste
What is the purpose of the ERP at Topps Ireland?

Topps implemented a state-of-the-art ERP system to increase control over its operations and to
develop management information systems to improve decision-making in relation to the commercial
strategy of the firm. The case study examines the improvement of Topps competitive situation
enabled and facilitated by the greater control from its ERP system.

The case study demonstrates that a reliable information systems infrastructure is increasingly
important in supporting the operations and the development of a modern business.
Topps possesses a combination of up-to-date managerial thinking but rather outdated
administration. It is therefore certain that the introduction of a state-of-art computing in Topps could
have a significantly positive impact on the performance of the business and create a more reliable
administration and management structure of the organization as a whole, especially given the recent
increases in the volume of the transactions dealt with by Topps Ireland Ltd.

The application of a modern software package would substantially improve the quality of managerial
reports. However, from the investigations carried out, excessive replication and duplication also
needed to be addressed. A fully integrated Financial and Distribution system would support both the
basics processes carried out at Topps and automate the basic flows for information within the
organization.

ERP systems are an integrated enterprise-wide software package designed to support the key
functional areas of the organisation. These systems represent the implementation of a managerial
dream of unifying and centralising all the information systems required by the firm in one single
system. Most notably, ERP systems support the recording of all business transactions from purchase
orders to sales orders and monitoring of manufacturing activities.

At a practical level, ERP systems have very beneficial effects that remove the need for often
disparate and unreliable end-user applications, operating and reporting procedures can be
standardised and some of the key processes of the firm (e.g. order acquisition and processing or
inventory control) can be optimised.

ERP systems are built on top of a relational database which enables a reliable and rapid circulation of
the data between the modules and eliminates the need for multiple data entry. Thus, ERP systems
simplify, accelerate and automate much of the data transfers that must take place in organisations to
guarantee the proper execution of operational tasks.

Single ERP architecture enabled better linkages between business areas as well as with suppliers and
customers.

Major benefit of ERP implementation is greater integration of functional areas and, in the case of
multinational firms (i.e., Topps Ireland Limited) greater co-ordination between entities and between
sites are to be obtained.

In any business a primary goal is having a positive revenue turn-over, Topps reported an enormous
growth of sales between the years 1996 to 2000 from IR20million to IR50million.
What technologies were used and why?

Topps business success revolved around making correct management decisions quickly. Information
technology (IT) supported the vital provision of rapid, accurate information on which to base these
decisions. Spreadsheets were used extensively (on a limited number of PCs used in the company) to
create mini profit and loss accounts representing scenario analyses on specific markets or for specific
products and to identify windows of opportunity aimed at maximising the rotation of stock. The
main business tools centred on the official plan and operational plans derived there from which were
based on a number of spreadsheet models developed in a PC-based software package. Topps
outsourced software from an external supplier for the non-strategic data processing services, e.g.,
payroll, invoicing, inventory control, and other non-strategic transactions processing systems.

A network of PCs was implemented to enable data collection and screening of inquires throughout
the different business functions (new hardware), selecting and implementing of appropriate
financial, distribution and manufacturing modules (new software), and staff training. This was put in
action because of the need for a more reliable information basis so that reporting processes across
the organisation could be speed up. This was done by using centralised system where all required
information had the capability of being downloaded into existing information systems, which had
been identified to improve and make the production of crucial management reports more reliable.

What is the major benefit of using the new system to provide information to decision makers and
why?

The greatest advantage of the ERP system identified was how it allowed managers to control stocks,
sales volumes and quality control in a way that was never possible before. Slow moving lines were
exposed, quality problems could be traced down to specific consignments and first-in first-out stock
movements can be strictly enforced. Such is the accuracy of the ERP system that managers in Ireland
could tell operators in the Rotterdam warehouse which cases should be shipped first, but didnt
need to do so because Rotterdam had remote access to the ERP system.

The task of producing the group results including UK operations and all other European branches
previously was two week operation was now reduced too a half hour of work, this showed a serious
increase in time saving using the new technology. Along with benefit of time saving, flexibility was
another upside of the new system; managers now could drill down into products, geographical areas
and activities. The ERP system provided managers with the complete set of information required to
analyse the activity of the business.

In any business a primary goal is having a positive revenue turn-over, Topps reported an enormous
growth of sales between the years 1996 to 2000 from IR20million to IR50million.

As stated in the case study Rotterdam depot stored imported products, the implementation of the
new ERP system significantly improved quality control. The appearance of lollipops degrades over
time and become impossible to sell, and thus, had to be destroyed on a regular basis, the new
system eliminated this problem.
After a few months however, it became clear to the managers in Topps that their ERP system was a
sound investment and that the benefits obtained in terms of inventory management and
acceleration of business processes would far outweigh any initial problems.

Most ERP systems are based on an inventory control module that records the movements of goods
in and out of the company which makes them particularly suited to organisations seeking to
rationalise their internal processes and obtain higher performance from their operations.

What problems or difficulties do you anticipate with the use of this type of decision support solution?

Implementing ERP systems is easier for companies that have implemented Materials Requirement
Planning (MRP) systems (ERP systems are an extension of MRP systems). Topps didnt have a MRP
system existent that supported their manufacturing system so therefore a temporary solution was
created; this was workarounds which were implemented as an interface between the ERP and
manufacturing activities. Workarounds are portions of business processes that had to be invented
in the systems to ensure it could be used even though it didnt exactly match the ways thing were
being done.
Unfamiliarity between the new software and with the Topps staff would also a problem. But this is a
common type of obstacle with ERP systems and most companies who implement them find
themselves on a steep learning curve from the instance the new systems go live.
The software would be under-used because staff would never gain enough confidence from training
no matter the amount to use the system to its full potential, thus, the maximum use of the ERP
system wouldnt be achieved.
ERP software providers wouldnt ever be completely familiarised with a company so that they would
be able to anticipate every detail of the business processes, mainly because businesses like Topps for
example, contains a certain level of idiosyncrasy, i.e., characteristic of a group. Some of Topps
idiosyncratic business processes are replaced by new processes suggested by the package, while
some remain and require workarounds that take a while to establish and to integrate into day-to-
day routines.
Data migration was another problem that surfaced this common with ERP systems. ERP systems are
organised around very huge databases that contain all the data necessary for the systems to
function properly and to link up with other information systems the company may have decided to
keep. The migration process is defined as the process where the data must be uploaded from the
previous system onto the new system. But this usually applies to the more stable data a business
uses (e.g. Bills of Material, customer data, as well as some much needed transactional information
such as invoicing data, sales data and other accounting-based data). Topps previous system was an
outdated integrated package running on an even more ancient computer, this lead to data
extraction difficulties, stemming from the rigidity of the old system. Coupled with the inflexibility of
the old system was the lack of detailed data contained in the old system, modern ERP systems
presents superior depths of information and additional schemes to classify and systematize data.
Because of this a substantial amount of manual data entry was needed in order for the system to go
live.