Tips on accelerating your ERP
An ERP application is a powerful enabler of business productivity, but the underlying complexity requires management of both the processes, the software and even the hardware. General maintenance and housekeeping are a necessity to maintain optimal performance and reliability. Also, identifying system strengths and weaknesses can represent good business and system practice Just because a system is old doesn’t mean it can’t be tweaked and optimised.
Businesses simply don’t transition to a new ERP application without recognising the significant business disruption. Whereas, with correct management of the existing ERP it can continue to be the core workhorse of the business. We are strong advocates of audits, refreshes, enhancements and customisations, with support and training that ensures the workhorse continues to reflect the best it can be for the business.
1. Continuous improvement
This commences at the start of any project as it is a recognition that there is room for improvement. When scoping the optimisation, upgrade or enhancement the foundation for success comes from the culture within the business; it is a state of mind and readiness to move forward rather than stagnate. Executive buy-in and budget is required, and this defines the purchase details; the roles, risks, and rewards of the parties concerned. This agreement is the foundation for your ERP sustainable success and improvement.
2. Defined goals
Assessing your objectives and identifying your current business and operational objectives are a good start point, then outlining future objectives supported with measurable outcomes. If you can map these to your vision for how the ERP will support those you are well on the way to a full optimisation plan.
In an ideal world you will co-opt the support and input from all aspects of the business to build your goals and schedule regular meetings throughout the project. These act as a check and balance to ensure the people in the field, who have direct and valuable insight, are involved in the process and can see improvements. The value of ERP can have far-reaching effects in the business and create value to all corners, so be careful not to restrict the team to IT and operational stakeholders. This will also ensure you can prioritise requirements and phases with intelligence according to the readiness of the business and expected benefits rather than those defined by time to implement and costs.
3. Set a baseline and target
Audit assessment of the current ERP system comes next; documented lists of what modules are in place, right down to a feature by feature list and who uses what and why and the related business benefits. In general, ERP systems have far more features than those required by a single installation but remember, each business is unique and so too are the business processes the ERP needs to support.
Customisations, add-ons and unique processes and ways in which the system may have been “bent” to support the business need to be fully documented. This audit phase needs to be done by experienced professionals who truly understand the software but also have first-hand experience of how it is used to support business processes. This will help prevent the over-purchasing of add-ons that may not be required, by truly understanding what the system can do in its raw state. An impartial third party can lend invaluable perspective in this process and pay for themselves by ensuring the right software elements are purchased and optimised.
Creating the baseline at this stage is essential so you have a yardstick against which you can measure success;
• What tasks are taking the most time to upload / enter data / compile?
• What additional applications are used but not integrated to the ERP and why?
• What information is invaluable, needed, superfluous?
• What is difficult or time-consuming to extract / analyse / make sense?
4. Outsource – don’t limp along
Optimising ERP can be a full-time job which may prevent internal IT departments from managing their day-to-day responsibilities. Also, those who have done these kinds of projects time and again have amassed knowledge, expertise, best-practice, tools and understanding of both the software and the optimisation process which is invaluable.
5. Data, data, data
Everyone knows the adage that data out is only as good as the data in. The compliance laws have added another layer of complexity as legislation dictates that data needs to be stored, replicated, accessed and deleted in a certain way.
In our opinion there can be no replacement for contracting a data expert; someone who enjoys ensuring pure hygiene and scrubbed data is available to the system and that all superfluous data is removed to prevent additional expensive data storage. Their responsibility is to produce a data plan that includes identification, governance, management, data warehouse and authorisation and will ensure the ERP system takes in good data and therefore the output is trusted.
Data management must include a disaster recovery plan so that the increased efficiencies being put in place for ERP optimisation are mapped against their impact on a disaster recovery strategy. Best practice here is to ensure the disaster recovery testing is part of the ERP optimisation testing, over and above the regular disaster testing schedule.
6. The Check List
• Optimisation is an iterative process but one where goals need to be set and monitored – document the baseline and objectives.
• Set a communication plan, keeping stakeholders regularly updated and interested parties informed (and ensure you have the right comms tools)
• Impartial third parties with experience of doing ERP optimisations, time and again, can save you time and money and heartache
• Data; doing this properly prior to, as well as during, the project will never be something you regret.
• Guard against scope creep and project drift by documenting expectations and goals. Be prepared to spin up a new project for new requirements.
• Plan the change with the business in mind, taking into consideration seasonal peaks, busy periods, trends and workload shifts.
Experienced engineers can provide the mix of skills required to support optimisation projects and ultimately reduce the cost of the ERP system and maintenance while increasing reliability, availability and performance.
Reinforce Technology are experts in providing professional consultants for Infor ERP projects of all kinds for their range of solutions including Baan and BPCS as well as later solutions of LN and LX. For more information please see www.reinforcetech.co.uk or contact info@reinforcetech.co.uk