team assignment week 4
System Evaluation Paper
CIS/207
February 3rd 2014
The journey for Gordon and Anita began in 1976, form a small shop where they sold 25 handmade body care products. Today, they are a present in 54 countries around the world with 2,133 stores and more than 1000 distinguishable products to offer. It was declared as the 27th most respected companies in the world by Financial Times and the 2nd most trusted brand in UK in 1999. It started as a manufacturing country but now purely a retailer; it became a client for SAP Retail Solutions in 1999, in USA alone. SAP with more than 183,000 customers in more than 130 countries it is world’s leading and third biggest software development manufacturer and provider. With the expansion, increasing sales and growing needs, harmony in financial activities is a critical factor for success of any business. Thus, as a part of the company 3year strategy to achieve this harmony in forecasting, ordering and distribution processes, the crucial decision of SAP implementation and expansion was made by the company. SAP was to provide a strong yet adaptive platform for the company across the entire value-chain from the headquarters to Point of Sales operations of the company’s retail stores.
The geographically distant operations make data gathering, integration and analysis a difficult task for the company giving it a drawback against other competitors in the market. Un-availability of data to the headquarters over a centralized database caused delays in financial reporting of the company. The delay caused by the disintegration of data was damaging to company’s image from the point of view of investors and stock market value. There was no in-time information regarding: Dead stock
Over-stock
Depleting stock The unavailability to gain an accurate insight on the information available across its widespread retail
CIS/207
February 3rd 2014
The journey for Gordon and Anita began in 1976, form a small shop where they sold 25 handmade body care products. Today, they are a present in 54 countries around the world with 2,133 stores and more than 1000 distinguishable products to offer. It was declared as the 27th most respected companies in the world by Financial Times and the 2nd most trusted brand in UK in 1999. It started as a manufacturing country but now purely a retailer; it became a client for SAP Retail Solutions in 1999, in USA alone. SAP with more than 183,000 customers in more than 130 countries it is world’s leading and third biggest software development manufacturer and provider. With the expansion, increasing sales and growing needs, harmony in financial activities is a critical factor for success of any business. Thus, as a part of the company 3year strategy to achieve this harmony in forecasting, ordering and distribution processes, the crucial decision of SAP implementation and expansion was made by the company. SAP was to provide a strong yet adaptive platform for the company across the entire value-chain from the headquarters to Point of Sales operations of the company’s retail stores.
The geographically distant operations make data gathering, integration and analysis a difficult task for the company giving it a drawback against other competitors in the market. Un-availability of data to the headquarters over a centralized database caused delays in financial reporting of the company. The delay caused by the disintegration of data was damaging to company’s image from the point of view of investors and stock market value. There was no in-time information regarding: Dead stock
Over-stock
Depleting stock The unavailability to gain an accurate insight on the information available across its widespread retail
References: Fellows, J. (05). www.sap.com. In SAP AG USA. Retrieved from (http://www.sap.com/romania/industries/retail/midsize/pdf/CS_The_Body_Shop.pdf) SAP AG (2004). The body shop boosts growth with sap, Article. UK: Retrieved from (http://www.sap.com/press.epx?pressid=2889 website: http://www.sap.com/press.epx?pressid=2889) STAFF, E. (2004). The body shop boosts growth with sap. In E. Supply & Demand Chain (Eds.), Article. London: Retrieved from ( http://www.sdcexec.com/news/10354513/the-body-shop-boosts-growth-with-sap)