Mcdonald Erp Implementation †Free Sample Assignment Solution

Question: Discuss about theMcdonald Erp Implementation. Answer: Introduction McDonald being a globally present company has to take care of its operations in varied markets across different geographies and regions. By using modern Information System such as ERP systems for managing its operations McDonald has set an excellent example in the business world. McDonald is a well-known name in the industry of fast food which is characterized by its dynamic nature and extremely high competition. The companies operating in this industry have to deal with complexities of ever changing preferences and tastes of the consumers. Thus McDonald faces and fairly manages the stiff industry competition (Shanks, 2013). Nevertheless the advantage enjoyed by McDonald is that it has great opportunities for business in the still developing countries. Main fast food competitors for McDonald are companies like Pizza Hut, Dominos etc. At McDonald's Information Technology has grown to become one of the key functions of business. The knowledge gained from the ERP system is utilized by t he McDonald's management to make critical decisions of future expansions and devise company's strategies for growth. ERP Implementation with Business Intelligence McDonald was among the leading companies which came forward to adopt the Information Technology and the ERP system is being used by them for very long time. In the year 2002 they began a big bang ERP implementation project. In the beginning they faced several challenges in the implementation of ERP but nevertheless they were successful in this endeavor. The usefulness of the ERP systems is very wide for McDonald. The main modules of the ERP system utilized throughout McDonald include Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Finance (Cash flows and Accounting) and Operations (Inventory Logistics). These ERP systems at McDonald are also closely linked to their Business Intelligence software (Alshawi, 2012). According to the company's management they believe in strategic implementation of the ERP system. That is the outputs or the resulting reports generated by the ERP systems is utilized in making strategic company decisions along with their use for operational decision. Business Intel ligence is the integrated information technology which plays a pivotal role in the company. The future related decisions are made by the company by using the knowledge provided by the business intelligence. Some examples like the deciding upon the target markets in a particular city or location of upcoming stores etc are done on the basis of data mining provided by the business intelligence. It effectively uses the historic data in order to make strategic decisions for the future. McDonald has integrated its ERP system in a very successful manner with its Business Intelligence Software. There is an integration which is two-way between companys Business Intelligence (BI) software and ERP system. That is the exchange of information and data is two way by interaction between these two systems. The data is mainly consumed by the BI software in this exchange of data. The data regarding previous and historical customer preferences or volume of sales is fed in the ERP system which is then fetched and utilized by BI software. The results given by the BI software helps company to make growth decisions for the future (Ainin, 2011). The data so provided is analyzed by the company management and senior leaders to come up with decisions regarding strategies for expansion. One of the most used modules of the ERP system at McDonald's is its CRM module. The critical data like profitability, customer preferences, consumer segments and target markets are collected and stored by this module. The important trend analysis by the BI software is done by accessing this data. Finally the results given by the leaders of the company to make informative strategic decisions for the company utilize the BI for the trend analysis. The company has custom ERP implementation. The entire areas that are covered by ERP implementation can be shown as: Issues with ERP Implementation McDonald acknowledges that the implementation of ERP system has proved to be advantageous for its business. Though, initially company faced many challenges in implementation of the ERP system. Among various challenges the main were financial, technological and cultural challenges. Another important challenge faced by the company after implementation of the ERP system was to impart essential training to its employees and users. For the successful implementation of the ERP system it is essential to impart suitable training in duration and also after the implementation (Hwang, 2012). It is very important that the employees are comfortable with the new applications otherwise it would rebound and increase inefficiencies in functions and redundancy in operations. Thus it would be right to acknowledge change management as the biggest challenge at McDonald. Classically the ERP implementation in a company is characterized by challenges in the operations of business which are both elementary a s well as radical. Therefore, the management must convey to all the stakeholders details of the drivers of the advantage of this change. This was also one of the challenges at McDonald. Advantages of ERP Implementation and Integration with BI Software The ERP systems integration with the Business Intelligence Software has been successfully utilized at McDonald in making strategic decision. There are many key advantages of ERP implementation as well as its integration for the company. The improved efficiency is undoubtedly the biggest advantage of this ERP implementation (Cuenca, 2013). The repetition of processes is successfully eliminated and also the requirement of manually entering information is greatly reduced because of the ERP implementation. It also enables companies to easily and efficiently collect data and also to effectively streamline the business processes. This integration is also utilized by the company to attain the cost advantage. In long run by using the ERP and BI software integration McDonald is also saving the cost. Even though in short term the implementation involved cost but in the long term the savings of the cost proved the investment on Information Technology to be beneficial for McDonald. Conclusion As discussed above, we can conclude that for McDonald Information Technology has grown into a pivotal organizational function. The company has gained advantages in its operations by using the ERP systems. Also the critical decision making for the business is greatly assisted by the useful data provided by the integration of the ERP system with the BI software. References Ahmad, M. M., Cuenca, R. P. (2013). Critical success factors for ERP implementation in SMEs.Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing,29(3), 104-111. Alrashid, W., Alshawi, M., Al-Mashari, M. (2012). EXPLORING ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) IMPLEMENTATION FROM STAKE-HOLDER PERSPECTIVE. In5th International Conference on Communications, Computers and Applications (MIC-CCA 2012)(Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 125-124). Mosharaka for Research and Studies. Dezdar, S., Ainin, S. (2011). The influence of organizational factors on successful ERP implementation.Management Decision,49(6), 911-926. HassabElnaby, H. R., Hwang, W., Vonderembse, M. A. (2012). The impact of ERP implementation on organizational capabilities and firm performance.Benchmarking: An International Journal,19(4/5), 618-633. Parr, A. N., Shanks, G., Darke, P. (2013). 8 IDENTIFICATION OF NECESSARY FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF ERP SYSTEMS.New Information Technologies in Organizational Processes: Field Studies and Theoretical Reflections on the Future of Work,20, 99.