Assessment Report of an Outdated Legacy Application

“An Out-sourced Legacy System”
OLS
Assessment Report
Prepared by Ghassan Kabbara
December 2018

Assessment Report
Ghassan Kabbara 2 14/12/2018
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 Key Findings of the Assessment
1.1 Summary of Findings
1.1.1 Finding One – Utilization of “OLS” Sybase Application
1.1.2 Finding Two – Tech-One Application
1.1.3 Finding Three – The Customer
1.2 The Consultant’s Evaluation
1.2.1 Summary of Evaluation
1.2.2 OLSFJ Syndrome
1.2.3 Reporting Legacy
2 Vendor Assessment
2.1 Summary of Vendor Assessment & Recommendation:
2.2 Vendor “Tech-One” Findings
2.3 Tech-One Customers During the Last Three Years
2.4 Vendors sWot Analysis
2.4.1 Findings, Assumptions and Associated Risks
2.5 A Tour of Tech-Ones Web Page
3. Sybase Application Assessment
4. IT Department Assessment & Recommendation
4.1 Summary
4.2 IT Infrastructure Setup
4.3 Findings & Recommendations
4.4 Findings on the File Server
5. Value Proposition
5.1 eRP Solutions & Competition Findings
5.2 The Needs For an eRP Solution, the benefits and the culture
5.2.1 The Needs for an eRP
5.2.2 The Culture and Change
5.3 Sales Force Automation “The Cradle of CRM”
6. Final recommendation and Action Plan ‘Options’
6.1 Summary

Assessment Report
Disclaimer: The opinions are mine.

Assessment Report
Introduction
Sonic Trading & Pharma Company “STPC” has appointed “Kabbara Advisory
Group” represented by Mr. Ghassan Kabbara, to perform a review of the IT Setup,
Vendor Capabilities & Stability, Application “Sybase” Functionality & Utilization in
STPC.
Mr. Kabbara (referred to hereafter as “the Consultant”) met with the Managers of
STPC and key users of the “Sybase” application system. The objective of the
interviews was to gain an understanding of the department / division key activities
and understand how the “Sybase” Application is currently utilized in each of the
respected divisions / departments.
It further involved meeting with the Vendor “Tech-One Owners” and Vendors of
International ERP Solutions.
The review did not involve the assessment of STPC’s operational procedures,
processes and controls.
In regards to the “Sybase” Application Utilization Assessment, the findings and
conclusions of this report are based on information gathered through interviews
conducted with the department/division heads. The findings were cross-referenced
with the Consultant to the Chairman.
In the Report, “the Consultant” has characterized each finding in the assessment
according the following:
• Areas that the consultant believes need attention are labeled as
Symptom Checks.
• Areas that require Managements Action are labeled Action
• Consultant’s Personal Opinion.

Assessment Report
2 Key Findings of the Assessment
2.4 Summary of Findings
This summary will highlight the three main findings of the assessment. The
following diagrams illustrate the ‘as-is’ “Sybase’ Application utilization structure of
the company.
Current Setup as is for Organization Department / Division Versus
utilization of the current Sybase Application
Finance Dept Pharma Dept Medical Equip Dept
Logistics &
Warehouse
Operations Dept
H.R. & Admin Dept
Dermo-Costmetics
Pharma Sales &
Marketing
Medical Supplies & Home
Care
Accounts Inventory
Training & Development
I.T Services
Accounts Payable
Tendering
Order Desk Services
Legal Affairs
Admin Services
Passports & Govt
Relations
Public Relations
Salaries & Benefits
Finance Operations
Procurement
Warehouse Operations
Import/ Export Services
Accounts Receivable
Accounts General
Medical Euipment
Maintenance
Private Pharmacies
"Arabco"
Product Registration
Dental Equipment &
Services
Orthopaedic Equipment &
Hostpital Equipment
Consumer Products
Ophthalmic / Radiology
Laboratory Equipment &
Services
General Manager
Using Sybase
Applicattion for Key
Processes
Partially Using
Sybase Application
for Key Processes
Not Using Sybase
Application for Key
Processes

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Viagra
Safwan
Organization
Pending
Invoices
(Followup)
Fixed Assets
KFH System
Management
Consolidated
BS/IS
Bank
Outstanding
Payments
Accounting System
(GL/AR/AP)
Finance Dept
Inventory
Control
Order
Managem
ent
Personnel
Payroll
Department Allocation of Module / Major Report
Utilization (Primarly Beneficiaries of the Modules
developed by 2soft)
Point Of Sale
Quotations System
(Currenlty not fully
implemented, partially
used)
Logistics &
Warehouse
Operations Dept
HR & Admin
Dept
Pharma &
Medical Equip
Depts
Inventory
Control
Comparison
Budgeting
System
Drivers
System
&
Quotations
Mgt
Re-ordering
Inventory
Reporting
Personnel
Payroll
Data Entry
Involved
Reporting
New
System
Partially
Used

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2.4.1 Finding One – Utilization of “OLS” Sybase
Application
The following addresses the utilization findings of the different departments.
1. Fiance Department
▪ The Finance Department “FD” utilizes the “OLS” Sybase application
to address its key processes. 1
▪ Customizations and Reporting Modules were added to the
application within the last eight years.
▪ According to the Finance Manager, the system has been
dramatically changed since it was first installed.
▪ The FD is satisfied with the current application. A proposal for the
introduction of a Contract Monitoring module is pending approval as
of Sept 11, 2008.
▪ This is a module to address the maintenance of medical equipment
for MOC, KOC, etc..
▪ A Proposal dated Sept 7 2008 for Debit Notes and Bank Guarantee
is also pending.
2. The Logistics & Warehouse Department
▪ The Logistics & Warehouse Department partially utilizes the
application to address their daily operating and reporting activities.
▪ The system has loopholes that need to be fixed if operations are to
benefit from the system.
▪ The Quotation System was introduced but has only been partially
used.
3. HR & Admin Department
▪ With regards to HR activities, the Department runs the payroll and
updates the minimum data in the personnel system. All other HR
activities are not addressed by the “OLS” Sybase application. 2
▪ A proposal dated Sept 25 2008 has been provided to the HR &
Admin Manager that will address the Archiving, Grading, and
Enhanced Personnel System. No action has been taken so far.
4. Pharma & Medical Equipment Departments
▪ The Pharma & Medical Equipment Departments do not utilize the
“OLS” Sybase application for any data input except for Budgeting
which is a conducted once yearly.
▪ The focus is on sales activities and providing manual reports of their
prospect activities to their respective Managers.
▪ The Department Heads benefit from the “limited” reports that are
accessible to their needs.

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2.4.2 Finding Two – Tech-One Application
The inner workings of the Tech-One application:
▪ The fact is that the system is producing the minimum requirements, based
on the limitations of its design. The end users believe the system is
generally addressing their requirements. As a result, it appears that the
system is working with minimal problems.
Symptom Check: the inventory master does not cater to many fields that
should have been included in the design of the system. From the Enquiry
screen I assessed, the Inventory Master file appears to very superficial. More
importantly there is no capture of “Posting Date / System Date” in the
Accounting modules. This field if present would be used to determine the
efficiency of the Posting of all JVs. The consultant has requested the GL
transaction data in order to conduct an evaluation of the the Accounting
Departments’ working habits and prepare very valuable reports. Due to the
non-existent “posting date” and managements’ reluctance to provide key
information, this excerise cannot be conducted.
▪ The OLS Sybase application is basically a back office application, with the
Accounting module being the core. It is designed to cater for only one
company. There is no provision in the design that addresses multi-company
use. To clarify this point, the following was done in the Case of Aeibco due
to this limitation:
▪ A separate database was introduced (an extra cost for STPC for
Sybase Licenses and maintenance as well).
I refer to the last three expense reports I received from Accounts that
clearly shows that Arab group SW/HW/Maint Expenses are at par with
STPC SW/HW/Maint Expenses (Arab Group: KD 16,250, STPC KD
15,511).
If the system was multi-company compliant, STPC would have saved
at least KD 12,000. Hence this is a cost burden to STPC due to the
limitation of the OLS Sybase application.
▪ A reporting module was created so that management could have a
consolidated B/S & P/L.
▪ The Chart of Accounts had to be recreated in the Aeibco Group
System, Separate log in profiles, duplication of tables, etc. This is
all a cost burden to STPC, again due to the limitations of the
System’s Design.
Characteristics of the application:
▪ When a new company is introduced major modifications and additions are
required.
▪ The application is built on the DOS-based application in the 1980s.

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▪ The application was originally designed and introduced as an accounting
application.
▪ It upgraded to a new database technology yet maintained its legacy design;
built by a legacy mindset.
▪ It is a legacy system in many respects. (I refer once more to the fact that
there is no capture of “Posting Date”)
▪ The new technology “Sybase”, the database that is the foundation of the
system, does not add any benefit to Sonic. It is the technology that Tech-
One have decided many years to work on. Sybase is a tier one database,
initially designed to address organizations having “over hundreds of
thousands of transactions per day.” The design of Sybase surpasses
Oracle’s design. It is the best of breed databases. However, is not required
for a company like Sonic. It is an unnecessary overhead. Due to vendor
inexperience in an alternative database, STPC is locked into this database
technology.
▪ The application design has no Audit Trails. This is key requirement for any
eRP application (If STPC wanted to know who changed prices, provided
discounts, over discounts, ran certain exception reports, made mistakes in
order quantities, etc, they will not be able to get this information).
▪ I requested to check who had logged into the online server that is being
used by the principals and I was told that this information is unavailable.
This is an example of a minimum requirement that any Adminstrator should
be able to extract. Hence we are unable to measure how efficiently the
application is being used.
Action: STPC has invested in an online server and paid for the software
development of the web page in order to allow the “principals” to access the
application for providing reports. This is an excellent feature; however is the
cost justified? The following are important questions that need to be
considered:
▪ How many times per month does each principal access the system?
▪ What reports does the principal look at?
▪ Would it be more cost effective to have these reports emailed
periodically to the principal?
▪ An example of a simple check to find out the cost effectiveness of the
system? (Cost per principal login, Total cost spent on the online system
HW/SW/Maint/Licenses/Hosting, Amount of time the principals
accessed the system).
▪ The ability to check the access logs of the database will provide STPC with
useful information.
▪ The application has no facility to allow end users to enter certain “business
rules” parameters. This design limitation is hard coded into the application.
This means that STPC needs to revert back to the vendor for any changes
in “parameters”.
Symptom Check: Since STPC does not keep a log of requests to the vendor,
and since the vendor does not keep a log of requests, we are unable to
determine what changes have been applied to the system.

