Friday, March 09, 2007

about Wednesday 7

about Wednesday 7

A few things about Culture:

First I need to say that I know there are more than... maybe 100 definitions of Culture.Obviously i cant ennumerate each one of them but I can say that Culture is a constant moving concept that can even be called Process. This means that every group can be influenced by the culture but at the same time influence the culture. Culture is integrated by peobple behaviour or likes, places, space, time and all factors that afect human behaviour. Then, Psychological or personal factors afect people at the same time that the places, time and the existing culture do. What I mean with this statements is that when trying yo analyze the culture of a small group it tends to be more important the personal culture or individual characteristics rather than a bigger culture, like country culture.
It is an error to think that you are ahead on the way of understanding a culture just by knowing the BIG culture they belong.
In a small group, like in an organization, there are a lot of different types of people. Some of them can have a strong influence in its friends and colaborators. As I said, culture influence and is influenced by its integrants at the same time. This means that when trying to understand smaller groups, we should better aim to personal factors more than a nation view. In other words, dont blame the culture of a nation whenever you see negative (or positive) things in a person, and so, I would not recomend trying to fix a personal problem with a Nation-Culture perspective.
What I would do is to get everyones profile, scan work-groups, networks and groups of friends, in order to know power relations, and detect conflictive people. With that information it would be easier to find problems or even define the culture of that company. The best we know people, the best we can know how to make them "move".
Yet, the BIG culture is very important, as you may know. But as I said it is just a little part of the way on understanding a group of people.
If interested on culture stuff (long and boring literature...) review Stuart Hall or Pierre Bourdieu firstly cause is more related to this subject I think.
Ahi nos vemos, görüşürüz.

Andrzej

Day 4
Well, honestly I have to admit that the fourth day was the most difficult for me. I didn't really feel the diffrence between centralized and decentralized implementation. I was a bit lost. Instead of it I liked very much our team work and final discussion about the case study.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Culture issues - lessons Day 3 + 4

Hi,

as yesterday my day was unfortunately way to busy, I also will have to summarize the "lessons learned" part in one post for two days.

In both days we discussed the impact of culture on the implementatinon of ERP systems. Even if I am aware, that quoting wikipedia might be scientifically doubtatif, I'd really like to use a sentence I found there to define the term culture I'll use:
[...]The term culture denotes whole product of an individual, group or society of intelligent beings. It includes, technology, art, science, as well as moral systems and characteristic behaviours and habits of the selected intelligent entities.
Whereas on day 3 we focussed on national cultures and their impact on possible implementation projects of ERP, day 4 was more about organizational culture.

Regional culutres can have a deep impact on the implementation of ERP systems. As the implementation of an ERP is not only simply "buying a new software system" but more or less changing the way business has to be done, the attitudes of the people involved play an important role, one of them being the willingness to change. Different cultures have different ways to cope with that. Geert Hofstede (Bio), a Dutch scientific that did a lot of research about both types of culture, has some publishes some interesting values and their definitions one one of his websites. Taking this kind of information is crucial to develop an implementation strategy. Taking some articles to account, we learned, that ERPs tended to fail in chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOE) because of some social aspects; as a loss of authority would be involved in case the senior executives of those enterprises would actually spend a lot of time on insalling a "software system", they tend to declare it a usual IT project, which is - as research shows - not a very successful strategy.

We also discussed different ways to build a team as well for planning, implementing and training users for a new system. Not wanting to repeat my fellow's posts I summarize that involvement from all parts of the organizational structure is important; involvment from descision makers as well as from lowest-level end-users. An ERP might radically change the way people think: Employees have to get rid of thinking strictly functionally for the sake of understanding procedural aspects of their work to enable the system to streamline production (or service) proceses.

Even inside a corporate culture there are - of course - different characters of persons. The implementation and the coaching/teaching/training team have to be well-selected, so that they are able to understand, accept, influence and teach the new procedures the system imposes. This is especially critical as we have talked about that number one reason of IT project failure is not out of technical issues, but accesptance and usage of the concernd company members.

Today's lesson was more focussed on the corporate culture. Stuying a Harvard businnes case about Harley-Davidson's choise of an ERP system, we addressed the issues that can emergie if there is an incompatibility between ERP provieder, client enterprise and extended the discussion to consulting firms. I personally figured that "soft factors" like corporate culture may be as important as "hard facts" like the functionalities of the provided software system. Finally in the Harley case there were huge problems because of a cultural misfit.

The last part consited of building groups of diverse nationalities and cultures. Whereas we were initially supposed to finish on the same day, describing and debating out cultures (in my personal case China, Germany, France and Poland) took way to long; I think everyone of us had partially to confirm but also to moderate clichés about our nations, whereas we all were aware that we could only give kind of a subjective point of view.

So... tomorrow's exam is getting closer! I am pretty courious what task we are going to discuss, but after restructuring the knowledge we gained in the mindmap I feel more or less prepared for this challenge.

Everyone: Good luck for tomorrow.

Thierry

Day 4 - Juan REYNOSO

Today, one of the interesting things for me was the fact of frequently the process of the whole business have to be modified in order to create a structure able to fit in an ERP. This means that the ERP, beside of the advantages that it provides, allow us to improve our structure of processes.

This is why it is important the Core Team have the knowledge of the whole business and the authority to modify it if necessary.

It was interesting too that when we took the decision of the supplier for Harley Davidson we change, generally speaking, our decision when we made a more analytical thought. Perhaps, we made it in rough terms, but it is important that we kept always in mind what characteristics are the most important and gave them weights in order to not let us impress for another characteristics.

Day 4

In today’s class we learned the implementation choices we have. And I think it was very productive to know the advantages and disadvantages of each one because we will might decide it in the future.

As the professor said, I think there is not one effectively formula of choices. It will depend on the situation we face in the future.

With the group project I learned that some times there are more similarities than differences between cultures. Sometimes we can use it to group it and work with groups of similarities than with each different country.

Also it was very interesting to know how to choose a supplier. The brain storming and the rating is very important because I think that in the real world, there might be some people that present really well and ended influencing you to choose them. And if we make that kind of decisions, at the end we might be choosing something that doesn’t go really with our strategies. I mean we can reevaluate our rating choices, but to choose someone just because its presentation can be the same as implementing one software just because is the newest one.

Summary Mindmap

Hi all!

I tried to make a mindmap summarizing most of what we learned in a (more or less) structured way. Klick on the nods of the mindmap to open further parts. I know it is now well-designed, but as a matter of fact it's a lack of time that makes it difficult to design a balanced, neat, colored and linked mindmap right now. I might edit it later on - if somebody wants to contribute, please feel free; if you need technical help feel free to contact me.

Yeliz: As I used some parts of your slides, I'd like you to briefly click through it and tell me, if you're okay with that - the information might be organized a little differently in some places. If you mind anything (e.g. of copyright issues), I'll take the map offline!

