BilkentMBA2010, Lessons Learned, Week 2

This week, we are taught about building the ERP business case and the concept of Enterprise Architecture.

• The initial need for ERP originates from company growth, current systems not handling the load, higher complexity of operations, to improve processes and reduce costs, collecting better information about processes etc.
• There are also reasons NOT to implement an ERP system: high resistance to change, high integration and development costs, being not in line with company strategy, problem can be solved with cheaper alternatives etc.
• Success means customer satisfaction in business basically. This passes through meeting their needs, within the budget and appropriate time.
• ERP is a good market since because most top 500 companies already have ERP systems, the market goes towards medium-sized companies.
• Before implementing ERP, analyses should be made like SWOT, GAP, ...)
• We talked bout GAP analysis and then Enterprise Architecture, critical success factors.
• With GAP analysis, we can determine the current situation (as-is) and the future system (to-be). The difference between the two is the GAP, and it could be filled in some ways. ERP implementation could be one of the ways.
• I learned Japan's "Keiretsu" concept, working with their suppliers.
• Enterprise architecture: Zachman invented it, Spevack studied it further and made it more basic. U.S. federal govt. implemented its own architecture and applied widely.
• We discussed whether EA and ERP are competing solutions or not. EA finds out the gaps, ERP might be ONE solution. But they have common points.
• Process owner: The responsible of a business process. They are mostly seniors in the company, and they can proopse changes in the process.
• Power user: The users that are trained before the others. This is a part of change management. They must have good communication skills.
• Role profile owner: Decides on and arrange who accesses what in the system.
• 20% of the ERP implementation budget should be allocated to change management.