$$Accurate$$ is an expert system designed to support the sales representatives at PC$-$ Inc $($a personal computer manufacturer, whose main competitors are companies such as Lenovo, Compaq, and Acer$)$ in generating accurate product configurations before offering price quotations. The system was intended to reduce constant errors and costs in product rework. This was because the Manufacturing Department had to supply hardware without charge to customers when it found that price quotations were based on inaccurate product configurations. The system was functionally sound $$ it produced high$-$quality configurations; but the sales reps didn$$t want to use it$.$ They preferred the manual method of preparing order specifications and quotations. Therefore, the company$$s problem was not completely resolved. The IS $($information systems$)$ staff attributed the problem to poor software design, the difficulties in accessing hardware, inadequate training, and technical support. PC$-$Inc developed another multimillion$-$ dollar program to correct these flaws. But the sales reps still resisted using the improved Accurate system; the configuration error problem therefore continued.

The CEO $($Chief Executive Officer$),$ Peter Finch, was anxious not only because there was little he could do to improve the order configuration problems but also because the CIO $($Chief Information Officer$),$ George Andriof, wanted to ask for another $$2$ million to develop the next generation of decision support systems for sales. He was confident and promised that this time his team would ensure that the system satisfied the sales reps$$ needs. Nevertheless, Ann Jackson, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, rejected the proposal. She suggested that a more practical approach would be to employ more administrative assistants for her sales reps so they could deal with Accurate and get the computerization workload off her sales reps$$ backs. She estimated that this would only cost the company $$1$ million $($for the first two years$).$ Peter began to feel powerless in handling this situation. You are a consultant invited by PC$-$Inc to investigate this project. You are wondering: What was wrong with the almost perfect expert system? Why did the sales reps reject the system even though the potential benefits were obvious? Why did the IT Department and Sales$/$Marketing Department fail to collaborate over so many years? What advice would you offer Peter to help identify and tackle the root cause of this problem? How would you reconcile the conflict between George and Ann?

Manufacturing Department, PC$-$Inc

Your first interview was in the Manufacturing Department. You were expecting Vincent Lim $($Vice President, Manufacturing$).$ After a wait of almost one hour, he finally showed up$,$ a look of deep seriousness across his face. Without further delay, he went straight to the point:

Our strategy is to produce computer systems tailored to the customers$$ needs. But I think the sales reps have little technical knowledge; they often configure erroneous sales orders. They either forget about network cables or specify wrong components $$ for example, they put the wrong security cameras or badge readers incompatible with the other network components ordered by the customer $...$ When inaccurately configured systems are delivered to customers, it incurs additional costs and delays in reassembly works. No matter what we do to fix these problems, our reputation suffers.

According to Vincent, PC$-$Inc had tried a variety of solutions to tackle this configuration problem, including a quality control programme in $2010.$ He requested that every order be tested and inspected before delivery to customers. But the cost of final quality control was high and many errors were not identified, in particular in large installations. Vincent even appointed a team of technicians as $$order inspectors$.$ Their job was to verify sales reps$$ specified configurations before completing the order.

Transferring IBM Credit$$s $$Case Manager$$ Model

Your second interview was with the CIO, George Andriof. Your meeting with George was a pleasant experience. He had a charming personality and he was well informed of all recent technological trends. You learned that in $2012$ he had devoted most of the IT department$$s resources to developing the role of a $$case manager$.1$ This role represented a new approach to IT$-$enabled process redesign. The idea involved setting up small teams to perform a series of tasks from beginning to end with the help of an $$expert system$.2$ George enthusiastically recalled the developmental process of the expert system, named Accurate $$ which was inspired by the concept of $$case manager$$ implemented in the IBM Credit Corporation. In IBM Credit, the sales reps often took seven days $($involving four tments$)$ to prepare a quotation for computer financing$\mathrm{.}3$ After the implementation of the expert system and the case manager concept, sales reps took only six hours to come up with a quote, with only one person hand