MicroLink

Information Technology & Business

College

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

POST GRADUATE PROGRAM (MBA)

ERP Implementation
For
Freight Order Management System
A case of Messebo Cement Factory

Submitted to: Hilemelekot T (professor)

Submitted by: Berhane Gebreselassie # MBA /00264/16
Abraham Reda

Girmay G/Yohannes
 Mahari Berhane 12/01/2010

1. INTRODUCTION
Messebo Cement factory (MCF), Winner of several prestigious national and international
awards, is located north of Mekele City in Tigrai Regional State in the Northern part of Ethiopia.
The first production line, which is still a highly modern plant, was supplied, erected and
commissioned by renowned European manufacturer, M/S F.L. Smidth Co. Denmark in July 2001
G.C. and the second line, a Chinese first class plant, which its critical machineries and equipment
European brands, was erected and commissioned by a Chinese cement Institute named, Hefei
Cement Research and Design Institute on June 2011 G.C..
In its commitments to continuously improve productivity, resources utilization, industrial
culture, Messebo adopts and implemented the Kaizen management system. Messebo is still a
leading company in introduction of new types of cement and technology to utilize local
resources, reduce the emission of CO2 and save hard currency. The costly furnace oil that was
used to fire the raw materials in the Kiln, has been replaced with coal, and now the company is
commissioning its Biomass Plant (renewable energy source), which is more environmental
friendly.
The company has also switched into bag filter system that not only eliminated wastage of cement
but also prevents environmental pollution as well as increase productivity by completely
controlling the release of cement dust into the environment.
Messebo is a socially responsible company that actively participates in solving public problems.
Hospitals, secondary and elementary schools, water wells etc have been constructed and handed
over to the user community. Moreover, the factory is providing a golden opportunity to the
creation of employment. MCF is founded on 2,000 strong, skilled committed and experienced
young employees. This set the company exemplary plant in the industry that makes huge
investment in its Human development endeavors. In 2014/2015 budget year, the whole working
force has got short term technical and managerial training. Besides, it offered its 27 top and
middle level managers scholarship in Master Degrees, funding around ETB 3 million. Thus,
MCF and its employees are becoming the sought after company that the other Cement plants
look for its skilled manpower for their critical operational and managerial Positions.
Finally, Messebo’s cement products have been used in the construction of most Ethiopian Grand
projects including hydropower dams (such as Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Messebo
Cement Factory plc
Gilgel-Gibe I,II and III, Tana-Beles, Tekeze), Bridges (Addis Ababa ring roads, Hidase), Addis
Ababa Housing projects , Airports and other complex buildings.
2. Vision, Mission, Values
VISION
 To become the leading cement and cement products producer and supplier in East Africa
within the next ten years.

MISSION
 To support the continuously growing construction industries with the supply of cements and
cement products of acceptable and reasonable price.

Core VALUES
 Commitment and Hard Working
 Innovation & Learning Culture
 Integrity
 Trust and empowerment
 Teamwork
 Accountability/ Socially Sensitive

