managing emerging technologies and organizational transformation in asia: a casebook (series on...

Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management - Vol 4

Managing Emerging Technologies and Organizational

Transformation in Asia

A Casebook

Edited by

PAN Shan-Ling



Series on Innovation and Knowledge Management

Series Editor Suliman Hawamdeh ISSN 1793-1533 (University of Oklahoma)

Vol 1 Managing Strategic Enterprise Systems and e-Goverment Initiatives in Asia A Casebook edited by Pan Shan-Ling (National University of Singapore)

Vol 2 Knowledge Management Through the Technology Glass by Meliha Handzic (University of New South Wales)

Vol 3 Governing and Managing Knowledge in Asia edited by Thomas Menkhoff (Singapore Management University) Hans-Dieter Evers (Bonn University) and Yue Wah Chay (Nanyang Technological University)

Vol 4 Managing Emerging Technologies and Organizational Transformation in Asia A Casebook edited by Pan Shan-Ling (National University of Singapore)




A Casebook

edited by

PAN Shan-Ling

World Scientific NEW JERSEY bull LONDON bull SINGAPORE bull BEIJING bull SHANGHAI bull HONGKONG bull TAIPEI bull CHENNAI

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Managing emerging technologies and organizational transformation in Asia a

casebook edited by Shan-Ling Pan p cm - (Series on innovation and knowledge management v 4)

Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 981-256-592-2 1 Research Industrial mdash Case studies I Pan Shan-Ling II Title

T175 M 29 2006 65840095-dc22

2005056974

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Copyright copy 2006 by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd

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Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix

List of Contributors xi

Case 1 RFID and Organizational Transformation in the National

Library Board of Singapore 1 Paul Raj Devadoss

Case 2 Enterprise Systems Planning Projects in China 27 Gary Pan and Adela Jun Wen Chen

Case 3 Enterprise Resource Planning Project Failure in Maxima Inc 47 Sook Wan Lee

Case 4 Organizational Identities and Knowledge Management in India Inc 61 RaviShankar Mayasandra

Case 5 Enterprise System Use in Talam Corporation Malaysia 73 Say Yen Teoh

Case 6 Interorganizational Project Management in JTC 101 Mamata Bhandar

Case 7 The Role of Feedback Unit (FBU) in E-Government 127 Calvin Meng Lai Chan and Pheng Huat Ang

v

vi Contents

Case 8 Interorganizational Project Management in XLcom 151 Mamata Bhandar

Case 9 E-Business in Hardwarezonecom 165 Chee Chang Tan

Case 10 Crisis Management of SARS in Singapore 187 Paul Raj Devadoss

Case 11 Alignment in Organizational IT Interventions inKM-Com 211 RaviShankar hiayasandra

Index 227

Preface

This book provides organizational and managerial views on adopting emerging technologies for organizational transformation The variety of issues and technologies covered in this book include Radio Freshyquency Identification Technology (RFID) Enterprise Systems and Inter-Organizational Systems (IOS) Knowledge Management (KM) e-business and e-government initiatives Eleven in-depth case studies documenting experiences and lessons learned in organizations and government agencies are presented from the Asia Pacific region such as China India Malaysia and Singapore

With a regional focus this book provides the much-needed insights into the adoption and implementation of emerging technologies in Asia These case materials provide useful practical lessons for practitioners when planning and implementing similar business systems

The cases are unique and varied allowing instructors maximum flexishybility Each case is set up independently so that the cases may be studied and discussed in any sequence Students are exposed to a much broader spectrum of topics than is available in the cases that accompany most introductory information systems casebooks

It is hoped that this casebook will bridge the gap in Information Systems literature mdash lacking in empirical case materials from the Asia region mdash and be the catalyst to elicit more research and teaching materials contextualized in an Asian setting

Dr Shan L Pan Department of Information Systems National University of Singapore

panslcompnusedusg wwwcompnusedusg~pansl

VII

This page is intentionally left blank

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my utmost appreciation to all participating case organizations which have so generously shared their time and experience with the researchers Also special thanks to the National University of Singapore for the generous financial support of this effort

IX


List of Contributors

Pheng Huat A N G graduated from the School of Computing National University of Singapore in December 2004 with a Bachelor of Computshying (Hons) specialising in e-Commerce He is currently working with Singapore Airlines as an Inflight Entertainment Executive

Mamata BHANDAR is a PhD candidate and Instructor in the Department of Information Systems School of Computing at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Prior to joining NUS she has worked in the softshyware and manufacturing industry for over three years Her primary research interests are in the area of knowledge management knowledge integration and software projects Her work has been published and presented in the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) Information Resource Manshyagement Association (IRMA) Conference Organizational Knowledge Learning and Capabilities Conference and Organizations and Society in Information Systems (OASIS) Workshop She holds a Masters degree in Computing from the National University of Singapore and a Bachelors degree in Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University India

Calvin M L CHAN is a PhD Candidate and a Research Scholar in the Department of Information Systems School of Computing at the National University of Singapore At the same time he is also an Adjunct Professional Staff at the Institute of Systems Science where he conducts an executive training programme on e-Government Prior to joining NUS he was working as a consultant in the Government Chief Information Office of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore His primary research interests are in the area of e-Government Knowledge Manageshyment and the Generation of Business Values from ICT Initiatives He has

XI

xii List of Contributors

published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Scishyence and Technology Academy of Management Annual Meeting (Best Papers Selection amp Carolyn Dexter Award Nominee) Hawaii Interna tional Conference on System Sciences Americas Conference on Inforshymation Systems European Conference on Information Systems Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems and International Federation for Information Processing-Working Group 82 Working Conference He holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computer amp Management Science from the University of Warwick

Jun Wen CHEN graduated from the Department of Information Systems School of Computing at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Her research interests include enterprise systems organizational change and strategic management Prior to joining NUS her professional experishyence involved human resource analysis planning and management with a Fortune 100 global company She holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Management Information Systems and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Tianjin University in China

Paul Raj DEVADOSS is a PhD candidate and an Instructor in the Department of Information Systems School of Computing at the National University of Singapore (NUS) He has work experience with the autoshymotive industry in India and some early research exposure to Financial Engineering at NUS He has worked in the area of Risk Management and participated in consulting projects with financial institutions He is now pursuing a qualitative PhD in exploring the adaptations of various IT sysshytems by users in organizational settings His research studies various factors that influence the adaptations enacted by users in organizations as their adaptations evolve interactively He has published some of his research in the Decision Support Systems (DSS) IEEE Transactions on IT in Biomedicine (IEEE TITB) Journal of Information Technology Theory amp Applications (JITTA) Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) International Federation for Information Processing-Working Group 82 Working Conference (IFIP -WG82 WC) International Federshyation for Information Processing-Working Group 84 Working Conference (IFIP -WG84 WC) and the Academy of Management Meeting (AMM) He holds a Master of Science in Statistics from Loyola College University of Madras India

List of Contributors xi i i

Sook Wan LEE is a graduate of the Masters of Computing Program from the National University of Singapore She works in the financial services indusshytry as an analyst specializing certification Her research interests include Enterprise Resource Planning and Knowledge Management

Gary PAN is a Lecturer of Business Information Systems at the Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems Faculty of Economics and Commerce the University of Melbourne Australia His primary research interests are in the area of IS Project Management Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management His publications have appeared in the European Journal of Operational Research Decision Support Systems Journal of Strategic Information Systems International Journal of Informashytion Management and International Conference on Information Systems

Chee Chang TAN is a Lecturer in the Business Information Technolshyogy Department at the Institute of Technical Education (Singapore) He graduated from the National University of Singapore where he received his Bachelor of Computing (Hons) degree in Information Systems His primary research interests include Knowledge Management e-Commerce Strategies and Business Models and Customer Relationship Management

CASE1

RFID and Organizational Transformation in the National Library Board of Singapore

Paul Raj DEVADOSS

Organizational Background

The National Library Board (NLB) in Singapore enjoys a history dating back to 1823 Launched as a school library it grew into a public library by the 1960s In 1994 a report charting the future of public libraries in Singapore titled Library 2000 was presented to the government It was the result of a two-year effort by a committee formed to study the state of the libraries and tasked with finding a vision for their development that would be in tune with the needs of the nation for the next 15-20 years

The Library 2000 vision document identified as a primary objective the development of an adaptive networked public library system with a co-ordinated collection policy It further envisioned the development of quality services with linkages among community members and businesses The vision document proposed that such an effective public library system would help Singapore in its position as an information society and help leverage knowledge arbitrage opportunities across the world These were the strategic thrusts identified in the vision document

Library 2000 also identified three key enablers in the development of the desired public library system in Singapore First to allow the orgashynization flexibility in formulating the necessary policies and running the public library network the report proposed establishing a statutory board Statutory boards are instituted by the government through a special act They are governed by a board of governors appointed by the government and are allowed flexibility in operational decisions and policy formation which government agencies would otherwise not enjoy Second the report identified staffing requirements that should be developed to cater to the

1

2 RFID and Organizational Transformation in the NLB of Singapore

new needs arising from changes to the library system Third the report identified the importance of using suitable information technologies to achieve the strategic goals set for the libraries in Singapore In short the three enablers would make possible the development of an adaptive and borderless public library network

Following the recommendations of the vision document the governshyment instituted the NLB in 1995 to transform Singapores library services in the information age NLB as a statutory board is governed by a board appointed by the government The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) heads the organization with directors overseeing various divisions related to NLBs operations such as Library Services Group Library Management and Operations Group Management Services Group and Business Group apart from corporate functions At the time of writing the NLB operates 39 national public libraries of which three are large regional libraries 18 community libraries and 18 childrens libraries In addition it provides collection augmentation and library management services for libraries established by other public institutions In all NLB provides services for 70 libraries in Singapore Its founding CEO summarized the boards business operations as follows

All of these services sit on two logistics operations the Library Supply Services which underpins our supply services and the Netshywork Operations Center which of course faces the customers our library users These two services cover our entire operations

The various branch libraries are managed by the Library Management and Operations Group Each library is headed by a library manager In addition each library is staffed by librarians library officers systems library officers and library assistants The staff strength depends on the size of the library and the collections held at the library

The founding CEO who was appointed at the formation of NLB in 1995 was the first head of the public libraries in Singapore who came from a computer science background and had no library science experience He commented

I have a background in optimization and have been on the other side of IT I was supplying IT RampD services in my previous job

Paul Raj Devadoss 3

Librarians see libraries as their preserve and the library staff at the newly formed NLB perceived their new CEO to be beyond this traditional frame of mind A librarian recalled the initial reaction of many

Our staff were cautious in welcoming the change in the beginning but as we saw his approach we accepted him

The CEO focused on the development of the organization and demonshystrated his commitment to improving what librarians would love most of their job being information providers This objective and the ensuing proshycess as articulated by the CEO endeared the top management to the rest of the organization

Another notable aspect of NLB was the project-centric approach that the management inculcated in the organization The CIO candidly reported this about NLB

NLB is a project-centric organization

All NLB staff were trained in basic project management skills which gave the organization a common language with which to communicate the value of their ideas and the changes that were sweeping the organization The CEO explained

We wanted to give everyone a common language to talk about the changes we were implementing

In addition a librarian noted

When we learnt project management we could present the bottom line of any proposal clearly to the committees We knew we were talking their language

These committees for various tasks were drawn form different levels of the organization A manager commented

As a representative of my department I knew that my boss trusted my input on a proposal which impacted our department

Such cross-functional project teams also created communication within the entire organization A corporate communications manager noted the value of a project team

It was very useful to me since if I needed any information I knew someone somewhere whom I could call directly


The sharing of project management knowledge gave individuals and departments in the organization common grounds for understanding the value of changing a process and the objective of providing good service quality at a reasonable cost Project teams were drawn from across the orgashynization involving staff from all levels in relevant functions related to the project Such project teams were usually made up of a project sponsor a project manager team members and extended team members A complete project schedule was also provided once a project was approved and the team formed

The tasks for which project teams were formed were defined from the strategic goals set by the top management or from the recommendations made by various staff These strategic goals were then discussed and shaped by inputs from various segments of the organization and project team memshybers The project teams then derived a set of tasks which was presented to a management committee for approval Teams discussed and impleshymented the tasks through a variety of related activities within a given time frame Project teams co-ordinated through meetings emails and team rooms Team rooms were shared folders based on Lotus Notes where documents were deposited for project members to access Team activishyties were co-ordinated through the steering committee and the manageshyment committee which oversaw and commissioned various projects in the entire organization The committees also involved the top manageshyment with the projects throughout their progress within the organization Such opportunities and encouragement within the organization allowed staff to take ownership of the various improvements and developments that were proposed within the organization This created user identificashytion with improvements and developments and exerted social influence among peers within the organization

Identifying IT for NLB

With a mission towards expanding the learning capacity of the nation NLB set about the task of increasing its annual book loans from about 10 million in 1994 The management began by examining internally all business processes in the organization An extensive business process re-engineering exercise took place in 1996 Staff from various divisions and all senior managers were involved in identifying potential business processes

Paul Raj Devadoss 5

for change and consolidation The exercise identified the need for radical solutions since there was a great mismatch between NLBs existing capabilshyities and the targets set by the Library 2000 report The exercise presented the organization with a holistic view of the processes involved in managshying its customers Processes were re-engineered with key process owners being involved in developing important performance targets together with the management The exercise created awareness among staff about the desired performance targets through their involvement in identifying proshycesses that could be redesigned to deliver better service quality The CEO noted

We knew we had to start right then because we had such high targets set for us through Library 2000 for the following years If we didnt start then [1996] wed never reach there

Several technology solutions were considered potentially useful including the implementation of more self-service stations for library services and the introduction of more services that customers would like In the words of the CEO

We started to look at three things that people didnt like in our libraries long queues the time (we took) to provide new items and (how we were) serving open-ended enquiries

The barcode system in use at the libraries at that time was difficult for library users To loan a book library users had to carefully align the book with the barcode reader before the machine could read the code at all Meanwhile book returns were handled manually To speed up returns NLB had introduced book return chutes these were located at library entrances and they allowed users to drop off books any time of the day However library users still had to wait for the staff to update the loan records in the system For example library users could return books over the weekend when the library was closed but until the library staff updated the overnight pile-up of books in the chute against the loans records of the respective library users the library users could not check out other books

Scouting for a better technology to handle book loans NLB identishyfied Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as a potential In the mid-1990s RFID was touted as a technology of the future for supermarkets where products would identify themselves to computers and help in manshyaging inventories In Singapore ST Logistics had been exploring the use of


RFID for logistics operations for a couple of years its technology partner ST Electronics held the RFID expertise in Singapore NLB saw a simishylarity between its operations and the logistics business An NLB manager commented

Libraries are similar to logistics companies in operational terms

Since the operational aspects were similar the CEO of ST Logistics (which has since become Sembawang Logistics) invited the head of ST Electronshyics to discuss the potential of RFID for library use Along with NLB the partners worked together to develop a prototype for library use A demonshystration was conducted in November 1997 The project manager recalled

When the book with the RFID chip was dropped down a reader-embedded container the reader successfully recognized the drop There began the journey towards its application in libraries

Deploying RFID

The use of RFID tags on all books at NLB was a key project that had NLBs Assistant CEO as project sponsor A number of other project teams carried out other service developments layered over the RFID project

To tag a book an RFID chip was embedded in the spine of the book (currently with a much smaller chip becoming available it is pasted on the last page of the book) allowing scanners to identify the book in close proximity The chip used the signal from the scanner to power a response returning the data embedded in the chip This is known as passive RFID technology (An active RFID can be picked up by scanners at a longer distance and its signals are constantly available for scanners but power is required for the transmitter in the chip to operate)

All NLB library items are now tagged with an RFID chip containing information pertaining to the book the library branch to which the book belongs and the number of the rack where the book is shelved RFID scanners read the data stored in an RFID chip to identify the library item In a book loan or return process the data is used together with the library users identification to manage the library users loan information The data is initially stored in a local server which operates with a backup and is then synchronized with the centralized data servers

Paul Raj Devadoss 7

ST Logitrack a joint venture company by ST Logistics and ST Elecshytronics was formed in January 1998 to manage the development of RFID applications Its project manager reported

The system is developed with a lot of redundancy to prevent failure

In the months following the RFID demonstration ST Electronics develshyoped a prototype for a library that NLB was renovating Its ISD manager noted

In those nine months from early 1998 to November 1998 before Bukit Batok Community Library reopened after renovation we worked on designing the system developing the software the interfaces mdash the whole package I can say that we were the first fully functional library with over 100000 items on loan using RFID

The General Manager of ST Logitrack commented on the collaborative effort

We worked with NLB in developing the software since we honestly didnt possess the domain knowledge of library operation So NLB had a hand in the look and feel and the functions of the checkout counter which we were designing for library users

An NLB manager summed up library users reaction to the new technology

There was a sense of amazement You could put the book in any direction and it still worked We used Bukit Batok Community Library as the test bed The technology worked great there The public loved it and that is why it is still there

The RFID technology made it easier for users to check out books The checkout counters called borrowing stations (Figure 1) were designed with a simple interface offering options for the four official languages of Singapore (English Chinese Malay and Tamil) Users could log into the system by placing their identity cards into the machine The users could then proceed to place each book they wished to check out on the reader and the screen would confirm the loan by displaying the title of the book being checked out and the loan record status of the library user A systems


Figure 1 Illustration of a borrowing station

analyst from ST Logitrack explained how die teams from NLB and ST Logitrack worked together to develop the system

Take for example the borrowing station The main objective was to serve faster right So they know how much would be considered faster and too fast also because the machines could work very fast but they had to be set at a speed at which humans could interact with them So for all these reasons NLB gave us the guidelines on how fast the machines would process a loan and all that So its a kind of interaction and proposal and then the teams sat down to finalize the requirements The same happened in implementation you received feedback onsite and then you might want to make some modifications

Users habits and constraints were clearly a consideration in the design of the system This was reflected in the design of the new book drop chute for the returning of books An NLB manager commented

The technology could support many books being dropped in at a time but wed rather that the users drop the books in one at a time

Paul Raj Devadoss 9

as that would help them be aware of the books they dropped in That was a human constraint

A library officer elaborated

Sometimes users dropped in non-NLB books like their school library books or school text books We had to send such books to our Lost and Found section during sorting and shelving

The RFID-enabled book drop chute is now a feature at every NLB library Located at the entrance of the library it allows library users to return books any time of the day An advantage of the RFID system is that it allows instantaneous update of users account enabling the immediate renewal of users loan quota This is achieved by placing an RFID scanner in the book drop chute At the book drop the user drops the book in the chute and the RFID scanner updates the system on the users book loan records instantaneously

The introduction of RFID was a welcomed change for library users A manager commented

With the old system users sometimes asked why their loan quota was not restored after they had returned a book Our staff would then have to retrieve the book from the pile of books collected overnight and speed up the updating of the users records

A librarian summed it up as follows while commenting on the sorting process

With the RFID system in place the sorting process is a breeze because this computer (attached to the scanner) even shows the shelf number for the book

The efficiency of loaning books and returning them at book drops at any library improved user experience at libraries further helping in the growth of book loans at NLB The CEO said

This was a proof of concept

The organization was learning from the deployment of the system observshying it in operation and working on improving it at the next implementashytion within a year The project manager added

If we had rolled it out at all the libraries immediately wed have replicated our mistakes everywhere So we took it one at a time


The whole implementation was again piloted at the next library due to reopen after renovation namely the Toa Payoh Community Library in

1999 Revised versions of the system were piloted at two more libraries before the system was functioning to the satisfaction of NLB NLB then invited global tenders to implement the system across all its libraries in

2000 ST Logitrack was awarded the tender and has since rolled out the RFID systems in all NLB libraries in Singapore The entire process was completed in April 2002 The success of the technology during pilot testing prompted other libraries to request for the system The project manager reported

When the other libraries saw what we could do with RFID they too wanted it RFID was helping them achieve targets which would otherwise consume tremendous resources

With IT being increasingly adopted awareness of its potential was recogshynized and accepted by users The CIO added

Now we had the pleasant problem of managing this demand We achieved our targets without retrenching staff Our retraining was focused on service quality rather than technology since the system was easy enough to use To the library users we were giving better service quality In fact to the library users there was no longer any need to even talk to our staff but if they needed to our staff would have more time to do so

Impacts of IT at NLB IT as Enabler

NLBs adoption of RFID was essentially an instance of IT deployment to achieve organizational goals RFID demonstrated its potential in removing queues delivering better service quality and giving employees more time for value added tasks Further IT made innovation of new services possible at libraries According to the CEO

The introduction of this technology eliminated queues it saved staff from the mundane work of simply standing at the counter to attend to customers Now customers can just go to the machine and check out books while our staff can do some other value added work Librarians are not there just to shelve books or stamp books they are there to help you find information which is higher value added work

Paul Raj Devadoss 11

With the introduction of new technologies training in their use was necshyessary Also being freed up from mundane work staff needed to be trained to handle greater value adding tasks Thus staff were retrained in order to develop new skills in the context of the new systems The CIO noted

IT helps relieve mundane work Staff are then trained to do more productive work in the back room or trained to become professional librarians where they help to organize information select books and catalogue books and they get to read the latest in the publishing industry That adds to their intellect So thats how staff come to accept new technology at the workplace Yes IT helps me in that

A librarian noted more vividly

With the new system we now have more time to walk around the library answering queries from users instead of being tied to a desk Our job satisfaction is driven by our ability to quickly answer user queries satisfactorily

As we have described earlier book drop chutes have made it easier for users to return books Behind a book drop chute an operations room exists where books are sorted As the book slides into the book drop it is recognized by an electronic scanner that updates the users account (Figure 2) The books are then sorted by staff who keep aside books belonging to other branches for pickup by the postal service for delivery to the respective branches For the books to be shelved locally a computer displays the shelf code encoded in the RFID chip in order to simplify the sorting process A library officer demonstrating the process noted

This system makes it easy to sort the books and identify their shelves

After sorting by the shelf code the books are carted off for shelving A color-coded label on the spine of each book which indicates the collection to which it belongs also helps in the process The color-coding is uniform across all NLB libraries and helps staff visually pick out wrongly shelved books The project manager noted the role that staff feedback had played in this feature

The library staff gave us feedback that it was difficult to pick out a wrongly shelved book among all these books So we accepted their feedback and put a label on the spine of the book


Turn Technology Into Appliances

Figure 2 Illustration of the book returing process at an NLB library

With the improvements growing loans also meant an increasing number of returns thus placing a heavy burden on the staff handling the shelving of books In apparent recognition of the good that IT as an enabler had done so far an older staff commented

This is a tedious process mdash returning books to the shelves all day Especially during school vacations the volume increases a lot I wish this could be automated Its a hard thing to do all day but it cant be automated mdash putting books back on the open shelves It can only be done with books on closed shelves

NLB now employs part-time workers who help the regular staff with shelvshying This strategy helps NLB carve the tedious work process into smaller manageable schedules allocated to the part-time staff In addition several community programs have been implemented to bring in volunteers to help shelve books Such programs also benefit NLB by helping it reach out to the community and engage them in its daily work process A librarian officer noted

We now have more time to do things like working on book selecshytion or community programs or answering queries which is a very satisfying part of our job


One of the junior staff who had progressed from stamping books all day commented

If I can answer a users query well then I am most satisfied with my job We now have plenty of resources to do just that

Impacts of IT at NLB Addressing User Apprehension

A negative impact of the adoption of IT at NLB was job insecurity This was a growing concern at NLB when the new system was introduced It was evident that the new systems provided immense savings in terms of manpower in the organization and the staff were concerned that it would mean the loss of jobs to some This fear was felt particularly among those who had little knowledge of information technologies The changes at NLB were seen as a shift in the culture of the people within the organization Such a shift was also viewed as necessary to NLB in its growth and ability to deliver excellence in its services The CEO commented

Its a culture change more than anything else We had been stereoshytyped as a strict dull place too often and we just arent so anymore

The management positioned the shift in the organization as a value proposhysition that redefined routine job tasks but they recognized that some might query the change The CEO noted

Our librarians were asking why we were asking them to switch on computers instead of stamping books or what if a machine broke down I think we had an even distribution of people who were for the changes people who were reluctant to change and those sitting on the fence waiting to see what developed

One long-time staff admitted that she was at first terrified of the possibility

of having to learn IT at work at her age Another staff remarked

It was no problem to me I knew it could only help in my work

One librarian noted

At first we didnt know much but when we saw it we knew it could help

Another staff who was with the library organization for over 25 years remarked

I was afraid of using the computers At my age I considered retiring instead But I decided I should give it a try instead to make an effort


to learn And I have not regretted my decision Now I even train others in the use of IT services at NLB

A mixed approach in implementing the IT systems was taken in response to the mixed ground feel A service engineer from ST Logitrack commented of his dealings with NLB staff

I tried to teach them some small tricks that they could try Some wanted to know more and some didnt want to learn at first But 1 tried to explain to them nevertheless After a while they were okay with the system

A systems library officer managed an NLB librarys IT systems monitored its performance and kept them operational (Figure 3) Such officers relied on the technical support from the IT helpdesk as well the technical support from ST Logitrack on the RFID systems A systems library officer explained

I fixed small problems with our machines If I needed help I called the helpdesk And if its a bigger problem I called the service techshynician at ST Logitrack

Figure 3 Pictures from NLB showing the entrance to a library borrowing stations a book drop and the scene behind a book drop


A n o t h e r junior library staff added

Actually much of our training was in improving our skills customer

service etc I went to self improvement sessions to help improve my

communication with library users and they were very useful

T h e r e was an e lement of manda ted use of IT particularly given the con tex t

of Library 2000 and the strong support from the top management in using

IT However this was also seen as opportuni ty to develop self-efficacy by

some staff A manager poin ted out

We had a choice of staying and enriching ourselves The entire

world was moving towards a knowledge economy and its the same

everywhere

Mixed opinions were shared o n the need to learn IT wi th in the organizashy

t ion A librarian commented

Well one of my colleagues left after many years with National

Library because she wasnt comfortable learning to use computers

and all that At her age she felt shed rather leave But it didnt hapshy

pen often because we had plenty of training and encouragement

Sometimes staff even handhe ld colleagues who were unfamiliar wi th the

systems to he lp t h e m adapt Proficient or learning users often pi tched in

to he lp others w h o were lagging A manager commented

Some of the drivers didnt know how to use IT So when everything

went electronic they would approach me Id teach them step by

step If they didnt get it right wed just repeat the learning exercise

O n e of the staff supervising the shelving process and who had been wi th

N L B for over three decades noted

I never used a computer in all my years with the library Now I have

my own email ID We have an hour when we use the computer to

answer queries or read circulars Its exciting sharing all this with

my grandchildren

T h e management recognized the fact tha t some staff were unwill ing to take

the step in to the future tha t the in t roduct ion of the RFID system heralded

namely greater use of IT in their daily work routines T h e managemen t

also took in to considerat ion the o ther events tha t were happening in the

organization to unders tand the mixed feeling towards the in t roduct ion of

the RFID system T h e C E O summed up the situation

We had so many things changing the front office with the RFID

system the back office with the HRFIS system and there was an


overlap for about three years It was a huge strain on the organizashytion and naturally people were stressed This was when we had to show patience and trust and give people time to adjust

A significant outcome of the stress within the organization was the high attrition rate that NLB faced with the junior staff between 1997 and 1998 The CEO reported

We measured around 80 attrition within three months for junior staff

However this could partly be attributed to the rapid growth in the economy during the period The CEO summed up the impact of changes in the organization when he further added this information about NLB

Since 1999 we hardly have a problem with attrition

Impacts of IT at NLB Engaging Users in Dialogue

The top management engaged the staff in dialogue and conveyed the messhysage that the newly introduced technologies were meant to help increase productivity Commenting on the organization after the formation of NLB the CIO noted

When a new management introduces something staff worry if their jobs are safe

NLB also provided training sessions opportunities for skill development and redeployment of some staff to other jobs The CEO made frequent visits to all libraries and met with the staff and held tea sessions where staff aired their suggestions and concerns The CIO reported

Such tea sessions became opportunities for the management to allay the fears of retrenchment within the organization The staff also gained confidence in the role of IT as an enabler and were forthcoming with suggestions

Such exchanges were useful to developing a channel of communication The CEOs personal rapport with the staff was also evident in the organizashytion with the common use of my CE in reference to the CEO One staff called him an icon in the organization who was motivating and caring towards the staff The staff member further described him as a trusting


boss so unlike any usual boss The CIO added

My CE became a person whom staff could identify with of course along with the senior management team as well I say its not easy but my CE took the time to go down [to all libraries to meet the staff] because he felt its worth it

Further through extensive communication and assurances on the role of technology adoption and change in the organization the management developed the support and trust of the staff The CEO promised that the role of technologies would be that of supportive value addition to employees Further the management promised no retrenchment and better career opportunities at NLB The CEO summed up the effort

We promised two things zero retrenchment and a good career

The management developed trust in the organization by directly engaging the staff in discussing their apprehensions being transparent in their plans and by involving staff where possible in planning and executing projects Trust was echoed in discussions with various members of the organization A library officer who headed a project on data collation declared

I knew my organization trusted me

Another librarian added

We trust the management because they have been transparent and communicated with us constantly

A manager noted the value of trust amid the changes that IT was bringing about in the organization

A lot of trust a lot of encouragement That actually allowed us to do a lot of things differently

In addition to trust encouragement to adopt new technologies communishycate and innovate in their work are some of the other positive steps that were reported by the staff This NLB attitude of encouraging its employees and partners was also manifested in NLBs willingness to experiment with new initiatives in order to achieve the best in service quality A project manager at ST Logitrack noted

They were always willing to try new things So it helped when we took back suggestions on improving the features of the RFID system


A manager at NLB concurred with this opinion when explaining the project-centric approach of the organization

Any one of us could propose a project and were given an opportushynity to present our ideas to the committee If the value proposition was right we usually got to manage the project regardless of our seniority in the organization

Transforming the Organization

In addition to the adoption of IT NLB also adopted a lifestyle approach in designing the library environment changing the perception of a library A librarian commented

Our libraries are no longer dull places they are vibrant and fun places to hang out at

This approach meant locating libraries in shopping malls to make them accessible to users setting up a cafe within the library and changing the ambience of a library from the traditional somber one to a more vibrant atmosphere to attract visitors The lifestyle concept changed the nature of libraries in Singapore

Today NLB libraries are cozy places where visitors could browse a variety of book and multimedia collections and tap into various services amid plush surroundings The libraries are also equipped with web surfing terminals and multimedia kiosks Digital resources are available through terminals at the library as well as the e-library hub (wwwelibraryhubcom) which complements NLBs existing services At NLB libraries users can tap into broadband Internet services through their own laptops and PDAs with surfing accounts from a private vendor which includes access to NLBs digital libraries

With increasing adoption of RFID technology at more branches books loans at NLB and library user visits to the various NLB branches grew annually The increased productivity was managed with retrained staff from other functions that had become redundant due to the introduction of IT As RFID was adopted at each new library with more services that were automated fewer staff were needed to man a library NLB countered this by


increasing the responsibilities of lower rank staff to the extent that the first fully self-service library was launched with just one Systems Library Officer and one concierge This minimally staffed library manages approximately 2000 loans a day A senior manager summed it up as follows

Since we had all the services available for users to use on their own we removed all our staff and put these services and a smartly dressed concierge at the Sengkang DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Library

Sengkang DIY Library illustrates the value addition presented by the adop-tion of IT at NLB to its staff library users and the organization According to NLBs chairman the residents of Sengkang had in fact voted in favor of a library over other choices such as a child care center an elderly care service Cineplex etc In response NLB had designed a new library The library manager explained the advantage this had brought

The Sengkang Community Library was developed fresh from scratch So we had a lot of flexibility in developing it

It is equipped with the various self-service stations ranging from new user registration (introduced at the Sengkang library) book loans and returns to payment services Visitors to the library are greeted by a concierge to present a human presence at the library The various sections in the library would be familiar to regular visitors across all NLB libraries with color-coded sections indicated through uniform signage Catalog reference stations guide users to the available collections Self-service borrowing stashytions are available for checking out books or users can use an enquiry station to manage their account If there are any payment transactions to perform payment stations are available for users Book drop chutes offering 24-hour service are also available at the library as with all NLB branches Also subscribers to third party Wireless LAN service can surf at the library with their own computers or PDAs The systems library officer manages the entire daily operations in addition to participating in other projects and sharing with colleagues on work

To help users with queries at the DIY library due to the absence of librarshyians NLB introduced a new service named Cybrarian (Cyber Librarian) At the library the Cybrarian terminal is equipped with a computer screen and a telephone through which users could be connected to NLBs call


center All library-related enquiries are answered by call center staff Users can see on the screen demonstrations on how to use the library electronic catalog terminals to search for books or for information over the Internet If users need directions to particular book sections or facilities a floor map is displayed on the screen to guide them

Cybrarian services are enabled by a personal computer at the users end in the library which call center staff can remotely control Upon a callers request a call center staff connects to the remote PC at the users end and runs the appropriate demonstration on the monitor Before its launch at the DIY library extensive surveys and focus group studies were conducted with users to gather information on Cybrarian services The manager highlighted the thinking behind the facility

We are always experimenting with new things anything that improves user experience

The Cybrarian service the centerpiece of NLBs DIY library at Sengkang marks the introduction of managing customer relationship to library sershyvices The call center handle simple enquiries at remote libraries about its services and is manned by four officers who handle phone calls and one officer who handles email enquiries The call center staff is a team of para-library staff trained in call center practices and equipped to handle simple queries pertaining to the libraries Currently Cybrarian services are available to library users from three libraries including the Sengkang DIY library where it was first introduced The call center handles on average 500 calls a day and 30 e-mails of enquiries from users through the Cybrarian web portals

At the end of 2002 NLBs annual loans (Figure 4) were over 32 million and its collection numbered approximately 8 million including books and multimedia material Its visitors were at about 317 million with memshyberships at 21 million and it handled 18 million enquiries in the year NLB estimates that given its over 30 million loans per year and less than a minute per transaction at the counter service at present it would need to add 2000 more staff to its workforce to keep up current service levshyels Through the adoption of technology in its various services NLB has


FlnanclalYear Ending Cumulative Loan Statistics

FY02 MMBHBBBHaii^^^H^^BHMHBHHBHHi 32105184 FYOI mmMmmmmMmmmmmmmmmMmmmmimmmimim 27953306 FY00 ^ mdash W mdash H l 25034444

FY99 m^mmmmmmsmBmmsmmmmmmammmmmm 24720419

FY97 imemvmmmmmmmmmmmasBmmmBmsm 22205896

FY94 mmim$mmsMomm 10007418 I 1 1 1 mdash T ~ ~ ~ T trade ~ trade T - trade trade ~ 1 o eooaooo woooooo I M O W X raquo 2aoooooo 2Boooooo 3poundgt0(KMraquoO 38mooo

Figure 4 NLBs loan statistics (NLB annual report 2002-2003)

managed to increase book loans and dramatically improve services without any increase in manpower costs (Figure 5)

NLB is now equipped to quickly deploy loan services even at remote community events thus taking the library to the people This service works by connecting to the library network using a laptop and a virtual private network The computer is attached to a scanner which reads the RFID and logs the loan A library manager commented

It is now much more efficient we used to write down the call numbers and then key them in later which was error prone and slow

RFID-tagging its collections has also helped NLB drastically reduce the time spent in stocktaking None of its libraries now close for stocktaking and the entire exercise at a library is completed overnight except for the anomalies in reports which are followed up later NLB is pursuing a change in RFID chip technology to further improve the efficiency of the system A manager reported

We currently experience an accuracy rate of about 80 The errors are due to technological limitations caused by too many chips on the shelves responding simultaneously within the range We are exploring different chips to sort this out and improve accuracy

NLB constantly strives to identify potential business problems and find solutions that address a set of related processes The CEO summed up the

The National Library

Board (NLB) formed

and instituted as a

statutory board based

on Library 2000

recommendations

Successful demo of

RFID technology at

NLB by the ST

companies

Pilot implemented

successfully at three

more libraries

Rollout o

technolo

libraries

4 1995

4 1996

4 1997

BPR (Business

Process Re-

engineering)

conducted to

consolidate business

processes

4 1998

4 1999

4 2000 2001

Prototype successfully

introduced at Bukit

Batok Community

Library

ST Logitrack awarded

the tender to

implement RFID in all

NLB libraries in

Singapore

Figure 5 Implementation and use of RFID at the National Library Board

f uF a Devadoss 23

approach

An optimized automated solution to an immediate problem is our

objective

However the future for N L B is not in merely increasing loans at the

libraries it manages The C E O commented on the future direction of the

organization

Our population is limited so its not our objective to go on to

40 million loans and so on W e will grow our e-collections because

those are beyond boundaries

1 Identify the key actors in NLBs organizations transformation

2 Di$eu$s the rok of NLBs C E O in championing NLBs T adop^

tion and transformation

3 Identify and discuss the role of key enaMers in NLBs transform

mation

4 Compare and discuss the changing perceptions of NLBs sta^

about the rote of information technologies in the organizational

transformation

5 Discuss the extent of technology pervasiveness in N L B and its

impact on NLB^s transformation

6 Identify the impact of a purety sef-$etviee library such as the

Sengkang DIY library on the organization

7 Discos the impact of de-skiUmg and re skiHing observed at

NLB

8 Given the objectives of Library 2000 draw up a task list for N L B

at the beginning of its transformation

9 Mentify and discuss new services enaMed by the adoption of

information technologies at NLB

10 Discuss new business opportunities that N L B shonM consider

given its inampastrueture and domain expertise

24 FD 3H(f 0glt3nzjfonj 7an$fo7arbn fe 1^ of 5n jpoe

T e a e h m ^ Ne4es

Mn^nvHa^Ls d^d( ) eetaes

llê N L B ease study eoêrs the transition of the orânzati(^n

from a imditiona )i rary organization stereotyped as a )ifiient la

^hanê organisation to a teehnoto^y friet dy organization Tradi^

tiona hhrarie^ are eonsidered h) ha-e ow tettunoio^y adoptson and

to he resistant so ehanês ^hat eon]d transform their htîtêss pn^^

tiees However N L B was formed widi the ( hjeetfve oHransformin^

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reevant in the infonnatioti aê- jahntry 2000 deâiied he otjee

tives and d w key enahiers in athiean^ those targets T h e adoption

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better eareer opptmtnnties or vatue additions h r staff

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diti^na) orânbaion-^ i- prone to severa) known issues sê)^ a^ atil

eomptaer eiiieaey^ reîsanee to Uuinês or restruttnnnt ai d fear^

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positive onteonê o^ T adopn^n in vane ênenaittn d^rou^ti nir

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nes^ proee^s de^^^n and die rote o^ f]^ a^ an enahter towards ratiea)

ran^ônnations


Methodology

Data for this case study was collected between September 2003 and August 2004- We conducted 43 interviews with staff from various divisions of NLB The selected interviewees were chosen to represent a variety of service terms at NLB varying from 6 months to 32 years Visits were made to 13 NLB libraries to interview library staff in addition to the staff at NLBs headquarters and its supply center The interviews were unstructured and open ended to allow the gathering of data on a variety of issues and perspectives In the early stage of data collection interviews were also conducted with ST Logitrack NLBs technology partner providing RFID These interviews helped gather information on the technical details of RFID and its applicashytion ST Logitrack also provided useful secondary opinions on NLBs technology adoption and use

Apart from one-to-one interviews data was gathered through varishyous secondary documents such as press releases internal reports intershynal magazine write-ups research reports and general press articles Such data supplemented the information gathered on the scope of projects objectives achievements and issues handled during the varshyious stages of IT adoption at NLB Since the study covered a period of adoption over a number of years such secondary sources which are dated help in the consolidation of data gathered through intershyviews Data was also gathered through personal observations at NLBs libraries and at its office premises

Teaching Suggestions

This teaching case study is suitable for classroom discussion at both the undergraduare and graduate levels of study The case demonstrates organization-wide impacts of transformation enabled by IT adopshytion Process redesign impacts on the organization and changes resulting from IT adoption are some key themes that may be disshycussed based on this case study Ciroup discussions preceded by a

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CASE 2

Enterprise Systems Planning Projects in China

Gary PAN andAdelaJun Wen CHEN

Executive Summary

The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is considered as one of the most difficult systems to implement and the risk of implementing an ERP package in China is even higher due to the relatively nonstanshydard management mechanisms and business processes in the country In this chapter four mini case studies describe and examine the implemenshytation experiences of ERP adopters in China and the related issues they encounter While in mini cases 13 and 4 the companies are foreign-owned not all of them adopt Western ERP packages such as the SAP system In mini case 2 a joint venture between a foreign-owned comshypany and a Chinese local enterprise adopts the same ERP system used in its headquarters in Australia By drawing a comparison between the four mini cases we identify several major issues faced by companies implementshying ERP in China These key issues include ownership structure business process re-engineering training and supportive internal and external relashytionships They comprise what earlier research suggests as key issues in ERP implementation and integrate what our research reveals as essential issues for organizations implementing a global IT product in a localized context

Introduction

With its entry into the World Trade Organization China represents one of the leading emerging economies and has since attracted an immense amount of foreign investments While foreign investors doing business in China reap the benefits of a large pool of low-cost but high-quality labor in a probusiness environment they often face a variety of challenges The

27

28 Enterprise Systems Planning Projects in China

Table 1 Background information of the four companies

Company Location Ownership Location of Industry Structure Parent

Company

ERP Year of System ERP

Adoption

AMD Suzhou (AMDS)

Lion Nathan Taihushui (LNT)

Delphi Electronics and Safety Suzhou (DESS)

Harman Electronics Suzhou (HES)

