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Vendors and Consultants: Reach your customers and journalists. Click, Submit articles and press release.
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HERNDON, VA - February 4, 2008 - Deltek, Inc. (NASDAQ: PROJ), the leading provider of enterprise applications software for project-focused organizations, today announced that it has signed Atlanta, Georgia based Software Link, Inc. as a new business partner to expand the company’s reach into the project accounting market.
Software Link provides leading capabilities in the implementation, training and support of automated business management solutions. With a wide range of product applications including accounting, distribution, manufacturing, and E-Commerce solutions, Software Link offers award-winning products and services that have revolutionized the way small and mid-sized companies do business in today’s marketplace. In August of 2007, Software Link was named into the first-ever Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the country and in 2004 was ranked as one of the 50 fastest growing, private companies in Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. |
Submitted by saravanan2 on Thu, 2008-03-06 09:12.
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HERNDON, VA - February 4, 2008 - Deltek, Inc. (NASDAQ: PROJ), today announced the general availability of the newest versions of the Costpoint product family – Costpoint 6.1, Time & Expense 8.0, and GovWin 5.1. In addition to offering new functionality that spans the entire Costpoint family of solutions, these new releases further strengthen the integration to Cobra, Deltek’s industry-leading offering for managing project costs, measuring earned value, and meeting government mandated Earned Value Management (EVM) reporting requirements. |
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Delivering significant enhancements, these new releases will help project-focused organizations drive compliance, increase profitability, improve decision-making, and win new business. In addition, they automate and streamline project-oriented business processes so project-driven organizations can more effectively track, manage and report on critical organizational metrics and meet today’s strict Compliance and auditing requirements. |
Submitted by saravanan2 on Thu, 2008-03-06 09:11.
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Fast growing consultancy provides project managers with easy accessibility to critical, real-time information
London, UK, 20 February 2008 — Deltek (NASDAQ: PROJ), the leading provider of enterprise applications software for project-focused organisations, today announced that Buro Four, a UK-based independent, property and construction project management consultancy has just invested in Deltek Vision. Buro Four financial director, Steve Slade says that Vision was chosen because it is, "not just accounts-focused, but an enterprise-wide business system". Now within seconds of logging on in the morning, every project manager has real-time information on the cashflow, risk position and resourcing profile on their particular project. |
Submitted by saravanan2 on Thu, 2008-03-06 09:08.
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Software and Services Company Announces Record Revenue and Customer Satisfaction Levels; Implements Organizational Changes to Prep for Continued Growth in 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, February 19, 2008—Consona Corporation (Consona), a leading provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and services for the enterprise, today reported record revenue and customer satisfaction levels for the year ended December 31, 2007. |
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In 2007, Consona delivered a 64 percent increase in total revenue over the previous year. Following a 129 percent increase in revenue between 2005 and 2006 and being named one of the top ten fastest growing software companies by Software Magazine, Consona CEO Jeff Tognoni summed up the company’s financial performance as “industry-leading.” |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 10:37.
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Lawson enterprise software solutions to support one of Sweden's largest dairy companies
ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb 12, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) today announced it has signed a contract with Sweden-based Milko to implement the Lawson M3 7.1 Application Suite and Lawson M3 Technology. The Lawson M3 enterprise software solutions are designed to meet the industry-specific needs of companies like dairy producers operating in the food and beverage industry. The Lawson M3 solutions will help Milko better manage its finance, procurement, planning and Supply Chain Management processes and allow Milko to replace a number of disparate systems. The contract was signed during Lawson's third quarter of fiscal 2008, which ends Feb. 29, 2008. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 10:29.
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Lawson system to provide tools to help consolidate operations and streamline business processes
ST. PAUL, Minn, Feb. 20, 2008--Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) today announced that Torchmark Corporation (NYSE: TMK) licensed the Lawson S3 Human Capital Management, Enterprise Financial Management and Enterprise Performance Management Suites in addition to the Lawson System Foundation 9 Technology platform to support its long-term growth. The contract was signed during Lawson's third quarter of fiscal 2008, which ends Feb. 29, 2008. |
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Torchmark Corporation is a holding company specializing in life and supplemental health insurance for "middle income" Americans. Its major insurance company subsidiaries include Globe Life and Accident, American Income Life, Liberty National Life, United American and United Investors Life. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 10:27.