Good luck tomorrow,

Thierry

Lesson 4

As in the other past two days, we started by having a small recap of what had been seen the previous day. We went on talking about the qualities that had to be considered when selecting a Super User. They’ve got to have good communication, teaching and learning skills, they have to be master the process in which they’ll be assessing, they’ve got to be well respected within their working group and, they’ve got to be leaders among other qualities. Related to this matter we discussed which criteria on which one would select a core ERP team, and we all agreed that they should have experience in projects and that they should have a good successful career, not only this but the team should be composed of people representing the several departments of the company, and very important they have to be willing to learn.

We saw the pro’s and con´s of the Big Bang and Phased implementation. We did outsourcing vs. inhouse training pro´s and con’s, and centralized and decentralized pro’s and con’s as well. We came up with several pro’s and con’s for each, and this led me to the conclusion that there’s no right or wrong answer here, each company has to evaluate which is the right choice for them, which is the one that fits the best to their needs and structure.

Later on we formed teams based in our nationalities and pretended being the global ERP project executives (all from different places). We discussed the challenges of working together since we where all from different nationalities, and we shared our weaknesses and strengths, which I thought was very enriching since we got to see the our similarities and differences. We got to the conclusion that we had to focus in our similarities (as in we’re from different countries) when working together, and work in our differences so they wouldn’t become a big problem in the future.

At the end we got to discuss on the Harley Davidson Motor company case, which gave us an inside perspective of how the decisions are made in all its satages when implementing an ERP system.

I have to say that I enjoyed taking this class very much, it was very interesting and dynamic.

Good luck to you all in the exam tomorrow!

4th Day-

Hi guys,
The week nearly comes to an end..
I had too much fun and learning today. I think it is because I personally got more involved and had a better understanding of the subject. At the beginning, quick review was good. We emphasized one more time the importance of cultural differences. Actually, I understood that no software implementation is really about software. It is about change management. Because you are changing the way people work. You are challenging their principles, beliefs and the way they have done things for many many years. That's why all implementation process success depends on the organization's structure, culture etc. It is something more than being technical.
Moreover to that, we have covered Strategic ERP Implementation choices such as Big Bang vs Phased implementation, Outsourcing vs In-house, centralization vs decentralization and knowledge management. Actually most of the strategies have some pros and cons according to the organization structure and the function which we implement ERP. For example, it is better to use Big Bang for key modules I think otherwise it might be a confusing process to use phase strategy. Because it allows us to make the changes step by step and the modules which relies on information from other modules may get wrong messages due to incompatibility between systems.
By the way, I searched for the cost of decentralization vs centralization and according to one source, decentralization is more costly in terms of extra time and resources to implement and maintain the system. It also has cost of reinventing many other database, storage, software etc.

What I can tell more is about our group work. We found out many similarities between Mexico, Turkey and France ( except some differences of France which can be handled ). It was interesting for me because I expected some big cultural differences due to being different parts of the world. Perhaps it was because of globalisation, we are getting similar in terms of doing business style and people's reaction to new things etc.

Hope to see some of you guys in the party tonight..
Goodluck you all for the exam...

ps: I didn't forget Julien:)---Thierry, we should celebrate Harley Davidson case some day;)

and Yeliz Hocam, hope to see you in the party as well..

MISI169E - Day 4

Culture differenciation is important in ERP implementation and we saw that today. Being in group to see how things could go in managing a project in 3 different countries, Turquey (Derya) Mexico (Marco) and France. (Laurent and I) I was happy to discuss with them but it confirm there are some differences.


If we have to remember a thing for today, there are the classical categorization to do:
  • Timeline: Big bang (everything at one time) / Phased (a little bit each time) / Mini big bang (big bang at lower level)
  • Resources: Outsourcing / In house
  • Type of implementation: Centralised (Eg: a decision for all countries) / Decentralised
  • Training: Outsourcing / Internal
  • Management of knowledge: Outsourcing (Consultants) / Internal
I will just give a word about a Harvard case study. Think about your choice between a provider which do not understand your culture but have all the functionalities you need and a provider which respect your culture but do not have all the critical functionalities you need. Which one is your choice?

See you mates

Lecture 4 - Sangyoun Han

Today’s class introduced the concept on Strategic ERP Implementation choices. There are several issues which need to be addressed when implementing ERP systems. They include;

- Timeline

o Big Bang, Phased, Mini Big Bang

- Staff/Resourcing

o Outsourcing

o In-house

- Customization level

- Centralized Implementation

- Decentralized Implementation

- Training

o Internal, Outsourced

o Combination

- Managing Knowledge

o Consultants or internal experts

Again it was interesting to see how much culture plays a role on decision making. Not only is the culture within the country important, but also the culture of the company. Therefore, during international ERP implementation, usually a mix of each strategic choice is best, depending on the nature of the business.

During the case, the importance of culture was again emphasized. Although technical and functional issues are very important, so are the qualitative aspects. A balance is therefore needed between both quantitative and qualitative factors.

Anyways, good luck on the exams everyone. See you tomorrow.

- Sangyoun

Duygu Becermen Day 3 and Day 4

Herkese merhaba (hi everyone),
I am sending my lesson learned post for day 3 and 4 at the same time because yesterday I was in some kind of a crisis with myself. I couldn't really adapt myself well to the class. Thus, I couldn't participate. But in the morning when we do the review of yesterday everything was clear. So I'm starting with day 3. This will be a little long. I hope you don't get bored when you read.
Day 3
Mostly we discussed the three articles.
  • We started with "Decision Making in the Evaluation, Selection, and Implementation of ERP Systems". We learned some decision making models for selecting and implementing an ERP system.
  • Secondly, we talked about "Potential Impact of Cultural Differences on Enterprise Resource Planning Projects". When we were talking about this article we made a great discussion about how culture effects the decision making process. Since we are coming from different countries we were able to analyse the subject with many points of view avoiding the stereotypes. We saw that generally power distance, hierarchy, and authority issues influence implementing an ERP system, and most cultures are resistant to change.
  • Finally we talked about "ERP in China: One Package, Two Profiles". This article was also related to the previous one. But this time we looked to two different company cultures in the same cultural environment. We understand the differences by the way of thinking between private vendors (PVs) and state owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. For example; PVs form cross funcional teams for implementing the system and this team is more involved in the process while the SOEs have a team formed by the senior management that is more likely to control the system, without much involvement. Somehow the system failed in China. The reasons of its failure are business processes, lack of involvement of senior management or key people of the organisation, no improvement of business.

Besides the articles, we talked about super user selection. We concluded that a super user should have high communication, teaching, and leadership skills, knows about the processes and information systems, have a long-term career planning in the organization and well respected. And in the selection of the core ERP team experience with projects, success, authority to change management, being in different departments (to understand the different needs of all departments in the company) issues should be considered.

Day 4

Today we talked about strategic ERP implementation choices. Today was mostly dedicated to the analysis of pros and cons of several things. :)

First we analysied pros and cons of Big Bang and phased implementations. We concluded that the advantages of Big Bang implementations are; being easier and faster to implement and its disadvantages are being more risky and the need of big training initiative. The advantages of phased implementation are being able to learn about the system, cash management, and stability while the disadvantages are being costly and time consuming.