LITERATURE OVERVIEW

Higher educational institutions have previously depended on their bespoke student record
systems (SRS) to improve efficiency of student services. However, increasing global
competitiveness has made many educational institutions acquire customizable software, whereas
others are buying software as a service (SaaS) because of the emergence of innovative cloud
computing, which is considered the future of ICT (Petrides, 2004). Developments in ICT have
seen a remarkable increase in ERP systems investment in Kalema et al. Identifying Critical
Success Factors
The African Journal of Information Systems, Volume 6, Issue 3, Article 1 67 education domain
with the following benefits (Shang & Seddon, 2000; King, Kvavik & Voloudakis, 2002; Shang
& Seddon 2002; Spathis & Ananiadis, 2005; Xu & Quaddus, 2013):
a) Enabling a faultless integration of data flows and business processes as well as enhancing
Information sharing in all sections of an institution.
b) Helping to develop teaching and learning pedagogies where, for instance, a lecturer teaches a
Given concept in the normal classroom setting and later uses an ERP system to demonstrate what
Is being taught.
c) Improving internal efficiency of workflow such as a student online registration procedure. For
Instance, when a student successfully completes a registration form, the workflow is
Automatically sent to the right authority for timely approval.
d) Increasing access to diverse information sources such that members of an institution could
Seamlessly work with data originating from different sources.
e) Enabling a centralized data storage capability that could assist to enhance control, manage
Information, and optimize storage.
f) Optimizing hardware resources, enhancing efficiency, and reducing the overhead costs in an
Institution.
g) Improving operations planning within an institution by providing relevant information
required
By managements to support strategic decisions.
h) Increasing information sharing, which leads to: enhanced workflow, increased efficiency,
Reduced reliance on paper and printed materials.
i) Managing communication and program alerts effectively, for instance, to monitor e-mail flows
And alerts.
j) Providing an easy-to-use the web interface system to support interactivity. Such an interface
can
enhance integrated portals with one-stop shopping for a wide range of administrative
functionalities.
k) Enabling an effective conduct of a new business process, such as: e-procurement, e-portfolio,
elearning,
E-government, and e-commerce. Despite the numerous benefits of ERP systems, their successful
implementation has been better said than done (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003;
Marchewka, Liu & Kostiwa, 2007). It becomes essential therefore to painstakingly investigate
ERP success factors and give higher precedence to the most critical ones. Since the beginning of
the inception studies of critical success factors (CSFs) (Daniel, 1961; Rockart, 1979), researchers
have investigated several factors influencing the successful Implementation and the effective use
of ERP systems. However, despite several studies on ERP systems, few conceptual or theoretical
frameworks are in existence to guide the implementation of ERP systems (Esteves & Pastor,
2000; Hedman, 2010). Some researchers have asserted that many of the studies on CSFs have
based their findings on the literature reviewed rather than on empirical findings. In Addition,
certain researchers who have exclusively studied ERP systems in the education domain have
established that vendors such as SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Microsoft, Siemens AG, and Sungard
have developed different ERP systems for higher educational institutions (King, Kvavik &
Voloudakis, 2002; Pollock & Cornford, 2004; Abugabah & Sanzogni, 2010). However, much as
the ERP vendors are
1.1 Existing system
The Current system for transportation in Messebo is manual, a system in evolving data
processing which is time consuming, tedious and it is more error prone, which is not Secure and
organized. Manual system is slow compared to the automated system, can be inaccurate as a
result of not following the instructions to details and it isn’t programed to do many tasks a part
from the one it is prescribed to carry out and therefore not economical to use.
1.2 Automated System
With a computerized system Enterprise resource Planning (ERP), we can handle our work much
efficiently and it helps to save our time and money. The popularity of the computerized system is
increasing day by day and most of systems are being computerized nowadays. When people need
to do the same job repeatedly then they usually make mistake, which causes the problem in
information representation. The computerized system avoids such error and makes the life easier.
Our lives will be really easy when everything is done through computer and there is no paper
work.
Advantage of Automated Systems over Manual Systems
A) Speed - automated systems can process information much faster than human beings. An
automated system's response is faster and hence it reduces time and cost.
B) Repetition - an automated system can do the same job over and over again without getting
tired and bored.
c) Accuracy - automated systems are accurate and follow precise instructions without error.
1.3 Purpose
This software requirement specification (SRS) describes the software functional and
nonfunctional requirements for release 1.0 of the Freight Order Management System. This
document is intended to be used by the members of the project team that will ERP for Freight
Order Management System Implement and verify the correct functioning of the system. Unless
otherwise noted, all requirements specified here are high priorities and committed for release 1.0.
1.4 Document Conventions
 Bold phrases are titles and subtitles for the whole document