Assessment Report
Action: STPC needs to have a formal procedure to track requests to Tech-
One, and needs to request from Tech-One to provide evidence of what was
modified in the system (This includes source code modifications, Data fixes,
Bug fixes, Sybase Version upgrades etc)
▪ The application does not provide alerts for key events that the end-user
may want to monitor (this is called Push Information to the end user
technology).
▪ The end users need to run exception reports when required. By then
products may have expired. (this is called Pulling Information by the end
user)
▪ With regards to the Invoicing module, the System does not allow multi user
access; again is a limitation in the design (If this has been an end user
request however this needs to be challenged as to why this is so?).
Note:
I have requested from Tech-One the Entity Relationship diagrams for the
application that would have highlighted how the database was designed.
However Tech-One declined to provide this information.
Action: Once the IT Manager is secured he needs to document the Database’s
design, with the assistance of the vendor. If the vendor Tech-One refuses to
provide the ER diagrams, it can be reverse engineered.
This is an essential requirement in case the vendor goes bankrupt and STPC
ends up being self-sufficient. (The Source Code will also be required should
STPC determine that it will cater to inhouse development, should this option be
decided.
Symptom Check: STPC needs to confirm that the source code is an updated
version of the current application that is being run at STPC.

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2.4.3 Finding Three – The Customer
Customer Profile - Information
The OLS Sybase application is not providing the required information that is
primarily geared towards the main source of revenue:
“Mr. Customer”
All we know is how much Sales “Mr customer” has generated for us.
All we know are fiscal facts about our existing customers (outstanding
payments, the name of the Accounting Manager.)
▪ No prospect information is captured
▪ No reason of lost sales is captured to enable STPC to review its
business Sales Strategy. (This could provide to be useful for Arab
Group)
▪ No Central Customer Database exists. No Customer Profile can be
extracted.
▪ No Structured System for capturing key contact customer events.
▪ No means to measure Sales Conversion Ratios.
▪ No measure of mean time to close a sale. (by Salesman, by Customer)
These are just a few issues that are essential to the success of STPC.
The most important Element that
contributes to the success of any
company “the customer” is not
being captured in the system.

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▪ Currently, the majority of STPC’s sales revenue comes from the MOP. In
addition, the current system is being customized to assist “operations” in
addressing administrative processes (a tendering Quotations module has
been developed to assist the T&O Division in automating the quotations).
▪ However, by ignoring the potential customers outside the domain of MOH,
KKOC, KKNPC, Ministries, Private Clinics and the Oil Sector, Sonic trading
will not be able to grow in this market segment unless it has the intelligence
at its disposal to enable it to make key strategic marketing decisions.
Note:
There is no module to address the Capture of potential prospects. Hence the
company cannot benefit from the valuable Database of “Prospects / Customer
Profiles”.
This is essential to any organization wishing to monitor the progress of Revenue
(i.e. did the increase in revenue occur due to new customers, repeat customers,
referrals, etc).
More benefits of having a Prospecting module ‘CRM” will be discussed in the
section Value Propostion under “Sales Force Automation” sub-section.
Current Capture of Customer Information in STPC
Prospecting
Customer Data.
Salesmen
Capture this
manually
Confirmed Order
in Sybase
application
Customer Relation
Management-
Following up with
Customers is a
manually captured
Sybase
Database
The Company is deprived from having
any "Customer Information"
Crucial Information never reaches the
Database that can be used for further
Intelligence that can be used for setting
marketing strategies.
Data is Lost
stored in
someones
Computer.
Data is Lost
stored in
someones
Computer.
Eventually
Deleted
from system.

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At all times, management should have easy and quick access to vital information.
They should not have to contact the Sales Managers who will in turn ask their
secretaries / subordinates to provide the requested reports.
By following an ineffective and inefficient process, where the Senior Management
does not have direct access to key information, by the time the reports reach the
Management team, the information may be outdated and obsolete.
When this inefficiency takes place the system’s data extraction limitations will be
highlighted and blamed for any misguided and misinformed decisions taken by
Senior Management.
Senior Management should have access to key business intelligence “at the push
of a button”.
As an example, the following sample screen shots shows various forecast
categories.
Currently, STPC relies heavily on reports to gauge its financial performance. These
reports, however, need to be initiated by someone, and as mentioned before, by
the time they reach top management they could be outdated.
Financial Sales Reports originating from department heads may not match the
Sales figures originating from Finance Department!

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Current Best Practices
In the digital era, critical reports are being replaced by Dash Boards, KPI’s. There
key benefits are as follows:
• Business Intelligence is being “pushed’ to the end user as opposed to be
“pulled” from the system.
• Information is up-to-date, originating from the source. No duplication of data
exists. (Eliminating wasted time to reconcile reports, more importantly
eliminated duplication of Data entry, lowering the risk of manual data
errors.)
• Users can drill down from the Summary Dash Boards to get to the details
of the information. (with out having to run numorous detail reports and
reconcile totals to summaries.)
A similar screen can show real data excluding forecast information which may be
broken down into the following categories:
• Quotations
• Closed Deals
• Lost Sales
If required the dash boards allow management to drill down to the details of each
category to determine the customers. For example, customers that have been
quoted for the last two months and action by the salesperson is still pending.
At that point, the General Manager can possibly interfere and contact the
company’s GM to expedite the Closing of the Sale. Or even contact the Sales
Manager to let them know, if they are able to close a sale for a specific customer
before the month end they will receive a good bonus.
The proposal for Customer X is been overdue
for a while now. Computer showes the customer needs more
time to make a final decision. The Saleman suspects they have
contacted the competion for a quote. Why dont you call them and
offer them an extra 5% discount on our offer and offer then flexible
payment terms. There credit rating seem to be Ok
Thanks for the feedback GM.
Will get right on it .I will speak to the
Salesman who is out on site
right now.
GM
Sales
Manager

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2.5 The Consultant’s Evaluation
An Introductory Note about Value Discipline
To begin with I would like to bring this Value Discipline to the attention of the
reader.
A company must choose between three strategic options: 5
(in other words a
company must focus only on one strategy deemed critical to its survival)
Operational Excellence: superb operations and execution often by providing a
reasonable quality at a very low price. The focus is on efficiency, streamlining
operations, Supply Chain Management, no-frills, volume counts. Most large
international corporations are working out of this discipline.
Product Leadership: very strong in innovation and brand marketing, operating in
dynamic markets. The focus is on development, innovation, design, time-to-
market, high margins in a short timeframe.
Customer Intimacy: excel in customer attention and customer service. Tailor
their products and services to individual or almost individual customers. Focus is
on CRM, deliver products and services on time and above customer
expectations, lifetime value concepts, reliability, being close to the customer.
STPC Management needs to agreed on a Critical Strategy, and accordingly
convey this Strategy to all levels of the Organization.
Action: Meeting with all Managers putting this on the whiteboard and taking a vote
on what each Manager perceives the Strategy to be would be a good place to start.
Once an agreed upon strategy is set; all Departments will set a goal to optimize
their processes to ensure that the Strategic Objective is met. (KPIs can be
introduced to measure the effectiveness of the Processes).

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2.5.1 Summary of Evaluation
The company has been unable to benefit from the technological innovations of a
“proven eRP” application. With regards to the functional limitations of the current
“OLS” Sybase application the Accounting Module and the Sub-Modules have
undergone many modifications during the last eight years.
Symptom Check: As I was informed by the Finance Manager, such expenses
were grouped under the “Maintenance” Category. There has not been a supplier
account created in the last 8 years that would have enabled us to determine the
total Cost of Ownership of the IT systems at STPC.
Unfortunately we are also unable to track these modifications since there was
never a formal system in place to document them. Furthermore, the expenses that
might have incurred due to these modifications or customizations are not sub-
categorized in the ledger nor are they in a suppliers account that should have been
created for the vendor “Tech-One”.
The consultant requested that all expenses incurred on IT since 2001 be broken
down by capital expenditures, maintenance and customizations. The consultant
only received the last three years of expenses lumped under a “Maintenance”
Category. (This has been referred to in section 2.4.2 of this report)
The Operations (Tendering, Inventory “Warehousing”, Orders & Import / Export)
have been utilizing the system as much as possible. However, the consultant
believes that the system has limited functionality causing end-users to work
manually to achieve the desired results. Duplication of work is also a major
overhead in the Operations Department.
Through out time, both the Finance & Operations (to some degree) functions have
had their systems customized as per their needs. That was during their “immediate
requirement” in that moment of time.
Symptom Check: The summation of all these customizations has created an
adhoc, loosely coupled, and isolated functionality application.
A separate database was installed for the creation of the “Arab Group” Database,
which has led to creating a Management consolidated Reporting Module to cater
to the needs of the Management & Shareholders (An extra cost burden to STPC
as discussed previously).
In addition, there has been no “champion” in STPC, until the last couple of years,
(the joining of the Consultant of the Chairman) to oversee how the OLS Sybase
application is being utilized in the company.
The modifications and modules introduced for Inventory forecasting, and
Tendering are excellent initiatives to address key bottlenecks in the Operation’s
activities, however, in order for the company to realize the full benefit of this
modification, the job descriptions for the concerned applicants of this module
needs to be enforced by the HR department.

