Ariba Implementation at MED-X:: Managing Earned Value
Ariba Implementation at MED-X:: Managing Earned Value
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MARK JEFFERY AND JOSEPH F. NORTON
Chris, what do you mean, we can’t deploy the system on time? It’s a month before the
end of the project and now you’re telling me that we may not deploy on time! Do you
know what this means? Don’t you understand what the implications are? I don’t
understand what went wrong. This entire time I have been reviewing the budget variance
and combined earned value reports and everything appeared to be fine. How am I going
to explain this to the steering committee? I want to know what went wrong with the
Terry Baker, CIO of MED-X Inc., a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, was furious. The
e-procurement implementation she had been sponsoring was not going according to plan and the
project manager had very few answers for her.
Martin was very bright, had a great deal of technical development experience, and knew
Ariba functionality well. He was just completing his MBA in the manager’s program at the
Kellogg School of Management, and was looking forward to a big raise when this project was
over. However, Martin knew very little about earned value and had never seen it used in project
analysis before. His client Terry Baker was demanding answers and Martin had to figure out what
was going wrong.
The Ariba implementation was broken up into several phases. However, the critical path went
through two major components of the project: technical infrastructure setup and software
customization. Looking at the project plan alone, Martin could not figure out which component
was causing the delay.
MED-X Inc.
MED-X Inc. was a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Houston, Texas, with
fifty-four plants and more than 40,000 employees worldwide. Founded by a genetic engineering
©2006 by the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. This case was prepared by Alex Gershbeyn ’03 and Derek
Yung ’03 in collaboration with Joseph F. Norton, PMP, Senior Fellow, Center for Research on Technology and Innovation, Kellogg
School of Management, and Principal, SOCHIN Consulting Group, under the supervision of Professor Mark Jeffery. Some facts
within the case have been altered for confidentiality reasons. Cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not
intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. To order copies or
request permission to reproduce materials, call 847-491-5400 or e-mail [email protected]. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the Kellogg School of Management.
ARIBA IMPLEMENTATION AT MED-X 5-404-763
scientist in 1972, MED-X had been growing rapidly ever since. In 1985 MED-X’s research and
development team developed a blockbuster drug to treat skin cancer. In addition to drug
development, MED-X established alliances with other pharmaceutical companies whose drugs it
licensed and sold through retailers of over-the-counter medication.
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One of MED-X’s key strategic objectives was to transform its procurement organization into
a decentralized purchasing model with a self-service philosophy. MED-X was spending $3 billion
annually on indirect goods and services. Of this amount, $2 billion was sourceable and $1 billion
was spent on technology. MED-X estimated that a decentralized procurement model would help
it save $200 million annually. By moving all its preferred suppliers onto the Ariba e-procurement
platform, MED-X would reduce maverick spending, streamline the procurement process, and
expedite user adoption.
In addition, MED-X would realize many other benefits from implementing the Ariba Buyer
solution. The solution would encourage nationwide compliance with negotiated agreements,
maximize the purchasing power of the organization, and reduce processing costs and cycle times.
In addition, it would track purchasing behavior and retrieve historical information, allowing
nonpurchasing employees to focus on mission-related responsibilities. As a result of the
Implementation Technologies
Headquartered in Chicago with branch offices in New York, Dallas, Miami, and Seattle,
Implementation Technologies had more than five hundred employees. Founded in 1995 by three
ex-“Big Five” partners, the organization had hired only the best and brightest. The average
consultant had at least five years of experience in information technology consulting, business
analysis, and project management.
Implementation Technologies currently had other initiatives underway and wanted to partner
with other enterprise resource planning (ERP) companies, such as PeopleSoft and SAP, to
provide the best implementations for its worldwide organization.
Ariba Inc.
Ariba (www.ariba.com) offered a powerful suite of e-procurement solutions to help
companies manage spending so that expenses fell faster than revenues in down times and grew
more slowly than revenues in up times. The Ariba spend management solution was designed to
significantly improve bottom-line results.