1.5 Intended Audience and Reading Suggestions

The intended audiences of this document the team members of the ICT department, who are
involving on the design, implementation and deployment of the system and the Transport
Division head Ato Solomon from Marketing Department.
1.6 Project Scope
The ERP of Freight Order management system will permit the User to Register, update and
Delete a customer information, product information and Transporter details. It allows the user to
prepare a freight order.
2. Overall Description
2.1 Product Perspective
The ERP of Freight Order Management System is a new system that replaces the current manual
processes for users registering, updating and deleting a Customer, Product and Transporter
information. The system is expected to store details of the Customer, Product and Transporter
and to deliver a Report based upon the Information stored by the user.
2.2 Business Rules
BR-1: Any Customer should order a product and should fulfill the required payment terms before
registration.
BR-2: Any staff members (Users of this system) should have a privilege to access the Freight
Order Management System.
BR-3: It is strictly forbidden to give user name and password to anyone else. ERP for Freight
Order Management System
2.3 User Classes and Characteristics
The users of this system are assumed to have a basic understanding of Basic Computer skills.
User - is an employee of Messebo cement Factory in the Transport Section of Marketing
department to create a freight order. At least one user is expected to use this system.
Customer – it could be any organization (Governmental, NGO) or a person who buys the product
of Messebo cement Factory.
Product – Four types of cement like OPC, PPC, PLC and LHHS.
Transporter – an organization or a person who delivers a product of Messebo Cement Factory to
a customer or Store.
Admin - is employee of Messebo Cement Factory in the department of ICT Service who does the
administration of the system where it can manage almost everything at the front end and backend
like adding user, permit user roles, upgrading and maintain the system, if necessary, and the like
as per request of users of the system.
2.4 Design and Implementation Constraints
CO-1: Freight Order Management System shall use C# Programming language and SQL Server
Database as a back end.
CO-2: Visual studio 2012 or later version as an IDE, Crystal Report as A Report Designer
2.5 User Documentation
UD-1: The FOMS shall be accompanied by a User’s manual. ERP for Freight Order
Management System
3. System Features
The Freight Order Management System is expected to have many functions like
 User registration, modification and deletion
 Customer Registration, modification and deletion
 Product registration, modification and deletion
 Transporter registration, modification and deletion
 Driver Registration, modification and deletion
 Truck registration, modification and deletion
 Location registration, modification and deletion
 Preparation of Freight Order
 Viewing Various Reports like Daily
Daily Transported Product report
 Summary of Transported Product report by date
Payment Requesting Format
List of Transporters and with their details

3.1 Registration of a Customer, Product, Transporter, Truck, Driver & User

3.1.1 Customer Registration
A customer can register in this system only if purchased a product and needs his product to be
transported by Messebo Cement Factory. A customer with the following attributes will be
register in this system
 ID, Name, Address, Ordered Product ID, Ordered Product description, Quantity

3.1.2 Product Registration

A Product with its full description will be register in this system. A product should have a unique
ID and Description.
We have Four Products:
1. PPC

