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

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.