While we are implementing an ERP system we can face some problems like decrease of productivity, bugs in the system, and resistance to change in the organisation.

Second we talked about the pros and cons of outsourcing and in house. Outsourcing can be useful because the people are more experienced about the subject and they can look from a different point of view to the company and they sometimes have more credibility in the eyes of employees (I think this was a very bad translation but I couldn't say it in another way. Sorry for my poor english) as it can be more costly, people can feel less responsible for the consequences, and they may not fit in the company culture. On the other hand, in-house has its own advantages like better understanding of the company needs, higher credibility among employees, and they have the advantage of existing work relationships.

Last, we talked about two different implementation styles: centralised and decentralised implementations. During our discussion about this subject we faced some conflicting ideas. Like we couldn't exactle figured out which could be more costly. In my opinion centralised implementation is likely to be more costly because we are thinking globally and when an office needs to make a decision they have to wait for the response of the head office which takes time and it can have an effect on the work done, and for the implementation process traveling costs can be high.

After a large pros and cons discussion we made a team work which was about the implementation of the system in different countries. We looked at the differences of management styles, strengths and challanges of doing business in different countries. This helped us understand the different cultures and so we realised that it is important to understand the structure and needs of different cultures before making a change.

During the last hour of todays class we had a discussion about Harley Davidson Company's software selection process. Everybody specified their choices of providers and why they would choose them. We wrote down the advantages of each provider on the board and defined the most important issues to consider. Than we made some calculations and select provider 2 which was the same decision that Harley Davidson made. But then we learned that even provider 2 was the most useful one according to the functionality of the system, problems occurred because during the implementation process they couldn't really fit in the company culture.

Todays class was so fun. I want to thank everyone for the lovely environment of the course. Of course our tutor played a big role. Her teaching style was effective and very satisfying. I learned many things about implementation of ERP systems. I am really flattered to see how a turkish teacher can make such a great job.

That's all for today.

Hope to see you all tonight at the party. If you are not coming I have to tell you that you are goint to miss so much. After a hard week I think we deserved to have fun. If you are still not coming I'll see you tomorow in the exam.

Ciao ciao...

Day 4 - Elif

Hi,

Today we have made a brief summary of what we have learned yesterday and we have started to compare and contrast different ERP implementation methods such as Big Bang, Phased, Outsourcing, In-House, Decentralized and Centralized implementation methods. Each of them has different advantages and disadvantages. It was again a lively discussion environment where we had a chance to get different point of views from each other. We saw that each implementation method can differ according to the place where a company conduct a business and according to the cultural differences. For example, outsourcing can be riskier because of the unawareness of people of the corporate culture which can result some problems. This was also the same problem in the Harley Davidson case. Some of the providers were not paying attention on the cultural issues and were much more focusing on technical and functional features. Although these are also important issues (we have learned that Harley chose the Provider which was involved in functional issues) culture has a great impact on the business that are conducted.

We have also organized different teams where we were trying to deal with cultural problems and differences that we can face because of the different countries in which our company is operating. Every team member was representing the country that s/he was coming from but I think it was difficult to make strict comments on the business environment of our countries since we do not have a serious work experience and a chance to know thoroughly this business environment.

Finally, I can say that I liked very much your teaching method. I think it was a great chance for us to see different point of views about this ERP implementation strategies, learn from each other and discuss in a very enjoyfull course. Thank you.

See you in the exam

DAY 4

Hi

Today we had an interesting class, first we did braistorming of yesturdays class, so it was good to refresh our learnings. Then we had an introduction of the diferent ways of implementing an ERP system: Big Bang, Mini Big Bang, and by Phases. We did pros and cos of each ones, and it got interesting to deeply analyze why should we do Big Bang or mini Big Bang or by phases, that for some companies or some countries is better to di it some way, and for other the other way.
We also did pros and cons of how to implement the system, if centralized or un-centralized.
Then we did a group work, we analyzed how we could implement the same ERP system for the same company,in 3 different countries.
At the end we discuss about the case study of How Harly-Davidson choose their ERP system, what were the steps and principal aspects of evaluating, etc. then we did pros and cons of the last 3 candidates. A very interesting point is that we all though that candidate number 1 was defenetly the best one, but qfter the evaluation of the main 4 aspects, candidate number 2 was the winning candidate, the one the HD choose.

Thanks

Day 4 learning -- Dan HUA

Hello everyone,

I like today's course for our group discussion, for the analysis we have done together for different ways of ERP implementation as well as for the case study.

It's really a good idea for us from different nationalities to discuss many aspects pertaining to ERP, we have exchanged lots of ideas and tomorrow we have got to continue after exam, the case study is also a quite good one which reveiled to us how the case company was doing to prepare and also to choose a most suitable supplier.

As we usually say a good beginning is half of the success, how we prepare for an ERP, or a software, and then how we compare among different suppliers, and how to make the choice is so significantly important for the final outcome of system implementation that each step, we have to work together with adequate consideration and tactics.

The criteria the case company utlized for analyzing the pros and cons of 3 suppliers could also be views as good reference when we are facing a likewise situation as this one.

Alors, I am truely grateful for our courses, for our communications everyday along this week with our friend Yeliz who has gone out of her way to enable our courses such insightful onesas well as an interesting ones also greatful for this blog platform from which we began online communication and through which we are to continue our fun learning with ERP in days and maybe years to come in the future!

Tomorrow, wish we all have nice success in exam!

HUA Dan

DAY 3

HI

Today we had a very interesting class, with a lot of discusion and learning.
We reviewd the 3 articles that we had to read for homework:

The fiest one its called " Decision Making in the evaluation, Selection and Implementation of ERP systems" Its about how can companies decide in wich ERP system to have, there are a lot of types, prices, efficiency, and tough its a very huge inversion, we have to analyze and evaluate wich ERP system.
The second article we discuss on is called " Potential Impact of Cultural Differences on ERP Projects " I found this article quite interesting because somethimes we ignor how important are the cultural differences between countires, how they work, lenguage, education, etc. so its good to point out that we have to handle cultural diferences before implemetating the same ERP company system in different countries.
The third article was mostly about how in China beeing such a huge county, there are two ways of doing business because of Hong Kong beeing part of the U.K. before 1997.
In class we had discusion between students from diferent countries, how their country use to do business, or how an ERP system could be implemented, etc. so it was very interesting.

Thanks

day 4

Today’s lecture was about ERP implementation, the different methods that can be used to implement ERP but also the resources needed and the customization level. The 2 different methods of implementation of an ERP system (Big bang and phased) are quiet similar. Big bang implies a radical change for whole company at the same time. Phased approached implies a radical change but only for one department at the same time. From an individual point view, it is still a radical change (for big bang and phased approach). What can help to succeed in the implementation are the resources (time, people, training, space to work, more generally MONEY…) you grant to your project. Moreover the way you use is also an important factor. Finally as we saw, the type of organization, culture has also a huge importance. The big approach has some advantages for American companies because there are always at the top of the technology, so they are used to change and they are probably less afraid about it. About the phased approach, it suits better to conservative companies like in France, moreover it is allows the company to spread the costs. (Important for companies on the stock market)

Then we talked about outsourcing and in house staff used to implement such a project. For me a mix of both is important in order for consultants to transmit their knowledge to the in house workers so the knowledge is present in the company. Then the ratio of consultants compared to in house worker must be adapted to the type and culture of the organization.

