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.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
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!
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!
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.
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
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.
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".
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
o PV organization were able to adapt faster because these firms were willing to change
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..
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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!
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
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
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
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 !!!!
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,
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.
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...
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.
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 !!!!
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
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.
*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
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
First day
1. Background
My full name is Andrzej Wilczewski. I come from Poland. I graduaded from School of Public Administration in Poland. I was specializing in business and european integration. I graduaded also from University of Bialystok where I was studying french language. One year ago I came to France and I decided to join Iéseg on January this year on MIB.
2.Experience
I have no experience working with ERP. I was working in Poland as a french teacher and translator during almost 2 years.
3. Carer goal
I'm planning to create and develope my own company in Poland probably in branch of export and import. I think that this course is very useful to understand how ERP works and what generelly it is. At the end of this course I expect to have enough knowledge about ERP and especially know how to use it.
4. An interesting thing about me
When I was a child I was dancing during 10 years and won 1 st place in National Dancing Competition
5. I really enjoyed my first day of this course but I have to admit that at the beggining I was a little bit confused and I didn't know what you were talking about. Later it was better and I understood a general idea of ERP what is important ( I think ).Well I'm going to finish because I don't very like writing.
My full name is Andrzej Wilczewski. I come from Poland. I graduaded from School of Public Administration in Poland. I was specializing in business and european integration. I graduaded also from University of Bialystok where I was studying french language. One year ago I came to France and I decided to join Iéseg on January this year on MIB.
2.Experience
I have no experience working with ERP. I was working in Poland as a french teacher and translator during almost 2 years.
3. Carer goal
I'm planning to create and develope my own company in Poland probably in branch of export and import. I think that this course is very useful to understand how ERP works and what generelly it is. At the end of this course I expect to have enough knowledge about ERP and especially know how to use it.
4. An interesting thing about me
When I was a child I was dancing during 10 years and won 1 st place in National Dancing Competition
5. I really enjoyed my first day of this course but I have to admit that at the beggining I was a little bit confused and I didn't know what you were talking about. Later it was better and I understood a general idea of ERP what is important ( I think ).Well I'm going to finish because I don't very like writing.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Day 1 - Juan REYNOSO
BIOS
Ø My complete name is Juan Manuel Reynoso Meza.
Ø I was born in
Ø I got a Mechanical Engineering Degree in 2003
Ø I worked as Supervisor of the Mechanic Workshop in a Construction Enterprise, and eventually as work field supervisor, for 1 year. I was present in a major rehabilitation to the Fluid Cracking Catalytic Plan in Guanajuato, México.
Ø I worked as Production Supervisor in a Manufacturing Enterprise for 1 year.
Ø I am studying the Master in International Business program in
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN SUBJECT:
I have not experience working directly with ERP, but in my both two last jobs, I clearly identify the need of have a tool that permits a better communication between the departments of Production, Acquisitions, the storehouse, and the accounting department. Our communication was paper based, and I considered it very slow and some times confusing. Fortunately, by the time I left the company, they were trying to implement an ERP.
I expect to develop my own business in the Construction field, and have the enough knowledge, in the different aspects of the business, to manage it successfully.
By the end of the course I expect to have the enough knowledge about the structure and working method of the ERP’s in order to be able to understand and quickly learn to use any kind of ERP.
AN INTERESTING THING ABOUT ME:
I won the first place in a National Mathematics Olympiad (in México) at age 18.
FIRST DAY LEARNING:
In this class I got a general idea about the components of an ERP. I also learn about the advantages of its implementation. In my personal experience I worked in a medium-size company that had not an ERP implemented, and I can imagine how all the advantages discussed today could be reflected in my old job.
Because of the communication was paper-based I think that the consulting and reporting information was very slow. It could even take a couple of days. Therefore, the computer database could save a lot of time in those both activities.
When a misunderstood arose, every person had a backup of their transactions, but nobody trusts in the system of the other. I think that have a single database is important in order to have the company working all with the same information. Also, information sharing was not so good in the company. Every department “protects” his own system, and they not share information. It was very time-consuming when a person wanted information from another department, because the only way to get it was by a personal meeting. So, I think that sharing information saves time to everyone.
Duygu Becermen
Hi everyone,
I think today was a really good start for an intensive course. Normally I hate intensives because I hate getting up early!! And as a result of my endless love to my warm bed in the mornings, I was late for the class for 10 minutes. I am really really sorry for that. But I don't think it will happen again because today has been very interesting. I chose this class because my mother was talking about SAP and how important it is(as I mentioned earlier in the class). The company she worked started implementing this system almost 8 years ago. When I read the syllabus of this course on the intranet, I thought why I don't start listening to my mom! So that's how I am here now.
