Answer Happy

Building Information System
(Case Study)
House of Angostura (also known as Angostura Limited), headquartered
in Laventille, Trinidad, is one of
the Caribbean’s leading rum producers and the world market leader
for bitters used in many cocktails.
Angostura has 330 full-time employees and annual revenue of
approximately $100 million.
Order Taking Process:
Angostura still takes care of local distribution of its products in
Trinidad and Tobago, with a team
of 16 sales representatives taking orders out in the field.
Although this arrangement worked well
in the past, the process was heavily manual, tedious, and
time-consuming and sometimes produced
inaccurate orders. Each day, the 16 sales reps in the field had to
copy the orders on paper and return
to the office to hand off the order forms to a customer service
representative, who would then
manually input the order data into Angostura’s SAP enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system.
Because the orders were handwritten, information could be read and
entered incorrectly, which
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2 Chapter 13 | Building Information Systems
could result in the wrong goods being sent to a customer. Such
inaccurate orders were often
returned, creating more paperwork and higher costs.
Accounts and Reporting Process:
Angostura also used manual processes for reporting and tracking
invoices and accounts receivable
information, which could create additional delays and errors. The
sales representatives were also
working with data on product availability that might be out of
date. If the sales reps were away
from the office, they would not be able to tell whether an order
could actually be fulfilled. They
would have to call Angostura’s warehouse to find out if an order
was possible.
Management Decisions:
In 2012 Angostura’s management decided that the sales process
needed to be more streamlined
and efficient and that it should use mobile technology. The company
identified a set of detailed
information requirements for the improved sales process and spent
more than a year evaluating
system solutions from five mobile vendors.
System Requirements:
One important requirement was that the application should be able
to automatically update the
availability of purchased products from the company’s overall
inventory and integrate with the
firm’s back-end SAP ERP system.
Another requirement was that the mobile system be able to operate
offline so that a sales
representative could still input an order on a mobile device even
if there was no online
connectivity. Once online, the device could then send the order
through to the ERP system.
Software Outsourcing:
The vendor selected was the one that could best develop the mobile
application to the company’s
specifications and stay within the budget established by
management. In 2013 Angostura partnered
with IDS Scheer and itCampus consultants to develop a mobile sales
solution running on Apple
iPads.
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3 Chapter 13 | Building Information Systems
The solution includes:
• An offline customer database,
• Product catalog,
• Customer specific pricing,
• Order entry,
• Order preview,
• Integration with Bluetooth printers.
It was quickly created using SAP NetWeaver Gateway technology to
connect various devices
and platforms to SAP software. A pilot application was ready for
testing in June, and the entire
application went live in January 2014.
Each of Angostura’s 16 sales representatives was issued an iPad
that includes not only the order
application but other mobile apps to make the sales process more
efficient, such as email, Google
Maps, and a video and PDF document uploader to display the
Angostura product line.
Advantages of Using the Mobile App:
1. The sales application integrates with the corporate ERP system,
providing the sales reps
with up-to-date information on the availability of products in the
warehouse.
2. With the Angostura Mobile Sales App, an order can be created in
less than 30 seconds,
depending on the size of the order, making the ordering process two
times faster.
3. There is a 20 percent time savings per salesperson because the
sales reps now have the
ability to send orders through as they place them rather than
waiting until they return to the
office.
4. The amount of time customer service representatives would
typically spend on data entry—
which was considerable—has been reduced by 75 percent, freeing up
time for more useful
tasks.
5. Returned orders have been reduced by 30 percent.
Steps required to design and build new information systems:
Angostura’s experience illustrates some of the steps required to
design and build new information
systems. Building a new system for mobile sales orders
entailed:
1. Analyzing the organization’s problems with existing
systems,
2. Assessing information requirements,
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4 Chapter 13 | Building Information Systems
3. Selecting appropriate technology,
4. Redesigning business processes and jobs.
5. Management had to oversee the systems-building effort and
evaluate benefits and costs.
Changes in the business process:
The information requirements were incorporated into the design of
the new system, which
represented a process of planned organizational change. Angostura’s
ability to handle sales orders
was hampered by outdated and inefficient manual processes, which
raised costs, slowed down
work, and limited the company’s ability to serve its
customers.
The solution was to redesign the sales order process to use mobile
devices and software and allow
orders to be entered through iPads and transmitted to the firm’s
back-end ERP system. Angostura’s
information requirements were incorporated into the system design.
The solution encompassed not
just the application of new technology but changes to corporate
culture, business processes, and
job functions.
Angostura’s sales operations have become much more efficient
and cost-saving.
Prepare a report to answer the following questions:
1) How did Angostura’s Mobile Sales App meet its information
requirements?
2) How effective a solution was Angostura’s Mobile Sales App?
3) Why? How much did the new system change the way Angostura ran
its business?
4) Go to the website https://www.sap.com/. Explore the website and
differentiate between
SAP and ERP