2. OPC

3. PLC

4. LHHS
3.1.3 Transporter Registration
A Transporter Could be an organization or private person who won the Bid posted
by Messebo cement factory for transportation of products. Full details of the Transporter will be
registered. In addition to this the Truck information should also registered.
3.1.4 Truck Registration
A Truck is owned by a transporter. To register a truck should have Truck Name, Truck Model,
Plate Number.
3.1.5 Driver Registration
A driver is a Person Who Delivers the product purchased by a customer to specific location. A
driver should come from Transporter in order to be registered. A Driver should have a valid ID,
Driving License and Telephone Address.
3.1.5 Location Registration
Location is a place where the customer needs as to deliver the purchased product. Location
should have Location ID, Name, Region, city, Sub-city and Distance from Mekelle in
Kilometers.
3.1.6 User Registration
A user is a transport officer in Messebo cement Factory. He/she Prepares the Freight order and
Registers all the above entities according to their validity. A user is expected to have Employee
ID, First Name, Fathers name, Grandfathers name and Job title.
3.2 Use case Scenarios
3.2.1 Registration Use 1
case Use Case ID:
Use Case Name: Registration
Actors: Customer, Product, Transporter, Location, Driver, Truck and
Transport office(User)
Description: A User (Transport officer) will register all the above actors
using the Privileges given and Can prepare Freight order, Daily
and summary Reports as needed.
Preconditions: Customer should order a product and the GDN must be
delivered to the Transport officer
Normal Flow: 1.0 Registration
1. Customer must order a product.
2. Goodes Delivery Note will be prepared by Sales Officers.
3. Goods Delivery Note will be Sent to Transport Officer.
4. Transport officer will register user, Prepares the Freight
order.
5. Transporter will send Driver along with his truck to
Marketing Office
6. Truck detail and Driver Full address will be registered by
Transport Officer
7. Driver takes the Prepared GDN and Freight Order for
Shipment
8. Dispatching will prepare Finished Goods Delivery Order and
 send the driver to Packing.
9. After the Product is Packed dispatch will again prepare
Finished Goods Issue Voucher (if it is going to be delivered to
a customer) or Finished Goods Transfer Voucher (if it is
Transfer to a store).
10. Driver starts the Journey to Deliver the Product to
Customer or Store (He must take the FGTV/FGIV and Freight
Order).
11. Customer will prepare a Goods Receiving Voucher if it has
or it will put a signature and a seal on the Freight Order
including if there is a Shortage (Damaged) Quantity of the
product.
12. Transporter Should Bring the GRV prepared by a customer
and/or the Sealed Freight order along with his Payment Request
Letter to Transport Officer.
13. Transport officer will complete the Registration after the
product is Delivered.
14. Transport officer prepares Payment Request for Finance.
15. And finally, Finance Will pay Transporter.

3.2.2 Modifying or
Cancellation of
Freight Order Use
Case ID:

Use Case Name: Modification or Cancellation of Freight order

Actors: User(Transport Officer)

Description: A user can modify or cancel Freight order only if Either the
Transporter or Messebo cement factory Terminates the contract
Agreement.
Preconditions: There must be a legal Contract agreement between Messebo
and Transporter

Post conditions:
Normal Flow: 2.0 Modification or Cancellation of Freight Order
1. Messebo or Transporter can change or cancel Agreement.
2. After the agreement is terminated Messebo can made an
agreement with another transporter.
3. According to the new Agreement Transport officer starts to
prepare Freight order.

Special Requirements: User authentication is performed for security applications.

Recommendation & Conclusion
This study presents experiences that are obtained
from a successful ERP implementation project in
Messebo Cement Factory.
Messebo Cement [Link] understood the
business, cultural and technical difficulties of such
a large project, and has developed a solid core
implementation team. The team has used the
specialist skills of consultants and the partnership
With the consultant has produced a sound
architectural framework for the project. Messebo
Cement Factory. considered an ERP
Project risk analysis method and characteristics
analysis method as good tools for risk
management.
The system will deliver its full benefit when it
became at its executive level. The benefits of
lower IT cost
Will be visible when the system become stable
and users have had time to adjust to new working
practices. An
immediate benefit that will be achieved by the
system will be the ability to promise and then
deliver to the
Customer on time. This was something that the
older systems could never achieve. The ability to
deliver on time will improve customer satisfaction
and also improve customer confidence, which
should lead to an increase of orders in the future.
The system will also improve the relationship in
the supply chain, as
Transactions will be made easier via the use of
electronic communications. The future of the
project will
Eventually lead to the need for a data warehouse.
The data is stored centrally and is extracted from
operational, historical and external databases. The
database continually absorbs new data and
integrates it with the previous data. As a
conclusion, studies towards reporting successful
ERP implementation projects should be
encouraged. It is the best way to share successful
experiences among companies of similar nature.
Issues of post implementation period should also
be taken in to consideration such that strategic
needs and requirements for sustaining the
effectiveness of such enterprise information
 systems after a period of relative stability
following initial implementation will be clearly
understood.
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