Assessment Report
The Company has already realized an inventory decrease in “Retail Pharmacies”
as the Inventory forecasting/re-order Management module has been instrumental
in controlling and reducing the Stock-on-hand for the Aeiboc Group.
This is a good sign and as a first step taken to control “panic orders” that may arise
from Salesmen wishing to meet their targets or from Principals recommending
Order Quantities in order to meet their targets. 9
In this regard, I fully support that this module continue being utilized across all
Sales Divisions until Sonic has decided the fate of the existing application. (without
incurring any further modifications cost)
I have noticed that the current OLS Sybase application has many reports (over
eight sections in the menu, with 14 reports in each section) and end-users are
continuously requesting more (This will be discussed in more detail in the
“Reporting Legacy” Section of this report and what can be done to address this
phenomenon).

Assessment Report
2.5.2 OLSFJ Syndrome
I would like to touch on a very important issue that might have affected the end
users’ job descriptions since the OLS was introduced eight years ago.
Symptom Check: If STPC has not been a victim of this phenomenon, however,
(and this can only be confirmed by STPC End Users) what I will highlight in the
next section should be taken into consideration if STPC decides to remain with the
current Vendor and further utilize the OLS Sybase application.
Action: HR needs to review the Job Descriptions periodically once every year to
ensure that the documented JD’s are aligned with the actual working assignments
of the End Users.
I call this phenomenon the OLSFJ Syndrome - “Outdated Legacy System Forces
the Job Description Syndrome
What is OLSFJDS?
Before I touch on this subject, however, let me first clarify what is the pre-requisite
for the successful implementation of an eRP-enterprise Resource Planning
application.
A Brief Business Process Re-engineering
Initiative enabled by a change management
technological awareness Programme!
Sonic without doubt is a candidate for such an
initiative if it wishes to enter the Digital Era
within the next 5 – 10 years.

Assessment Report
Pre-requisite for the Successful implementation of an eRP
Company Strategy
Decides on Key Business Processes
Objectives
aligned with Company Objectives Decides Key Processes
based on best industry practices
Process 1 Process 2 Process 3
Job Description1
Sub Processes Decide on the Job
Descriptions for the productive staff
within each department
Job Descriptio2 Job Description3
The Company then decides to invest in an eRP preapres an RFP that is
based on the exisitng practices of the company that translates to the key
requirements.
Note:
Some companies prior to the BPR program already identifiy a potential eRP.
(that is so that the design of the requirements will be initially supported by
the eRP package)
This approach gurantees that the company has First built the basic
foundation being the processes have been introduced as "per industry best
practices" and then decided to automate this streamlined process.
Logistics Dept
Created based on Key
Process.
Has sub processes
The above diagram highlights the ideal approach to implement an eRP (here we
illustrate that the company has undergone a modest re-engineered process
initiative prior to undertaking an eRP Project.)

Assessment Report
The chances of an eRP Implementation project not meeting shareholders
expectations is reduced. Management has undertaken a BTR initiative enabled by
a change management program prior to implementing an eRP package.
In other words, the organization is now ready. The techology “mind-set” is
embedded with in, hence the organization will reap the rewards of the eRP within
a short time frame.
Companies that have Business Process problems and decide to implement an
eRP that is based on best practices should accept the fact that they will have to
align their business processes to complement the eRP package.
Unless the company has a competitive advantage in its business processes, the
company does a “Reverse Engineering Process alignment” if it has decided to
invest in an eRP package.
What is a “Reverse Engineering Process Alignment”?
It first identifies a candidate eRP and builds its RFP based on the core best
practices of the eRP.
Symptom Check: This is why after having interviewed multiple vendors who sell
Tier 1 eRP application I realized that many clients do not release a formal RFP.
The number of RFPs that have been released in the last 25 years along with the
trials and errors vendor applications have experienced in that time, eRP vendors
have practically enabled these “best practices into them”.
Sonic needs to be extremely cautious about this phenomenon, as an official formal
RFP needs to be prepared and completed. The RFP will be the basis on which
STPC can measure the Vendor’s application functionality.
The gap between the RFP and the System’s functionality then becomes a
debatable area and as to how that will be tackled by the system.

Assessment Report
Important Point to consider:
This is the primary reason why the trend of “out sourcing” international eRP’s built
on best practices is picking up. Most Organizations who do not have a competitive
advantage in their “key processes” are moving out of legacy applications and into
these international Tier 1 or Tier 2 eRP applications.
To further clarify this point, let us use an example that relates to STPC’s current
practices.
STPC Example
Any discounts on products need to be approved by the respective manager and
eventually approved by the GM.
▪ If the company’s strategy is “Customer Intimacy” (referring the value
discipline section) the delay in the process of having respective managers
and the GM sign discounts might not be in the customer’s best interest.
▪ Does the GM add value when approving discounts?
▪ If customer complaints were to increase due to delays in getting discount
approvals, the company should consider pushing the authority down the
organization’s hierarchy in order to eliminate this bottleneck. Another option
is to create a business rule in the system to address this issue and
automate the process, thereby reducing the approval cycle time.
▪ STPC Managements should always consider the risks associated with
pushing discount authorization down the organization as opposed to
possibly losing a potential client due to “bureaucratic Process Controls” that
may add no value to the process.
Action: Prior to committing to an eRP project, Sonic needs to ask the supplier if
they are willing to conduct a GAP analysis that will identify the “Level of Change
Management” Initiative that will have to be introduced to ensure that the eRP is
implemented successfully.
Symptom Check: Some Vendors may not admit that “Change Management” will
be a big issue. STPC should avoid these vendors.

Assessment Report
OLSFJD Syndrome
OLSJD Syndrome
Clarified in this visual
Job Description1
1. Did the reduced work load for the
requesting department improve the
enduser's time to do the job? Was this
noted in his Job Description
Job Description2
STCC has purchased the"OLS" in 2001 (migrated from a
DOS based system).
This was built formally by a Local Company Hadeed
Systems. Redisgned by 2soft Computer Systems.
2001
Requests for modificationsby Imports/Exports,
Warehouse, Procurement,
Order Desk Services, Tendering have been requested
throughtout the last 7 years.
These requests were to simplify each division's work load
in the hope that it will automate the processes, and
reduce time to do the job.
"Most of the requests for customization did not try to
address how these customizations would impact other
users in other departments"
With the introduction of customizations naturally affected
the Job Descrption of the end user who was the key
beneficiary of the modification.
2001-2008
2. Did this change affect some one
elses work load in another division?
Was this noted in his Job Description
?
?
Caution
The OLSJD syndrome
Job Descriptions are being decided on the
requests of end users customization.
"From the Bottom-Up"
The Legacy is being built unintentionally.
End Users are satified with
automating mundane daily routine tasks.
Our vendor is more than happy to comply with
customization as this is a source of revenue.
Would a New
Department
or
Division
Manager
accept the
current changed
JD?
Would he want to
make more
changes?
STPC needs to assess whether the modifications/ customizations to the system
were incremental and large enough to have induced changes in end user’s daily
tasks since the introduction of the system.

Assessment Report
Action: Using “the logistics & Warehouse operational Dept” as an example, look
back at some of the modifications that have been introduced in the system for the
last seven years and try to identify and isolate any modifications that could be a
nominee for the OLSJD Syndrome.
If HR has a copy of the original Job Descriptions that were in the files over five
years ago, they could compare them to the current ones, or even meet with the
operations staff and conduct a job analysis survey.
In Future eRP Implementation(s) HR
Department is fundamental in ensuring
that the eRP project is successful
implemented and will continue to do so.
They will be involved in review of
Authority Matrixes and Job Description
Gap analysis.

Assessment Report
2.5.3 Reporting Legacy
An organization needs to have a formal procedure for accessing reports in order
to function naturally. A company cannot survive without some sort of Reporting
Mechanism.
In order to survive, a company should have the following minimum report
categories:
1. Reports for Immediate Supervisors that would assist them in monitoring the
daily / weekly Sales. (Sales by products, Returns, Daily Journal Posting
report, etc)
2. Reports for Department Managers (Monthly Sales, Budgeted vs Actual,
Sales, by Salesmen, by Product, etc)
3. Reports for Upper Management (Sales by Principal, Region, etc)
Other reports could be exception reports, analysis reports, Audit reports, etc.
In the OLS Sybase application, reports are available and users have the option to
export these reports to an Excel Spreadsheet (however, not many users have
access to reports, and some are deprived of having the reporting facility in order
to conduct their daily assignments).
As the demand for reporting requirements increases so does the demand to
contact the vendor to assist in preparing reports.
STPC would end up in a situation that could lead to “Reporting Analysis Paralysis”.
The OLS Sybase application has over 75 preprogrammed reports. This raises
questions about the extent of their actual use in the reporting process.
What is the ratio of those reports used for getting the job done versus the reports
used by managers for informational purposes?
STPC Management needs to undergo a Cleanup of Reports in order to categorize
them with focus on the essential reports that would contribute to the successful
completion of the process.
What are the daily reports / weekly / monthly reports to effectively get the job done?