Since its founding in 1996, Ariba had remained at the forefront of the Internet revolution,
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providing easy-to-implement, robust online commerce solutions for proven cost savings and
returns on investment. In 2002 Ariba led the enterprise spend management (ESM) market. ESM
was a new class of solutions that focused on delivering a closed loop of control and leverage over
a company’s spending. This included assessing spending activities, conducting effective sourcing,
and capturing and reconciling spending enterprise-wide. The Ariba spend management solution
delivered results quickly while providing a sustainable spend management capability.
In 2001 a seasoned management team directed Ariba’s fast-paced growth. Together, the team
had significant management experience in high-growth organizations and the combined
experience of seven successful startups. The team members had held senior management
positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, General Motors, IBM, Lotus Corporation, NeXT
Computers, Parametric Technology Corporation, Rasna Corporation, and SAP.
As the leading provider of spend management solutions and services to leading companies
In 2002 Ariba products and solutions were enabling global industry leaders, including Cisco
Systems, Chevron, Hewlett-Packard, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Phillips NV, to
save money, discover new revenue streams, and increase their competitive advantage.
The Ariba network-centric approach to e-procurement and value chain management linked
customers, suppliers, partners, and distribution channels on a common platform for fast return on
investment and rapid cost savings. Value chain management (VCM) enabled companies to
connect seamlessly to trading partners for all their inter-enterprise commerce processes—from
analysis and planning to fulfillment and payment. Ariba provided its customers with powerful
VCM solutions: Web-based applications that ran on a shared technology platform, facilitating
inter-enterprise transactions over the Ariba Commerce Services Network (Ariba CSN, Ariba’s
scalable B2B network).
The Ariba CSN provided a shared flexible infrastructure that connected multiple enterprises
in an interactive community. Companies could use third-party services to transact in real time
with buyers, partners, distribution channels, and more than 20,000 suppliers worldwide through a
single connection. Network-enabling the value chain allowed companies to drive cost savings
through lower negotiated prices, employee and contract compliance, reduced inventories, and
greater process efficiency.
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See Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2 for an overview of the Ariba Buyer platform configuration and
the Ariba development environment, respectively.
A phased approach was taken to ensure project delivery by October 1, 2001. This approach
The original project timeline is shown schematically in Exhibit 3. The CRP had gone as
planned, but by September 1 it was clear the system was not going to go live on October 1.
Project Management
Successful projects require a set of project management processes in conjunction with project
development activities. These processes and activities should be organized to provide a complete
set of tasks for starting the project, employing an iterative set of tasks for managing the ongoing
work effort, and closing the project. The activities and associated tasks within the management
processes are both linear and iterative in nature. They can be performed on an as-needed basis
(daily, weekly, monthly), or they can be triggered by events and run continually for a specific
period of time.
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For a successful project, the project management team had to foster effective communication
among project team members and between project teams, and manage and track multiple projects
from an executive perspective. The team also had to manage “scope creep” to meet stated project
goals and objectives and provide for faster and more effective project decisions.
The project management team also needed to provide enhanced focus on project issues/risks
and recommended actions, establish documentation standards regarding quality and consistency,
manage workflow regarding review and approval of project deliverables and work products, and
provide for better utilization of scarce project resources. Finally, it had to provide for effective
knowledge transfer between consulting and client project teams, provide a basis for an end-user
help desk, and ensure that the client was completely satisfied.
The gap analysis team uncovered and documented the detailed steps necessary to implement
the appropriate change management initiatives and effectively roll out Ariba Buyer. The first
project phase culminated in a CRP in which MED-X was able to see and test Ariba functionality
for the first time. Baker and other MED-X senior managers were enthusiastic about the successful
pilot test.
Project Objectives
One of the early objectives was to design and configure the initial Ariba solution that would
serve as both a “proof of concept” and learning tool to aid in the establishment of an enterprise-
wide e-procurement solution and support structure. The CRP was an integral component of the
production project as a first test of the solution.
