Are you planning on buying or upgrading your ERP system?

SAP is best right? Sage is the poor man’s SAP. Go for Oracle if the big boys are advising you. What about Microsoft Business Central, the new kids on the block, gotta be great cos it’s Microsoft. That’s before we get to the myriad of lesser known, industry specific solutions.

ERP is great. Not many people really know what it is beyond a name, even less know the true functionality of ERP, and even less have experience of undertaking a full implementation.

What is absolute is that 90% of ERP implementations don’t go beyond finance, 90% of those are done badly, and a further 90% ultimately fail as people don’t get what they want from the system and resort to Excel and fag packets.

What about all the other modules?

Well, we don’t really need them as there are enough people in ops to do all that stuff long hand. Or we can buy another stand-alone solution for that later.

OK, so you’ve set up ERP and are using Sales Order Processing?

Well, no. We never integrated EDI so we just enter manually. Plus, we never set up customer master and product master, so we just put a sales value line on ERP to create the invoice.

OK, but you use Purchase Order Processing?

Well, not really as we never set up supplier masters and product codes, so we fudge it through excel. Besides, what do we need the POP for?

Ah, that’s OK, at least you manage stock in ERP, so that’s a start?

Erm no! We don’t transact stock live as we have no WMS and no disciplines, so we rely on weekly & monthly stock counts, in Excel again, to reset stock.

So how do you run MRP?       – Excel

Planning & Scheduling?          – Excel, leave it to ops.

Work order & Kitting?             – Nope

Data Capture?                            – Excel

Stock management?                 – Excel

CRM?                                           – Excel, rolladeck (remember them)?

HRM?                                           – Nope

But Martyn. All that’s OK because we are going to install SAP and that will fix it all!

Yes, that will be the magic version of SAP that sorts all the master data. Automatically sets up data tables, BOMs, routings, and fixes all the processes and transactional disciplines that are missing.

I assume when all this is done we can outlaw Excel and do all data analytics and reporting in this new system?

Don’t be silly, we work in finance, we need Excel.

So, why did you choose SAP as opposed to any other system?

We used it in the last place and loved it..

Did you use it for Manufacturing, Ops, MRP, SOP, POP, CRM, HRM, planning, kitting, work orders….?

No, just as a source of largely apocryphal data we could whinge about and get ops to double check as we never believed it.

But the screens were nice, and it’s the most expensive so it must be good.

This may sound flippant, and you can replace SAP with any other solution in the text but believe me this is happening in organisations across the globe daily. These conversations happen weekly with prospective clients, and yet still no progress.

And here we are wondering why 75% of ERP projects fail or don’t deliver the intended objectives, and let’s be honest, some of those objectives are quite small to start with.

So, what’s the alternative? Work with Chasm and do it properly. Yes, it will take time, and effort, and some tough conversations, but it will work.

• Process map everything and build a detailed set of requirements with a URS.
• Understand what the new system needs to do and where you are willing to compromise.
• Review all available options and how they align to the URS.
• Demo & discussions with other similar businesses using the same system. (Remember their showcase client is hand-picked to show you the best version)
• Determine what gaps you will have with the chosen solution and how you intend to bridge those gaps in operation.
• Project manage it to death.
• Communicate to death.
• Invest in the hardware, invest in the people.
• Don’t rush, it will take 12 months minimum to do it properly, anything less and you will be part of the 75% club.
• Prepare for a bumpy road & hold your nerve.
• Train, coach, mentor, guide, educate.

And finally, never leave it to finance alone. They only use a small fraction of the ERP system and are almost never the ones doing the grunt work before, during or after.