After today's class I saw that ERP systems can be really useful to a company. An ERP system makes it possible to have an overall control of the company. It helps to follow the transactions done by all the functions within the company and also by the customers.
We briefly learned what is an ERP system, what kinds of ERP systems are there. And we focused on pros and cons of different types of systems.
I guess his is all I can say for today.
See all of you guys in the morning. Have a great night.
I think today was a really good start for an intensive course. Normally I hate intensives because I hate getting up early!! And as a result of my endless love to my warm bed in the mornings, I was late for the class for 10 minutes. I am really really sorry for that. But I don't think it will happen again because today has been very interesting. I chose this class because my mother was talking about SAP and how important it is(as I mentioned earlier in the class). The company she worked started implementing this system almost 8 years ago. When I read the syllabus of this course on the intranet, I thought why I don't start listening to my mom! So that's how I am here now.
After today's class I saw that ERP systems can be really useful to a company. An ERP system makes it possible to have an overall control of the company. It helps to follow the transactions done by all the functions within the company and also by the customers.
We briefly learned what is an ERP system, what kinds of ERP systems are there. And we focused on pros and cons of different types of systems.
I guess his is all I can say for today.
See all of you guys in the morning. Have a great night.
DAY 1
HOLA!
I am a graduated Computer Systems Engineer.
I worked 6 months in the Informatics department at Laguna Verde, CFE (nucleolectrical power plant) in
Then I worked 2 years in the Technological Innovation Department at ITESM campus QRO. During this experience one of my duties was to install and administer the specialized software, so I Installed and administered clients and servers of Microsiga one Brazilian ERP company. Also I was the user of Altiris in the deployment, inventory and security solution and we were implementing it to the company.
My career goal is to built and grow my own Information Systems Company.
This course will help me to achieve this goal because it is a part of my business plan.
By the end of this course I expect to have a more clear understanding of ERP’s, to know how to implement it and to know how to use SAP.
I love riding motorcycles.
Learning points:
I had one class of ERP’s in college, so today I refreshed my concepts of ERP definition, history and purpose.
It was interesting for me the analysis that we did today of the PRO’s and CON’s of the ERP companies. I think it is very useful to know first what we really need and want and then choose the best option. This is very important because I saw many failures in that in my experience, the managers seem to base their decision of the ERP according to marketing or fashion.
In other hand, despite our class discussion I see that the bigger ERP’s are not yet an answer for the Mexican SME’s. The majority of Mexican SME´s worked with smaller players because of the price and also because the distance (they are near and they have a very good personalized support). Also I think is for the influence they had as we discussed on class.
Although smaller ERP’s are fitting nowadays in these companies, I think they must face the future and start to plan to migrate to a bigger ERP to internationalize themselves.
Laurent Feltz's Lessons Learning posting (1st day)
As I told when I present myself at the beginning of the class, I am not an IT specialist and to my mind attending an ERP class is something very important to understand the need of companies in terms of information system. I worked on an “old AS400” (as said my placement supervisor) during my last internship. I understood roughly its mechanism with the traceability of the product from the supply (and supply order) to the sale (and the sale order), but my vision was limited to my mission in the company: financial director assistant.
I understood that Enterprise Resource Planning is an ensemble of integrated and modular software that collect and process data from every part of an organization in real-time.
“Integrated” means that ERP relies on a unique system that integrates all data in the same database. This feature brings lots of advantages for organization which used to dealing with a different system for each function and thus different database. It reduces the costs of maintenance. It facilitates management decision making by allowing an immediate transmission of information whatever the department of the organization. It removes data redundancy and multi-processing for each different managers. In conclusion it dynamizes a lot the organization running.
“Modular” means that it comprises different modules: roughly one module for one function in the organization (one for accounting, one for sales, one for supply, one for marketing, and so on). This characteristic allows a better management of demand and supply planning. Which also generates a better order fulfilment and inventories control. The concrete advantages are better customer satisfaction and cost reduction.
Companies use also ERP to compute master production planning and thus monitor more effectively their production process at the operational and business level. This functionality is the improvement of precedent systems: material requirement planning (only deals with operation) and manufacturing resource planning (integrated financial data too).
Indeed there are different providers of ERP system and different level of customization of the finished product.
The major players in this field are companies like Oracle and SAP. They provide more functionality and more support in the use. There are also small players which provide ERP. The main advantage to deal with these companies is that you can more easily influence the design of the finished goods because they are more likely to pamper each of their customers. At last you can find open sources ERP like Compiere or OFBiz. These systems are much cheaper to acquire but the organization can spend a lot of money to adapt it to its specificity. The need for personnel to support -especially in case of upgrades- could be restraint.
