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Please answer it in your words

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1 How will the political environment affect the purchasing process?

2 Who might be included in the decision-making unit (DMU)?

3 Who would be the influencers, deciders, buyers, gatekeepers and users in the DMU?

4 Briefly describe how the environmental influences might come into play in the university buying decision?

5 How might the DMU go about evaluating your firm as a potential supplier

CASE STUDY New ERP System tools. From her discussions with other admin- istrators in large organizations it seems like A large public university with more than 20 this new system might cost as much as $500 locations throughout a major city currently million. Therefore she feels it will be import- has nearly 100 different computer and soft- ant to involve all interested people to be sure ware systems to manage functions such as that they feel involved in the decision. student registration, billing and collections, During the past three years local and national purchasing, human resources and payroll. governments have been cutting back on their Some of these systems run on "legacy" expenditures for education. Tax revenues mainframe computers while others can be have been lower and legislatures have been less accessed on personal computers throughout willing to appropriate funds or to raise tax rates. the university. The university has appointed Just recently the press has been reporting that a new Chancellor, Dr Lijuan Zhang, and she some students who are not citizens are attending believes this is an area where huge savings classes and realizing the benefits that normally might be realized. While she is no computer go to those who live in the city. This has focused expert, Dr Zhang has read extensively about more attention on university policies and ERP systems and found a definition online - procedures. Because the university is a public "enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems institution it has established strict ethical rules integrate internal and external management - no employee is permitted to receive anything information across an entire organization." of value from a potential supplier. Major ERP system components include a Since the university is a very large organ- central database that stores and manages the ization with more than 200,000 students, key information of the institution. It should she also has a significant staff to help her. This also include report generators, and analytical includes a large Management Information Chancellor MIS Staff Individual College Presidents Faculty Department Heads Computer Science Discipline Committee FIGURE 2 A I Iniversity organization chart Systems Department who would probably Zhang has found from her reading that take the lead in this kind of change. Dr Zhang acquiring a new ERP is extremely complex. understands that implementing a new ERP Especially important is the formation of the system will require major changes through- acquisition team. According to experts (Verville out the entire institution. The university has et al., 2007), the team should be multi-disci- many component divisions, including each plinary. The head of this team may be chosen individual college and cross-college discipline from inside or outside the organization and committees. Naturally the Computer Science must be a strong leader. A steering committee Departments in each college would want to consisting of senior level individuals should be have a say in any decision related to changing selected from the acquisition team. Two of the computer systems. A simple organizational major firms that provide ERP systems are Oracle chart is presented below. Since this is a uni- and SAP. Assume that you are the director of versity organization it is important to note marketing for the education division of SAP. that the faculty enjoy a high level of inde. Of course you see this as a very large potential pendence from both the individual college client. The university will not only make a very presidents and the Chancellor of the entire large initial purchase but continue an ongoing university relationship for the foreseeable future