Assessment Report
Let us take a look at this Pyramid
In order to control excess reporting the following exercise can be performed
(please find details on this exercise in the notes section. An excersie that has
multiple benefits) 9
Action: After having reviewed the exercise in Note 9 and if it is agreed that
between 25-30 reports are key to keep the organization afloat then it is
recommended that the rest of the reports be removed from the Users Menus, and
only be provided to the IT Department (who will control the reporting until a formal
Data warehouse “DW” is in place or a Data Analysis tool is secured).
The consultant fears that the vendor Tech-One however will not be able to provide
such a DW utility for the reasons discussed below.
3 Level of Reporting Needs
Operational
Level
Operational
Managers
Superviors
Middle
Managers
Management
Level
Strategic
Level
Senior
Managers

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Only Key reports should be part of the System, other reports (i.e. analysis, senior
management reporting etc.) should be available and extracted from the Data
Warehouse as running these reports that require access to historical data records
will affect system performance. The data entry users are affected.
Symptom Check: Tech-One have not designed a data warehouse (organizations
are installing powerful data analysis tools and data warehouses to make better use
of the information stored in their databases and taking advantage of database
technology. The absence of a Data warehouse has led to the increased demand
for reports. The Vendor benefits by not providing such a utility to his customers as
this will drain one of its key sources of revenue).
Operational
Data
Historical
Data
External
DataSources
(web, other
databases)
Data
Warehouse
Extract
And
transform
Queries & Reports
Data Mining
Online Analytical Processding (OLAP)
With this tool, STPC will not have to “refer to Tech-One” for all their reporting
requirements. When designed, an automated script will take care of the Data
transfers and transformations.
Symptom Check: Tech-One might not find it feasible to offer the data warehouse
solution for two reasons:
• There are so many versions of the software that it would require high
maintenance to create a DW for each version the client has.
• The system is undergoing continuing modifications (field additions, new
modules, that it prohibits them to design the DW. As it the DW Schemas
would also need to be modified to accommodate the modified application).
• It would not be to the best interest of Tech-One to provide this tool as this
will drain the revenue being generated by additional reporting requirements
from customers.

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3 Vendor Assessment
3.1 Summary of Vendor Assessment &
Recommendation:
Note:
The consultant’s recommendations in this section should only be taken into
consideration if Sonic Management decides to stay with the current OLS and
needs to continue receiving support from “Tech-One”.
The consultant met with the Development Manager “Mr John Elton” of “Tech-One”
at Sonic’s Premises on 12/11/08. The discussions involved understanding the
operations of “Tech-One.
The consultant concludes that, despite the many listed vulnerabilities that exist, the
vendor “Tech-One” can continue to support STPC. The consultant, however, does
not recommend this option.
The demise of Tech-One will not interfere with the OLS Sybase application not
functioning. But will be a major issue should STPC not have source code available
and a competent Powerbuilder Programmerto address critical issues.
Remaining with the current vendor, with their current business model, is only a
short-term alternative (2 - 3 years Maximum). Tech-One, with its current “Business
Model”, will not be in a position to survive in this competitive market. The Company
has no strategy and has been living the “good times”. Their current “Business
Model” cannot sustain the ongoing innovative / competitive requirements that the
SMART customers will eventually require.
Eventually the Tech-One “Bubble” will burst!
Its “too soft” to sustain itself any longer.

Assessment Report
There are too many external forces pushing on their
bubble.
International
Competition
with local
presence
Companies are
getting more
techno aware.
Require best
practices and a
reliable vendor
Developers
Legacy
Mindset.
Outdated
Application
Multiple
Versions.
Consultant's
Evaluation
Hooked to one
Database.
"Sybase"
System(s) has
reached thershold
level.
Customizations =
Patchwork=Instable
Financial
Instability.
No Audit of
Financial
Statements
No Business
Strategy
for the company to
support growth
No succession
Planning.
2soft
Reputation
Diversification
of installation
Sites for
multiple
industries.

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3.2 Vendor “Tech-One” Findings
The customer profile of Tech-One is significant (Sonic Group , PETCO & Aeibco
Group (Pharmacy Outlets) contributing a significant percentage of their current
total customer base). STPC is the only company that is publically trading in the
Stock Market.
• The Financial Statements for the company are not audited. Entries in the
BS –Asset Side such as Good Will based on Partner Good Will is
speculative (there is no supporting evidence on the calculation or the
origins of this number). This amount recognized in the B/S is KD 75,000,
which represents 47% of the total Asset amount.
• From the financials of the company for the last three years, the company’s
expenses have increased from 12% (2005-2006) to 43% (2006-2007) while
Sales have increased from 3 % (2005-2006) to 7% (2006-2007) (The
reason for the high increase is due to an increase in the Managing Partner’s
salary).
2005 2006 2007
Gross Profit 95,103 98,926 103,444
Expenses 44,271 49,848 71,468
Net Profit 50,832 49,078 31,976
• Gross Profit: Is the Net of Sales of New Software, Customization, Sybase
Licenses, Annual Maintenance, Hardware Sales, & Accessories.
• Software Sales are increasing very slightly, @ 2.5% (05-06) and @ 10%
(06-07). While expense have increased @ 12% (05-06) and @ 43% (06-
07)
• The company’s Capital is KD 100,000 with Assets as of Dec 2007 worth
KD 82,000 (excluding the Goodwill amount of KD 75,000). The Capital to
Asset ratio ‘CAR’ is 122%.
• The Current Ratio for 2007 is 9.4 quite high. However, due to the fact the
Reports are not audited one cannot confirm the Integrity of the B/S & P/L
Accounts.
• It appears, however, that the Company has a problem managing its Cash
Outflows. For 2005, 2006, 2007 the Cash in Banks was (81,000, 67,000,
50,000) respectively. A decrease of 17% (05-06) and 25% (06-07). Yet the
Accounts Receivables account has been Increasing at a rate of 3% (05-06)
112 % (06-07). Appears that Tech-One are having problems collecting
Cash from their customers in the recent 2 years or this could be a sign of
future potential Un-implemented Contracts.
Symptom Check: The provisions the company expects to receive from Clients
who will be obliged to pay for the Source code in the event of them going

Assessment Report
“Bankrupt” or “being wound up” are missing from the B/S. Assuming that the
bankruptcy clause in the contract in one of STPC’s is applied to all their
customers.
Action: STPC needs to review the contract conditions of the Original Contract
made with XTC Solutions” and make sure that it is not obliged to settle any kind
of payment of source code due to them going bankrupt. The same applies with
the other proposals and contracts that STPC has signed for the EA Sybase
Server and the recent HR proposal Dated Sept 2008.
3.3 Tech-One Customers During the Last Three
Years
The consultant asked Tech-One for a list of new customers secured during the
last three years including the modules they purchased.
The findings are discussed in the next two pages and are based only on facts
provided by Tech-One.

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Customer List and Modules Purchases (2005-2008)
The company shows an increase in Sales Revenue from 2006-2007. The Sales
Revenue is derived from the diversification of the Modules that have been installed
during the last four years the bulk of which comes from New Sales and
Customizations. (Modules as defined by Tech-One could be a sub-system or as
simple as a collection of reports. There appears to be no standard by Tech-One
for classification of modules.)
The last 3 year Customer List above clearly illustrates that during the last four years
over 80% of Tech-One Software Sales came from the following top five modules:
(Prior 2005 installations are not covered)
• Accounting(GL/AR/AP)
• Master Services (A module for control end user access)
• Payroll & Personnel
• Real Estate.

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What does the information tell us?
• It tells us that Tech-One has to support over 20 modules that it has installed
since 2005.
• It shows that Tech-One’s solutions are not focused on one or two industries.
Instead, they are diversified, in many industries (this is ideal for Tech-One
as their two best selling back office modules, Accounting and Personnel &
Payroll, can be installed in any environment).
• It means that while Tech-One are diversifying they do not have time to focus
on one industry; hence they are incapable of providing innovative solutions
to the customers (eg. STPC). They wait until STPC needs a modification.
(hence this is the “legacy approach that occurs in companies having In-
house software development staff to cater for the endusers requirements)
• It tells us that Tech-One’s installed solutions at clients in the same industry
as STPC’s only have back office applications (except for a couple of Point
of Sale applications I do not see any other front end Customer Centric
applications installed).
• It further shows that Tech-One have a “Master Services Module” that
controls end user Access. At a first glance, this is a good sign. But this may
also be a disadvantage for the customer/end users if not applied wisely. 3
Evidently the solution(s) that Tech-One have
to offer are not Enterprise Solutions.
They are not designed from a “Customers”
Perspective.
The solution(s) is not Process Driven but
functionally based. Note 4

Assessment Report
As STPC expands its operations, there will be further Business & Technological
requirements that Tech-One will not be able to provide at the required rate. (the
following examples are major modifications and should not be treated as
customizations)
For example:
• Automation of Workflow for key processes,
• Customer Profiling,
• Track of Maintenance Services
• Web based application
• Role based design,
• Data Warehouses,
• Audit Logs,
Symptom Check: Currently system is customized as and when required, having
control of the application built in functionality from the top-down vs having end
users request customizations from the bottom-up (creating the OLSFJD
Syndrome)).
There is no focus on maturing the existing solution for a specific industry.
As you can see from the Client List, Diversification of Different Clients indicate that
the product offering is focused on back-office automation. (Accounts, Payroll,
Inventory, Orders,) and on the front end a straightforward (Point of Sale
application). Furthermore the vendor Tech-One has introduced a few more
products in other industries, such as archiving, Money Exchange, Real Estate &
Rental.
If we were to pick an industry that Tech-One seems to focus on however, that
would be the Pharmaceutical & Medical Equipment Industry as Tech-One has
secured (Al Meni, Al Daily, Deltaa and Sonic Trading Company and one company
regionally).
Consultants Personnel Opinion: The dilemma of this focus is that having
“backoffice” applications in a specific industry does not make Tech-One a specialist
in the “Pharma” Industry. There is not competitive advantage in applying an
Accounting or Personell & Payroll application.
To-date one of the those clients have terminated their contract with Tech-One and
have seeked an alternative. (Al Daily)
This would indicate that Tech-One management were unable to retain one of their
key accounts, that is within their “focus industry”. They have managed to acquire
a new account in 2006 (Delta Med) due to the fact that the company is a newly
established setup and does as a startup company require the basic accounting
module.
The strategy that Tech-One has applied at Delta Med is very simple, in that they
provided Delta Med a very competitive price for the extra modules, got the

