Assignment 3: Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and ERP Solution

Imagine that you are the Chief Financial Officer of a publically traded retail company (e.g., Target). You are required to follow Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for your financial reporting. You need to ensure that your company passes external independent audits every year for your quarterly reports. You are considering using an ERP system to accomplish your goal. 

Write a four (4) page paper in which you:

1. Explain what SOX requires of the information systems for a publically traded company.


2. Explain how a vendor ERP system such as Oracle ERP financial module helps the company meet the SOX requirements.


3. Determine the inputs, transformations, outputs, and key processes of the ERP financial module.


4. Create a diagram to show how the inputs, transformations, outputs, and key process of the ERP financial module interact with sales and supply chain systems of the company through the use of graphical tools in Microsoft Word or Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length. 


5. Determine the organizational technical factors that are important for the success of this ERP implementation. Take a position on whether training is an important factor in this ERP implementation and explain why or why not.


6. Speculate on the ethical implications that are related to this ERP implementation and determine how to mitigate the associated risks.


7. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• This course requires use of new Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details.


• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow SWS or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.


• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.


• Include charts or diagrams created in Visio or Dia. The completed diagrams / charts must be imported into the Word document before the paper is submitted.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Explain the organizational role of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.


• Compare and contrast organizational, master, and transactional data in an ERP context.


• Analyze and describe the key process areas in ERP to include: marketing and sales, accounting, procurement, fulfillment, production, inventory and warehouse management, human resources, and material planning processes in ERP systems.


• Summarize how ERP systems represent a key source of competitive advantage for organizations.


• Evaluate the issues and challenges associated with ERP implementation.


• Develop an ERP solution to address and solve a business problem.


• Evaluate the ethical concerns that ERP systems raise in a global context.


• Use technology and information resources to research issues in ERP.


• Write clearly and concisely about ERP topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.