Visual South Insights

ERP software assessments provide answers to your questions

Visual South assists companies with ERP assessments and implementations every day, and has since 1993. It’s what we do and we have been through the evaluation process hundreds of times.

However, companies typically only evaluate ERP software every 10 to 15 years (if that). The ERP selection team members may have never evaluated software, or may have done so only once before. This leads to the development of disparate processes -- some are good and others not so good. The Visual South team can help regardless.

Project-based manufacturers have specific ERP functional requirements

To effectively address business needs, project-based companies must choose an ERP system that meets their specific functional requirements. This is critical for success. The first step is to assess whether the ERP you’re evaluating offers project-related functionality at all, in addition to its standard functionality.

On-premise vs. cloud ERP implementation

A cloud ERP implementation requires the same elements as an on-premise implementation from a methodology perspective, but not from a technical perspective. The difference lies in the level of responsibility.

How to know when ERP integrations with third-party applications are appropriate

The upside of buying enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is the economy of scale. Since it is written for the masses and not customized for one company, the cost per user plummets. For example, Microsoft Office certainly costs more to develop than the few hundred dollars it costs to license. One of the other upsides is that thousands of users create a robust community that quickly flushes out weaknesses in functionality, helping the software become stronger. The downside is that the ERP may not be totally in sync with the company’s culture, and that’s when most people start to think about ERP integrations. To give an instance, what some may call a production order, the ERP may refer to as a work order. Some of the ERP system’s screens may be laid out differently than what the company would have preferred. Or maybe the processes the software supports are not in total alignment with the company’s current processes.

Crane manufacturers have specific business system needs

What crane manufacturers have in common with other types of manufacturers is that they must plan for material requirements, schedule jobs, and execute the production of those jobs. However, crane manufacturers have many requirements and needs that are unique to their industry. In this article, we’ll review how those unique requirements can be addressed with crane industry software or crane manufacturing software.

Some background before we begin

The process to evaluate and choose an ERP software is not a simple task; as a matter of fact, it is a complex task. Because of the risk and cost, it’s a big decision for a company, big or small, to find and implement an ERP. I have numerous conversations with companies that are going through this selection process, and if they don’t bring up the subject of cost in our first conversation, then I do because it is so important! To help you set a realistic budget for your new ERP system, read below for a list of costs you should plan for.

You need a plan that outlines how to choose an ERP vendor and system

It may seem relatively easy to choose an ERP vendor—just pick the one that offers the best technology and customer support, right? But it’s often not that straightforward because many companies do not have a plan when evaluating vendors. I’ve been involved in enterprise application sales for over 25 years and there is little consistency on how organizations evaluate vendors like Visual South. What I can tell you is that organizations are happiest with their choice of ERP vendor when the evaluation team has a logical process in place to assess the ERP system’s functionality and the vendor’s services.

The good, the bad

I’ve been involved with manufacturing and ERP for over 30 years. During that time, I’ve learned a lot about the interaction between a manufacturing organization, their goals, and their ERP (or lack thereof). I’ve seen companies who have a good plan for choosing ERP; I’ve seen companies that don’t. I’ve seen companies that use ERP well; I’ve seen companies that don’t. I’ve seen companies admit they weren’t using ERP well and then work towards fixing that problem. I’ve seen companies admit they weren’t using ERP well and then lose interest in using it better. I’ve also seen a common thread between the companies who excel in selecting/using ERP, and those that don’t. The ones who excel have the expertise to develop a good strategy and execute it, or they admit they don’t have the expertise and they get help. They view the cost of getting help as an investment that has a payback. The ones who don’t excel aren’t aware they don’t have the expertise, so they never get the help they need. They view the cost of getting help as an expense.

Contents

• Introduction
• Chapter I – How to Run a Successful ERP Comparison
• Chapter II – 5 Characteristics of a Successful ERP Implementation
• Chapter III – 5 Characteristics of ERP Implementations Failures
• Chapter IV – Post ERP Implementation: How to Keep It Running Well
• Epilogue

Introduction

Buying ERP is a big deal. I know because I’ve done it. I was a Plant Manager in the mid-90s, and we were running production with a homegrown system that could not be modified because we didn’t have the source code. It was better than nothing, but not by much. We were not managing our capacity, our scheduling consisted of pushing product through the plant day in and day out. It was exhausting, and our on-time delivery range fluctuated from OK to bad. The results we got did not reflect the work we put into it.

Manufacturers have made the move to cloud-based ERP systems

It seems like just yesterday that the concept of cloud-based ERP for the manufacturing industry was far-fetched. But today’s reality is manufacturers are choosing cloud deployment over on-premise deployment virtually every time. That is a paradigm shift for those of us who have been working with enterprise applications in the manufacturing sector.