Disclaimer: The
articles in this blog post are those that I found interesting and
relevant to the topic of ERP and technology in general. I have no
commercial association with any of the entities mentioned in this
article. I may be following a few of these entities on LinkedIn and even
some of these entities may be on my LinkedIn or Social Media network.
These articles are selected purely based on their relevance to the
objective of this blog, to promote ERP. Finally, the summary is mine.
While I stay close to the points in the articles, I also elaborate a few
of them based on my understanding.
The Short URL for this post is http://bit.ly/ERP_RICE
The steps in ERP Implementation are:
5. ERP Implementation: ERP Project Management
6. ERP Implementation: Requirements Gathering
7. ERP Implementation: Solution Design
8. ERP Implementation: Solution Testing
9. ERP Implementation: End user training
10. ERP Implementation: RICE
11. ERP Implementation: Integration
12. ERP Implementation: Data Conversion
6. ERP Implementation: Requirements Gathering
7. ERP Implementation: Solution Design
8. ERP Implementation: Solution Testing
9. ERP Implementation: End user training
10. ERP Implementation: RICE
11. ERP Implementation: Integration
12. ERP Implementation: Data Conversion
13. Post Implementation Support and Stabilization
The topic for this week is RICE. It stands for Reports, Integrations, Customizations and Extensions. Another term used is CEMLI (Configurations, Extensions, Modifications, Localization and Integration). I am discussing Integrations separately in the next week's post.
In the early years of my ERP career I was implementing a mid segment ERP application called SCALA. The main advantage of this application was its rigidity. Application did not allow customization. Either the consultant had to give innovative configurable solution or the customer had to change their process. Considering this is India, no customer is ready to change their business processes and so I ended up providing some awesome solution through configurations. We used to call them 'Work Arounds' a phrase that hide the quality of innovative solutions that we provided.
From On-premise applications that encourage customizations to Cloud applications that frown upon them we have come 360 degree since my SCALA days. The five articles give different perspectives of RICE. We have discussion on Customization disadvantages, best practices in customization (Zero Customization is a pipe dream as articles 2 and 3 point out) and best strategies for Reporting and getting quick value out of your ERP Investment.
Additional readings section has one article on Exception reports from this blog.
Good articles all of them, do give them a decko...
Top Five Articles
1. Customization or Configuration? XLedger.com
https://xledger.com/files/2017/08/Customization-or-Configuration-Alternative-Approaches-to-ERP-Implementation-_blog_8_1_2017.pdf
Customization refers to any software alteration that requires custom coding. It increases the cost, the complexity and risk of implementation. It also increases the cost of future upgrades. Configuration refers to the use of native system tools to change system's features of behaviour. The configurable solutions provide workflows, templates and best practices.
Customizations increase the cost of future upgrades. In Cloud implementations, due to the frequency of upgrades, the customers bear additional costs of testing and modifying the customization during every upgrade. Due to the costs and the hazzles involved, customers are likely to put off upgrades leaving them as bystanders to the rapidly innovating ERP ecosystem.
Customization may be symptomatic of more fundamental problems like the application's mismatch to the customer requirements or lack of project controls during implementation. Many ERP consultants do not know the best features of the application and recommend customization to hide their lack of knowledge.
In the age of Cloud, a good SAAS application will support configuration to meet customer's needs. This helps the customers to take advantage of the upgrade path and keep up to date with the innovations in the industry.
Some innovative ideas in this article.
2. Should we customize our ERP System? Ultraconsultants.com
https://ultraconsultants.com/should-we-customize-our-erp-system/
While the ERP applications 'used to' be able to meet only about 80% of the business requirements, the rapid advances in ERP has ensured that most of them have developed tool set and created built-in process modifiers that help the customer to configure the application to meet complex process requirements. Since the applications have become more flexible, the decision on customization has become more nuanced.
The topic for this week is RICE. It stands for Reports, Integrations, Customizations and Extensions. Another term used is CEMLI (Configurations, Extensions, Modifications, Localization and Integration). I am discussing Integrations separately in the next week's post.
In the early years of my ERP career I was implementing a mid segment ERP application called SCALA. The main advantage of this application was its rigidity. Application did not allow customization. Either the consultant had to give innovative configurable solution or the customer had to change their process. Considering this is India, no customer is ready to change their business processes and so I ended up providing some awesome solution through configurations. We used to call them 'Work Arounds' a phrase that hide the quality of innovative solutions that we provided.
From On-premise applications that encourage customizations to Cloud applications that frown upon them we have come 360 degree since my SCALA days. The five articles give different perspectives of RICE. We have discussion on Customization disadvantages, best practices in customization (Zero Customization is a pipe dream as articles 2 and 3 point out) and best strategies for Reporting and getting quick value out of your ERP Investment.
Additional readings section has one article on Exception reports from this blog.
Good articles all of them, do give them a decko...
Top Five Articles
1. Customization or Configuration? XLedger.com
https://xledger.com/files/2017/08/Customization-or-Configuration-Alternative-Approaches-to-ERP-Implementation-_blog_8_1_2017.pdf
Customization refers to any software alteration that requires custom coding. It increases the cost, the complexity and risk of implementation. It also increases the cost of future upgrades. Configuration refers to the use of native system tools to change system's features of behaviour. The configurable solutions provide workflows, templates and best practices.
