It was once a giant leap forward for a growing job shop to move from manual stock control and accounting of shop operations to something a bit more computerized, such as Excel spreadsheets. In time, though, the rising business experienced even more expansion and with it the need to bring all facets of the operation into a single-source system of information control. Now, spreadsheets with old information delivered from diverse sources all around the shop simply would no longer work. Constant issues of organization, freshness of data, lack of real time information flow challenged efficiency. The time eventually came for total enterprise resource planning, or ERP.
The installation of a system-wide, ERP software solution is not a simple task. To succeed, the project has several needs that must be satisfied in order for payback to come to fruition. Indeed, implementation of a new ERP system means dedication to the project by all employees-without their diligence in using it only partial rewards will be gained. First and foremost among the ERP implementation needs is an executive championing the project. In short, ERP implementation is not just an IT project-it's a company-wide endeavor mandating the management of planning, tasking, and control.
It must also be remembered that there are always pressures on implementation deadlines and the tendency to look for shortcuts (as is the case in many other areas of business). These will not work in an ERP implementation, as compromises in the short term will always turn into major problems on the long term. In this regard, there is an importance placed upon knowing just how your business has changed over the years since it moved from one planning/shop control system to another. What was the original system designed to do? What products/processes/services have been added or dropped in that period, and what is the present production control situation? Who are the various data owners in the company and what needs of storage, analysis, and acquisition do they have? In other words, the operational responsibilities for the data including executive ownership need to be defined and agreed.
Finally, when it comes to transitioning from the old system to the new ERP system, it's vital to make it as rapid as is feasible-without compromising production, quality, and customer service. In a staged implementation process, there needs to be a constant awareness that not all data is dynamic-but some is. This is one reason, an important reason, behind the simple fact that parallel running the new and old system with dynamic data is very difficult.
At the same time, though, parallel running will often reveal problems in both the old and the new system, therefore allowing a way to monitor the implementation in stages that are constantly building upon and improving each other. This is not to say that software problems should be tolerated indefinitely for reasons of understanding; indeed-such delays are usually not conducive to delivering business benefits.
So, getting implementation right the first time takes a concerted effort and focus of attention on the part of all personnel-shop floor, management, and administration. Only with such dedication can a company see the dream of a single-system ERP software system come to life in the form of continuous improvement.
http://globalshopsolutions.com/
Dusty Alexander is the President of Global Shop Solutions. Global Shop Solutions is the largest privately held ERP software company in the United States.
Copyright 2008 - Global Shop Solutions. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, and give the author name credit.
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By Dusty Alexander
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