Suzhou

Wuxi

Suzhou

Suzhou

Foreign funded

Joint venture

Foreign funded

Foreign funded

United States

Australia

United States

United States

Integrated circuits

Beer and beverages

Automotive systems

Audio products

SAP

QAD

Fourth Shift

U8

2002

1997

1997

2001

key challenges which range from vast cultural differences to strict foreign exchange controls evolve around a central theme of how companies adapt and respond to changes in a dynamic and volatile business environment In coping with these changes the ERP system has been viewed by many as an ideal solution that weaves complex business functions into a sinshygle system Through such an integrated system database companies may create seamless business processes that respond well to fluctuating market demands Moreover the current technological revolution in China favors ERP adoption It is therefore unsurprising to see the rate of ERP adoption in the country rising significantly over the years

This research aims to provide some insights into the ERP implementashytion experience in China It focuses on how ERP implementation unfolds and adapts to the dynamic environment The study reports empirical results from mini case studies conducted at four companies in China Table 1 proshyvides the background information of these four companies

Mini Case 1 AMD Suzhou

Background

AMD founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale California is an inteshygrated circuit manufacturer It serves a worldwide customer base ranging from enterprises and governments to individual consumers AMDs product

Gary Pan andAdela Jun Wen Chen 29

portfolio includes microprocessors memory devices and silicon-based solushytions (computing and connectivity solutions) The company is dedicated to the philosophy of customer-centric innovation mdash always innovating with customer needs in mind AMD has more than half of its revenues derived from international markets with sales offices in major cities around the world and manufacturing plants in the United States Europe and Asia Its first manufacturing facility in China AMD Suzhou AMDS was established in 1999 and located in Suzhou the capital of Jiangsu province in the southshyeast of China It started with a workforce of approximately 700 employees and its operations include assembly test mark and pack for its Spansion Flash memory and communication products

ERP Implementation

As AMD relies heavily on the co-ordinated efforts of all its sales offices and operational facilities around the world an integrated enterprise-wide information system is seen as instrumental in efficiently co-ordinating and consolidating its worldwide operations In 2001 AMD decided to adopt SAPs ERP package at all its subsidiaries In fact before the global ERP initiative was announced AMDS had already gained some experiences with implementing enterprise systems from its two previous unsuccessful ERP projects With an investment worth millions of US dollars AMDS implemented its first ERP system in 1999 mdash a time when ERP was a popular buzzword in China but hardly anyone there had any accumulated wisdom in the field The project was ill-conceived ran into trouble very quickly and eventually ended in failure In 2000 AMDS made its second ERP attempt using Baans enterprise package Unfortunately the project was called off when Baan the software manufacturer went into bankruptcy and was bought over by another company The new company was unable to provide equivalent service quality at a reasonable price which led AMDS to call off the project These two failed experiences prompted AMDS to look for a new ERP vendor which turned out to be SAP

Before Implementation

bull Selecting the ERP package

The SAP package was selected after much deliberation on the previous failed experiences The company was aware of the issue of poor alignment


between systems and business operations Misalignment had overburdened the company with excess customization which was both costly and time-consuming Furthermore AMDS was also over-reliant on previous ERP vendors A project team member suggested

Previously we had allowed vendors to decide all implementation-related matters because we had assumed that they knew best But since then we learnt that an ERP package was more than simply an information system It might have significant impacts on our company operations Therefore we had to be more active in system implementation since we knew our own business processes better than anyone else

bull Forming a task force

When the ERP initiative started AMDS still had many legacy systems in use and they operated in isolation from one another The ERP project was considered a high priority and a task force mdash the SAP project team mdash was set up oversee the project An experienced and reputable regional executive in the Asia Pacific was appointed project leader Several meetings were held to create awareness about the project and update users on several necessary changes The project team was fully supported by the users and the top management According to the project manager

The top managers were very supportive and committed We were allowed to hire two new employees to assist in the project despite a tight manpower budget Furthermore the top management also approved our application for additional project funding

Clear targets with a specific timeframe and budget were defined at the project onset The project was carried out in four phases with a legacy system being replaced at every phase Table 2 summarizes the ERP adoption phases at AMDS

Table 2 Phases of ERP adoption at AMDS

Phase Functional Module Completion Date

1 Material and Management January 2002 Finance and Accounting

2 Product Defining and Tracking September 2002 3 Sales and Distribution September 2002 4 Human Resources November 2002

Gary Pan and Adela Jun Wen Chen 31

During Implementation

bull Business process reengineering

A new approach was adopted in implementing the SAP package Preshyviously when AMDS was implementing the Baan software there was a special group customizing the ERP package in accordance with the busishyness processes of AMDS At that time the lesson learnt was that complete customization would take a long time and could be very costly The project manager cited an example

It took two years to customize a single module mdash the General Account module

In this round AMDS decided to customize its business processes to the busishyness logic embedded in the software Company operations were redesigned to align with the philosophy embedded in the ERP package

bull Supportive internal and external relationships

During the implementation process employees were highly motivated and active in creating a supportive internal project environment One inforshymant from the Procurement Department who participated in redesigning the business processes commented

Every team member was aware of hisher task and the rationale behind it Each member was also provided with a copy of detailed system functionalities which encompassed the information needed in performing the tasks Team members felt trusted and motivated to undertake initiatives in their work

The informant contrasted the experience with a very different one at his

previous company of employment

I was only told what to do and when the deadline was Managers did not expect creativity or innovation from us Once we were really proud that we had performed beyond our own expectation but it turned out that our efforts had been in vain because our boss had changed his mind

Besides high employee morale the direct and open relationship with SAP also played a critical role in AMDs successful project implementation


According to one project member

SAP is a renowned ERP provider with rich experiences in this field It offers a full range of infrastructure products and consultancy sershyvice throughout the lifecycle of an ERP package Most importantly they are reliable and highly accountable

bull Training strategy

The training focused on the problems of using an ERP system AMDS was fully committed to the SAP user-training package Senior consultants and specialists conducted a series of training sessions so as to familiarize the entire user population with the SAP system from the top management to assembly line operators Employees were also encouraged to explore the modules within their own areas of responsibility As one manager suggested

We usually recruit qualified candidates with high cognitive and interpersonal abilities In this hyper-dynamic market we could not afford to conduct too many trainingcommunication sessions for every employee We would expect them to be self-motivated and adaptive to new changes

After Implementation

The ERP project was a huge success As one project member concluded

The project success resulted from the combination of a well-designed adoption plan an efficient project team and a supportive user group

One of the end users from the Finance Department also mentioned

We were not surprise at all about the success We had been well prepared right from the beginning

When the entire project concluded in November 2002 AMDS was planshyning to add the Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relashytionship Management (CRM) systems to the existing ERP system so as to develop the companys competitive advantage and sustainable competence in the long run


Mini Case 2 Lion-Nathan Taihushui

Background

Australia-based alcoholic beverage company Lion-Nathan operates in three countries Australia New Zealand and China Currently most of Lion-Nathans revenue derives from its beer and wine businesses It is also involved in other businesses including the distribution of licensed wine and spirits the production and distribution of ready-to-drink beverages liquor retailing and malt extraction for both home brewing and the food industry

Lion-Nathan brews and distributes approximately one billion liters of beer annually It exports to more than 20 countries worldwide with Steinlager as its leading brand Its other beers include Tooheys XXXX Hahn West End Emu Swan James Squire Lion Speights and Taihushui With the acquisitions of two Australian premium wine companies in 2001 Petaluma and Banksia Lion-Nathan started to build its global preshymium wine business The subsequent acquisition of Marlborough-based Wither Hills one of New Zealands leading Sauvignon Blanc producers further established Lion-Nathans position in the global premium wine market

In 1994 Lion-Nathan started its exploration of the Chinese market to further expand its beer business As one of Chinas wealthiest and fastest growing regions the Yangtze River Delta was selected as the point of entry into the Chinese market This region located in the southeast of China has a population of 70 million and an above-average national beer consumpshytion rate (national average 221 per year) In 1995 Lion-Nathan entered the Chinese beer market by acquiring 60 interest in Wuxi Brewery which later became Lion-Nathan Taihushui (LNT) The city of Wuxi covers an area of 4650 km2 and has a population of 4359 million Over the years Lion-Nathan has increased its stake in the brewery and has constantly upgraded facilities at the plant Currently LNT a joint venture in which Lion-Nathan holds a 90 stake focuses on consumers in the Yangtze River Delta LNT once a state-owned company has 550 employees led by a local management team LNT has an annual production of 120 million liters of beer and several of its beers are leading brands in the domestic market


ERP Implementation


In 1998 LNT sought to enhance its operational efficiency by adopting an enterprisewide information system Given the growing business contacts with its Australia-based headquarters LNT decided to adopt QAD the same ERP package that was used at its headquarters At the end of 1998 LNT started the QAD implementation project after obtaining approval from the headquarters



Before the ERP implementation LNT had maintained a basic IT infrasshytructure A FoxPro database was used in selected departments and installed in only a few computers Most employees did not use computers in their work Since the majority of LNTs employees were in their 40s and 50s they were not as technology savvy as their younger counterparts Most of them did not know how to use computers and had little knowledge of how computers could transform their work The IT department was entrusted with the important tasks of rolling out the QAD system and imparting users with knowledge in basic computer skills An IT analyst explained the difficulties he faced

A user called me when he encountered a problem using the system After I figured out what he wanted I wasted even more time teaching him how to solve the problem I had to explain basic operations such as There is a start button at the bottom left of the screen can you find it

To complicate matters most middle-aged users did not know English Durshying their early years of education Russian rather than English was taught as the second language Another IT analyst shared her experience of troubleshyshooting for an end user

I asked the person who called for assistance to tell me what the system error message was The poor guy spelled the whole sentence letter by letter


A technical assistant at Lion-Nathans Shanghai branch summed up the

situation

It was a big headache for us to provide technical support to the Wuxi branch

Given the unique nature of the user group LNT devoted considerable resources to user training as it realized that these trainings were important and meant more to the Wuxi site than any other of its branches Training was time-consuming but laid a solid foundation for effective and efficient operations in the long run The IT Director commented

In our case user training was extraordinarily important Although we did not realize this in the beginning we were fortunate to have conducted the training

Lajoffdue to business process reengineering

To improve performance LNT abandoned outdated legacy processes from the time when it was a state-owned enterprise and redesigned its business processes according to the best practices embedded in the QAD package The redesign process progressed smoothly but a major issue emerged when some workers were made redundant as their tasks were automated by the QAD system This caused great anxiety among the remaining employees especially since it was a radical departure from the past In the days of state-owned enterprises jobs were secure and stable and employees were said to have iron rice bowls One informant from the IT department mentioned

Personnel change in our company was rare This even applied to our department which was usually considered volatile due to the ever-shortening lifecycle of technologies

Everybody used to believe that their jobs were secure Employees mostly in their middle age and with a family to support preferred a stable job One informant explained

Changing jobs could be risky mdash it would take time to adapt to the new work and one could never figure out what problems heshe would encounter in a new environment Although LNT did not pay as much as some foreign companies we did enjoy good benefits Our salary and benefits were calculated in terms of years of service


Most of us had been working there for 10 years In my case it was 12 years

The staff retrenchment represented a huge challenge to the top manageshyment LNTs General Manager admitted

We did not expect the system implementation to cause such drashymatic changes mdash in terms of changes in both company operations and personnel Frankly we were not prepared for that

The lay-off also came as a shock to most employees an informant from the Finance Department lamented the experience of an unfortunate colleague

The poor chap was very upset He had never imagined that some day he would be kicked out of the company

LNT tried to minimize the impact of the organizational change by conshyducting re-training sessions to equip redundant employees with new skills This would allow them to apply for positions which were newly created by the business restructuring The General Manager explained how the company tried to help the affected employees

We knew lay-off was cruel especially when most of the employees had worked for us for many years Through re-training we sought to reduce the number of employees being laid off

At the end of the restructuring only 10 employees were told to leave the company According to the project manager ten was really a small number

considering the scale of the ERP project However employees from other departments did not think the same way and considered it as the biggest

lay-off in the companys history

Postimplementation

In October 199910 months after the project kick-off the QAD project was completed on schedule and within budget LNT started to reap the beneshyfits of the QAD system mdash enhanced operational efficiency and substantial cost reduction After project completion LNT kept in close contact with its ERP vendor QAD Company The IT Department consulted QAD regshyularly to stay informed of any ERP updates and new product launches To maintain a long-term relationship LNT set up a team dedicated to QAD-related matters which included negotiation of system package and consultation on technical matters


In early 2001 LNT conducted a series of large-scale IT infrastructure upgrading activities First it replaced most of its computers with up-to-date models so as to meet the complexities of its operational needs Furthermore LNT also upgraded its ERP package to the new release by QAD In the new version technical bugs were corrected and additional process adjustments were made to address any national policyregulation change For example the older version of the ERP system was designed and developed in line with previous accounting laws and practices

Mini Case 3 Delphi Electronics and Safety Suzhou

Background

Headquartered in Michigan the United States with approximately 185000 employees Delphi provides comprehensive product solutions to vehicle manufacturers worldwide It has a significant presence in 40 counshytries and is a world leader in designing automotive systems and components Delphi owns multiple product lines automotive systems commercial vehishycle systems connection systems and consumer electronics It operates 171 wholly owned manufacturing factories 42 joint ventures 53 sales offices and 33 technical centers Delphi also supplies to major automakers in China By providing comprehensive product solutions the company conducts its business through 15 joint ventures and wholly owned manshyufacturing facilities three customer service centers one technical censhyter and one training center This study was conducted at one of Delphis wholly owned manufacturing facilities mdash Delphi Electronics amp Safety Suzhou (DESS) DESS was established in 1996 and located in Suzhou Industrial Park with approximately 300 employees At the time of the study DESS was producing audio systems body computers power-train controllers security products and airbag controllers

ERP Implementation


Even though SAPs ERP package was used at Delphis headquarters in the United States and Singapore Delphis branch offices worldwide selected and operated their respective ERP systems DESS selected and adopted Fourth Shifts ERP package because the package could support DESSs


operation at an affordable price However the Purchasing Department at DESS insisted on using the purchasing module of SAP to facilitate its frequent high-volume data transmissions with the regional headquarters in Singapore


The project implementation suffered two setbacks mdash task force attrition and inadequate user training

bull Task force attrition

DESS had a relatively high-attrition rate in the industry Perceived as a typical foreign enterprise in China DESS provided competitive salary and imposed heavy workload on its employees An employee commented

The company aimed to maximize employees output in terms of working hours We were so occupied that we barely had time to talk to each other

DESS operated in a rigid command-and-control manner and demanded that its employees follow strictly their supervisors instructions One inforshymant described the situation at the company

There was no emotional bonding between the employees and the company Employees especially the younger ones would leave DESS for other employers as long as they were offered a better remuneration package

In order to complement the existing Finance and Accounting module the project team had to develop and customize a bolt-on Fixed Asset module However in the midst of the customization process a number of employees left DESS for better employment opportunities elsewhere Most of them left on very short notice and a few even disappeared without notice This made the handover of job responsibilities a very difficult task As project activishyties had not been properly documented the newcomers encountered probshylems trying to understand how the systems had developed how they were maintained and how further improvements could be made on the bolt-on system DESS had to abandon the customization endeavor eventually As


noted by the Finance Director

The bolt-on module was a nightmare In spite of putting so much time and effort into the development we had to give it up in the end

To fix the problem a local finance system was acquired to perform monthly financial analysis for the Finance Department Nevertheless being a standshyalone it was incompatible with the Fourth Shift ERP system and created problems such as the duplication of data input


To save cost and avoid disrupting business operations DESS did not orgashynize Four Shift ERP training sessions for its users Rather it only allowed users two weeks to familiarize themselves with the new system Conseshyquently users struggled with system functionalities with no choice but to learn by self-study or doing The learning was both inadequate and limited to individuals areas of responsibility Furthermore group learning was difshyficult because of the lack of interpersonal and inter-departmental commushynication in the company Employees did not build personal relationships and seldom discussed personal matters with one another An informant from the Procurement Department commented

When new staff joined the company we hardly got to know them in person and our contacts were limited to work-related issues We hardly made any friends in the company

With basic knowledge of system operations end users did not encounter

many problems handling most of the general transactions Indeed a user

commented

The system was easy to use as we had learnt how to input data and search for relevant information

However users would likely make mistakes at later stages and stay inflexishyble in using the ERP system because they did not understand the prinshyciples and rationales behind the entire operational procedure In the post-implementation analysis several project members including both IT professionals and end users attributed the unsatisfactory project outcome to insufficient training



bull Work duplication due to incompatible systems

After the adoption of the Fourth Shift package there were three informashytion systems operating concurrently in DESS a DOS-based procurement system the purchasing module from SAP and the Fourth Shift ERP system System incompatibility became an issue as the systems functioned indepenshydently of each other The adoption of the Fourth Shift ERP package might be capable of enhancing operational efficiency and saving considerable resources however the new system proved to be unreliable A Material Assistant complained

The new system was unstable The data often disappeared for no reason I had no choice but to look for the original data sheet in the sea of files again

As a consequence the Procurement Department reverted to the previous information system built on DOS format This helped to solve the probshylem of data loss but the DOS-based system was not user-friendly as most employees were apparently more familiar with Windows Furthermore end users had to input the same set of data into two separate systems

Other duplications also occurred in the Purchasing Department which had adopted an ERP module from SAP The SAP module and Fourth Shifts ERP system which was adopted by the rest of the company were incompatible As a result users in the Purchasing Department became very frustrated

Incompatibility between the two systems created extra work for us We had to perform data input twice as we needed to feed data into the two stand-alone systems respectively (ie SAPs purchasing module and Fourth Shifts ERP system)

Within DESS the lack of tie-up among the three separate systems led to more duplication in operation and management The diverse enterprise systems adopted by other Delphi subsidiaries also impeded smooth inforshymation sharing and exchange between them and DESS

By the time we conducted our study DESS had used the Fourth Shift package for approximately 5 years DESS had adapted itself to the system and managed to reap the benefits of ERP mdash reduced operational cost and enhanced business efficiency However the IT manager still considered


the package a pain in the neck due to the misfit between the Fourth Shift system and other systems operating at the company Furthermore the Fourth Shift system had not been fully explored and utilized as some modules or system functions still remained underused

Mini Case 4 Harman Electronics Suzhou

Background

Harman International is an American conglomerate in music equipment producing an extensive range of high-resolution audio and video products which include loudspeakers amplifiers tuners digital signal processors mixing consoles microphones headphones DVD players CD players and recorders navigation systems for cars and video products for both autoshymobiles and households An array of legendary brand names belongs to the company mdash Harman Kardon JBL Infinity Mark Levinson Becker AKG Soundcraft Lexicon and many others The diverse products are widely used by consumers in their homes cars or with their personal computer and by businesses for commercial purposes such as in recording studios concert halls or movie theaters Harman Electronics makes more than half of its sales outside the United States Among its huge customer base are many world prestigious companies such as Daimler-Chrysler BMW Porsche Apple and Compaq even the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and the Vienna Opera House are its clients Harman owns state-of-the-art facilities in North America Europe and Asia In 2000 Harman entered the Chinese market by establishing a manufacturing factory of 400 employees in Suzhou

ERP Implementation


In order to improve co-ordination between departments and business effishyciency Harman Electronics had to invest in an ERP system at its Suzhou subsidiary UFsoft (known as Yong You in China) a local provider of various popular enterprise software systems was selected as the ERP vendor UFsoft recommended Harman Electronics Suzhou (HES) its U8 system a newly launched ERP product developed to compete against foreign competitors


At that time HES did not have any legacy systems or established business processes Therefore it designed its operational procedures in accordance with the ERP package As a result there was a high degree of alignment and compatibility between U8 and the companys operations


In February 2002 HES implemented the entire U8 ERP system


HES did not conduct any large-scale training for its staff on using the U8 system rather it strongly encouraged employees to familiarize themshyselves with the new system through self-learning and peer learning Self-study proved to be an effective and preferred way of learning among young employees who made up the majority of HES An end user in the Finance Department commented

A formal training session would definitely make me bored and more importantly I preferred to take my own initiatives

On the other hand peer learning was largely enabled and facilitated by the warm and friendly culture at HES Employees regarded the company as their second home A young informant suggested

Most of my colleagues were my age and we had a lot in common It did not take very long to get used to the new environment when I first joined the company

Discussion among peers in the same department led to better understanding of the system An informant described

In fact the system was not complicated at all Each time I ran into a problem I could easily tackle it by discussing it with my co-workers On most occasions we did not need to call the vendors for help

Users were motivated in their exploration of the new system They actively provided feedback to the project team for the purpose of system optimizashytion One member of the project team explained

The end users mostly IT-savvy young people knew the system well and would always provide constructive feedback regarding system functionality and any mismatches between the system and business operations

Gary Ran and Adela Jun Wen Chen 43

bull Vendor relationship

Throughout system implementation HES and UFsoft maintained a pleasshyant and reciprocal relationship As an established ERP vendor UFsoft had technical support offices in most parts of China UFsoft pledged to provide timely and efficient support at a competitive price An informant from the ERP implementation team noted

The cooperation with UFsoft was very satisfying and effective because they were nice people and provided great service

UFsoft viewed the U8 implementation at HES as a pilot test of its new product A team was assigned to fully support the U8 project proactively collecting and solving any emerging issue Such learning was crucial to any further improvement of the U8 package According to the IT manager the co-operative relationship with UFsoft played a fundamental role in the project success A project team member illustrated

Our team reported the problems encountered during implemenshytation to our vendors in a timely fashion UFsoft appreciated such efficient feedback They also obtained valuable information for fine-tuning the new product Obviously both sides benefited from the reciprocal interaction

Postimplementation

After the U8 system had gone live it did not take very long before the sysshytem started to stabilize and perform to HESs satisfaction An HES director commented

The ERP package was a successful investment in terms of its suitshyability reasonable cost vendor support and the efficiency it brought to the company

The CIO agreed

We did make a wise choice mdash selecting a local package rather than rushing for a foreign brand The package fitted very well into HESs


operations Most importantly the local vendor provided as good a service as can be expected from foreign ERP companies

Concluding Remarks

Despite its potential the ERP system is considered one of the most difshyficult systems to implement to date The risk of implementing an ERP package in China is even higher due to the relatively nonstandard manshyagement mechanisms and business processes present in most Chinese comshypanies This study has examined ERP adoption issues associated with organizations implementing ERP systems in China Through our field study at four companies in China we have derived empirical insights The trajectory and rationale behind ERP adoption are different at the four companies but we hope these cases have presented a more comshyplete picture of ERP projects and their related issues in organizations in China

This study has also aimed to shed light on some unique features relating to ERP implementation in China For example ownership structure can be an important issue since foreign-owned companies tend to follow the same ERP system adopted by their headquarters Furthermore various pershyspectives on ERP adoption may determine the types of end-user training programs and business process re-engineering processes in companies We believe that the empirical findings from the study will provide a more comshyplete overview of ERP adoption especially to foreign enterprises in China or those who are contemplating to invest in ERP systems

Finally we are convinced that this study is useful since there is very little research on ERP implementations in a developing country such as China and there can be no questions about the importance of a deeper understanding of the ERP implementation model for China Finally we suggest that further research should examine both locally developed ERP systems and locally owned companies in a developing country to confirm whether our findings apply Future research should also investigate the obstacles in ERP implementation faced by foreign-owned companies and locally owned companies and assess how the problems may affect the integrated ERP implementation model for a developing country such as China

Gary f^n anof ofeFa 7^n Wn Cen 45

L H e w doe^ enterprise ownership stmcture ie $tateôwned entershy

prise privately own enterprise foreign enterprise^ and joint ven^

ture affect the E R P implementation process

2 W h a t ate the major characteristics that can be identified in a

typical Chinese E R P project

3 What are the ampetors that contribute to successM E R P adoption in

Chinese organizations Explain their inAuenees in various phages

of an E R P project

4 What are the roles played by positive internal and external relashy

tionships in an E R P project Explain with examples

5 D o you think Business Process Reengineering is important to a

successful E R P project in the Chinese setting

6 H o w would you develop a cost-eampdent and elective E R P training

program by building and utilising networks and relationships

7 H o w does the Chinese culture affect E R P implementation H o w

do you rate the important roe played hy the cultural factor when

implement m g ERP in China and in Western contexts

8 Given the national and organizational contexts in this stndy how

wiM you design an appropriate ERP impementation strategy for

China

Teaching Note^

M e amp x M o g y

The study was conducted over a period of 2 months from May to

July 2002 Empiricat data were collected through interviews and from

secondary data such as participant observations press releases and

documentations Interviews formed the bulk of our evidence fotlow

ing a ptot study conducted in the initial two weeks semistmctured

interviews were conducted with iO-1 informants in each company

As part of the Aeldwork^ the researcher atso attended group meetings

and informal social activiues After the on-site study the researcher

Gary Pan and Adela jun Wen Chen 45


continued to keep regular contacts with relevant stakeholders in the four companies through telephone and emails so as lo verify and confirm the qualitative data collected


This case is suitahle for use hy undergraduate students or MRA level candidates in enterprise sysrems courses This case could he used for a discussion on social and organizational issues involved in an HRP adoption project Instructors will find this case study useful and interesting when drawing comparisons hetween ERP projects impleshymented in developed and developing countries lrom the perspecshytive of an IT projeel the case further reveals some challenges which foreign investors face in China The prohlems of implementing IT projects in the Chinese context will make a fascinating lopic for class discussion

CASE 3

Enterprise Resource Planning Project Failure in Maxima Inc

Sook Wan LEE

Company Background

Maxima Inc (a pseudonym) is a Singapore-based holding company started in 1993 by the CEO Mr Chen and six of his associates It started off as a seven-man start-up company and over the years it has grown to a successful business with a staff strength of 280 by 2000 Maximas primary business revolves around the distribution of electronics and providing solutions for IT industries Maxima Inc has five subsidiaries under its corporate umbrella namely Maxima Components Maxima Technology Maxima Electronics Maxima Investment Pte Ltd and Maxima Networks Pte Ltd

Each of the subsidiaries operates independently having its own manageshyment and operational policies The subsidiaries however are responsible for achieving the profit and revenue targets set by the parent company Maxima Inc serves as a centralized financial controller providing guidshyance and advice in the strategic planning of each subsidiary The company achieved S$300 million in sales revenue in 2000 and this figure has been increasing annually with an impressive 142 increase in sales in 2001 compared to the previous year

The Need for an ERP System

In 1999 the e-commerce boom was in full swing with many companies making a bid for a slice of the lucrative market Businesses were investing in strategic information systems to ride the e-commerce wave Many comshypanies in Singapore and in the region were not far behind In particular there was almost hype in adjusting business processes and establishing

47

48 Enterprise Resource Planning Project Failure in Maxima Inc

information systems capable of coping with the needs of e-commerce Along with the apparent need for e-commerce presence the need for an enterprise-wide system also increased In particular businesses needed to establish a backend infrastructure that could cope with the data and sysshytem needs of E-commerce activities Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages were believed by many as the solution to the needs of many busishyness organizations These integrated system packages catered to the needs of many businesses by providing ready modules for various business funcshytions and they could be customized to the specification of each company As recalled by the IT manager of Maxima

At that time many in the industry were talking about the need to integrate business processes and functions in order to take advantage of the potential business benefits of e-commerce We too were seriously considering an enterprise-wide system in order to help streamline our business processes and integrate our work practices better

Indeed it was not long before the company recognized the importance of e-commerce for its business to prosper and continue its growth into the future It was also felt that implementing an ERP system within its organishyzations would enable Maxima to better leverage the opportunities provided by e-commerce Some of the commonly used ERP packages in the indusshytries included JD Edwards which was mainly used in high-tech electronics industries the Oracle suite of systems which were used in many indusshytries and Peoplesoft mainly for human resource related functions Others included Baan and SAP commonly used in many of the large industries spanning many functional areas

While Maxima started business operations in 1993 most of the papershywork was done manually through the years until 1997 Before then the company had no integrated software system to manage its business funcshytions and work processes By 1997 the management recognized the need for a business information system and decided to buy ACCPAC (accounting software) for use at its Finance department They also bought another off-the-shelf application Computerized Information Management Operating System (CIMOS) to help the companys distribution and Return Mateshyrial Authorization (RMA) process Even with these two systems in place manual work was still required as the two systems were not integrated

Sook Wan Lee 49

In May 1999 the management decided to embark on a two-million-

dollar project to implement an ERP system that would cover the area of

order fulfillment finance RMA e-commerce applications and business

intelligence It was agreed that the system would replace ACCPAC and

CIMOS Being a fully integrated system the ERP system would also elimshy

inate most of the manual paper work The management envisioned that

the ERP system would be implemented to all its subsidiaries This would

gradually establish an e-commerce infrastructure that would allow data

integration across all subsidiaries suppliers and even customers As the

managing director recalled

We knew we needed to put in place an integrated business system to help us organize our work better We were told at that time by the IT consultants that ERP was a very powerful system that could do just what we wanted at the same time it would also act as an infrastructure suitable for our launch of e-commerce activities

In other words the ERP system was to be set up to establish complete upstream and down-stream integration across all Maxima Inc subsidiaries With an ERP system it was possible to bring many benefits to the organishyzation Some of the key benefits as perceived by Maxima were

bull best business practices which would provide a competitive advantage bull decision support for the management to make decisions with accurate

and updated information bull integrated information systems for data integrity and centralized storage bull inventory visibility for all sites bull efficient ServiceReturned Material Authorization (RMA) processes to

provide better service and warranty management bull an integrated financial module bull easier market expansion to other regions bull support for e-commerce activities with suppliers and customers saving

costs

bull availability for business 24 x 7 bull better service to customers and suppliers with online information bull streamlined business processes

The management decided to implement the ERP system in phases In the first phase the application was to be rolled out to Maxima Inc and its subsidiaries in Singapore including Maxima Technology Pte Ltd and


ERP project team formed

Ndw objective amp virion

Implementation partner selected

Oracle License bought

mdashmdashy QlOO

Project kick-off (July)

r= I Q201

t Oracle License due (May01)

0299

ERP

Q200

vendor

Q400 Ql01

Hardware comes in (Aug)

Requirement Mapping

Configuration amp Testing

User Acceptance Testing

Implementation (Nov00)

Systi i live

mgoes (Dec00)

-gtH-Pre-implementation Implementation Post-implementation

Figure 1 Timeline for key events in ERP implementation

Maxima Electronics Pte Ltd In the next phase the remaining subsidiaries and their respective subholdings would be connected to the central server in Singapore The third phase was to involve setting up the e-commerce infrastructure The business-to-business (B2B) applications deployed durshying this phase would enable co-operation with its business partners This phase was to include inventory modules Finally the objective was to expand business operations to the retail consumer market through its business-to-customers (B2C) applications Figure 1 is a graphical presenshytation of the major activities of the project

Preimplementation Phase

Selection of ERP Package

After establishing the objectives for its ERP adoption Maxima Inc moved ahead with the task of package evaluation and selection A task force with

SookWanLee 51

eight members was formed in January 2000 to evaluate the various ERP packages available in the market The team included the Chief Operating Officer the Business Managers of subsidiaries and representatives from the Management Information System (MIS) departments The team evaluated JD Edwards Oracle BAAN Damguade Exact Navision and Great Plains Out of the seven ERP packages Oracle Baan JD Edwards and Sage were selected for further evaluation

The evaluation process included presentations and demonstrations of the ERP packages by sales people and discussion of possible customizashytion of the packages The team also looked at the different functionalities offered by each ERP package particularly in the modules of sales purchase inventory finance RMA and e-commerce Other modules included the customized workflow human resource and reporting modules These funcshytionalities were mapped against the companys requirements and processes The evaluation process took 6 months

The evaluation team carefully considered the ERP packages and sugshygested the use of JD Edwards as a first choice for Maxima Inc The represhysentative from JD Edwards understood the industry very well and provided good suggestions on how the existing business processes could be translated into the new ERP system JD Edwards could also do FIFO costing a requireshyment of the Finance department of the company which Oracle could not Apart from this the RMA module of JD Edwards which was a dedicated RMA tool best suited Maxima Incs existing processes The Graphical User Interfaces could be customized with ease and were user friendly JD Edwards was also competitive in price and provided satisfactory support for its other customers in the region Additionally it was web-enabled To the evaluation team adopting JD Edwards meant getting a step closer to implementing e-commerce for Maxima Inc As a system analyst recalled

JD Edwards was a choice deemed most suitable for us In fact most of the technical people in the Industry were also in agreement with our initial analysis of the package

The team prepared their formal report and recommended the adoption of JD Edwards highlighting its merits Oracle was presented as a second choice after careful evaluation However the management of Maxima Inc decided on Oracle instead of JD Edwards This came as a surprise to the evaluation team as they had been tasked to evaluate the various possible


ERP packages and had concluded that Oracle was not the best choice for the company It appeared to the evaluation team that the management had made a deliberate premeditated decision in purchasing Oracle and might have pre-empted the evaluation process

According to the top management of the company Oracle being a leader in ERP and e-commerce applications offered a very good discount for its licenses Oracles reputation as an organization with offices worldwide and stories of the successful implementations of its ERP packages prompted the top management to decide that Oracle would be the preferred choice In addition Oracle announced an 18 increase in its revenue in March 2000 and the launch of a new web-based customer management suite in April 2000 which gave the Maxima Inc management the confidence that the implementation of the Oracle ERP system would be beneficial to Maximas own strategic plans for e-commerce Subsequently the top management purchased 50 licenses from Oracle for the implementation of the ERP system

Formation of the ERP Project Team

In order to ensure smooth implementation a cross-functional project team was formed after the ERP package was purchased The team consisted of managers from the various departments of the subsidiaries including Operations Finance Sales and Marketing as shown in Figure 2 The

Steering Committee

Project Manager

Project Operation Manager

Financial Operational

I Sales amp Marketing

1 MIS Manager

Figure 2 Project team structure

Sook Wan Lee 53

team was led by a newly appointed project operation manager He brought with him ERP implementation experience which was crucial as the team lacked such experience

Specifically the role of the project operation manager was to lead the team and consolidate the requirements from each department and ensure their completeness The team members provided the business process flow and defined the new processes to be used with the new ERP system They were also responsible for understanding the functionalities of the Orashycle system and defining how best the system could fit into the business processes of the company They were empowered to make decisions and provide feedback on changes Managers of the subsidiaries were responsishyble for the implementation of the new processes in their companies The team members from the MIS department were not responsible for defining the processes They helped the other members of the project team in the technical areas of the ERP system implementation

The project operation manager acted as the communication channel between the project team and the steering committee The top manageshyment was updated about the project status through weekly reports prepared by the project manager The project steering committee was drawn from the directors of Maxima Technology Maxima Electronics and Maxima Investment The other subsidiaries were not involved in the first phase of the implementation

A major change to the team structure came in June 2000 when a new Chief Financial Officer joined the company and took on the role of project manager Coincidentally the project operation manager also decided to leave Maxima Inc and his role was taken over by a project engineer The new project operation manager who was inexperienced in leading such a big-scale implementation faced some co-ordination issues when he came on-board In addition the changes in both project brought about conflicting ideas over the processes that had been defined earlier

Selection of Implementation Partner

Maxima Inc had a small MIS department consisting of three employees with no experience in implementing ERP systems Thus Maxima Inc decided to engage an external consultant to assist in the implementation The Oracles representative recommended two consulting companies to


Maxima Solution Consultants (SC) and Global Consultant (GC) Orashycle recommended SC as a more suitable choice between the two on the basis of SCs extensive implementation experience with Oracles products

On the recommendation of Oracle and SCs standing as a reputed IT sershyvice company Maxima Inc engaged SC as the consultant for implementing its ERP system SC also had the advantage of having operations in the Asia Pacific region and an ISO 9001 certification Due to the confidence the management of Maxima Inc demonstrated in Oracles recommendation SC was given a free reign in selecting the five consultants to be assigned to the project

SC was responsible for application setup system configuration and data conversion from the format of the legacy systems to Oracle-compatible data format They were also to provide a three-month warranty period for the system after implementation during which any arising problems were to be resolved immediately Maxima also agreed with SC that there would be no software modification in the ERP system or any development work for interfacing the ERP system to the legacy systems In addition there were to be only five reports in the new ERP system that required customization SC quoted a price of SGD$300000 for the project The project operation manager was to act as the interface between the project team and the implementation partner passing on the process design mapped out by the project team to SC

Implementation Phase

The project was based in Singapore With the vision of having an integrated network the management of Maxima Inc assumed that the directors of each subsidiary would be able to provide the requirements of their respecshytive subholdings in different countries and ensure that those requirements were properly addressed in the new business processes defined by the project team However the project did not progressed as expected by the manageshyment In fact the business processes of subholdings in different countries varied because they ran independently and many were country-specific requirements Furthermore the respective directors from the various sub-holdings had not been consulted on the requirements of their units As one of the directors commented

Sook Wan Lee 55

Why do we need to use an expensive ERP which does not fit well with our business processes at all We are in the business of practishycality we do not need anything too fancy

Another major drawback was the integration of the ERP modules used by the subholdings in other countries These modules required an affordable infrastructure to integrate with the head office in Singapore which was not available in many developing countries in Southeast Asia where the subholdings operated The subholdings also realized that the high cost of purchasing new hardware and software was affecting their expenditure budget and thus were reluctant to implement such changes Although the problem was brought to the notice of the project manager and the steering committee the top management decided to continue with the implementation The management simply expected the subholdings to cope with the infrastructure issues that arose

The RMA module was important to Maxima Inc as it would proshycess information on returned goods The company had been satisfied with the CIMOS system because it provided an easy and adequate system to track an item and monitor the inventory level In CIMOS it was posshysible to enter and track returned items with individual serial numbers through a batch identification code Using the Oracle ERP package howshyever users had to create a line item for each of the returned goods which required greater effort in data input and was prone to errors As commented by a user

It is often difficult to decide on the better choice when the best practices are compared with the competitive advantages of current practices Initially the project team was eager to study the processes implemented in Oracles ERP package and was willing to change the companys processes accordingly

However there were some processes that Maxima Inc did not want to change as they were considered to be a competitive advantage A good example of this is the finance module Oracle used the weighted average method instead of FIFO for costing Maxima Inc had used FIFO which had served the company well over the years The Finance department initially agreed to use the average weighted method because SC insisted against modifying the ERP software to accommodate the use of the FIFO


method However shortly after the implementation the Finance departshyment realized that FIFO was a better choice and convinced the MIS departshyment to make the necessary changes

The available workarounds were tedious and increased processing time For example in the new system to create a return order they would have to do 40 steps compared to 16 in the legacy system As a result the RMA module was dropped from the project scope One of the users of the RMA module commented

If JD Edwards were deployed they could have customized the packshyage to meet our business requirements Also JD Edwards is well known in the distribution industry whereas Oracle is more popular among manufacturing companies

This became a serious problem Since the project team was itself not conshyvinced that the best business practices defined in the Oracle ERP package could fully support the business processes of the company they could not convince users to accept the processes in the new ERP system

Incompetent SC Consultants

During the course of the implementation process Maxima Inc was frusshytrated by the inexperience of the SC consultants One of the five consulshytants assigned to the project was experienced in the ERP system while the rest were fresh graduates who had recently joined SC The consultants were also frequently replaced by SC which led to discontinuity in project impleshymentation knowledge Often the consultants took a long time to answer queries from users at Maxima Inc during the implementation process The project manager observed

They were not confident in answering our questions they seemed to have no experience in this type of projects and often took a few days to get back to us

The consultants also did not have the required knowledge in the distribushytion process RMA and finance modules In fact it was the first time SC was implementing the RMA module of the ERP system The consultants were undergoing training at Oracle even as they were implementing the system at Maxima Inc The consultants also failed to provide useful suggesshytions on process improvement best practices and business requirements

Sook Wan Lee 57

For example as a project member observed the workaround solutions sugshygested by the consultants proved useless to Maxima Inc

To make matters worse the consultants lack of technical knowledge in handling tape backup led to the test server being down for a long time causshying project delays However despite the unhappiness between the project team and the consultants the management of Maxima Inc took no action assuming SC was sufficiently qualified to handle the project When the new project manager took over the implementation project matters became worse between the two sides Yet the management refused to intervene letting the project continue with all its problems and delays

End Users Involvement

The end users were not involved in the requirement mapping or detailed design phases The users first contact with the project was during the user acceptance test and that was when problems began to surface the users did not agree with the new processes defined by the project team even though their department managers were part of the project team According to an informant

The issues were partly caused by the managerial approach to busishyness operation without proper attention to details Although the organization was small the managers overlooked some of the details such as returns management through batch identification which led them to define a tedious business process in the new system

Data conversion is a necessary process when any new system is introduced This process becomes complex when it involves various systems and data formats Due to the different system formats at Maxima Inc data had to be exported to spreadsheets and reformatted before it could be imported into Oracle This was a manual process and prone to errors SC provided minimum support in the data conversion exercise insisting that data conshyversion was not part of its contract with Maxima The project team encounshytered many problems with data conversion due to their lack of experience with the new system and the data mapping that the conversion process entailed

The data migration exercise was not successful Only a part of the master data was converted correctly The rest which included purchase orders invoices and financial data was manually re-entered into the new system


over a six-week period Until the data was entered successfully the ERP system was not fully functional The company also incurred extra cost as temporary staffs were hired to do manual data entry

The Final Verdict

After 6 months of hard work the ERP system was ready for production use No customization was done to the Oracle ERP package except for the layout changes for the five reports as agreed to in the beginning However only 60 of the modules were implemented As a result it was not possible to replace all the legacy systems contrary to what the top management had initially hoped for The ERP modules that were not implemented included the human resource module and more importantly the RMA module which had been expected to be the crucial module in the new system supporting the companys core capability and business processes Also the ERP system was only implemented in Maxima Inc Maxima Technology and Maxima Investment The other subsidiaries and subholdings pulled out of the project for various reasons