Customizations increase the cost of future upgrades. In Cloud implementations, due to the frequency of upgrades, the customers bear additional costs of testing and modifying the customization during every upgrade. Due to the costs and the hazzles involved, customers are likely to put off upgrades leaving them as bystanders to the rapidly innovating ERP ecosystem.
Customization may be symptomatic of more fundamental problems like the application's mismatch to the customer requirements or lack of project controls during implementation. Many ERP consultants do not know the best features of the application and recommend customization to hide their lack of knowledge.
In the age of Cloud, a good SAAS application will support configuration to meet customer's needs. This helps the customers to take advantage of the upgrade path and keep up to date with the innovations in the industry.
Some innovative ideas in this article.
2. Should we customize our ERP System? Ultraconsultants.com
https://ultraconsultants.com/should-we-customize-our-erp-system/
While the ERP applications 'used to' be able to meet only about 80% of the business requirements, the rapid advances in ERP has ensured that most of them have developed tool set and created built-in process modifiers that help the customer to configure the application to meet complex process requirements. Since the applications have become more flexible, the decision on customization has become more nuanced.
There could be situations where customization is warranted. For example, the application that supports discrete manufacturing may need to be extended to other forms of manufacturing. Or it may be based on the demand from a major customer to integrate with their business processes. Or it could the requirement for a new business process like handling third party logistics vendor.
In summary, While ERP applications may be flexible, there are situations where customization would be warranted.
3. Seven ways to minimize ERP Software Customization: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/seven-ways-to-minimize-erp-software-customization/
While 'Zero customization' is not feasible, there are seven ways to limit customization during ERP Implementation.
- Expect customization. Do not make the mistake of expecting zero customization
- Choose the right ERP software that fits your business and operational requirements
- Don't simply follow the cowpaths. Instead of configuring AS IS, try to leverage new processes and features available in application. In other ways be prepared to change your business processes
- Establish the right project governance and controls for implementation. Ensure to put in place a review and approval mechanism for approving customization requests.
- Invest in Organizational Change Management. Organizational resistance leads to customization requirements. There is a negative correlation between investing in OCM and requests for customization
- Leverage ERP applications configuration and personalization tools. Most of the ERPs are flexible enough to meet your business requirements without customization.
- Don't force your ERP system to be everything to everyone. Of course ERP system may not be able to handle all the requirements of your Organization. In this case you may have a decision between customizing your application or buying a third part bolt on application. Each option has its costs and benefits.
4. Five effective reporting strategies for your manufacturing business: Zach Hale for Softwareadvice.com
https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/erp-reporting-strategies/
Manufacturers should give priority to data integrity and report development by focusing on a few sets of business critical data. The five strategies are:
- Ensure clean and accurate data
- Track only what you need to track: You need to prioritize what you need to track. Otherwise you will end up in reams of unwanted reports and 'analysis paralysis'. For example, if turnover is important to you, track only turnover, do not confuse your analysis by tracking profitability as well.
- Allocate resources for data collection and analysis: If you do not have resources to develop reports, get a consultant to do it for you. However prioritizing the reports and providing the specification still remains your responsibility.
- Include report development in future roadmap: With storage becoming cheaper and cheaper the future availability of data is going to be huge. Any roadmap should include reporting strategy to take advantage of this data.
- Choose an ERP with the right reporting capabilities.
5. Build a successful ERP Reporting strategy: Matt Schuval for Datix
http://blog.datixinc.com/blog/erp-reporting
ERP Vendors have not given as much attention to reporting capabilities as they have to data collection and storage. You need reports to provide actionable information. An effective report is succinct, accurate and actionable. The essential building blocks of a great reporting strategy have three legs
- Find reporting failures and fix them early: One of the key failures in an ERP implementation is the lack of focus on reports and reporting capability. As go live approaches, users are not aware of the reporting capability of the application. This results in a system go live without the critical reports being available. The solution to the problem is to assign a dedicated team to focus on the reports from day one.
- Look beyond the hype: ERP vendors are experts at pitching the capabilities like big data and 'best practices'. Most of them do not talk about reporting capabilities of their applications. Companies need to ensure that the ERP application can cater to their critical report requirements. Use real data during the test and pilot stage to ensure that application can provide the required reports.
- Effective real time BI: Most of the BI tools are good at providing period end reports. However, business decisions require real time data. An effective ERP reporting strategy should look at real time reports with expert users who can quickly create these reports so that the right decision can be taken quickly.
Nice article....
Additional readings
1. ERP Software customization: The ultimate sin: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/erp-software-customization-the-ultimate-sin-of-enterprise-software/
2. Effective use of Exception Reporting in ERP Implementations: ERP Consultancy Blog
https://erp-consultancy.blogspot.com/2011/04/effective-use-of-exception-reporting-in.html
3. Best practices, customization and ERP: Rick Cook for IT Toolbox
https://it.toolbox.com/blogs/erpdesk/best-practices-customization-and-erp-021716
4. Top challenges in customizing an ERP System: Ultraconsultants.com
https://ultraconsultants.com/challenges-of-customizing-erp-system/
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