ROI Case File No.288 | 'Memoria Funeral Services' Escape from Dependency'

Chapter 1: Collapsed Foundation — The Time Bomb of a Bankrupt Vendor

The week following the resolution of BuildMach's OODA practice case, a consultation arrived from Kansai regarding a funeral service company's system crisis. Episode 288 of Volume 23 "The Pursuit of Reproducibility - Sequel" tells the story of organizing complexly intertwined problems exhaustively without overlap and achieving certain escape.

"Detective, the vendor that developed our core system has gone bankrupt. Maintenance has stopped, and we can't respond even when failures occur. The system has become a black box, and no one understands the contents. At this rate, our business will stop."

Memoria's information systems manager, Michiko Tanaka from Osaka, visited 221B Baker Street with a grave expression. In her hands were 8-year-old system design documents and, in stark contrast, a final notice from the vendor marked "Support Terminated."

"We provide funeral-related services in Osaka and Hyogo. We've managed everything from orders to execution to billing with a single system. But now that system threatens us."

Memoria's System Crisis: - Founded: 2008 (funeral services) - Annual revenue: $26.7 million - Annual service executions: 1,850 - Employees: 85 - Core system: Implemented 8 years ago (custom development) - Development vendor: Bankrupt 2 months ago - Maintenance contract: Automatically terminated - System failures: 3-4 times/week - Technical personnel capable of response: 0 in-house

Deep crisis showed on Tanaka's face.

"The problem is our complete dependency on this system. Customer information, execution history, billing, inventory management—everything is in this system. We must urgently migrate to an alternative system, but we're confused about where to start."

System Complexity: - Features: 30+ modules (orders, customer management, execution management, inventory, billing, accounting, etc.) - Database: 15 tables (customers, contracts, executions, products, payments, etc.) - External integrations: 3 systems (accounting software, email, SMS) - Customization: Unique specifications tailored to industry-specific operations - Documentation: Design documents from 8 years ago, subsequent modifications unrecorded

Migration Project Chaos:

Emergency Meeting One Week Ago: - Sales manager: "Customer information migration is top priority" - Accounting manager: "No, if billing stops, cash flow is endangered" - Execution manager: "Without execution management, field operations can't function" - IT staff: "Everything's important, but where to start..." - Result: Priorities undecided, discussions in circles

System Migration Consideration Status: - SaaS candidates: 5 companies under research (all have pros and cons) - Migration scope: "Migrate everything" vs. "Narrow to minimum necessary" in conflict - Migration period: "1 month" vs. "Take 6 months" opinions divided - Budget: Undetermined (estimates range from $33,000 to $233,000) - Risks: Data migration failure, business stoppage, customer response chaos

"We can't organize what's necessary, what's unnecessary, where to begin."

Chapter 2: Exhaustively Without Overlap — MECE Thinking as a Blueprint

"Ms. Tanaka, how are you currently advancing system migration?"

To my question, Tanaka answered in an exhausted voice.

"Basically, 'in the order things occur to us.' When someone says 'this is important,' we add it to the list. But the list just swells while the overall picture remains invisible. Something seems missing, something seems duplicated."

Current Consideration Status (Chaos): - Migration items list: 78 items (added by each department) - Duplication: "Customer information migration" proposed separately by 3 departments - Gaps: External integration migration overlooked - Priority: Everything claimed as "top priority" - Result: Nothing decided

I explained the importance of structured thinking.

"Complex problems can't be solved without decomposition. MECE—Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. Organize problems with this principle, and you can certainly advance."

⬜️ ChatGPT | Catalyst of Concepts

"Chaos awaits organization. Decompose exhaustively, without overlap."

🟧 Claude | Alchemist of Narratives

"Complex problems become simple when decomposed. MECE is magic transforming chaos into order."

🟦 Gemini | Compass of Reason

"MECE thinking is organization technology. Grasp the whole, separate elements, advance certainly."

The three members began analysis. Gemini deployed a "System Migration-Specific MECE Analysis" framework on the whiteboard.

MECE Principles: - Mutually Exclusive - No overlap between elements - Collectively Exhaustive - Cover the whole without gaps

MECE Decomposition Methods: 1. Process decomposition - Time-series flow 2. Element decomposition - Components 3. Target decomposition - To whom, to what

"Ms. Tanaka, let's organize Memoria's system migration with MECE."

