merchandising process product development ta

8/3/2019 Merchandising Process Product Development TA

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Mechanising FunctionMechanising Function

Product DevelopmentProduct Development

Time and Action CalenderTime and Action Calender

July 2009


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1.1. What does Merchandising mean?

The word MERCHANDISING evolves from Merchandise (meaning: the commodities

and goods that are bought and sold in business)

Hence merchandising is a function resulting in sale and purchase of goods at the

agreed price, at the agreed date and of the agreed quality. Merchandising function

involves all activities directly or indirectly linked with procuring and selling of goods,

planning and monitoring.

1.2. What is a Merchandiser expected to do?

A merchandiser is expected to perform the following roles and responsibilities.

All communication, information flow throughout the order cycle (with buyers

& with departments within the company and vendors) from receipt of order to

final shipping of goods.

Costing negotiations (with buyers and vendors).

Detailed production planning and monitoring (i.e. preparing Time & Action

calendar closure of T&A with buyer and vendor).

Approvals on fabrics and accessories.

Order tracking and monitoring ON TIME shipment status

Monitoring material utilization for every order.

Ensuring all products meet the specified testing parameters as laid down bythe buyer / customer.

Approval on fabric quality, color, shade banding and also approval on trims.

Coordination between various departments (such as fabrics, sampling,

purchase, production, quality assurance and logistics) for smooth execution

and timely delivery of orders.

Capacity planning for the season (in coordination with the productiondepartments)

In some cases merchandisers are expected to supervise design and

development activities as part of the account management of strategic

customers.

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1.3. MERCHANDISING PROCESS FLOW AN OVERVIEW

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RECEIVEDESIGN

INDICATIONSFROM

BUYERS(styling&

fabrics)

DEVELOPDESIGN

RANGE

PRESENTATION

DELIVERY&PRICE

CONFIRMATION

RECEIPTOFORDER

PRODUCTION

PLANNING

RAWMATERIAL

SOURCING

SAMPLEAPPROVALS

FABRIC&TRIM

APPROVALS

TESTING

PRE-PRODUCTION

MEETING

PILOTRUN

CUTTING

SEWING

FINISHING

PACKING

SHIPMENTAUDIT

SHIPMENTTRACKING

PRODUCTDEVELOPMENT PRE-PRODUCTION PRODUCTION LOGISTICS


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2. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

2.1. Introduction

The apparel industry is dominated by numerous small to medium sized businesses and

product development is vital to the survival and success of any business whatever its

size or type of production. The future of textiles & apparel depends on companies

adding value to their products and/or services. Companies need to understand the

product development process and to control quality and costs.

Larger organizations may have departments devoted to the research and

development of products or design departments who are constantly producing new

products and ranges. However the product development process is just as important

for smaller organizations and SMEs.

How can this section help?

You will gain a full understanding of the product development process

You will be able to plan a development process suitable for your company

needs

You will be able to strengthen your teams awareness and understanding of

other department needs

You will be aware of ways of reducing development and company costs

You will become aware of ways of improving customer service

You will find ways of minimizing risk factors and quality issues

2.2 Product development cycle

The owner/manager or the technician often carry out the development or designprocess. Innovation and creativity are necessary for any business to move forward

and take advantage of prevailing market conditions. The increasing use of computer

aided design and manufacturing has helped all types of businesses to speed up the

process of product development and to do this more cost effectively.

The process of product development varies from textile context. The development

process covers a wide range of diverse products from new fibers, fiber blends, new

yarns, fabric structures, finishes and surface effects and all types of made up

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products such as knitwear, hosiery, cut and sewn garments, household products and

technical and medical products.

Despite the diversity of textile products the development process is similar for all

and the process has been transformed by the increasing use of CAD/CAM, computeraided design and computer aided manufacturing. These enable new ideas and effects

to be reproduced on computer and tried and tested in a most cost effective and

visually acceptable way.

The product development process can be splits into three main phases.

Phase 1 - Covers the development of the initial concept or design idea through

to its approval by the customer and full review / risk analysis by the

development and production teams.

Phase 2 - Covers the process following acceptance of the first prototype

sample and includes the functions of sourcing and ordering components,

testing the product and carrying out trials.

Phase 3 - Once the finalized product specification has been drawn up, the

third and final phase commences. This includes a range of activities that are

carried out before large scale or bulk production can begin. This final stage

includes sourcing production capacity outside the home producer/developer

where this is applicable.