Another objective was to provide MED-X with a low-risk and controlled entrée into
leveraging Ariba e-procurement technology and evolving best practices and to allow personnel to
start developing functional and technical expertise in the Ariba Buyer application set.
In addition, Information Technologies aimed to further define the requirements for elements
of scope not met by Ariba “out-of-the-box” functionality and develop a strategy for developing
the associated solution. This required defining a holistic and long-term integration strategy for
Ariba and MED-X’s enterprise systems. The ultimate goal targeted for after October 1 was to roll
out the common baseline solution across the home office for approximately 250 people.
Project Organization
Exhibit 4 details the resources and roles required from MED-X and Implementation
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Technologies to successfully staff the project. Implementation Technologies estimated a six-
month timeline to successfully deliver the customized MED-X Ariba system.
MED-X provided eight individuals to staff the project. Some of them assisted on an as-
needed basis. A MED-X project manager worked with Christopher Martin to help manage issues
for the MED-X team. Most of the individuals provided by MED-X were procurement specialists
who were responsible for working with the Implementation Technologies team to ensure Ariba
worked as intended and to deploy the system to other business users.
The functional lead was primarily responsible for gathering business requirements. The
Project Scope
From the following high-level scope activities, project tasks were developed to support the
delivery and execution of the final Ariba e-procurement system for MED-X.
Ariba Buyer 7.0 Configuration/Installation. Install and configure server hardware, install third-
party software (e.g., Web server), and install four initial instances of Ariba 7.0 (demo, test, CRP,
and development).
Business Process Design/Redesign. Validate “as is” and develop “to be” requisition-to-check and
sourcing processes. Develop gap analysis to flag functional requirements not addressed by Ariba.
Document end-to-end receiving requirements and commodity code strategy and mapping.
Integration of Ariba Buyer 7.0 via TIBCO to MQ Series. Implement needed push-and-pull
adapters.
Catalog Content On-Boarding. Implement four supplier catalogs, configure catalog hierarchy to
support catalogs implemented, and adapt UN/Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC).
Supplier Enablement. Work with Ariba-enabled and non-Ariba-enabled suppliers. Plan and
coordinate the supplier summit.
Business Rules. Implement Ariba approval rules as stated in the request for proposal and analyze
business rule requirements for the project.
Object Model and User Interface Modifications. Limit user interface (UI) modifications for the
project to those essential for capturing additional data elements not part of the standard Ariba
object model and presenting a standard format on the HTML-based requisition screens, printouts,
and vendor direct orders.
Source Data and Adapters. Manually load control data (e.g., unit of measure (UOM), currency,
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user hierarchy, vendor information, purchase transactions) and assist in the designing, building,
and testing of custom interfaces to the MQ Series.
Reports. Use standard reporting functionality and begin capturing requirements for custom
reports.
Custom Functionality. Capture custom requirements in a functional gap analysis and research
offline with Ariba to identify potential solution approaches (e.g., workarounds, customizations, or
inclusion in upcoming versions of Ariba software) for future implementation.
System Testing
System testing plans were developed to validate that the system architecture and software
associated with Ariba Buyer met MED-X’s requirements. The system had to meet or exceed the
performance, reliability, maintainability, and availability expectations of MED-X. The specific
scope of system testing was as follows:
Technical Infrastructure
A schematic of the development environment for the Ariba solution is shown in Exhibit 2. To
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facilitate rapid development, no other production applications could be running or were intended
to run on the Ariba servers.
Frequent Ariba server reboots were required during installation, so no other access to these
servers could be active during the installation process. Consultants needed full access
(console/physical) to the Ariba servers during installation. Full administrative rights were given
to the consultants during the installation process and were ongoing for development and test
environments (but not production).
System administrators were available for on-call support during the installation of all
instances. Prerequisite database software, personal computer hardware and software, server
hardware and software, and intranet proxy and e-mail infrastructure had been installed,
configured, and tested prior to installation of all Ariba modules. All necessary hardware and
software for the Ariba Buyer e-procurement solution were installed prior to the project kickoff,
and the workspace was prepared and designated for the team.
