The controller of AMP of Canada learned that her existing transactional processing system was not year 2000 compliant. She must choose between three alternatives: upgrading the existing transactional processing system, implementing a customized software package that many AMP companies already used, or implementing SAP. She knew that Canadian management preferred to implement the very popular SAP system, but her information systems manager did not think that users were ready for SAP and preferred an option involving the existing system. The controller wondered which solution to choose and how to persuade Canadian management, the Canadian information systems department, and headquarters management to support this decision.
The second of the AMP of Canada case series (see the (A) case, 9A99E030 and the (C) case, 9A99E032), this case describes the decision to implement SAP, the project's history, and culminates with the final decision about whether to go live. Not all functionality is complete, but some may be completed before the go live on October 5, 1998, and some may not be immediately required to run the business. With only two weeks left, the project team is divided. The decision in the case is whether to go live, and how to handle the consequences of either decision.
The third in the AMP of Canada case series (see the (A) case, 9A99E030 and the (B) case, 9A99E031), this case describes events immediately after the (B) case. Although the project is officially a success, the organization has changed dramatically since the project began. The two key questions are revisiting the same decisions in cases (A) and (B): should the project have gone live, and was it the right decision to implement SAP.