By Michael Burns at the American Chronicle
As we present the 11 th instalment of our an nua I CAmagazine software survey, it's interesting to look back and see just how far we have evolved. When we ran our first survey, many people were unfamiliar with enterprise resource planning and ven- dors were just beginning to target their ERP products to middle-market companies. Now midsized companies are well served, as are their smaller and larger counterparts. New vendors continue to appear and new functionality continues to be released. We also expand each year on what we include in the survey. This time, for exam- ple, you will find a section on human resources. We have also included professional services automation vendors. PSA is really just ERP for professional services organizations. For this year's full survey chart, go to www.camagazine.com/ERPsurvey09. As always, we have segregated the ERP products into tiers based on product cost and customer revenue and employees. This is a convenient, albeit imperfect, means of differentiation. Be cautious if you're trying to calculate the costs for a system, since these numbers are just averages.
This year we asked vendors about the main factors that led to successful or not-so-successful implementations. For SAP, success was largely a function of buy-in from senior management. "The most successful implementations include strong oversight and commitment from the customers' senior executive team," it said. "When senior executives understand the overall project plan and goals and participate in high-level steering committee meetings, they can better empower their teams and help overcome obstacles to the project's success quickly and effectively, leading to projects that are implemented on time, on budget and on scope."
The role of a steering committee can differ across organizations, but it's vital that larger companies have one. At the very least, it should provide guidance and support.
Syspro called for "a clear strategy established upfront and firmly anchored in the business objectives the ERP project [was] to enable." The point is that success is more than just being on time, on budget and on scope.
Strategy starts with an understanding of business objectives and critical success factors. A CSF is what an organization must do well in order to be successful and it should be aligned with business objectives. If a business process/system supports the CSF, it can be deemed effective. Key performance indicators measure the extent to which CSFs are achieved. The KPI is especially important when implementing a new system or improving business processes. The KPI goal will let you know whether you've been successful with the system implementation and will act as a motivator throughout the process. By linking achievement of CSFs to the implementation, the new system has the potential to significantly improve business processes and contribute to an organization's success.