In another setback some bugs were found in the ERP system after impleshymentation It was later discovered that the problem was related to the earshylier version of the system that SC had implemented instead of the version stated in the contract SC however disputed the link between the bug and the version of the system that had been implemented It also did not recommend upgrading the system because of the tedium involved The project team was very disappointed with the situation but had no choice other than to accept the older version of the system

Not all the modules passed the user acceptance test some modules were not signed off as their users were not satisfied with the results from the new system This was largely because their requirements had not been properly mapped As a user stated

I could still remember when the system was first made available we were having problems in consolidating the data in the same way as the legacy system especially in the service module This contrasted with the proposed benefits of the new system in consolidating data within the organization

Sook Wan Lee 59

Postimplementation Phase A Reflection

As part of the wrap-up of the ERP implementation project the project team provided feedback to the top management on the overall implementation process However due to the hierarchical structure of the organization users feedback on implementation-related issues was slow in reaching the top management and often filtered

Change in Project Management Leadership and Disruption

in Project Knowledge Transfer

The change of project manager and project operation manager contributed to the problems in implementation No proper handover was made during the change in proj ect leadership Also due to different working styles there were conflicts between the project manager and consultants The strained relationship further deteriorated when SC was unable to recommend a good solution for the service module and insisted that no customization should be done to the system

There was no knowledge transfer between the implementation partner SC and Maxima Incs project team Transfer was supposed to have taken place in the project phase but it was called off due to the tight impleshymentation schedule and delays As a result Maxima Inc would be very dependent on external consultants should it decide to create a new subshysidiary or subholding that the ERP system must cater to or reconfigure the implemented system

Contract with Vendor

There were constant disputes over the contract between Maxima Inc and Oracle First there was the licensing issue Licenses for Oracle were purshychased even before the project started Maxima Inc assumed the licenses purchased were sufficient for its implementation of the system However there was a need for more licenses in order to enable adequate access to the subholdings of Maxima Inc and there were restrictions to certain modules of the ERP system (attached to the licenses purchased earlier by Maxima Inc) The cost over-run in licensing was not anticipated by Maxima Incs management


Another dispute arose over the maintenance contract The mainteshynance contract was part of the initial agreements signed in May 2000 The top management of Maxima Inc had overlooked the issue and only realized later that they would require support from Oracle after the system went live Upon further negotiation with Oracle the annual maintenance cost came up to S$45000 Within six months of the implementation mdash in May 2001 mdash Maxima Inc decided not to renew its maintenance contract

Subsequently the downturn in the economy forced the management of Maxima to rethink its e-commerce strategy and the vision of having a complete network extending to all subsidiaries of the company As impleshymentation was unsuccessful the subsequent phases of the project plan were put on hold As the project had been managed in a big-bang approach it was almost impossible for Maxima to revert to its old systems

Questions

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1 Wlin in- si inn oi flit- lovuii on can learn irntii Maxima Ims liRP implementation

V I i ou think 1 lint Maxima I in tup manammenl maJe tlio n j u

decision in sekctiiu tlii- LRP package 4 Who wen- ihe stakeholders in this l-RP implementation pruieil

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wnJur 1 low can it be unpriced 6 I [bull nv Jul the v harigtgt- in pioioi i management leik rship cause the

project ro be ahanJoneJ eunt i ia lh

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CASE 4

Organizational Identities and Knowledge Management in India Inc

RaviShankar MAYASANDRA

India Inc (a pseudonym) is an IT services and products firm headquarshytered in India India Inc generates revenue of more than US$1 billion and at present employs more than 30000 people of more than 20 nationshyalities India Inc has more than 350 global clients to whom it offers a host of IT solutions including software application development and maintenance research and development services package implementashytion systems integration and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sershyvices Organized into a number of strategic business units called verticals (defined based on the industry segment of the customer eg Retail Manshyufacturing etc) and horizontals (defined based on the technology focus eg Microsoft technologies) India Inc has software development centers and sales and marketing offices spread across countries in Asia Europe and North America Between 1998 and 2000 India Inc more than doushybled its employee strength (5000 to 10000+) and with rapid growth and complex projects the demand for access to information increased dramatshyically India Inc felt it necessary to create a formal structure to manage its growing knowledge resources and to ensure that its organizational business units tap into each others expertise to achieve shorter delivery periods for its customers In the early days knowledge was shared and managed at India Inc through basic modes of communication such as e-mails and through serendipitous means such as cafeteria meetings and office parties

As India Inc grew rapidly in the 1990s its KM efforts continued to evolve with its various individual organizational business units setting up their own project related websites IT-based discussion forums and newsshygroups In late 2000 a top management driven organization-wide KM initiative was launched and a dedicated full-time KM team was set up with the mandate to implement the KM initiative At a time when many

61

62 Organizational Identities and KM in India Inc

vendors in the market were promoting myriad types of KM solutions India Inc took into consideration two important factors first its entire desktop environment was standardized on the Windows 2000 platform and second all its mail servers were Microsoft Exchange Servers which had led the company to build customized KM applications on Microsofts basic share point portal server (SPSS) infrastructure for intraorganizational collaboration

The head of the KM team reports to the Chief Quality Officer (CQO) and holds complete responsibility for implementing KM in the organizashytion Reporting to the head of the KM team are 12 knowledge managers representing each organizational business unit and responsible for managshying the KM initiative in their respective business units Six of them are full-time members of the core organizational KM team while the other six are part-time members who work on projects in different business units In addition a technical team comprising a project manager and five proshygrammers are responsible for developing implementing and maintaining KM applications The flag-bearer of the KM initiative is K-Manage an organization-wide KM portal which hosts various customized KM applicashytions Members are asked to participate in the KM initiative by contributing to the KM portal and by sharing their expertise with other members through the various discussion forums made available on K-Manage Typically members can contribute white papers case studies reusable pieces of softshyware codes and so forth The head of the KM team illustrated how memshybers participation in the KM initiative has helped complete projects faster

We built a reusable asset repository and thanks to the efforts of the knowledge managers and the contributions from members it now contains lots of pieces of software codes For example these pieces could be a whole set of important but basic Java codes Lets say it is a code that calculates the time of the day Now any developer who is building an application needs to display the system time All he needs to do is to go to the repository take the component and plug it into his particular application It is as simple as going to a supermarket and picking up what you need from the shelf Our repositories are so well stocked that developers do not need to write generic codes anymore

Another often used KM application is K-Expert which profiles employshyees with regards to their expertise making it easier for people to establish

RaviShankar Mayasandra 63

contact with experts who are located in some other geographical locashy

tion A knowledge manager with one of the organizational business units

explained

If my query is very unique I can send it as a postcard to everybody in the organization and hopefully someone will answer But the best thing is that this entire thread will be automatically captured in the repository since in the database both the query and the responses are assigned a unique query ID This feature has become so popular that people come to me almost every day saying that theyve got a great response on K-Expert to a troublesome problem

The success of the KM initiative is directly linked to whether and how often members utilize the KM portal for everyday work related purposes and for documenting as much as possible the knowledge created in their business units during the projects they take up for global client organizashytions Towards this end knowledge managers engage themselves fully in spreading awareness about the KM initiative within their respective busishyness units and strive to get members of software development teams to get involved with and contribute to the KM initiative Around the same time that it implemented the KM initiative India Inc also began setting up India Business Units (IBUs)

India Business Units

India Incs relationships with its client organizations continued to evolve throughout the 1990s according to the organizations strategic intent A key strategy of the company during the period was to progress from taking on typical one-off short-term software development projects to establishshying relationships with clients that involved projects over a longer term As part of this process India Inc set up IBUs with a few large client organizations These IBUs came in addition to the already existing busishyness units Each IBU would be dedicated to a single client organization (usually a large globally reputed company) and built and designed to suit the specific needs of the client organization Typically IBUs would not function in a one-off project mode Rather they would function as offshyshore extensions (software development centers in India) of the client organizations operations taking up long-term software development softshyware testing and maintenance projects Each IBU would be staffed with


India Inc members allocated to various client project teams working within the IBU Members would remain with the IBUs for long perishyods of time sometimes for as long as 6mdash7 years unlike many members in other business units who moved from one business unit to another frequently

Currently there are a few IBUs at India Inc each comprising an average of about 1000 members In the future India Inc plans to set up many more IBUs A few of the IBU client organizations are all in the same line of business produce similar products and compete with one another in the global markets The onus therefore is on India Inc to protect the intellectual property of the competing companies by making sure that all forms of proprietary knowledge stay within the boundaries of the IBU working for the particular client organization The head of the KM team noted

In our IBUs here in India we have our people developing software for large client organizations In many cases our clients biggest competitors also happen to be our clients for whom (too) we develop software So the clients are very particular that our teams working for them dont share vital information outside the team Of course at the organizational level we have very strong policies to ensure and protect the intellectual property of our clients

A knowledge manager with 2 years of experience in her KM role explained

Yes we need to be careful about customer sensitive knowledge To give you an example of how we handle this assume that client A and client B are competitors and that India Inc works for them as IBU A and IBU B The India Inc teams at IBU A and IBU B are kept within their own firewalls IBU A teams are allowed to access and contribute only to IBU As internal knowledge repositories and are encouraged to do so by the organization But they are not allowed access to IBU Bs repositories However both teams can access and contribute useful information to K-Manage the organizational KM portal

Members in IBUs interact extensively with their counterparts in the client organization almost on a day-to-day basis In fact client organizations also station some of their personnel at the respective IBUs to work as part of the IBU team to achieve better co-ordination A senior software engineer


at an IBU shared his thoughts

At the IBU level we are relatively isolated from the rest of the organization Over the last many years I think I know more people from my client organization than from India Inc

Compliance with Organizational KM in IBU1 and IBU2

The IBU 1 is a 1200-member strong unit working for a large global company in the telecom industry and IBU2 is a 900-member strong unit working for a large global financial services firm A software engineer at IBU2 narrated a recent experience

A senior person from the client organization wrote me an email a few days back asking for some information and I stopped everything I was doing and spent about five hours trying to get it for him Believe me even if a very senior person at India Inc asks me for any information I will take my own sweet time in responding But thats the way we are Anything for the client is our motto and I feel as if I work for the client organization rather than for India Inc Often I come to work wearing a t-shirt with the client organizations logo and mission statement printed on it In fact we also get periodic emails from the top management of India Inc hinting that we should try and show the client in as many ways and as often as possible how committed we are in working for them

The head of the KM team explained that even with the existing constraints that IBUs face for sharing knowledge on the organizational platform memshybers in IBUs could still make important contributions to the building of a strong organizational knowledge base

Consider an IBU that works for a client organization belonging to the telecommunications industry The way a telecom switch works is the same irrespective of who the manufacturer is I have seen people unwilling to share even general but useful insights into the working of a telecom switch because they are within client firewalls Now this kind of knowledge I feel needs to be and could be shared with the rest of the organization

His views were echoed by a knowledge manager who said

We have to guard against complacency The IT industry is such a dynamic one that the very technology which is giving us our


bread today may become obsolete tomorrow and some little known

technology may become hot So it is doubly important for people

working on rare technologies to share their expertise with others It

does not mean they have to document everything they do nor does

it mean they have to violate their client organizations intellectual

property But they can at the very least share their tacit experiences

through K-Manage applications

Knowledge managers trying to convince members in IBUs to part icipate

in the organizational KM init iat ive feel tha t unwillingness to share on

the part of members from IBUs may n o t always be due to concerns over

issues of protect ing the clients intellectual property which obviously is an

impor tan t requirement for IBUs T h e knowledge manager for I B U l noted

Members in IBUl are always keen on letting everyone know their

unique position as a unit that works for important clients So they

tell us that they already have a knowledge repository of their own just

like K-Manage and suggest that K-Manage may not be very useful

either for them or their clients In fact they think that they are better

off staying away from any organizational KM related activities They

consider the activities frivolous in comparison with all the great

things they are doing for their clients

A senior software engineer wi th I B U l justified his noncompl iance wi th

the organizations formal KM efforts

There is a strong bond among people in our IBU So generally

when everythings going on well in our relationship with the client

organization we are happy about everything and organizational

KM is not on the top of our minds Mind you we do put in loads of

efforts at the IBU level to share useful knowledge among ourselves

and our clients

O t h e r informants at I B U l and IBU2 too feel tha t wi th the close ties they

have wi th their cl ient organizations they tend to be isolated from KM

activities at t he India Inc level A senior project manager wi th IBU2

considered the internal KM init iative wi th in the uni t to be m u c h more in

tune wi th the knowledge needs of the IBU

We have our own portal for managing knowledge at the IBU

level so we do not find any necessity to associate ourselves with

K-Manage From a technical standpoint to implement the basic

framework for our portal it takes only two hours and the software


and hardware requirements are not huge either The best part of it is that depending on what we want to share and how we want to share amongst ourselves and our client organization we can customize it in two days

In response to what they see as the reluctance of members in IBUs to share and contribute even generic information to K-Manage the knowlshyedge managers are making attempts to gather the support of middle level managers in the IBU units A software developer in IBU2 who is also a KM volunteer assisting the knowledge manager in his unit commented

The knowledge managers typically go on a KM evangelization drive in their units which involves talking to middle level project manshyagers to start with and getting their support for the organizations KM initiative The middle level managers whom most of the project team members look up to then encourage their team members to start tapping into the organizational KM platform for their everyday needs and share their expertise with others in the organization

The knowledge manager responsible for managing the KM initiative in IBU1 noted

I am putting in a lot of time and effort trying to brand our KM initiative within the unit I attend most of the meetings that take place in the unit and communicate to the middle level managers the scope and reach of our KM initiative They in turn strongly encourage their team members to have a look at and utilize the KM set-up

In IBU1 a senior project manager heading a 60-member software develshyopment team and now reputed within the organization for being a strong advocate of the organizations KM initiative said

At least in my team I do not see any resistance to the KM initiative now But what we needed to overcome was the indifference which I was able to do by articulating to my team how we could benefit from the KM initiative Now for people in my team K-Manage is a part of their everyday work whether it is with regards to uploadshying documents or sharing information or re-using artifacts So we just need to clearly explain to people how they as individuals can benefit and how their project team and business units can benefit from KM


A software engineer in IBU2 commented

In units where people just dont care or dont see any value in KM the role of the knowledge manager is critical She has to do some serious selling of the KM initiative in the unit Also whenever heads of the strategic business units and senior project managers drive KM from the top teams are quite enthusiastic about sharing their know-how and contributing to the KM initiative In my team since my manager is very keen on KM it has become a habit for us to access and contribute to both our internal KM repositories as well as K-Manage regularly I guess its a part of the culture of our team

The head of the KM team felt that once middle-level managers who lead project teams in business units are made aware of the initiative and encourshyaged to contribute to K-Manage members in their teams would follow suit The knowledge manager co-ordinating with IBU2 explained

If we get these managers to talk to their team members about the importance of organizational KM our job is as good as done Most members in IBUs are always fascinated by the client But if there is a bigger influence than the client organization I think its their managers Once the managers tell them to do something they just follow because they look up to the mangers and respect them a lot I know its true I did the same thing in my previous role as a software developer in one of our units

A senior software engineer who is part of a 20-member project team in IBU2 initially had great difficulties in relating to the organization-wide KM initiative

I dont mind sharing my expertise with people outside the IBU but the emotional satisfaction I get out of seeing someone in my own IBU team or someone from the client organization benefit from my expertise beats everything So naturally I have been guilty of sharing information and exchanging notes mostly with my own team members or with the client Only recently after my project manager held a few KM sessions and talked about re-usable artifacts available on K-Manage have I been active in uploading and downloading stuff on K-Manage

Knowledge managers further opined that the KM strategies being adopted in India Incs unique circumstances are still at an evolving stage


and they feel that the organization need to find ways to accommodate the increasing number of isolated organizational units which appear to function as organizations within the organization One strategy adopted by knowlshyedge managers to accommodate IBU units in organizational KM has been to recognize that they are more comfortable sharing knowledge only within their own units and consequently facilitating KM at only the unit level A project manager heading a 30-member project team in VI commented that the organization would surely come up with more effective strategies to address the problem areas of organizational KM implementation

The KM platform is a vibrant place that offers scope for sharing both tacit and explicit knowledge With K-Manage we have made a start Slowly I am sure people will come around to the view that it is a very important component of everyday organizational life and the organization-wide KM apparatus in years to come will be the main contact point for seeking contributing and sharing knowledge

A software engineer with IBUl explained why he remains unconvinced about the organizations KM initiative

Well I guess such initiatives give the organization a good name in the public eye But I am totally tuned to my client organization and I am fairly doubtful if I have the time to get myself involved in KM at the organizational level

A senior project manager with IBU2 said that from an overall perspective the KM effort of the organization has made their unit more organization-centric in its orientation

The KM team has realized that the nature of relationships with certain clients makes it impossible for some units to get actively involved in the development of an organization-wide knowledge base But by talking about KM and its importance they have given us a shot in the arm and now we are more aware of whats happenshying at the organizational level and we make sure that we manage knowledge better at least at the business unit level

Concluding Remarks

Large IT outsourcing organizations are increasingly contending with orgashynizational constituencies whose creation and sustenance greatly facilitate business operations while introducing important challenges in the social


landscape at the same time Since an IT-based KM strategy at a fundashymental level is a call to members to invoke their identification with the organization it is best that members be guided in their responses to KM by a strong belief of oneness or identification with the organization Interestshyingly India Incs case suggests that identifying with the organization when responding to KM is a tough proposition for members given the tendency of rapidly growing IT organizations to create decentralized business units Examining the responses of the two IBUs at India Inc to KM and the strategies taken up by managers in the company to overcome the negative impacts of a stronger identification with client organizations should help develop a fuller understanding of the likely barriers to desired change in organizations for students and practitioners alike

Discussion Questions

1 Ligtr a few of the factors that influenced India Incs decision to implement an organizational KM strategy

2 Discuss the inherent features of IRUs that pose a challenge to KM implementation at India Inc

Why Jo you think members in 1BU1 and I PL2 identify very strongly with their client organizations

4 Ho you think knowledge managers at India Inc have adopted effective strategies to overcome the challenge to KM posed by IRU1 and I PI J2 Discuss

T Do you believe that members are justified in saying that they do not want to gel involved with organizational KM Explain with reasons

6 Comment on the efforts of middle level managers in promoting organizational KM at IRU1 and IBU2

7 How do you think India Inc should refine it KM implementation strategy assuming that it is going to set up many more IBUs in the near future

8 Do you think an organizations IT-hased strategy can reap the intended benefits if members identification with client organizations is stronger than their identification with the host organization Discuss


Teaching Notes

MotiiYUKMLs and Objectives

This case high lights how identifying strongly with client organizashytions influences members perception of organizational IT impleshymentation The rich empirical Jala presented here aims to help students think aknit how managers can guide members towards comshyplying with KM initiatives even in the light ol inevitable tensions Further by reflecting on how India Inc is currently managing the manifestations of a stronger identification with the client organizashytion on KM students can see the use or organizational KM in creshyating stronger identifications with both the host organization and client organizations For instance KM initiatives could lead to betshyter services for customers and a sense ol community among memshybers which could then have a positive impact on organizational identification

Uhbdquod

This teaching case is based on tieldwork conducted for 7 months over a two-year period at India Inc a leading IT outsourcing venshydor organization in India Multiple qualitative data sources were used They included documents emails the Internet field notes and KM artifacts Artifacts related to the evolution of the KM initiashytive at India Inc and documents of seminars conducted by the KM were made available to the researcher The tieldwork also involved observation of people in various work and nonwork related activishyties during which many informal conversations took place These informal conversations covered many different topics including lor example discussions about the KM artifacts and documents preshysented at a previous KM-related meeting at India Inc The main source of evidence was the 50 in-depth open-ended race-to-face interviews with informants cutting across different levels of the organizational hierarchy and conducted at different locations in India

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CASE 5

Enterprise System Use in Talam Corporation Bhd Malaysia

Say Yen TEOH

Background of Talam

We are a leading property developer listed on the Main Board of the BURSA

(Star Newspapers 2004)

Talam has been performing very well in the last 2 years emerging Number 1 in sales volume for the year 2003 (Business Times Singapore 2004) The company is considered one of the biggest public listed housing developers in Malaysia Its headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur and it has nine sales branches throughout the country

In 1983 Talam ceased its mining operation and ventured into the leasshying business for about 7 years before acquiring Maxisegar Sdn Bhd in 1990 After the acquisition Talam focused on property development and investshyment holding as its core business In 2001 Talam became one of the major players in the Malaysia property sector At the end of 2003 it expanded its reach after the rationalization and merger exercise with Kumpulan Europlus Bhd (KEB) Now after the rationalization Talam is aiming at a target of about US$ 400 million or RM 15 billion in annual sales for the next 3 years It has set its goal on being the largest player in the housing development sector in Malaysia

Top Management Style

The company has developed into a multi-billion-dollar business enterprise under the leadership of its current President Tan Sri Dato (Dr) Ir Chan A h Chye Chan Chong Yoon He is the most powerful and influential

73

74 Talam Corporation Bhd Malaysia

person in the organization owing to his controlling shares in the company The President imparts to his subordinates his beliefs in cultivating good organizational norms namely being goal-oriented hardworking creative innoshyvative loyal honest diligent and disciplined As part of the process of ensuring the company is in compliance with the above culture the President has restructured the organization to fit his ideals in terms of (1) organizational structure and (2) office layout

Background of Organizational Structure

In his ideal organization power and authority come with the ascendshying chain of command and control Thus the President introduced the hierarchy-oriented structure to streamline Talam Figure 1 shows the organishyzational structure

With this hierarchy-oriented structure the President and the Managing Director (the spouse of the President) represent the supreme authority that decides the organizations directions goal mission and vision With the use of enterprise system (ES) the President is provided with up-to-date and accurate information from all the departments to help him in his decision-making This information comes in the form of daily executive summaries generated via the ES Once a decision is made it is the top

PresidentX amp Managing

Director

Top Management

Management

Operatives

Figure 1 Organizational structure of Talam

Say Yen Teoh 75

Table 1 Different levels of management styles

Management Level

Chairperson and top management

Top management to management

Management to operatives

Management Style

Dictatorial

Management by objective (MBO)

open management

Democratic autocratic

managements responsibility to carry out the tasks needed to achieve the goal Even though the President is dictatorial in his management style he is highly respected by managers at all levels His Vice President (VP) commented

He started the company from a humble beginning and developed it into a multi-billion-dollar business enterprise He could not be wrong in this respect A successful leader must be able to take risks and dictate A company with too much democracy tends to lose out in the highly competitive market which requires quick decisions and firm directions

After making a decision or setting a goal it is the Presidents common practice to empower the top managers to carry out their respective tasks in their own preferred styles The President strongly believes in giving the top management free rein in fulfilling their objectives once a goal is set he feels that this will ensure success This management style in dealing with the top management provides the platform for middle managers to employ a democratic flexible and goal-oriented philosophy with their subordinates (refer to Table 1) In this manner the top managers believe that they can stimulate critical thinking innovation creativity productivity and efficiency from their staff

Background of Office Layout

A persons upbringing and educational background are important factors influencing a persons attitude thinking and beliefs According to the President a good leader must not only be positive proactive and goal-oriented he should also believe in open management as the foundation of an honest establishment Based on the Presidents personal values he has the office layout for all departments designed as shown in Figure 2


Assistant Managers office

gt

O 8

-M ltD

gt bulla

lt- CO

Exit


ltD

gt

O pound

CD

gt bullbullpound

ltmdash CO

ffi

o

Man

HoD office

Figure 2 Floor plan for all departments

Operativesstaff are seated in the middle of the department and surshyrounded by the offices of the Head of Department (HoD) and managers Office doors are always open and windows are not covered by blinds As for the staff they are not separated by any partitions between them The IT manager remarked

This office set-up is good I simply raise my head and look out from the big window in my office and I can see all of them I can even see their monitor screens and know what they are doing I like this type of setting as theres nothing to hide among all of us

Background of the Enterprise System

The ES implementation plan was presented to the President by the General Manager (GM) more than 10 years ago At that time the ES concept was fairly new and full of uncertainty Nevertheless after the detailed study and research done by the GM the President decided to take the risk in launching the system In order to ensure a higher success rate the President decided to hire IFCAs (the vendors) main property system IT consultant as IT HoD at Talam

The new IT HoD quickly got down to work With the support of his ex-colleagues at IFCA he successfully implemented the system within a relatively short period of time He also provided training to Talams IT

Say Yen Teoh 77

team as he had designed the system when he was with IFCA According to the IT vendor

It is easy for the IT HoD to train his staff because he knows the system well Talam Corp only took three months to implement the system and the IFCA team only stayed for an additional month to make sure things were up and running It was a quick and easy implementation for Talam Corp because they have the IT HoD

After the ES implementation the IT HoD spent almost a year studying Talams business operation structures and processes Post-ES modification was carried out after careful study and close interaction with users through the period from late 1996 to 2000 The main purpose for the post-ES modification was to alter and add functions tailored to the organizations business structure and process

From year 2000 onwards many additional systems were added onto the ES This was due to changes in housing regulations users requirements and management The purpose was to enhance organization performance as other companies were becoming progressively IT savvy A chronological overview of Talams ES development is given in Figure 3

ES implementation

rr

Post-ES implementation system study

^ i

1994 19 to 95

36

V

Post-ES modification

2000

- Payment management

- Title management system - Private-end system

- Integrated Foreign worker system

- Frango system - Intranet

|

01

1 - Web portal - Disaster

recovery plan

02 03 04

- Frango system (restructure)

- Mailmarshal SMTP (virus protection)

- Workfl 3w system

V __y

Post-ES system alteration

Figure 3 The chronology ES development in Talam


Since its operation the ES has been storing and updating all data in the company statistically it now contains information on at least 120000 purchasers According to the IT HoD

So far our system is performing well We hardly have problems of system breakdown thanks to our UNIX platform it is very stable and we only need at most three staff to take care of the entire system

The IT vendor even claimed

Actually if they have a very senior staff one staff would be sufficient to take care of system maintenance Thats what we are working at

ES users commented

We are very satisfied with the system because it has well supported the daily processes of the organization The main reason for this I think is that the IT staff had seriously considered our needs when they made changes to the system

The Technology Enterprise System

Talam has benefited fully from its strongly integrated housing developer sysshytems This bought-off-the-shelf system is not merely a tool but also a process that enhances competitiveness as it links individuals groups and even sepshyarate branches nationwide for the sharing of information and knowledge The system integrates the various departments within Talam marketing [including its three subdepartments subsale liquidated acceptance damshyage and credit control (CC)] finance and customer service action as well as the nine subsidiaries that Talam has set up within Malaysia since 1994 Besides integrating the entire property operation the system also provides users with the advantage to collaborate and make better decisions In addishytion it provides the top management with daily executive summaries so that the organization may make accurate forecast of future opportunities

This system has not only eased daily operations but also improved effishyciency at Talam especially during the launch of new housing schemes According to the IT vendor

With this system Talam Corp is now able to complete a few hundred sales-and-purchase contracts within a day mdash in other words a few minutes per sales-and-purchase contract

Say Yen Teoh 79

In the past purchasers had to queue up visit several offices and waited for a few days for the clearing of their sales-and-purchase agreements bank loans etc The system is now fully automated and computerized and this has reduced the amount of paperwork and mistakes significantly Now instead of filling up different forms with the same figures and purchasers particulars employees simply key in the purchasers particulars and allow the computer to generate other necessary documentations In addition the up-to-date integrated system is also able to track and manage purchasers information such as purchasers housing loan status payment status housshying ownership contract etc across geographical boundaries With the system customers are able to make payments at any Talam outlet or sales office For the system to run smoothly continual customization is necessary The IT vendor noted

Talam Corp has made a lot of customization Now they have even designed their own purchasing forms etc which are specifically tailored to their business operations They have made a lot of modshyifications which are beyond our knowledge

According to the IT HoD Talam has been so effective in its customization of the ES system for the special needs of the property sector that it has been made an offer to sell the system back to the vendor

The Use of ES in Talams Daily Operations

Figure 4 shows the entire property processing workflow throughout the departments at Talam mdash from the purchase of a unit (house) till the end of after-sales services For simplicity in explanation eight key processes are shown in the figure The IT department as shown in Fig 4 provides consistent technical support for the system The IT HoD summarized the core function of the department

Normally our main tasks are to maintain improve and design better functions to improve business processes based on users requests and more importantly to suit the changes and amendments in the Housing and Developing Act (HDA)

The use of the ES begins when a purchaser agrees to sign the sales-and-purchase agreement with the company First the sales staff logs on to the property sales module system to create a profile for the new purchaser In


Sub-sales

JT~

Customers

Sain (Sales amp purchase agreement)

Payment (from main branch other sales

offices across geographical boundaries)

Credit Control

Liquidated Ascertained

Damage (LAD)

hinanre

Customer Service Actiun

Crater (CSAC)

I IT Department

Legend

Main process

Direction of the main processes

F i g u r e 4 U s e of ES in Talams daily ope ra t ions

Supportive departments

Supportive follow-up processes

this new profile the sales personnel have to fill in the purchasers particshyulars including the payment settlement details Then the system genershyates three copies of the sales-and-purchase contract for the purchaser the lawyer and the bank

Second once the new profile is created the person in charge of CC in the housing project sees a new account in the property sales module system Together the CC and sales personnel keep in touch with the purchaser to make sure that the purchaser makes the first 10 down payment for the house The system allows users from different departments to update each other on a purchasers status A finance department staff explained

We are able to access the same customers profile So if any of us were to make a call to a particular customer we would make notes on the purchasers response the calling time and the date using

Say Yen Teoh 81

the MEMO function In this way we keep each other informed of the purchasers status

Third purchasers may choose to make payment at the nearest sales outlet or Talam branch office When a receipt is issued by the cashier to the purchaser its number is entered into the system Since this is a nationwide integrated system main branch personnel can see the information when they log in to the purchasers profile Cheques and cash collected daily are banked in by the dispatch clerk

Fourth at 5 pm daily the dispatch clerk returns with the bank stateshyments The CC manager explained what happens next

A duty roster is drawn up by the manager so that staff take turns to stay back every day to key in the bank statement numbers into the system

By the next day everyone can view the updated information on the system Fifth the data provided by the C C department is used by the finance

department A finance department ES user explained

We need the data from the credit control department to update our financial modules account receivable and cashbook sub-modules before they consolidate the daily cashcheque inflow and outflow

Sixth finance department personnel closely monitor the daily monetary inflow and outflow One of them explained

I must keep close contact with the credit control department to ensure the accounts are balanced by the end of the working day Othshyerwise it will be my responsibility to solve the problem Therefore a good relationship with the credit control department is essential for me

The finance department also has to take care of all the payments made to contractors and other organizations The ES financial module is their tool in monitoring operating and consolidating all transactions A finance department ES user emphasized the importance of the task

This is an essential task for us as the President needs to be updated with the financial statements in the executive summary module every morning Therefore our department is always tied down by deadlines


A daily financial report covering the companys business strategy investshyment and progress must be presented to the President

Seventh the CC module generates weekly reports by summarizing all the due and outstanding payments for the credit controller According to the systems list the credit controller sends reminders and makes calls to the relevant banks lawyers and purchasers to request for payments The progress statuses of all the requests are updated in the MEMO function so that all staff is provided with the most current information to help them better serve the customers The CC manager explained

By checking the coding status in the property management module we know when and which housing project is ready for collection

Based on the information shown in the system letters of notification are generated by the system and sent to purchasers Before obtaining the house key purchasers must make their final payment and collect the system genshyerated receipt and letter Purchasers can obtain their house keys at the site office by showing the site officer the receipt and letter obtained from the main office Any verification can be done by the site officer through the system

Eighth purchasers are given 18 months of warranty against defects in the house After inspection purchasers have the rights to file comshyplaints to the Customer Service Action Center (CSAC) department The CSAC department will then log in to the purchasers profile file the defects complaints accordingly and inform the project department to commence work within 14 days of complaints being lodged A CSAC executive commented

Where necessary our department mdash the CSAC department mdash can contact all other departments for any clarifications and verifications Since the MD has given the directive to all employees to provide full cooperation and support to CSAC in order to ensure customers needs are satisfied and enhanced it is easier for us to get help from other departments

Once the project department has completed the task CSAC is notified and a computer-generated letter is sent to the purchaser to request that he or she makes a second inspection The case can only be closed after the purchasers agreement on doing so is received

Say Yen Teoh 83

In relation to ES staff are reassigned and reallocated according to their knowledge and skill specialization in compliance with the ES structure by the Senior VPII who is in charge of the overall organization development explained

Because of the ES we have gathered all our finance staff who were previously attached to other departments and have reassigned them to the finance department This is in accordance with the ES strucshyture and it is also for the ease of management

Senior VP II added

We are fully aware that one of the main reasons why ES implemenshytation could fail is the human factor You cannot run away from this issue

Fully aware of the issues and challenges of ES the management decided not to go slow and not to have too many changes in their managing style According to Senior VP II

Employees would lose their confidence and morale if many drastic changes happen too suddenly We try not to give them too much pressure We adopt the most conservative management style

Managing the Use and Operation of ES with Different Management Styles

A consensus was built among the top management on managing the ES after implementation Senior VP II stated

We dont only talk about ES but we also talk about business so it depends on how you want to relate the business nature with ES Thats where we anchor our decision on how to manage the ES

In the case study we focus on the application of ES in finance departshyment and illustrate its intra- and inter-departmental social interactions The finance department is the most important department not because it heavily operates and relies on the ES but its department operations and processes also thrive and improve under the system Unlike other departshyments this department is in charged of the core activities of the company whereby it has to keep an eye on the daily monetary inflow and outflow


3 Top Managers

Account Receivable Manager Account Payable Manager Journal Ledger Manager

I 1 AR group I 1 AP group 4 JL groups

Figure 5 Functional structure of the finance department

including daily sales payments to employees contractors materials for housing constructions etc Given the momentum of its daily operations it brings up the most interesting social capital (SC) dynamics that could be the best elucidation for this study

The finance department comprises three main groups under three top managers account receivable (AR) account payable (AP) and jourshynal ledger (JL) Figure 5 shows the functional structure of the finance department

The three groups have full control and access of functions in the ES related to their own tasks and responsibilities However they have view-only access of other financial functions in the ES module The VP explained

The control is to ensure employees are focused on their main objecshytives job functions and obligations The control takes care of purshychasers privacy rights and reduces information security issues

According to the finance Deputy Vice President (DVP) AR staffs need to complete their tasks and post the information to a temporary file (temp file) The information is then imported by JL staff Similarly AP members have full access to the cashbook They issue payments according to cash availability as shown in the cashbook Once the payment is made by AP members a record is keyed into the temporary file JL staff can then extract the information from the temp file and carry out their tasks to consolidate the daily cash inflow and outflow of the company The finance DVP stated

These three groups of ES users are not closely linked with each other as no cross-work is needed between them

Say Yen Teoh 85

However the assistant accounts manager expressed the opposite view

It is important to have good relationship with your colleagues even if you are not in the same group because you may need their help in solving issues Working in isolation is not a good idea

Based on the tasks and responsibilities requirements the AR group is located on 2nd floor and stationed in the CC department The assistant accounts manager claimed

AR must have good relationship with credit control (CC) staff because if theres any cheque pending or whose status is unclear AR would have to check with CC staff So for convenience these two groups are located on the same floor

The other two functional groups AP and JL are located on 21st floor along with the finance department According to the assistant accounts manager

The main intention for this arrangement is to better connect ES users Through close interactions the AR group should be able to enhance their job efficiency

To ensure the smooth running of daily operations after ES implementashytion the finance departments top managers apply two types of manageshyment style First it is the execution of Management by Objective (MBO) to ensure department goals and targets set by the President are met Secshyond it is the use of empowerment respecting and trusting the ability of individual managers to achieve the set targets through their own preferred management styles (Table 2)

According to the finance DVP

I believe that everyone has his or her own style in working which is highly dependent on individual personalities Only they would know what is the best way to do something and to achieve the best results in their own style Therefore I do not want to control But I make it very clear when I want a job done

This type of management style suits most of the managers In reality manshyagers in the organization have high respect and appreciation of the finance DVPs leadership and management style According to one of the managers

The only reason that I stay with this company for more than 10 years is because I have an understanding and supportive boss He will not


Table 2 Managing ES use

Management Arrangement Managing ES ES Usage According to the ES Structure Users

Financial top management to six MBO and managers (4 JL amp 2 APAR) empowerment

Four journal ledger (JL) managers Democratic

Two account payable (AP) and Autocratic receivable (AR) managers

Managers would need to be motivated and enthusiastic to further explore the ES functions

JL members would need to analyze data from the ES

AP and AR members would need to key in data

interfere with my management style as long as I can get my tasks

done on time and show him the results monthly He can always log

in to the system to check on our daily progress through the total

collected receipts To me getting along well with my superior is the

most important reason for me to stay here regardless of the heavy

workload or more attractive offers from other companies

T h e managers response clearly indicates tha t the top managemen t has

used t h e desirable managemen t style to make sure employees are satisfied

wi th the company Top managemen t understands tha t ES users satisfaction

would likely lead to the willingness to co-operate and maximize the use of

the ES to upgrade job quality efficiency and effectiveness According to

the finance DVP

If you know how to use the system you could get wonderful outcome

by just keying in the right code and vice versa Therefore the bottom

line for the top management is to make sure managers are satisfied

with the management and are supportive and willing to continue

learning exploring and using the ES system

T h e finance D V P further clarified

The use of different coding and key words in different functional

sections leads to different data generations from the system Thereshy

fore to maximize ES capability users must have the initiative and

motivation to explore and learn to upgrade their knowledge in the

system

Say Yen Teoh 87

The other two different management styles employed by the six managers can be classified into two broad categories (1) autocratic and (2) demoshycratic (refer to Table 2) These two management styles coexist and are executed in the same department The stern and autocratic type of manshyagement style is particularly useful for employees who are easy-going and nonproductive As a manager stated

Some lower level employees are contented to carry on their routine work and return home at the end of the day and attend to their own domestic matters This group of people would normally need to be driven by someone or pushed by the manager in order to complete their assigned tasks

Normally those ES users who are in charge of data entry are prone to be pushed Those who handle daily data entry for the AR and AP are likely to be in this category The boredom of the task coupled with a lack of incentives and low pay eventually de-motivates them from doing a good job in the long run According to the manager in order to offset the negative impact the management decides to use authority and threat to coerce staff to improve their efficiency and productivity

The VP personally thinks that the democratic management style is best applied to employees who are driven and motivated Mostly such employshyees are more efficient and hardworking The VP commented

This type of employees would deserve their managers respect and treatment as friends

The democratic management style works well with JL staff They are in charge of providing the President with daily consolidated reports on the companys financial status According to the finance DVP JL team memshybers not only have a sense of urgency in submitting the reports on time but they are also generally more motivated and creative in analyzing the daily compiled data A JL manager commented

One reason that I enjoy my job is because my boss is very friendly and he also respects and trusts my ability But of course if you want him to treat you like this you must show him good results and performance We must understand the difficulties of the top management If you are cooperative they are very nice people to work with


Cultivating Consistent Organizational Practices

The top managers of the finance department have positioned themselves as the role model for their subordinates They find that this is the best way to cultivate a new or preferable norm in the organization For example in order to cultivate and encourage honesty and straightforwardness among colleagues the finance DVP plays the agent of change through his words and deeds By doing so he manages to promote good ethical conduct and at the same time reduce misunderstanding and unnecessary office politics which might affect the entire organizations morale and operations In addition two-way communication is also strongly encouraged in the department The top managers pride themselves in always encouraging employees to speak the truth and express their constructive opinions and ideas clearly and directly without fear and favor The finance DVP even claimed

I told my staff to voice out if I have made a mistake I want to know what why how I have done wrong and I want to know a solution to my mistake If I agree with my subordinates suggestion I will change Similarly when I disagree with my immediate superior I will tell him and give him my reasons If he insists that I follow his instructions at least I would have clarified my doubts honestly Therefore if anything goes wrong it wouldnt be my fault Thats how we work here thats our working environment here

The finance DVP explained that his demand for honest communication between a staff and his immediate supervisor is due to an incident which happened not too long ago

A new manager did not agree with the format of a standard report given by his superior and he secretly proposed his ideas to the higher authority by skipping the normal procedure Although he had temshyporary advantage in the matter he had unknowingly sparked off a huge issue in our department Over here if you dont agree with your immediate superior regarding his instructions or working style you should be honest and straightforward with him Issues can be resolved amicably But if you try to bypass your immediate superior and engage higher authorities in dealing with trivial problems you will never be promoted from the boss you had betrayed or acted against within this company

Say Yen Teoh 89

The finance DVP noted other rules that staff in the company should follow

The use of the right network ties would enable staff to resolve issues and doubts as well as getting help from the right group of people without offending others

In fact organizational norms which have developed and evolved through the years are considered standard procedures The finance DVP noted that the management would find it difficult to accept suggestions that go against common practices in the company unless there are good reasons to do so

Therere always black sheep in the organization no matter how coheshysive the group is Theres always someone who thinks that he or she is right and insists on doing things his or her way If it is a good move we would accept it But usually these people are trying to be smart and they do more damage than good

Setting Clear and Consistent Directions

Departmental objectives and tasks allocation are the responsibilities of the internal audit committee The two main tasks of the internal audit commitshytee are (1) to define lines of responsibilities and the delegation of authority A process of hierarchical reporting has been established which provides for a documented and auditable trail of accountability (2) to compile and update Standing Instructions (SI) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for key processes in all departments Both documents are reviewed periodically for effective management of the companys operations