Finally about the customization, it is something to adjust according to future updates, customers needs and staff needs. With major and small player small customization are possible easily and external help from them is not needed. Nevertheless for big customizations that require a big change in the code, it is quite difficult to do it without their help… Open source ERP have this possibility, so level of customization and its cost must taken into account when choosing an ERP.

Lessons learned posting (last one)

Hello all,
Last time to write clever things...

There are choice to be done before an implementation. And These STRATEGIC IMP CHOICES are influenced above all by the core ERP team which is composed of
  • key managers from the different implicated departments
  • and people with experience

Those people will have a grat role because there are the ones who are able to take decision on processes (processes change or adaptation of the ERP to the specificity of the processes).

Super-users have also a certain influence on STRATEGIC IMP CHOICE. These SU must:

  • have teaching, communication and leadership skills (Oh, Honestly!... and be an athlete too and a mastermind...)
  • be respected within his department
  • be intimate with precedent Information System and processes

So these Strategic IMP decisions concern the timeline, the origin of the empowered staff (internal or external), the customization level, the decentralization level, Knowledge management and training management.

There are many reasons either to outsource or to choose in-house specialists, as there are many reasons either to implement in one time (called a Big Bang... "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light") or to roll out the implementation, as there are also many reasons either to centralize or not.

Let's caricature the situation and assume there are two opposite type of firm:

  • The first want to monitor everything in detail , to keep the highest control and take the less risk
  • The second one need a fast implementation and external point of view

The first one will do a phased implementation to avoid comany wide bugs and to be able to control each phases. It will also choose staff from the inside to have a better control on them and to control information. At last it will obviously centralized the implementation because of the control need.

The second one will make a big bang IMP to save time and prevent from creating interfaces between the old and the new systems (which is compulsory for a phased IMP). It will choose external consultants for their expertize (and maybe their ability to work faster) and the new ideas they can bring. At last it will decentralized to save time again and to encourage initiatives.

This short sum-up of the Strategic IMP decision does not work for customization because it depends on several other factors like the knowledge in coding, the specific need of departments...

To conclude I want to say one more time that the implementation must be done with carefulness especially if it includes organization from different culture.

Good luck for tomorrow!

Day

Czesc!
I would like to say that that I enjoyed a lot the third day of ERP impl.... especially because of our disscussion at the end of the class.It was very goog experience for me not only talking about ERP but especially how it works and what is people perception on this subject worldwide. I was impressed by Sylvia's speach about China. Generally when we say something about country which we dont't know, usually we say stereotypes about it. I think that changes are important to introduce but it's not so obvious because people are lazy and don't want changes.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Day 3-- Some comments from Yeliz

Guys,
Thank you for the wonderfully lively discussion today!!! I truly enjoyed it a lot. During the discussion on various cultures, I learned from you guys, just as much as you guys learned from me and from each other. Just one thing to remember-- you seemed to think people in your country will resist to change more than others... It's perhaps the human nature, we don't like change, we like stability. So resistance to change will happen in all countries and it should be accounted for.

Its interesting to read your lessons learned postings.. Although all of you were sitting in the same class, you all picked different lessons learned and posted on different aspects of the class. Thus, it's very helpful for you to read others' postings.

Today, Alexis posted a question, and I posted a response to him. Please take a look at it.

By the way, please remember that participating in the discussions is 30 percent of your grade. There are very few people who are listening carefully but not participating much. Please try to use at least the case study as an opportunity to gain some points, okay? Most of the discussions are on things you can talk about even if you didn't know much about the ERP's or if you don't have much business experience. Oh, and now, you know plenty of good stuff on ERP's. :)
See you all tomorrow!

Day 3

Hola a todos!

Concluding today’s group assignment helped me to practice the theory learned at class.

It was very interesting to cover organizational issues on the implementation, because I think is very important to be aware of that when taking the decision of an ERP implementation. As I mentioned in class, I think many companies don’t give importance to that part and they try to save money giving less training or don’t give the enough tools to use it. This results in many implementations failures.

Also it was very important the discussion of culture matter in the implementation. I think is very difficult to implement a general and standardized system without the support of the workers. And we have to be very carefully to know how to handle this decision in a culture context.

Thanks to the morning contributions is more clear to see how people of different culture could react.

Hasta mañana!

Day 3 - Juan REYNOSO

Hello!

One of the topics I found interesting in this class was the analysis of which issues could lead to failure in the implementation of the ERP, and how to prevent them.

Particularly I think a good communication is essential for a good implementation. I can say that in México, some companies introduce changes as could be an ERP IMP abruptly and without consulting middle management, and in this case, there is always a disagreement feeling from the end users.

As I have been working in production areas, I can say that typically this kind of systems are seen as if they make all processes slower, and is never clear the “added value” or contribution that they give to the process.

I think that putting in practice a major change in a company is a slow process and it must begin first introducing new ideas and explaining why it is a better way for doing the same things… or where the benefit is. Sometimes the benefit is not for the user, but for the whole company, but it is necessary that everyone be aware of this.

On the other hand, we have to remember that an ERP has by itself a philosophy behind, and we must be sure that is not contradictory with the current practices of the company. I think this have led to failure in ERP IMP in many high volume manufacturing Companies that works with .

Day 3 - Elif

Today, we had a very interactive class discussion about different issues related to ERP. Firstly we have terminated our group project and then we have started to discuss on the articles we read. While implementing ERP, decision making process is very important for the compnanies. We had a chance to see an exmaple from Chine by reading the article of "ERP in China". We have seen how the decision making process is different in SOEs an PVs in China. Although culture is an important key factor while implementing different systems, organizations are willing to make come changes by training, improving communication skills, poeple commitment and knowledge management. We have learned also that there can be different methods to ease the implementation process of different sustems such as ERP. Selecting superusers is one of them. They are part of the team who are chosen and trained in advance and they motivate people and get them involved in the process which is quite usefull to make them adapted to the new system.
As there are a lot of international students in the class, discussing the cultural issues on ERP became very effective and concrete. Taking the opinion of students coming from different countries provided an enjoyable athmosphere. We had a chance to know different stereotypes and how they become influential. Although it is not very useful to make these stereotypes, sometimes they are seen as guidelines of key points that sould be kept on mind to be aware of the general structure and not to get confused and encounter an uncertainty in the future. Defining the French business environment as open to discussion but close to decision making process, Chinese environment as not very open to radical changes, Turkish environment as very different in terms of geographical issues are the very first things that comes on our minds. However, while discussing the issues and getting different point of views we understood that although there are some cultural changes, organizations can try to improve and and develop themselves and implement different systems which seems very radical at first like in the Chinese case.

