1. Write a 1 page Integrative Framework analysis of the IS implemented at Tektronix (not the implementation approach/project!

) Business Needs/Drivers Simplify, restructure and increase visibility into operations at Tektronix, Inc. Improve financial performance at Tektronix Improve integration of information systems across all divisions of Tektronix dramatically. Improve ability of systems to support the quickly growing business of the CPID division CPID business needed IT capabilities to help grow their business and be competitive in the market place.

Information System(s) Deployed Process Changed business processes to fit the system implementation of the Oracle ERP system. Cross region selling transactions in US dollars went through a US based holding company with branches throughout the world. Implemented English as the system language worldwide except for customer facing documents. All invoicing, collection and cashiering processed changed so that they are entered through the Oracle ERP system. Changed order entry so that only one business divisions product is placed on any order. Centralized the Financials across all divisions and made US dollars as the base currency with orders and invoices being in local currency. Once the ERP system was implemented, the jobs for the users in the organization changed. Instead of spending 90% in data collection, they now spend more time analyzing the data. Financial analysts were able to drill down to several levels of detail and hence could get sales trends and internal performance. Country Managers in Europe were eliminated. Moved each country from a profit center to a commission basis.

Organization/People

Managers became better decision makers. Entire organization became more thinkers than doers due to the transparency and availability of data across the integrated organization. Employed Oracle and Aris consulting to help with Project implementation. Outsourcing the mainframe infrastructure caused a reduction to staff in IT. People across the organization assumed new roles during the implementation of the project. Tektronix built new skills internally and established practices for future implementations.

Technology Used Oracle ERP system Consolidated to a single data center system Outsourced its mainframe processing Tektronix used IBM and Sun Unix machines. Utilized CA Unicenter for systems monitoring. Tektronix installed multiple lines and several protocol converters around its global network. Tektronix standardized the network and used IP (Internet Protocol) for connecting all machines on the network. Tektronix had visibility into finished goods inventory regardless of where the inventory was located. Improved inventory turns Increased capacity to take on additional business Improved flexibility to buy new businesses Same day shipments in some divisions rose from 15% to 75% Improved data integrations increased more visibility into sales trends and financial performance. Tektronix had integrated a new German acquisition in less than two months

Business Results

2. Then give a page structured description of their approach to implementing ERP. Sponsorship The CFO at Tektronix Carl Neun was the Sponsor/Champion for the project. The CEO had given unlimited authority to Carl Neun and he was the final decision maker on the project. This helped the project resolve issues quickly. Project team structure There was one program manager who was responsible for the entire roll out. There were key players in each functional and geographic area who acted as negotiators when business change was needed. Business Model and Guiding principles: Created business model around what responsibilities and processes are owned by divisions and what are owned at the corporate level. The business practices were clearly defined and served as guiding principles throughout the project. The team used standardization and used a plain vanilla approach wherever possible and challenged existing business practices. Only in cases of extreme need, the ERP package had to modify to fit the local divisions requirement. Project Schedule: The program was implemented in waves and each wave delivered a specific set of functionality for a particular division or geographic region. The project was divided into 4 sub-projects a) Financials b) Order Management and Accounts Receivables modules in the 3 business divisions and c) Global rollout. Tektronix did not have the internal skills for the implementation and hence hired consultants from Oracle, Aris consulting and other small consulting firms. Global Rollout: Approach was to implement to each of the sites incrementally and rollout in waves The ideas was to apply the learnings from each implementation to the future ones.

Global rollout was carefully planned with the approach of implementing easier ones first and then the difficult geographic regions.

3. Read the article and in a page bullet list 3 of the most important issues for success The ERP system promotes heavy standardization of business processes across the enterprise and the standardization should not conflict with the Organizations overall strategy. For example if the organizations competitive edge is through customization of services, the ERP system might not be able to meet the needs and hence will not be the right fit for that organization. Strong Commitment and Sponsorship needed from the Senior Executive of the organization. Without the sponsorship and commitment from the top management of the organization, the ERP system cannot be implemented. The organization should be willing to standardize business processes across the organization and not make heavy customization. Customization should only be used on occasions when it is absolutely needed If not, it loses the benefit of implementing the system and will run into heavy costs for implementation. 4. Evaluate how Tektronix measures up against each of these. (7%). The ERP implementation was needed at Tektronix in order for it to achieve standardizations across the various divisions and tight integration across the geographically diverse divisions. This matched with its overall strategy of bringing transparency and flexibility to grow globally. The ERP implementation at Tektronix had high level of commitment and sponsorship from Carl Neun the CFO and hence the implementation was successful as a result of that. Tektronix had the commitment and willingness to standardize business processes and customize only when needed across the various divisions. This helped implement flexibility and transparency across the divisions within Tektronix.