With reference to the ES structure the internal audit committee drafted SI and SOP The SI and SOP have enabled the management to better identify the tasks obligations and network arrangements among ES users Besides being able to clearly defining employees tasks the SI and SOP also enable the management to enforce control on ES access According to the IT HoD

All department HoDs have requested that we set passwords to conshytrol staffs ES accessibility With the password scheme ES users can only edit and change information related to their main tasks Also they can only view information that is strictly related to their job functions


The strict system accessibility arrangements ensure that employees are focused on their main objectives job functions and obligations They also ensure purchasers privacy rights and reduce information security issues The system accessibility arrangements apply to all departments in the company

In addition in order to clearly and consistently uphold the assigned tasks among managers and also to ensure everyone plays his or her role the internal auditor is tasked with listing all necessary contacts guidelines and obligations for every position in each department The lists of guidelines and obligations provide a means of internal control within the company Again as the assistant accounts manager explained they are made possible by the ES structure The SI includes all necessary procedures on accessing information and is given to all employees The finance DVP commented

Everyone knows each others obligations and responsibilities clearly Therefore passing the buck does not happen in this department When errors happen I simply refer to the system log and check who had logged in when they had done so and what they had keyed in With this system no one can hide their mistakes

The SOP outlines the employees responsibility including their routine tasks For example the JL assistant accounts manager must consolidate the companys daily accounts into the system to provide the President and the top management with the most current status of the money collected This is one of the ways that ES supports daily routine processes in Talam

The two documents of internal control mdash SI and SOP mdash also formally bind the different departments together they require operatives and manshyagers from different departments to co-operate and support each other in fulfilling their assigned tasks As the assistant accounts manager noted

With the SI and SOP new employees wouldnt have any problems in accessing the necessary information At worst they may not be able to get the information quickly as the information may be provided only when the informant has time They might also need to make a few requests before they could gather a complete set of documents

Senior employees are not much affected by the SI and SOP mainly because they have been working with one another for a long period As they have developed strong networks and trust among themselves they rely on these

SayYenTeoh 91

instead to achieve business goals and objectives The senior staff managers and the top management apparently agree that this approach is suitable for the organization A manager commented

The key to working well with others in this organization is to respect one another be polite and more importantly not be bossy After all we are all working for the same organization so theres no point making life difficult for others

Connecting ES Users with Different Communication Channels

Since its implementation in the organization the ES has enabled users to post important messages in the MEMO function for their colleagues to access This has allowed information to be passed on promptly within the organization The finance manager commented

Without the ES they would have to call or leave messages on othshyers desk These alternatives are time-consuming and may not be effective But now with the system users can retrieve information as and when needed with the click of a mouse It is much more convenient and efficient

To ease operation a set of fixed codes is provided by the ES By using these common codes information distortions are greatly reduced This has obviously expedited operations A manager noted

I can simply put the E002 code next to the purchasers name When my colleague picks up that message he or she would know what to do with the purchaser The use of coding has significantly improved our job efficiency

The E002 code means ready to request for next payment So when a staff sees the message he or she can immediately act on the instruction In this way the system is able to reduce the information transmission distortion rate and speed up the departments operation process

Besides the MEMO function in the ES other means of communication used by Talam employees include face-to-face meetings telephone calls emails and faxes


Using the Appropriate Communication Medium

Face-to-face meetings are the most preferred form of communication among Talam employees The finance DVP feels that it is more polite to discuss a problem face to face with his superiors or his counterparts from other departments especially since all departments are located within the same 22-floor building He feels that face-to-face meetings are effecshytive and encourages their use among his subordinates The finance DVP commented

When a person sees you standing in front of his desk he cant avoid helping you or giving you a valid reason for not helping you

Another reason for face-to-face meetings is to enable both parties to proshyvide each other with the necessary supporting documents to settle the problem at hand such as receipts and cheques This is known as the quick relief method among Talam employees

Telephone calls are generally for resolving simpler issues such as sending reminders seeking clarification and doing follow-up between employees

Emails are not a favored choice for daily communication in Talam According to the assistant accounts manager emails do not ensure immeshydiate response as staff may not be connected to the Internet all the time The VP added

The use of emails may also lead to misinterpretation if sentences are not properly structured especially for those operatives with a lower level of education Thats why we do not provide lower level employees with email access

Even among the management emails are used as documentation rather than communication The finance DVP commented

Some people may shrug off their responsibilities by giving excuses such as I dont remember I didnt receive any notice

In such situations emails would serve as evidence of communication In order to ensure accountability and transparency formal information or directives are therefore conveyed in an email and copied to other relevant parties at the same time According to the IT HoD it is the responsibility of all Talam managers to access their emails daily For the convenience of managers who travel on business company emails can be accessed at the company website

Say Yen Teoh 93

Fax is commonly used for transmitting documents from branch offices to the headquarters It is mostly used by the main office to counter-check the credibility of accounting figures with the branch offices The finance DVP commented

For investigation purposes the branch offices will have to fax the necessary supporting documents to the main office as requested from time to time

Reforming the Organizational Network

While ES may be a useful tool that supports the organizations daily opershyations its function in other areas may be limited The VP asserted

ES has clearly improved business process efficiency and responsiveshyness to customers and users But it cannot function as a strategic tool to create additional value For strategic planning we still need human input especially from experienced employees with rich networks

The finance DVP also commented

Employees with knowledge and experience but no networks and who do not know how to socialize will go nowhere in this company

According to the finance DVP the capability to exhibit good public relashytions and promote good will in an organization will not only enable an individual to perform better but also enhance organizational growth The finance DVP elaborated

If you have good relationships with others they may help you in one way or another Sometimes they may give good advice or warn you about impending problems Once I was fortunate enough to be advised well in advance about an incoming request from the President and I could attend to his need immediately This speedy action subsequently helped the organization to successfully bid for a big project

However the finance DVP acknowledged his prompt response had depended on a number of factors (1) the support of instantaneous and inteshygrated data access from the ES (2) the good intra-departmental support from his subordinates (3) the good inter-departmental networks (4) the


establishment of consensus According to the finance DVP

Good working relationships with colleagues would no doubt assist you in many aspects However common understanding and consenshysus within the organization are also critical in crisis situations They help reduce misunderstandings and ease co-operations between parshyties and thus help achieve seamless business unit integration

Fostering Internal Collective Bonding

Good intra-departmental relationships are important even after the impleshymentation of ES The finance DVP commented

If you have good and wide relationships with your colleagues then they would be very willing to help teach and share with you their tips in searching for data and compiling data This is the best short cut to improving oneself as different people might have gained difshyferent experiences from trial and error with different ES codes

The finance DVP added

We seldom provide training to new comers They have to learn on the job New comers must have skill in looking for help because everyone is very busy and theres no time for training

After the use of ES the need for internal collective bounding is even greater In this company internal collective bounding cannot be enforced through regulations as the enforcement would produce undesirable and superficial results commented the assistant accounts manager To ensure internal collective bounding among the ES users is achieved according the assistant accounts manager she uses a rather different style in approachshying her subordinates unlike her colleagues Openly she shares her tips in cultivating internal collective bounding within her team members Creshyating a harmony workplace is the starting point for her subordinates to enjoy working together Planning for dinners and additional outings such as shopping during mega sales and paying visits to colleagues during each other festive celebrations are the second step By doing so it gives her subshyordinates the additional opportunities to know each other better Besides helping subordinates to ward off disputes and handle crises would also be helpful For all the efforts which the assistant accounts manager invested

Say Yen Teoh 95

she does see the changes and differences The assistant accounts manager cited an example

When our team is rushing for the closing of year-end accounts my subordinates would volunteer to stay back and help each other to make sure tasks are completed according to schedule

This has eased her burden and workload to a great extent In addition the

assistant accounts manager claimed that

Whenever they have problems they would just tap on each other shoulder and seek for help They would only come to me when none of them can handle as they know that Im very busy

However on the other hand the other manager uses a totally different approach According to him

I dont care if they like each other or not and I dont care if they can work along well with each other or not If they dont like each other they can always fight outside the street and I dont care But once they are in the office they must make sure they can work well with each other so that job can be completed on time

One of the finance staff from this group said that

We just do whatever he wants and go home we never have outing together Once the office hours are over we go home immediately

The worst is they even tend to keep information and knowledge to themshyselves According to the informant

No point sharing because no one even bothers to learn or know No one will appreciate what you have done so just keep what you know and it would be better

The power of shared codes and the use of accounting jargons in this departshyment should not be overlooked claimed the finance staff

We can just talk to each other with our common language for example when I say AP report error immediately my colleagues can understand what I meant and do it immediately by accessing the system to find out the problem To have common knowledge or share common language is very efficient and helpful in our daily tasks

Other departments may not know these jargons expect for those who have close communication with the finance department for example the CC


department would have no problem in understanding the accounting jar-gons adds the finance staff

In addition to the accounting jargons employees in this department would also create some nicknames for others to gossip and joke A n example given by the finance DVP

Today your old man didnt come Why are you so relaxed this is what I like to use and joke with them They know that Im not serious and we would not take things too seriously We know when to get serious and when to have fun After all we have been working with each other in the same department for such a long time this is our working life here and more importantly we find that it doesnt need to be too dull and serious at times

Establishing External Bridges

Good working relationships are not only important within a departshyment but crucial across departments as well A finance department staff commented

Be friendly respect and be polite to everyone that you come across This is the key for you to build or begin a good working relationship with staff from other departments

Using the SI and SOP as the starting point staff from different departshyments slowly develop their working relationship through frequent comshymunication and personal meetings As time passes there are exchanges of invitations The assistant accounts manager commented

We get to know new friends through our friends This is how we extend our friendship and networks It is fun and also important to know more people Knowing more friends might help you in many ways When people see you as their friend they will do you favors when you are in need

The assistant accounts manager added that the help could be work-specific

They may show you othet functions and usage of the ES which you may not have access to All these have enabled me to have a better picture of how the ES works in this organization

Say Yen Teoh 97


Sometimes when things are bad you can call up your friends in other departments for help They may agree to help or they may not But most of the time they will agree to help after some persuasion

Another Talam staff commented

Dont be calculative if you want to establish and expand your netshywork Try to help others and do them favors They will remember you Of course dont offend them they will remember that too

According to the finance DVP the formal networks set out in the SI and SOP could link ES users with the right informants The finance DVP commented

We have our own channel of communication We know who to call for help and advice Whatever info we need we can get it from the right source or someone can lead us to the right personnel

In most cases things are done informally The exceptions are private and confidential documents which must go through formal channels The finance DVP explained

Knowing more people from different departments would give you hints on the dos and donts of certain departments It may even provide you with the appropriate channel to reach the right people and get important insiders information

After achieving social integration employees would be better informed with the most updated news and gain better understanding of other departments operations and tasks They could then better understand and appreciate the vision set out by the President The VP remarked

Certain problems arise because employees do not understand the entire picture or the vision of our President But the higher the position you hold or the more people you know in this organization you would have a better picture of the organization

Concluding Remarks

Among recent ES research very few of them have explored issues related to post-ES implementation in particular the use of ES in supporting orgashynization daily operations from a SC perspective However the Talams


case study has demonstrated the use of ES in supporting organization daily operations from a SC perspective The case demonstrates the experience of an Asian organization which embarks on its journey in using ES to susshytain organizations performance and advantage in this highly competitive marketplace

This case gives an opportunity to undergraduate students and MBA candidates to reflect on the importance of organization social integration initiative in the use of ES The power of social inter-unit resource exchange in which close interactions among employees should not be underestimated as they may create new knowledge along with competitive value for the organization Facilitators of Information Systems (IS) courses should be able to leverage off these lessons in the seminar to help students understand the significance of the human and social aspects of using ES particularly in the context of SC


1 What arc the roles that can be played by the management to ensure ES operate perform and deliver benefits to an organization

2 What are the possible issues associated with the use of ES especially those faced by ES users in their pursuit for better understanding and usage of the system

^ How would you describe the nature of this organization What are the strengths of this organization that have possibly led to the success of managing and using the ES

4 How do organizations networks internal and external relationshyships assist ES users in achieving their assigned tasks

5 What are the impact of organizations norms networking and social relationships on ES users within an organization

6 What are the possible managerial lessons learned from this case In your opinion as a manager which aspect of the issues is more important to the organization social-related or technical-related How do you justify your opinion What would you do to further improve on the use of ES in anorganization

5ay n 7eo^ 99

[ 7 Do yen thmk shared vision and seames$ business t nit integration

) can he achieved after the integration of system without dose sociat

) interactions concensus and understanding btuh among ES users

) Teaehmg Note^

M ^ ^ M m n n ^ C n s e O ^ c t w e s

t This teaching case is interesting as it is written on a reativety tmder-

studied arena yet it is increasing^ gaining attention in the IS ltMdgt

[ especiaHy amp o m the use of ES in Asian companies t presents a variety

) ofdetaib ranging from the ways ES is being handted and managed by

^ IMamS empbyees

^ The objectives of this teaching case are (1) to iHustrate the m a m

^ issues ampced by the ES organization m managing the use and operation

of ES with diHerent management styes clt)mmunication channels

and organization netvork (2) to provide the manageria imptica-

tions of managing ES users and operation and (3) to understand

hov S C issuer are overcome and their s^hseqwndy contributions to

)everage the ESs apptication heneAts

The questions posted are to inspire students to have a ctearer grasp

of S C infuence on the use of ES and ako to encourage them to pay

more attention on sociat retated issues with regards to the complex

chaênges A^ced by ES users in organizations

MetMMegy

The case vas deve^ped fnm^ March until October 2004 via mukipte-

data-eoHection method through a series of events hke the initiat

scheduling of tied visits preset questions archival records and exan^

ination of documentations interviews as weH as direct observations

interviews are scheduled and carried o m timely with the ES users

from different departments including IT staff managers and top-

management ES vendor and Tdam s hankers



This is an ideal case to lie studied hy undergraduate and post-graduate students in the IS or IS-related courses It is also suitable for discusshysions relating to the SC aspects in contemporary organizations In particular it is best lor instructors who want to introduce students to the use of ES together with its complexity in the management

Activity In order ro better understand this case studenls are encourshyaged to answer the first six questions posted above The seventh or the last question is chosen for class discussion Four judges are chosen before the students are split into two groups (proponent and opposhynent) The students are then given 30mdash45 min of debate preparation and then lour representatives are chosen from each group (proponent and opponent) Fifteen minutes are given to each group for presenting their ideas

Assessment The winners are to he evaluated based on creativity and critical analysis of the question

CASE 6

Interorganizational Project Management in JTC

Mamata BHANDAR

There is only one constant in CT and that is change CEO of CT


CT (a pseudonym) is a large government real estate organization in Singapore established in 1968 It is Singapores leading provider of indusshytrial space solutions with a staff base of around 900 The CT offers a wide range of industrial and business facilities for all types of manufacturing and related operations Lately it has also undertaken several development proj ects overseas With a track record of developing over 7000 ha of indusshytrial land and over 4 million square meters of ready built factory spaces C T has earned itself the reputation of being the key architect of the counshytrys industrial landscape As of today CT has 38 industrial and specialized parks under its management including waterfab parks a chemical hub bio medical parks a technopreneur center and centers for start-ups Its large customer base of over 7000 includes local and foreign companies Apart from catering to industrial customers C T also provides housing needs for students and foreign workers with its 6500 apartments dormishytories and houses The board of directors of CT is an interesting mix of senior government officials and representatives from leading private sector companies and unions who bring with them a wealth of diverse expertise and perspectives

The CTs top management values integrity courage and commitment and ensures these values cascade to every individual in the organization The C T believes in having a shared vision To achieve that it seeks to inculcate a suitable value system in its employees Departments in CT follow the practice of job rotation to prevent work monotony Their Chief Executive Officer (CEO)s motto is There is only one constant in CT and

101

102 Interorganizational Project Management in JTC

that is change Holding that view he encourages his team to constantly challenge the status quo

Over the years CT has transformed into a learning organization that strives for excellence through a forward-looking management To assist in realizing that vision CT has set up an organizational excellence censhyter (OEC) The OEC has led the organization to achieve the Singapore Quality Class (SQC) certification Their next goal is to achieve the next level of SQC certification which is the called Singapore Quality Assurshyance (SQA) In 2003 the IT department (ITD) of CT was awarded the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Asia award and was rated among the top 100 organizations in IT in the region The award was given out by the CIO magazine In 2004 CT was among the top eight in the region

The CT has implemented knowledge management (KM) since 2001 essentially to capture knowledge and experience Through the employee intranet the organization cultivates sharing of knowledge in a number of tracks Each employee is encouraged to share knowledge or be part of a community of practice (COP) or special interest group (SIG) in their various business related tracks There is also a dynamic workspace to bind processes that require workflow routing Through the dynamic workspace platform for instance a design can be conceptualized and the experience and knowledge from prior experiences can be captured from employees across departments and areas for devising a design brief The design brief is routed to the management for review and approval and back again to the product department All these are then stored in the central repository The KM is also practiced in IT projects The team services department with a staff size of 70 looks into all project-based work For every project a black folder is created to store all relevant information Microsoft team services are used for discussions document sharing and announcements within the project team The software applications also provide a channel for team members within a project to share project issues changes and so on

Technology at CT

The CT has extensively leveraged technology to assist in its constant strive for excellence In order to facilitate the development and deployment of the latest technologies promptly CTs strategic direction is to outsource application system development rather than build the systems in-house Its

Mamata Bhandar 103

justification is that it wants to be proactive and to jumpstart IT applications instead of playing a catch-up game with technology Considering IT is always fast moving and constantly changing CT is of the view that for strategic utilization of technology the organization has to engage leading consultants who are experts in the field to execute and deliver its strategic IT applications

In mid 2002 CT launched an e-initiative to web-enable all its customer services The aim was to bring to its customers the convenience of accessing services from their homes and offices and to expedite service by allowing instant in-principle approval of online applications that satisfy the requisite criteria In line with this vision C T implemented several applications in the last 2 years the main ones being

(1) e-Kiosk self-service stations for its customers to submit applications online

(2) e-bidding of nonindustrial tenancies that has reduced application time by 80 (from 1 month to 5 days)

(3) A virtual community called KRYPTON for its 7000 customers which provides access to all its e-services

(4) e-Directory which allows customers to interact with one another (5) An option to receive electronic statements of account through e-mail

instead of hard copies (6) Six online communities for its unique customer communities

Part of the web-enabling initiative was a project called CLAPS that began in the year 2000 The objective was to web-enable some of the organizashytions main products such as subletting car-park administration etc

The CLAPS Project

The tender for the project was awarded to a Singapore IT firm The project however was abandoned 2 years after its inception The CIO explained

There were a number of factors why it failed and we needed to put a stop to that The timeline just dragged on One year after the scheduled due date there was still much to do The main players from the vendor side kept changing The vendor PM changed three times The vendor had some internal issues as well and overall the


project was hampered We gave them two extensions but nothing worked out So eventually we decided to scrap it

After the project was called off CT did a thorough postmortem of the project and took note of what went wrong It listed the lessons learnt from the failed project The CLAPS project came to be known as the successful failure and the lessons learnt were displayed on notice boards to publicize them to the entire organization Based on the lessons learnt CT effected several revolutionary changes in its IT project management procedures and vendor evaluation criteria

Some of the lessons learnt and the changes effected were

bull Making the user department instead of the IT department the key driver and owner of a project

bull Making delivering the project on schedule the key driver and singular goal of every project team member since delays in project are demotivat-ing and could lead to escalation of problems eg the longer the project stretched the more likely team member turnover would be and that would cause much knowledge loss in the project

bull Carefully planning and monitoring project management and delivery time together with the vendor so as to detect and correct delays as early as possible Previously the organization would state the requirements and the project duration and then let the vendor decide how it would make delivery The organization would wait till the deadline to see the outcome Now it would state the deliverables and also determine the stages in which it wanted the items delivered and it maintained the right to abort the project in case of delay Stringent checkpoints would be created to identify problems as early as possible

bull Maintaining harmonious relations with the vendor

With these lessons in mind CT called for a tender again with requirements

similar to those of CLAPS

E-CREAM Project

The new project was to be called E-CREAM (Figure 1) The two-year project would involve the implementation of a customer real estate and marketing system using the latest NET platform Web-based workflows were to be built for eight products (car-park administration lease renewal

Mamata Bhandar 105

bull w laquo amp J bullraquo -f i viz- I M

Figure 1 E-CREAM

etc) over four phases The system would allow the marketing of products and their maintenance thereafter (eg renewal of factoring space lease) Technically E-CREAM was to convert CTs existing client-server based system for selected products to a web-based system The existing system had been in place for 5-7 years and C T felt it was time to replace it with the web-based technology E-CREAM would allow CT to streamline and improve its core business processes The CIO said E-CREAM would also serve a wider purpose

E-CREAM is meant to enable my vision of single system access (SSA) which is what we eventually want for our staff When staff go to the office they get on to the web and from a single portal they should be able to access all applications (eg e-mail calenshydar news announcements staff service HR system finance system claims transaction-based applications such as E-CREAM) rather than having to access each one separately Thats my vision and we are on the web enablement journey


The project involved four business groups of CT the industrial developshyment group (IDG) the specialized part development group (SPDG) the one-off development group (ODG) and the customer development group (CDG) The IDG SPDG and ODG market their products and CDG takes over the support and maintenance of the products after they have been sold to the customer (eg lease management renewals subletting lease termination etc)

Vendor Selection and IT Project Management Procedures at CT

Being a government organization C T follows a rigorous tender process to select vendors for its IT projects Prior to issuing the tender for any project an internal team scans the market for suitable applications techshynology products and vendors The team evaluates product market reach the potential of a technology related issues current customers distribshyutors suppliers market share of the product local contacts references histories and so on The market scan report is presented to the manageshyment committee chaired by the CEO A project proposal is then put up to itemize the scope list the critical success factors estimate budgetary costs return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TOI) and most importantly to align the project to the corporate balance score-card strategy Subsequently a call for tenders is made To ensure that all tender responses are on the same footing potential vendors are called to attend a tender briefing and only those who have attended the briefing are allowed to participate in the tender At the meeting vendors are briefed on the project scope expected deliverables and other expectations to preshyvent miscommunication misunderstanding and discrepancies in the final submissions

The tenders received are then evaluated based on various factors includshying the reputation of the vendor its financial standing for the past few years customer references etc Referees for short-listed vendors are conshysulted for candid feedback on the vendors The proposed technologies methodologies proposed software and hardware pricing finances tenshyder compliance details items of noncompliance etc are also evaluated Vendors are ranked according to their weighted scores in the various cateshygories of factors The top four vendors are invited for further discussions and clarifications A final report including the positive and negative points of

Mamata Bhandar 107

each vendor and other recommendations is submitted to the management committee Following another round of presentations by the top-scoring vendors a closed door meeting decides on the vendor to be awarded the tender The bid price although an important consideration is not the sole determining factor

AVND emerged as the chosen vendor for the E-CREAM tender The AVND is a leading technology integrator specializing in Microsoft entershyprise platforms It was created on April 4 2000 as a joint venture between Microsoft and a leading consulting firm Although an independent comshypany its objectives are closely aligned with those of the parent organizashytions Both parent organizations support AVND with financial and human resources industry knowledge and business solution delivery expertise In addition Microsoft supports AVND with financial resources specific prodshyuct expertise deep access to Microsofts enterprise technologies and other intellectual capital

In all its IT projects C T requires a meeting with the product company This is to ensure that when a vendor supplies a technology it has the supshyport of the principal in the event of subsequent difficulties with the product Since AVND was implementing Microsoft products CT insisted on meetshying up with Microsoft for added assurance and support In response the C T O of Microsoft flew in from the USA to demonstrate total commitment and support for the project

Prior to winning the tender for E-CREAM AVND had to do a requireshyments study for E-CREAM In the requirements study it gathered basic requirements for the proposed system and suggested a feasible design The deliverables of the study were a report and a prototype of the system A small team of four AVND consultants conducted the study over 3 weeks In the course of that the consultants acquired a better feel of CTs requireshyments and expectations of the system It also helped them to get familiar with the environment work culture and system users in CT It was also a chance for the consultants to learn some of CTs domain knowledge and business processes This was useful since none of the AVND consultants had worked in either a government agency or a real estate organization On the technical front the study allowed the consultants to foresee some of the challenges in the project The study was also beneficial for CT as it was a chance for it to assess the working style and ability of the vendor


E-CREAM Project Team Structure

The project team for E-CREAM was organized into a three-tier hierarchy the steering committee the project management level and the working level The steering committee comprised of the CDG director as chairman the CIO as deputy chairman and the directors of the other DGs as members At the project management level the deputy director of CDG was the project manager Under the project manager were deputy project managers from each of the DGs and one from ITD The AVNDs managing director and partner were also in the steering committee and they had their own project manager as well The deputy directors of the other DGs were also in the project management team Apart from the main project team CT set up an internal communications team to publicize E-CREAM and garner support for it from all staff and to help users in adapting to the new system

The three-tier hierarchy provided a clear path for escalation and resoshylution of issues If an issue could not be resolved in a reasonable time at the working level it would be escalated to the project management level If the problem could not be resolved at that level either it would go up to the director level (the steering committee) The DPM from ITD was to oversee the technical aspects of the project and facilitate the implementashytion It was also a chance for ITD to get familiar with the system since they would eventually take over support for the system One of the consultants described the role

ITD played the role of administrator Actually we were not allowed to handle the deployment ourselves We made the specific deployshyment requests and ITD staff were the ones who actually carried out the work This is the policy in CT and it is very strictly enforced

At the working level the actual project team involved about 22 consultants from AVND and three consultants from CT The AVND had to submit the CVs of their proposed consultants to CT for approval The CT would assess each consultant before confirming him as a project team member Getting three CT ITD consultants on the project development team was a compelling proposition for AVND as they meant additional manpower inside knowledge of CT and the right contacts to get things done One AVND consultant said

Since they were on our team and we were so friendly we could get things done easily For example if we needed to log in to some

Mamata Bhandar 109

system they would give us the password this would otherwise have taken two to three weeks Sometimes they even logged in for us We viewed them as part of our team and not as strangers or spies from the client since they were given an equal workload and received the same treatment as any of us

CT also benefited from the arrangement Its ITD project manager noted

We reaped quite a few benefits this way We could leverage the expertise of the consultants and get a transfer of technical skills and soft skills back to our people The three consultants from our side had the chance to learn with the guidance of competent external consultants For the vendor our three consultants brought along CT culture business technologies and requirements So fewer miscom-munications would arise The vendor treated our three consultants as resource from us and as a result we received some price rebates

To obtain user representation on the project AVND required CT to appoint key process owners (KPOs) as project team members for each proshycess that was to be built in the system eg subletting application and lease management The KPOs were from user departments and were in charge of gathering requirements for their respective processes from across departshyments They also co-ordinated with users in other departments and conshyveyed the requirements to the consultants for implementation In addition they defined and documented requirements and conducted testing KPOs were partly responsible for completing requirements within the stated timeshylines failing which they would decide which requirements were to be incorshyporated into the system and which could be left out They served as the first point of contact for anything the consultants needed from the users and for any issues that the users had (eg difficulty in using the system) If the issues were technical the KPO would bring in ITD to assist An ITD representative commented

The KPOs acted as a bridge for communication between the differshyent groups consultants users and ITD This helped in shielding ITD from firing by users over wrong processes if anything went wrong in the process users would go to a KPO Previously they would blame ITD for any mistakes

The AVND also required that a functional area coordinator (FAC) be appointed above the KPO for each DG as each DG was considered a functional area The FACs role was more in co-ordination eg arranging


meetings for the gathering of requirements The users considered these arrangements very helpful a KPO said

The project management path for this project was very clear The consultants drew up a hierarchy upfront The roles of the PM DPM FAC KPO etc were clear unlike in CLAPS where everybody was simply pulled into meetings that were not productive

Although KPOs were the ones who knew the process best user representashytives also participated in requirement gathering sessions The KPOs were to contribute on policies and user representatives were to provide practical feedback on the actual use of the system at ground level After the KPOs had finalized the requirements with their functional teams the consultants would estimate the time and effort needed in terms of man-days for each development task For each module there were small teams of three to five persons and for more complex modules the teams were larger with 5-10 people Each team was headed by a team lead Teams had an interestshying mix with very few Singaporeans and the rest largely from Indonesia China Malaysia Hong Kong Thailand and India

Despite having three representatives of the customer on the teams and the interesting racial mix no one mentioned interteam communication as a major problem In fact one of the consultants said

Most team members were in a similar age group and we were all going through the same stages in life so we could relate to each other very well

One of the three ITD representatives on the teams also agreed there was camaraderie

All of us were pretty passionate about whatever we were doing We were of the same age group and most of us were not married yet so we could easily work long hours or during weekends where necessary I would say that because of our similarity in age interaction was much easier

All the consultants were located on one floor in the CT office block Although AVND had its own offices in Singapore it accepted the offer for its consultants to be housed at CT for the duration of the project as that made it easier to get information requirements and clarifications from the

Mamata Bhandar 111

users One consultant said

Some things can be done over the phone some cannot you need to meet up explain and draw diagrams Seeing them in the course of the work day made us more comfortable with each other It also helped in contacting and understanding each other We could have a lot of face-to-face interaction and often lots of things could be sorted out very quickly through discussions rather than through e-mails or over the phone

Another consultant added

The users could see us working Any time they could just drop by or ask us any question They knew we were just nearby The working arrangement was efficient and it helped us to bond with them as well

The users also favored having the consultants in their office One of the users said it led to more cooperation towards the project from the users

Actually seeing them around so often and seeing them work hard into the wee hours made us feel quite sorry for them When we went home they were still here It really helped us see them as persons and not just as vendors We understood their working process and sympathized with them so we were not so demanding We actually resolved a lot of things on the ground and very few were escalated because there was good rapport between us

Project Development and Implementation

The project officially began in June 2002 It was broken into four phases during which different modules would be developed During the first 2 months the overall requirements were studied a framework for system development was built which would serve as a foundation for the system Detailed functional analysis and code building were staggered Phase 1 saw the implementation of small and simple processes Phase 2 involved buildshying more important infrastructure for complex processes Phase 3 involved rolling out repetitive and most frequently used processes In Phase 4 the remaining minor processes were implemented

At the beginning of every phase the consultants would brief KPOs and user representatives on the project parameters and basic definitions so that users could better understand the discussions When the users had


to explain new processes or requirements to the consultants they handed them documents and walked them through the business process sometimes using sketches and drawings to explain Both parties asked and fielded many questions as they sought to understand and learn from each other To gather the requirements for a particular process the consultants would first try to understand the users processes and then send them any queries they might have The users would respond within 2 days Sometimes questions arose due to misunderstanding A user pointed out

Our presumption that they would give us something that we wanted would sometimes prove wrong They would say they understood what we wanted but the design would turn out to be not what we wanted So there would be a dispute and the PM would be brought in A meeting would then be arranged with the consultant If the modification did not involve much work the vendor would oblige But if the change required too many man-days to make a variation order would have to be raised to get it done

Variation orders (VOs) were raised when there were changes to the design or schedule due to policy changes or communication errors Most VOs for the E-CREAM project were raised due to business or policy changes at CT very few were due to communication errors

Since the workflows of the system cut across four departments the challenge was to decide what information had to be captured from each department This was essential since information that was captured inside E-CREAM upfront would flow to the people down-stream If the informashytion was not captured accurately the people down-stream would not be able to process their work correctly

None of the AVND team members had worked in a government or real estate company before and so lacked the real estate domain knowledge that was needed to understand CTs business requirements One of the consultants described how they overcame the initial hurdles

Most of us did not have much exposure in the real estate indusshytry So it was a challenging time for us in the beginning But the requirements study gave us a head start That was the time when we received the specifications and became familiarized with the clients jargon Most vendors go into a project without domain knowledge so there is a stage where you need to figure out what the client wants Knowledge transfer then follows not so much in technical matters

Mamata Bhandar 113

but more about the processes how they operate and how they funcshytion A lot of it comes from users they either provide illustrative material or explain certain things to you But prior to all that there is the tender where the scope and requirements are made clear and from there we work out the detailed requirements from users

The E-CREAM system was basically meant to convert procedures that had existed for 10 years into a web-based format The old system served as a reference system making the requirement gathering process easier The users were also familiar with the requirements of the project since they were involved in requirement gathering for E-CREAMs predecessor CLAPS

Unlike in CLAPS the users were extremely cooperative in E-CREAM A user revealed the reason

In CLAPS we were just throwing all our requirements at the venshydor consultants We were thinking that since we were putting in money we wanted the sky the stars the moon and all We also feared if we did not mention everything our boss would scold us We did not care if the vendors could deliver on time For E-CREAM we followed the 80-20 rule We insisted only on those requirements that we would be using 80 of the time For those that we would be using only 20 of the time we were willing to compromise For the frequently used transactions we also insisted on tighter design tighter validation automation etc

The users also followed the 80-20 rule as a guide to resolve timeline issues If there were to be delays in implementation for some requirements they would compromise depending on the 80-20 rule This attitude of the users helped the consultants since it was a fixed price contract and every addishytional day meant extra money The users were very cooperative towards the project and showed a positive attitude because they specifically the CDG department owned the project When asked if they would have shown the same cooperation had ITD owned the project as was usually the case one user replied

I dont think so If ITD owned the project meeting time would go up Also we wouldnt be monitoring the progress We wouldnt care if the system was delivered or not since we would consider it ITDs problem


Another user added

First ITD would not know our business process and they would simply proceed with the project without enquiring about our requirements for it But if CDG were the champion we could more or less control the project we could decide whether to go ahead or not

The decision of getting the user department to own the project was undershytaken after the CLAPS project failed and when lack of understanding and cooperation from users was identified as a key factor of the failure A representative from ITD said

Basically in the past ITD was priming projects and we had diffishyculty getting users to commit So once we make the user department own it the department director can mobilize his people to give input properly

The consultants supported the idea of the user department playing the main role One of them reported

Most of the time we interact with two groups of users end users and ITD It depends on who calls the shots In this project the users ran the show ITD was supposed to support the users and see whether everything was okay but the decision came from the end user Knowing that and knowing what their concern was and what they wanted made work quite easy in this case We had to satisfy end users and their concern was to get the job done on time

Issues in the Project

As in most projects finalizing the scope and boundaries for the project was a challenge Whenever it was time to get a sign-off for the requirements the users would take a long time to check and recheck to ensure that they had not left out anything because they would have to answer to their bosses later on They would go through the tender specifications again to ensure everything stated in the tender had been covered and to check if anything was amiss in the requirements They were not very IT savvy so they usually would not respond to a question with full certainty Usually there was one ITD representative sitting in the meeting to help the users understand the technical aspects and explain technical implications of the functional requirements So every time a consultant said something the users would

Mamata Bhandar 115

look to the ITD representative for confirmation The consultants liked this arrangement since they felt it helped build users trust in them

In some cases the functionalities defined were very vague and subject to much interpretation which required intense discussions with the users Sometimes arbitration from the KPOs or ITD was required to see if some specifications were reasonable or not since some business functionalities had serious technical implications which users might not see There were other disputes as well An ITD representative shared one incident

The specification said the response time was between five and ten seconds In the actual implementation it was 30 to 40 seconds so the users complained Bringing the response time down would involve a big change in the design and hardware configuration The vendor obviously did not want to make the change So we had to escalate the matter to the steering committee and let them decide

Another dispute escalated and became a major issue in the project which to an extent also catalyzed the project to completion It came to be known as the Phase 3 hoo-hah After the implementation of a certain workshyflow in Phase 2 users suddenly came back to the consultants and said the workflow was not exactly the way they wanted it The problem arose due to miscommunication of the specifications In that particular workflow users wanted a snapshot of the data to be captured at each point When the workflow was completed any additional change was to be treated as another set of information They wanted both sets of information to be captured and reported This was something that was not stated clearly in the specifications The users claimed the consultants had misunderstood the specifications It was a major issue because if the consultants were to redo the design according to the users requirements they would have to make major changes in the database design and the reimplementation would require another couple of weeks which would heavily impact the schedule

After meeting the steering committee the consultants relented and agreed to implement the additional work during Phase 3 of the project One of the biggest deliverable of the project was to be made during this phase and with the incorporation of the correction work the project fell behind schedule At the end of the allocated time a high-level meeting was arranged to look at what was done so far what more had to be done and how the project could be completed on schedule As Phase 3 involved


the implementation of one major process which was way behind schedshyule and Phase 4 involved implementation of the remaining products it became a real concern that the project schedule would not be met The top management took the delay very seriously and warned that if the project was not completed on schedule it would be discontinued

The CDG director and PM however was undaunted

Well work it out My bosses wanted this to be on time because it would mean fewer resources used and more savings At the level of the CT top management it was also important to complete the project early as there would be some restructuring at the top level every year and they wanted to complete the project before another restructuring

The CIO claimed that maintaining the timeline was important

It is a target that everybody works towards If you miss the timeline lots of things happen players change resign or leave other plans and priorities crop up team members commitments slacken and morale plunges when people do not see the light at the end of the tunnel

Eventually there were compromises on both sides with CT agreeing to forego certain requirements and AVND agreeing to a few extra man-days They also came up with a creative way to gather requirements for Phase 4 so as to save time In the normal procedure users were interviewed specificashytions were drafted and reviewed by users their feedback was incorporated and then the information would be tidied by the consultants to get the users signatures for implementation In Phase 4 they followed a different approach A consultant explained

For Phase 4 we did it differently We got the users to do the specshyifications We came up with a template and asked the users to fill in the blanks and provide any other additional content They comshypleted the template and gave it back to us It saved us a lot of time The users were willing and did a good job Having gone through three phases of the project they were aware of what was expected of them and what information they were supposed to provide

Considering that E-CREAM was a long-term project it had to take into

account organizational changes at CT There were some policy changes

Mamata Bhandar 117

along the way which required enhancements to the system being impleshymented Fortunately the organizational and policy changes did not impact team performance much A consultant explained

There was a very clear process to handle change So for the people at the bottom on both sides when they noticed a change they immediately knew what to do during the next meeting The setup was clear-cut and the change management process was negotiated between CT and AVND upfront

During the early part of the project issues arose due to the distinct knowlshyedge bases of both organizations The consultants were technically inclined while most of the users had limited technical knowledge So the consulshytants had to explain technical matters in layman terms One consultant explained

If a user wanted to add some columns in a database and if we told him it could not be done because it broke the integrity of the table he would not understand So we had to explain in simpler terms

The difference in domain knowledge also led to some misunderstandings One consultant said

Their domain knowledge was different from ours We couldnt see where they were coming from We did not understand why they did certain things in a certain way Moreover these people had been working in CT for 15 to 20 years so they tended to see things with a different perspective We might say Lets do this [a process] faster or Lets cut down on this item etc But there were reasons why certain things could not be done and why they could not be streamlined So I think sometimes at our level we could not see how certain things had to be a certain way until much later when we could better understand their processes

The problem with the difference in knowledge domain eased over time The users became more technically informed while the consultants became familiar with CTs processes so the communication between them improved The consultants had done much learning with regards to CTs business processes Initially they looked through CTs glossary and tried to find out what the various abbreviations meant Even after the requirements study the consultants knew only 20-30 of the lingo and only gradually


after each phase the percentage improved According to one consul tant

What helped is that we started small The core team started with

four to five team members and we began with the initial product

modeling These people had the chance to meet up with lots of users

from different departments This core group obtained lots of knowlshy

edge regarding CTs operation and its lingo When they formed their

own separate teams for implementation this knowledge spread to

the larger group

T h e consul tants also had to interact wi th ITD which posed ano ther set

of challenges Just as interact ing wi th users was difficult due to the disshy

t inc t knowledge domains be tween the two sides t he consul tants and I T D

also followed their respective dist inct sets of I T managemen t processes I T

standards documenta t ion formats and operat ional procedures Further

I T D had over 50 people so finding t h e right people was never easy T h e

knowledge tha t the consul tants wanted often resided in one or two pershy

sons and seeking out the right individuals was quite chal lenging in the

early stage w h e n bo th sides were only gett ing to know each other O n e

consul tant said

CT is a big organization and we had lots of layers to get through

to get things done When you knew the person directly it became

much easier For instance to change the database schema of a table

we had to go through a lot of discussions first But the task itself was

straightforward and if we knew and could go directly to the person

who had the authority to do the job it would have been done in

a jiffy Things like this impacted and could hold up development

work for a few days

Over t ime the relationships tha t developed be tween the team members

he lped in expedit ing project tasks O n e A V N D consul tant said

Good relationships with the users made it easier to get things done

faster From their side they would know from their past experience

with us that whenever we told them something could not be done

without creating major problems they would agree with us In that

sense their trust in us increased as the project progressed

To hand le changes in the project a central change management system

was set up T h e system logged changes in through a simple web site Anyshy

th ing tha t differed from the initially agreed specifications beyond a cer ta in

Mamata Bhandar 119

reasonable amount was considered a change Every week there was a meetshying to discuss each and every change logged in the database Some of the changes would not be accepted because very often what the users wanted was not in line with what the management wanted There were also regshyular and ad hoc meetings between the project management and the top management to assess the progress of the project The consultants viewed this positively One of them said

The top management was also always monitoring the project progress so they were very committed Even the team from ITD and the users were very committed

The CIO also demonstrated the extent of top management involvement in the project by holding weekly one-to-one meetings with the ITD DPM on the project On a monthly basis the project steering commitshytee reviewed the status of the project Every Friday there was a senior management meeting including the DG directors which served as a platshyform for exchanging notes on the project During quarterly performance review of the group directors the group CEO was briefed on the project At every milestone the senior management was updated on the progress

