Network Design Proposal for Pacific Case Study

First, the adoption of this proposal or any comparable to it will require the core process areas of the business including automating inventory parts and inventory control, order capture and order management, and consolidation project management all require process-based re-engineering. It is the recommendation of this firm to first complete a thorough process audit and re-defining of process workflows first, and then selectively layer in the proposed technologies in this proposal. What is most significant in terms of the process and technological integration is the need to have a greater level of traceability and management of the projects and their resulting impacts on all aspects of the firm. PAR needs to have a set of processes first designed that provide visibility into how projects impact parts and inventory control, a definition of the order capture process' costs associated with project-based service delivery, and lastly, how project management at a company-wide level can make a significant contributions to increasing profits.

It is also anticipated that based on the extent of the information gathering and reporting, entirely new insights into how PAR competes will also emerge. Trending and financial analysis not possible before due to the manual nature of the existing processes in effect hid valuable insights into how PAR can improve over time. Automating these processes and also creating reporting systems to capture them will allow PAR to gain greater insights into their company while also creating more potential alternatives for managing projects more efficiently over time.

In addition to the mentioned benefits and issues, there is also the issue of change management. It is expected that there will be a level of resistance to change regarding the new system. It is advisable for the owners of PAR to actively participate in the system planning and implementation process to further lower resistance to change. The need for employees to be directly involved in the development, testing and validation of thee system is also critical so they attain ownership of it as well.

Potential Benefits from the Proposed System

There are many potential benefits of the proposed system. First and most critical is the benefit of creating more collaboration across all departments of the company, integrating the process of automated parts and inventory control. The ability to have real-time updates on the profitability of each project will also significantly increase the ability to manage projects to financially-defined benchmarks and goals. Third, the entire costing approach and models inherent in the project-based business model of PAR will also be more clearly defined and therefore more measurable over time. Fourth, having all accounting and finance records within the same database with Microsoft Accounting Professional will make weekly reports on costs, pro forma revenue, and income statement analysis possible for the first time in the company's history Fifth, by having a heavy reliance on WiFi-enabled laptops that technicians can use throughout the company, more accurate project status will be known. In addition to all of these factors, PAR will learn over time which projects will be highly profitable vs. those that are inherently unprofitable. In order words, PAR will learn over time which types of engine rebuilding projects to take on and which to avoid based on insights gained from these systems. In addition to all these benefits, the ability to responsive to customers and provide real-time updates of their engines will be available electronically.

Proposal Costing

PROPOSED HARDWARE COMPONENTS

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Pricing

Per Unit Pricing touchscreen laptop PCs