You will often hear that training is critical to the success of an ERP implementation. Despite its importance, training is often neglected until it’s too late. During the selection process, the focus is on features and functionality, roles and responsibilities, and contract negotiation; and training is assumed. The vendors are often vague about training as a detailed discussion about it will lead to concerns about whether it’s enough, who will be doing it, how it will be done, and what materials are provided. We highly recommend that a detailed training plan is included in the vendor’s Statement of Work. Assuming […]
National Technology Forum CPA (NTF)
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Change Management in an ERP Implementation
The commonly held belief is that people are resistant to change, which is the leading cause for failed ERP implementations/changes. It is our opinion that the resistance to change is a symptom of the problem, and not the cause. The primary cause is not being prepared for the implementation, which will then lead to resistance as employees face huge, unexpected problems, work overtime for months or more, and question leadership who brought about the change. Change management experts focus on remedies that include support from leadership and communication plans, which don’t fix the primary problem. To fix the primary problem, organizations […]
Defining Scope in an ERP Selection Project
Vendors will define scope at the highest level possible to avoid contractual problems during the implementation. Ideally scope is defined at a low level (the requirements in an RFP) but vendors will resist this partly because they would now be contractually responsible to implement detailed requirements that may turn out to be more challenging than initially thought. So, if vendors are willing to define scope at the requirements level, they need to spend a lot of time during the sales cycle to make sure that they can actually do exactly what is required. They will try to qualify their response […]
Understanding ERP Deployment Options Continued
Back in February, we tried to shed some light on the various ERP deployment options (https://www.180systems.com/understanding-erp-deployment-options/). One of the most confusing options was whether the vendor offered multi-tenant architecture, which allows one instance of the software to serve multiple companies at the same time, and brings down the costs of the hosting fees. Some vendors have not built multi-tenant from the ground-up or changed their code to accommodate it. Instead they have used middleware and Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) to get something equivalent. Sorry – I realize that these terms also lead to more confusion and so another approach is needed. We […]
Top 10 ERP Systems
If you do a search on the Top 10 ERP systems, you will find lists of the most well-known systems developed and maintained by the largest vendors. These vendors do offer advantages over many of the smaller vendors, who are not as well funded and may not be able to invest as much R&D in their system. The largest vendors will often have extended functionality for bigger enterprises that could also be used by smaller companies with complex requirements. They will also have more resources including multiple business partners to implement the system. And the owners will perceive less risk […]
Beware of Roles and Responsibilities in an ERP Implementation
Let’s assume you did a thorough job in evaluating the ERP systems/vendors and are in contract negotiations with the preferred vendor. You will be asked to agree to many things including their assumptions on roles and responsibilities for activities such as testing, integration, documenting business process design… The problem is that you have no idea whether the allocation of activity between the vendor and your organization is reasonable. Unfortunately, you may learn the hard way when the vendor issues change requests (and higher costs) for work that was assumed to be your responsibility but for which you need a lot […]
National Technology Forum (NTF)
The National Technology Forum (NTF) is back for it’s 3rd year and was scheduled on May 25-26 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. However, it will be postponed because of Covid-19 at a future/safe date. At NTF, you will be able to compare leading ERP systems (Microsoft, SAP, Infor, Workday, Epicor, Multiview and Sage), obtain guidance from thought leaders, learn about emerging technology, network with your peers… NTF is presented by CPA Canada and 180 Systems and there is no better place to get up to speed on enterprise software and disruptive technologies that are changing the way we do […]
Understanding ERP Deployment Options
If you’re confused by the different options, you are not alone. The vendors add to the confusion as they refer to the deployment options in different ways and they don’t include some of the options. On premise has been around the longest and it’s easy to understand. You pay a one-time fee for the license and annual maintenance fees, but the vendors are all heading to the clouds. The cloud is confusing as there are different types. A public cloud is hosted by the ERP vendor and includes all the software and data, also referred to as Software as a […]
National Technology Forum
For the 2nd year, we have joined forces with CPA Canada in presenting the National Technology Forum (NTF). NTF will occur on May 22-24 with a conference for the 1st 2 days and workshops on the 3rd day. The conference is mostly about enterprise software (ERP, CPM, HR and BI) and emerging technology and is targeted to senior leaders who are responsible for technology investment decisions in industry and public practice. Conference Highlights ERP, HR, BI and CPM (Corporate Performance Management) sessions delivered for customers, by customers, featuring plenty of real-life experiences, lessons learned and valuable advice Industry challenges (manufacturing, […]