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Scottsdale, Ariz. – February 19, 2008 – JDA® Software Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS) today announced a strategic alliance with Management Dynamics Inc., a leading provider of Global Trade management solutions, to deliver the next generation of Supply Chain software and information services to help companies realize the potential of their globalization strategies. With the combined strength of JDA Software’s proven Transportation Logistics & Management solutions and Management Dynamics’ industry-leading Global Trade Management (GTM) Suite, this integrated offering builds upon the established capabilities of each company to address the complete automation needs of importers, exporters and Logistics service providers. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 09:56.
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Close Collaboration Between the Two Best-of-breed Suppliers will Provide Customer Value through One-stop Shopping Convenience and Ready Access to Their Broad and Deep Domain Expertise
Scottsdale, Ariz. – February 13, 2008 – JDA® Software Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS) today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Sirius Computer Solutions, Inc., an IBM Premier Business Partner and leading supplier of IBM hardware solutions and services. As a preferred provider of IBM hardware, Sirius will actively market JDA Software’s products and services to customers and prospects seeking new or additional business applications to improve their performance and competitiveness. Similarly, JDA Software will recommend Sirius as its preferred provider of IBM’s world-class hardware solutions. This synergy will not only deliver significant value to each company’s respective customers, but will also enable both Sirius and JDA Software to expand their solution offering and marketing efforts to existing and new customers. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 09:55.
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Fast-Growing U.S. Retailer to Replace JD Edwards with SAP ERP; Heralds Flexible SAP Enhancement Packages for Consuming Innovation
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - February 20, 2008 - Demonstrating ongoing leadership in providing innovative solutions to retailers worldwide, SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today announced that Hobby Lobby has selected SAP to provide a stable, predictable solution platform and a clear solution road map to help the company manage operations and continue to grow successfully. Hobby Lobby turned to SAP as its strategic and trusted software provider to help ensure that the agility of the retailer’s systems will meet evolving business needs. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 08:04.
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Companies Can Become Demand Driven With Infor Process Essentials
MEXICO CITY, Feb 14, 2008 -- Infor today announced the Spanish language version of Infor Process Essentials, a comprehensive suite of business software applications specifically tailored to the unique needs of process manufacturers. The integrated, end-to-end solution is comprised of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and enterprise asset management (EAM) software. These applications are built specifically for the needs of consumer packaged goods, food & beverage, generic goods, ingredient, pharmaceutical, private label, and specialty chemicals manufacturers. |
Submitted by scm on Mon, 2008-02-18 07:12.
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MEXICO CITY - Feb 14, 2008
Infor today announced the appointment of Paulo Ramos as regional vice president, Mexico. In his role, Ramos is responsible for sales and business development for all Infor solutions in the country, including enterprise resource planning, enterprise asset management, customer relationship management, financial management, performance management, and Supply Chain management. Ramos has extensive experience in sales and operations management, previously holding various positions with leading Latin American information Technology companies. |
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“Mexico is a key market for Infor,” says Ramos. “I look forward to leading our continued success in the market; expanding our strategic relationships with complementary Technology partners and helping our customers become more enterprising.” |
Submitted by scm on Mon, 2008-02-18 07:01.
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Lawson QuickStep Fashion to help drive fashion brand's business strategy
ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) today announced that Canterbury of New Zealand, a leading provider of athletic apparel, has signed a contract to implement Lawson QuickStep Fashion, a pre-configured enterprise software application created specifically for the needs of companies in the fashion industry. The Lawson solution will help support the company's ambitious growth plans by aiding forecasting and planning, which can ultimately help improve overall performance and customer satisfaction. The application will run on an IBM System i platform. The contract was signed during Lawson's second quarter of fiscal 2008, which ended Nov. 30, 2007. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Wed, 2008-02-13 11:11.