Social events were organized for the project team In fact AVND had a budget to spend on social activities that included the customers The aim was to lower barriers and increase trust between team members and between client and vendor An AVND consultant commented

The informal setting helped bring down the barriers among people and made the environment more trusting It also made us feel that our work in the project was being appreciated and that boosted our morale for the next phase


In such a long-term project some people might develop project fatigue since they might be doing the same thing everyday for the duration of the project If not for the social activities team members might easily drift and might even leave

CT on its part organized a social gathering and celebration at the end of every phase to recognize the effort of all individuals working on the project

The CDG director who chaired the project was under pressure from the CEO to complete the project according to schedule especially after the Phase 3 delay The project chair promised to meet the schedule As he


was the boss of the users the pressure mdash that schedule was paramount mdash filtered down to all users numbering over 300 This run for the schedule did ensure the project was completed on time However it also meant some compromises in the work An ITD representative explained

Along the way people closed their eyes here and there Comproshymises meant some standards with long-term implications were not followed Security was not so tight in terms of system control etc It was the system that was giving us some problems For example data patching users were not using it properly for some reason and we had to patch it down for them Technically we also faced some problems The system did not conform to some of the standards fully such as in scanning the database But the system was already implemented and commissioned so it was too late to do anything about that These were some ramifications of making schedule the key driver of a project

System Launch

The final phase was completed on time and the project was launched on schedule in January 2004 E-CREAM turned out to be a major success story for both C T and AVND The CEO of C T acknowledged the project as a success during the launch ceremony and thanked all who had contributed to it The CIO echoed the sentiment

E-CREAM was successful and satisfying to all involved

He also hinted that there were several factors that influenced the success of the project

User adoption of the new system proceeded without major problems There was some resistance from small pockets of people However the management and KPOs were generally adept in educating and training the users for the new system They hosted seminars and road shows to create awareness for the project The consultants felt the adoption was easier also because the project was launched in phases and the user interfaces (UI) were released progressively ie the UI was presented to the users 9 months later it was implemented and gradually more functionalities were added

All the participating groups felt good about the project and each group found favorable points in it The consultants commented on the excellent

Mamata Bhandar 121

user part icipat ion and commi tmen t

This project was unique in terms of excellent user participation

because in most projects ownership from users would not be that

great

A n o t h e r said

We had success because the users were committed and ITD was

keen to deliver a good piece of work Together we were looking at

a win-win situation which is not often the case All this I think

helped

T h e users trusted t h e consultants empathized wi th them and felt t ha t the

consul tants wen t out of their way to he lp them This engendered coopershy

a t ion be tween the two sides A user commented

The consultants suggested better ways for us to perform our job

They actually stepped into our shoes I didnt feel they were IT

people since they talked in terms of our business Not just myself

but many process owners felt the same They helped point out flaws

in our practices and challenged us to streamline our processes It

did not appear they were trying to cut corners or suggesting changes

to reduce their workload so we were very happy Later we realized

because they were so helpful to us they actually faced a problem

they discovered that our business processes were more complicated

than expected so we overran the schedule in Phase 3 Thats when

we came up with certain ways to manage our requirements

A n o t h e r user added

What really made us cooperate was we actually trusted the consulshy

tants We knew they were not out to cheat us It was indeed difficult

for them because we had tight time constraints

T h e users also appreciated the professional work habits of the consul tants

A K P O said

The consultants were very punctual If they gave a time of 930

to 1200 they would start and end at exactly those times They

were very disciplined and would concentrate on work and not

waste time

T h e C I O was also full of praise for the consultants

The attitude of the consultants was friendly They listened to you

and were attentive to the users even though the users could be


pretty demanding sometimes and might not know exactly what they wanted and might not be focused about project matters as they had their own work to deal with The consultants also did a good job building their knowledge base in our industry

The users were also aware of what they were to gain from the project and the lessons learnt from the failed CLAPS project were still fresh in their minds A user said

CLAPS had exactly the same requirements so we had prior expeshyrience After the failure of the first project we took those lessons and applied them to this project We knew what we should not do and we were careful in managing the behavioral aspects of our relationship with the consultants

The users also felt that having the management being personally responsishyble for the project greatly helped They agreed that when projects were run and owned by ITD users tended not to be cooperative since they would consider it ITDs responsibility to deliver on the project When users were made responsible for the project ie the user department director was the project chair and ITD only played a supportive role things were much better In fact this was a major change brought about after the postmortem of the failed CLAPS project The extent of responsibility assumed by the users was immense The ITD PM commented

The users were very careful in stating requirements and in doing UAT (user acceptance testing) since they would be inheriting the system eventually The fact that we had KPOs to do all the coordishynation helped in achieving a common understanding among users Previously coordination was troublesome because ITD had to do it all by itself

An ITD representative also agreed on the projects success

I would say E-CREAM has been a good project It was done on time Even though there were some compromises here and there it is a far better system than the old one and it is quite amazing it was done so well considering the scope

Another reason for the success as claimed by the consultants was the fact that both the key user representatives and consultants remained largely unchanged throughout the project This ensured that the social capital and background knowledge in the project team remained So when new

Mamata Bhandar 123

members joined the team they could ease into the work much faster and more easily Moreover even the management remained largely unchanged for the duration of the project A consultant felt that the middle manshyagement being empowered to make critical decisions also helped expedite project execution The CIO summed up the sentiments

If there is minimal change to the players from day one it is good for the team Team changes are destructive and they result in lots of knowledge loss

In March 2004 2 months after the launch the deputy project manager from ITD went on no-pay leave and a new PM from ITD took over A small consultant team was still at CT to work on enhancements in the system Most of the enhancements were due to organizational and policy changes at CT Unlike before the consultants had some problems working with ITD which now had a new team Besides getting a new PM ITD was being restructured and new people went on board One consultant doing system enhancements commented

Life has become much tougher Simple things take lots more effort and time to get done because the management and the people in charge have changed although people at the working level are the same The current management team had not been involved in the project at all So there are no relationships and trust Now it is like a typical formal customer-vendor relationship which was not the case before


1 What are some of the characteristics and procedures of AVND that favored project implementation

2 Do you agreedisagree with the vendor selection methodology of CT Do you think it influences the projects outcome

3 List and describe the effects of various factors on the project 4- Draw the project structure for E-CREAM including representashy

tives from both the organizations 1 Iighlight the roles of each group at every level

5 What aspects of CTs organizational culture and background influshyenced the projects success


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to I hi- project -iicce-- i lin iremeoi IIHIL-gtMIIMIIU oilu-r--o eminent oruiiniziiuns

i in K- ini tn-in IK cxpi-iieim-nt tin |-( RIAM pinji-ct raquo MUM much igtl in i-IUii Jo IIMII^S lryini-iiiiinil pulii ii-iin

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v in tin ii-e I IK- -in-ile iio I I-IT procit liMin ineinlcr -A in meet ilu- pro-ei i schedule All In uiyli the hedulc UI^ HUM there Will- Hljicl l 1-Ml tliill MIIIC il l l l l ltjgt llliyllt l l l l Ivet l Collipin

mi-i J lii KIUI-U- iliil L-II IVwJ on thi- uliii m- -nine M tin-IlMiUk- mil iK-gtgtitiM iinpliiit inn- il ilit ptoiect raquoi hedulc lvnugt iIn kc drivel Hi i ptiii-it

Teichinlaquo Notes

M-iiKiinit and l iv i gthulucgt

I he IT project- lit different upei s-Lile- inj Jiiriiigtui-gt ue pre i-lull iitiil NI in- i heir lulurc- [hrou-ili 1 dctulcd description nfi ivwi-wir -iiicc--iiil iiiiplcnieniit ion in i Iirvje bullnurnineni iireinii lion lhi-ci-ciiieii]pi-ii)liiihliiht -ecril f ictor- tliil mllueiKe the proiect ii bullninii- leel- the le-im level the iiiiimrampuiKMiinnil leel itul the iiiieroruiiiiziiiinil levil Ii il-o hmhlii-Jii-- hmv piM i pe rieiin lneliiJins liiliia-gt (in l- ircinendnii- leiinim- cxpeiieiue-thit uiJe iipîni(liiiiiil trin-toriiutimi Ir depict- the llesihilm niJ iJiiptihliry nf i lirlt-e uo eminent nrampincition in continil trin-lnniiini H-MJU A detailed po-t mortem tnnii n fiilcd project hit-led the nruiniitKin M turn iroiind in its IT pm-cu miniltcmcni pricticc- The ruininnind iraquo gtigt-iiititfiiir considering it i- m 1 hum 141 gteminent nnraquoinimnn -uch -imncie- ire tint comrnonlv knuviii tor their li-t leiminfi 111J IT -idoptnm tipihilitieraquo The project 11 ilaquo i rwo-eir impleinentition of 1 customer reil eM-ite -md niiiketmu A-tem cnvermj- lti 11-er Ivisc nf 500 nul rolled out in tour phi-ev

Mamata Bhandar 125

bull himiitutut ii i l l i icnce wi the attitude nf the tup nmniijjemont

11 KI I ho mechaniMii through whieh it drew support i i om the Make-

holder This cie oiler a valuable learning experience ttgt IS stushy

dent piiuicint project manaper and orlaquoiniilion involved in I T

proiecr

T l u JIM UHHI i iuelion entourage an iiiulcrMmdini of the w -

e u l oiyinizuioivil factor unJ orpanualional dnamu that ilaquonifi-

iiTiilvinlliK-noorheMIIi(ltbullltbull nr failure oi I T p i n j o i t The background

oi t in proKti isaUiuntu- i l to understanding thiiie The ( -Thn l

p i r in i isU mitiaiedltiii iulai ptoji-it wi th umihei endor The project

wa MihcqiientU strapped Jut- to mi|or problem itul iJi l ini dcla in

pinjoi t M I K J I I I I Iri-ijiKUt thanvros m the endoi team and MI igtn

The I T then pul out another pioj i i t hut nntbormoi thorough poM

i t i n r l uuo f the failed projeit wadone I i called the ahraquortidprojeit 1

MKCC-SIUI fuluieind puMiuzedthe lciinslearnt lo t he entire ony -

mention Some nt the leson i i t ic ted dratu ihmm1 m I T proieet

miiiuicim m it the orraquolocation o i unlike other IT prone i there

were l ineup during the pro|eit l i io iy t lc hut the iuo were hm

died er protcionalU and cordially l h e iise iUo dicuso othei

taoioi that rhc team claimed had eoninhuied to the pio|cct uc-

uw The iac open diiugtugtivgt mi the po]hilit of orlaquoiniat ion

hiuldmltj a learning mcntal i t t t l t ihi l i tv and iap ihi l i t to introduce

change that allow Minelul p rou t r tii ipleiii inrition It aln pro-

Mile il lustration tu manager on the step that i in he t i iken to

aeluee that

M i m m n i i ^

l u i tor t lu iae w i io l lc i t ( d jut 1 month a t tu thepio jc i t laumh

lhe da f i collected included emiiriuluted t an - to late mter iew

wi th iopieMntit i e t iniu all the tm i ip in lhe p r o f i t atul Iroin hni l i

the on janr u i i in n n o h i d Iniei ievee weie chosen l imn diller

ent hurar i lue (tlu- rop in inaiêiiii i it i h i middle management and

ut i l lot pcipctive Iroin all level Data wa iln eolleited l iom

the weh itc nt K i l h orraquoaniiumi

12 6 Interorganizational Project Management in JTC

Teaching Suggestunvi

This case is suitahle for classroom discussion for srudents of strategic IT management and organizational studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels Specifically discussions can center on how the case organization handled project implementation and to what extent the steps it look can he replicated in oiher projects

CASE 7

The Role of Feedback Unit (FBU) in E-Government

Calvin Meng Lai CHAN and Pheng HuatANG

Background

In the general elections of 1984 the ruling political party in Singapore the Peoples Action Party (PAP) suffered a sharp decline of 126 in their votes as well as the loss of two seats in the parliament to the opposhysition Political analysts commented that the outcome was partly due to the governments inability to take citizens views into consideration when formulating policies It was felt that the government was losing touch with ground sentiments In a recent speech Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong looked back on the elections that triggered the Singapore governshyments paradigm shift towards a more consultative style

The PAP had lost two seats to the opposition and won a smaller share of the popular vote than expected Everybody was taken aback even the voters That election triggered much soul-searching and national debate as to what had gone wrong The consensus was that people had cast protest votes just to register unhappiness with parshyticular PAP policies though in fact they still wanted the Peoples Action Party to form the government The popular cry was for more feedback and consultation

The postmortem report on the 1984 general elections advocated that the PAP government should maintain the substance of its policies However it was also noted that the PAPs heavy reliance on logic with little attention paid to the peoples emotions was one of the key reasons for its poor performance in the elections

Drawing lessons from the experience of the general elections Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong who was then First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense conceived the vision of a more open government

127

128 The Role of Feedback Unit (FBU) in E-Covernment

to address the widening gap between the government and the people Thus the government set out to bring the process of policy formulation closer to the citizens allowing them a better understanding of the rationale behind national policies and a greater role in the policy-making process It was envisioned that such an approach would inculcate a deeper sense of ownership of national policies among citizens The Feedback Unit (FBU) was considered a key instrument in this approach Other reasons for setting up the FBU were to attempt to regain lost support from among younger Singaporeans who constituted a significant percentage of the vote swing against the ruling party

On April 15 1985 Mr S Dhanabalan who was then Minister for Community Development officially announced the formation of the FBU as an additional channel for the publics interaction with the government Mr Dhanabalan described the Unit as having both passive and active roles

In a passive sense the Unit will receive views suggestions comshyplaints on national problems and government policies on the way in which government policies are implemented And these views may be from individuals or from organizations The more imporshytant and active function of the Unit will be to organize meetings forums and other activities to inform and educate the public on parshyticular national problems as well as to seek the views of the public on the problem so that there will be a better understanding of the problem Its only when a problem is well understood that the public will be able to understand the need for certain policies Its only when we know what they think that well be able to formulate programs to explain and educate

In an interview veteran Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Wang Kai Yuen noted that terms such as public consultation were almost unheard of 20 years ago Dr Wang now serves as Chairman of the Feedback Supershyvisory Panel which sets the direction for the FBU The panel comprises equally of MPs and individuals which include representatives of private sector businesses and selected citizens This is done to emphasize the crushycial role played by individuals and the private sector business in helping to strengthen the consultation process

Although the FBU provides Singaporeans with a forum to understand major policies ask questions make suggestions and generally participate in working out a solution as Senior Minister Goh said then it does not mean

Calvin Meng Lai Chan and Pheng Huat Ang 129

that the government would consult the public on every policy Neither does it mean that the government would move towards populist policy-making Nevertheless PM Lee has acknowledged that the government realized that it does not necessarily have the monopoly of knowledge and ideas on every issue Indeed increasingly the government has come to know that it has to draw on the expertise and resources of all Singaporeans so that challenges may be well understood and solutions to tackle these challenges may be rigorously formulated

A simple analogy often used to describe the function of the FBU is that of a bridge as it serves to connect the government and the people In enabling the expeditious and effective execution of its role the FBU aims to

bull receive and process suggestions from the public on national policies and problems

bull ensure swift and effective response by government agencies to pubshylic suggestions and complaints

bull initiate and coordinate programs to inform and educate the public about national issues and

bull gather feedback on existing or impending government policies and their implementation with a view to improving them

As the FBUs role is to assist in the dissemination of feedback and responses its duty to the public is to ensure that responses are swift and succinct At the same time it also ensures that the publics sentiments towards policy improvement mdash for example on cutting red-tape mdash are noted and where possible implemented

The FBU has grown from strength to strength over the years It carries on its effort in meeting the challenges of the changing global landscape in all aspects as well as creating greater awareness of FBUs activities among Singaporeans A summary of this growth is presented in Table 1 which shows the milestones and achievements of the FBU from its inception in 1985-2003

Operations of the FBU

The FBU has grown considerably in terms of its size and capabilities since its beginnings It now offers many channels for Singaporeans from all walks of life to make their views and ideas heard

130 The Role of Feedback Unit (FBU) in E-Government

Table 1 Milestones and achievements of the FBU

Year Event

1985 mdash On April 15 Minister for Community Development S Dhanabalan officially announced the formation of the FBU mdash The first public forum Update on Total Defense was held in May mdash The first constituency dialogue session was held in Siglap in August

1987 mdash The FBU extended its reach to professionals arts groups retailers and hawkers for its dialogue sessions

1988 mdash The first public opinion survey was conducted in September The issue was TV Debate on Elected Presidential Proposal

1989 mdash The FBUs first publication Perspective made its debut

1991 mdash A toll-free line was introduced to encourage the public to be more active in giving feedback

1992 mdash First tea session was held with grassroots leaders and professionals

1993 mdash The first review of the FBU was initiated

1995 mdash A phone mail service was introduced to allow people to give feedback round-the-clock mdash An e-mail feedback service was introduced as an additional and convenient channel for the public to give feedback

1996 mdash The first review report on the FBU was completed and submitted to the PM in April mdash Policy Digest the FBUs second publication was launched

1997 mdash The FBUs website was launched in March to reach out to the Internet savvy and younger Singaporeans mdash Feedback Groups were launched by PM Goh Chok Tong in September mdash Feedback News the FBUs third publication was launched

1998 mdash The number of feedback inputs received via e-mail more than doubled mdash The first Annual Conference of Feedback Groups was held in June

1999 mdash The US-Singapore Student Feedback Group was formed in March by a group of undergraduates in Michigan mdash Three Mandarin-speaking Feedback Groups for education transport and housshying were established mdash The first FBUs corporate video explaining the role of the Unit was produced in May mdash The first web chat on Are Singaporeans good doers and not good managers was held with Feedback Group members in July mdash Feedback contribution from the public doubled

Calvin Meng Lai Chan and Pheng HuatAng 131

Table 1 Continued)

Year Event

2000 mdash The second review of the FBU to enhance its effectiveness was conducted mdash The FBU kicked off the longest series of 13 dialogue sessions to gather feedback on the major concerns of Singaporeans

2001 mdash The second review of the FBU was completed in April mdash The FBU held its first appreciation lunch for strategic partners in May mdash Indicative straw polls were conducted on a regular basis mdash Cochairmanship of dialogue sessions by individuals and representatives of the private sector was started mdash The FBUs website was revamped and launched in October mdash Prepolicy consultation increased with 19 out of 43 dialogue sessions being prepolicy dialogue consultation

2002 mdash Equal representation of MPs and nonMPs in the FBU Supervisory Panel was introduced mdash The FBU conducted a study trip to learn about good public consultation practices in the United States Canada and Great Britain from June to July mdash Regular representative straw polls were carried out with the first one commisshysioned on the PMs National Day Rally Speech in August mdash Feedback Groups were streamlined into eight groups mdash Project to enhance the FBUs website into a one-stop consultation portal kicked off in October mdashThe Peoples Forum was launched in October with a month-long mass recruitment drive Nearly 5000 Singaporeans from all walks of life signed up mdash First web chat with overseas Singaporeans on the rootedness of overseas Singaporeans was held in October This marked the introduction of regular web chats to be conducted by the FBU mdash A record number of 75 dialogue sessions were held out of which 50 were prepolicy consultations mdash A record number of 11 straw polls were conducted

2003 mdash Malay Chinese and Tamil versions of Feedback News made their debut in January mdash A new corporate video was launched in March and copies were distributed to the public to enhance the FBUs profile mdash First customer survey on the FBUs consultation services was launched in February and completed in March mdash The FBU hosted the second lunch for its strategic partners in March mdash Launch of One-Stop Government Consultation Portal in April

Compared to most government organizations the FBU is considered a relatively small agency with staff strength of 18 full-time officers to take care of day-to-day operations Figure 1 presents the organizational chart of the Feedback Unit Although full-time staffs handle actual operations it


Figure 1 Organization chart of the FBU

is the Supervisory Panel which sets the strategic direction and drives the FBU towards the realization of its goals

Government agencies may initiate a feedback session when they need to formulate new policies and sense a need to get the publics opinion on the proposed policies before officially implementing them After a specified amount of time has lapsed or when the FBU deems that sufficient feedback has been collected it would convey the messages and suggestions that it has collated back to the relevant government agencies In order to remove unnecessary unrelated or offensive material from the feedback the Unit does edit the compiled messages to some extent but it generally seeks to leave the basic ideas in the messages intact An officer elaborated on the role of the Unit

Basically were a facilitator we help agencies gather feedback and we help agencies explain the policies to the public Were like the bridge between the government and the people Our job here is to facilitate the consultation process If the agencies want to consult (the people) we help them We provide the channels we provide the advice expertise and resources to help them in their consultashytion process but we dont tell them to change policies

The FBU also receives unsolicited feedback from members of the public The unsolicited feedback may come in the form of suggestions complaints


and sometimes even compliments Although each government agency has its own customer feedback channel members of the public may still choose to send their feedback to the FBU as they would not need to figure out which government agency is in charge of the concerned issue For example roads and traffic matters may either fall under the purview of the Land Transport Authority the Traffic Police or sometimes even the respective town councils Thus the feedback channels offered by the FBU are more convenient means for the public to make their views known to the government Consequently the operations of the FBU also involve the sorting and processing of these unsolicited comments and ensuring that an appropriate response is provided by the relevant government agencies

Conventional Consultation

The FBU initially solicited feedback through face-to-face discussion sesshysions carrying out written surveys as well as conducting telephone and fax polls Table 2 lists and describes the various conventional consultation channels employed by the Feedback Unit

Dialogue Sessions

Dialogue sessions are physical discussion sessions organized by the FBU for various government agencies to consult the people on national issues and policies They are usually conducted under the moderation of the FBUs Supervisory Panel or representatives from the relevant government agencies The general public is represented by relevant interest groups or selected citizens who are regarded as most representative or sensitive to the issues and policies raised at the sessions Often the participants for the dialogue sessions are selected from a pool of regular feedback contributors who have registered their interest to attend such sessions with the Unit Although postpolicy consultations are sometimes conducted the topics of discussions usually pertain to prepolicy recommendations of government agencies which initiated the consultation process The FBU assists these government agencies with the logistics of organizing the dialogue sessions and more significantly to invite participants to join the discussion Views expressed by participants are collated and sent to the relevant government agencies The feedback would be reviewed and necessary actions would


Table 2 The FBUs conventional consultation channels

Channel Description

Dialogue sessions

Tea sessions

Public forums

Straw polls

Feedback groups

Telephone hotline conventional mail and fax line

Peoples forum

Feedback news

Physical discussions organized to solicit ideas and suggestions from citizens regarding national policies and issues Usually conducted upon the request of relevant government agenshycies to which the specific policies are related Sessions pertaining to both prepolicy and postpolicy consultations are held Conducted in English Mandarin and Malay

Largely similar to dialogue sessions but with a smaller number of participants Unlike dialogue sessions that are policy-driven tea sessions have an open agenda where participants air their views on any issues that concern them

Tea sessions are organized for various groups such as ethnic comshymunities women students the elderly and professionals

Physical discussions that aim to explain national policies to the people Enable Singaporeans to ask questions and clarify any doubts they have regarding the policies

Indicative and representative polls done on time-sensitive issues to enable the government to better understand ground feelings and address any concerns quickly and effectively Quick polls provide timely and prompt feedback within a few days

Independent discussion groups chaired by individuals and represhysentatives of the private sector Serve as a forum for Singaporeans from all walks of life to come together and discuss major national issues in an in-depth manner over a period of time

They present their papers of recommendations during the Annual Conference of Feedback Groups to contribute useful ideas to help the government fine-tune national policies

Allow members of the public to provide feedback to the FBU on their own initiative The FBU compiles the opinions of the contributors and forwards them to the relevant government agencies and ensures that a response is provided to the sender

A database of regular feedback contributors whom the FBU invites for its activities

Strictly not a consultation channel but its role is highly important in getting a representative pool of feedback contributors

Quarterly newsletter which highlights key events and current feedshyback issues

Calvin Meng Lai Chan and Pheng Huat Ang 13 5

then be taken In situations where there is a need to provide a reply to the participants the FBU would collect and compile the responses and send them to the participants either by post or e-mail

Tea Sessions

Tea Sessions are quite similar to Dialogue Sessions However there are two differences First in Tea Sessions the participants are classified into groups according to their demographic characteristics which include the elderly women students professionals ethnic communities and heart-landers Second although there is a general topic of discussion set for every tea session the agenda remains largely open as participants are free to raise any issues for discussion that is within the scope of the general topic The purpose of Tea Sessions is to find out the concerns of the people

Public Forums

Singaporeans are able to ask questions and clarify any doubts that they have regarding new or existing policies at Public Forums These forums also provide government officials with the opportunity to explain national policies to the people The biggest difference between Public Forums and Dialogue Sessions or Tea Sessions is the setting under which Public Forums are held In Public Forums the setting is usually more formal Moreover unlike Dialogue Sessions and Tea Sessions which cater to a small group of participants a Public Forum typically takes in more participants

Straw Polls

Straw Polls are usually conducted when the FBU recognizes a need to conshyduct an indicative or representative poll on time-sensitive national issues A Straw Poll enables government agencies to have a quick and targeted understanding of ground sentiments This would allow the authorities to address the peoples concerns promptly and effectively Quick polls provide timely and quick feedback within a few days Some of the topics on which Straw Polls are conducted include racial integration in schools marriage and procreation measures the sense of rootedness among Singaporeans


the PMs National Day Rally speeches and the White Paper on the Jemaah Islamiyah Arrests and the Threat of Terrorism

Feedback Groups

Feedback Groups are independent discussion groups made up of volunteers and chaired by individuals or representatives of the private sector They serve as a forum for Singaporeans from all walks of life to come together and discuss major national issues in an in-depth manner over an extended period of time Their purpose is also to provide constructive suggestions to help the government formulate better policies and address national issues Every year they present their papers of recommendations during the Annual Conference of Feedback Groups to help the government fine-tune national policies

Feedback through Telephone Hotline Conventional Mail and Fax Line

The FBU also processes feedback and suggestions from the citizens through its Telephone Hotline Conventional Mail and Fax Lines Through these channels of consultation the public provides unsolicited feedback and suggestions to the FBU which are then compiled and forwarded to the relevant government agencies Members of the public are encouraged to provide their feedback through these means whenever they have a pressshying issue which needs to be made known to the appropriate government agencies

Peoples Forum

When a government agency requests the FBU to assist in conducting a Dialogue Session the agency also specifies the target group of people who should be consulted The Peoples Forum was created to facilitate the proshycess of identifying participants who fit the profile of the target group of people that should be consulted It is essentially a database containing the contact details of people who have registered their interest to participate in various consultation sessions conducted by the FBU By sifting through this database the FBU would then send selected invitations via email fax or conventional mail to the appropriate persons Although it is not exactly a consultation channel the Peoples Forum is nevertheless a useful


tool that critically affects the quality of feedback received from Dialogue and Tea Sessions

Feedback News

This is a quarterly newsletter with which the FBU informs members of the Peoples Forum about recent events and also reports on the topics which are discussed during the various consultative activities organized by the FBU

The Government Consultation Portal

The advancement of technology spurred the FBU to implement informashytion communication technology (ICT) to complement the conventional modes of consultation A website was set up in 1997 but it was largely static and primarily used for unidirectional information dissemination purposes In April 2003 the FBU officially launched the Government Consultation Portal (see Figure 2) thereby presenting new opportunities for increased interactivity and communication between the government and citizens

Figure 2 The FBUs government consultation portal


With the Government Consultation Portal the FBU has essentially equipped itself with a host of ICT-enabled online consultation channels in addition to its conventional channels The working mechanisms of the various online consultation channels are described below and a summary is given in Table 3

E-Consultation Paper

E-Consultation Paper is mainly used for prepolicy consultation To utilize this online consultation channel the policy-making agency would first prepare an electronic document called an e-Consultation Paper which

Table 3 The FBUs online consultation channels

Channel Description

E-Consultation paper

Policy digests

Electronic mail and general feedback facility

Online discussion forum

Web chat

Official prepolicy documents prepared by government agencies Posted on the Government Consultation Portal Visitors submit their suggestions to the FBU via the Govshyernment Consultation Portal

The Feedback Uni t forwards the suggestions to the relevant government agencies

Official reader-friendly summaries of new policies Prepared by the FBU Posted at the Government Consultation Portal or dissemishynated via e-mail Citizens can give their views regarding the policies either through the Government Consultation Portal or via e-mail

Unilateral feedback submission from the citizens to the FBU through the use of e-mail

Online bulletin board where citizens freely discuss a variety of issues Topics for discussion are initiated by the FBU The FBU compiles and summarizes the entire thread of postshyings on a particular issue and forwards it to the relevant agencyagencies for deliberation

Synchronous online discussion on national issues Enabled using instant messaging software

Ability to reach out to Singaporeans residing overseas instantaneously


explains the details of a proposed policy The e-Consultation Paper is then uploaded to the Government Consultation Portal Citizens who visit the portal can review the prepolicy document and offer constructive suggesshytions to refine the proposed legislation They can give their comments via the Government Consultation Portal by using the built-in reply function After the consultation period has expired the citizens suggestions are colshylated by the FBU for deliberation by the government agency that initiated the consultation process

Policy Digests

These are summarized reader-friendly reports on newly enacted or amended policies prepared by the FBU They give citizens a quick overview of new policies and major national issues Policy Digests are also posted on the website to elicit and gather feedback

E-Mail and General Feedback Facility

Citizens can unilaterally make their views known to government agencies via the FBU through e-mail or the Government Consultation Portals General Feedback facility There is no restriction to the range of feedback which citizens can provide It can be on any national policy or issue which they feel most strongly about The General Feedback Facility also allows the contributor to submit feedback directly to the relevant government agencies if their issues are specific for example education issues go to the Ministry of Education

Online Discussion Forum

This is an online forum that is organized according to categories such as health education and employment Listed in each of the category are topics open for discussion Currently the topics of discussion are initiated by the FBU Citizens are free to discuss the topics with other users on the forum with minimal direct intervention from the government Moderashytion will only occur for defamatory remarks targeted at particular persons or for remarks that jeopardize racial and religious harmony When the discussion period ends the FBU gathers the entire thread of discussion


summarizes it and forwards the condensed version to the relevant govshyernment agencies The Online Discussion Forum also offers a disarming effect to the contributor as it permits anonymity Thus contribution on the Discussion Forum can be more forthcoming than through conventional channels

A New Chapter in Public Consultation

Differing from some government agencies which emphasize the online channels by adopting strategies to encourage their customers to adopt the online channels the FBU has explicitly decided on employing both conshyventional and online consultation channels in engaging citizens in conshysultation The Director of the FBU explained the rationale behind such a move

When you talk about consultation there should be a variety of channels so that people can turn to a variety of sources to give feedshyback Basically the premise is to make it accessible to make it convenient to make it easy for the people The aim of bringing more consultation services online is to make it convenient for peoshyple to give their views as well as for the government to reach out to the e-community for feedback

Another officer in the FBU commented on the rationale

We recognize that the portal should not override the conventional means Theres value in the conventional means Technology is only an additional enabler It doesnt encompass everything

However offering both conventional consultation and online consultation

simultaneously incurs additional cost for the FBU as more resources are

needed to support and manage both types of channels A manager at the

FBU noted

If you start a new service there will be an additional cost unless you start this service and scale down another

Given the national and political importance of its mission the FBU also faces many other real constraints even if it wishes to progress towards greater exploitation of its online consultation channels Although Singapore has one of the highest Internet penetration rates and IT litershyacy rates in the world the digital divide still exists Thus the FBU cannot


afford to take actions that may further deprive those citizens who are already disadvantaged by the digital chasm A manager at the FBU noted

Therere people out there who dont use the Internet We still have to reach out to those people

The officials remark echoes public sentiments A member of the public commented

We need to cater for the lower educated in society who do not use the [Government Consultation Portal] channels provided for instance we need to hold forums at grassroots level in dialects

Through the use of both the conventional and the online consultation channels the FBU is able to generate greater awareness and greater parshyticipation in citizen consultation This can be seen from Figure 3 which is a graphical representation of the feedback received in the months before and after the launch of the Government Consultation Portal One FBU officer also commented

Of course the bulk of the feedback still comes from the usual source [ie through offline channels] But with the Portal in operation additional feedback also comes in through the General Feedback

Feedback Received

Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep-02 02 02 03 03 03 03 03 03 03 03 03

Figure 3 Total instances of feedback received from Oct 2002 to Sept 2003


function at the website [ie online channel] More people are thus

able to participate in the consultation process

In leveraging bo th conven t iona l consul ta t ion and the G o v e r n m e n t

Consu l ta t ion Portal t he FBU has sought to create synergy among the

channels O n e officer highl ighted

We recognize the limitations and strengths of each channel Thereshy

fore whether they are online or offline channels well want to make

sure they complement one another

For instance the G o v e r n m e n t Consu l ta t ion Portal offers citizens a conveshy

n i en t way of part icipating in consul ta t ion o n na t iona l issues and policies

T h e Assistant Director of the FBU commented

Through the Internet you reach out to a wider audience The

maximum number of participants in a dialogue session is about

30 to 40 people Online dialogue is convenient both for us and

for the public They can do it anywhere where the computer is mdash

in the comfort of their homes or in their offices They dont have

to travel to a place to attend a dialogue session

However t he G o v e r n m e n t Consu l ta t ion Portal has its l imitations too A

manager noted

If it is face-to-face dialogue you can feel the emotions you can

see the facial expressions In the case of a portal it depends on how

good the command of English the chap at the other end has And

you cant see his facial expressions If his command of English is very

good then you can sense his sentiments If his command of English

is no good you cant sense them Whereas in face-to-face dialogue

you can see his face go red you can see him shouting

A member of the public also voiced his misgiving about the existing

website

My only grouse now is that it is only available in English There

are many vocal Chinese educated people out there (especially the

middle-aged group) who may not be able to offer feedback in English

at this website but they may have interesting views to contribute

T h e FBU recognizes the si tuat ion too as it understands tha t it is normally

t h e young and n e t savvy who utilizes the G o v e r n m e n t Consul ta t ion Portal


An officer noted

People who offer feedback through the conventional channel are usually not computer-savvy and are middle-aged Those who use the Portal are the young and Net savvy These two groups of people give different views

Its shortcoming notwithstanding the Government Consultation Portal has allowed the FBU to reach out to Singaporeans located overseas The Chairman of the FBU declared in a recent speech

I am pleased to say that you are spoilt for choice You can choose from a good spread of dialogue sessions tea sessions straw polls feedback groups email and the more conventional snail mail facshysimile and telephone to air your views Web chats are also used in engaging overseas Singaporeans

One user of the Government Consultation Portal acknowledged the sigshynificance for the FBU to engage overseas Singaporeans

This is fantastic Singaporeans from all parts of the world can keep in touch with home politics Its important as they would one day return home and need to be familiar with whats happening at home

Since its launch online consultation is progressively becoming an integral part of the operations in the FBU For instance during the annual dialogue sessions to follow-up on issues raised at the PMs National Day rally speech an online session with overseas Singaporeans was also held in addition to six other offline sessions Furthermore whenever deemed appropriate policies and issues that are put up for either conventional consultation or online consultation will also be raised via the other mode eventually An officer described

We discuss with the agencies to explore with them on the chanshynels that are suitable for their use Its not as if the Government Consultation Portal stands on its own and does its own consultashytion leaving conventional dialogues as something separate In fact the different channels are offered as a package they are integrated channels

Another officer noted

Technology enhances the conventional but I dont think it will replace the conventional methods Just by relying on conventional


methods will not give you the optimum results It still can funcshytion but youre settling for the sub-standard

Towards a More Consultative Governance Style

Around the same period when the Government Consultation Portal was introduced government leaders accorded greater saliency to the need for a more consultative governance style

About half a year after the launch of the Government Consultation Portal PM Lee Hsien Loong announced in a public speech

Looking ahead one important task of the government will be to promote further civic participation and continue to progressively widen the limits of openness We will conduct more public conshysultation exercises The government will seek input actively

PM Lee also spelled out the terms for consultation engagement between the government and citizens For the government he denned five guideshylines that will be observed in upholding the spirit of consultation These guidelines are summarized in Table 4 Similarly he also spelled out three guidelines which he hoped citizens would observe in order to get the most out of the consultation process This second set of guidelines for citizens is displayed in Table 5

On a separate occasion the Chairman of the FBU Supervisory Panel Dr Wang Kai Yuen proposed three approaches by which citizens can contribute towards a more consultative culture in Singapore These are summed up in Table 6

Table 4 Consultation guidelines for government by PM Lee

No Guidelines

1 State objective scope and process of each public consultation exercise

2 Provide sufficient time for consultation exercise before finalizing the policy 3 Provide timely and accessible information on policies under consultation in

a simple and concise manner 4- Gather the widest possible range of views by being inclusive in public

consultation 5 Public inputs should be seriously considered with an open mind and responses

and reasons for the final decision should be made public


Table 5 Consultation guidelines for citizens by PM Lee

No Guidelines

1 Seek to understand the rationale and intent of the policy under consideration and ones own role in the consultation process

2 Accept that not all opinions will be accepted by the government or other Singaporeans

3 Respect the opinions and views of other participants in public consultation

Table 6 Three approaches for citizens to promote a consultative culture by Dr Wang

No Approaches

1 Be an active feedback contributor by participating in public consultation 2 Be an active feedback promoter or multiplier by encouraging others to participate

in consultation 3 Develop a good understanding of what is entailed in public consultation

Apart from politicians the civil service also developed a maturity frameshywork for e-governance with respect to public consultation In this case e-governance is defined as the use of ICT to enhance the relationship between citizens and the government particularly in the areas of polshyicy development feedback policy implementation and policy review This framework is illustrated in Table 7 At the initial level Describe communication tends to be one way where the agency only informs citshyizensstakeholders of public policies The second stage Explain entails two-way communication where the agency begins to explain the raison detre and objectives of its policies and responds to feedback from the public On moving to the third stage Consult the agency proactively seek out the views of citizensstakeholders When stage four Connect is finally achieved an enlightened network of regular citizensstakeholders proactively offers their views and suggestions In addition the network of regular citizensstakeholders also helps in explaining public policies to others Thus with the Government Consultation Portal agencies that usually use the Describe and Explain stages of mere information dissemshyination are compelled to move towards the Consult and Connect stages of engaging the public in the decision-making process

While establishing this e-governance maturity framework the civil sershyvice has also identified the requisite mindset motivation and capability for


Table 7 E-governance maturity framework

Maturity Level Stage E-Governance (Public as CitizenStakeholder)

4 Connect Two-way agency fosters a network of citizensstakeholders who proactively offer views and suggestions and help explain public policies to others

3 Consult Two-way agency seeks views from citizensstakeholders in the course of developing public policies both in single agency consultation as well as multiagency consultation where appropriate

2 Explain Two-way agency explains the reasons for and objectives of its public policies and responds to queries and feedback from citizensstakeholders

1 Describe One-way agency informs citizensstakeholders of its public policies

engaging the citizenry in consultation Appropriate training workshops and seminars were subsequently set up as some of the means for progressing up the maturity framework

Concluding Remarks

Increasingly governments all over the world are capitalizing on e-gov-ernment initiatives to enhance efficiency effectiveness and transparency One important aspect of e-government is e-governance which is undershystood in this case as the use of ICT to enhance the relationship between citizens and government particularly in the areas of policy development feedback policy implementation and policy review Given the nascent development of e-governance the literature in this area remains largely rhetorical in nature Thus we have sought to present an in-depth look into the development of e-governance in Singapore which is internationally renowned for its e-government initiatives

Instead of focusing solely on the development of e-governance we have decided to trace the development of public consultation in Singapore through the progress achieved by the FBU We have illustrated that the focus of e-governance should rightly fall on governance rather than e and have discussed this in detail in the section titled A New Chapter in Public Consultation More importantly we have highlighted a point often overlooked in the e-government literature mdash that it may not be possible


to totally do away with conventional approaches Some of the rationales

and considerations for having both conventional consultation and online

consultation have also been demonstrated in the case study

This case study also offers insights into the implementation of e-gov-

ernance Through focusing on the Government Consultation Portal readshy

ers can also understand how various technologies can be employed in

supporting e-governance On the other hand by taking a broader view

in considering the wider context of the case readers can also examine the

role of leadership and politics in e-governance initiatives

Discussion Question

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CASE 8

Interorganizational Project Management in XLcom

Mamata BHANDAR


This case is based on a project involving the implementation of a colshylaborative logistics platform by an Information Technology (IT) service provider (XL) for a three-partner logistics community The logistics comshymunity comprised a manufacturing firm (MF) a freight forwarder (FF) and a haulier (HU) All four organizations are based in Singapore The logistics partners had been working together for 7 years prior to the initishyation of the project with MF being a major client of the two XLs They were a closely knit community with their employees having developed personal relationships with each other over their years of interaction and collaboration

The background of each of the four firms is as follows The IT XL was a small private limited IT firm that specialized in developshy

ing and implementing collaborative logistics solutions for private logistics communities The XL was one of the firms accredited by the Singapore government to provide supply chain solutions for companies in the chemshyical hub of Singapore The XL was formed pooling the collective domain expertise of SembCorp industries (SCI) a logistics giant in the region and Singapore Computer Systems (SCS) an IT firm that provides softshyware solutions for most companies in the region Due to this parentage XL was an IT firm with access to logistics expertise It was also one of the few companies that could provide clients direct access to TradeNet a system that the Ports Authority of Singapore had mandated for use by companies in filing their trade documents online

The MF was a producer of photographic chemicals The Japanese multishynational company had its bases in the US China and Japan and had a global annual turnover of about US$50 million It employed around

