ERP Software

Manufacturers obsolete ERP systems

Companies are struggling to get better business value from their ERP software packages what a lot of companies are doing is extending the functionality of their in house systems meaning that business processes have to be standardised across the enterprise with the problem with this is the companies customers do not appreciate being put in to boxes and are taking their business elsewhere where they get the service that suits their own needs ,the on demand world and rigid inflexible ERP systems just do not work together.

Aberdeen key points to consider

• Balance aligning business processes to software capabilities against aligning
software capabilities to business processes to maximize benefit and allow your
business to evolve.

• Consolidation decisions must weigh carefully the business value brought to the
enterprise.

• Resist replacement strategies that simply duplicate business processes currently
in place.

• Don’t fall into the trap of believing an ERP implementation is ever completely
done.

• Increase collaboration between Information Technology (IT) and Line of Business
staff in order to gain the most business value within time and budget constraints.

“In implementing enterprise applications
many organizations neglect to assess the
technology platform, only to discover-after
the fact-that the hardware and networking
infrastructure is insufficient to support the
software.”

Aberdeen ERP survey

Apparel erp industry software functionality

I have had a couple of emails asking what sort of functionality to look for in apparel specific ERP systems.

I have made a quick list of apparel specific functionality what would you add to this list?

Purchase Orders – to input raw materials and supplies directly related to the product;

Inventory Control – for raw materials, components and finished goods inventory;

Work In Process;

Order Entry/Customer Service;

Allocation; Pick, Pack and Shipment of finished goods;

Accounts Receivable – as related to finished goods invoices, credit memos and returns of merchandise

Accounts Payable – (purchase of raw material and components.)

Charge backs

Product design

Manage BOM explosions such as colour, size of each product.

Plant loading, shop floor control

EDI

RFID

Handheld bar-coding scanners

Top five ERP software vendors

The ERP consolidation wave is gathering force; a quote from the butler group reinforces the feedback I have been receiving from companies evaluating ERP software packages.

Teresa Jones of analyst firm Butler Group  "Increasingly we see customers rank supplier's financial viability as a major factor in purchasing decisions, sometimes even above [software] functionality," she explained. "A lot of customers will only consider vendors from the [largest] top five suppliers"

Who are the top five ERP software vendors.

• SAP
• Oracle
• Microsoft Dynamics
• SSA
• Sage

I believe the postions four and five will change per quarter and who you speak to.

Top five ERP vendor information from AMR Research

Evaluating your company's corporate style

Selecting an ERP system can be a painful exercise due to infighting within your own company plus who gets the blame when the ERP package does not live up to expectations from the beauty parade.

The questions you need to ask about the corporate style of your company could be.

·       Does your corporate culture encourage/discourage micro-management?

·       Does your business environment value team participation over individual showboating?

·       Does your company encourage quick conflict resolution as opposed to hoping disagreements will go away by themselves?

·       Can the project manager handle the necessary responsibility and authority, or will he choke?

·       Will all senior mangers commit to personal as well as corporate goals?

·       Will responsibility for failure as well as success be shared?

·       Can resources be committed and kept through the duration of the project.

·       Can a committee be established to resolve management differences quickly

·       Will the project manager be an experienced, respected, powerful user?

·       Will top management support the ERP project even when they have a profits warning.

There are few companies that can answer yes to all of these questions, but knowing how your company deals with each is important to your project's success.

ERP steering commitee

The steering committee should comprise senior decision-makers led by the CEO or the sponsor.

The steering committee should meet once a month to discuss the projects issues relating to potential project slippage, resources drain and costing.

The project sponsor is the key person here to keep the steering committee on course to make sure the project has the full support of the board and investors.

Selecting a ERP team to evaluate ERP systems

Replacing an ERP system can be a major factor in competing against your competitors, helping you to manage your increasing cost of raw materials and at the same time the constant pressure to reduce your prices.

Picking the right time team to evaluate a ERP software package is critical most companies teams consist of senior IT management, along with selected senior representatives from each area of the business with one person from the board to help balance the IT departments functionality choice with a business decision choice such as will the IT vendor be around in five years time, doing a full compliance exercise on the vendors financials and business model.

Where most companies go wrong in their ERP review is not selecting a senior person from each dept and changing their mind on what they want half way through a project, in some ways this is an IT vendors dream come true by the time an ERP project has gone live the original budget has doubled.

Top 10 ERP packages on AMR's "mindshare" list are

AMR has just published some interesting information on companies looking to review ERP systems and Microsoft has come from the sidelines to take centre stage.