See you tomorrow

Lesson 3

Today we spent half of the class working in our ERP business case. It was helpful because we got to see the real reasons why a company would want to implement an ERP system and, since the companies we chose are big worldwide and they’ve already implemented some sort of system already, we got to see the before & after. Unfortunately we had to make up the situation for the company, since it was difficult to find up to date information on the systems the companies were using, plus they usually don’t make this public seeing as it is probably the key of their success and they wouldn’t want others to know.

We went on discussing some pointers on how to avoid failure when implementing an ERP system. In my opinion the most important ones are training and communication. There has to be an effective communicate within all levels of the company when an ERP is being put in place. There has to be an involvement from top to bottom since everyone will be part of the change. I think it’s important to make the end users feel part of the process, and convince them that the change is in the better interest of all.

We ended discussing the readings we had for today and yesterday. Since the two reading that were for today where about cultural differences and how they became an important issue when implementing an ERP system, the whole class gave their thoughts on the subject and, the fact that the group is international, made the discussion very interesting. ERP software companies such as SAP and Oracle must be aware of the role culture plays in the implementation of the system in order for it to succeed. Each company in its corresponding country has to be approached in different ways, in order to understand their needs. Not all companies can be approached in the same way, even if they’re in the same country. Each one’s different and unique, and that’s something that has to be understood when implementing such systems.

MISI169E - Day 3

Resistance to change is important and can lead to failure. We French took a lot for us but I think we are not the last to use a lot more energy to fight against the change than rather learn how well the system changed. Difference of culture is very important as we have different point of view.
But my main point to remember for today is that ERP implementation seen as an IT inititative conduct to a failure.

So "take ERP implementation as business inititative, not as IT initiative".

Lecture 3 - Sangyoun Han

Today’s class was very interesting and involved lots of discussion. The topics mentioned during the discussion revolved around the three articles which we were assigned over the past 2 days. Key lessons learned were;

- There are several models which can be used to determine whether an ERP system is needed in an organization

o The most popular method is the political model; however, it is important to note that this is only a one-sided argument. Therefore, other models may better suit different businesses

- when implementing an ERP system, culture plays a very important role

o different ways certain cultures adapt to change

o how cultures accept changes from a function oriented system to a process oriented system

o we discussed cultures within the class such as German, Mexican, Chinese, Korean, Canadian, American, Turkish and French

- the two cultures present within the Chinese culture was mentioned

o SOE and PV; how both groups had different ways to adapt to the ERP system

o PV organization were able to adapt faster because these firms were willing to change

After these discussions, we went to new issues related to the articles such as how firms can address issues with an ERP implementation program. It was discovered that organizations which had good communication with its employees were more likely to succeed with the new ERP system. Employees needed to be aware of this change, and had to understand why the change was occurring. Furthermore, organizations had the responsibility to train employees on how to use ERP systems as well as implement “Super-Users” to help the change in software. Management also had the duty to try and motivate its workforce to learn this new program.

The main point of the discussion was that in order to make the ERP system successful with the employees, everyone needed to feel involved and part of the team in order to be motivated. Therefore, achieving this required superior communication among the workforce.

Day 3- Impact of cultural differences

For the third day, one of the most important learning for me to point out was the potential impact of cultural differences in international business. I took some other classes which emphasized this issue several times before. Culture might be a core problem or opportunity for a company whether it manages to cope with these differences or not. From the ERP's point of view, these single system's implementation might be affected by cultural differences as it is mentioned by the case studies which we discussed.Also its success depends on the countries' way of doing business which might be under strong pressure of culture.

Moreover, I would like to make some comments on today's class.Infact, I haven't had any real job experience yet and this subject is not something that I am familiar with. But I am learning so much and I appreciate being in a class such that even though, I don't talk too much and sometimes feel bad because of it. Its a platform for me to get information from you guys, especially Sonia-I admire you:)- and I hope some time later I will be the one who is talking by the help of this class and you guys. Besides all,thank you for the question Thierry. EU is a hot issue in Turkey. In some ways Europe tries to reflect just the worst sides of it. It is true that there are differences inside the country but it has many reasons such as geographical avaliability, easy connection to the parts of world we do trade with etc. It is a big country and infact our developing is not a result of industralization as Europe,it is normal to have cities in the west which are more industralized than the east or middle of Turkey.but it doesn't mean that we do not have businesses in other parts of country,maybe they are smaller but there are. I am not a specialist on that issue but it is what I know basically so if one day you would like to do business in Turkey, be sure that it doesn't consist of just Istanbul or the west part of it, there are many opportunities in other parts as well.

Last thing is for Yeliz Hocam, I would really want to thank you for your teaching method. Even it is subject that has many boring way to teach I think, you are doing your best.-I never feel bored-

These are all I can say for today I guess. See you tomoorrow guys..



day 3 cultural diferences

Pas facile d'être un français aujourd'hui!!

However many things that came out from this brain storming were very interesting and something incredibly true....

Because of globalisation cultural differences must be more and more considered in companies this lecture was a good opportunity to share different point of view and explain to each other the culture of its country of origin. It was so interesting and also funny to let people speak about how they see their country and how close it is from the stereotype. It is also interesting to speak about big issues like Turkey and the European Union.

I really appreciate this lecture and I will ask the student and our teacher these questions: Is it possible for a multinational company to implement ONE ERP for its foreign subsidiaries? Can they take into account cultural differences?

It is a good point to implement an ERP system but a multinational company will probably face to very different reactions about the implementation of an ERP according to the nationality of the subsidiary. And is it possible to customize the ERP for each country?

That is my point of view! What about you!


Lessons learnt posting N° 3 - Laurent

Hello everybody,

The main learning for me today came from the article we discussed.
Some stuff is interesting to point out that.
Except computing, time and finantial troubles, the most probable reason for an ERP to fail is the resistance to change. So you - as a person involved in the ERP IMP process - must prepare the ground before the implementation and make sure that:
  • the platform you are going to implement is THE appropriate tool with the appropriate technology. For example, it should be fast and easy to use.
  • end-users are involved in decision process (first to increase acceptance and also to ensure a adequate product selection)
  • training is done (it will also raise acceptance)
  • there is performance evaluation
  • people are commited and motivated (super-users can create a good link between employees and decision committee)
  • there is enough communication (nothing is more frustrating than a total blakout)
  • knowledge management is used

The preparation phasis is essential to prevent change resistence, whatever the culture and the nationality of the company...

C U

A new coauthor joins us1

Hi All,
Grihfen Hawkins saw your postings to our blog and wanted to be a co-author in the blog. So you might see some postings from Grihfen on the blog. I am sure he or she will introduce himself/herself better.

Gihfen is studying in QingDao Technological University,which is located in the east of Shandong Province. He is a junior now in the school of Management, majoring in Industrial Engineering.
Gihfen says that Qingdao is a beautiful coast city and the host of sailing city of 2008 Olympics.