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Lawson enterprise software solutions to support one of Sweden's largest dairy companies
ST. PAUL, Minn.,Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) today announced it has signed a contract with Sweden-based Milko to implement the Lawson M3 7.1 Application Suite and Lawson M3 Technology. The Lawson M3 enterprise software solutions are designed to meet the industry-specific needs of companies like dairy producers operating in the food and beverage industry. The Lawson M3 solutions will help Milko better manage its finance, procurement, planning and Supply Chain Management processes and allow Milko to replace a number of disparate systems. The contract was signed during Lawson's third quarter of fiscal 2008, which ends Feb. 29, 2008. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Wed, 2008-02-13 11:05.
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Infor Named Among China’s Best in Multiple Categories at Top 100 Business Applications 2008 Conference
BEIJING - Jan 31, 2008
Infor today announced that it has won three prestigious awards at the “Top 100 Business Applications 2008 Conference” in Beijing. This is the third consecutive year in which Infor has been recognized for multiple awards at the Top 100 Business Applications Conference. |
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Infor was honored with awards for “Top 10 International Vendor of the Year, 2007” and “Top 10 Brand of the Year, 2007.” Infor’s President of Asia-Pacific, Lawrence Chan, was honored as one of the “Top Ten People of the year, 2007.” |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 13:01.
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Business Processes to Manage Strong Growth Expectations UK’s Leading Beverage Provider Improves Order Taking and Debt Management for National Accounts Business by Upgrading Current Epicor Solution and Adding Additional Functionality
IRVINE, Calif. and BRACKNELL, United Kingdom — February 4, 2008 — Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, today announced that Costa Coffee, a brand within the Whitbread Group PLC, has successfully completed a key phase of a major business engineering project which utilizes Epicor Enterprise to help maintain strong growth within its Corporate Sales Business. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 12:44.
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2007 Fiscal Year Results to be Released on February 14, 2008, after the Market Close
SAN MATEO, Calif. — February 4, 2008 — NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) , a leading vendor of on-demand, integrated business management software suites that include Accounting / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Ecommerce software for small and midsized businesses and divisions of large companies, today announced that its earnings for the 2007 fiscal year will be released after the market close on Thursday, February 14, 2008. NetSuite will host a conference call to discuss the results at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) / 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on the same day. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:43.
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Lawson QuickStep Fashion to help drive fashion brand's business strategy
ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) today announced that Canterbury of New Zealand, a leading provider of athletic apparel, has signed a contract to implement Lawson QuickStep Fashion, a pre-configured enterprise software application created specifically for the needs of companies in the fashion industry. The Lawson solution will help support the company's ambitious growth plans by aiding forecasting and planning, which can ultimately help improve overall performance and customer satisfaction. The application will run on an IBM System i platform. The contract was signed during Lawson's second quarter of fiscal 2008, which ended Nov. 30, 2007. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:09.
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Utility Manages Record Traffic First Day of Go-Live
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. 05-FEB-2008 05:05 AM Oracle today announced that JEA - a leading utility providing electricity and water services to residents in and around Jacksonville, Florida - has implemented Oracle(r) Utilities Customer Care and Billing to help streamline billing processes and optimize customer satisfaction. JEA effectively managed record traffic in its call centers and branch offices, and processed more than $19 million in payments the first day the system was live. |
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Providing electricity and water services to more than 360,000 customers in Jacksonville and parts of three adjacent counties, JEA must produce nearly five million bills, process approximately four million payments, respond to almost 1.5 million telephone calls and perform half a million field services at customer locations annually. Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing helps JEA effectively and efficiently manage this high volume of billing and service transactions. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:06.
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SAN MATEO, Calif. — January 29, 2008 — NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) , a leading vendor of on-demand, integrated business management application suites that provide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Ecommerce functionality for growing and medium-sized businesses and divisions of large companies, today announced that Jim McGeever, CFO of NetSuite, will present on Monday, February 4, 2008, at 11:30am (PDT) / 2:30pm (EDT) at the Thomas Weisel Partners Technology, Telecom & Internet Conference to be held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 13:02.
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Customers to Gather for Activant’s Tenth Annual User Conference to Network, Learn and Leverage Best Practices for Winning Business Strategies
LIVERMORE, CA, January 28, 2008 - Activant Solutions Inc., a leading provider of vertical business management solutions, today announced that it will host the tenth annual Pinnacle Technology Conference at the Westin Boston Waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts on April 9-12, 2008. Over 700 hardlines, lumber and building material dealers and retailers are expected to come together and learn how to better leverage Activant products and services to increase profits, streamline business operations and become more competitive. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-08 07:48.
