Contrast enterprise resource planning

Contrast enterprise resource planning

The company I work for has decided to integrate Planview as the backbone for Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP). This company is a large conglomerate comprised of many divisions.

Most of the divisions were acquired through acquisition. Many times large organizations apply

the one size fits all approach when designing and implementing a solution and this situation was

one of those types of implementations. The corporate office would be the model that all of the

divisions would mirror.

The article “The phases of ERP software implementation” speaks about cost, approach

along with analyzing ERP implementations. The core findings concerning ERP implementation

are “more focus needs to be placed on the key determinants of preferred ERP use -preparation

and training phase” (JCIS 2008)

This observation is interesting because the implementation of the ERP I experienced was

done without much focus on preparation and training. The ERP system was designed around the

corporate office needs then rolled out to the rest of the company. The training and consulting

services were spent on the corporate integration of the ERP. The remaining divisions used

CBT’s and ad-hoc training sessions. All of the subsidiaries have there own processes and

software for budget, project and resource management. Legacy systems had to be shut down and

data ported. Many times there was not easy way to electronically move data between systems. It

was cheaper to use data entry clerks to migrate data.

The reasoning behind this madding approach to rolling out the ERP system is the

franchising philosophy adopted by the company last year. The conglomerates quick growth was

facilitated by acquiring many companies. Each with there own internal systems and policies. The
Contrast enterprise resource planning

franchising philosophy is a 5 year plan to identify, processes and software that could be deploy

company wide. The ultimate goal is cost saving through standardization.

How return on investment (ROI) would be calculated is some what subjective in these

cases. There are huge expenses in the implementation and maintenance of an ERP system.

“There have been many difficult and costly implementations of ERP systems that have adversely

impacted many organizations” (JCIS 2008). There are one time costs like the initial

implementation and training. However the on going maintenances of these systems can be

costly. There is annual licensing of the software. ERP systems are ridged and require data to be

put into the system in a timely manner and correctly. For larger company’s teams of people are

needed to monitor correct and update the system daily.

Once the ERP is in place getting meaningful information (data mining) becomes the next

priority. This involves analysts to get raw data and originating it in to information and in

readable manure. Often times the information is not understood are requires technical and

business research so be annotated.

The article speaks about using the Software development life Cycle SDLC as a guideline

for implementation. For large companies this is only a guideline since every organization is so

unique with there processes, data and legacy systems.

The ERP implementation I experience was timed well. The company was already in the

process of migration and phasing out old systems. Before the ERP implementation the company

has under gone servile reorgs to prepare for the changes in policy and roles needed for the new

system.

The system is being used for demand management, project tracking, financial forecasting

and measuring key initiatives. Another huge benefit is sharing of data throughout the
Contrast enterprise resource planning

organization. The ERP software implementation will optimize human resource management, aid

in achieving data transparency and help asset management.

References

JCIS Journal of Computer Information Systems. (2008, 2008). The Phases of ERP

Software Implementation and Maintenance. Retrieved 12/01/2010, from

Contrast enterprise resource planning

http://www.iacis.org/jcis/pdf/Peslak_Subramanian_Clayton_48_2.pdf