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Initial product development and design

Activity Performed By Output

Research and review

market trendsDesigner

Fashion and Color

Forecasting

Create line by brand,

color, theme, store setDesigner Season Line Skeleton

Communicate

range/color/ theme palateDesigner, Merchandiser

Range Planning and

Identification

Receive & discuss

corporate strategic

information

Executive Director,

Business Manager

Seasonal Targets and

Goals

Develop financial line

plans and reconcile with

corporate plan

Executive Director,

Business Manager

Investments and

Dividends analysis along

with product strategy

Communicate all product

line selections

Business Manager,

Product Manager,

Operations Manager

Product line Identification

and assortment

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Product /line

assortmentreport

Receive &discuss

corporatestrategic

information

Communicate all

product lineselections

Developfinancial line

plans andreconcile withcorporate plan

Research& reviewmarkettrends

Createline bybrand,color,

theme &store set

Communicaterange/color/

theme palate


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Final product development process

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Concepts&

MaterialsApproved

Develop initial

productspecifications

Select &consolidate

common raw

materialsacross

divisions

Executedesign

concepts

Ensure productalignment betweentarget consumers,brand strategies

Review/approve raw

material optionsfrom vendors

ProductEngineering

Inputs

No

Research &develop

rawmaterials

Investigatepreliminary

sourcing

options

Researchnew vendors

to support

corporatesourcingstrategy

Vendorreport anddatabase

Helpprovide

raw

materialoptionsfrom

vendors

Yes


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Product Engineering

InputsProduct Technologist

Manufacturing cost and

time reduction

Execute design

concepts

Designer, CAD, Product

Technologist

Providing outline to

design concepts

Review/approve raw

material options from

suppliers

Product Manager,

Merchandiser, Designer,

Product Technologist

Decision on the raw

material sourcing

options developed

Ensure product

alignment between

target consumer,

brand strategies

Executive Director, Business

Manager, Product Manager,

Retail & Sales Manager

Final product

identification

Research & develop

raw materials

Merchandiser, Sourcing

Executive

Development of raw

material and supplier

database

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Manufacturing Package

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Design labelingand packaging

samples

Determine /selectbill of materials

Determine iteminformation, price

tickets & sizes, targetcosts, units, required

delivery dates

Identify target vendorsbased on research,

prior performance andsourcing strategy

Product engineering

concepts

Send productspecification/ pack

to vendors

Decide how &where

products

should besourced

Pre-costProduct

Product raw material,Specs and initialCosting sheets


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Design labelling and

packaging samples

Product Manager,

Merchandisers, Product

Technologist

Product presentation decision

Determine bills of material Merchandiser Product specific raw material

details

Determine item information,

retail price, target costs,

units, sizes, delivery dates

Business Manager, Retail &

Sales Manager, Product

Manager, Merchandiser,Commercial Manager

Complete product sales

information

Identify target vendors based

on research, past

performance and sourcing

strategy

Product Manager, Operations

Manager, Commercial

Manager, Sourcing Executive,

Merchandiser

Shortlist vendors for the

identified product

Product Engineeringconcepts

Product Technologist

Details on garment

construction specificationsand manufacturing

requirements

Pre cost Product Merchandiser Estimated Product costing

Decide how & where to

source products

Merchandiser, Sourcing

Executive

Decision on order placement

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2.4 Market Research

Before product development can start it is essential to carry out market research to

find out what the market wants. There are both internal and external factors to be

considered which will affect potential markets and products. Social, economic and

political environments can all have an influence. Factors closer to home such as

competitor activities and company policy may also have an effect. Market

information gathered from trade shows, trade journals and market reports is also

important. Salesman samples are also one of modes to carry out research to

understand market pattern.

Every business decision made by the company is affected by a no of factors. The

below chart is a representative of the various factors.

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NEW PRODUCTS

SOCIAL INFLUENCES

FASHION TRENDS

ENVOIRNMENTAL FACTOR

INTERNATIONAL

LEGISLATION

THE

COMPANY

COMPETITION

GOVERNMENT

LEGISLATION

FINANCIAL ASPECTS

CONSUMER

CONSUMER SPENDING

POWER

TECHNOLOGY NEW PRODUCTS

SOCIAL INFLUENCES

FASHION TRENDS


INTERNATIONAL

LEGISLATION

NEW PRODUCTS

SOCIAL INFLUENCES

FASHION TRENDS


INTERNATIONAL

LEGISLATION

THE

COMPANY

COMPETITION

GOVERNMENT

LEGISLATION

FINANCIAL ASPECTS

CONSUMER

CONSUMER SPENDING

POWER

TECHNOLOGY

FINANCIAL ASPECTS

CONSUMER

CONSUMER SPENDING

POWER

TECHNOLOGY


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2.5 Calendar for planning activities

The entire year can be divided into 4 basic seasons. The duration, no of seasons andthe names of the season differ from customer to customer, however pre-dominantly

there are four seasons in a year as stated below.