Chapter 3: First Layer Decomposition — Grasping the Overall Picture

Phase 1: Complete Understanding of Migration Targets (3 days)

First, we organized "what to migrate" exhaustively without overlap.

MECE Decomposition (Layer 1): Migration Target Classification

System Migration
├─ Data (accumulated past information)
├─ Features (business processes)
├─ External Integrations (connections to other systems)
└─ Operational Rules (business procedures and permissions)

Detailing Each Element (Layer 2):

1. Data (accumulated past information):

Data
├─ Customer Information (names, addresses, contacts, execution history)
├─ Contract Information (contract details, amounts, dates/times)
├─ Execution Information (venues, staff, items used)
├─ Billing Information (invoices, payment history)
└─ Inventory Information (flowers, offerings, altars, etc.)

2. Features (business processes):

Features
├─ Order Management (inquiries ~ contracts)
├─ Execution Management (preparation ~ execution ~ cleanup)
├─ Billing Management (invoice issuance ~ payment confirmation)
├─ Inventory Management (ordering ~ receipt ~ use ~ inventory)
└─ Report Creation (monthly/annual reports)

3. External Integrations (connections to other systems):

External Integrations
├─ Accounting Software (automatic billing data integration)
├─ Email Distribution (customer communications)
└─ SMS Sending (reminders day before execution)

4. Operational Rules (business procedures and permissions):

Operational Rules
├─ Access Permissions (viewing scope by department/position)
├─ Approval Flows (contract approval, billing approval, etc.)
└─ Backup (data preservation)

Tanaka was surprised.

"78 items can actually be organized into 14 elements. Moreover, without gaps or overlaps."

Phase 2: Priority Decision (MECE × Urgency-Importance Matrix)

Next, we classified the 14 elements by "urgency" and "importance."

Urgency-Importance Matrix:

Priority 1 (Urgent × Important): - Order management feature (new contracts can't be taken) - Execution management feature (field operations can't function) - Customer information data (foundation of everything) - Contract information data (legal obligation)

Priority 2 (Urgent × Not Important): - Billing management feature (can manage manually for 1 month) - Inventory management feature (Excel can substitute)

Priority 3 (Important × Not Urgent): - External integration (accounting software) - Report creation feature

Priority 4 (Not Important × Not Urgent): - Data older than 5 years - Unused features

Phase 3: Migration Method Selection (MECE Decomposition)

We also organized migration methods "exhaustively without overlap."

Migration Method Options (MECE):

Migration Methods
├─ Use Existing SaaS (quick but no customization)
├─ SaaS + Light Customization (balanced)
└─ Full Custom Development (flexible but time and cost intensive)

Optimal Solutions by Domain: - Order/execution management: SaaS + light customization (industry-specific SaaS available) - Billing management: Existing SaaS (generic features sufficient) - Inventory management: Excel + simple tools (advanced features unnecessary)

Chapter 4: Phased Migration Execution — Certainly, Step by Step

Phase 4: Migration Plan Formulation (MECE × Time Series)

We created a plan to migrate MECE-organized elements in time-series phases.

Migration Schedule (3 Phases):

Phase 1 (Emergency Response - 1 month): - Purpose: Prevent business stoppage - Target: Order management + execution management - Method: Industry-specific SaaS "Memorial Cloud" implementation - Data migration: Customer information + only past year's contract information - Budget: $31,700

Phase 2 (Stabilization - 2 months): - Purpose: Complete business migration - Target: Billing management + past 5 years data migration - Method: Generic SaaS "Seikyū-Maru" + data migration tool - External integration: Automatic accounting software integration construction - Budget: $23,300

Phase 3 (Optimization - 3 months): - Purpose: Business efficiency - Target: Inventory management + report automation - Method: Excel + script automation - Operational rules: Permission and flow setup in new system - Budget: $10,000

Total Budget: $65,000 (28% of initial $233,000 estimate)

Phase 5: Phase 1 Execution (1 month)

We migrated top-priority order and execution management.