These findings are from AMR "The Enterprise Resource Planning Spending Report, 2005-2006," which reflects interviews that the research group conducted with 271 midsize and large companies about what they spent on ERP in 2005, and what their ERP spending plans looked like for 2006.

Microsoft 58 %

Oracle 56 %?

SAP 49 %

SSA Global 32 %

Infor 25 %

Geac 24 %

Lawson 22%

Intentia 21%

IFS 19 %

QAD 17 %

These figures need to be taken with a pinch of salt, there is constant change and with cheap credit available the M&A activity within the ERP sector will be continuing.

ERP AMR info

ERP software shortlist

If you are looking to review your ERP system and are struggling to decide who you should put forward on the shortlist it would be worthwhile looking at these stats

AMR recently released its enterprise resource planning (ERP) survey, Now here's a look at who those vendors are, in order of the frequency of their appearance on evaluation lists:

Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS): 58 percent
Oracle: 57 percent
SAP: 49 percent
SSA Global: 32 percent
Infor: 25 percent
Geac: 24 percent
Lawson: 22 percent
Intentia: 21 percent
IFS: 19 percent
QAD: 17 percent
Activant: 15 percent
Epicor: 14 percent

The list does not itself reflect a pecking order of ERP vendors by revenue or other metrics of success, but it tells you who is going to be most involved in 2006's bake-offs. In that sense, the list is an indicator of momentum.

The survey demographics do not skew towards the lower end of the market, in which Microsoft has its historic stronghold. Forty-five percent of respondents were from enterprises with over $1 billion in revenue; and 19 percent were from the mid-market ($500 million to $1 billion). As such, the results are good news for Redmond in that, at least in ERP, it has significant traction at the enterprise level.

The distance between Oracle and SAP is also intriguing, as SAP has long been the leading global ERP player. As such, the survey will be good news for Oracle as well, since the company is enthusiastic about overtaking SAP.

ERP Info from Line56

Is SOA ERP software overhyped

SAP and Oracle are chasing the SOA finnish line ,SAP claims to be SOA enabled by 2007 and Oracle by 2008.

Will these dates be realistic or is there too much hype against reality.

Too many organizations are being asked to lay out funding for "SOA" initiatives that will not bear fruit, only to be looked upon two or three years from now with disdain, as money pits that never delivered their promised potential.  (Joining the list with CRM, sales force automation, ERP software, executive information systems) What's troubling in this case is SOA is an even more amorphous term and concept than other more IT-centric projects. We run the risk of having SOA dismissed as a failure.

How can we address such perceptions-in-waiting?  Education, education, education. Through education about what the building-block standards really do for the business; through targeted, well-focused, specific implementation projects, such as saving development resources through reuse of code that formerly required many hours of development time, or connecting up several back-end legacy systems through a Web-centric interface. And, most of all, SOA needs enlightened management, goaded by an individual taking on an evangelist role inside the organization.  SOA can work, but it runs the risk of being derailed by inflated expectations and under-educated management.

ERP SOA info from Zdnet

ERP Software Homepage

ERP Customization's make ROI's a futile exercise

Technology selection is rarely the cause of costly business IT project failures, according to an in-depth Nucleus Research study of thousands of IT projects in areas such as ERP software , CRM, supply chain, integration, collaboration and e-commerce. The industry analysts just published a short research note on the top five IT project planning and management mistakes that cost companies dearly, along with practical advice on avoiding them.
   

"Selecting the right solution is only the first step to achieving a positive ROI from technology," said Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research. "In analyzing the lessons learned from thousands of companies about how best to achieve project success we've found five common mistakes companies make."
Key findings in the research include the following:

Too much customization rarely increases usability but will increase both initial and ongoing costs.
Skimping on training often reduces user adoption, limiting ROI.
While initial management support of a project is important, management's enthusiastic use of a new technology is critical to achieving success after the deployment.
Keep an even tighter reign on consulting costs, which can quickly turn a project with a positive ROI towards the negative.
The end of a project is not when it's deployed but rather when it's being effectively used, which can be months or years later.

"Striking the right balance between business requirements, technology capabilities, and realistic employee adoption rates goes a long way toward ensuring the success of any IT project," said Kathy Quirk, research manager at Nucleus Research.

About the market research report

The research note, "Avoiding the Top Five IT Mistakes", provides IT and business managers objective, insightful advice on how to avoid project management and planning missteps. Nucleus analysts clearly outline how companies can drive effective adoption, rein in costs, and take advantage of additional ROI opportunities.

ERP ROI info