Spring

Summer

Fall

Holiday

The shipping calendar months for each of the seasons work out to be as follows.

Spring shipping in the month of October, November & December and thus sale

of goods in January, February & March.

Summer - shipping in the month of January, February & March and thus sale of

goods in April, May & June.

Fall - shipping in the month of April, May & June and thus sale of goods in July,

August & September.

Holiday - shipping in the month of July, August & September and thus sale of

goods in October, November & December.

The development calendar starts approximately 45 60 days prior to the order

confirmation. The lead times vary from buyer to buyer depending upon the nature of

product being sourced. For Example a ladies fashion garment (with beading &

embroidery) will have a higher lead-time than a mens solid shirt.

The key activities performed during product development calendar are as below

Concept Visualization - Receive design indications from buyer. Indication on

trends, future fashion forecast, colors etc are received. The Productdevelopment team also puts together a design collection by themselves based on

their experience and forecast.

Design Presentation - Design presentation is made to buyer. In this

presentation new sourced fabric, designs, colors, garment (for new styling) are

presented to buyer. Generally the garments presented are called as TAILORING

SAMPLES. The basis of selection of styles and fabric qualities / colors is based

on an indication of product required for a particular season.

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Buyers pick up designs and style allocation is done. Meaning to say that all

designs picked up are now associated with a style.

Desk looms, prints, blankets, sample yardages and lab dips are developed withthe mill based on buyers advice. In most of the cases buyer sends across a

pitch sheet depicting the color combinations required.

Pitch Sheet this is a document which provides all information regarding the

print / design.

In case of a print this sheet provides the print size, repeat pattern, and

the colors being used for each individual design on the print. The color can

either be specified by Pantone color shade numbers or by small fabric

swatches.

In case of a yarn dyed fabric the pitch sheet details the design repeat

size and the colors being used in warp and weft.

The lab dips, desk looms, blankets, sample yardages are sent to buyer

for approval. This process may take 1 round or more based on the design &

color accuracy of the submissions.

Garment and fabric performance tests are also done as specified by

buyer.

Standard setting of sample yardage is a very important procedure.

Whenever there is a new fabric being developed, the defect standards as

apparent on the sample yardage should be logged with the buyer. There are

certain characteristics of all fabric and certain defects that cannot beavoided; such defects should be logged with buyer.

Development Spec Package - While the fabrics are being developed and

reviewed by buyer for approvals, simultaneously spec packages for the garment

styling are received from buyer. These spec packages have the garment sketch,

measurements, construction details, trim details and specific requirement (if

any).

The spec packages are forwarded to factories for development of

samples.

Initially a rough proto is made on a substitute fabric (fabric with similar

count, construction and weight) to evaluate the fit, construction and

workmanship on the garment. These rough proto samples are generally

approved by the buying office quality auditors and are sent to customers

only when there is specific request for the same.

Once the rough proto sample is approved, a Proto sample is made on actual

fabric and trims.

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The Proto sample is accompanied by a T&A and Costing

T&A (Time and action calendar) - the T&A sent to buyer at this stage is a

general T&A developed for one season. Since each of the seasons has 3

months, this T&A states the delivery schedule considering 1st week ofeach month, and hence is a general T&A for the season.

The costing advised has to be very accurate as this is the costing at which the order

is confirmed. Only in case of a drastic change in styling or fabric is the costing

revised at a later stage.

Line Building And Line Review this is the date on which the buyer decides on all

the styles that are to be selected for a season. On this date the buyer reviews

samples from all sourcing countries along with T&A and costing and the final

assortment for the season is planned. The final assortment has all details style,fabric details, garment cost, delivery schedule, order quantity, sourcing country

and factory. This assortment sheet is sent out to all vendors to confirm the

orders.

Once the actual delivery dates and costing are confirmed with the buyer and

the vendor, a Fabric commitment / Purchase order is received from buyer.

FC (fabric commitment or Purchase order) is a legal document confirming the

order.

