ERP

Discreet and process manufacturing difference

June 28, 2009

When implementing NAV in manufacturing companies, I’ve sometimes heard complaints that the type of manufacturing supported in NAV doesn’t fit the customer needs. And sometimes that’s completely true. NAV supports discreet manufacturing, and it handles it pretty well. But the things do get bumpy when you venture into process manufacturing world. Sometimes customers or even [...]

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Panorama ERP diagnostic and Assessment

April 23, 2009

Panorama Consulting Group, the authors of the ERP report, have just made available two interesting tools: ERP Quick Diagnostic, and ERP Readiness Assessment. According to their website, if you are “in the early stages of selecting a new ERP software or if you’ve already completed your project, our ERP Quick Diagnostic will help you benchmark [...]

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Disruptive nature of ERP projects

April 7, 2009

Many project management authorities assert that from project management stance all projects are equal. I dare saying that some projects are more equal than others. In my last post, I argued why I believe software (and ERP) projects are different. But something came to my mind today, and it’s really an important differentiator of ERP [...]

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Is an ERP implementation project just a project?

April 6, 2009

“Software projects are no different from other projects”. This statement is being repeated over and over at project management courses and seminars, even endorsed in books. It’s true that software (and ERP implementation, as a subset of software) projects have many traits in common with projects in other disciplines. But ignoring their specifics is almost [...]

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History of Microsoft Dynamics NAV

March 24, 2009

This was a part of Chapter 1 in the first draft of my book Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009. It was cut to keep page count down and preserve the environment, but I figure that a few electrons pushed through the optical labyrinths of The Internet won’t hurt anyone, so here you get it, in [...]

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5th rule of agile ERP: interface where possible

March 23, 2009

One of the biggest absurdities about ERP systems springs from the very word we use so often when describing ERP: integrated. ERP is an integrated system: it integrates all data and processes into a single application. Different modules look over different aspects of data and processes, but a change in one module automatically reflects in [...]

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4th rule of agile ERP: avoid heavy customizations

March 20, 2009

You can’t avoid customizations. Vanilla ERP is a great first step, and a valuable tool for establishing common language between the customer and the consultant. But in the long run? Probably not. Pristine uncustomized ERP won’t be sufficient, because of the gaps between your way and ERP’s way. Sooner or later, gaps will have to [...]

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3rd rule of agile ERP: focus on value

March 19, 2009

- “We need a report which groups our sales by product components.” – “And we need it broken down by cost centers.” – “And it must show comparison with last month, quarter and year, and with budget and forecast, with indexes and trends. In linear regression.” – “And it must let you choose if it [...]

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2nd rule of agile ERP: deploy gradually

March 18, 2009

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Swallowing it all at once might be tempting as it has all the potential you need to get into the next edition of Guinness World Records. Likewise, trying it with an ERP implementation has all the potential you need to get into to the [...]

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1st rule of agile ERP: deploy vanilla ERP

March 17, 2009

“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” That’s the very first principle of the Agile Manifesto. The problem with ERP is that the first deliveries are all but early: they typically occur only after about twenty months. Twenty months is a heck of a long time. [...]

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5 steps to implement ERP the Agile way

March 16, 2009

In my previous post I’ve (what, again?) shared some statistics about success and failure rates of software projects in general and ERP projects specifically. It seems that ERP projects fare somewhat worse than generic software projects, which I stated might have a lot to do with how requirements are handled. Agile is an unpopular word [...]

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