Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Can Altay-Why ERP? Learnings

* No software can manage the company regardless of what other people say.

* ERP uses a single number for everything (including forecasts, inventory levels, sales, budgets etc). Therefore, people in the company should come together and decide on a common approach to decide the numbers that are going to be entered into the ERP system.

* You can hire consultants, but you can’t delegate important jobs (like an ERP implementation) only to them when they do not have a real good understanding of what the company is like.

* ERP systems are designed for all kinds of firms, hence should be configured to match our company.

* Garbage in, Garbage out

* Great deal of management work needed before implementing an ERP system.

* The way people work with information is important.

* Trying to put a Big Ben into your living room when your clock battery ran down. The approach to Y2K problem.

* Legacy systems are very slow and difficult to maintain. An ERP system may be necessary to integrate these systems into each other.

* Firms implement ERP systems when they have a large number of plants and facilities scattered around the world, looking for better communication and integration among the facilities.

* Some firms implement ERP systems, because they feel that they should change to exploit the opportunities in communications and technology.

* R/3 is an SAP product that integrates the information throughout an organization, providing the benefits of single data entry, immediate access and common data.

* Data are updated in real time.

* SAP R/3 is designed around business processes.

* Organizational integration is possible, along with elimination of duplication of information. Efficiency

* Business practices unique to US, Europe and Japan are built into the system.

* R/3 has a number for everything

* Best practices: Contemporary business practices or processes incorporated into the software.

* “The resistance if we try to implement R/3 will be incredible.”

* To get the most out of R/3, some jobs may need to change.

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