Handover To Production Merchandising on receipt of a fabric commitment the

style is handed over to the production merchandising team.

2.6 Fabric development procedure

Fabric development procedure is the key activity in the product development cycle.

The fabric development procedure involves the following steps.

Sourcing of new fabric designs / prints and qualities based on the indications

for the season. The product development team does this activity. The team

studies forecast, trends, and indications as received from buyer to develop a

design range for presentation to buyer.

The prints and designs as selected by buyer are then sent to mill, to

accommodate the changes requested (if any). The details are sent to mill in

the form of a Pitch Sheet which has the design artwork and the color

details.

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The mill submits lab dips (for solid fabrics), desk looms for prints and yarn

dyed fabrics along with sample yardage.

Lab dips and desk looms are required for approval on color and design.

Sample yardage is required to log with the customer any potential problems

that are foreseen in bulk production of the fabric. The sample yardage is also

used for testing purpose and for making the PROTO samples for line review.

While developing the lab dips, desk looms, sample yardage the product

development team has to work closely with the mill and set up a T&A to

follow up the activities with the mill.

The lab dips and desk looms and sample yardage as submitted by mill are

reviewed by the product development team for color matching, print

registration, design layout and repeat and hand feel before sending the same

to buyer for approval. This is a very critical activity as a lot of time is lost is

achieving the desired color & print or design pattern as required by the

buyer and hence requires active follow up and monitoring.

Testing of fabric is also a very important activity. The product development

team should make sure that the fabric adheres to all the testing

requirements as laid down by the buyer. In case the fabric does not adhere

some of the testing requirements, this should be made apparent to the buyer.

While doing so the product development team should make sure that similar

substitutes or options which pass the testing standards are presented to

buyer so that there is a choice available for selection of fabric / design etc.

All limitations with regards to fabric quality print and color should also beconveyed to buyer along with options. This enables buyers to take a rational

decision while doing the Line Building and Line Review for the season.

2.7 Vendor - Buyer Interaction

During the product development cycle the interaction between vendor and buyer is a

very important since lot of information regarding the design, color, fabric quality,

garment styling, T&A and costing are exchanged. This information is very crucial asit is the basis on which fabric and style developments are done.

Hence the communication should be crisp and precise. It is observed that

communication in the form of charts and formats is easy to understand and record

rather that lengthy e-mails or telephonic-conversations.

Some tools that can be effectively used to communicate information are as follows

Development track report

Lab dip / desk loom submission forms

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Time & Action calendar

Cost sheets

Development track report this report provides a detail on style, fabric, sample

yardage / lab dip/ desk loom exit and approval due dates, trim and sample status,

Costing advised and remarks. The remarks column should list down the fabric andsample limitations if any.

A Development Track Report is available in the Annexure. This report covers all the

above stated details however; the report may differ from buyer to buyer considering

the information that the buyer wishes to review.

Weekly updates of this report should be sent to buyer to communicate the status

instead of lengthy e-mails.

Lab dip / desk loom submission form this is a form which should be used while

sending out the lab dips / desk looms for approval. This Form is available in the

Annexure.

This form has details of Buyer, Season, Design name, Fabric details (count,

construction, GSM, cuttable width, fabric price, submission date, approval due date,

comments column (to be filled by the colorist who has reviewed the color / design)

Colorist a colorist is a person who is trained to review colors under different light

sources. To become a colorist, one has to pass a Munsel Test.

Product Costing

Product costing is a very important activity and utmost care should be taken while

advising the costs to the buyer. The costs advised should be very accurate so as to

fit into buyer targets also should provide the vendor with adequate profit

realizations.

A sample cost sheet is available in the Annexure, which presents the componentsthat should be taken care while costing a product.

CM cost this should be calculated based on operating costs / SAM (Standard

Allowed Minutes). SAM of garments are derived by Industrial Engineering

department

2.8 Performance monitoring tools

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Performance of the product development department / team should be monitored on

the following parameters.

Design selection Efficiency (for a season) total new designs selected

expressed as percentage of total new designs developed.

Design development lead time (for a season) lead time taken for strikeoffs / desk looms development

Lead-time performance number of designs developed ON TIME expressed

as percentage of total number of designs developed.

