SIT Case!!

BAT Taiwan: Implementing SAP for a Strategic Transition

1. Why did BATT believe that implementing SAP R/3 was the best enterprise system software package for this unit to implement? British American Tobacco (BAT) had adopted two ERP standards for use. SAP R/3 was used for the larger, more complex parts of BAT. Sage Tetra CS/3 was used for the smaller, less complex parts of BAT. At the time of the changes within BATT, the IT department had developed an improved strategy for implementing SAP R/3. Thus BAT had decided that SAP R/3 would be the standard implementation of ERP. BAT chose to implement a partial list of the SAP R/3 modules: sales and distribution, materials management, financials, and controlling. These modules were determined to provide the necessary processes for BAT Taiwan (BATT) to support the new business model that BATT had to operate in due to the regulatory changes in Taiwan (Brown, et al., p. 530-532). 2. Discuss the pros and cons of BATTs using APSS personnel rather than a well-known consulting firm as an implementation partner? One of the big advantages for using APSS is that they operate in the same time zone as BATT itself. This makes communication much easier since staff for both companies is available at the same time. Another benefit for communication is that APSS has staff that speaks the native language of Mandarin Chinese. Another factor was that the support cost for APSS was less because the labor costs in the Asian-Pacific region was less. This was important because BATT was embarking on a new market with unknown revenue. APSS also had the benefit of

performing other SAP implementations in the Asian-Pacific region for BAT. Another advantage was that BATT would not have to purchase SAP licenses, because APSS holds on to them for its clients. The only disadvantage of using APSS for the SAP implementation is that they lack the experience that a consulting firm would have. 3. What are some of the potential advantages associated with the usage of a BAT template for BAT Taiwan? Using a BAT template would ensure that BATT operated using the newest business processes adopted by BAT. Using the template also ensured that BATT was in compliance with the corporate data standards. The template also provided the necessary modules such that there would not be a need to customize the implementation except for any legal differences in Taiwan. By operating on the same template as other BAT divisions, the IT department would be able to update all divisions on the same template. This would allow for better support to the BATT staff using SAP. Another benefit is that the BATT staff would be able to seek out business process help from the other divisions that were using the same template.