ERP Implementation at BPCL

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Reaping the Benefits of ERP

SAP R/3 helped BPCL to successfully launch its e-biz initiatives, the first of which was to allow I&C customers to track the status of their orders online. This not only allowed the company to retain existing customers, but also helped in attracting new customers. According to company sources, BPCL's biggest advantage from the ERP implementation was regarding the management of inventory. Before ERP implementation, the company's practice of monthly inventory reviews frequently led to time lag in processing orders. However, after ERP, this problem was eradicated. It was now possible for the company to know the details of receivable of inventories, which in turn made cash management also easier. The company expected the ERP to achieve a payback by 2003. The introduction of the Petrocard in 1999-00 tested the coordination between the various departments to the fullest. The Petrocard was a 4K-microprocessor smart card , which was used at retail outlets across the country.

By March 2001, around 2.5 lakh customers were using Petrocard with over 20,000 daily transactions taking place at BPCL's retail outlets throughout the country. Petrocard's success put all doubts about BPCL's ERP implementation to rest. After this, BPCL also introduced a Fleet card for transport companies, which made it easier for them to track the position of their inventory. The company also integrated the manufacturing execution system of its refinery with the system.

Encouraged by the success of Petrocard and Fleet card, BPCL planned to introduce an online payment system, to be used to make credit card payments. Ashok Sinha, Finance Director of BPCL said, "The basic idea is to translate operations which have been so far considered B2B , into B2C ." The system will be integrated at depots with the help of SAP. We plan more retail disbursements through SAP once RBI's payment disbursement norms are passed." Before the successful implementation of SAP R/3 at BPCL, the ERP market had been proclaimed dead by many analysts because of the number of failures of ERP implementation exercises. Experts hailed implementation as the revival of the ERP market in India (Refer Exhibit IV).

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8] An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of many interlinked local area networks and also use leased lines in the Wide Area Network. Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for teleconferences.
9] VSAT is an earthbound station used in satellite communications of data, voice and video signals, excluding broadcast television. It consists of two parts, a transceiver that is placed outdoors in direct line of sight to the satellite and a device that is placed indoors to interface the transceiver with the end user's communications device, such as a PC. The transceiver receives or sends a signal to a satellite transponder in the sky and the satellite sends and receives signals from a ground station computer that acts as a hub for the system. For one end user to communicate with another, each transmission has to first go to the hub station, which retransmits it via the satellite to the other end user's VSAT.
10] TDM/TDMA is a proprietary protocol, which operates within a point to multipoint environment and adapts dynamically to traffic conditions on a computer network. This protocol assigns more user time to those computers having higher traffic in order to optimize the response time. The entire process is performed automatically and does not require operator intervention.
11] A web server is a central location or computer that enables a remote 'Client' (system or program) to access the page or site content.
12] Software that can interpret and translate different protocols from two different networks.