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1.) How does the new ERP system support horizontal integration at Broadband-X? Please describe and explain what is meant by horizontal integration in general as well as how it is achieved at Broadband-X.

2.) What value does horizontal integration offer for Broadband-X and its customers?

3.) To strengthen customer ties Tumbler and Zaya consider extending the ERP system. Please elaborate how this can be achieved and what value it offers for Broadband-X.

This could initially create various reporting challenges because the data would exist in two different systems when the ERP system went live. The disconnect between the quotation, purchasing, and production functions was possibly the biggest issue Broadband-X faced. Once a request for a quote (RFQ) had been received from a customer, the account managers needed to estimate labor costs and material costs as well as the time needed to complete the job, so that they could quote a price and a shipping date. Ideally, a quote would be sent back to the customer within 24 hours of the receipt of the RFQ. However, it started to become routine that customers had to wait two to three days for a quote because of the email-intensive, cumbersome communication procedures between the sales, purchasing, and production departments. Zayan noticed that customizing the estimation and quoting module of the new ERP would fix the complications mentioned above. Specifically, the module was lacking certain functionality related to interdepartmental communication. Therefore, they would need to develop an additional database application to handle the collaboration between departments before a quote ISYS 2103 Assignment 4 - Management of Enterprise Systems Page 3 could officially be completed. The ERP provider did allow its customers to customize and manipulate the ERP database within certain limits, enabling them to produce supplementary applications that would address the aforementioned communication issues. The final concern was that customers complained about receiving no status updates on the orders. Many customers were waiting to receive a status update (via email or phone) on their orders' location, shipping status, etc. Tumbler hoped that the ERP would eventually provide them with real-time data about orders that would then be shared with customers regularly. Tumbler believed that having real-time control over production activities combined with the implementation of the scheduling module of the ERP would result in considerable productivity gains. ERP IMPLEMENTATION AT BROADBAND-X* BROADBAND-X After a successful engineering career in the electronics industry, Brian Tumbler decided to found his own company, Broadband-X, an electronic contract manufacturing (ECM) company in 2002. Broadband-X began its journey in the suburbs of a metropolitan area with a single surface-mount technology (SMT) line and a few employees. Over the next decade, Broadband- X added 4 more SMT lines to its assets, which was supported by 40 to 60 employees. While the company grew successfully, Broadband-Xs tracking processes became outdated. Thus, they needed to find a solution that could incorporate the various departments' needs while improving cross-departmental and customer communication. Up until then, Broadband-X used the QuickBooks accounting software to manage the quoting, sales, payroll, purchasing, accounts payable, and accounts receivable processes. The software worked well, except for an important detail: QuickBooks was not designed to manage and control production processes. As a result, spreadsheets were used for the planning, scheduling, and execution of the production operations as well as the quality management system. Following an extensive market research, Tumbler settled on an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system produced by a company based in another country. The selected package was a good fit, as it was affordable, came with an open database for customizations, and offered strong customer support. Tumbler decided that the company's needs could be met with this ERP system that would standardize, streamline, and integrate business processes. Broadband-X purchased the ERP with an annual maintenance agreement. Once Tumbler began working with the ERP system, it did not take long for him to understand that it was much more comprehensive compared to the QuickBooks accounting software. It required a dedicated employee accompanied by a company-wide project management effort to implement it effectively. Thus, he decided to hire Zayan to lead the project for the new ERP implementation. Zayan took a couple of weeks to analyze the system in detail, reading the quality management system documentation, reviewing the historical data, and interviewing his co-workers. CRITICALLY DEFICIENT PROCESSES AT BROADBAND-X During Zayan's initial discussions with Tumbler, they agreed on two general implementation strategies. The first strategy was to concentrate on real value-adding ERP modules rather than on ones that did not present a functional purpose. The other strategy was to keep the historical legacy data transactions) where they were, instead of migrating them to the new ERP system. This could initially create various reporting challenges because the data would exist in two different systems when the ERP system went live