Implementation Content: - SaaS selection: "Memorial Cloud" (funeral industry-specific) - Data migration: 1,850 customers + past year's contract information - Customization: Minimal (only adding input fields) - Training: 2-day training for 85 staff - Parallel operation period: 2 weeks (parallel with old system)

Results After 1 Month: - Business stoppage: Zero - System failures: Zero (SaaS high availability) - Staff proficiency: "Easier to use than old system" (78%) - Migration troubles: Only 3 minor input errors (immediately corrected)

Phase 6: Phase 2 Execution (2 months)

We migrated billing management and past data.

Implementation Content: - Billing SaaS implementation: "Seikyū-Maru" - Accounting software integration: API automatic integration - Past data migration: 5 years of execution history (9,200 cases) - Migration tool: Data cleansing + automatic conversion

Results After 2 Months: - Invoice issuance: Manual → automated (95% reduction) - Accounting integration: No manual entry (100% automatic) - Past data reference: "Easier to search than before" (82%)

Phase 7: Phase 3 Execution (3 months)

We established inventory management and operational rules.

Implementation Content: - Inventory management: Excel + Google Apps Script automation - Reports: Automatic data aggregation and report generation - Permission settings: Access control by department/position - Backup: Daily automatic, cloud storage

Comprehensive Results After 6 Months:

System Stabilization: - Complete escape from old system: Achieved - System failures: 3-4 times/week → 0 times - Maintenance costs: $40,000/year → $15,000/year (62% reduction)

Business Efficiency Improvement: - Invoice issuance time: 15 min/case → 2 min/case - Customer information search: Average 3 min → 10 seconds - Monthly report creation: 8 hours → 15 minutes (auto-generated)

Risk Elimination: - Vendor dependency: Completely resolved - Technical personnel dependency: Basic response possible in-house - Data loss risk: Minimized with daily automatic backup

Organizational Change: - IT staff: From "firefighting" to "improvement proposals" role - Staff satisfaction: 2.8 → 4.3 (system became easier to use) - New hire training: System training complete in half day (previously 3 days)

Additional Effects After 12 Months:

New Service Creation: - Customer portal: Service execution details viewable online - Mobile support: Staff input on tablets in field - Data analysis: Analyze customer trends, improve services

Business Results: - Annual revenue: $26.7M → $29.2M (+9%) - Customer satisfaction: 4.1 → 4.6 - Repeat rate: 68% → 78% - Referral rate: 12% → 24%

Customer Testimonials:

Bereaved Family Member (58-year-old woman): "Previously, post-execution document confirmation took time. Now everything's viewable online. High transparency gives peace of mind."

Staff Member (32): "The old system was complex, had many troubles, was frightening. The new system is intuitive, quick field input. Work became easier."

Chapter 5: The Detective's MECE Diagnosis — Technology for Transforming Chaos into Order

Holmes compiled the comprehensive analysis.

"Ms. Tanaka, MECE's essence is 'completeness.' Complex problems become solvable only when decomposed exhaustively without overlap. Grasp the whole, organize elements, set priorities. This structured thinking transforms confusion into order."

Final Report 24 Months Later:

Memoria was recognized as "the most advanced systems company" in Kansai's funeral industry.

Final Results: - Annual revenue: $26.7M → $35M (+31%) - System costs: $40,000/year → $15,000/year (62% reduction) - Business efficiency: 1,200 hours/year saved in billing and reporting - Customer satisfaction: Industry top

Tanaka's letter expressed deep gratitude:

"Through MECE, we transformed from 'a confused organization' to 'an organized organization.' Most important was organizing the chaos of 78 items into 14 elements. Decompose exhaustively without overlap, and complex problems solve certainly. Now when facing new challenges, we always organize with MECE. We understand that chaos is not an enemy but a friend awaiting organization."

The Detective's Perspective — Structure Rescues Confusion

That night, I reflected on the essence of problem-solving.

MECE's true value lies in providing peace of mind. When facing complex problems, people become confused. Where to start, what's being overlooked—anxiety emerges.

But decomposing with MECE makes the whole visible. You know there are no gaps. You know there's no overlap. And you can advance step by step with certainty.

"Those lost in chaos can't see the whole. Those who advance clearly organize exhaustively without overlap."

The next case will also depict a moment when MECE thinking carves out a company's future.

"Complex problems become simple when decomposed. Organize exhaustively without overlap. That's the only path transforming chaos into order."—From the detective's notes

Related files