A company that implement an ERP has to know that the total customization of the ERP is very complicated, expensive and often impossible. Besides a company can not entirely adapt itself to match the mechanism of the ERP. So a company implementing an ERP must be ready for some change.
The data integrity is effective in SAP and this is an important advantage.
Elif Turkseven's Profile and Lessons Learned
Today, it was the first day of the “Global ERP systems implementation strategies” course. I was not quite familiar with the subject but I thought that it could be interesting to take this course to learn more about it. Firstly, we have learned the definition and evolution of ERP (MRP and MRP II). I have learned that this system enables companies to integrate information through the whole organization. By the help of this system, companies use only one database by sharing information from different departments of the organization. As a result, the waste of time is eliminated. I have learned that there are major players such as Oracle, small players and open sources. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. I can say that I have understood this system enables companies to operate better and in a more functional way although it has some implementation costs at first. Because you do not have to create different data sources for each module you use, it is beneficial and efficient for the company as it also provides modularity. Last year, I was having my internship at the finance department of Meteksan Sistem A.S. in
Hello everyone, I’m a first timer in this Blog thing, so I don’t know if I’m supposed to put my BIOS and my thoughts here together, or if there’s a special place for each. I’ll put all together just as Thierry.
BIOS
I’m studying Industrial Engineering back in Mexico at the Universidad Iberoamericana. Unfortunately for me, I still don’t have a working experience in my field of study since it’s hard to get an internship back home when you’re only a third year student, plus our university system differs greatly in this matter from other. I’m planning on getting an internship when I go back home, hopefully related to logistics, a subject that’s gained my interest very much so far.
Since I just entered my third year in Industrial Engineering I haven’t set myself to a particular career goal yet. I believe I still have A LOT to learn, and that in that time my interests and goals can change.
I heard very few about ERP systems before taking the course. It has interested me, as; implementing such systems means reengineering processes within the organization, and some fields of Industrial Engineering deal with process reengineering.
I hope to have a better understating of how ERP systems work at the end of the course, and learn how they’re implemented in real life (which I’ve most interested in).
About me? I’m Mexican and I don’t like tequila.
MY LEARNINGS
I must say I found the first class very interesting since my understanding of ERP’s was very little. We saw what an ERP system was, the pros and cons of being a major player, smaller or open source, why and why not should he customize it and, how it was developed from MRP and MRP2.
We talked as well of SAP’s and its 3 different transactions: 1 Create, 2 Change, 3 Display. They offer different solutions depending on the industry at matter.
There’s never an end for an ERP, you can always add different modules to customize it to your company’s needs and functions. You can also make software work on it, in case it doesn’t have the functionality… “It keeps building up”. All this led me to maybe a hasty question at this point of the course “¿What is the future of ERP’s?”
Hope to keep looking more into ERP’s tomorrow.
BIOS
I’m studying Industrial Engineering back in Mexico at the Universidad Iberoamericana. Unfortunately for me, I still don’t have a working experience in my field of study since it’s hard to get an internship back home when you’re only a third year student, plus our university system differs greatly in this matter from other. I’m planning on getting an internship when I go back home, hopefully related to logistics, a subject that’s gained my interest very much so far.
Since I just entered my third year in Industrial Engineering I haven’t set myself to a particular career goal yet. I believe I still have A LOT to learn, and that in that time my interests and goals can change.
I heard very few about ERP systems before taking the course. It has interested me, as; implementing such systems means reengineering processes within the organization, and some fields of Industrial Engineering deal with process reengineering.
I hope to have a better understating of how ERP systems work at the end of the course, and learn how they’re implemented in real life (which I’ve most interested in).
About me? I’m Mexican and I don’t like tequila.
MY LEARNINGS
I must say I found the first class very interesting since my understanding of ERP’s was very little. We saw what an ERP system was, the pros and cons of being a major player, smaller or open source, why and why not should he customize it and, how it was developed from MRP and MRP2.
We talked as well of SAP’s and its 3 different transactions: 1 Create, 2 Change, 3 Display. They offer different solutions depending on the industry at matter.
There’s never an end for an ERP, you can always add different modules to customize it to your company’s needs and functions. You can also make software work on it, in case it doesn’t have the functionality… “It keeps building up”. All this led me to maybe a hasty question at this point of the course “¿What is the future of ERP’s?”
Hope to keep looking more into ERP’s tomorrow.
Alexis Bouly's Bio and Day 1 Lessons Learned
Good evening,
I found today’s course useful as an introduction to ERP systems. No surprise came from the global architecture and basic definitions of ERP systems; basically it was as I imagine it!
