Tag: erparts

How to Select and Implement an ERP System

How to Select and Implement an ERP System
Michael Burns
WHAT IS ERP?

ERP is a term that is widely used yet probably not well understood. It stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and although it was initially targeted to manufacturing companies, today it encompasses any product that can be used across an enterprise. When implemented effectively, ERP enables companies to break down traditional organizational silos, replacing them with a tightly integrated horizontal structure in which strategy, organizational structure, process and technology are closely aligned. Applications can include financial, distribution, manufacturing, human resources, payroll, and project costing.

There is a lot of confusion between an accounting system and ERP. In the past, an accounting system was limited to just Continue reading How to Select and Implement an ERP System

My ERP supplier has been acquired – now what?

With all the ERP consolidations going on (look at Infor, Sage, Oracle, etc.) it is hard to know what to do. This interesting article points out the issues surrounding the client of an acquired software.

My ERP supplier has been acquired – now what?
By Quocirca

Published: Monday 5 February 2007

If your ERP vendor is acquired, don’t panic. Quocirca’s Sharon Crawford explains how to decide whether to jump ship to a new vendor or stay the course with your newly merged supplier.

Given the recent abundance of mergers and acquisitions amongst the mid-market ERP vendors, IT directors managing an ERP system may feel uncertain about the future of their incumbent system. Yet it is critical to be able to assure the board the product wont disappear – or at least warn them if its time to switch vendors. Read more…

Using ERP to get everyone on the same page

There is an excellent article on ERP from IBM that discusses the issues of the value of ERP. Getting everyone communicating together is one of the largest benefits of implementing an ERP system.

Using ERP to get everyone on the same page
By Julie Fraser

How many different applications are in use across your organization? Most small and medium businesses have dozens if not hundreds of different systems. The result: critical information is not being shared among departments, and employees struggle to get visibility to what is correct or what has happened. The cost of manually tracking down information is considerable. When you consider that it also leads to missed opportunities, poor decisions, poor execution, and disjointed customer service, the cost is far higher than many companies realize.

Read entire article…

What the ERP Salesperson doesn’t tell you

An interesting article from ITToolbox on ERP:

What the ERP Salesperson doesn’t tell you

“Let me show you how easy our software is to use”
Salespeople or professional demonstrators are trained to present their software to look as easy as possible. The truth is it is impossible to know how easy the software is until you have been using it for over 12 mos.
Ask the Customer references you speak to if the system is as easy to use and implement as they originally anticipated.

“I will give you three references for you to call …”
Software Vendors commonly offer three, carefully selected customer references for you to speak to. What do you learn from speaking to three ecstatic customers? Absolutely nothing!
A Suggestion: Ask for a list of customers in your area that have been using the system for 12 mos, preferably with similar requirements and a similar size. Then from that list you can choose which to speak to, and maybe visit one (you might even know one). If they do not have customers in your area that meet all the criteria, ask to visit a local customer that is a similar size, and to speak over the phone to a customer in a similar industry (confirming the system has had success in your industry).

Read more on: What the ERP Salesperson doesn’t tell you

MySQL disclaims interest in the ERP market

In the ERP world, there are three database platforms that ERP software companies focus around: Oracle, MS SQL, and Progress. The up and coming database in the Open Source world is MySQL. According the the linked article, Marten Mickos, CEO of MySQL has spoken up about his database and ERP, essentially saying that SAP will run MySQL.

It is interesting that most open source ERP applications are using Oracle or Postgresql. Compeire and TinyERP for example use these databases, but not MySQL. They for some reason have chosen not to go that route. So if SAP is getting behind MySQL, it will be interesting to see how that will change the market of ERP, especially open source ERP systems.

DBMS2 — DataBase Management System Services»Blog Archive » MySQL disclaims interest in the ERP market

ERP Books

ERPandMore is pleased to announce the opening of our new ERP Bookstore. Containing the latest books on Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Product Lifecycle Management, and Process Improvement topics, this new bookstore is your resource to finding the information you need to successfully navigate a project.

You can find this new bookstore off of our home page by clicking “Books” or by going directly to:

http://www.erpandmore.com/books/

We hope you find this a valuable information resource!

What is your ERP interface?

Being techno-enthusiasts, how ERP vendors are pushing the envelope to develop new and easier ways for people to process their business data has fascinated us. But we often forget the end-user, who simply has to work with an ERP Software tool day-in and day-out.

Recently we participated in a series of demonstrations that included SAP MySAP, Oracle EBusiness Suite, Microsoft Dynamics AX, IFS, and JD Edwards Enterprise One. The interesting outcome of this demonstration series was that the users gravitated towards the systems that had “old fashioned” grey data form. They were confused by the Web Based Portals and any other non-traditional form. MySAP even showed a great interface from Adobe Forms, but that confused the team even more.

Bottom line, the team was looking at the systems from the current frame of reference that they all possessed, which was a Windows-like form that was easy to understand. It was interesting in how little they grasped that was outside of what they were familiar with. Even with great explanations on how this could help them, if it didn’t make sense, it didn’t register.

Lesson learned: keep the discussion within the frame of reference within the users and introduce the new interface options in small easy to understand sessions. Do not give the latest and greatest to a group that cannot conceptualize it.

An ERP who owns who

If you have been around even a short time in the ERP software business as either a user or a provider, you are sure to know of the latest acquisitions. The big ones of course are all the companies Infor bought as well as the Oracle mega mergers of PeopleSoft/JDE. Here is a website dedicated to tracking these acquisitions, called fittingly enough The ERP Graveyard.

The ERP Graveyard has a spreadsheet of acquisitions going back to the 1990’s. So if you are interested in what happened to so-and-so software, you might find your answer to dead ERPs here.