Grihfen, please tell us more about yourself. Are you male/female? Where are you from? etc...
Yeliz

Alexis Bouly- Day 2 Lessons Learned

Today we saw the decision process of an ERP, whether a company need to invest in an ERP system or not. This process can be achieved through several analysis such as SWOT and GAP analysis. The SWOT analysis can be completed by setting strategic goals and objectives of the organization for the next 5 years for example. The Gap analysis consists in comparing the current situation with the expected situation after an ERP implementation. In fact the GAP analysis helps to understand the benefits of an ERP implementation and if finally invest in an ERP is really a good choice. Moreover elevator speech is also a way of understanding the benefits of an ERP implementation, as each department of a company present in a short speech what advantages such a project can bring to its division.It was useful to have a look to the SWOT analysis process because it reminds me that S&W are applied to the company and O&T are linked with the market. Thanks for that! best regards
Alexis

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Day 2 - Juan REYNOSO

Despite I already have done some SWOT analysis before, I think it was very useful to remind today in class that, as any change planned to be introduced in a company, the ERP implementation must fits in the business strategy. In addition, it could help to grow up the strengths or eradicates the weaknesses, but in any case, it is important to have a perfect knowledge of the current state of the business before implementation. Just like a feedback, I think that we spent a lot of time doing the SWOT Analysis example.

When we were working in our business case the obligated question was: “they need it or not?”. It is hard to say, because even with the collected information, we still don’t have some inside information like the culture of the people involved in the ERP project, or if the company works more function that process-oriented.

Furthermore, as we are analyzing a big multinational company other questions arise as, how easy/difficult or convenient is to involve people from different countries in the same project. Also, if having a huge and complex database could carry more costs that having two or three separate projects.

On the other hand, I’m glad with my first navigation in the SAP system. It seems very friendly and logic. I hope we make a more applied lab, making transactions.

Day 2

HOLA!

I want to share my knowledge learned today with one example of my experience.

I think is very important, as we discussed on the morning, to use ERP’s (and I may say that any new technology too) focusing always in the Company strategy.

In the power plant that I worked, there were many people very angry and disappointed because the ERP that they developed was going to be replaced for SAP. The problem was that the employees dedicated a lot of time and heart in the old system, they were also updating it constantly and the new one seemed to do exactly the same as the existing one. Also they were mad because the decision process seemed to be only authoritarian.

I wasn’t there to follow the problem and neither to know exactly what procedures they took before. But I can assume that they chose a bad explanation and therefore they had all these angry people.

So, when I saw the process today to make the decision to implement or not an ERP, I think it would be very useful also to explain at all the employees the real advantages to implement it or perhaps they may change their mind and don’t use it.

This also may be a very useful tool if in the future we are the ones in charge to make this decision. At the end we will have always a backup and explanation of our decision.

See ya

Lesson 2

Today we made a brief recap of what we saw yesterday and then moved further into ERP’s.

Companies that sell ERP systems sometimes may not tell the buyers if the software doesn’t include modules they need, so that in the long term buyers keep spending their money acquiring different modules they may need and, that they probably thought the included since the beginning.

We had a very interesting discussion on whether a company that runs other businesses should have one ERP or several ERP’s. In my opinion there’s no right or wrong answer. Companies that find themselves in this situation should evaluate which is the convenient way for them.

Afterwards we saw how to start building an ERP business case, why would a company initially need to implement an ERP and why not. Companies that take a step into acquiring an ERP might be companies that have long future plans and are thinking of solving problems within themselves by implementing the system, companies that are seeking to stay in the competition and obtain more control among many other reasons.

For building an ERP it is convenient to do an analysis, by starting defining the companies SWOT’s (its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). After this we can pass on defining the strategic goals of the company, to later pass on identifying the objectives (forecast revenue and expenses) and the Return of Investment. The analysis can then be completed with a GAP analysis, to then start working on the system and its future needs.

It was interesting to learn the basics on SAP navigation. It would be more interesting to do a real life simulation on it though, to see how it actually works and see all the benefits it provides that we’ve discussed in class.

Lecture 2 by Sangyoun Han

Lecture 2

In today’s lecture, new topics were learned. We explored reasoning behind why firms should or should not implement an ERP system. I also discovered that although many companies invest in ERP, it does not guarantee success, as many firms still fail in its business due to issues such as end users not using the system properly. An example of employees in the Sales Department was used as an example of how improper data implementation within an ERP can actually make the company worse off.

In order to determine whether a company should use an ERP system, several steps can be taken. First a SWOT analysis of the firm should be performed, in order to analyze all internal and external aspects of the company. Next, strategies should be formed, to help the organization determine where the company should go in the future. From this comes the firm’s objectives, which are more direct and give exact figures of what the company wishes to achieve. Finally, after all these steps are performed, a GAP analysis should be carried out in order to discover how well the firm is meeting its present performance in relation to its future goals. Thus, this thorough analysis will help determine whether an ERP system would be beneficial to the overall firm or not.

The final lesson learned today was the Elevator Speech, in which it teaches us how to make our points clear in a minimum amount of time and words.

All of these steps learned in today’s lecture reflect last nights reading of the article, “Decision making in the evaluation, selection and implementation of ERP systems”. The article emphasized and displayed several approaches in choosing the right ERP system for an entity. Several steps are needed such as using the Six decision-making model to choose which model best firsts a certain description. These models were then used in a case example to demonstrate how firms determine which ERP systems work best.

In the last part of the day, we went to the computer lab to experience how real ERP systems worked. We were introduced to the SAP system and were taught how basic transactions within the system were executed.

Lessons Day2

Hi all!

After recapitulating yesterday's introduction about ERP Systems the focus today was going deeper into the question wheather or not a company should introduce such a software. Even if the descision was in favour of a ERP-system: How should a holding company act, how a company that is in different markets or has at least plans tHi ao diversify?

The methods we applied were well-known, general strategic descision making tools, like the SWOT-Analysis and the GAP-Analysis.

The SWOT Analysis consists of finding out where the concerned company actually is (finding out Strength and Weaknesses) and in which way external factors can influence this situation (Opportunities and Threats).

Following to that analysis the mid- to longterm goals for the company were to be defined. Some approaches argue, that this definition has to be made beforegoing over to the SWAT analysis, nevertheless, I think both ways are appropriate, even though they might have different outcomes. Defining goals before performing SWAT analysis provides maybe a better point of view on opportunities and threats, because the mental focus is on the targets to be achieved. The focus on mid- and longterm goals is especially important because the implementation of ERP may not help contemporary operative problems, because the selection and implementation of the new system may take at least six month but also up to two years [Shakir, 2000].

Once SWOTs and Goals are defined, it is possible to determine the difference between both, also called "gap" in the managerial terms. This point is where the choise of the ERP systems comes in: it should contribute closing those gaps. Out of the broad landscape of different systems (and for each systems the landscape of modules or coustumization options), the descision makers have to find out, which one fits best for the company's mid- and long-term needs.

The second part of the lesson was applying this theoretical knowledge on a firm, which is a group assignment that is still in progress... so I can tell more about that later.