I was quite interested by the different type of ERP on the market and especially about open source ERPs. I found interesting that a community of programmers share their knowledge and competencies about programming. I already knew about Linux and though that open source software was only applicable to it. However I am not sure this concept can bring efficient ERP solutions to companies. I think this concept comes from good feelings but several barriers such as compatibility, cost (employ programmers, huge developments …). So to my point of view it is interesting to know about these open source players but is it really feasible to work with them? Not quite sure…
Finally I was happy to learn a new word “bolt on”, but I don’t see the point in creating a new word if it means “add on”… Perhaps it is the moment to ask for some precision! So what difference is there between a bolt on and an add on?
So now more about me! I am a 4th years student at IESEG specialized in management control and audit. I come from this rainy region of France about 1 hour from Lille. Last year I was studying abroad in Canada, and more especially in Québec at the University of Sherbrooke. This course remind me a lecture I had in IS but hopefully this one is much more understandable even in English! After one year in Québec I decided to do my internship in England I order to improve a little my English… (Québec is a francophone part of Canada!). I was working for a European bank called BNP Paribas and I was responsible for translating an software in English and writing procedures about how to use it.
As I am specialized in management control and audit, I’d like to start my carrier abroad in internal audit. I will appreciate to work on projects in a different subsidiary of a multinational company. That is were ERP systems becomes interesting because it can be from what I learnt today a powerful tool for auditor in order to access to specific information. Then I already looked at job appliances in the audit field and some of them were requiring SAP qualifications and I was interested to know more about this.
I see my future job abroad as a springboard for a future job in France. I think, because of a work experience abroad, I will have more credibility on the French job market. So sacrifice 3 or 4 years abroad can be useful in this perspective…
At the end of this course I’d like to be able to take advantage of what I have learned about ERP, to be efficient on my future job. For me theory is good but practice is to me much more important.
Finally one thing “surprising” is that I play French hunting horn for 8 years now (Trompe de chasse in French)
Best regards
PS: This blog is a very modern and interesting way of communicating however I can’t log on! But I love it!
I found today’s course useful as an introduction to ERP systems. No surprise came from the global architecture and basic definitions of ERP systems; basically it was as I imagine it!
I was quite interested by the different type of ERP on the market and especially about open source ERPs. I found interesting that a community of programmers share their knowledge and competencies about programming. I already knew about Linux and though that open source software was only applicable to it. However I am not sure this concept can bring efficient ERP solutions to companies. I think this concept comes from good feelings but several barriers such as compatibility, cost (employ programmers, huge developments …). So to my point of view it is interesting to know about these open source players but is it really feasible to work with them? Not quite sure…
Finally I was happy to learn a new word “bolt on”, but I don’t see the point in creating a new word if it means “add on”… Perhaps it is the moment to ask for some precision! So what difference is there between a bolt on and an add on?
So now more about me! I am a 4th years student at IESEG specialized in management control and audit. I come from this rainy region of France about 1 hour from Lille. Last year I was studying abroad in Canada, and more especially in Québec at the University of Sherbrooke. This course remind me a lecture I had in IS but hopefully this one is much more understandable even in English! After one year in Québec I decided to do my internship in England I order to improve a little my English… (Québec is a francophone part of Canada!). I was working for a European bank called BNP Paribas and I was responsible for translating an software in English and writing procedures about how to use it.
As I am specialized in management control and audit, I’d like to start my carrier abroad in internal audit. I will appreciate to work on projects in a different subsidiary of a multinational company. That is were ERP systems becomes interesting because it can be from what I learnt today a powerful tool for auditor in order to access to specific information. Then I already looked at job appliances in the audit field and some of them were requiring SAP qualifications and I was interested to know more about this.
I see my future job abroad as a springboard for a future job in France. I think, because of a work experience abroad, I will have more credibility on the French job market. So sacrifice 3 or 4 years abroad can be useful in this perspective…
At the end of this course I’d like to be able to take advantage of what I have learned about ERP, to be efficient on my future job. For me theory is good but practice is to me much more important.
Finally one thing “surprising” is that I play French hunting horn for 8 years now (Trompe de chasse in French)
Best regards
Alexis
PS: This blog is a very modern and interesting way of communicating however I can’t log on! But I love it!
Lecture 1
Hey everyone, this is Sangyoun...here is a short bio of myself...
