AVARTAN 2014 NITIES ANNUAL MANAGEMENT FESTIVAL (11-17

TH
OCTOBER).
www.avartan.nitie.org



SYNC-QUEST
An IT Case Challenge
National Institute of Industrial Engineering
Mumbai
Deadline 28
th
September 11:59 PM
AVARTAN 2014 NITIES ANNUAL MANAGEMENT FESTIVAL (11-17
TH
OCTOBER).
www.avartan.nitie.org

ABC is a company which manufactures and sells TVs, music systems, DVD systems, refrigerators,
microwave ovens, landline phones, mobile phones, washing machines, air conditioners, desk top
computers and laptops. ABC has three manufacturing plants in Nashik, Bangalore and Kolhapur. All
the products are made in all the plants. Raw materials and components are sourced from local and
overseas suppliers. There are 2000 employees and the annual sales turnover is 1000 crores.
Selling is done through their own retail stores, multi-brand electronic shops, big departmental stores
and their own internet site which sells directly to customers. Aftersales service is handled through
their own service staff.
ABC has implemented a leading ERP system 10 years ago. Procurement, production, quality,
inventory, Sales, marketing, Human resources, Accounts and logistics are included in the ERP system
and the operations of the ERP system have been streamlined. However it is felt that the quality and
manufacturing modules are not giving the desired advantages. All other modules are working
satisfactorily. Aftersales service is not included in the ERP but handled through an in-house developed
application. The IT support for the ERP and all other applications is given by ABCs in house IT
department.
ABC has a policy of discontinuing manufacture and sale of products or product lines which make a loss
for more than three years in a row. It has discontinued ceiling fans, table fans and household mixers
and grinders during the past. However after sales service is continued for five years after a product is
discontinued.
In terms of sales the company is number 3 in the country. The market share of the industry is as
follows.

Geographically the sales of ABC are concentrated in western and southern India, whereas the sales of
the number 1 and 2 companies extend all over India.
The quality of ABCs goods is very good and the company is considered to be number 2 in quality (The
top company in quality is considered to be company B). However, the brand image of the companys
products is not very strong.
The company has an ambitious target of doubling its sales turnover in the next 3 years. This is planned
to be achieved by increasing its market share in the existing sales regions and also to extend its sales
to the rest of the country. There is also a plan to tap the export market within five years.
35.00%
20.00%
13.00%
7.20%
7.90%
6.50%
10.40%
Market Share
Company A
Company B
ABC
Company C
Company D
Company E
Others
ABC-Case Study
AVARTAN 2014 NITIES ANNUAL MANAGEMENT FESTIVAL (11-17
TH
OCTOBER).
www.avartan.nitie.org

The senior management feels the way to achieve the target would be to build new manufacturing
plants in Northern and Eastern regions of the country. Online marketing and sales would also have to
become a major channel for selling their products. The CIO has suggested that it is imperative to
implement a Supply Chain Management system and a Customer Relation Management System in
order to achieve the planned objectives. In addition a data warehouse would be required for reporting
and analytics requirements.
The board of directors have decided that the three systems (SCM, CRM and DW) would be
implemented however in order to reduce the risk , the three systems would have to be taken up one
at a time, with the next one starting only after the previous one has been stabilised.
The CEO has formed a task force consisting of senior managers from manufacturing, procurement,
sales, marketing, IT, HR and finance to prepare a roadmap.

The opinions expressed by the task force during the kick-off meeting were as follows
Production Manager I will need the SCM system first. It would be impossible to double the
production without it. Also the production planning module is not working properly. It needs to be
fixed first. The construction of the new plants should start as soon as possible. I will transfer my key
people to the new plants so that they come up to speed as fast as possible. I would like to know which
products we are going to discontinue in the near future so that the new production facilities can be
designed optionally.

Sales Manager Selecting and implementing a CRM solution is the first priority. We would never be
able to meet the ambitious target of doubling our sales without online selling assisted by CRM. Our
online sales today are pathetic because we do not have a CRM system. Conventional means of selling
would give us only a 50% increase in sales.

Marketing Manager Our aim is to set an USP of "Number one in quality and the best after sales
experience". Our competitors are closely following us and a slightest mistake can make us to slip to 5
th

or 6
th
rank. We also need some new innovative products. I have learnt that company A is going to
introduce some revolutionary product next year.

Quality Manager The quality module is not able to meet our requirements and our quality
performance will increase tremendously if the required functionalities can be incorporated in the
Quality module. Data warehouse system will help us considerably.

IT Manager Even if the implementation of the three major systems is done in a phased manner, the
hardware and networking requirements have to be decided upfront and procured in phase 1 itself.
Which means a detailed requirement analysis for all phases should start today itself. We need to decide
the role of our own IT team. We have an excellent team built-up over the last few years and they are
all waiting for such an opportunity. The implications are that even if we get external consultants. We
have to include our existing team and train them to bring them up to speed. Please plan your
AVARTAN 2014 NITIES ANNUAL MANAGEMENT FESTIVAL (11-17
TH
OCTOBER).
www.avartan.nitie.org

manpower allocation in such a way that your best business experts are available as and when needed
for inputs to the IT team. I would recommend the implementation of MDM (Master Data Management)
also to derive greater benefits from the entire program.

It was decided that an external management consultancy organisation would be appointed to advice
and help in implementing the program. You are leading the team from the management consultancy
organisation.



1. Is ABC going in the right direction? Are SCM, CRM and Data warehouse the right packages? Is
MDM required? If yes, how do we manage it?
2. What should be the implementation strategy and the timeline? Should all be implemented in
parallel or should it be in sequence? If in sequence, what would be the best sequence? Discuss
the pros and cons of various sequences possible. Prepare a high level roadmap.
3. What would be the changes in the business processes and the nature of work for the
employees at each stage of the roadmap? What change management issues do you foresee
and how would you tackle them?




1. Reasonable assumptions can be made. All assumptions must be clearly stated.
2. Cost information for the various packages, consultancy etc. may be assumed based on
information available on the internet.
3. Include cost benefit analysis of different tools (cost information taken from their websites or
different online sources).
4. Teams need to prepare a presentation of not more than 10 slides (including title and thank
you slides).
5. The title slide should carry Institute Name, Team Name, Details of the team members
(Name, Course, Email IDs, Phone nos.). Details of the participants SHOULD NOT appear
anywhere else in the entry submitted
6. These details of the participants SHOULD NOT appear anywhere else in the entry submitted.
7. All the files (pptx and xls if any) shall be zipped and mailed to events.avartan@gmail.com
with the file name and subject name as: Syncquest_College Name_Team Name.
8. In case of any ambiguity, the decisions of the organizing committee will be final and binding
9. DEADLINE for Submission: 28
th
September 11:59 pm
Questions
Guidelines