Scenario/Summary

Atlantic Manufacturing is a manufacturer of small motors. The company had problems with order acquisition, operations, distribution, and accounting systems. Some of the specific issues were identified as being

information supplied to sales force is inaccurate;
customers requesting reduced lead times;
credit system inconsistent, producing collection problems;
service calls lack warranty information; and
quality control system not integrated.

In this week's case study, you will be investigating their decisions for the ERP sales and marketing modules implemented and what specific areas each of those decisions addressed. Identify both the purpose and benefits that their system was to have provided and whether that was achieved. Major focus should be given to the decisions and assumptions made as well as the reasons made for their selection. There are no specific references given for this case study, only some background information references to help you in your research. It is suggested that in your research, you pay particular attention to their competition and how it affected their sales and marketing needs.

STEP 1: Research Issue

In this step, you need to find out the questions "what", "how," and "why" of Atlantic Manufacturing's ERP approach to sales and marketing. Start with some basic research in the following references:

Boh, W. F., & Yellin, D. (2006/2007, Winter). Using enterprise architecture standards in managing information technology. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23(3), 163-207.

Ramasubbu, N., Krishnan, M. S., & Kompalli, P. (2005, May/June). Leveraging global resources: A process maturity framework for managing distributed development. IEEE Software, 22(3), 80-86.

Larson, L. L. (1995, April). Third party software. Internal Auditor, 52(2), 44.

Shaul, L., & Tauber, D. Critical success factors in enterprise resource planning systems: Review of the last decade. ACM Computing Surveys, 45(4), 55-55:39.

Using these as a start and then do specific research on Atlantic Manufacturing and its competition to give you an understanding of the issues they faced. These articles, along with others you will find in your research and on the Web, should allow you to explain the situation and understand the decisions they made in handling it.

STEP 2: Write the Study

Use the case study template to complete a 3-5 page report on your research. Include the sections listed below as needed.

Introduction-a brief introduction into the company and its problem or situation

Issue/Problems-identify all the issues or problems faced by the company

Actions Taken-what was the company's response on dealing with the issues?

Results-what were the results of the company's efforts? Did they work? Why or why not?

References-list all research references used

Don't forget to proof and fact-check your case study. If you are using quotes from sources or data from an unreliable source, you should attempt to find a better source, or remove them. This is sometimes called "establishing rigor." Make sure your case study is credible, transferable, verifiable, and dependable.