Question 4(20 marks) financial controller of Zeta would like to replace its lega

ID: 2405664 • Letter: Q

Question

Question 4(20 marks) financial controller of Zeta would like to replace its legacy accounting system with an The enterprise resources planning (ERP), He is considering the possibility of outsourcing the ERP development project to contractors. Identify and explain Two (2) important issues that Zeta needs to tackle when managing the ERP contractor. (a) (8 marks) (b) ERP implementations will have significant impact on the accountants of Zeta. Suggest ANY THREE (3) things that the accountants in Zeta should do in order to prepare for the changes. (12 marks)

Explanation / Answer

A. Two Important issue to tackle when managing ERP Contractors

While selecting the contractor, the business should come to an agreement on the timeline for completion of the ERP implementation.

The timeline should have the following milestones with the date of completion:

Sl No

Stage / Milestone

Completion Date

Understanding the business process

18 Jul 2019

Proto Type Understanding

18 Aug 2019

Customization of System

18 Sep 2019

GAP Analysis to Reduce the Risk

20 Oct 2019

Training to the Users

20 Nov 2019

User Acceptance Testing

20 Dec 2019

Data Migration from the old system

30 Dec 2019

GO live

01 Jan 2020

The management of the business should attach the timeline as an integral part of the agreement with the ERP contractor. In addition, the agreement should mention the penalties for the deviation from the agreed timeline.

2. History of the Contractor

The management of the company should consider the history of the previous implementations of the contractor before selecting the ERP contractor. For this, the officials of the company should visit the locations of the previously implemented businesses to understand the efficiency of the contractor.

B. Three Things The Accountant Should Do

Accountants should attend the training session to use the new system is one of the significant tasks while the implementing the ERP system. After the training, the Users (accountants) should sign the training manual to make sure that the training session was conducted in a sufficient manner.

2. Cleaning up of the data

The accountants should make sure that the data being migrated to the new system from the old system should be free from junks.

Examples;

3. Need identification

The accountants should identify the output they need from the newly implemented system. The output will mostly report they need to draw from the system. The accountants should give the report templates to the implementation team in advance so the reports will be available in the system for the day to day work.

Example: The receivable accountant needs the receivable aging report to calculate the credit limit and boost the payments from the customer to enhance the cash flow of the business.