User:Jnimmo/Geneva

= Geneva Executive Summary =

Current Situation
Geneva Pharamareuticals is one of the world's largest generic drug manufacturers, they are currently the fifth largest player in the industry. Geneva's portfolio currently includes over 200 products in over 500 package sizes, covering a wide range of therapeutic categories and many other major categories. Geneva is currently in the process of implementing a ERP software that willa meet all 7 of their requirements. They have completed phases one of the implementation although many problems occurred they have moved on to phase two and hope to have phase two completed by February 2000 and phase 3 completed by December 2000. Randy Weldon Geneva's Chief Information Officer outlined the goals of each phase.

Main Issues
Poorly defined requirements Geneva were unsure of the requirements for the new system which lead to phase one not being developed to satisfaction. This is an issue as it will flow over on phase two and phase three causing them to also have problems.

Internal communication Communication between management and employees is poor due to the fact that many staff do not know their jobs are changing, even thou they have addressed this issue but setting up phone lines, newsletters etc, the message is still not getting out their quick enough.

Relationship with customers Customers are not sure if the new system will meet their needs. This is an issue is because they are the ones who will be using it, they will then be hesistant to use the system.

Alternatives
Use a more agile methodology Where system requirements are not well defined a more agile development methodology can be used, this allows regular evaluation of the system requirements. The downside to this methodology is it consumes more time and resources of the company that could lead to more costs and a possibility of the project failing.

Have more managers to staff This means that currently one particular manager is responsble for the actions of too many staff members, which causes the lack of understanding as to an employees role. The advantages of this alternative are that it addresses the issue of the lack of internal communication. It encourages staff to talk to their manager as their manager is no longer so far aboive them in the organisational hierarchy. The disadvantages of this is the increase in employee payroll and some existing managers may have to have their roles changed slightly.

Make customers more involved in the development Make customers more involved in the development of phase two and phase three as this will allow to them to know exactly what is going on and provide feedback on their point of view of the system. The advantage of this is that customers will have more confidence in the new system. The disadvantage is that this will take time and phase one already ran over time.

Recommendation
Geneva should employ a more agile development methodology for the remainder of the project. Agile approaches specify frequent software releases, allowing for constant feedback and evaluation. This will help ensure the project stays on track for the next phases, and should result in higher satisfaction with the finished product.