Essay About It Implementation And Critical Success Factors

Finance
Case: Making IT Happen at BCPL Kochi Refinery: Defining New     Paradigms of Operational Excellence through IT TransformationSubmission date: 26/02/2015 Questions:  Do you think the IT implementation at BPCL KR as a successful implementation?  If so Why?Yes I believe that the IT implementation at BPCL KR was a successful and effective implementationThe various reasons include:Automation and Optimization of refinery operational processes like planning, scheduling, blending, Hydrocarbon accounting, reconciliation and performance management.  For an end to end integrated solution LIMS, AIMS and SAP were integrated with MES. It also  provided accurate data to the users and for the applications. Operations were made easier by the implementation of GUI at all the workstations. Do you see any challenges in managing the change due to IT implementation in large public sector organizations like BPCL KR, located in India? How did BPCL KR manage the challenges?The various challenges in the implementation included:Identifying   the system and  the packages to be implemented.The solution to be followed Evaluation of the business value generated Infrastructure to be developed for each systemChange ManagementBPCL managed the challenges by providing training sessions and workshops to make them aware and educated. Special booklets describing various modules and FAQs about SAP R/3 were published. A special bulletin was released called as  “Mantradhwani”  was releasedWhat were the Critical success Factors for the IT implementation? How these factors are illustrated in this case?The critical success factors were:Improper project management practices followed Over reliance on the consultants Unwanted customization Inadequate testing Offshoring SAP designQuality AssuranceStrength of SecurityMitigation of Risks:Impose compulsory knowledge transfer to internal employees post go liveMake the  consultants responsibleHiring techno-functional consultants who understand both the business and technology Do we have any risks in product implementations like ERP? If so what were the major risks during the implementation of SAP and how it was mitigated?          The implementation of SAP had issues like: BPCL had a larger user base and  during the process of scaling up and aligning the function of SAP with that of ERP could have been time-consuming and expensive.Any wrong input to the ERP could lead to the putting of the accuracy of net requirement plan (NRP) at stake.Data inconsistency and knowledge inconsistency issuesWhat are the advantages and disadvantages of Big bang implementation?  How do you evaluate the Big bang implementation done at BPCL KR? Advantages:Easy integration and reporting.  No requirement of temporary interfaces   Lower cost of running the systems  Implementation is fastDisadvantages:Investment in Capital is highHigh human resource investment is required More Time is required for the various preparations and for going liveTraining is required  at all levelsIn your opinion what was the approach adopted by BPCL KR for Information Technology planning? Can we adopt the same approach to other manufacturing industries?Use of IT by  the various PSU’s  to increase productivity and efficiency of processes is long known. One  example of this is Project Monitoring Center (PMC, Noida) established by NTPC. PMC has helped it to monitor all the projects from one location. It has  increased transparency as the information was available to everyone and could not be manipulated. Issues that remained unresolved earlier started getting necessary attention from the top management and were resolved.