My Short Bio
So as you know my name is Sangyoun Han. I am Korean, but I live and study in Toronto,Canada. I attend the Schulich School of Business at York University and I'm in my third year of studies. I am completing my iBBA degree with a specialization in Finance and Marketing. I have been at IESEG since Jan 2007, and will be leaving once this semester is finished. I have a Finance internship back in Toronto for TD Securities, which is one of the largest bank in Canada, so I'm pretty excited about that. In the future, I am planning to have a career within the finance sector in I-Banking and/or consulting.
The reason I chose this course is because I haven't learned too much on this topic, and so I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn it here, in France. Also, I think its important to have at least a general understanding of other topics other than Finance and marketing, in order to help me in my career with a broad understanding of many business concepts. Therefore, I hope I learn a lot from this course, and I hope the topics learned in this course will help me someday in the future.
Finally, something interesting about me is that I love to experience different cultures, and one day I would love to take a year off and just travel the world!
Lessons learned from Lecture 1
So today was the first class for Global ERP Systems. I thought it was very interesting, especially because I came into the class with a very limited understanding of this concept. However, after a fun, interactive ice-breaker, I quickly realized how detailed an ERP system really is.
Today’s lecture was more theoretical, as the purpose of the class was to give an underlying idea of what the concept of ERP is. I learned that many firms use this system to replace the old methods, which operate on multiple systems for each department. The ERP system introducesONE system, in which all modules (finance, accounting, marketing, HR etc…) can be linked to the same database. What this creates is higher efficiencies through decreased time wasted and increased quality.
Furthermore, there is more than just one ERP system. We can divide them into three groups, Major Systems, Medium Systems, and Open Source Systems. Each category addresses certain attributes to specific groups, and therefore it is impossible to say which group is the best. Moreover, within each category are several ERP systems such asSAP and Oracle, which gives even more options for organizations to chose from. Therefore, issues such as customization, costs, way of business, and security all play and important role in choosing which ERP best suits a firm.
Finally, it was explained that although ERP systems are beneficial for most firms, it is very costly and requires constant maintenance and updates. Furthermore, the further we delve into this topic, the more it is apparent how intricate the system truly is, as specific software updates are needed for specific programs such as open systems architecture (“Bolt-on”). Thus, firms need to calculate whether the benefits in investing in an ERP system outweigh the costs in the long-run.
Today’s lecture was very insightful, with examples of real life experiences as well as open discussion within the class, and I look forward to tomorrow’s class.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways that's it for today, see you all tomorrow!
Cheers,
Sangyoun
My Short Bio
So as you know my name is Sangyoun Han. I am Korean, but I live and study in Toronto,Canada. I attend the Schulich School of Business at York University and I'm in my third year of studies. I am completing my iBBA degree with a specialization in Finance and Marketing. I have been at IESEG since Jan 2007, and will be leaving once this semester is finished. I have a Finance internship back in Toronto for TD Securities, which is one of the largest bank in Canada, so I'm pretty excited about that. In the future, I am planning to have a career within the finance sector in I-Banking and/or consulting.
The reason I chose this course is because I haven't learned too much on this topic, and so I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn it here, in France. Also, I think its important to have at least a general understanding of other topics other than Finance and marketing, in order to help me in my career with a broad understanding of many business concepts. Therefore, I hope I learn a lot from this course, and I hope the topics learned in this course will help me someday in the future.
Finally, something interesting about me is that I love to experience different cultures, and one day I would love to take a year off and just travel the world!
Lessons learned from Lecture 1
So today was the first class for Global ERP Systems. I thought it was very interesting, especially because I came into the class with a very limited understanding of this concept. However, after a fun, interactive ice-breaker, I quickly realized how detailed an ERP system really is.
Today’s lecture was more theoretical, as the purpose of the class was to give an underlying idea of what the concept of ERP is. I learned that many firms use this system to replace the old methods, which operate on multiple systems for each department. The ERP system introduces
Furthermore, there is more than just one ERP system. We can divide them into three groups, Major Systems, Medium Systems, and Open Source Systems. Each category addresses certain attributes to specific groups, and therefore it is impossible to say which group is the best. Moreover, within each category are several ERP systems such as
Finally, it was explained that although ERP systems are beneficial for most firms, it is very costly and requires constant maintenance and updates. Furthermore, the further we delve into this topic, the more it is apparent how intricate the system truly is, as specific software updates are needed for specific programs such as open systems architecture (“Bolt-on”). Thus, firms need to calculate whether the benefits in investing in an ERP system outweigh the costs in the long-run.
Today’s lecture was very insightful, with examples of real life experiences as well as open discussion within the class, and I look forward to tomorrow’s class.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways that's it for today, see you all tomorrow!
Cheers,
Sangyoun
So It is Working
Hi All,
Today was very exciting! You guys are a wonderful bunch and I certainly enjoyed the high level of participation and the different ideas you brought up in class!