Assessment Report
company hooked on the application. And taking full advantage of not having to
comply to an RFP official document.
“Tech-One Sales Force are doing a good job. Tech-One Support are busy with
new installations and heavy maintenance.”
Symptom Check: This diversification with the current limited resources Tech-One
has to support the applications will eventually lead to put them in a “Wound up”
situation (as they claim in one of their contract clauses) that would lead them to
terminating the contract with any clients they chose fit.
Trying to attract young fresh programmers is also a problem for Tech-One, in that
young programmers these days need to get experience with reputable software
companies. The focus of development these days on Microsoft Dot Net
Technology and Oracle Development.
Only a handful of companies in the country work on Powerbuilder and Sybase.
Action: STPC could release an AD in the newspaper for Powerbuilder developers,
Oracle Developers and MS Dot Net Developers. This would provide an indication
to STPC of the amount of available manpower exisits locally. The consultant
recommends that the New IT Manager have some Power builder experience.

Assessment Report
2.4 Vendors sWot Analysis
Many aspects of the Vendor’s setup, operations, strategic views are a cause for
concern including:
o Unstructured approach to meeting existing clients needs
o High Dependency on Customizations to existing clients
o Focus on new sales. Resources exhausted on New Sites.
o Have multiple – uncontrolled versions of the application
o No Strategic Direction for the Company
o No change or Version control mechanism exists while making
modifications to the System. (No formal methodology exists)
o Database design of System is extremely outdated, insufficient to
handle future requirements. Not capable of handling multi
company. No Audit Trails exist in application. No Customer
Database.
o Expertise in Sybase Database Only: Sybase is a technology being
used by the vendor, and does not add to the functionality of the
system. Cost of Sybase Database licenses is unwarranted.
o No Initiative to look at the big picture and unify design the system
appropriately. Each Client is served based on their requirements.
o Financial Statements look ok, however, they are not audited by an
independent third party. The entry of goodwill is speculative.
o Vendor does not have bank facilities since inception. Protecting
themselves under the umbrealla of “GPIC”
o Clause in Contract “Bankruptcy” leaves cause for concern.
o Bad Attitude for support and cooperation

Assessment Report
2.4.1 Findings, Assumptions and Associated Risks
1. The “Out-Sourced Legacy System” OLS was developed by Tech-One from
an old legacy DOS based system that was converted in the year 2000 to a
Client Server Technology using Powerbuilder Development Tools and
under the Sybase Database.
Associated Risk:
• Since it is a legacy application that has been converted to new
technology, the systems’ design has not been re-structured to allow
audit trails. For example, if Sonic wanted to track down which user
changed prices, or override price discounts, the system cannot
identify these kinds of transactions (as a rule of thumb for every
master table there needs to be 3 audit trials at a minimum – Record
amendment, Deletion, Creation.)
• The General Ledger Detail transaction table and similarly the AR,
AP, and all the transaction, Master Tables do not have a system
date captured. This date indicates the when a transaction record is
created. The Official Date name for the GL transaction table would
be called the “Posting Date”. (Refer to the last page of this section
where we illustrate an example of one of the benefits of having this
posting date)
• The User Access security in the Sybase application is not reliable,
since it does not keep track of user access at the transaction level.
Users can share passwords if they want and transactions can be
made without being traceable. You cannot identify which user
initiated the transaction. (Do Managers allow subordinates to
access their IDs and passwords to accomplish a task?)
• The system is not user friendly. There are too many menus, and
there is no help menu.(to assist staff and new users to refer to
systems funcationality & features). The system Menu design is not
structured as per Development standards. Each menu design is
based on user restriction that is applied using the “Services module
designed by Tech-One”. No menu codes exist (each menu needs
to have a ID Code associate with it for ease of maintenance and
support).
• Having a Client / Server technology application means that every
new user needs to have the executable installed along with the
Sybase runtime licenses. This becomes a mundane task for the
administrator to manage (on new installations, new customizations,
changes in PC hardware). To overcome this issue for the head
office of Sonic the executables have been installed on a Server
where that the users access to run the programs. The remote
locations are however having executables installed on their PCs.

Assessment Report
Symptom Check: a lot of security issues come about when a client server
architecture is designed (which are not discussed in this report).
However until a recent development where a virus infected STPC network
and infected a few executable files that caused the sybase application to
crash. This required that Tech-One interfere and come in and replace the
infected executables which they were unable to do. Hence they also
recommended to installed executables on all the PCs to circumvent this
problem.
If the executables remain on each end user PC. then all the Cleints (PCs)
that are allowing the end users to access the Sybase application are prone
to virus attacks. If the exectable is damaged due to this attack, this then
requires that the IT Adminsitrator goes physically to each and every PC to
rectify the problem.
This attack that has happened recently requires that the IT Adminsitrator
conducts a full tour of all the PCs installed on the network and confirm that
all the critical and office applications are in working condition and are virus
free.
Consultants Recent Obeservation:
It was also obervesed that the current Anti Virus application TrendMirco
was unable to resolve the Virus that crashed the executable files on the
Server. The IT Administrator is currently in process of seeking an
alternative. (TEDEC who sold the anti virus Solution to STPC could not
assist in this matter)
Action: A possible remedy to address this problem should STPC remain
with the OLS Sybase application is to introduce the concept of the “thin
client”. Which would mean that only one copy of the executable would be
installed on a production environment and a backserver installed to
accommodate any failure in the production server.

Assessment Report
2. The DOS system was originally developed under Hadeed Computer
Systems by the same team that eventually formed Tech-One. Key
Developers from Hadeed founded Tech-One, and re-designed the DOS
system into a Client / Server Environment.
Associated Risk:
Even though this observation may not be a direct risk to STPC, there are
potentially indirect risks from the following:
• The current owners of “Tech-One” used to work for XTC Computer
Systems. After leaving Hadeed, they established Tech-One and
“migrated / rebuilt” the system to a windows based application.
Tech-One used large discounts to attract customers away from
XTC.
• The current owners acted in their own best interest and formed their
own company “Tech-One” to achieve their personal financial &
Career goals.
Symptom Check: The risk being what is to prevent them from doing the
same once more? But this time the victim may end up being the STPC?
Related Risk: Declare Bankruptcy or being wound up.

Assessment Report
3. The system is locked into the Sybase Database since the developers do
not have the expertise in any other Database. They further do not use a
designer tool that is used by professional software houses. Benefits of this
tool include (data modeling, Requirement management, Document
generation, Impact analysis, Information mapping, enterprise repository).
With this tool, an IT Development company or department can have a
structured repository of all the elements required for the development cycle.
It is also a control mechanism that can be used for version control.
Associated Risk:
• If Sonic decides to introduce a third party application to address a
particular need, difficulties will arise if the systems need to be
closely integrated. A lot of development effort is required.
• Not using a designer tool “Power Designer’ in this case, means that
Tech-One developers cannot control the documentation process of
the development phase, as they go directly to writing code, using
the Powerbuilder tool at their disposal. This means that if any
documentation was to be implemented, it would be done manually.
With the number of clients Tech-One have and with all the
customizations they have made since they setup the company, one
wonders how they are able to manage all theses applications with
multiple versions.
Symptom Check: Does Tech-One have an updated copy of the
source code for STPC? How can Tech-One validate this to STPC
and provide evidence for confirming this. (Which would be a pre-
requisite should STPC decide to purchase the source code from
Tech-One in the event Tech-One declare bankruptcy or STPC
decides to take on future in-house modifications.)
Action: STPC should formally request for this proof, upon securing
an IT Manager. Whose job will be to take a full tour of the source
code to identify all the business rules that have been hardcoded into
the source code. (If Tech-One have been maintaining old versions
of source code a well for STPC then the IT Manager can also
compare what if any changes to the business rules that have been
made in the newer versions)
• Un-necessary License costs on Sybase will be recognized by
STPC. Check value. To-date. The system is not multi-company so
a new database will be required for every company under the STPC
umbrella (The alternative and cheaper solution would be SQL
Server 2008 which works equally well with Powerbuilder).

Assessment Report
• The STPC Administrator does not have Sybase expertise. The
Administrator does not have a basic understanding of SQL
terminology and functionality. He has not been trained in this as it
is evident that Tech-One wants earn some extra revenue and to
train the Adminstrator only now due to the recent request from the
consultant
Symptom Check: STPC is not concerned with the inner workings of the
system they currently use. The inner working of the system is essential to the
longevity of the application and the benefits one can receive from using it.
Hence the consult recommends that the IT Manager has full exposure to the
inner working of the Sybase application.