For the completed project, Information Technologies required MED-X to cleanse all source
data required to support the Ariba system. In addition, the generation of all associated data
conversion files had to be completed by MED-X.
Managing and performing all data extracts required from host systems and the
modifications to host systems required to accept data from Ariba will be completed by
MED-X. It is MED-X’s responsibility to work with Ariba for any and all issues, should
they arise, relating to the integrity of Ariba software and patches. MED-X will provide
project personnel with knowledge of company labs’ environment to fulfill the functional
roles and responsibilities. MED-X will provide the project team with all documentation
relating to any process reengineering and strategic sourcing initiatives.
So far in the project, MED-X had lived up to the contract and had delivered on schedule.
Critical success factors for this project included a plan for organizational change
effectiveness, quick resolution for business decisions affecting policy, and establishment of
clearly defined project objectives, since exact definitions of project scope were key to keeping the
project on time and within budget. It was also important to establish concise measures of success
and support with strong executive sponsorship so that interdepartmental issues were addressed in
an efficient manner.
Other critical success factors included understanding MED-X’s B2B strategy, understanding
current B2B projects underway, and determining methods of leveraging the results (collaborate
rather than duplicate). Another important issue was to identify and assign key individuals to assist
in understanding current legacy systems and review and challenge complex business processes to
reduce development and maintenance efforts. In addition, it was important to identify and allocate
key resources that kept the project on schedule, since key personnel losses could significantly
affect the delivery schedule.
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It was also important to identify current ERP system and process weaknesses, since staged
multiple development environments were crucial to support the ability to implement changes
without disrupting other aspects of the project. For project success, it was critical to use software
version control; this is essential in a distributed development environment. Finally, the
management team had to build early consensus across the user base and establish points of
escalation or parameters to keep the team on track and working together.
The data Martin’s staff provided is given in Exhibit 5–Exhibit 7, and Exhibit 8 is the
standard Implementation Technologies earned value analysis template. Martin was not exactly
sure what to do with the data now that he had it, but he figured this was a good start.
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ERP 1
HRMS
Internet
The diagram above illustrates the Ariba Buyer configuration. The Ariba B2B platform did the
following:
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Development Instance
Development Instance
Ongoing Development
Changes, Unit Test, and
Debug
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MED-X would provide the appropriate resources with the requisite level of commitment. The table below specifies the types and level of
resources needed from MED-X.
Full-Time
Functional Area Role Responsibilities Equivalents
Procurement Procurement Provide input to project team concerning 1.0
professional procurement processes and procedures
Procurement Catalog manager/ Manage supplier processes 0.5
supplier manager
Procurement Training End-user training 0.5
Procurement/IT Ariba configuration/ Through knowledge transfer, learn the Ariba solution 0.5
development set and configuration process and assume
deliverable responsibilities in subsequent phases
IT Network/system Administer Ariba servers As needed
administration
IT Database Administer database server As needed
administration
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TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN
(a) The dollar amounts below represent the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) to be done for the given time
period for the technical infrastructure component of the project plan.
S O F TW A R E C U S T O M I Z A T I O N P L A N
(b) The dollar amounts below represent the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) to be done for the given time
period for the software customization component of the project plan.
(a) The dollar amounts below represent the actual cost of work performed (ACWP) for the given time period for the
technical infrastructure component of the project plan.
S O F TW A R E C U S T O M I Z A T I O N A C T U A L C A S H B U R N
(b) The dollar amounts below represent the actual cost of work performed (ACWP) for the given time period for the
software customization component of the project plan.
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(a) The dollar amounts below represent the budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) in the given time period for the
technical infrastructure component of the project plan.
S O F TW A R E C U S T O M I Z A T I O N A C T U A L P E R F O R M A N C E
(b) The dollar amounts below represent the budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) in the given time period for the
software customization component of the project plan.
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earned value ratios.
Software Customization Monthly Plan May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Monthly status Plan BCWS
Actual burn ACWP
Actual perform BCWP