In the third and final part one of my expectations came true: We were granted access to an actual SAP system and learned how to use the navigation via menu or command-line-similar codes. I consider this a very important experience and opted for a second computer lab session. I know for sure that I will have to deal with SAP (or a competitors product) in the future, so that already have - if even rudimentary - experience is a really worthful asset. It enables me not to have a scary look in my face if I am asked one day if I already have dealt with an ERP system and will definitely speed up the period of vocational adjustment at the point in time I will have to use such a system.

I become more and more interested in that field. Doing some surfing on the web I found that Microsoft recently tries to enter this market. It's Dynamics series, it integrated four product from companys it all aquiered subsequently to provide competitve ERP systems. Whereas MS is definetly one of the most dominant software providers in the world, we didn't even mention their products in the "smaller players".

So, now there are still some texts to read! See you tomorrow!

Lessons Learned posting 2 + Maha Shakir

Laurent Feltz Tuesday 6th March 2007

ERP IMP

Lessons learned posting n°2

So I will start this posting with the matter I learned about the need for ERP.

The most important thing about the companies need is the definition of strategic need. All the needs for ERP in a company must be strategic:

  • Develop the reactivity in the business processes like fulfilling customer demand
  • Facilitate the share of information and thus the reporting, the control of margin and sales and the development of new products
  • Speed up the processes (like order and invoice data capture/input)
  • Improve the processes efficiency

The need for ERP should not come from the trend of the global competition to acquire ERP, because there are also reasons for not implementing an ERP system.

The business can work efficiently without such an investment. All the more so since ERP investment can cost a lot of money (in the basic application, in specific modules and other bolt-on, in customization, in support and in employees’ training) and would require from a lot of employees a lot of time which could not be use to do other strategic activities. Moreover the problem must me taken from the end-users’ point of view: if there are some reasons for them not to use it, the implementation or the design of ERP should be revised. What is more the use and especially the support of such a system require resources (employees in IT department for example) and knowledge that are likely to be missing before the implementation.

I wrote previously that the need for ERP should come from strategic needs, that is why it is so important to do analyses before looking for that material. The classic analyses are the SWOT and GAP analyses, because they allow pointing out the strategic goals of the company and then its objectives. At that time it is possible to link the advantage of an ERP system with the objectives of the company. These links are usually made in what we call the elevator speech (which is supposed to be short enough to be entirely said to an executive in an elevator).

This speech contains real benefits, improvement opportunities, the benefit category achieved, the development of future state process through integration and also the increase in sales (or margin or return) expected.

Another point of the class was the choice between 1 and several ERP for Corporation.

I think this question is linked with the question of the connection between subsidiaries. Actually it depends of the type of corporate administration. In simple terms, if the holding company tends to separate clearly the different subsidiary companies, the choice will clearly be several ERP!

I will finish this post with a brief analyse of the paper “Decision Making in the ESI of ERPs” by Maha Shakir.

The different phases of an ERP project are the evaluation, selection and implementation; and understanding who make the decision in each of these phases could help manager in the preparation to such a project.

In fact the decisions are not always financial ones. Strategy, processes and the stakeholders involved actually influence a lot these decisions. Without considering the theoretical decision-making models, it is important to understand that during a great part of the project phases the decisions are basically political (i.e. decisions are based on personal objectives rather than organizational purpose). The decision-maker often being the consultant, he has a big decision power in the ESI of an ERP, so I can even conclude that the choice of the consultant is primordial.

I also thought this paper was interesting because it has taken into account the main ERP project phases that I remember to have learnt one day in a Pr. Carugati’s lecture.

Bio - Laurent Feltz

Background

Ieseg student in 4th year (Msc2)

Major in Audit

XP

Work placement in cost control à use of the company’s ERP, AS400 of IBM (I think…), but only in the accounting, product creation and financial modules.

Career objective

To become management/cost controller in the next 5years. Then to climb the hierarchic pyramid as far as the direction.

Course expectation

To understand the process of evaluation, selection and implementation of an ERPs. To observe differences between major ERP. To be aware of the multiple needs of the companies in this field.

In fact I would like to be ready to participate to an ERP implementation in my future company. And at least understand the running of the existing ERP because I think it is crucial for a cost controller who needs to collect data and to analyze them.

One unique thing

During my work placement, I asked the ERP to print me something like 10.000 pages of figures, which made the application crash till the next day, paralyzing the whole accounting department…

(Be sure I am not proud of it at all)


Day 2 - Analysis and practice

We are in day 2 now with some new lesson and more practice. I love that. This is the best way to learn. Problem is the fact that wi-fi configuration did not allow us to use the e-software. Anyway, we will have some other session to get it fast.

Just a question: what are the advantages of one system instead of many?
We can talk about maintenance, data integrity, security, (on transaction and flows of information) more control...

But, we do not want to implement an ERP if there is no use to have one. As any project, it is necessary to analyse the pros and cons of such an investment. We can use classical tool like SWOT* and complete the analysis with GAP. After it, we can convince the executive with an Elevator speech. You know them, these are the short speech which stick to the point and which can convinced you in few words.

The interface of the SAP ERP appears as very complete. Is it intuitive? I do not think so but I find it more relevant to see it as a database management system rather than a GUI. (Graphical User Interface)

Arrivederci tutti

* Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

Document

Hi all,

I finally managed to find the document we talked about at the end of today's class. I'll bring it tomorrow, so that you all can take a look at it.

Best regards,

Thierry

about Tuesday 6

Merhaba öğrenci ve öğretmen


On this class I saw the initial state of implementing an ERP. The need. One aspect that was interesting to me is that sometimes the needs of a company can be fulfilled by implementing other IT tools, cheaper ones or less conflictive. (access, a data warehouse, etc...)
I found the ERP systems to be more like a tool that links departments. This is useful to monitor the performance of all departments in order to measure the global achievements of the company. This is very important when an enterprise is focused in an specific objective.

Why should a company not implement ERP system?

¤Costs>Benefits

I think this is easy to say, however, in the first reading we saw that the managerial decisions are taken ina political way,more than in a classical or "cientific" way.

¤Organization's state of development

When a company is medium size or small, sometimes they can work with ther own tools and ways.

¤The company is performing well

Also, a change in a company is sometimes useless if the performance is optimal for achieving the objectives.


Without anything more to add, Hoscakal.... GÖRÜSÜRÜZ !!!!

Day 2--Derya

Hi! Everybody,
Because of the technical difficulties, I couldn't write yesterday. But today, I hope it will work and I will able to comment for both days.
I learned much more things today than yesterday. It was good to start with a quick rewiew of what we have done. I think I got some of the points that I missed yesterday.
I realized today that I have made the a mistake because I thought that ERP is such a system which itself gives competitive advantage to the company, helps it to be one step further than others. But after the two tennis players' example, I understood that it is such a software package which facilititates operations of some organizations and there are some cases that it is not useful to use this system.
Moreover, I have learned what the elevator speech term and seen an example of it. GAP analysis was a new concept for me as well. I haven't heard about it before.
Even I had some minor technical difficulties:) with my computer, it was good to see some applied format of SAP. I took some classes of Access database and I feel more familiar to the system and it made more sense to me.
I guess these are all I learned from today's class.
See you all tomorrow,

Duygu Becermen Day 2

Hi everyone,

Today we focused on implementation of ERP systems. We looked at SWOT and GAP analysis and learned the term "elevator speech".