Assessment Report
4. The OLS Sybase application was introduced into the market with its limited
capabilities, features and functionality. Each Client receives his version of
the Software from day one. After that, only new customizations that a client
requests are added to the system.
Symptom Check: What puzzles the consultant is how Tech-One can
bluntly claim in their proposals that they are offering version 1.1 yet the
Development Manager form Tech-One has confirmed to the consultant that
there is no version control due to the many copies of different versions that
exist for each customer. (This is a marketing strategy that is being used in
promting the application).
Action: To verify this version should Tech-One’s claim be valid, STPC
should request from Tech-One to provide them with the current version that
they are using for each module and to accordingly provide STPC with
evidence of all the version modifications that have been made since
Version 1.1 was released.
Associated Risk:
• STPC is deprived of “best industry practices”. They have a system
functionality that was designed back in 2000. (appropriately they
labeled it as version 1.1)
• The system does not offer the flexibility for customization by the end
user. It is not paramterized. Each module sold should offer a setup
facilty that can be administered by the superuser of the application.
(Setup of Fiscal Years, Fiscal Months, creation of aging buckets,
Ordering parameters, allowing back posting, etc)
• Business rules are hard coded into the system. There is no
provision for workflow (Have STPC end users actually tested the
application thoroughly whenever a modification is introduced for
confirming the business rules applied are as per the requirements.
Calculations of weighted average, Landed Cost, discounts, ordering
parameters, rounding of decimal values, Date formulas, etc are all
an integral part of the inner workings of the application).
Note: Bad programming habits exist, and there is a strong tendency
for a programmer to make an error in the code while making a
modification.
Symptom Check: what guarantees can Tech-One provide to
ensure that STPC data resident in Tech-One servers is secure from
being copied by any of their programmers?
If Tech-One claim that they do not have any STPC data a question
should then be raised to Tech-One to determine how they are able
to test the modifications made on the system. Dummy data used for
Software testing purposes showes weakness in the software testing
practices.

Assessment Report
• This puts STPC in position where any changes in its business rules
need to be developed / modified by Tech-One.
• Even then, this modification may not be possible. This puts STPC
at the mercy of the Vendor and the implementation of the business
rule may put STPC at a disadvantage when it comes to meeting
deadlines in contract bids, Stock ordering, etc. (Examples of
business rules apply in all facets of the business that STPC can set
as policy in the system for control and ease of use purposes).

Assessment Report
5. On average, a team of “four” developers is the key to the system’s survival.
No succession planning exists since the company is a co-partnership.
Associated Risk:
• Should any of the four owners decide to bail out, the company would
be in an unstable position both financially and resource labor wise.
The company’s financial records are not audited so one cannot
estimate the financial impact yet alone the impact of the ability to
support the existing clients, if any of the partners exit.
• One of the partners, however, already has a base in the US and has
been there for a while now. To packup and leave at anyday is
possible. This would be his contingency plan as such.
• This also puts pressure on his partners since they fear they will be
left out; hence we end up with a “domino effect”. What if they all
pack and leave. Who will take over to manage the company
assuming this scenario is very likely to happen.
The risk being: The partners will begin to look for an alternative and “Tech-
One” becomes the outcast.
Action: STPC Management should meet with Tech-One Owners and have
a sincere discussion about the owners’ future plans. This criteria should be
used as part of the evaluation criteria should STPC think of remaining with
Tech-One.
Approaching the owners about this may also be a good test to see how
they would react when confronted with this kind of question.
To test Tech-Ones owner commitment to keeping their company alive:
• The STPC Management can suggest that they acquire Tech-One
and offer the owners a tempting amount in order to take over the
company with the condition that all four Tech-One owners remain
at the company for the next five years. And see how they would
react to this offer.
This is merely a suggestion that should help assure STPC about the future
plans of Tech-One and its owners.

Assessment Report
6. The vendor has no focus on any target industry. They have no strategy in
place to address the unification of the “legacy System(s)”. They are willing
to take up projects in any industry as an opportunity arises. They are
focused on securing new projects and earning revenue from new
installations and maintenance fees. Tech-One has already lost one of their
major clients in 2004. (AlKaji)
Associated Risk:
It is not a surprise why Tech-One have not unified the application yet: One
can assume the following:
• The consultant predicts that the number of different versions have
increased to an extent that renders any initiative to unify the
application feasible. Any initiative would require a major revamping
development project, that would be unachievable for the following
reasons:
o Tech-One would have to freeze all modification for all clients
during this project; otherwise the unification project will
never end as new modifications are being introduced while
the project is WIP.
o Tech-One have no guarantee that the existing clients will
remain with them once the project is over hence their efforts
to unify the application might scare clients away since they
will also have to update their existing application if they are
to enjoy the benefits of Tech-One’s support.
o The difference in functionality & features in each of the
running versions is a complicated process to work on when
attempting to unify the application.
• STPC has to request on-demand customizations. The vendor Tech-
One is willing to customize and implement upon such request,
without gaining a full understanding of the consequences the
customization may have on other aspects of the business and as to
what ripple affects this would create in the other departments who
will be affected.
o (As an example: introducing the extra fields in the Item
master table, for categorizing & classifying the products. The
introduction of a simple field will result in having to look at all
reports and modifying them, along with modifying all the
screens that pertain to the Inventory master. Historic
transactions will need to be addressed, inputted and
verified; the result of which might be a massive project for
both the vendor and the end user).
Consultant Pesonal Opinion: The vendor’s objective is to provide
STPC with a quick solution to meet their needs and make some money
on the accumulated maintenance.

Assessment Report
Action: STPC needs to clarify with Tech-One the maintenance
requirement, since the recent clause proposed to HR is ambiguous.
Questions that need to be asked by STPC and confirmed by Tech-One
in writing are as follows: (using the software proposal for HR & Admin
Manager Dated September 25th
2008 Ref: clientsSonicArchGrdPer.
Referring to page 9.)
i. The first article mentions “Telephone support to the operator
for operational problems for which he/she needs support.”
Question: How will Tech-One be tracking these calls if there
is no formal help desk in place (as this was confirmed by the
GM of Tech-One)? And who exactly is the operator, and how
does he/she keep track of historical calls of similar nature
for STPC and for other clients?
ii. The second article “Support the operation with on site calls
of problems arises from the system operations”.
Question: What is the definition of the “system”? Does this
include STPC hardware? Does it include the module that is
under this maintenance agreement or does it include the
whole software that is installed by Tech-One since day one?
And if this is the case, what maintenance amount has been
recognized by the STPC? (Keeping in mind that there has
been an original contract supposedly signed by STPC,
which included a maintenance clause. If that is still active
then it may appear that STPC is “over paying for
maintenance”).
iii. The third clause mentions “.. backs up to date maintained
on diskette/ backup tape..”
Question: To begin with, “diskettes” are a bit outdated.
However this clause needs to elaborate a bit more. Why is
it in the Yearly on-site Maintenance & Support? Let us
assume that a problem happens and STPC has a back up.
In the event of data corruption or loss of data, what will
STPC do and will that be covered? Data that is not be
recovered in the event of a crash would have to be retrieved
from a backup media.

Assessment Report
iv. The fourth clause mentions “trained personnel to operate
the system..” and “during his leave, customer is requested
to advise us of his replacement”
Question: What can Tech-One offer in terms of training?
Can they provide a documentation training manual that
STPC an use as a reference for a replacement? We have
just recently witnessed a case where Tech-One will charge
for training the IT Adminstrator on how to access the
Database?
v. The sixth clause mentions that “Under this contract Tech-
One may provide additional system modification or new
reports at additional charges”
Question: How will the maintenance be affected if STPC
decides to make an additional systems modification? Will
Tech-One make another proposal with a yearly
maintenance clause? How will they be able to track
maintenance fees for sub-modules etc?
The message the consultant wishes to convey to STPC
management is that Tech-One is in-progress of earning
“Maintenance fees” and STPC has no means to measure against
whether or not these Fees are justified. Very possibly this option if
not exercised will save STPC some unnecessary expenses.
Once more I would like to reiterate We have just recently witnessed
a case where Tech-One will charge for training the IT Adminstrator
on how to access the Database?
What is inclusive of maintenance and what is not?
Action: STPC should request from Tech-One to provide them periodically with
a report that highlights the maintenance that has been performed to the system.
The report should highlight the Module(s) affected, reference to contract
number, the date and time the problem was logged, the time it took Tech-One
to resolve the problem, and what was done to fix the problem.

Assessment Report
7. The internal process currently used for modifying and testing the software
is not being done in accordance with the best practices of the Software
development Cycle. There are no version or change control procedures for
the application. Tech-One is a local software house that is aware of its
resource and application limitations.
Associated Risk:
• The Risk of not having quality software solutions delivered as per
user requirement and on time is high. Not having version control
further adds to not being able to monitor changes in applications’
functionality and having to revert back to a reliable working version.
8. Each of Tech-One’s clients have their own version / copy of the application.
There is no Single unified system, with an up-to-date version.
(Development Manager mentioned Tech-One have active 35 clients)
This matrix cannot be prepared by Tech-One as the Development
Manager hinted there are too many versions of the all the modules.
Sonic Client 1 Client 2 Client 3
Module 1 X X X
Feature 1 X X
Feature 2 X X
Module 2 X X X
Associated Risk:
• This creates a major issue when trying to control Software Fixes,
bugs and upgrades. This means there are over 35 source code
versions that need to be maintained. A simple matrix such as the
sample below that highlights each client’s features & functionality
does not exist: (This would be instrumental if used in unifying the
Application and providing a Full Version for clients with options to
purchase modules.) Refer to point 6.
• STPC will not benefit from functionality & features that have been
introduced to other clients. Unless this is requested by STPC or
informed by Tech-One. In both cases, STPC will have to pay for the
development cost of the added functionality (which has already
been recognized by the client who initially requested the
modification).