Design selection efficiency (%) = Total new designs selected in the season X 100

Total designs developed

Lead Time efficiency (%) = No of designs developed on time X 100

Total designs developed

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4.3.3. Time and Action Calendar

A Time and Action Calendar, or T&A in short, is something that captures several

work steps, the deadlines for completing the work steps and the actual time when

the steps were completed. Hence it is a tool for monitoring all work steps within the

order cycle time. Since the T&A also captures the actual date of completion of work

steps, it is also used to calculate the delays in work steps and analyze their

subsequent effects. The work steps are mentioned in the sequence in which they are

expected to be completed.

In short, the T&A captures 2 main concerns of buyers, merchandisers in buying

offices and manufacturers:

Are we on time?

Are all work steps happening the way they should?

4.3.3.1. Building a Time & Action Calendar

Some of the key points that one should analyzed before building a Time and Action

calendar as below. These points are very critical, as they will ascertain the

effectiveness of the T&A.

Identifying critical path there are multiple steps involved in execution of an

order, from order receipt to the final shipment. It is essential that out of these

multiple steps, the critical path be identified. The activities within the critical

path are crucial in the sense that a delay in any of the critical activities will

delay the whole process (perhaps missing the delivery date). On the other hand a

delay in non-critical activities may not impact the delivery.

Identifying activities that can be overlapped it is important to know the

activities, which can be, performed parallel to each other (overlapped). A very

simple example is Fabric and Trim sourcing. These two activities can be

preformed in parallel to each other. The important thing here is to ascertain the

activity, which takes the longer time, as this now becomes the critical path.

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Networking - it is often assumed that T&A is like a linear chain, however the

actual calendar is a network with diverging and converging tasks. This means that

one task can trigger multiple parallel tasks and completion of multiple tasks can

lead to one task. Hence it is important to chart out the network of activities to

be able to determine the critical path and the critical activities.

Setting due dates for the activities it is a common practice to set the duration

of each activity in number of days. There is a problem area here:-

Firstly, it is often not clarified whether those days are working days or calendar

days.

Secondly, apart from the weekend there are numerous other holidays, which do

not get accounted.

Hence it is prudent to create ones own calendar with holidays built-in and then

generate realistic due dates in time & action calendar.

Case 4

Let us now analyze the above points by means of an example. Some of the critical

activities involved in execution of an order are taken into consideration in this

example. Also the time and action calendar has been worked backwards from the

delivery date and lead time for each of these activities has been assumed as per the

chart given below:

Activity Description Duration Dependency

A Delivery date Determined by

buyer

B Production start 30 days prior to

delivery date

Order qty,

production capacity

per day & factory

capacity.

C Fabric in-house

date

5 days prior to

Production start

Production start

dateD Trim in-house date 5 days prior to

Production start

Production start

date

E Fabric Order date 60 days prior to

Fabric in-house

Fabric lead time &

approval

F Trim order date 45 days prior to

trim in-house

Trim lead time &

approval

G Fit approval date 20 days prior to

Production start

Production start

date

H Fitting start 30 days prior to fit

approval

Fit approval date

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I Order confirmation 2 days prior to

fabric order date

Let us now give dates to the above activities to be able to visualize the Time &

Action calendar and draw the critical path.

A 30th Dec 2009

B 30th Nov 2009

C 25th Nov 2009

D 25th Nov 2009

E 25th Sep 2009

F 10th Oct 2009

G 10th Nov 2009

H 10th Oct 2009

I 23rd Sep 2009

The above illustration clearly defines the critical path and also enables us to

ascertain the activities, which can be performed in parallel. The below analysis can

be done from the illustration.

Activity E falls in the critical path since fabric lead-time is the largest.

Activity F & H can start simultaneously but are not in the critical path. This does

not mean that they are not important OR with out completion of these activities

(represented by D & G) the goods can be produced, BUT it only means that a

small delay in these activities will not impact the delivery date.

NOTE in case activities D & G are delayed beyond C, the delivery date will be

impacted.

As per the above example all activities D, C & G need to be completed in order

to proceed to B.

Similar to the above example a detailed Time & Action calendar can be developed

which includes all activities that are preformed during the entire order cycle. As

explained above, it is important to ascertain the critical path (especially when the

T&A has numerous activities).

Also, by creating a critical path chart we are able to know the dependency between

activities. A copy of T&A calendar is available in the Annexure.

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A B C E I

D F

G H


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4.3.3.2. Types of T&A Planning

Broadly speaking, there can be 2 ways in which a T&A can be planned

Backward planning this is the most common approach. Here the delivery date is

fixed (as specified by the customer) and all other activities are backward

planned from the delivery date. By doing so we can ascertain the date by which

order confirmation is required, to be able to meet the required delivery date.