We made the SWOT analysis for the SAP Company. According to this analysis, we defined our strategic goals; according to our goals, we defined our objectives for the next five years.

Afterwards, we started our case studies which helped us understand deeply how to make a SWOT analysis for a company.

In the lab, we have been introduced to SAP. We learned how to log on to the system, how to create a transaction. We got a brief idea about the language of SAP.

That's all I can remember for today.

See you all tomorow.

day 1

Hi everybody,I'm a bit late to write because I had classes all day. Due to that I am already sorry for the mistakes:).
As most of you mentioned it was a really good start for me as well. I didn't know much about the subject. I picked this class just to have an idea about it.What I was expecting was a course in the computer lab and it scared me a bit but it was good to see today that it is not a kind of class like that.When I evaluate my contribution for today, it wasn't sufficient enough for me. I saw that even though the course doesn't require any technical backgrounds or any prior knowledge of ERP, it is better to know about it to be able to talk about it. As I read superficially many of your blogs, I saw some of you guys have even work experience on this field. I wish I had had experience on this subject to have a better and deeper understanding. Actually,i am glad be with people who have difierent backgrounds and experiences to learn more.
What I learned today was a general idea of what ERP is and modules.Major and smaller players, its pros and cons as well. I learned an important think that open source does not always mean being free as I thought. It was also good to learn a new term "bolt on"also. I am willing to learn more and more everyday and visualised what I learned by the help of given cases and tasks.By the way, I really enjoyed to work with my team today.
See you all,

to be continued...

Day 2

Hello,
Today it was the second day of the Global ERP implementation course. We had a chance to make an analysis on why companies need such an integrated system. During the discussion, we came up with a lot of reasons such as need to get more control, sharing information, process innovation , effective communication, etc...Once a company decide to implement such a system for its business, it is very important to make a SWOT and GAP analysis and elevator speech in advance to evaluate the standing of the organization. By the help of these analysis, companies become able to set strategic goals and objectives. After setting the objectives and forecasting revenues and expenses, companies can safely decide what system will adress its objectives. Additionaly, by making GAP analysis companies can compare its current system with the one they are expecting to implement in the future.
On the second half of the course, we went to lab to work on our team assingnment to build an ERP Business case analysis for the company we chose while writing our report. I think these team activities are very efficient in order to apply everything we have learned. During the discussions we make, I could get different point of views and approaches on the subject. Then, we had a chance to make an application on the SAP system. We have learned how it works and how it is beneficial. At the first day we learned that this system provides a single database for the whole businesses that the company conducts. With this SAP system application, we saw how there are linkages between the branches such as different types of industries in which the company is involved. We can access to the data directly by only entering the transation code of the concept and this provide an easiness for the process.

See you tomorrow.

about Tuesday 6

Merhaba öğrenci ve öğretmen


On this class I saw the initial state of implementing an ERP. The need. One aspect that was interesting to me is that sometimes the needs of a company can be fulfilled by implementing other IT tools, cheaper ones or less conflictive. (access, a data warehouse, etc...)
I found the ERP systems to be more like a tool that links departments. This is useful to monitor the performance of all departments in order to measure the global achievements of the company. This is very important when an enterprise is focused in an specific objective.

Why should a company not implement ERP system?

¤Costs>Benefits

I think this is easy to say, however, in the first reading we saw that the managerial decisions are taken ina political way,more than in a classical or "cientific" way.

¤Organization's state of development

When a company is medium size or small, sometimes they can work with ther own tools and ways.

¤The company is performing well

Also, a change in a company is sometimes useless if the performance is optimal for achieving the objectives.


Without anything more to add, Hoscakal.... GÖRÜSÜRÜZ !!!!

Second Day Learning -- Qiao Chu HUA

Hi, everyone,

For today's learning, I feel the SWOT and GAP analysis prior to the design and implementation of an ERP system is quite important as well as necessary, I have gained benefits from this insights.

So a thorough analysis in and out of the company on terms of it's S,W,O,T is vital to decide if or not an ERP is necessary and if yes, for what purposes it might have to serve and how to, yeah, this is a very good point and I like it, no other comment and expect to read yours soon.

See you again tomorrow!

Qiao Chu HUA

ERP day 2

Today I learned more about ERP, in class we did a lot of discucion about why do companies should buy an ERP system or not. We found that companies that adopt this system:

*have more control and better administration of the company

*shearing information in one data base, makes the company more efficient, and facilitate the procedure for future joints or growth plans.

*One system, its easier to mantain and control information.

*One system, easier for the company to communicate between deparments

We also found that this system does not apply to all companies, small and mid-size companies with lack of growth plans and expansion, most of them dont need the system because they work very well with their own way that they have been working for years.

Then, we made a SWOT and GAP analysis of the SAP company, with that example we work in our teams doing the same analysis but, based in our company ( starbucks)

Finally, we went to the computer lab to introduce ourselves with the SAP system and we did some transactions, etc.

First Day Learning - From Qiao Chu HUA

Hi everyone!

I am Qiao Chu HUA from China.

I have had my bachelor's degree on Education Science from Central China Normal University in the city of Wu Han, and I am now pursuing my master's degree on Management of International Business in IESEG from this year to middle of next year.

Before I participated into our ERP course, I only have some basic ideas about ERP, I am quite aware that it's quite in the trend now and I do expect to understand it better after our course.

The first day learning is really as good as I have expected it to be, Yeliz's way of teaching really fits in with me, I like the content of the course which is well-chosen, and I like our way of exchanging views together in the class. It's interesting to air ideas freely with fellow classmates and Yeliz on the common subject which we are all interested in. Yeah, the first day learning really started off well I feel!

My career goal is to work in Import & Export after my study, would be great if I can start to try to do it on my own. Compaired with Exporting products from China to Europe, to the contrary, I would more like to try to find out what I can do to import products from Europe and sell them in China which is such a fast-growing market with really good promising potentials for goods manufactured out of China. China has a big population of young and well-educated middle class consummers who would have a growing demand for quality from outside world. And I do think from Europe, there are products which are popular with local people would be appreciated and adored too by my coutryman in China. So if you are interested on subject likewise as mine, maybe we can think about starting to work something together from now right?

And, my another expectation from our course is that, I really do like Yeliz filling us more about the reasons why ERP cann't work well or even fail in some company cases, I do hope to analyze those failure cases a bit more while we are focusing on the benefits of ERP which many of them we have already known. For I think to prevent low effectiveness or failure of ERP implementation, it would be beneficial and also necessary to have a good understanding about under what circumstances ERP will not work as well as we expect it to be even though it's a high volume investment.

That's all I want to say about my first day learning, thank you for reading my ideas above and see you all again in the class!

Qiao Chu HUA
Mobile: 0650 801 089
Email: huaqiaochu@gmail.com