Assessment Report
Symptom Check: I would not be surprised if Tech-One has labeled the
initial version of their Accounting module as 1.1 that was created back
in 2001. They could be selling this version to clients (the consultant
does not wish to hint that this is intentional by Tech-One, but due to the
lack of Version control this little phenomenon could be happening)
9. Due to the lack of version control and the incompetence of Tech-One’s
developers in the Industry’s best practices, the OLS Sybase application
does not benefit from the introduction of functionality and feature upgrades.
Such upgrades are only recognized upon the request of the Client, who
ends up paying for the customization most of the time. As a result, Tech-
One’s clients, including STPC do not benefit from the features and
functionality of the industry’s best practices.
This is causing what I call “The OLS forces the Job Description Syndrome”;
which I explained earlier in this report. It appears that other clients may be
suffering from the same Syndrome!
Associated Risk:
• To recap; the OLSJD Syndrome, simply means that the introduction
of new features into the system, will inadvertently affect the end
users daily activity, which will in turn affect his/her job description.
• In due time, as these modifications are introduced, the Job
descriptions of the whole department will be affected, that could
result in extra manpower being introduced to satisfy the
requirements that have accumulated over these years.
• These requirements may or may not contribute to the optimization
of the process. Hence, the OLSJD Syndrome is a bubble of
increased workload not contributing to the departmental objectives,
more importantly the company’s objectives
(* Refer to discussion on OLSJD Syndrome in the Consultants
Evaluation section of this report).
Symptom Check: It is not in the best interest of Tech-One to unify the applications
and have one version that can be controlled, since their main objective is to earn
income on “Customizations”. This is contributing to a significant portion of their
revenue. Unfortunately, the client does not see this as a problem at the beginning
but only once they have become dependent on the system they then discover that
the bubble has grown beyond repair. (Delta Med is the lastest casualty and will
only become aware of this phenomenom once customizations become
uncontrollable)

Assessment Report
Consultants Personnel Opinion:
Here, Tech-One have played it quite smart:
• They use “Customization” services as a selling advantage in their
marketing and selling pitches. However, unknown to clients who do not
thoroughly evaluate the proposals and the long term effects that this may
have, they end being the victims.
• They are learning as they customize and they are getting paid for it as well.
10. Tech-One’s Development Manager hinted more than once that his
developers spend over 30% of their time working on STPC Customization
projects.
Associated Risk:
• I cannot verify the truth in that claim. The claim was made several
times during the meeting.
• Since activities are not tracked by the project / client being
administered in Tech-One, if 30% is actually spent on
customizations, than it needs to be clarified to STPC.
• STPC should receive periodic reports about the amount of time the
vendor is spending on client support.
Action: STPC should insist that a clause in the contract mention that
periodic reports will be provided to STPC with enough detail that will help
STPC assess whether or not the maintenance is justified and the number
of requests for modification that have been requested.

Assessment Report
11. Tech-One has no strategic plans to improve the application and do not
seem motivated to unify the application. Refer to point 9.
Associated Risk:
• Not having a unified and version controlled application with built-in
functionality, that can be modular purchased by Sonic, puts Sonic
in a position where-by it has to purchase on-demand. That is have
developed / customized solutions to address its requirements.
The fact that the system lacks in functionality and is limited puts
STPC in a position to want improvements on the system to address
there current problems and reporting needs. The system is being
patched up and gradually becoming a disparate system.
• In addition, the vendor does not have a systematic means to track
all clients’ modules/ customizations.
Action: For confirmation, STPC should request Tech-One to provide them
with all the modifications that they have applied during the last two years at
least.
• STPC is deprived of having industry best practices built into the
software. The vendors do not have the experience or the desire to
keep the software updated with the industry’s best practices. The
reasons of which are many and some of which are mentioned in this
report.
Functionality may exist in the multiple versions that Tech-One has
developed for other clients, which may benefit STPC. Unlike international
application providers, however, Tech-One does not want to provide STPC
with this functionality for free.
• The Vendor benefits the competition by taking a requirement from
STPC, having STPC pay for it, and then going out selling it to the
competition making profit. (This has been conveyed in the meeting
with Tech-One Development Manager)
Consultants Personnel Opinion: At this point I would like to applause
Tech-One for this genuine strategy.

Assessment Report
12. The vendor has a bankruptcy clause in the “Sybase EAServer Web
Proposal” contract. The clause does not state that the client has the option
to purchase the source code. It states the following: “...the contract shall be
terminated and the supplier shall provide the client with the application
software source code and system documentation without any restrictions,
at a price equivalent to the total paid for the software application by the
user”. Tech-One may have planned an exit strategy.
Associated Risk:
• STPC may be obliged to settle this clause and compensate the
supplier. The vendor can at anytime declare bankruptcy or declare
being wound up and hence the contract can be terminated. This
would put Sonic in a position to purchase the source code as a
mandatory obligation to the contracts terms and conditions.
Furthermore, the financial records of “Tech-One” are not audited,
which is required to confirm a declaration of “Bankruptcy”.
• “Being Wound Up” is a generic clause that can be claimed anytime
Tech-One deems necessary.
Action: Without further delay, this clause needs to be confirmed with Tech-One
and a copy of the contract needs to be produced. (the consultant was unable to
locate a copy of the original contract. Only the upgrade was available that did not
mention this clause).
The original contract seems to be the missing link.

Assessment Report
2.5 A Tour of Tech-Ones Web Page
In this section the consultant’s objective is to highlight a few facts about Tech-
One’s website.
Home Page:
▪ The home page’s news section is outdated. The most current news brief
proclaims that three clients were secured in January 2007.
▪ The statistics related to the total number of customers on the home page
is out dated.
Customer Profile Page:
▪ Tech-One claim they have completed 185 installations. Yet the
Development Manager says they have 35 active clients. Meaning on
average they have 185/25 = 5 installations per client. This is ambiguous.
An installation could refer to the number of units installed at one location
and not necessarily multiple locations.
▪ The training section states the following:
“…we will be working with your company’s actual data..”.
This raises an important issue. A confidentiality agreement should have
been signed between Sonic and Tech-One’s. No confidentiality agreement
was made available to the Consultant.
▪ Web Site statistics indicate that the website is currently ranked as
18,599,222. Tech-One has made no effort to improve this traffic rating.
▪ The following are the only 3 sites that include links into their Tech-One’s
site:
- Sybase UAE(This is the only partner that Tech-One has signed up
with)
- Sonic Group (Tech-One are using STPC webpage as means to
market their services and have customers link to Tech-One website
via the STPC webpage.) That in return is STPC receiving
- Areabo (An outdated advertising site)
Consultants Personal Opinion: The Professional Services documented in the
website and the nature of services that Tech-One claim that they offer do not in
fact reflect “reality” in many aspects. The site is a static webpage designed and
most likely updated many years ago.
Action: STPC should enquire about the “Target Locking” system they have
designed and understand how STPC has benefited from this option.
If not, can STPC benefit and at what cost?

Assessment Report
Recent Encounter with Tech-One for managements
attention:-
The Consultant would like to however refer to the recent encounter with
Tech-One with regards to not assisting in providing crucial data to the
consultant, even after STPC management has formally instructed Tech-One
to do so more than once.
I refer to the email dated 16/12/08 Subject: “For Sonic Management
Information and Action. URGENT”.
In leiu of this recent event the consultant wishes to caution STPC that this
act although may not be considered to be a threat to ensure continiuos
operation of the OLS Sybase application, it is a sign that the vendor Tech-
One has already begun to take full advantage of the current situation.
The fact that the FM has resigned who was the primary link to the vendor ,
and the fact that a consultant has been hired to evaluate the system naturally
puts the vendor Tech-One in a very defensive position.
Yet Tech-One has nothing to lose if they were to assit in providing this data,
which as the consultant confirms is a job that should take no more than 10-
20 minutes.
This matter needs to be seriously discussed and Tech-One needs to be aware that
their lack of cooperation has been noted in this consultants report.
The following list highlights some of these for the attention of STPC Management.
• They did not provide the Erwin diagrams that were requested.
• They did not provide access ID and password requested by consultant over
one month ago.
• They did not come prepared to the initial meeting. Even after a couple of
emails from the GM.
• They only provided the Financial Statements after numorus attempts to
convince them were made by the consultant and the intervention of Dr.
Peter Maxwell who called them to request from them to be cooperative.
• They have not commited to presentation demo date as originally planned
which was due on December 2nd
2008.
• They have not provided accurate and complete statements on a number of
occasions. Some of their answers were misleading.
• They did not attempt to alert STPC or the consulant over 10 days ago that
the Key fields requested by the consultant were not available yet they
received a cc of most of the emails sent by the Finance Manager.
• They refused to assist in the extraction of crucial data from the system to
aid the consultant in finalizing the evaluation exercise yet they were
requested by the Owner to cooperate fully.
These are some of the issues that have been faced with the vendor Tech-One
during this engagement.

Assessment Report
A Sample of the benefits of the GL transaction evaluation
The following example illustrates only one of the activities that the consultant
would have liked to evaluate had he received the GL transaction data but was
unable to do so due to not receiving the information requested and the system
not having the required fields.
The provided data would have enabled the consultant to drill down to the areas
where the backlogs occur and determine the root cause, but as this information is
not avaible this crucial statistic cannot be produced.
Other benefits of this excersie are not shown in this report, but the consultant would
like to state that this data if receivied would have enabled the consultant to confirm
& verify many of the systems weaknesses. Including the current efficiency of the
Accounting Departments processes and procedures.
Where possible backlogs occur due to excessive controls, where manual discounts
are given outside the Invoicing application, how many invoicing returns, how many
invoices per day are processed that are integrated online to the GL Revenue
account, are just a sample of what could have been verfified and confirmed.