151

152 Interorganizational Project Management in XLcom

150 employees in the Singapore plant The MF used a legacy system to support its operations Some time ago it decided to implement JdEdwards ERP to replace the legacy system The project was scrapped for several reasons The MF then decided to have a web-based collaborative logisshytics system through which they could conduct business with their logistics partners online The system which is the focus of this case study was basishycally aimed at streamlining MFs problem-ridden logistics processes The MF was a major client of the two logistics XLs

The logistics XL (FF and HU) The two XLs were cost conscious trashyditional firms with little faith in technology and limited knowledge and familiarity with IT Their only use of computers was limited to word proshycessing and e-mailing The FF was incorporated in 1995 a small firm with an annual turnover of about US$1 million It co-ordinated with several HU companies including HU to provide container shipping and trucking sershyvices for clients The HU was also a small firm it was founded in 1987 had about 30 employees and an annual turnover of US$45 million It owned a fleet of about 100 trucks and containers which it managed manually

The diverse background of these organizations is summarized in Table 1

Table 1 Background of the collaborating organizations

Collaborative Partners

Background and Nature of Business Use of IT Prior to the Project

Supply-Chain integrator (XL)

Manufacturer (MF)

Freight-Forwarder (FF)

Haulier (HU)

Small IT firm that developed and implemented collaborative logistics solutions for private communities The parent company was a major logistics company

One of the manufacturing facilities of a Japanese MNC It employed 150 people and was a major client for the two logistics XLs

A small firm incorporated in 1995 and had an annual turnover of US$1 million Co-ordinated with HU in servicing clients logistics activities

A small firm founded in 1987 and had an annual turnover of US$4-5 million Owned a fleet of trucks and containers which it managed manually

High

High Used legacy systems and had experience with a JDEdwards system

Minimal Accounting package and e-mailing

Minimal Only for word processing and e-mailing

Mamata Bhandar 153

Relationships Between the Logistics Partners Prior to the Project

Prior to the initiation of the project all the logistics partners had good working relationships with each other They had been working together for 7 years and none of the logistics partners indicated any major interor-ganizational issues in the logistics operations In fact the director of HU maintained that the logistics business was all about trust and that it was very important to have good working relationships with partners since one had to trust the other party with goods worth millions of dollars On the part of MF it apparently treasured and relied heavily on FF for its freight arrangements XLs business development manager noted

Actually MFs shipment is executed by a company called Central Express FF is only the middleman but MF refuses to go direct to Central Express because it treasures goodwill with FF As for FF it has been very frank with MF as to which shipping company it is using and which it isnt

The nature of their business demanded extensive interaction on a day-to-day basis over the phone through faxes and at meetings The MF would call FF to inform it of a shipment stating how many containers were needed The FF would book the vessels and execute the pick-up and delivery of goods for MF Confirmation of the arrangements and any amendments to the confirmed arrangements would be done through fax Other information was either conveyed by phone or fax

In the actual pick-up of the containers FF would inform HU about details of the pick-up and request for truckscontainers for the specified dates The HU would fax the truck and container information back to FF and would then coordinate with MF for the pick-up of the goods

Motivation Behind the Project

The MF identified several inefficiencies in its logistics processes interdeshypartmental communication was not as efficient as it should be manual operations were in use documents were getting lost and extra payments had often to be made at the port for delayed pick-up As a result it decided to streamline its logistics processes Its logistics manager gave instances of


the internal issues the company faced

They just brought us the containers and on the container door they would put a slip that would have the information sales order destination point So as you can see its very manual If you idenshytified the wrong batch of goods you would have a big problem People often denied having received instructions and blamed the situation on delays and mistakes in warehouse communications

The MF also believed that since everything was going paperless it was time they moved away from their fax and phone operations to electronic data interchange (EDI) Their conviction in technology and their internal operational inefficiencies led them to decide on a welgtbased collaborative platform so that they could conduct logistics activities such as order manshyagement shipment data communications shipment tracking etc with their logistics partners online Although MF never raised any issues with the XLs as a reason for the collaborative platform XLs account manager provided a different perspective

These companies understood each others business processes well in theory but they did not follow up on certain things Documents were getting lost faxes went unacknowledged and things were not done There were lots of problems In fact one of the primary reasons why they were bringing us in was that there were too many unwritten rules Everything was based on understanding There were too many incidents of finger pointing and dissatisfaction with one another So the new system would enforce business rules

Choice of Service Providers

The MF chose XL as the supply chain integrator because of XLs strong background in IT and logistics The XL was credited with providing logisshytics IT solutions to all organizations in the chemical hub in Singapore and its parent company was a logistics giant in Singapore giving it a strong logistics background The XLs general manager proudly said

We do have people behind us with strong logistics background and whom we can talk to to develop the software

Another reason for the choice was that XL was one of three companies in Singapore that could link their solutions to TradeNet the system that all companies had to use for online filing of the trade documents required in

Mamata Bhandar 155

their shipping activities A company could file the documents online via the web portal or purchase software that connected directly to TradeNet when information was keyed into the system Since XL could provide the software MF did not have to purchase it separately The MFs logistics manager said

We chose XL because of its background But one thing I like about XLs solution is this For every shipment you export out of Singapore you need to make an outward declaration We do this through TradeNet XLs solution allows us to connect directly to TradeNet and we do not have to purchase additional software

Convincing the Service Providers

The MF then introduced XL to its logistics XLs with the intention of convincing them to get onto the system as well The task was difficult given that the two XLs were cost conscious traditional firms with limited IT awareness The MFs shipping manager noted that HU had only one e-mail address for the entire company while FFs director confessed

Computer stuff Im not good at that

The limited IT awareness of the two logistics XLs created a resistance in them against change and contributed to their complacency with the current state of operations They did not want to change the state of any of their operations In fact the older members in the two companies were so ignorant of technology that they had their e-mails printed out for them they did not even want to deal with the computer to check their e-mails Their low readiness to buy-in was exacerbated by the fact that the proposed system entailed additional work processes and additional costs for them They would still have to follow the manual process for their other clients and use the computer system just for MF The FFs director said

I dont see any benefits from the system In fact it is additional work for us Our only motivation is that our major client has requested for it

HUs director echoed the sentiments

For us we dont see the savings today Its more of incurring extra expenditure The cost of employing such a system on a large scale is quite exorbitant for a company of our size


The tension that was rising between MF and the logistics XLs was due to their diverging strategic directions and not the system as such Indeed the logistics XLs acknowledged XLs expertise in providing IT solutions FFs director said

XL has been very eager to solicit business trying to put everybody on board the system But we didnt see immediate interest or savings On the contrary we would incur more expenditure more manpower and more work So of course there were some arguments and conflicts in terms of charges But in terms of the system we have had no problems XL has the expertise in providing the software

The Buy-in

The buy-in of the XLs was not easy It took 3 months of meetings presenshytations and a detailed feasibility study that quantified and qualified the value propositions before an agreement was reached The XL also got the XLs grants from the Singapore government that helped small and medium enterprises pay for technology-based projects This was important because MF insisted that the XLs shared the costs for implementing the system and the XLs countered that they had limited resources to spare To achieve the buy-in XL also tried to build good relationships with them its business development manager said

For marketing purposes in the first few meetings we didnt just talk about business We wanted to make them comfortable to make sure we could enjoy each others company and build relationships

The XLs confided that they acceded to the system partly due to their vulnerable strategic positions considering that MF was a major client with whom they needed to maintain a good working relationship They felt that linking up with MF through the system would lock them in a long-term relationship that would ensure long-term business for them The FF also mentioned that as a traditional Chinese company it acceded to the project as it had to give face to the other parties However XLs business development manager had a different view

The service providers acceded to the system because they felt obliged to pay back the manufacturer for the seven years of business

Mamata Bhandar 157

Although the XLs did not favor the project they understood MFs need

for the system The HUs operations officer acknowledged

MF has a lot of departments and they cant run up and down for faxes or phone calls etc So the system is a good idea for them

The XL met with each of the partners individually to customize value assessment presentations and cost benefits analyses for each of them to entice them towards agreeing to the project

Design and Implementation Process

After getting the agreement of the XLs XL built a prototype of its solution with the minimum requirements they had elicited from all the partners They then progressively refined the prototype by adding requirements to it through constant iterations of prototype building and requirement gathshyering The XLs IT manager elaborated

During the implementation stage we went through many rounds of prototype refinement Finally the modules were launched one by one Normally we would involve all the parties We would iron out what documents they needed to process and we would go through things a few rounds It was very common for them to forget certain things Going through several times would ensure that the system was built according to what they wanted and that they had named all their requirements

The design and implementation phase lasted about 6 months During that time much interorganizational interaction took place over the designing of the GUI and workflows for the system The process required each of the logistics partners to understand the questions posed by XL and also to be able to chart workflows of their business processes to be built into the system There were two major issues at this stage (1) resolving issues on the GUI and workflows and (2) understanding each others domain knowledge

Resolving Issues on G U I and Workflows

Each organization wanted its own transition from the existing manual system to the online system to be as smooth as possible and tried to bargain


for a GUI that suited it best This resulted in conflicts The XL confirmed

We had problems like one side would want validation and the other party would think that wasnt standard practice and so on But they had no problems when it came to IT The only issues were ironing out details like what fields to include since theres no fixed business rule

They needed some moderation from XL to resolve the conflicts but overshyall the partners were cooperative in resolving issues amongst themselves They also exhibited consideration for each others requirements XL was also patient with them going through rounds of amendments and accomshymodating small changes An XL representative said

Usually if they had minor changes we would try to accommodate them Only if their requests were really out of the original scope would we have to rework the figures

To make problem resolution easier XL held collective meetings at this stage Even FFs operations officer said it was good to have collective meetshyings so that whatever and whenever problems were encountered everyone could pitch in there and then to resolve the issue

Sharing and Understanding Each Others Domain Knowledge

In terms of understanding each others domain knowledge and interacting with XL in stating the requirements this stage was surprisingly smooth despite the diverse functional backgrounds of the organizations The XLs knowledge of logistics was a tremendous help The FF however had some problems conveying their requirements to XL The FFs operations officer said

They [XL] are indeed very well versed with logistics but we [FF] are not a logistics company So their understanding might not suit us I think we have different points of view Operationally sometimes XL may not understand what we want So we went through quite a number of rounds of amendments Communication did break down occasionally Sometimes I dont blame XL because they might have spoken to HU and HU would have said something then they went to MF and they would have given a different perspective and finally when it reached us we would have our own view on the

Mamata Bhandar 159

matter In the end what we needed was for all to sit down together and iron things out

This stage required extensive sharing of business information and the logisshytics partners trusted XL on this issue The FF did have some confidential information such as freight charges which they shared only with MF and did not want HU to know The FF then asked XL to block that informashytion from HU The MF had signed a nondisclosure agreement with XL and so was quite comfortable with the request The XLs were in a similar business as XLs parent company yet they did not feel threatened by that The HUs director was very sure of XLs business ethics and said XL had promised them they would not disclose any confidential information to a third party and he trusted XML would keep its promise

System Implications

The MF and FF did not see any adverse impact from the system impleshymentations on relationships within the three-partner logistics community However HUs director who always believed in relationships and the pershysonal touch commented

If I do see changes theyre for the worse and not for the better The haulier service is very personal We see each other theres some bonding effect and you become friends But your relationship tends to drift when you work on the computer instead of talking to the person

However the initial adverse feelings towards the project eased eventushyally The HUs director later conceded the system had enhanced customer orientation and that with the system one made fewer mistakes unlike working through phone calls where the parties could get carried away and missed some important points or commit other mistakes But he also mainshytained that the system caused a loss of the personal touch which used to be part of the companys business dealings Meanwhile FFs director said he was pleased and felt secured in a long-term relationship with MF

The MF was very pleased with the system with every user at the comshypany noting some benefits of it One user commented about warehouse communication

The system has actually made everything clearer Previously there would be problems of someone sending another a document and


the receiver could claim that he didnt receive it Now its all in the system and the information is much easier to track In the past we even resorted to making each other sign for documents received though we were just sitting a partition away It was so ridiculous But now we can make updates and everyone involved can see the changes We do not have to make multiple copies for distribution

The logistics partners set up a review committee to look into concerns arising from the system including updates and other progressive issues The review committee comprised core users and project managers from the three logistics partners and met once every 2 months Users could share their feedback and issues about the system with this committee which would when necessary bring in XL to resolve the problem Although the users experienced some technical and work practices related difficulties with the system not all issues were raised The users raised a few technical issues with the system to XL mainly about the speed of the system They refrained from speaking up on other problems for fear of upsetting relations between the companies One user from FF said

We did mention some issues about the system being slow etc As for the other changes we didnt raise them since everybody seemed fine with the arrangements We did not want to disrupt the status quo

System Usage

All department supervisors at MF were comfortable using the system but they had a tough time getting their forklift drivers to use it The warehouse supervisor said

Im alright For my warehouse guys they are more resistant Those forklift drivers do manual labor You ask them to use the computer and they tell you they cant do it Its very common Some of the forklift drivers reaction to doing computerized updating was I dont want to touch this thing But we told them times are changing After a while they understood our point

The MF handled this issue well They assigned a leader to each section of the warehouse and he would learn the system first and be responsible for teaching the rest As regards warehouse operations that had changed with the introduction of the system eg bar-coding and other tracking mechanisms workers were advised to keep up with times by relearning

Mamata Bhandar 161

processes To make the transition easier MF insisted that there would be a trial period of one week so that users could get comfortable with the system

The system brought about the merger of two departments at MF The shipping department subsumed the sales co-ordination and customer sershyvice department which used to handle customer accounts That was logishycal with the new system in place orders could be tracked more accurately in the shipping department

While MF might have adjusted well to the system internally even reconshyfiguring their work practices where necessary its XLs had some issues in adopting new work practices Often there were delays in updating the sysshytem The MFs warehouse manager said he had to phone and remind the XLs to update the system but he acknowledged their constraints

Not all their customers use this system its just us So updating the system is something out of their normal business procedures

Users at the XLs complained it was difficult to login every time to update the system since they used a dial-up connection to the Internet For the same reason the slow speed caused delays They also said they felt more comfortable using the phone and fax as they could get immediate conshyfirmation by these means They also felt that using the system was not suitable for some events like truck breakdown and that it was easier and more efficient to use the phone for such circumstances One user at FF said

To me operationally it is more efficient to fax or phone because the other party could then radio their drivers straightaway You cannot confirm and amend things so easily with the computer Say a vehicle breaks down You cant wait for someone to key the information into the computer in order to tell everyone that the vehicle has broken down

The XL did its part in helping users in their transition to the new system

At the end of the day ground users are the ones using the system If they dont use it correctly or if they dont use it at all then the system becomes irrelevant So we still need to rally support from the ground layers We have to build relationships with ground users talk to them get to know them personally even buy them pastries

Despite these issues most users agreed the system was easy to use and that eventually they would get used to it The HUs director said his company was very service-oriented and would move forward with the customer and


that it would eventually get used to the system after a while since the updating was quite simple

Concluding Remarks

Digitally enabling extended enterprises and outsourcing interorganizashytional Information Systems (IS) projects are a common trend today The IS projects are known to be riddled with several problems like scope creep cost and budget over-runs etc The interorganizational dimension further complicates the situation the different knowledge bases and strategic goals of collaborating organizations have to be taken into consideration In our case study we have provided a detailed description of how four organizashytions with distinctly different knowledge bases and strategic goals could come together to implement a project It highlights the challenges in inteshygrating the various knowledge bases for the project and in balancing the strategic interests of the respective project partners It also highlights the role that prior relationships play in such projects The fact that the logisshytics partners had worked together for 7 years did improve their common knowledge base in terms of understanding each others requirements and being tolerant of each other It also hints that prior relationships help only to some extent in strategic tasks partner organizations clearly need to be practical recognizing that social relationships may only serve as a secondary influence

Students can use this case to reflect on interorganizational initiatives in general and how such initiatives can be managed Discussions can censhyter on the extent to which social relationships can be leveraged for such initiatives considering that the influence of social relationships could be affected by the nature of the project and tasks Brainstorming can be conshyducted into how and what steps can be taken to achieve organizational and team member buy-in for collaborative projects

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CASE 9

E-Business in Hardwarezonecom

Chee Chang TAN

Organization Background

Hardwarezonecom (a pseudonym) is a provider of localized content on information technology (IT) news product releases and numerous member-centric services such as hardware price lists and forums in Singapore In a country where dotcom failure is the norm rather than the exception Hardwarezone has distinguished itself by becoming the top rated IT media website in Singapore with more than 32 million page visits per month within a short span of 6 years prompting comparisons between its founders Jackie Lee and Eugene Low and Googles Larry Page and Sergey Brin in The Business Times a major newspaper in Singapore

What began as a hobby involving do-it-yourself (DIY) computers and CPU overclocking for six National University of Singapore undergradushyates on a S$1000 capital is now a Asias Premiere IT Media Company1

worth over S$2 million today generating revenue in excess of S$200000 per month In a 2004 survey of IT media websites among Singapore web surfers Hardwarezone was estimated to control 297 of the market share in Singapore CNET Asia in second place only had a 99 market share2

Singapore Overclockers Group

Hardwarezone began in June 1998 as the Singapore Overclockers Group

a special interest group hosted under the umbrella of SingaporeOne

1 Hardwarezone ITMediaSynergy (nd) Retrieved June 20 2005 from httpwww hwzcorpcomver3 2Chellam R (2004) Singapores Very own Google Guys The Business Times October 11 Singapore Singapore Press Holdings

165

166 E-Business in Hardwarezonecom

a Singapore government e-commerce initiative The Singapore Over-clockers Group primarily served a niche community of CPU overclockers allowing members to post their CPU overclocking results and hardware configurations Despite its relatively small size the Singapore Overclockers Group became so overwhelmingly popular that it effectively took up 90 of SingaporeOnes total bandwidth within a month of its inception Unable to cope with the traffic that the group was generating the management of SingaporeOne had no choice but to disband the special interest group

Having gained valuable experience from managing the Singapore Overshyclockers Group and greatly encouraged by its phenomenal popularity its founders identified a niche in the Singapore market for a website that could provide local IT product reviews and product comparisons for IT enthusishyasts in Singapore With assistance from the management of SingaporeOne the founders of Hardwarezone were eventually granted S$20000 seed fund from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore a statutory board established by the Singapore government to foster a world-class infocomm industry in the country

With this grant and a mere S$1000 of initial investment Hardware-zone was founded on August 9 1998 in a small factory space measuring a mere 6 x 4 m 2 which was rented from another IT company at JTC Block 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent The name Hardwarezone came about because the founders believed that it was catchy easy to remember and most conshyveniently the domain name was available Running its office on home equipment contributed by its founding members Hardwarezones initial capital was just enough for one server residing at 1-Net and 6 months of bandwidth charges

The Dotcom Bubble (Early 1998-Late 1999)

From Hardwarezones humble beginnings in August 1998 through late 1999 the global economy was booming and the IT industry was developing at an unprecedented rate the phenomenon is widely referred to today as the dotcom bubble The Internet was recognized as a highly effective comshymercial tool and the concepts of e-commerce and dotcoms were quickly embraced by major organizations and budding entrepreneurs globally

The explosion of new content available on the Internet the business opportunities the explosion offered and the declining prices of computer

Chee Chang Tan 167

Table 1 Computer ownership and internet access statisshytics in Singapore

1992 1997 2003()

Percentage of households 202 408 74 with personal computers

Percentage of households NA 138 65 with internet access

hardware that came with technological advancements resulted in a worldshywide increase in demand for PCs In Singapore statistical studies revealed a surge in the percentage of households that owned a computer and the percentage of households that had Internet access (Table 1)

With the increasing demand for PCs and the relatively high cost of a pre-assembled off-the-shelf PC DIY computers presented a more cost-effective alternative and more flexibility in terms of hardware configurations

Accordingly the demand for information on DIY computers increased However in many Asian and Southeast Asian countries there was genshyerally a lack of information such as product reviews and prices on the IT products available locally To obtain the information DIY computer enthusiasts in Singapore typically had to depend on IT websites based in Europe and the United States buy a monthly IT magazine or make a trip to the IT vendors physical store

With the rapidly developing Internet technology and the exponential increase in Internet traffic the founders of Hardwarezone saw that the Internet could bring them many advantages by virtue of its global reach ubiquitous nature interactivity and low entry cost Moreover they noted the existing support infrastructures such as the World Wide Web and the existence of standard protocols and the wide range of developmental resources available on the Web could help meet the increasing information needs of local DIY computer enthusiasts

The main problem facing Hardwarezone during this initial period was the intensive competition already existing within the IT publication indusshytry Direct competitors included well-established well-funded foreign IT websites For instance CNET one of the worlds largest IT website have a huge global audience of over 55 million unique visitors and an annual revshyenue of approximately US$237 million PCWorldcom a subsidiary of the


International Data Group and one of the worlds leading IT media comshypany had an average of 17 million unique visitors per month These foreign IT websites were internationally recognized players providing quality IT product reviews and price advisories for an international audience

Locally in Singapore there were also several newly created websites dedicated to reviewing local IT products Hardware-Onecom was one of the pioneers in the Singapore IT publication industry established around the same time as Hardwarezone and mirrored Hardwarezone in the early stages of its development It was started by several undergraduates from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and offered reports on breakthrough products and the evaluation and benchmarking of comshyputers available locally Its content were highly localized catering to the needs of DIY computer enthusiasts in Singapore

Before the advent of the Internet computer enthusiasts obtained IT product information primarily from print IT magazines Therefore local publications such as Chip Tech Gravity and Singapore Computing Magshyazine and foreign publications such as PCWorld Wired ComputerWorld and PCMagazine were indirect competitors of Hardwarezone offering the same extensive coverage of IT products A critical advantage that a print magazine had over an online website was having a physical product and consequently a degree of tangibility for the reader

Establishing Market Presence

Despite the competition Hardwardzone managed to identify a niche for itself Based on the feedback its founders received from the close knit over-clockers community and the experience gained from running the Singapore Overclockers Group Hardwarezone identified two demands of local comshyputer enthusiasts that none of its competitors fulfilled adequately

First there was a need for accurate real-time prices of an extensive range of local IT products At Sim Lim Square and Funan IT Mall two of the largest retail malls for computer parts and peripherals in Singapore the prices of local IT products were highly susceptible to the economic forces of demand and supply and prone to fluctuation Prices on a particular day could differ drastically from the previous day or from the prices listed at foreign IT websites Product prices listed in local IT websites tended to be incomprehensive covering only a limited range of products while product

Chee Chang Tan 169

prices listed in IT magazines were often inaccurate or outdated as they were published monthly

Second there was a need for comprehensive reviews of local IT products The content of foreign IT media websites and magazines were generated and targeted at the global audience Prices were usually quoted in US dollars and some products reviewed might not be available locally Local IT media publications were also inadequate in meeting the needs of local DIY computer enthusiasts as the variety of IT products reviewed were often limited and the reviews lacked credibility

Based on this analysis Hardwarezone moved quickly to meet the unmet needs of local computer enthusiasts by positioning themselves as a provider of comprehensive product reviews and prices Five key strategies were employed by Hardwarezone with an emphasis on establishing credibility and market presence quickly in the local market

First Hardwarezone sought to broaden its target market It moved beyond PC overclockers who were the target audience of its precursor It generated content such as IT product reviews news and prices effecshytively broadening its audience reach to include novice computer builders independent computer assemblers and technology enthusiasts

Second Hardwarezone established hardware testing laboratories to genshyerate its own product reviews in order to distinguish itself from both foreign and local IT media publications Thus content generated by Hardwarezone was 100 proprietary and more relevant in the local context since testshying was done only on products available in the local mainstream market Moreover its content was generally perceived as more credible because the product reviews were done by genuine content experts with reproducible extensively described experiments and benchmarking tests carried out in laboratories

Third Harwarezone made a conscious decision not to charge its memshybers for the information they accessed This formed a critical advantage over print IT publications as users usually had to pay anything from S$750 to S$ 1700 for an IT magazine The Hardwarezone management decided that the companys main source of revenue should be online advertising a viable alternative during the period of the dotcom bubble

Fourth to establish market presence and credibility Hardwarezone formed strategic partnerships with local IT vendors In order to provide up-to-date product prices and information on product availability to its


customers Hardwarezone established strategic alliances with many IT venshydors at Sim Lim Square the largest IT retail mall in Singapore offering publicity and banner space at its website in exchange for the information it required Thus Hardwarezone was able to enhance the timeliness of the product information it provided with daily updates of its website

Lastly and most importantly Hardwarezone undertook extensive meashysures to nurture a strong sense of community among its members Eugene Low Managing Director of Hardwarezone described this strategy

Right from the start we wanted to make our discussion forum more interactive So Jackie and I would reply directly at the forum to anyone who had questions for us We also organized outings and barbeques to get to know our members better The main thing was to make our forum sticky and to boost participation and encourage discussion So we identified the people we saw as key contributors and opinion leaders and invited them for tea giving them freebies such as our Hardwarezone T-shirts and even privileges such as forum moderator status

With these key strategies in place Hardwarezone was able to generate comprehensive product reviews benchmarks and compatibility reports on a wide range of IT products by means of product tests conducted in its test laboratories Local computer enthusiasts no longer needed to buy IT magazines to find the information they needed Hardwarezone also offered them convenience by significantly reducing the time and effort they spent on visiting each store physically to obtain the required information

Initial Success

Hardwarezone was a resounding success up till late 1999 before the dotshycom bubble burst Incorporated in October 1998 a mere 2 months after its launch Hardwarezone quickly established itself as a massively popular online portal for hardware price guides and technical reviews in Singapore Within a short span of 2 years official membership exceeded 40000 with an exceptional monthly page impression count of over 16 million and an annual online advertising revenue of over S$300000

Hardwarezone held several important competitive advantages relative to its competitors which contributed greatly to its early success

In comparison with foreign IT publications Hardwarezones content was generated specifically to suit the tastes of local IT enthusiasts while

Chee Chang Tan 171

foreign IT publications had content geared largely towards the United States or European audience Consequently the content within foreign IT publications might not always be relevant or up-to-date in the local context For example a product reviewed might not be available locally or the listed price of the product would not be in Singapore dollars

Compared to other local IT media websites Hardwarezone had the advantage of credibility as it had its own hardware testing laboratories The credibility was also further enhanced by the companys publicized partnershyships with local IT vendors as well as its rapidly growing membership

Also local IT media websites often had problems with manpower and funding resulting in content that was nowhere as comprehensive or extenshysive in coverage as their foreign counterparts In contrast the immense dedication of the management and the full exploitation of strategic partshynerships with local IT vendors allowed Hardwarezone to gain access to the latest IT news products and prices Consequently it could feature conshytent that was more comprehensive and more up-to-date than any of its competitors

Compared to its indirect competitors mdash print IT magazines mdash Hardshywarezone enjoyed a key advantage in cost Its content was absolutely free unlike the typical IT magazine Moreover it archived its past content and organized it for easy access by its customers This provided the customers with a significant amount of convenience especially in comparison with the tedious process of searching for a magazine back issue bull

The Dotcom Crisis (2000-Mid 2002)

The sudden onset of the dotcom crisis in the year 2000 caught well-established e-businesses and emerging technopreneurs alike by surprise Many multimillion dollar ventures were turned into high-profile failures within a short span of time while many other sectors were caught in its wake with assets made worthless on an immense scale Research showed that the market capitalization of listed companies worldwide plunged by almost 40 between 2000 and 2002 while the confidence of many prishyvate investors was severely maybe even lastingly shattered Eugene Low described the problem faced by Hardwarezone during those difficult times

The dotcom crisis was a very trying period for Hardwarezone because we were a pure-play dotcom and were dependent on online advertising for revenue When many of these dotcoms closed the


venture capitalists behind the ventures were badly affected Some sank together with their investments while others had to cut back drastically on the level of funding for existing dotcoms In the case of Hardwarezone three venture capitalists that had pledged to invest in Hardwarezone had to withdraw even though Hardwarezone faced no operational problems

During this period advertisers were losing confidence in the effectiveness of online advertising while the ensuing Asian economic crisis also caused many companies in the region to cut their advertising expenditure Most advertisers drastically reduced their online advertising and some even stopped advertising online altogether With the pool of potential online advertisers shrinking fast dotcom companies such as Hardwarezone that were heavily dependent on online advertising for revenue had to compete fiercely with each other for advertisers

Operationally Hardwarezone was also experiencing a drop in member participation with fewer repeat visits by existing members The website was losing stickiness with discussions in the forums dominated by only a few members the novelty of Hardwarezone seemed to be wearing off for many Hardwarezone members Eugene described the difficult choices that the management of Hardwarezone had to make at the height of the crisis

At that time we had two choices One the safer approach was to scale back our operations and try to cut costs to become more efficient to ride out the storm Two the riskier approach was to scale up our operations by diversifying and finding other sources of revenue which basically meant staking everything we had achieved up till that point We eventually chose Option2 because we believed at that time that it would provide us with a better chance of survival and hopefully benefit our existing website as well Looking back I dont think we would have survived if we had chosen to scale back instead

Faced with the challenges posed by the dotcom crisis the management of Hardwarezone decided that the company must change to suit the current business environment to remain competitive Performing an analysis of its own competencies Hardwarezone realized that its strength lay in its content and not just its website or discussion forums Thus it decided to focus on delivering better content in terms of quality and quantity to its customers

Chee Chang Tan 173

Reverse Clicks and Mortar Strategy

Having learnt invaluable lessons from the dotcom crisis the management of Hardwarezone realized that solely depending on online advertising for revenue made the company vulnerable to the uncertainties the Internet economy was experiencing Based on a comprehensive analysis of potential and existing advertisers they identified an untapped segment of advertisers who were reluctant to advertise online Eugene explained the mindset of these advertisers

Some advertisers were more conservative and didnt like to advershytise online They wanted something that they could see touch or hold Online advertising didnt do it for them

The management of Hardwarezone thus decided that instead of merely competing with other online companies for the shrinking pool of potential online advertisers Hardwarezone would target potential advertisers with conservative mindsets as well It decided to go into print Eugene explained the rationale behind the decision that eventually led to the launch of the magazine HWM

We foresaw that print advertising revenue coupled with magazine sales revenue would give us the steady revenue flow to back us up in tough times This steady revenue would also give us the confidence to expand to other areas without fear of losing too much cash flow

The idea behind HWM was to create synergy between Hardwarezonecoms online community and the power of print giving a community angle to conventional product reviews by including in the magazine members quotes from online discussion forums Marketing the idea of the magazine first to the current online advertisers then to the conservative advertisers who rejected Hardwarezone in the past the management of Hardware-zone were surprised by the enthusiasm and reception they received Eugene described the situation then

With big players like Canon Sony Microsoft and lots more that used us for online advertising increasing their advertising share through the print media was a natural progression Then we started to go for the conservative advertisers that had refused to do it online and they came on board too

With a large existing base of community members in the Hardwarezone forums forming the potential readership of the planned magazine selling


the magazine was much easier This ready base of initial customers was also highly attractive to potential advertisers Eugene described the new Hardwarezone market strategy

We had a win-win situation here On one hand our community was ready to support us by buying our magazine On the other hand with HWM out in newsstands our brand reach increased and we could get more people to come to Hardwarezone too This I believe is a new way of doing business

However the decision to move into print was not made without appreshyhension Eugene described some of the risks and issues that Hardwarezone had to confront when the decision to launch HWM was made

Of course there was a lot of risk involved The print business involved a much larger working capital compared to the online business and that would affect Hardwarezones immediate cash flow There were also the issues of getting enough advertisers competshying with the existing offline publications for readership as well as marketing dollars market acceptance and most importantly sus-tainability The decision also meant that Hardwarezone needed to expand our team hire more people increase office space and acquire the knowledge and expertise of offline publishing

The term Clicks and Mortar was coined by David Pottruck ex-President and CoChief Executive Officer of Charles Schwab 6k Co to describe the integration of conventional physically located businesses mainly in the retail industry with online businesses The conventional Clicks and Mortar (or bricks and clicks) strategy consists of an existing offline business movshying its business onto the Internet Hardwarezone defied this convention however by starting out as a pure-play dotcom before transforming into a Clicks and Mortar entity a complete online and offline IT media content aggregator

A key advantage of this reverse Clicks and Mortar strategy as compared to the conventional Clicks and Mortar strategy is that Hardwarezone manshyaged to avoid the common problem of organizational inertia that plagues most offline companies when they try to move online It has been argued that the longer a company has operated in the offline arena the more diffishycult it would be for the company to move online as it would probably have invested heavily in improving productivity to reach its current level of operating efficiency Organizational inertia sets in as moving online would mean fundamentally changing the way the company works and companies

Chee Chang Tan 175

would likely need a strong business case or very compelling reasons before

they become willing to undergo such an overhaul of business practices

Reinventing Hardwarezone

To make HWM work the management of Hardwarezone decided on a few strategic plans with a focus on giving Hardwarezone a strong physical presence and a new corporate image

First the management sought to distinguish itself from foreign publishycations by injecting a stronger local flavor into HWM Through means such as having local reviewers and writers local information such as the physical addresses of IT vendors were injected into the magazine Eugene explained how the management wanted the readers of HWM to identify with the magazine and its distinct Asian context

The other PC or IT magazines had foreign writers and editors even though they say that it is an Asian or Singapore edition I think our readers can see and feel the difference between our competitors and us We want readers to support us a Singaporean brand

Second the management recognized the need to garner the support of the large number of Hardwarezone members as the magazine needed them to form the base of initial customers Thus they tried to create a sense of ownership over the magazine amongst Hardwarezone community members by extracting members quotes and relevant threads of discussion from the Hardwarezone forum and printing them in the magazine Eugene explained the rationale behind the strategy

When they saw that their forum messages and their names were in the magazine they would feel that they had been recognized by Hardwarezone We hoped that these members would feel a sense of ownership over the new magazine and hopefully by doing so we could increase the stickiness of our website and create a large number of loyal readers as well

Next the management implemented a strategy they termed cyclic reinshyforcement The essence of this strategy was to put complementary but dissimilar content in both HWM and the Hardwarezone website Eugene Low described the rationale behind this strategy

If the content was featured at the website we would not put it in our magazine as it would serve no purpose for our users to buy the


magazine then What we decided to do was to cross-highlight or cross-advertise the articles so that people who went to the website could read more about it in the magazine and vice versa

With the strategy of cyclic reinforcement in place the Hardwarezone webshysite and HWM magazine worked in tandem to deliver localized and personshyalized content to their readers They complemented each other inducing people to use both avenues instead of competing with one another for customers

Lastly Hardwarezone also established BubbleZone in October 2001 a bubble tea outlet in the food court at Sim Lim Square to give Hardwarezone members a place to socialize and meet up This helped strengthen the bond between community members and gave Hardwarezone a stronger physical presence in Singapore The company also set up a wireless hub at the bubble tea outlet to allow patrons to access the Internet providing them the convenience of taking refreshments while checking out information on IT products available at Sim Lim Square before they began shopping

The sole aim of launching the magazine and implementing the various strategies was to ensure the survival of Hardwarezone Through this difficult period where many of its contemporaries faltered the strategies proved to be the lifeline that Hardwarezone needed to survive Eugene summarized the outcome of Hardwarezones new direction retrospectively

Going into print made the difference for our survival as a company I dont think we would have survived the dotcom crisis if we didnt

Hardwarezone in the Post Dotcom Crisis Period (Late 2002-End 2003)

Hardwarezone experienced continued growth and success in the period immediately after the dotcom crisis Official membership exceeded 100000 in 2003 while annual revenue from advertising both online and offline was approximately S$2 million in 2002 More encouragingly online advertising was picking up and rose quite close to the predotcom crisis level Eugene described the proportion of Hardwarezones online and offline advertising revenue at the time

Hardwarezones online versus offline revenue at that time was about 5050 but I think online advertising will slowly overtake our offline revenues again in the future

Chee Chang Tan 177

By the end of 2003 Hardwarezone had a representative office in the United States as well as offices in Singapore Malaysia and Thailand It employed more than 40 employees worldwide Advertising revenue was healthy at more than S$200000 per month with numerous high profile advertisers such as Benq Microsoft Sony and Hewlett Packard on board After spendshying more than S$200000 since 1998 to improve its backend infrastructure it now ran three full racks of over 30 servers including five dedicated servers for the forum and two dedicated servers for advertisements alone With growing Internet traffic due to the enhanced publicity from its offline magazine Hardwarezone constantly outgrew its servers

HWM was launched to great success in July 2001 with a circulashytion of over 10000 a month with its inaugural issue Within months it became the best selling IT magazine in Singapore edging out several well-established well-funded competitors such as PC World (Singapore) Chip and Singapore Computing Magazine

The Changing Face of Competition

Success inevitably invites imitation and it was no different with Hardware-zone With sustained profitability and continued growth through its 5 years of operation Hardwarezone inspired new entrants who were lured by its success They emerged as challengers to the market leadership established by Hardwarezone Particularly disturbing to the management of Hardware-zone was news that several local IT vendors some of whom were even partners of Hardwarezone in the past were now eying Hardwarezones lucrative business One such example launched at the beginning of 2003 was HardwareZoomcom

HardwareZoom currently the only local commercial website in direct competition with Hardwarezone was emulating Hardwarezones online-offline approach Online HardwareZooms website provided proprietary IT product reviews price lists and forum facilities for members Offline it established an unofficial partnership with PC Magazine offering the magazine free to many of its forum members

Other new entrants (listed in Appendix A) posed similar threats to Hardwarezone In addition indirect competitors of the past had now become direct competitors of Hardwarezone Hardwarezone no longer possessed a cost advantage over print magazines unlike the time when it was an online entity and could provide all its content free of charge


to its readers During this critical period Hardwarezone had to continue outperforming its competitors while charging a similar fee for the content that it provided in its print magazine

In the face of intensified competition the management of Hardwarezone had to develop new strategies to ensure continued profitability and growth Encouraged by the success of the reverse Clicks and Mortar strategy in Singapore the company decided to replicate the strategy elsewhere in the region in countries such as Malaysia Thailand and the Philippines It saw that the demands of IT enthusiasts in these countries were not met just as they had not been in Singapore

New Market Strategies

Consistent with the two-pronged strategy that brought Hardwarezone sucshycess in Singapore Hardwarezones online strategy consisted of the creation of Portalites or portals which provided country-specific content to Hardshywarezone members such as the price lists of IT products in their country and content in their native language Offline Hardwarezone quickly launched HWM (Malaysia) with plans to introduce Thai Filipino and Indonesian versions of the magazine in quick succession The HWM magazines helped generate awareness and publicity in the countries they were sold while bringing in advertising revenue for Hardwarezone at the same time

Hardwarezone also pursued a diversification strategy to expand its product line at this point in time In early 2002 Hardwarezone launched GameAxiscom a spin-off from the original Hardwarezone website GameAxis formerly existed as a special interest group under Hardwarezone As Hardwarezones gaming community expanded the gaming coverage on Hardwarezones website was not extensive enough to sustain members interests This resulted in the formation of GameAxiscom with a sole focus on computer gaming

With GameAxis Hardwarezone was tackling the growing community of gamers on a multitude of gaming platforms It featured the latest gaming news and reviews of the latest computer games and gaming hardware

Hardwarezone Today

Hardwarezonecom is available today in four localized versions Singapore Malaysia China and Vietnam (Appendix B) Launched in March 2003

Chee Chang Tan 179

product reviews provided within the website is 100 proprietary and catshyegorized by product type There is also a categorized discussion forum proshyvided for community members as well as a price list that details the latest prices of IT products from major local IT retailers such as vendors at Sim Lim Square in Singapore and those at Lauyat Plaza in Malaysia Chanshynels are also provided for community members to buy and sell used hardshyware parts Spin-offs from the original website include GameAxiscom dedicated to computer games and more recently Xboxaxiscom which is dedicated to Microsoft Xbox

Hardwarezone currently publishes seven magazines including five localshyized versions of HWM HWM (Singapore) HWM (Malaysia) HWM (Thailand) HWM (Philippines) and HWM (Indonesia) which are dedshyicated to IT product news and reviews GameAxis Unwired dedicated to computer gaming and Photol dedicated to digital photography

HWM (Singapore) adopted as the official magazine of Funan IT Mall a major IT products hub in Singapore currently sells over 30000 copies per month of which 8000 are from subscription HWM (Malaysia) is the official magazine of Lauyat Plaza in Malaysia and sells over 18000 copies per month

GameAxis Unwired a free magazine was launched in August 2003 A spin-off from the forum the magazine has a circulation of around 30000 and is distributed in coffee joints LAN shops and major electronics retailers such as Harvey Norman in Singapore

On November 2 2004 Internet services portal Green Dot Internet Services invested S$15 million to acquire a 20 stake in Hardwarezone Jackie Lee Chief Executive Officer and founding member of Hardwarezone commented on the move

The investment by GDIS is a strong signal of confidence in our company With this synergistic alliance and strong advisory board we expect to scale faster than ever locally and regionally within the next few years You can expect more announcements from us in the near future

With Internet advertising on the uptrend since 2003 the future of Hardshywarezone looks secure Future plans for Hardwarezone in the words of Eugene Low include more sites more magazines and a targeted Initial Public Offering (IPO) by 2008


Concluding Remarks

Hardwarezones phenomenal success is especially significant in Singapore where dotcom success stories are few Many reasons have been offered for the high rate of failure for Singaporean dotcoms These reasons include the relatively small market size a lack of confidence in the security of online transactions and a prevalent general perception that foreign products (or content in the case of the IT media industry) are more credible trustworthy and of higher quality than local products

Students of e-commerce will find many lessons in this real-world case that are applicable to any e-business operating in a similar industry or in a similar geographical niche market

