You work for Centervale Apparel, a large clothing manufacturing firm. Centervale Apparel has budgeted $9.7 million for new technology initiatives in the coming year but the project requests currently in the queue for next year total about $15 million. Your boss, the executive director of operations, has asked you to put together a proposal for this project to replace legacy order fulfillment technologies by implementing a supply chain management (SCM) system. Your boss wants to ensure this project will be prioritized over other projects on the list and will be implemented in the coming year. Use the following data to prepare a proposal using a balanced scorecard approach to demonstrate the project’s value to Centervale Apparel.

Here is your brief:

Business Problem: The order fulfillment team has been using several legacy technology systems to manage inventory and distribution. The current systems do not work together, requiring redundant information input and processing. Because of the redundant processes, work is duplicated requiring multiple data entry points and sometimes results in inaccurate and irreconcilable data. There is a constant overage or shortage of supply due to the time it takes for data to get from one point to another. This causes unhappy customers and inventory carrying costs that could be avoided.

Project Description: Replace legacy order fulfillment technologies by implementing a SCM system.

Project Cost: The project will cost approximately $1.2 million including infrastructure and resources to complete the implementation and $250,000 annually to support and maintain the new system with a ten-year lifecycle for the system.

Project Benefit: It is estimated that the implementation of a supply chain management system will improve the order fulfillment processing time and reduce inventory-carrying costs. Implementing the SCM system will also enable the retirement of several legacy systems. Estimated annual cost savings are:

• Data entry staff reduced from 10 FTE to 8 FTE = $100,000/yr savings
• Reduction in inventory carrying costs = $300,000/yr savings
• Improved order fulfillment = 10–20% decrease in order to delivery time. This will improve customer satisfaction and retention
• Improved data accuracy
• Legacy system maintenance retirement savings = $100,000/yr
  

  You work for Centervale Apparel, a large clothing manufacturing firm. Centervale Apparel has budgeted $9.7 million for new technology initiatives in the coming year but the project requests currently in the queue for next year total about $15 million. Your boss, the executive director of operations, has asked you to put together a proposal for this project to replace legacy order fulfillment technologies by implementing a supply chain management (SCM) system. Your boss wants to ensure this project will be prioritized over other projects on the list and will be implemented in the coming year. Use the following data to prepare a proposal using a balanced scorecard approach to demonstrate the project’s value to Centervale Apparel. Here is your brief: Business Problem: The order fulfillment team has been using several legacy technology systems to manage inventory and distribution. The current systems do not work together, requiring redundant information input and processing. Because of the redundant processes, work is duplicated requiring multiple data entry points and sometimes results in inaccurate and irreconcilable data. There is a constant overage or shortage of supply due to the time it takes for data to get from one point to another. This causes unhappy customers and inventory carrying costs that could be avoided. Project Description: Replace legacy order fulfillment technologies by implementing a SCM system. Project Cost: The project will cost approximately $1.2 million including infrastructure and resources to complete the implementation and $250,000 annually to support and maintain the new system with a ten-year lifecycle for the system. Project Benefit: It is estimated that the implementation of a supply chain management system will improve the order fulfillment processing time and reduce inventory-carrying costs. Implementing the SCM system will also enable the retirement of several legacy systems. Estimated annual cost savings are: Data entry staff reduced from 10 FTE to 8 FTE = $100,000/yr savings Reduction in inventory carrying costs = $300,000/yr savings Improved order fulfillment = 10–20% decrease in order to delivery time. This will improve customer satisfaction and retention Improved data accuracy Legacy system maintenance retirement savings = $100,000/yr