Assessment Report
3. Sybase Application Assessment
Summary of Sybase Assessment based on End user Input & Consultant’s
Findings:
This assessment is based on 1 – 2 hour sessions which were conducted with the
department / division managers and some of the key users. Feedback on the
Sybase application was also obtained from department heads.
Department & Divison Heads
The majority of department and division heads feel that the system fulfils their
current needs. Some have expressed minor modification requirements to simplify
their subordinates’ daily tasks.
Users
The users believe that the application is currently capable of carrying out daily
tasks, however, some acknowledge that there is data entry duplication which
involves a lot of administrative work.
Furthermore, since there is no flow of information and the system is not designed
based on a role based framework, many reports and inquiry screens which may
exist in the system have not been granted to the end-users. A primary benefit to
the end-user can be achieved from the information being fed by other departments
(E.g. Date of Orders Sent by Imports, ETA of products).
Symptom Check: The OLS Sybase application is a funcational system designed
to address departmental automation. No automated workflow exists. The end
result of which creates “silo units” that are isolated from other digital information.
The result of which is addressed via the running of reports.
This section refers to samples of requirements that have been received from the
Department / Division heads. This sample was sent to Tech-One who were
required to verify the “pain points” that were conveyed in the requirements
document.
I have enclosed the Tech-One’s feedback (which has been partially edited for
mispelt obscure words and accordingly for the benefit of this report).
The consultant has also included his comments and recommendation.
In the event Sonic decides to continue with the current OLS Sybase application,
they can refer to the recommendations in order to take further advantage of the
system’s functionality.
A detailed action plan is not included in this report to cater for remdiying the
situation with Tech-One. The consultant has made recommendations that can be
used by STPC to formulate a structured Action plan.

Assessment Report
Note:
The consultant’s recommendations in this section should only be taken
into consideration if STPC’s Management decides to stay with the current
OLS Sybase application.

Assessment Report
Pharma Department
Requirement Tech-One Reply
1. MOH Tenders: A Separate module(quotation/order status
module) to be prepared for MOH tenders/quotations,
which should include the following for easy access:
• Pending Quotations,
• Last Awarded Price
• Awarded Tenders
• Awarded Quantity
• Supplied Quantity
• Pending Quantity
• No Of shipments , ETA
System/option already exists
but not fully used by STPC
personnel, and most of the
requested modifications and
additions have been supplied.
(Refer to Mr. Venget)
2 Accessing the private pharmacy sales, this is limited to
the pharmacy division only.
It is a matter of enabling the
security option for the user to
access the report, the system
administrator has the
privileges to open or close
whatever reports for any user.
3 Budget: Entering the yearly budget division wise, which
will give us easy access to view monthly budget versus
sales as well as the YTD achievements per company
separately.
The System has been
developed and installed
based on Mr. Sami and Mr.
Saher’s requirements and to
our knowledge they are using.
4 Report showing correct sales for each division per
company separately for e.g. Himalaya comes under
consumer as well as Pharma sales & marketing. At
present the sales of Himalaya are separated manually.
The reports already exist and
provide all the above
information, ask Mr. Saher he
knows where this report is.
5 Expiry dates of the products to be viewed The expiry option and report
already exists, as a matter of
fact thee are more than 3
reports which the user can
generate, and you can ask
Mr. Alaa, Mr Zafer, and Mr.
Saher
6 Available stock of a particular product along with the
landed cost and the wholesale price, flagging on short
expires e.g. 3 months, 6 months
Already exists, check with Mr.
Micheal, you can find this
option in the reporting
system.
7 A column where the monthly consumption is calculated
depending on the average sales per month. Also, flagging
and highlighting a column showing three months or less
stock where we can place the order before we face out of
stock situation.
Already exists in the re-
ordering system, which they
are not using, or fully using.
8 A column where the monthly consumption is calculated
depending on the average sales per month. Also, flagging
and highlighting a column showing three months or less
stock where we can place the order before we face out of
stock situation.
Already exists, this is the
most important reports that all
Sonic international Salesman
users frequent basis.
Tech-One’s Overall Comments to the 8 requirements:
In my opinion, before making these requests, the department head did not bother
to review the reports and options with staff because they already exist.
Consultant’s Comment & Recommendation

Assessment Report
The department head does not utilize the Sybase application. Has confirmed that
most of the application’s shortfalls are affecting her staff, however, she does not
use the Sybase system and relies on getting her reports from her staff. Thus, the
requirements were provided from the end-users of the Pharma Department Head
who then forwarded them to Department Manager who forwarded the requirements
to my attention.
The end-users / Department heads have not been given a demo on the system’s
available reports. It is evident from the Tech-One’s reply to the 8 requirements that
these options exist in the system, but are provided only to privileged users.
Action: Each of the 8 requirements needs to be justified, as to how they will
contribute in making the end users task more efficient and effective. A further study
might be required to consider the affect these requirements will have on the
Business Process from start-to-finish and how the other users involved in the
process will be affected (this is pertaining to point number 1 as it appears to be a
major modification).
A meeting needs to be held by all divisions who will be participating in this business
process, since they need to accept this modification. Of course, Tech-One
developers should also be present.
• This option should only be developed based on this justification.
• HR should be involved as the modifications might also affect the end-users’
daily tasks and hence their job descriptions.
Consultant’s Personnel Opinion: The consultant wishes to point out that a cost-
benefit analysis would be a good place to start before giving the green light to go
ahead with the project.

Assessment Report
Imports & Exports Div
Requirement Tech-One Reply
1 For Expiration Debit Notes:
(03) Order Management Service -------→ (01)
Update Batch File
To add S.R.V. Number to “update batch status”
Menu.
We have sent an offer for the
Debit Notes program couple
of months back, but we did
not receive any reply from
Sonic on the go ahead of
development and installing
the system.
With regards to the SRV
number, it is not clear I need
more clarification, but the
SRV entry option already
exists.
2 Purchase Orders: Provision to print Purchase Orders
based on ETA date should avail (monthly basis being the
criteria)
No one request from me a
report by order ETA, but it is
possible to make all I need is
someone to request this
report.
3 Order Management System:
• Upon Selection it should indicate if any
previous entry is still pending / not
posted.
(02) Receipt ----→ (01) Load New
Order
• At the place where we enter received
quantity an additional column to write
Landed Cost should be accommodated.
(You may delete (04) “Update Cost / Price /
Markup” where we enter cost)
(02) Receipt -----→ Update Received
Quantity
We will make an option to
prompt the user that there is
a order in the session and
message asking the user
would you like to continue
Yes/No (no one has
requested this option but it is
possible to make)
The user can not enter the
landed cost, it is an automatic
calculation from the system,
which will generate the
landed cost based on the
actual expense of the order,
and I do not understand why
he wants to enter the landed
cost manually (then what is
the use of the system)
Can be done
Need more clarification, I do
not understand what they
mean, if they mean qty of
order in the session then the
option is already there, other
wise I need more clarification.
4 Store Receipt Voucher
• Complete product description should be
printed.
• Same Sequence should follow on below
documents
• Say SRV is made to follow a, b, c, d.
• While inventory entry the same
sequence is followed (ie. a, b, c, d)
when we take print of this entry,
currently the system changes the
sequence. Meaning it prints b, d, c, a
No one requested or even
informed us, this is very basic
thing, all what I have to do is
arrange the sorting in both
the entry and viewing.

Assessment Report
which should be modified. (This is very
important).
Tech-One’s Overall Comment on the 4 requirements
Once again all the requested either already exists or not has been used.
Consultant’s Comments & Recommendation
This department maintains the Inventory Master Records. It receives orders from
the Tendering & Ordering Department in Word Format, creates Purchase Orders
in the Sybase Application and follows up on the Orders with the principals. The
department handles all import formalities.
The department seems to receive manual forms prepared by the Sales Team and
the Order Department (Manual meaning handwritten or via spreadsheet and not
prepared from the Sybase Application).
Consultants Personal Opinion: Ideally this division needs to receive pre-inputted
Orders via the Sybase Application and hence there needs to be an automation
from the point of RFP to customer -→ When the order if placed to the principle.

Assessment Report
In STPC, the Order responsibilities are split depending on where the Order
Originates from:
• The Order desk Services receives Internal Order requests from “Consumer
Products”, Pharma Sales & Marketing & Dermo-Cosmetics.
• Tendering & Ordering receive Internal Order requests from Medical Equip
Dept & Lab Equipment Services.
STPC has, within the limitations of the existing Sybase application, created the
current Ordering Process that is challenged via two Divisions (Order Desk Services
and T&O).
The aim of this section of the report is not to dwell on the existing current
processes, problems & bottlenecks but to highlight an important point. The point
being that one of the “ingredients” that contributed to the current job roles is due to
limitations in the software application system (In terms of Functionality & Features).
In other words, if STPC had an automated workflow proven eRP, the current
organization structure (Operations) would not be structured the way it is.
Sales Process: (Where Imports should fit in this Process: highlight in green)
Enquiry from Customer (logged into system)--→ Enquire on Prices from
supplier→ confirm prices & ETA-→quote customer→ receive
confirmation→convert quote to Order -→review , consolidate & place order-
→ follow-up with vendor & shipment→Invoice customer (deliver goods)
Note: Process will be different if goods are stocked in a warehouse.
Action: A graphical dashboard needs to be available for all the process players so
that they can be able to track and monitor the orders (It would be nice to have a
portal available to Mr. Customer so they can check the status of their order online
without having to call STPC Sales staff every now and then.) It would be even nicer
to automatically send the status of the order to Mr. Customer’s email or mobile.
The system should facilitate having all these process points flagged as to
the date & time they have been completed.

Assessment Report of an Outdated Legacy Application

Assessment Report of an Outdated Legacy Application

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