Phase I. Acquisition I In this phase we were asked to first develop and weight a set of criteria including; performance, cost, compatibility, scalability, modularity, support, IPR and security. The next step of this phase was to determine whether to buy or build the DSS, given RM, stockholder and vendor information. I chose to buy from BASS versus Fischer or building in-house because of various factors, one being that it had the lowest cost, $680, 000 versus $1, 000, 000 for Fischer and $1, 360, 000 for in-house.
It also had the greatest 3 year ROI and IRR of the three choices. Acquisition II This phase is necessary because a low security rating of the BASS system that was not taken into account allowed a computer virus to infiltrate the system. The two choices were to upgrade to the latest anti-virus software, or by the DSS from Fischer. I chose to go with buying the latest anti-virus software because it provided a greater 3 yr.
ROI, 69 versus 17 percent, as well as greatest IRR, 80 versus 33 percent. The cost was also a factor, $782, 000 for the anti-virus software versus $1, 490, 000 for the Fischer system. This resulted in a 15% increase in cost, and ROI decreased from 86 to 69 percent. More attention should have been paid to the security factor up front. Phase II. Training I In this phase, we were given 4 options / strategies to train the users on DSS at 5 different locations.
The options were as follows: 1. Instructor-led training, one for all offices. 2. WBT on the intranet. 3. Training workshop at Chicago 4.
Instructor-led training, train change agent at each office. I chose the WBT on the intranet option because it offered the best results: . End user satisfaction index of 84/100 percent. Time Line of 30/60 days.
Effectiveness index of 80/100 percent. Users trained was 140/150 people Training II Here, we had to choose between two options to augment the training, and these options were: 1. Instructor-led training 2. Online site training augmentation I chose the online site training because it offered the best results: .
End user satisfaction index of 82/100 percent. Time Line of 25/60 days. Effectiveness index of 85/100 percent. Users trained was 149/150 people Phase III. Implementation In this final phase, we were given 4 implementation options: 1.
Phased design, starting with the New York office, cost of $500, 000 and 45 days time. 2. Implement in the Chicago marketing dept. as part of the testing, cost of $700, 000 and 50 days time.
3. Implement in all the offices at the same time, cost of $750, 000 and 15 days time. 4. Implement in all the offices, but have the users use the old and new system for a month before discarding the old system, cost of $1, 000, 000 and time of 60 days.
As a result of our choices, the sales department was able to offer better discounts to our customers, and Finke and Barry’s has regained its lost market share.