It's great to see these posts. Apparently some of you got it to work and started the postings.
Wonderful! Please do your posting first and then read the posts of others. This way, you will first reflect on what you had in your mind, and then you will be able to remember what you might have not remember. You will be surprised how much this will help you learn and remember more.
Take care and looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Yeliz.
Today was very exciting! You guys are a wonderful bunch and I certainly enjoyed the high level of participation and the different ideas you brought up in class!
It's great to see these posts. Apparently some of you got it to work and started the postings.
Wonderful! Please do your posting first and then read the posts of others. This way, you will first reflect on what you had in your mind, and then you will be able to remember what you might have not remember. You will be surprised how much this will help you learn and remember more.
Take care and looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Yeliz.
Myself and my Learnings
Bio
Hi everyone!
My name is Thierry and I'm a student of Business Information Systems at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
This program of study is not obviously not very common in some parts of the world, so let me briefly describe what it includes: After doing two years of basic knowledge in business and computer science, as introductory accounting, economics, marketing, some programming languages and theoretical computer science and statistics classas, I have to choose 5 subjects in which I will have to achieve 24 (european = ECTS) credits. There are certain restrictions to the choice, however, I focus on "Computer Science", "Business Information Systems", "Marketing", "Accounting and Corporate Management" and "Management Psychology", whereas I am considering to exchange the last one with "Operations Research". If somebody might be able to guess some German words, you're welcome to see some mindmaps I created while studying on my website.
Relevant professional experience for this course may be an internship at Deutsche Bank
in the Business Management department, where I was involoved for preparation and rollout of a new CRM System. Other employers in that sort of context I had where AVG and TNS.
My career goal is not completly set yet... I am considering IT strategy consulting as an really interesting option, but I'll have to figure out if it is like I imagine it to be. This course will help me achieving my vague career goal by giving me more insights in a very condensed time frame that will be in every case nescessary (I know I will have to deal with SAP when I return), but might rise a fascinantion for a subject I didn't really know a lot about until now.
By the end of the course I hope to have a better overview and insight about what ERP Systems are really about, have a certain idea about the look&feel, strategic issues, and of course, some anecdotes from somebody that worked with them and already gained some professional experience.
One fact about me? Many of you may already know it: I was born and grew up in Germany, but still I only have the French citizenship, although this is the very first time I live in France for a longer than two-weeks period. I'm excited about living in "my" country the very first time.
Learnings
I don't want to repeat what my fellow students already mentioned. My key learnings today where the historical developement of the ERP Systems and the first time I thought about strategic issues while choosing them, whereas the discussion open source versus proprietary software is very similar in a lot of IT (landscape) descisions and not really specific for ERP. BTW: Open Source Software can have a variety of different licensing aspects. Still, different considerations have to be made even if the descision is already made for a proprietary system, as there might be different reasons for choosing bigger or smaller players.
The group work let us consider a special enterprise and focus on the reasons for implementing an ERP in an actual firm.
A special learning is this way of organizing a lecture: Writing into a teacher's blog is a completely new expericence, this being an assessed part even more. Let's see how this works out.
CU all tomorrow,
Thierry
Hi everyone!
My name is Thierry and I'm a student of Business Information Systems at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
This program of study is not obviously not very common in some parts of the world, so let me briefly describe what it includes: After doing two years of basic knowledge in business and computer science, as introductory accounting, economics, marketing, some programming languages and theoretical computer science and statistics classas, I have to choose 5 subjects in which I will have to achieve 24 (european = ECTS) credits. There are certain restrictions to the choice, however, I focus on "Computer Science", "Business Information Systems", "Marketing", "Accounting and Corporate Management" and "Management Psychology", whereas I am considering to exchange the last one with "Operations Research". If somebody might be able to guess some German words, you're welcome to see some mindmaps I created while studying on my website.
Relevant professional experience for this course may be an internship at Deutsche Bank
in the Business Management department, where I was involoved for preparation and rollout of a new CRM System. Other employers in that sort of context I had where AVG and TNS.
My career goal is not completly set yet... I am considering IT strategy consulting as an really interesting option, but I'll have to figure out if it is like I imagine it to be. This course will help me achieving my vague career goal by giving me more insights in a very condensed time frame that will be in every case nescessary (I know I will have to deal with SAP when I return), but might rise a fascinantion for a subject I didn't really know a lot about until now.
By the end of the course I hope to have a better overview and insight about what ERP Systems are really about, have a certain idea about the look&feel, strategic issues, and of course, some anecdotes from somebody that worked with them and already gained some professional experience.