The evolution of Hardwarezones business model the willingness of Hardwarezones management to make painful changes to the organization when necessary and the ingenuity of its business strategies should provide many interesting points for discussion in an e-business strategy class

Hardwarezones story will also be an inspiration to aspiring techno-preneurs across the region it is a story of how a Singaporean dotcom survived the dotcom crisis and faced up to the challenge of global multishynationals to not only survive but thrive


1 What are the challenges to I lardwarezone as a consequence of the changing economic environment

2 What arc ihe critical factors contributing to Hardwarezones success

3 Discuss the business models strategies and the changes undershytaken by Hardwarezone

4 What lessons can you learn from Hardwarezones evolving business model and strategics

5 Identily an industry organization or dotcom facing a similar sit nashytion as 1 lardwarezone did and discuss how some of I lardvvarezones strategies can be applied in the entitys case

6 What are your recommendations to the management of Hardware-zone to overcome the current challenges facing the organization Provide arguments in support of your recommendations

Chee Chang Tan 181

7 One of Hardwarezones strengths is in making readers identify with Hardwarezone through its localized content However in expandshying its business regionally what measures can Hardwarezone adopt to avoid being viewed as a foreign IT publication in the new marshykets it is entering

Teaching Notes

Motivations and Case ( Objectives

(a) E-commerce case studies documenting the e-business model and strategies in an Asian dotcom context are rare This case study purposefully documents the evolving business model and strategies of one of the most successful dotcoms in Singapore with insights into the rationale behind some of the strategies implemented

(b) Through rhe cases chronological sequencing students should be able to appreciate some of the challenges that organizations in geographical niche markets may face The unique strateshygies adopted by the organization in rhe case may help students develop new perspectives on e-business models and e-commerce strategies

Discussion questions can be divided into four aspects

I K-husiness models and strategies 11 E-commerce problems and risks

III E-businesses in changing economic environments IV E-businesses in geographical niche markers


This reaching case is suitable for final year undergraduates or MBA level candidates in e-commerce (or related) courses The case proshyvides the opportunity for rhe discussion of business models strategies and their changes during rhe past few years New challenges that arise from a changing economical environment can be discussed Another


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liisriihroilthoii(dtiiiJ rhix taraquoe J UMMUI example loi students who iln-klv hr c an unJL-iMfindinc nllaquo- nlnmcn e Mniumi- hit need HI illustration on ihnoMiip tin uplit siinuwic- lepi nJingtgt on the nmrcxt of the e-husiness Of interest M indents llso i the irpuil u-erse click and miMtiti MIIICLV the (dv lompany adopted to nun around ttgt fortune

Appendix A The IT Magazine Industry in Singapore

The IT magazines can generally be classified as consumer titles which tarshyget general consumers and IT enthusiasts and trade titles which target professionals from the IT industry In addition IT magazines can also be classified based on their focus on hardware or software and the communishycations technology being covered

Selected IT titles can be plotted on a 2 x 2 matrix based on the two different classifications

Hardware

Software and Communications

Technology

CHIP

HWM 1 PC Magazine

PC World

bull Digital Life

III

II IT Times

CIO

Asia Computer Weekly

IV Wireless World

Consumer Trade

HWM (Singapore) is currently operating in quadrant 1 of the matrix Its content is targeted at the general consumer with a strong focus on computer hardware reviews and a few articles on the latest software games and communication devices and gadgets Competitors within the same quadrant targeting the general consumer market with similar content

Chee Chang Tan 183

include Digital Life CHIP PC Magazine and the now defunct PC World

(Singapore)

Digital Life

Digital Life is a weekly tabloid covering news and updates in information technology including hardware software and communications technology targeted at the general consumer It is included with The Straits Times Singapores most established English newspaper and is available free of charge While its coverage of local IT products is not as extensive as HWM (Singapore) it has massive reach with a circulation of over 380000

CHIP

Launched in 1978 by the Vogel Media Group with over 25 million readers worldwide CHIP has a strong European presence with separate editions in Germany Poland Italy Ukraine Hungary Rumania Greece Turkey and the Czech Republic It established its presence in Asia with editions published in India China Saudi Arabia and Singapore around 1998 Curshyrent estimates put CHIP Singapores circulation figure above 5000 copies per month While CHIP Singapore does not have a website it maintains its online presence with a discussion forum with over 100 members

PC Magazine

The PC Magazine (Singapore) was launched in August 2003 by CR Media Ltd under a license agreement with Ziff Davis Media which controls the licenses of other popular IT publications such as Computer Gaming World Eweek and CIO Insight worldwide The PC Magazine (Malaysia) was launched within the same month by CR Media Sdn Bhd This was folshylowed in quick succession by the launch of PC Magazine (Indonesia) and PC Magazine (Thailand) The content within its pages is similar to HWM (Singapore) with a strong emphasis on hardware reviews and occasional articles on software and communications technology While official cirshyculation figures are unavailable media industry sources cite PC Magazine (Singapore) as HWM (Singapore)s closest competitor with over 15000 copies sold per month


Appendix B Hardwarezone Timeline

+ JUNE 1998 The Singapore Overclockers Group (SOG) was formed as a precursor to Hardware Zone and was given free web domain and space by SingaporeOne

+ OCTOBER 1999 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd was incorporated and became a massively popular online portal for price guides and technical reviews in Singapore

+ DECEMBER 2000 Hardware Zone received tremendous growth in its entity after raising 15 million in capital from December 1999 to 2000

+ MARCH 2001 On 16th March 2001 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched the first Hardware Zone Awards 2000 (HZA) an annual undertaking that would provide recognition to the best computer hardware and consumer products released in the market The award also serves to conshytinuously promote product excellence in hardware manufacturing design and quality of products in the computer industry On 30th March 2001 Mr Jackie Lee Chairman and CEO emerged as one of the top 13 finalists for the 1st ASME Netrepeneurs of the year Award 2001 out of 135 nominees

+ JULY 2001 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched the first homegrown IT magazine in Singapore HWM The 100 in-house generated content publication received an overwhelming response from its pre-launched online subscription drive in June 2001 The magazine is an extension of the companys well-known online IT publication which provides readers with new IT product features news reports product comparisons DIY guides mobile computing reviews as well as news in IT gaming

+ FEBRUARY 2002 Backed by popular demand Hardware Zone expanded its online content with the launch ofwwwgameaxiscom to highlight the growing advancements of the interactive entertainshyment industry and provide the hottest gaming news and reviews

+ NOVEMBER 2002 The popularity of the GameAxisreg brand sparked off the creation of the wwwxboxaxiscom a microsite dedicated to the emerging fan base of Microsofts very first videogame console system

+ DECEMBER 2002 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched its portal in Malaysia along with the Malaysian edition of its highly successful Singapore counterpart HWM thus putting the companys plans for expansion into action

+ MARCH 2003 The launch of Hardware Zone PortaLites kicked-off in Singapore closely followed by local-centric versions in Malaysia China and Vietnam

Chee Chang Tan 185

Appendix B (Continued)

+ AUGUST 2003 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched its free gaming magazine GameAxisreg Unwired The magazine is a print version of the GameAxisreg website and features the latest in gaming news and event coverage reviews and previews of the hottest game releases spanning platforms such as the Microsoft Xbox and Nokias N-gage

+ OCTOBER 2003 Nokias foray into the videogame market with the N-Gage mobile gaming device was spurred by the creation of httpngagegameaxiscom a microsite devoted to information such as news and reviews of N-Gage games in the market

+ NOVEMBER 2003 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched its Thai edition of HWM with content and languages specific to the country enabling a wider reach in the regional IT market

+ DECEMBER 2003 TM

Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched the first issue of PHOTOi in Singapore in response to the rise of the digital photographic community in Singapore

+ APRIL 2004 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd officially launched the Thai edition of HWM and GameAxisreg Unwired with the honored attendance of Thai ICT Minister Surapong Suebwonglee In the same month the Malaysian edition of GameAxis Unwired celebrated its launch as a paid magazine based on the massive popularity of interactive entertainment with MMORPGs in the country

+ AUGUST 2004 Team Singapore and GameAxis combined their efforts in creating a community-building experience between Singaporean athletes and gamers with Challenge Reality Game to Fame

+ SEPTEMBER 2004 GameAxis was the Official Games Media in the WCG 2004 Singapore Finals which genshyerated a record participation of 1400 gamers

+ NOVEMBER 2004 Green Dot Internet Services took an invested stake in Hardware Zone

+ DECEMBER 2004 Hardware Zone Pte Ltd launched HWM (Philippines) for readers across Manilla Luzon Visayas and Mindano

+ JANUARY 2005 TM

PHOTOi underwent magazine revamp in celebration of its 1 st anniversary in Singapore

(Source Hardwarezone Corp httpwwwhwzcorpcomver3timelineshtml)


CASE 10

Crisis Management of SARS in Singapore

Paul Raj DEVADOSS


The Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) was formed by the Singapore government as a statutory board under the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) in March 2000 DSTA is responsible for implementing defense technology plans managing defense research and development acquiring defense material and developing defense infrastructure for MINDER Apart from its defense technology support DSTAs development work in Inforshymation Technology (IT) involves various applications that enhance the command and control and daily operations of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Owing to the nature of its operations DSTA has the expertise in providing enterprise system solutions knowledge engineering mobility military command and control and e-govemment systems

Origins of the SARS Outbreak

In February 2003 several people in Guangdong province China were diagshynosed with a severe form of pneumonia Several members of a hospital staff were infected and became critically ill The infection spread to Vietnam and was traced to a traveler returning from China and Hong Kong in late February The global spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) however is believed to have started from the Metropole Hotel in Mongkok Hong Kong where a doctor who had treated patients suffering from the severe form of pneumonia had stayed for a day on February 21 2003 He infected five other guests on the ninth floor of the same hotel and two visitors who then traveled onward to their homes and subseshyquently sparked off the epidemic in varying degrees of severity in countries including the United States Singapore and Canada On 11 March the

187

188 Crisis Management ofSARS in Singapore

Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong reported several infections and was monitoring several staff who had fever and respiratory problems

SARS officially hit international headlines on March 12 2003 through a global alert from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the outbreak of a severe form of pneumonia Following the global alert Singapores Minshyistry of Health (MOH) issued a national alert requesting doctors to be on the lookout for flu-like symptoms and respiratory problems in patients It also requested travelers from the affected regions to consult doctors immeshydiately upon developing any flu-like symptoms MOH was also monitoring the health of three patients who had recently returned from Hong Kong and developed the symptoms Two of the patients were discharged upon recovery one remained in hospital under observation MOH did some conshytact tracing and monitored those who had been exposed to the patient

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as the disease was named by WHO was a previously unrecognized and potentially fatal and conshytagious Coronavirus infection It emerged in East Asia and subsequently spread globally In most countries including Singapore the epicenter of the infection was hospitals More than two thirds of the cases occurred through visitors healthcare workers and other patients in the vicinity of the undetected SARS patients

Spread of Outbreak in Singapore

The outbreak in Singapore is believed to have been sparked by three women who were infected by the index case (a primary carrier of the SARS virus who infects others) mdash the doctor at the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong They fell ill after returning to Singapore and were hospitalized immedishyately at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Following the global alert issued by WHO they were soon detected as having contracted SARS but not before they had unknowingly spread the infection to many people in Ward 58 of SGH several family members friends and healthcare workers Soon more cases of the disease surfaced further complicating the pattern in the spread of the infection Tracing potentially infected persons who were in contact with patients was difficult with over 95 patients infected and 52 discharged

Considering the increasing spread of the virus the government pressed into service many agencies in an extensive measure to identify potential sources of infection Apart from tracing contacts with suspected carriers


monitoring was established at the airport to help screen passengers as they arrived in Singapore The Immigration and Checkpoint Authority worked with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to help trace passengers who needed to be quarantined such as in the case of the fourth index patient who flew into Singapore with symptoms of SARS The Ministry of Education (MOE) worked with educational institutions to help trace conshytacts within the institutions and implement screening measures to identify early those with flu-like symptoms

Dealing with SARS was particularly difficult because initially there was no information about the agent responsible for the infection or its mode of transmission People infected with SARS displayed symptoms similar to those of the common flu mdash high fever accompanied by headache dry cough and shortness of breath Thus initial cases were wrongly diagnosed as the common flu This absence of prior knowledge coupled with the fact that the infection was highly contagious ie easily transmitted by close contact with an infected person led to the rapid spread of the disease at the onset of the epidemic The high initial infection rate also increased the resulting deaths from the disease By the end of March 2003 Singapore had more than 80 cases of infection arising from three index cases resulting in four deaths Figure 1 shows the epidemic curve of SARS cases in Singapore

EpkJamie Curve of SARS CCISM Moll 0^2003(0-238)

The last onset of a probable SARS case occured on

5ttt May 2003 Ho new cases have developed after this date

I l l I TTjTrrjTi 11 f i r m gt j 1111111111 TTTI I J I i |TTrjTlT|T

IS 5 9 I I 17 71 2S 2raquo 10 U I t 12 M 30 4 raquo 12 14 30 M M T 5 9 Ngt Mar Aw tap V

O M of OnMt ol ilkwu Copyright 2001-2003 Minliiiy of Heal

Figure 1 Epidemic curve of SARS cases (source wwwmohgovsg)


Detection Isolation and Containment of SARS in Singapore

The rate and ease with which SARS spread in Singapore alarmed the govshyernment and caused much concern paranoia and fear among the public Singapore was the first country in Asia to take decisive actions to tackle this public health threat The government adopted the strategy of detecshytion isolation and containment of SARS infected victims which conshycurred with W H O recommendations on the management of the epidemic Mr Wong Kan Seng the Minister for Home Affairs explained Singapores three-prong strategy in his speech on April 16 2003 as follows

Our national strategy against SARS has three prongs First detect and isolate SARS cases as early as possible Second ring-fence detected or suspected cases hospitals and clinics and personnel treating SARS cases and adopt robust screening and infection conshytrol procedures Third contain the spread of the virus and guard vigilantly against outbreak in the wider community

For detection of SARS cases the Singapore government did extensive contact tracing of people who were either related to SARS patients or had possibly come in contact with them Contact tracing involved identifying all visited places and contacting each person who was related or had come into contact with a SARS patient to monitor their health The decision was to play it safe and quarantine a large number of people rather than risk letting potential patients slip through the measures The Infectious Disease Act was invoked under which all persons who had come into contact with infected individuals had to be quarantined and monitored for any appearance of SARS symptoms for 10 days mdash the incubation period that the SARS virus was believed to have Apart from tracing contacts with suspected carriers health monitoring mechanisms were established at the airport to help screen passengers as they arrived in Singapore

For containment of the disease Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) was designated as the sole hospital for the treatment of SARS patients Tight screening measures were implemented for all patients and visitors (Figure 2) inter-hospital transfer of staff and patients was stopped and adequate protection for healthcare workers was ensured through the use of protective gear such as masks gloves and gowns On March 26 2003


Figure 2 Notice for Closure of Schools in Singapore (left) Patient Screening for SARS

at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (right)

the Singapore government announced the drastic measure of closing all public schools for 2 weeks People were also advised to refrain from visiting China and Hong Kong during the period

Chronology of Events

The battle against SARS took place at two fronts healthcare workers including doctors nurses and researchers worked hard to treat infected patients and analyze the disease while government officials formulated and implemented emergency policies to control the outbreak Table 1 lists the key actionsdecisions taken at the two fronts to combat the outbreak

The rising number of index cases and the need to trace and quarantine all contacts of known infected patients increased the strain on resources Despite the nationwide measures taken to help identify patient showshying early symptoms and isolate them the cycle of infection was not broshyken every day patients trickled into hospitals with SARS symptoms On 19 April a new chain of events began which took the SARS crisis to a new level in Singapore A cluster of new infections was discovered and one of them worked in the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Market in Singapore The new cluster meant the entire wholesale market had to be shut down and over seven hundred people needed to be contacted to check for sympshytoms of SARS among them Some infected patients had visited several general practitioners in medicine and several sinsehs (practitioners in Chishynese medicine) before visiting a hospital with persistent fever All stall

192 Crisis Management of SARS in Singapore

Table 1 Chronology of eventsdecisions taken in Singapore for combating SARS

MARCH 12th Mar

13 th Mar

22nd Mar

28 t h Mar

APRIL 3 r d Apr

7 t h Apr

10th Apr 11 t h Apr

17th Apr 19th Apr 24 th Apr

26 th Apr

29 th Apr

MAY 13 th May 14th May 21 s t May

WHO issued global health alert on SARS MOH alerted doctors of three patients who had returned from Hong Kong MOH began contact tracing for the three patients who had returned from Hong Kong TTSH declared the central isolation hospital for SARS other checkups at TTSH stopped Airport authorities gave out health advisory cards to be given to all passengers arriving fromdeparting to SARS affected areas

ICA checked and gave out health advisory cards to incoming cruise vessels from affected areas Ministerial Committee on SARS formed to resolve cross-ministry policy issues and give political guidance to handle the impact of SARS cases on the econshyomy and society CISCO to serve HQO using e-Pic cameras First Infrared Fever Sensing System (IFSS) jointly developed by DSTA and ST Electronics installed at Changi Airport Government implemented $230 million SARS relief package New cluster of infections detected at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Market MOH invited DSTA to provide technical support for its contact tracing operations NEA implemented massive clean-up at marketsfood centers and fever checks for all hawkers and food handlers National Development Board set aside 200 public housing apartments as temshyporary housing for suspected SARS patients in an emergency

SIA gave out health kits to passengers to and from SARS affected countries Institute of Mental Health cluster detected with possible SARS cases Launch of the SARS television channel mdash joint effort by the three local broadcasters (Starhub Singapore Press Holdings and MediaCorp)

holders in the Pasir Panjang market and their employees were quaranshytined Everyone who visited the wholesale market between the 5 and 19 April were requested to report to MOH or a hospital to be screened for possible infection

New cases mostly related to the wholesale market were now reported at hospitals Contact tracing was in full swing but with the escalation of conshytacts to be traced the ad-hoc manual system was under severe pressure In the following section we describe the contact tracing procedures followed


Cose Trends H Mar- 16 Ail

mat laquonr te m M

Figure 3 Case trends of SARS infections and fatalities in Singapore (source

wwwmohgovsg)

by NEA with the help of MOH and the Singapore Armed Forces Figure 3 illustrates the trend of the infection and fatalities over the period of the first SARS outbreak in Singapore

Contact Tracing

During the early breakout of SARS hospital staff traced contacts of the patients admitted in their hospital wards This soon became cumbersome for several reasons Hospitals were an important zone in the battle against SARS Patients there had to be isolated to prevent further infection and at the same time effective medical care had to be provided to those with SARS as well as others in need of other medical services Since the medical staff was under pressure catering to the medical needs of the growing cases of SARS while taking increasing precaution while giving medical care MOH set up an operations center with NEA to take over contact tracing opershyations Officers from NEA used MS Excel based spreadsheets in their work Information gathered from contacts of patients was keyed into those spreadsheets One of the users commented that the spreadsheet was powshyerful and catered to all their needs because it allowed freeform data entry

Reports were prepared based on such information to update MOH on the status of contact tracing and issuance of Home Quarantine Orders (HQO) MOH contracted CISCO a statutory board specializing in security services in Singapore to help in issuing HQO and verifying compliance with the


orders CISCO staff also installed a camera connected to a telephone line which could be used in video conferencing with the quarantined person and verify individuals compliance with HQO Thus the complete process of identifying a suspect case the patients contacts and issuance of HQO involved four major agencies MOH hospitals NEA and CISCO Other agencies were also involved in providing social support such as counseling food delivery etc

A typical contact tracing process proceeded as follows When a patient was identified as a suspect SARS case hisher information was passed on to the contact tracing operations center MOH did its own follow-up and sometimes obtained information from other relevant agencies (eg MOE provided information on a students school etc) This information was consolidated and sent to the operations center which would be in the process of tracing contacts The information was consolidated into a complete list of people to be issued with H Q O and delivered to CISCO by 8pm every day CISCO staff then visited the people on their list and issued HQO This procedure had to be completed by midnight or early morning in order to ensure compliance with the H Q O immediately Nonissuance or noncompliance only meant a potential increase in people to be traced A manager from DSTA noted

We found CISCO staff doing detective work trying to locate resshyidents because the information given to them was often incorrect and that slowed down work and created a backlog

There were several reasons for the wrong addresses in the lists and staff had to trace the current addresses of the identified persons to issue them their quarantine orders This was a time-consuming process creating a huge backlog in the quarantine orders to be delivered

Scaling Contact Tracing Operations

Escalation of the outbreak and the need to contact and trace everyone at an entire wholesale market in Singapore prompted MOH to establish contact with the Ministry of Defence to set up a bigger operations room for the growing contact tracing work On 24 April four days after the Pasir Panj ang Wholesale Market incident the Defence Science and Technology Agency of MINDEF was requested to help in setting up an expanded operations


room for contact tracing The initial IT infrastructure centered on setting up 120 stations with email file and print services and Internet connectivity with the governments e-mail systems This was established within 48 h The 120-station capacity was subsequently increased to 250 Due to the nature of SARS viral transmission video conferencing became a critical and useful tool The operations center was linked to MOH and MINDER A support team was established which operated in shifts to provide technical support to the operations center

The CIO of DSTA oversaw the operations and suggested that the infrasshytructure would still not help MOH scale up its operations because the business process was not sufficiently streamlined An informant reported

Most of the information was in hardcopies or on spreadsheets with unstructured data It would be hard to do any sort of analysis based on that data

Hence DSTA suggested the use of an information system to cater to the needs of information coordination and flow thus making the process of tracing contacts efficient The CIO commented

We wanted to build something that could help in responding to emergencies and which could be further developed later

An information system to manage such data also delivers value A senior manager commented on the purpose of the Case Management System (CMS) that was to be built

CMS was expected to help reduce the number of people needed to be quarantined because it would provide us with an accurate understanding of the situation

That in turn would reduce the cost of managing the crisis

Building the Case Management System

DSTA targeted developing the system in two weeks This included gathshyering information on all processes in tracing contacts identifying their linkages and issuing quarantine orders The system had to be developed to meet the requirements envisioned by DSTA since there were no preceshydents of a similar system to follow To begin the process DSTA began by assembling a team that was experienced in network technologies database administration and systems development Employees were invited to join


the development team and asked to drop all existing projects to complete CMS in two weeks DSTA invited the ex-CIO of a hospital to brief the team on healthcare Information Systems and various systems in place in hospitals in Singapore This was a useful sharing session on tacit knowledge for the project team A project manager reported

It helped us to know our way around the kind of data we were

dealing with

Most in the development team began work immediately recognizing the critical nature of the assignment at a time of national crisis The developers were also motivated by the challenge of having to develop a system in a short time and gathering development requirements even as the system was being written A programmer remarked

It was like being in some kind of extreme programming competition

The project team was assembled and the nearest system to contact tracing requirements was identified to help jumpstart the development process DSTA had previously developed a casualty management system for the Singapore Armed Forces This system was identified as the closest to the requirements at hand and the project managers had prior experience in developing that earlier system However that system was insufficient for managing SARS contact tracing operations which required the analysis of linkages among the infected patients and their contacts To help in this process another government agency provided DSTA with software to study cross-relationships among a set of people

The team quickly went about setting out other requirements for CMS such as data sources formats security and the reports needed from the sysshytem There were no established procedures in the operations room since data management up till then had been done using spreadsheets and indishyvidual practices had been used in monitoring and managing tracing opershyations A manager pointed out

People at the operations center had no time to talk to us they would give us the data and we had to figure out the details Sometimes they didnt know the complete process

The development team had to identify possible requirements suggest ways to synchronize contact tracing operations and gather sources of informashytion and user interface layouts Figure 4 shows the information sources for


Efficient hospital contact tracing

Hospitals

Data Management Group (MOH)

Contact Tracing Teams (MOH SAF)

Accurate national SARS situation

Timely and efficient issuance of leave of absence

V t

Efficient community contact tracing

SYSTEMS DATABASE I

Effective trans-border control

1 Epidemiologists amp Disease

Control CISCO HPB Grassroots

Timely and efficient frontline verification of SARS cases Accurate mapping

of Epi-tree links Timely and efficient issuance of HQO

Figure 4 Information management needs for contact tracing

contact tracing operations Most of these agencies also needed to intershyact with the system to effectively manage the crisis System requirements changed on a daily or even hourly basis An example is the categories of potential SARS cases There were initially four which were later revised to eight different categories A programmer noted

Even as we hard-coded the categories the classification changed so we later made it a configurable option

The constant changes made the development process difficult Another programmer reported

Sometimes wed make some changes on site but forget to put those changes back into the development repository

Contact Data from Hospitals

Hospitals were an important zone in the battle against SARS Patients there had to be isolated to prevent further infection and at the same time effective medical care had to be provided to those with SARS Hospitals had also to continue providing critical surgical and general medical care to others in need of such medical services Every time a patient was identified


as a SARS patient contact tracing had to be carried out within the hospital to trace the movement of the patient and monitor the health of relevant staff and other patients This was a time-consuming process often taking

two days according to one doctor but it was critical to the efforts in containing the spread of the virus Most infections arose from index cases who returned to Singapore from travel in the region

Data gathered at such contact tracing operations was often ineffective due to the lack of expert knowledge on data collection procedures Also there was immense strain on the medical staff at hospitals due to proceshydures put in place to deal with the crisis In some of the data gathered there fields were incomplete or lacked basic information for meaningful contact tracing However the hospital staff despite their limited technical expertise did innovate with the use of Microsoft Visio to plot linkages between contacts Technology savvy doctors helped establish initial conshytact tracing data systems with spreadsheets to help trace patients and their contacts

Design of CMS

The immediate task of the project team was to locate sources of data to idenshytify people and their contact information Sources of information ranged from hospitals MOE and MOH to general practitioners in medicine and practitioners in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Information from all sources had to be collected into a database from where the system would perform case management should someone be identified as a susshypected or confirmed SARS patient This database was to be the reference database with as much contact information as could be gathered In addishytion a SARS case management database connected confirmed cases with suspected and probable cases to identify potential SARS patients and monitor their health status

The SARS database could also be used to provide exit control with the immigration authorities (to prevent infected patients from leaving the country mdash a service Singapore provided as part of the regional cooperation to manage the crisis) or with MOE (to isolate students who inadvertently attended classes when they should be quarantined) The various databases were to be interfaced together through CMS and a link analysis system to help in the entire contact tracing operations


CMS was developed on the Microsoft platform which was readily availshyable and would make the system simpler to implement It was also compatishyble with the Link Analysis component of the system The developers who were experienced in Oracles technologies programmed in their native platform and converted the code to the Microsoft platform to save time in learning the new system afresh A programmer commented

At first we didnt expect many problems but we had a tough time converting the code because of structural differences between these platforms

Apart from developing CMS DSTA also had to work on the reference database by populating it with useful information from the various agencies To do so it had to resolve technical issues which centered on inconsistent data formats incomplete or outdated information However the technical issues paled in comparison with the problem of obtaining the data itself The reference database needed to contain simple contact information on as much of the population as was possible to help in contacting people quickly The CIO commented

I was told it might be impossible to gather such data but I approached the CIOs of various government agencies anyway and they agreed When one agency offered its data (subject to clearance by the Ministry) they cautioned that it was at least three months old But I was ecstatic because back then I had no data and any data was better than that

As the reference database was highly sensitive with contact information for a high percentage of the population protocol had to be observed in its handling The CIO remarked

It is not free for all as far as data is concerned We have norms to conform to in handling such data

All data exchange would be guided by government policies to protect the privacy of individuals Data access to the system was tiered into multiple layers and access to tiers controlled by levels of authority

The case data in CMS focused on patient information infection status and relation to other patients or contacts This information helped SARS crisis managers develop a clearer understanding of the spread of the infecshytion It also gave the managers the ability to identify and contact potential people at risk through the linkage of CMS with the reference database In


general the records of Singapore residents could easily be tracked by their respective National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) numbers Within CMS however there were frequent inaccuracies in the NRIC numbers of residents CMS case records were therefore indexed instead on unique numbers generated by the system A project manager commented

Often the registered address may not match the actual contact address because people move So we had to rely on our own indexshying numbers for records as well as rely on mobile phone numbers to contact people rather than land lines

High mobile phone penetration in Singapore made using mobile phones to contact people easier than using fixed phones in many cases Figure 5 is a screen capture of the new case creation function in CMS

Case Clerk Function Create Case

Nric Not Found Please enter the details below

Case No 200305030302

Patient Information

lion |7DAYAOVENTIST ~mj

Create Case

Health Status | HIGHLY SUSPECT j f j Case Status NEW

1 CHINESE 11

Received By |

] NRICPassport S1234567G

Date of Birth | j

Race

Unit No

Home Tel

Unit No

Alt Tel

] Classification | NOT WORKING 1jE|

Type of ID j SINGAPOREAN

Age HH Nationality | SINGAPOREAN

Street

Hand phone

Occupation

Street Q

copy Local O Foreign | TAIWAN amp

j ee

TAN TOCK SENG HOSPITAL

Is

Symptoms

Outcome

|

[ D E C E A S E D ft

Ward j ~

bullJ

1 1

-i j Reset ] [c reate

13

i Lgt_r

Figure 5 Screen shot of function to create a new case on CMS

Paul Raj Devadoss 2 01

Access to the system was limited to the operations room for the crisis management and the data management group at MOH Data from other agencies was received by the operations center via email and keyed in by its staff This strategy reduced the need for extensive training across several agencies Through a unified data entry system into the database monitorshying the status of the infection across the nation became feasible Data from CMS was used to generate reports that gave the government an accurate update on the status of infections across the nation including the quaranshytine numbers and their individual status CMS also simplified the process of compiling daily status reports which MOH handed out to the press during the SARS crisis

Thus CMS made it possible to efficiently assemble accurate status reports on the spread of the SARS infection around the country Reports generated from the system on the status of the crisis were communicated back to the hospitals and other agencies The number of new infections was dwindling in Singapore by the time CMS was fully operational Within a month of the deployment of CMS Singapore was declared clear of the SARS virus by WHO

Implementation

Although CMS was developed and implemented in just two weeks the process nevertheless highlights some interesting experience in data conshyversion The operations center staffed by NEA officers had developed mulshytiple data formats on their spreadsheets According to the CMS project manager format conversion was an issue

There were virtually 200 different formats to resolve so data conshyversion was a difficult process

This was because users were using spreadsheets forwarded by MOH or hospitals to trace contacts Such spreadsheets contained data which was not properly entered into segmented data fields Instead much data was keyed into a single cell For example the address field contained the entire string of information from unit number to the area postal code of an address date formats also often varied Populating the SARS case management database was thus a challenge


A project team member commented about the data conversion process

It was a tedious process and we spent long hours trying to reconcile it to the new system

Another team member commented

This was perhaps the most complex part of the entire implementashytion process because there was no structure in the data used in the spreadsheets

The implementation team worked on parallel implementation to ease the system into the working environment with minimal disruption to tracing operations Parallel implementation helped the implementers convert data into the new system as well as train users on system usage without disrupting on-going tracing operations The project manager said his team took the needs of users into consideration

We kept the web interface as simple as we could but some users thought spreadsheets were better because there were no restrictions in entering data

Intensive system testing was also carried out due to the importance of data accuracy After running the system parallel to the spreadsheet-based data entry the operations center finally switched over to CMS

After the successful implementation of the information infrastructure for scalable operations to trace contacts DSTA tested and supported the system for three weeks and handed over the system to MOH only when it was satisfied with the stability of the system MOH then contracted another agency to continue maintenance and development of the system in accordance with its own procedures

Co-operation and Co-ordination among Ministries

The effectiveness of all the isolation preventive and containment meashysures undertaken by the Singapore government were maximized because of the timely coordination and cooperation among the various government agencies It took the combined effort of a determined government and cooperative public to control the outbreak in Singapore The government agencies were vigilant and proactive in increasing surveillance and sharing of information with each other Also several high-level civil servants and


Table 2 Multidisciplinary approach of the Singapore government in combating SARS

Activity Description

Mobilized all available human and technologshyical resources

Isolation and

containment

Contact tracing

Imposing law

Control

Use of technology

Campaigning

Both domestic agencies (government agencies police comshymunity associations etc) and foreign agencies (CDC W H O ) cooperated to learn the nature of the Coronavirus which caused the disease how it spread how it could be contained and how to help patients recover from the disease

Tan Tock Seng Hospital was designated as the SARS hospital

Exhaustive tracing of people who had been in contact with a SARS patient was done

Home Quarantine Orders (HQO) were issued to people who had come into contact with SARS patients but did not have symptoms (coercive and intrusive move)

Cameras (CISCO Security) installed in homes of people under HQO and monitored daily by NEA staff Temperate checks twice daily made compulsory

New technology (Thermal Scanners Contact Tracing System) was quickly developed or adapted and installed at the airport ferry terminals and all other border checkpoints

The government joined hands with community clubs and socishyeties to launch campaigns to raise the level of public and personal hygiene

ministers exchanged information through emails frequently The CIO of DSTA reported

Every night Id return to read their email exchanges These emails were often sources of suggestions towards the system we were developing

Among developers and users mobile phones were the more accessible means of communication due to ad hoc development processes

To summarize the co-ordination among several government agencies in contact tracing operations during the SARS crisis in Singapore Following the alert by W H O in early March Singapores Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a national alert requesting doctors to be on the lookout for flushylike symptoms and respiratory problems in patients MOH established an operations center together with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to conduct contact tracing operations The Immigration and Checkpoint


Authority (ICA) worked in conjunction with NEA to help trace passengers who needed to be quarantined The Ministry of Education (MOE) worked with educational institutions to help trace contacts within institutions and implement screening measures MOH contracted CISCO to help in issuing and verifying compliance with Home Quarantine Orders (HQO) MOH involved DSTA from the Ministry of Defence to provide IT support for the growing contact tracing operations Several other agencies were also involved in studying and responding to the impact of the outbreak in their own domains and contributed to ensuring an effective mechanism to fight the outbreak

Other DSTA Implementations in the SARS Crisis

Apart from the implementation of CMS DSTA also identified the thermal-imaging sensor used in the military as a possible device for temperature screening Relevant software and hardware were added to the sensor and the Infrared Fever Screening System (IFSS) was developed These infrared scanners were then deployed at all entry-points (land air and sea) into Singapore to screen the temperature of a large number of arriving and departing passengers This new system received commendations from all over the world and contributed greatly towards the governments effort in boosting confidence among Singaporeans It also reduced the strain on resourcesmdashby freeing the nurses who would otherwise be doing passenger-by-passenger screening at the entry points

Another system that DSTA was involved in developing was a system for tagging patients at the Accident and Emergency (AampE) departments of hospitals the rationale was that most patients reported to AampE departshyments when they developed SARS symptoms The agreement for such a system was reached between the CIO of DSTA and his counterparts in the healthcare sector One hospital which was not affected by SARS ran a trial system with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to help trace the movements of patients DSTA coordinated the trial with a private vendor specializing in RFID technologies A DSTA manager said

Using RFID made it easy to list contacts instantaneously

However the RFID system was deployed only on a trial basis at one hospital during the crisis The role of the RFID system in the SARS crisis was therefore limited


Re-appearance of SARS

Singapore was relentless in its efforts to manage the SARS crisis and proshyvide a safe and healthy atmosphere for its people As the SARS virus was thought to have an incubation period of 10 days Singapore worked towards going through 20 days or clearing two incubation cycles without new infecshytions to be effectively rid of the virus On May 30 2003 Singapore was declared clear of the SARS virus by WHO

On September 9 2003 however a new probable SARS case was reported in Singapore A postdoctoral student was infected while handling virus samples in a laboratory His fever started on 26 August but it was diagnosed as common viral fever He had visited doctors several times with persistent fever Later within 8 h of having identified the SARS patient and activating contact tracing operations about 60 people were traced and contacted some were issued HQOs DSTAs CIO recalled

I wasnt called to support (the operation) which means our system is working satisfactorily

Singapore now has an operations room and a telephone help call center ready to be deployed rapidly to handle emergencies such as SARS It is also developing an early warning system to monitor the appearance of key symptoms of potentially devastating diseases at its nationwide network of polyclinics The data after continuous monitoring over a long period of time will provide Singapore with an effective mechanism to identify potential outbreaks of infections Such efforts are supported through key capabilities developed through various information technology initiatives by several agencies across the government and its private partners DSTA played a key role in exploring such applications of technologies developing capabilities for rapid deployment and supporting new activities with the relevant information technology such activities may require

Appendix A

CDC Communicable Disease Center CISCO A statutory board specializing in security services in Singapore CIO Chief Information Officer CMS Case Management System


DSTA HPB HQO ICA IFSS MINDEF MOE MOH NEA NRIC RFID SAF SARS SGH SIA TCM TTSH W H O

Defense Science and Technology Agency Health Promotion Board Home Quarantine Order Immigration and Checkpoint Authority Infrared Fever Sensing System Ministry of Defense Ministry of Education Ministry of Health National Environment Agency National Registration Identity Card Radio Frequency Identification Singapore Armed Forces Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Singapore General Hospital Singapore International Airlines Traditional Chinese Medicine Tan Tock Seng Hospital World Health Organization


1 Given the need to identify and contact a large number of people during the crisis discuss and suggest a task list tor government agencies with respect to information sharing

2 Identify other applications for information sysiems in managing a crisis such as the SARS outbreak in Singapore

3 Discuss potential application for the experiences and expershytise illustrated by DSTA (luring the management of the SARS outbreak

4 Discuss the effectiveness of the Case Management System 5 Discuss the role of information technologies in integrating knowlshy

edge from various agencies involved in the management ol the SARS outbreak

6 Discuss and suggest means to deploy an IT system to coordinate and exchange knowledge across multiple agencies within the govshyernment What are the challenges of such a system

f u a De vadoss 207

H e w can e-^govemment systems be nsed to depoy information

systems that rely on mutiâgency participation

8 Discus the role of D S T A in the context of developing dynamic

capabilities

9 Diseuss the roes of e^govemment m the context of a ends st ch

as the S A R S outbreak in Singapore

Teaching Notes

This case study documents a part of Singapore^ experience in man

aging the outbreak of a healthcare emergency Such orisis situations

a m inherently unpredictable^ and the dynamic capability to respond

to such situations effectively is an important aspect of crisis manshy

agement Singapore devised an immediate multi^pmng crisis man^

agement strategy A H agencies were made aware of the situation

Each agency responded with an action plan relevant to their speciAc

domain Tasks that required the cooperation ofseveral agencies were

coordinated in order to derive greater eampciencies in task pedbrmance

Contact tracing operations were an important parr of the response

measures towards containing the spread of the vims Through a disshy

cussion of such contact tracing activities this case study gives an

insight into the operations prior to planned tn^brmation technology

support the pervasiveness of competing technologies the attitudes

and perceptions of information technology and the rote of a good T

infrastructure in the management of a crisis

Another important aspect of multi-agency coordination is the

sharing and integration of knowledge across multiple domains

Knowledge integration enables elective task design and performance

based on the exchange of domain expertise amp o m a variety of agencies

The key challenge in such knowledge integration relates to enabling

an infrastructure to provide knowledge on demand as well as a mechshy

anism A r rapid exchange of relevant knowledge D S T A identiAed

the need to capture information and eHciently communicate that

information to relevant agencies Their information technologies

208 Crnn AfMgenaf of 5^R5 fn Hngapofe

proided parrieipann^ ageneie^ vhh she ahdiry ro exchange â)^^

ahte know)edê

)STA rehed on ts de^Ttopmtent eapahihties which were n aee^^

nidation of hs preio s experiences in deveopin^ appieanon r

e^^vernaênt and other projects D S T A ftmher tdiêd the pnh)ic

intnnnanon inâstmemre hat Singapore had devetoped th^ûgh its

im(mseôven^ment initiative ]n h^h^ nfDSTAs experiences th s

ease stndy h^ht^h^ the h^ponanee of eapahdity deveoptnent and

a il ty in deptoyin^ new services E ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ heeomh^

an HMe^ra ehanne of eomnmnicaUon amon^ vannns btakehotders

of the overnmg pnxre^s E ^ o v e m m e m jnfraMmemres are expensive

und vash spanning a w^de ranê of ser iees- Sneh infrastruetnres proshy

vide an atnpc piatiorm tot the development f new seraees Thhgt eahe

stndy tiii^d^hts sonK expenenees that t^strate d w deveiopiênt of

new servkes uîn^ sneh exishn^ eôvemment infirastrêmre

Tlwease study wase^nducieddtmn^wpenodo^ At^t^t-êendxT

2 0 0 ^ Primany 24 persnna) inêraews were e^ndueted n nhâin

a t readth f mfurmanun npina^h and expenenee Tw interview

wee^ were mainty ro n due t Mente Seienee and Technoik^y Aêney

()STA) vhn -tand)ed he teehm^^MY tssue d^nn^ ^he edx^ and

n^^rdinaêd wih a nther a enltie and nêrs The interviews were

hênêd ansiirnetured and expinnnory in n^^re tn etieh deiadeJ

in^nnnnnon lt n a hreadd) f is e retard h) the eaê t artieipants

^Têpn^n^ experiences and upsmons t n the e ents they w^nested

daring the er s s vere predominancy t e eontent oi ê)i tnteâews

Tt^partiîpantînR^viewede^nsistedofdK^J^Xnânaêr^ pr^jeet

nânaêrs deve^perh and aser fnun PSTA Tlie nnervieYes were

invuhed hi t)e ptannin^ design implementation and n ^ of (^MS

during $he u^threak The interviewees were etteeted (or their kntm )-

edê in t ) e pnxresh of deektin^ sy tetn design devetnptnet^t and hnpe^

tBentat^ n during t e crises )ae n extensive eneraê f the oathreak

in Singapore ahtandant seeondary daia wase^tlated h^ trian^tare the

mifbmMitnon Seeondary data ^nended press retea eh ampo^n a host f

f uF a Devadoss 209

organizations involved m the S A R S eri$m management newspaper

reports on event$ and da^y sanation reports A o m key participants

Thi$ teathmg euroase st^dy is soitabte for Crisis Management

E^gevemment Knowtedge Management or IS strategy eew$e$ at

the undergmdnate and postgraduate evek The ease may be u$ed to

demonstrate an aspeeurot of the eêurotiw response meehanism towards

a pnbtie health erisectis The ea$e Aether iMnstrate$ how agencies

may identify opportunities amp)t m^brmation systems appMeatiom and

deploy simple information arehiteetures ampr t se in complex situations

The ease may abo serve as nseM iHmtration in initiating dtMusaiuns

on the proeess of integrating knowtedge domains Aom a variety of

partieipating organizations Leading information on relevant disotn-

$km themes may be neeuroessary prior to dise^ssions among students


CASE 11

Alignment in Organizational IT Interventions in KM-Com


Case Description

KM-COM (a pseudonym) is a global IT services and consulting company which employs more than 20000 people across development centers in 10 countries and sales and marketing offices in 45 countries KM-COM was incorporated as a private limited company in India in the late 1980s It became a public limited company with its initial public offering in the early 1990s and is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange With annual revenue touching US$1 billion it is recognized today as one of the top five Indian companies in the IT industry and has a client base of close to 400 global companies including more than 150 Fortune 500 companies KM-COM offers technology solutions in areas including software development application management system inteshygration enterprise solutions embedded systems engineering services and e-commerce KM-COM has also entered into strategic technology and marketing alliances with more than 75 global companies and expects these partnerships to further enhance the quality of the end-to-end IT solutions it provides to customers