Hence, by planning the T&A in this manner, we ascertain the deadline date for

completion of each activity so as to make the shipment on time.

Forward planning in this case the entire time line is forward planned from the

date of receipt of the order.

Let us go back to the earlier example to understand the difference between the two

methods of planning.

Backward planning Forward planning

A 30th

Dec 2009 A 30th

Dec 2009B 30th Nov 2009 B 30th Nov 2009

C 25th Nov 2009 C 25th Nov 2009

D 25th Nov 2009 D 10th Nov 2009

E 25th Sep 2009 E 25th Sep 2009

F 10th Oct 2009 F 25th Sep 2009

G 10th Nov 2009 G 23rd Oct 2009

H 10th Oct 2009 H 23rd Sep 2009

I 23rd Sep 2009 I 23rd Sep 2009

As you can see from the above, there is no difference in the critical path of the

T&A. However dates for some other activities have changed. In all the highlighted

cases the activities have got advanced in the forward planning as compared to

backward planning.

The backward plan provides the last date / deadline date by which the task

needs to be completed in order to be able to maintain delivery.

Hence the backward plan help monitoring the order, as the user is always aware

of the deadlines that are to be met. The task could be started earlier and could

be completed earlier, as long as it is completed before the deadline date the

delivery is intact.

This method of monitoring the order serves a very handy tool especially if there

are large no of orders to be executed, since it is more important to know the

deadline dates which will impact the order delivery.

4.3.3.3. Use of software to create a Time & Action calendar

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More and more companies are using moving towards use of software in order

management. Here are some of the features and benefits that good software should

offer.

Consistent fundamental principals the software should be based on logic and

mathematics that does not change from person to person and is constant in its

functioning. This eliminates the possibility of individual variations and errors.

Automatic analysis if timelines in case of several activities being delayed the

software should automatically calculate the total delay and should also be able to

throw an alert on the activities that will be impacted due to these delays. Hence

the software should be able to highlight the potential future delays & problems

well in advance so that adequate action can be taken rather that firefighting

once the delay has already occurred.

Automated messaging and reminders of activities to the people involved in

the order the software should automatically fire off reminders and warnings

about specific activities to the concerned people. Not only that, based on rulesthat are defined in advance the reminders should start getting generated earlier

that the actual due date of the activity. Say for example; the reminder should

start getting generated 3 days prior to the due date of the activity. Also once

the due date for an activity has passed and the task has not been completed

(which means it is delayed) the software should be equipped enough to send out

messages to concerned superiors, thereby ensuring pressure o complete the task.

Clearly defined responsibilities the software should be programmed in a

manner that the responsibility of each activity is clearly defined right from the

start. This rules out any ambiguity of who is to do the task and hence the entire

process becomes much more transparent. Real time information and reporting working on software would mean access to

real time information for all people involved. This means that, at any given point

of time the software would enable the concerned people to know the exact

situation of the order. Further since the software captures all that data that is

fed, in terms of the actual dates on which the activities are preformed, the

system should be able to generate numerous reports such as - % of on time

shipments, % of delayed activities, order status (qty, PO no , shipment dates

etc). All these reports can be generated for multiple vendors / factories thus

enabling comparison between them.

Easy access since most of such systems are being designed either to be

internet-based or internet compatible, it is possible to log in from any location

and updated status as well as keep track of the events in the orders that one is

working with.

Improved effectiveness and higher productivity due to its automated

reminders, clearly defined responsibilities, the software should improve the

effectiveness and productivity of people using it. Easy access to information also

reduces the time that is wasted otherwise in getting the information.

A copy of a software-generated T&A is available in the Annexure.

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4.3.3.4. Challenges in Implementation of software

In the adoption of a computer aided T&A tool, the weakest link is human. No

matter how well the system is programmed to respond to alerts etc, it is the people

who feed in information into it and use the information produced by it.

In case the people using the software lack commitment to update the system or lack

understanding of how to use the information that system is generating, the

effectiveness of the system is lost.

Hence, before implementation of a system the management should have clarity of

how it has to be implemented and what can be done with it. Implementation of

software may require a change in the work culture, and the management should be

aware of the same before going ahead with it.

Another weak link is processes. It is often observed that most organizations do not

have a well laid down process for execution of orders. Even two people catering to

the same customer may be working in their own ways.

Hence standardization of processes is very important before implementation of

software.

UNDP Page 23 of25

merchandising process product development ta

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