One fact about me? Many of you may already know it: I was born and grew up in Germany, but still I only have the French citizenship, although this is the very first time I live in France for a longer than two-weeks period. I'm excited about living in "my" country the very first time.
Learnings
I don't want to repeat what my fellow students already mentioned. My key learnings today where the historical developement of the ERP Systems and the first time I thought about strategic issues while choosing them, whereas the discussion open source versus proprietary software is very similar in a lot of IT (landscape) descisions and not really specific for ERP. BTW: Open Source Software can have a variety of different licensing aspects. Still, different considerations have to be made even if the descision is already made for a proprietary system, as there might be different reasons for choosing bigger or smaller players.
The group work let us consider a special enterprise and focus on the reasons for implementing an ERP in an actual firm.
A special learning is this way of organizing a lecture: Writing into a teacher's blog is a completely new expericence, this being an assessed part even more. Let's see how this works out.
CU all tomorrow,
Thierry
I didn t really know what we were about to do in this class, as a matter of fact I was a bit afraid we would spend hours on the computers trying to set up systems and everything, but we didn't :)
I am now able to seize the difference between ERP and SAP. There is actually a lot more ERPs than just this one, some of them are major players, others smaller. There is also these "independant players", the open source: I guess it's more reactive to changes as anyone can participate to its development. From my point of view, ERP implementation is such a big change for the firm that I might choose a major player rather than another ERP. Even though it is to be more costly, it's more reliable and for a firm having growing strategy by acquisitions, it is more probable both companies will have compatible systems.
On the course itself, I find it pleasant because it's interactive and as the subject is new to me, it's quite interesting :)
See you tomorrow, take care
Hasta manana, cuidense
...mmm in turkish you girls teach me tomorrow
I am now able to seize the difference between ERP and SAP. There is actually a lot more ERPs than just this one, some of them are major players, others smaller. There is also these "independant players", the open source: I guess it's more reactive to changes as anyone can participate to its development. From my point of view, ERP implementation is such a big change for the firm that I might choose a major player rather than another ERP. Even though it is to be more costly, it's more reliable and for a firm having growing strategy by acquisitions, it is more probable both companies will have compatible systems.
On the course itself, I find it pleasant because it's interactive and as the subject is new to me, it's quite interesting :)
See you tomorrow, take care
Hasta manana, cuidense
...mmm in turkish you girls teach me tomorrow
about Monday 5
On the first class of Global ERP systems administration I learned the very basics of the ERP systems topic.
In the class, the definition of ERP was explained as well as the evolution of the name; from MRP to MRP-II, and finally ERP. The diferences in those terms is that it started at the material level, then it became into financial and operations and now it refers to a more integral system that contains all the departments as modules, ej. maufacturing, financials, supply chain, projects, human resources, marketing; data warehouse, etc...
The differences between a major ERP company and the counterpart, the Open source, can be the difficulty to integration (compatibility). This means that companies which use systems from the open source could find more troubles when merging or integrating with a new module or new company.
In a first and quick look at ERP systems, it seems that the worst part is implementation. The costs of training and the efforts in change managment are sometimes underestimated.
Have a good day. Que tenga(n) un buen dia.
ERP just a label
As students, we should always take some time in the afternoon to remind what we learn during the day. And we do not want this freaky answer: nothing. Hopefully, even we are in day 1, we can watch behind and say that there is some stuff to summarize.
Remember that this morning, I started with nothing in mind.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise Resource Planning is a useful tool for (big) companies. SAP and Oracle as the major player (MP) in this area. And as in every software sector, there are open source programs. (OP) We can discuss about pros and cons of each solution but we mainly find the classical advantages and disadvantages. (support for MP, community of programmors for OP, problems of security breaches, data integrity etc...)
ERP just a label?
Well, before ERP, there was MRP (Material Requirements Planning) and later on MRP-II. (Material Resource Planning) I think that the second one is just a evolution of MRP. First, it includes MRP. Second, it brings some new posibilities. ERP is, like MRP-II, a evolution more complete. The label we put of one program does not matter. It is common in IT to change labels over time (and fashion?) but this does not change fundamentally the software itself.
Modularity and avoidance of data redundancy
SAP is one of the MP. The interesting point of ERP is the modularity they have. You can pick only the module you want and add it on a basic program. But the most important point of ERP is the fact that it has one database only. If you can take the one database you have for each departement and change it for one database for you company, imagine the time you save the data integrity you gain.
To be continued tomorrow...