Strategically KM-COM positions itself as an organization providing diverse end-to-end IT solutions that promise to help client organizations transform their businesses KM-COM targets customers in a wide range of industries such as banking insurance telecom education healthcare automotive and media KM-COMs main organizational strategy revolves around its remote software development capabilities It offers client organishyzations dedicated teams working on client projects in its software developshyment centers in India In addition where necessary software professionals from KM-COM work on-site at the client location or in any of its worldwide

211

212 Alignment in Organizational IT Interventions in KM-Com

global development centers With the on-site option KM-COM promises expertise at client locations while its teams in India function as extended virtual offices that provide round-the-clock support to client organizations

Structurally KM-COM is organized into a number of independent busishyness units each of which falls into one of three dimensions the vertical dimension which recognizes that the nature of knowledge required to proshyduce quality software for one industry is quite different from that required to write software for another industry the horizontal dimension where units offer services in specific technology competencies and the geographshyical dimension where customers in one region such as Japan or the US west coast are handled differently from customers in a different region such as the US east coast In addition to these independent business units KM-COM has also established around 30 smaller units known as offshore development centers (OSDCs) with each OSDC having a long-term relashytionship with a specific client organization Established in conjunction with client organizations OSDCs function almost as offshore extensions of the client organizations are independent profit centers and relatively isolated from other KM-COM business units A number of other departshyments mdash human resources quality marketing and information systems (IS) mdash support the business units and work toward effective management of the organizations relationships processes and projects For implementshying organization-wide IT strategies the KM-COM top management has incorporated separate departments or teams which are permanent entishyties entrusted with the responsibility for implementing and continuously refining the respective IT strategies

KM-COMs Organizational KM Initiative

KM-COMs KM initiative was the brainchild of its Chief Executive Offishycer and was initiated in early 2002 For implementing the KM strategy the top management created a full-time 10-member team called SU-KMI (which stands for strategic unit mdash knowledge management initiative) consisting of software developers and marketing personnel from the IS and marketing departments respectively The head of this central KM implementation team reports directly to the president of the organization Called the Knowledge Management Initiative (KMI) the KM strategy is administered through KMaster a knowledge management system (KMS)


developed in-house by the 10-member KM team The KM strategy has evolved in two distinct phases since its launch In the initial few months the organizations KMS was reserved only for business development and presales personnel and a few project managers The central KM teams mandate then was to make sure that the frontline sales and business develshyopment personnel had the requisite up-to-date information when meeting potential customers Therefore the focus of the organizational KM was on building repositories containing case studies of past projects presentations to customers organizational best practices etc The content of the KMS was classified and catalogued into business domains technology domains and competencies The KM team requested and obtained this information from the various project teams which were involved in executing projects and providing solutions to customers In this phase of the KM initiative the KM implementation team also created a helpdesk comprising four of its members They took queries from the sales and business development staff and provided them with solutions in real time The helpdesk service was later enhanced to an automated integrated voice recognition (IVR) system that took care of repetitive queries from the sales and business develshyopment community The head of the KM implementation team gave an example of a typical urgent query from a sales executive

I urgently need a list of all the mainframe migration projects we have done at KM-COM

The second phase began a few months after the launch In this phase which is still on-going the central KM team targets mainly the technical comshymunity in the organization which consists of more than 16000 members and includes software developers project leaders and project managers in the different business units The central KM team through KMaster offers a host of IT-based applications and innovations which encourage members of all business units to share the knowledge gained during the course of their projects (Table 1) In the perception of the top management middle level managers and the KM team there are two main goals of organizashytional KM First it aims to help members resolve everyday work-related issues more efficiently A senior project manager at KM-COM commented

As a company when you grow very fast often you wont even know what is happening in some other part of the company If you are a developer you may struggle over a problem for weeks And you may


Table 1 Features of KM-COMs organizational KM initiative

KM features Description

KM-COM repository

K-Transmit

K-Pho

K-Skool

Helpdesk service

KM sharing sites

Contains knowledge resources classified according to category (eg best practices domain technology etc) Also contains project profiles KM-COM patents and an online library Members at all levels in the organization spend significant time reading and responding to emails The knowledge team latched onto this practice and modeled the K-Transmit service around it Through K-Transmit queries posted by members are channeled to the mail boxes of the appropriate parties and their email replies are tracked and logged in the repository Thus with K-Transmit pockets of knowledge get pooled and logged at one place K-Phone is a simple off-the-shelf SMS (short message service messhysaging on GSM phones) technology to facilitate requests for key documents by KM-COM members while they are on the move This document-request-and-delivery service is entirely automated with inexpensive technology and little programming effort This comprises tacit knowledge sharing sessions organized across the organization Topics chosen for these sessions are current and interesting to a wide cross-section of members The sessions serve two prime purposes documenting tacit knowledge of the members while they share their experiences and creating awareness about KM and its services

A dedicated team attends to the queries and requests of members making this resource more reachable and useful To accommodate the already existing internal informal KM inishytiatives of different business units on the organizational KM platshyform the KM implementation team hosts internal websites of the various business units on KMaster to allow knowledge manageshyment at the business unit level These sites are called sharing sites and some business units now have sharing sites on KMaster

come to know only later that some other guy in the company had

the same problem in his project and has already come out with a

good solution and you did not even know about it So the need for

strong KM support is extremely essential in such cases

Second the top management feels tha t from a strategic viewpoint

breaking into some of the highly decentralized business units (or silos)

and engaging t h e m in the organizational KM strategy is imperative They

believe that through KM it is possible for the organization to better levershyage the knowledge created in all the business units and position itself better


in the market Through KM the organization hopes to build on the project experiences of the various business units so that it can strategize and offer a wider range of services to customers in the future Members of the central KM team have taken up the responsibility of ensuring that all business units support and contribute to the organizations KM initiative The KM team periodically conducts KM meetings in all the business units organizes knowledge sharing sessions advertises on the organizational intranet sends out quarterly newsletters and identifies volunteers in each business unit who can champion the KM initiative in their respective units The head of the KM team noted that the team stresses the importance of organizashytional KM by telling members how they could move ahead in their careers faster by identifying with and contributing to the organizations endeavor to create and capture knowledge

We acknowledge to all members that so far we have considered as invaluable those people who have gotten the company a lot of good projects But we stress that from now on we will also give importance to the performance of members who help create knowledge and we will keep track of such people and help them move up faster

In the opinion of the top management and the KM team the organishyzations KM strategy has already met with some success Some of the business units now regard the organizational KMS as an important comshyponent of everyday work and have regularly contributed reusable software components which are used by members of other business units leading to faster completion of their projects At the same time a few business units have written up and uploaded case studies of their previous projects onto KMaster In many instances KM-COM has been able to attract new clients by showcasing these case studies However the organization feels that an important KM challenge confronting it is to try and leverage the expertise of those business units which have generally tended to be isolated from the KM initiative To date the KM strategy has had the most success in the vertical units modest success in the horizontal units and little success in the OSDCs Our analysis will examine the underlyshying cultural differences in three business units within KM-COM a vertishycal business unit a horizontal one and an OSDC to help explain why the KM strategy has not been successful across all three types of business units


KM-COM1 and Organizational KM

KM-COM 1 is a 1000-member strong vertical unit (VU) that works on application development and maintenance projects for clients belonging to a specific industry segment Most of the project teams and members of KM-COM 1 work in a one-off project mode mdash completing one project and taking up another that usually involves a different client in the same unit Members of KM-COM 1 have responded very enthusiastically to the roll-out of the organization-wide KMaster Informants recalled that ever since the organization-wide KMS was launched in 2002 they have been excited by the applications available on KMaster and access them quite frequently during all their projects A senior software engineer explained

When KM was initiated we were very curious about what KM was and how it was going to benefit us and the organization Once K-Skool sessions were launched under the aegis of the organization-wide KM we began to really see the benefits K-Skool sessions are primarily tacit knowledge sharing sessions where we meet brainshystorm and discuss a wide range of cutting-edge technical issues

At the launch of these sessions many members from KM-COM 1 registered for and attended them They especially appreciated that the KM impleshymentation team audio-recorded each session in its entirety and made the transcript available later on the organizational KMS This feature allowed even those who could not attend the sessions to follow the proceedings at their convenience later Informants found these sessions very useful and given that they work on similar technologies in different business units they became convinced that much useful knowledge could be shared through the common platform of organizational KM With this initial experience of KM KM-COM 1 members began to eagerly look forward to new applications and repositories on the organizational KMS As the KM implementation team incorporated new applications on the organizational KMS for contributing and sharing knowledge members of KM-COM 1 took active interest in them Since then they have contributed reusable software codes project best practices and case studies to the various KMasshyter repositories which have proven to be very useful to members of other business units They have also often posted their technical project related queries to the many discussion forums on the organization-wide KMS and


claimed to have received quick replies from members of other business units working in similar technology areas

Members of KM-COMl regard the organizational KM strategy as a very important step taken by the top management A software engineer noted

In my team I have taken the initiative to organize some K-Skool sessions After meeting some of the KM team members at these sessions I am now a very keen contributor to KMaster I upload a lot of software codes to KMaster that can be reused I have got many thank you emails from members of various units So I feel that KM helps us respond to our everyday nitty-gritty problems faster

Most informants at KM-COMl feel that with the implementation of the organizations KM strategy they could easily recognize the immense potenshytial of sharing knowledge with members from other business units They also believe that their unit always shows a greater inclination than some of the other units towards contributing to the organizations KM strategy as they identify closely with the organization and feel that it is important to be actively involved in the organizations strategic initiatives A project manager explained

Unlike the OSDCs that have long-term relationships with the client organization our projects are of relatively shorter periods For instance my previous project was completed in four months flat and we just moved on to the next one So we are very keen that the organization benefit from the knowledge created in each of our project And over the years we have tended to get actively involved with the organizations KM strategy

One software engineer described KM-COMl as having a culture that is extremely supportive of the values espoused by the top management while another feels that KM-COMl is a typical organizational unit where memshybers always look up to the top management for guidance and inspiration A software engineer noted

As the outsourcing phenomenon spread the organization created a number of business units to meet the growing demand for qualshyity IT services For business reasons many of these units have to remain isolated from the organizational mainstream But here at KM-COMl there are no such compulsions Members strongly assoshyciate themselves with KM-COM and grab every opportunity to get noticed at the organizational level


Informants at KM-COM 1 said any new strategies initiated by the top manshyagement would get great support from members of KM-COM1 A project manager explained

Our mental frame of reference is always the larger organization So though we may take some time to get used to new expectations arising from a new strategic focus or industry buzzword we fall in line sooner rather than later

KM-COM ls supportive culture plays an influential role in ensuring that organizational members respond effectively to organizational KM The sub-cultural environment is defined by the propensity of members to identify consistently with the larger organization and support the strategies manshydated by the top management With a general inclination to support the values norms and practices instituted by the organization members of KM-COM 1 view the implementation of KM as an opportunity to get involved in a key organizational strategy Further their supportive cultural mindshyset convinces them that it is their duty to help the organization reap the intended benefits of the KM strategy and they perceive direct benefits from organization-wide KM In short the supportive culture in KM-COM 1 instills in the members a strong organizational focus and enhances their receptiveness to the organizational KM strategy


KM-COM2 is a 750-member strong horizontal unit (HU) that takes up projects involving a technology competency TC-2 Members belonging to KM-COM2 are typically assigned to projects in various business units that require TC-2 skills On completing one project in a business unit members usually move on to some other project in a different business unit Essentially KM-COM2 offers its specialized competence in TC-2 to other organizational business units and sees a constant movement of its personnel between different business units Members of KM-COM2 have had mixed experiences with the organizations KM strategy Informants said their utilization of the resources and contribution to KMaster is extremely high when they work on proj ects in certain business units A senior software engineer commented

When I first came to know about our KM initiative I was working on a TC-2 project in one of the VU My project manager I


remember was extremely excited about the KM initiative Durshying that project we interacted quite a bit with members from other business units through KMaster We extensively used the discussion forum repositories that featured various technologies and domains to discuss some of the problems in our project

A few other software engineers who had worked in a three-month project in VU KM-COM1 explained that during that project they created a series of generic software codes which were likely to be used routinely in many applications Following the number of messages posted by the KM impleshymentation team on the organizational intranet about how knowledge sharshying could reduce project completion teams they neatly classified all the generic codes they had created and uploaded them to the organizational KMS Other members of KM-COM2 had a different experience Three software engineers who were part of a project in an OSDC for close to a year explained that they hardly ever accessed the organization-wide KMS One of them noted

In the OSDC project organizational KM was definitely not on top of our minds Even when we had technology domain related queries that perhaps could have been answered by an expert here in KM-COM we chose to post a query in the KM portal on the client organizations intranet to which we had been given access

In short members of KM-COM2 had contrasting experiences with orgashynizational KM as they moved from one project to another across different business units

Members of KM-COM2 appear to have an open mind towards KM-COMs intent to create and build a strong KM platform Members of KM-COM2 in their attitudes and perspectives toward organizational KM seem largely influenced by the dynamics of the business unit they are posted to A senior software engineer at KM-COM2 explained

The KM team expects us to contribute case studies reusable artishyfacts and so on to KMaster and they often wonder why we dont give them the input How interested we are in KM at any given time largely depends on the general attitude towards KM in the business unit we move into At present the feeling in my present host unit is that the knowledge initiative is concerned purely with numbers So there is a lot of resistance to contribute

Informants in KM-COM2 feel they may participate very frequently or infrequently in KM activities depending on what they call the culture of


the host unit they are working in Their experience indicates that whenever they are part of a project in an OSDC they rarely share knowledge via KMaster because of the culture in the unit However whenever they work on a project in a VU the environment generally seems to be more positive toward KM encouraging them to get involved as well

The culture at KM-COM2 has a dynamic quality to it in the sense that members of KM-COM2 identify with the overall organization and its values but simultaneously try to adopt temporarily the values of the current business unit to which they have been assigned A senior software engineer remarked

Since we are constantly shuttling between different business units we try to fit well into different environments As a result we do not have any common practices or strong beliefs that can be called uniquely KM-COM2 But many of the business units we work in have their own norms and practices and for the time we are there we religiously follow all of them

Most of the other informants at KM-COM2 feel that one of their main characteristics is their ability to integrate into the cultures of different business units A software engineer noted

In a recent project I worked in a business unit where people were always making sarcastic remarks about the organizations mission statements and quality processes After a period of time I found myself making similar remarks In my current business unit everyshybody is dead serious about quality processes and now I find myself totally in agreement with them

The dynamic cultural orientation of KM-COM2 members apparently influshyences their experiences and perceptions of organizational KM They tend to support KM when working in a VU and oppose KM when working in an OSDC


KM-COM3 is a 400-member strong offshore development center whose client is a leading organization in the financial industry Since the initiashytion of the KM strategy the 400 members of KM-COM3 have very rarely contributed to or accessed any of the IT applications available on the organization-wide KMS Informants in KM-COM3 explained that they


continue to receive a number of emails and that some of them still attend a number of meetings conducted by the KM team where they are asked to contribute reusable software codes documents featuring the best pracshytices in KM-COM3 case studies etc In spite of this as a project manager explained they have very limited experience with organizational KM

Yes I am aware that the organizational KM initiative exists But for us here in the OSDC its just a peripheral event It has never touched us or perhaps its more accurate to say that we have not allowed it to touch us Having central knowledge repositories arranged according to various technologies and domains and keeping them updated is a very good idea but I can say for sure that people from our OSDC have very little to do with it

Overall informants in KM-COM3 feel their interaction with the organishyzations KM initiative is minimal with very little of the knowledge created during their projects shared on the organizational KMS

KM-COM3 has nondisclosure agreements with its client organization which clearly restrict the offshore team from sharing sensitive knowledge it is privy to with the rest of the organization The informants explained that as a consequence much of the customer specific knowledge remains within the OSDC and does not get published in any form on KMaster Documents with any information about the client are first sent to a unit-level team that reviews it and decides what can go into KMaster and what cannot However most of the informants at KM-COM3 feel that apart from client-specific forms of knowledge all other useful technical knowlshyedge that could be shared via KMaster still remains unshared According to them their contribution to the organization-wide KM strategy suffers mainly as a consequence of their being firmly entrenched in their own unit A senior technical manager said

If you observe at a deeper level project interaction with other units is very limited because we are always concerned only with adding value to our client organization In fact many of our members are much more emotionally attached to the client organization than they are to KM-COM In this scenario it is natural that we dont contribute much to the organizations KM initiative

According to a senior vicepresident the isolation of KM-COM3 from the organizational mainstream and its reluctance to play a significant role in the organizations KM strategy is a compromise the organization has to


face up to He feels that the special environment at KM-COM3 is such that members pride themselves so much in their relationship with the client organization that to them the organizational KM strategy is far removed from their organizational life Such a perception among members of KM-COM3 he opined needs to be somehow accommodated in the organizations KM strategy so that members of KM-COM3 can be more forthcoming towards KM

The culture at KM-COM3 appears to have an opposing quality to it in the sense that members of KM-COM3 identify with the values of their clients at the expense of attachment to the values of KM-COM A senior vicepresident explained

Let us say a team works on a project for a leading global financial firm Now we (KM-COM) want to retain some of the knowledge that we have gained from the project with this financial firm So we want the team to remain rather than keep moving from one project to another like what happens when the first project is for a global financial firm and the next one is for (say) a global manufacturing firm So to maintain continuity and knowledge retention we set up OSDCs Now we have about 30 of them In an OSDC set-up naturally the customer has a major say and so we become tuned to the customer culture language etc and the OSDC becomes slightly removed from the rest of the organization

Informants at KM-COM3 feel that owing to the long-term relationship with a single client organization they tend to be more attached emotionshyally to the client organization and that in everyday organizational life they often mentally invoke the client organization its logo its mission stateshyment etc and the prestige associated with it We see that KM-COM3s cultural orientation has a large influence on the way members experience and perceive the KM strategy As an OSDC KM-COM3 appears to operate in a cultural environment that reinforces itself by resisting the organizashytional KM strategy We may consider the conflict between unit culture and organizational KM strategy to be a consequence of members responding to KM from a mindset that is characterized by deeper emotional attachment with the client organization With their mental frame of reference or orienshytation being the client organization rather than KM-COM they choose to ignore the likely benefits of KM to the organization KM-COM3 members seem to mentally invoke the intrinsic opposing element underlying their culture showing their support of it by acting against organizational KM

â vAS anampaf Mayasanampa 223

Concluding Remarks

Aligning enterprise-wide IT implementations with organizational objecshy

tives presents an important challenge to modem organizations In this case

study we have considered one of the explanations given for the problems

associated with alignment mdash that of organizational culture SpeciAcally

the case provides empirical data suggesting that unique subcultures within

a large organization often play conclusive roles in inAuencing alignment

In deliberating the discussion questions below practicing managers and

students at the M B A and undergraduate levels are encouraged to come up

with likely strategic organizational interventions that can reduce cases of

misalignment during implementation of strategic IT in organizations

1 Comment en the strategic viabihty of imptementing a K M initiashy

tive in two distinct phases each targeting diHemnt organisation^

constituents

2 Do you thirA the Arst phase of the K M initiative which targeted

the sates and business community at K M - C O M was weM-ahgned

with the organizations business objectives W h y do you think so

3 Which of the two phases ef the K M initiative is aimed at achieving

a etearer and tangible set of business objectives Exptain

4 The viewpoints heM by members of the three business units

indicate the presence of unique suhcukures within K M - C O M

What reasons do you attribute to the evokmon of subeutmres at

K M ^ C O M

5 Consider the responses to K M in K M - C O M 2 and discuss the

alignment euro)f the K M initiative with the stmcturat Matures of

KM-COM2 6 Give examptes to show that tetationship-based eements of the

organization pMy a bigger roie in inAêneing members^ interpreshy

tation of the K M initiative in phase 2

What incentives and strategies do you recommend to hetp manshy

agers at K M - C O M better ahgn K M - C O M 3 with the objectives of

the K M initiative


8 Based on your understanding of the KM-COM case do you see alignment of IT implementations (such as a KM initiative) with organizational objectives as

(a) a fixed and reachable end point or (b) a dynamic moving target

Discuss

Motivations and Objectives

This case attempts to provoke discussion among students about the presence of informal organizational mechanisms that might play vital roles in organizations quest for achievement of strategic alignment The discussion quesrions seek to encourage students to expand their understanding of subtle organizational mechanisms such as culture which mediate the processes of alignment between novel IT strategies and organizational business strategies

Method

We conducted 36 open-ended in-depth face-to-face interviews with members of project teams from three different organizational busishyness units at KM-COM and members from the organizational KM implementation team Secondary sources of data included organishyzational documents our presence at some of KM-COMs internal meetings and presentations and interim discussions with primary contacts at KM-COM about the emerging themes and preliminary findings of our study Software engineers senior software engineers project managers technical analysts KM consultants business unit heads vicepresidents and directors of the company took part in the interviews To mask the actual identity of the three business units we have named them generically as KM-COM 1 KM-COM2 and KM-COM3

âvSânamparMayasanampa 225

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Index

Alignment 211

Before Implementation 29

Business process re-engineering 31

Change in Project Management Leadership 59

China 27

Communication Channels 91 Consultative Governance 144 Contract with Vendor 59 Crisis Management 187 Cultivating Consistent Organizational

Practices 88

Dialogue session 134 Disruption in Project Knowledge Transfer

59 Dotcom Crisis 171

E-Business 165

E-Consultation 138 E-Government 127

End Users Involvement 57

Engaging Users in Dialogue 16

Enterprise Resource Planning Project Failure 47

Enterprise System Use 73 Enterprise Systems Planning

Projects 27 ERP Implementation 34

Feedback Unit (FBU) 127

Forming a task force 30

Fostering Internal Collective Bonding 94

global IT services and consulting company 211

Impacts of IT 10 Interorganizational Project Management

101151 IT as Enabler 10

KM Initiative 212 KM strategy 217 Knowledge Management 61

Malaysia 73

National Library Board of Singapore 1

Organizational Identities 61 Organizational IT Interventions 211 Organizational Network 93 Organizational Transformation 1

Postimplementation 36 Project Team Structure 108 project-centric organization 3

Reverse Clicks and Mortar Strategy 173 RFID 1

SARS 187 Selecting the ERP package 29 Singapore 187 Supportive internal and external

relationships 31

Task force attrition 38 Top Management Style 73 Training strategy 32

use of RFID 6 User Apprehension 13

Vendor relationship 43 Vendor Selection 106

227

Managing Emerging Technologies and Organization


1M^P

This book provides organizational an managerial perspectives on adopting emergin technologies for organizational transformatior The variety of issues and technologies covere in this book includes Radio Frequenc Identification Technology (RFID) Enterpris Systems and Inter-Organizational Systems (IOS Knowledge Management (KM) E-Business an E-Government initiatives Eleven in-depth cas studies documenting experiences and lesson learned in organizations and governmer agencies from the Asia Pacific region such a China India Malaysia and Singapore ar presented

World Scientific wwwworldscientificcom 5980 he

ISBN 981-256-592-2

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements


Case 1 RFID and Organizational Transformation in the National Library Board of Singapore



Deploying RFID





Case 2 Enterprise Systems Planning Projects in China

Executive Summary

Introduction



ERP Implementation


ERP Implementation


ERP Implementation

Concluding Remarks

Case 3 Enterprise Resource Planning Project Failure in Maxima Inc

Company Background




Case 4 Organizational Identities and Knowledge Management in India Inc



Concluding Remarks

Case 5 Enterprise System Use in Talam Corporation Bhd Malaysia

Background of Talam















Concluding Remarks

Case 6 Interorganizational Project Management in JTC


Technology at CT

The CLAPS Project

E-CREAM Project





System Launch

Case 7 The Role of Feedback Unit (FBU) in E-Government

Background






Concluding Remarks

Case 8 Interorganizational Project Management in XLcom






The Buy-in


Resolving Issues on GUI and Workflows


System Implications

System Usage

Concluding Remarks

Case 9 E-Business in Hardwarezonecom





Initial Success







Hardwarezone Today

Concluding Remarks

Case 10 Crisis Management of SARS in Singapore






Contact Tracing




Design of CMS

Implementation




Case 11 Alignment in Organizational IT Interventions in KM-Com

Case Description





Concluding Remarks

Index












A Casebook

edited by

PAN Shan-Ling


VMS

Published by








T175 M 29 2006 65840095-dc22

2005056974







Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix










v

vi Contents





Index 227

Preface







VII


Acknowledgements


IX






XI









CASE1


Paul Raj DEVADOSS





1








Paul Raj Devadoss 3



















Paul Raj Devadoss 5












Deploying RFID




Paul Raj Devadoss 7
















Paul Raj Devadoss 9


















































One librarian noted






















everywhere


















my grandchildren






































































Board (NLB) formed

and instituted as a


on Library 2000

recommendations

Successful demo of

RFID technology at

NLB by the ST

companies

Pilot implemented


more libraries

Rollout o

technolo

libraries

4 1995

4 1996

4 1997

BPR (Business

Process Re-

engineering)

conducted to


processes

4 1998

4 1999

4 2000 2001


introduced at Bukit

Batok Community

Library


the tender to


NLB libraries in

Singapore


f uF a Devadoss 23

approach


objective



organization








mation



transformation






NLB








T e a e h m ^ Ne4es






























ran^^onnations


Methodology








CASE 2



Executive Summary


Introduction


27




Company


Adoption

AMD Suzhou (AMDS)




Suzhou

Wuxi

Suzhou

Suzhou

Foreign funded

Joint venture

Foreign funded

Foreign funded

United States

Australia

United States

United States

Integrated circuits

Beer and beverages

Automotive systems

Audio products

SAP

QAD

Fourth Shift

U8

2002

1997

1997

2001




Background




ERP Implementation











































Background





ERP Implementation











situation




















Postimplementation





Background


ERP Implementation






















commented
















Background


ERP Implementation






















Postimplementation



The CIO agreed




Concluding Remarks












of an E R P project












China

Teaching Note^

M e amp x M o g y














CASE 3


Sook Wan LEE

Company Background





47






Sook Wan Lee 49
















costs








mdashmdashy QlOO


r= I Q201


0299

ERP

Q200

vendor

Q400 Ql01


Requirement Mapping




Systi i live

mgoes (Dec00)







SookWanLee 51











Steering Committee

Project Manager




1 MIS Manager


Sook Wan Lee 53













Sook Wan Lee 55















Sook Wan Lee 57










The Final Verdict





Sook Wan Lee 59












Questions









CASE 4





61









explained


















































and our clients

































Concluding Remarks














Teaching Notes



Uhbdquod





CASE 5


Say Yen TEOH

Background of Talam







73







Director

Top Management

Management

Operatives


Say Yen Teoh 75


Management Level




Management Style

Dictatorial


open management









gt

O 8

-M ltD

gt bulla

lt- CO

Exit


ltD

gt

O pound

CD

gt bullbullpound

ltmdash CO

ffi

o

Man

HoD office







Say Yen Teoh 77





ES implementation

rr


^ i

1994 19 to 95

36

V


2000





|

01


recovery plan

02 03 04



- Workfl 3w system

V __y








ES users commented






Say Yen Teoh 79









Sub-sales

JT~

Customers




Credit Control


Damage (LAD)

hinanre


Crater (CSAC)

I IT Department

Legend

Main process








Say Yen Teoh 81




















Say Yen Teoh 83



Senior VP II added









3 Top Managers










Say Yen Teoh 85
































the finance DVP











system

Say Yen Teoh 87














Say Yen Teoh 89

















SayYenTeoh 91





















Say Yen Teoh 93




















Say Yen Teoh 95


























Say Yen Teoh 97











Concluding Remarks












5ay n 7eo^ 99




) Teaehmg Note^






^ IMamS empbyees












MetMMegy













CASE 6


Mamata BHANDAR





101





Technology at CT


Mamata Bhandar 103









The CLAPS Project













E-CREAM Project


Mamata Bhandar 105


Figure 1 E-CREAM








Mamata Bhandar 107












Mamata Bhandar 109
















Mamata Bhandar 111

















Mamata Bhandar 113








Another user added








Mamata Bhandar 115
















Mamata Bhandar 117
















the larger group










consul tant said








work for a few days











Mamata Bhandar 119













System Launch






Mamata Bhandar 121




great

A n o t h e r said




helped




















A K P O said




waste time













Mamata Bhandar 123


















Teichinlaquo Notes



Mamata Bhandar 125





proiecr




















aeluee that

M i m m n i i ^











CASE 7



Background





127




















Year Event














Table 1 Continued)

Year Event
















Dialogue Sessions




Channel Description

Dialogue sessions

Tea sessions

Public forums

Straw polls

Feedback groups


Peoples forum

Feedback news














Tea Sessions


Public Forums


Straw Polls




Feedback Groups




Peoples Forum




Feedback News










Channel Description


Policy digests



Web chat










Policy Digests
















FBU noted










Feedback Received






















manager noted









website








An officer noted



















No Guidelines








No Guidelines





No Approaches













Concluding Remarks













Discussion Question



















innie C-MK



e n i rnii i i i e




CASE 8


Mamata BHANDAR






151









Manufacturer (MF)


Haulier (HU)





High




Mamata Bhandar 153

















Mamata Bhandar 155













The Buy-in





Mamata Bhandar 157




















Mamata Bhandar 159



System Implications










System Usage




Mamata Bhandar 161












Concluding Remarks



PiMiission Question



Mamata Bhandar 163



















Tenchtag Notos










prji-il






^h^ wamp M^^m^h^ ^^H^^ h ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ A^m

CASE 9


Chee Chang TAN









165








Chee Chang Tan 167


1992 1997 2003()















Chee Chang Tan 169













Initial Success




Chee Chang Tan 171














Chee Chang Tan 173
















Chee Chang Tan 175




















Chee Chang Tan 177














Hardwarezone Today


Chee Chang Tan 179









Concluding Remarks












Chee Chang Tan 181


Teaching Notes















Hardware


Technology

CHIP

HWM 1 PC Magazine

PC World

bull Digital Life

III

II IT Times

CIO


IV Wireless World

Consumer Trade


Chee Chang Tan 183


(Singapore)

Digital Life


CHIP


PC Magazine













Chee Chang Tan 185





+ DECEMBER 2003 TM







+ JANUARY 2005 TM




CASE 10


Paul Raj DEVADOSS





187

































MARCH 12th Mar

13 th Mar

22nd Mar

28 t h Mar

APRIL 3 r d Apr

7 t h Apr

10th Apr 11 t h Apr


26 th Apr

29 th Apr









mat laquonr te m M


wwwmohgovsg)


Contact Tracing
























dealing with









Hospitals





V t


SYSTEMS DATABASE I

















Design of CMS


















Case No 200305030302

Patient Information


Create Case


1 CHINESE 11

Received By |


Date of Birth | j

Race

Unit No

Home Tel

Unit No

Alt Tel




Street

Hand phone

Occupation

Street Q


j ee


Is

Symptoms

Outcome

|


Ward j ~

bullJ

1 1


13

i Lgt_r





Implementation



















Isolation and

containment

Contact tracing

Imposing law

Control

Use of technology

Campaigning

























Appendix A












f u a De vadoss 207




capabilities



Teaching Notes




























ahte know)ed^e
































f uF a Devadoss 209















CASE 11



Case Description



211














KM-COM repository

K-Transmit

K-Pho

K-Skool

Helpdesk service

KM sharing sites

































































Concluding Remarks













constituents









K M ^ C O M








the K M initiative




Discuss



Method






Index

Alignment 211




China 27


Practices 88



E-Business 165














Malaysia 73






relationships 31




227



1M^P



ISBN 981-256-592-2

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements





Deploying RFID






Executive Summary

Introduction



ERP Implementation


ERP Implementation


ERP Implementation

Concluding Remarks


Company Background







Concluding Remarks


Background of Talam















Concluding Remarks



Technology at CT

The CLAPS Project

E-CREAM Project





System Launch


Background






Concluding Remarks







The Buy-in




System Implications

System Usage

Concluding Remarks






Initial Success







Hardwarezone Today

Concluding Remarks







Contact Tracing




Design of CMS

Implementation





Case Description





Concluding Remarks

Index

Published by








T175 M 29 2006 65840095-dc22

2005056974







Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix










v

vi Contents





Index 227

Preface







VII


Acknowledgements


IX






XI









CASE1


Paul Raj DEVADOSS





1








Paul Raj Devadoss 3



















Paul Raj Devadoss 5












Deploying RFID




Paul Raj Devadoss 7
















Paul Raj Devadoss 9


















































One librarian noted






















everywhere


















my grandchildren






































































Board (NLB) formed

and instituted as a


on Library 2000

recommendations

Successful demo of

RFID technology at

NLB by the ST

companies

Pilot implemented


more libraries

Rollout o

technolo

libraries

4 1995

4 1996

4 1997

BPR (Business

Process Re-

engineering)

conducted to


processes

4 1998

4 1999

4 2000 2001


introduced at Bukit

Batok Community

Library


the tender to


NLB libraries in

Singapore


f uF a Devadoss 23

approach


objective



organization








mation



transformation






NLB








T e a e h m ^ Ne4es






























ran^^onnations


Methodology








CASE 2



Executive Summary


Introduction


27




Company


Adoption

AMD Suzhou (AMDS)




Suzhou

Wuxi

Suzhou

Suzhou

Foreign funded

Joint venture

Foreign funded

Foreign funded

United States

Australia

United States

United States

Integrated circuits

Beer and beverages

Automotive systems

Audio products

SAP

QAD

Fourth Shift

U8

2002

1997

1997

2001




Background




ERP Implementation











































Background





ERP Implementation











situation




















Postimplementation





Background


ERP Implementation






















commented
















Background


ERP Implementation






















Postimplementation



The CIO agreed




Concluding Remarks












of an E R P project












China

Teaching Note^

M e amp x M o g y














CASE 3


Sook Wan LEE

Company Background





47






Sook Wan Lee 49
















costs








mdashmdashy QlOO


r= I Q201


0299

ERP

Q200

vendor

Q400 Ql01


Requirement Mapping




Systi i live

mgoes (Dec00)







SookWanLee 51











Steering Committee

Project Manager




1 MIS Manager


Sook Wan Lee 53













Sook Wan Lee 55















Sook Wan Lee 57










The Final Verdict





Sook Wan Lee 59












Questions









CASE 4





61









explained


















































and our clients

































Concluding Remarks














Teaching Notes



Uhbdquod





CASE 5


Say Yen TEOH

Background of Talam







73







Director

Top Management

Management

Operatives


Say Yen Teoh 75


Management Level




Management Style

Dictatorial


open management









gt

O 8

-M ltD

gt bulla

lt- CO

Exit


ltD

gt

O pound

CD

gt bullbullpound

ltmdash CO

ffi

o

Man

HoD office







Say Yen Teoh 77





ES implementation

rr


^ i

1994 19 to 95

36

V


2000





|

01


recovery plan

02 03 04



- Workfl 3w system

V __y








ES users commented






Say Yen Teoh 79









Sub-sales

JT~

Customers




Credit Control


Damage (LAD)

hinanre


Crater (CSAC)

I IT Department

Legend

Main process








Say Yen Teoh 81




















Say Yen Teoh 83



Senior VP II added









3 Top Managers










Say Yen Teoh 85
































the finance DVP











system

Say Yen Teoh 87














Say Yen Teoh 89

















SayYenTeoh 91





















Say Yen Teoh 93




















Say Yen Teoh 95


























Say Yen Teoh 97











Concluding Remarks












5ay n 7eo^ 99




) Teaehmg Note^






^ IMamS empbyees












MetMMegy













CASE 6


Mamata BHANDAR





101





Technology at CT


Mamata Bhandar 103









The CLAPS Project













E-CREAM Project


Mamata Bhandar 105


Figure 1 E-CREAM








Mamata Bhandar 107












Mamata Bhandar 109
















Mamata Bhandar 111

















Mamata Bhandar 113








Another user added








Mamata Bhandar 115
















Mamata Bhandar 117
















the larger group










consul tant said








work for a few days











Mamata Bhandar 119













System Launch






Mamata Bhandar 121




great

A n o t h e r said




helped




















A K P O said




waste time













Mamata Bhandar 123


















Teichinlaquo Notes



Mamata Bhandar 125





proiecr




















aeluee that

M i m m n i i ^











CASE 7



Background





127




















Year Event














Table 1 Continued)

Year Event
















Dialogue Sessions




Channel Description

Dialogue sessions

Tea sessions

Public forums

Straw polls

Feedback groups


Peoples forum

Feedback news














Tea Sessions


Public Forums


Straw Polls




Feedback Groups




Peoples Forum




Feedback News










Channel Description


Policy digests



Web chat










Policy Digests
















FBU noted










Feedback Received






















manager noted









website








An officer noted



















No Guidelines








No Guidelines





No Approaches













Concluding Remarks













Discussion Question



















innie C-MK



e n i rnii i i i e




CASE 8


Mamata BHANDAR






151









Manufacturer (MF)


Haulier (HU)





High




Mamata Bhandar 153

















Mamata Bhandar 155













The Buy-in





Mamata Bhandar 157




















Mamata Bhandar 159



System Implications










System Usage




Mamata Bhandar 161












Concluding Remarks



PiMiission Question



Mamata Bhandar 163



















Tenchtag Notos










prji-il






^h^ wamp M^^m^h^ ^^H^^ h ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ A^m

CASE 9


Chee Chang TAN









165








Chee Chang Tan 167


1992 1997 2003()















Chee Chang Tan 169













Initial Success




Chee Chang Tan 171














Chee Chang Tan 173
















Chee Chang Tan 175




















Chee Chang Tan 177














Hardwarezone Today


Chee Chang Tan 179









Concluding Remarks












Chee Chang Tan 181


Teaching Notes















Hardware


Technology

CHIP

HWM 1 PC Magazine

PC World

bull Digital Life

III

II IT Times

CIO


IV Wireless World

Consumer Trade


Chee Chang Tan 183


(Singapore)

Digital Life


CHIP


PC Magazine













Chee Chang Tan 185





+ DECEMBER 2003 TM







+ JANUARY 2005 TM




CASE 10


Paul Raj DEVADOSS





187

































MARCH 12th Mar

13 th Mar

22nd Mar

28 t h Mar

APRIL 3 r d Apr

7 t h Apr

10th Apr 11 t h Apr


26 th Apr

29 th Apr









mat laquonr te m M


wwwmohgovsg)


Contact Tracing
























dealing with









Hospitals





V t


SYSTEMS DATABASE I

















Design of CMS


















Case No 200305030302

Patient Information


Create Case


1 CHINESE 11

Received By |


Date of Birth | j

Race

Unit No

Home Tel

Unit No

Alt Tel




Street

Hand phone

Occupation

Street Q


j ee


Is

Symptoms

Outcome

|


Ward j ~

bullJ

1 1


13

i Lgt_r





Implementation



















Isolation and

containment

Contact tracing

Imposing law

Control

Use of technology

Campaigning

























Appendix A












f u a De vadoss 207




capabilities



Teaching Notes




























ahte know)ed^e
































f uF a Devadoss 209















CASE 11



Case Description



211














KM-COM repository

K-Transmit

K-Pho

K-Skool

Helpdesk service

KM sharing sites

































































Concluding Remarks













constituents









K M ^ C O M








the K M initiative




Discuss



Method






Index

Alignment 211




China 27


Practices 88



E-Business 165














Malaysia 73






relationships 31




227



1M^P



ISBN 981-256-592-2

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements





Deploying RFID






Executive Summary

Introduction



ERP Implementation


ERP Implementation


ERP Implementation

Concluding Remarks


Company Background







Concluding Remarks


Background of Talam















Concluding Remarks



Technology at CT

The CLAPS Project

E-CREAM Project





System Launch


Background






Concluding Remarks







The Buy-in




System Implications

System Usage

Concluding Remarks






Initial Success







Hardwarezone Today

Concluding Remarks







Contact Tracing




Design of CMS

Implementation





Case Description





Concluding Remarks

Index