Remember that this morning, I started with nothing in mind.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise Resource Planning is a useful tool for (big) companies. SAP and Oracle as the major player (MP) in this area. And as in every software sector, there are open source programs. (OP) We can discuss about pros and cons of each solution but we mainly find the classical advantages and disadvantages. (support for MP, community of programmors for OP, problems of security breaches, data integrity etc...)
ERP just a label?
Well, before ERP, there was MRP (Material Requirements Planning) and later on MRP-II. (Material Resource Planning) I think that the second one is just a evolution of MRP. First, it includes MRP. Second, it brings some new posibilities. ERP is, like MRP-II, a evolution more complete. The label we put of one program does not matter. It is common in IT to change labels over time (and fashion?) but this does not change fundamentally the software itself.
Modularity and avoidance of data redundancy
SAP is one of the MP. The interesting point of ERP is the modularity they have. You can pick only the module you want and add it on a basic program. But the most important point of ERP is the fact that it has one database only. If you can take the one database you have for each departement and change it for one database for you company, imagine the time you save the data integrity you gain.
To be continued tomorrow...
MISI169E - Day 1
As you read in one previous post, "Global ERP systems Implementation Strategies" has begun in IESEG School of Management in Lille. (France) Lets start by the beginning and, as it is my first text, I will briefly explain who I am.
First of all, I am one of the student of U. Yeliz Eseryel. I am a French guy of the north of France. My name is Julien. I should not told you this but I am not keen about blogs even if it is part of the Web 2.0 - which means that everybody loves this. I like surfing as we can learn surprising stuff. I recently learn that someone called like me is a Belgian stylist in Brussels. Anybody has its own hobbies...
Although my studies are still in progress, I worked in different French e-commerce like Youg's or WUP. My job was to improve ranking of those site over the search engine. That is very long work but pretty fun. I still working on this type of stuff for myself or as a consultant. Not only I have knowledge about Internet but I also have technical skills of programmation and the structure it needs. I hope this will help for the ERP field in the future.
My career goal is not quite clear yet but you might meet me on the web at one time or the other in the future. I also want to keep going on about SEO* and consultancy.
Through the course, we will improve our knowledge about ERP. This morning, the only thing (quite true) I knew was that ERP means Enterprise Resource Planning. Well it will not be the case at the end of the week. At least I expect so.
Now, the show must go on.
* Search Engine Optimization
First of all, I am one of the student of U. Yeliz Eseryel. I am a French guy of the north of France. My name is Julien. I should not told you this but I am not keen about blogs even if it is part of the Web 2.0 - which means that everybody loves this. I like surfing as we can learn surprising stuff. I recently learn that someone called like me is a Belgian stylist in Brussels. Anybody has its own hobbies...
Although my studies are still in progress, I worked in different French e-commerce like Youg's or WUP. My job was to improve ranking of those site over the search engine. That is very long work but pretty fun. I still working on this type of stuff for myself or as a consultant. Not only I have knowledge about Internet but I also have technical skills of programmation and the structure it needs. I hope this will help for the ERP field in the future.
My career goal is not quite clear yet but you might meet me on the web at one time or the other in the future. I also want to keep going on about SEO* and consultancy.
Through the course, we will improve our knowledge about ERP. This morning, the only thing (quite true) I knew was that ERP means Enterprise Resource Planning. Well it will not be the case at the end of the week. At least I expect so.
Now, the show must go on.
* Search Engine Optimization
Saturday, February 24, 2007
MISI169E Global ERP systems Implementation Strategies"
I am going to be teaching the MISI169E Global ERP systems Implementation Strategies" course in IESEG Management School in Lille, France in March 2007. My students will be invited on this blog to reflect on what they learned each day, as well as on what they read. My students at the Syracus e University Campus typically do that using WebCT and find it as a useful tool to improve learning and recall. I also strongly suggest everyone to read others' posts and respond to those posts using the "comment" feature. This way, you also learn from each other.
I would encourage my students to keep on posting on this website after the class is over to share and reflect on ERP or Enterprise system related information, news, thoughts...
I would encourage my students to keep on posting on this website after the class is over to share and reflect on ERP or Enterprise system related information, news, thoughts...
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Speaking at a|EA Washington, DC Chapter Meeting
Yesterday I was the guest speaker at the Association for Enterprise Architects (a|EA) Washington, DC chapter on the "Strategic Use of Enterprise Architecture (EA) with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems For Federal Government Success". I delivered the presentation through videoconferencing. The participants were very active and they interacted with me throughout the presentation and it was fun!
See the following website to see all the presentations from their chapter meetings.
There's an A|EA chapter in Syracuse too believe it or not.
See the following website to see all the presentations from their chapter meetings.
There's an A|EA chapter in Syracuse too believe it or not.
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