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Industry Value Network for Public Security Brings Together Security Organizations, Partners and SAP to Co-innovate and Deliver Applications
WALLDORF, Germany - January 29, 2008 - Building on its leadership in providing solutions to support public sector agencies worldwide, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today launched an industry value network for public security. In today’s world, the job of maintaining public security is made even more challenging in the face of new and more globalized threats. The industry value network (IVN) for public security will join 15 existing industry-focused IVNs hosted by SAP and brings together customers, partners and SAP to develop solutions that solve the unique challenges of the public security industry. The solutions are based on an enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) and open standards to fuel a new dimension of industry interoperability and collaboration. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 06:14.
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Another Good Year for SAP’s Established Business Company Achieves Double Digit Revenue Growth at Constant Currencies in All Regions
WALLDORF - January 30, 2008 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced its preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2007.1
View the Detailed Results (PDF)
View the Detailed Spreadsheet (XLS)
Webcasts and Presentations |
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HIGHLIGHTS – Full-Year 2007
Revenues
Software and software related service revenues for 2007 were €7.43 billion (2006: €6.60 billion), which is an increase of 13% (17% at constant currencies2) compared to 2006. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 06:09.
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SAP Empowers CFOs with Innovative Solutions to Drive Performance and Manage Growth; Rapid Deployment of SAP Solutions Drives Increased Operational Efficiency and Reporting Accuracy for the Financial Planning Process
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - February 04, 2008 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Northern California Public Broadcasting, Inc. (NCPB), one of the nation’s leading public radio and television broadcasters, has successfully implemented the SAP® Business Planning and Consolidation application, a key component of the growing portfolio of SAP solutions for enterprise performance management. As NCPB undergoes significant business transformation, the broadcaster is using SAP solutions for Enterprise Performance Management to better manage the company’s business plan, acquisition road map and growth strategy. Since deploying SAP solutions, NCPB has seen a significant increase in operational and financial reporting accuracy and efficiency, allowing more time for analysis and strategic planning. The NCPB deployment demonstrates continued momentum for SAP’s global strategy to transform and enhance corporate performance by putting innovative and user-friendly business and financial management solutions in the hands of CFOs. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 06:07.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 04, 2008 - SAP Public Services, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), has named David Corbett as vice president of its U.S. healthcare practice. The appointment underscores SAP’s continued commitment to supporting private sector and government-driven initiatives to improve the quality and delivery of healthcare in the United States. Corbett will be responsible for growing SAP’s business in the U.S. healthcare sector and will report directly to Pat Bakey, president of SAP Public Services, Inc. |
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In his new role, Corbett will lead a team tasked with helping healthcare providers leverage the SAP portfolio of solutions that automate, streamline and simplify core business functions so providers can focus on their core mission of delivering quality patient care. Corbett will also oversee and manage strategic relationships with SAP’s healthcare partners to support the increasing need for open, flexible software tools that allow patients, payers, providers, general practitioners and suppliers to collaborate, design and deliver premium healthcare transparently. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 06:04.
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Latest Tools Deliver Significant Architectural Enhancements; Support Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle Fusion Middleware
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. 28-JAN-2008 05:00 AM As another milestone for Oracle's "Applications Unlimited" program, Oracle today announced the general availability of Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97. This latest release provides an open platform for customers to choose hardware, operating systems and database technologies based on their unique IT strategies and business requirements. Relying on JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97, customers may also adopt current advancements in Oracle(r) Enterprise Linux and many components of Oracle Fusion Middleware. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 05:46.
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Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) integrate (or attempt to integrate) all data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.
Origin of the term ERP
The term ERP originally implied systems designed to plan the use of enterprise-wide resources. Although the acronym ERP originated in the manufacturing environment, today's use of the term ERP systems has much broader scope. ERP systems typically attempt to cover all basic functions of an organization, regardless of the organization's business or charter. Business, non-profit organizations, non governmental organizations, governments, and other large entities utilize ERP systems.
Additionally, it may be noted that to be considered an ERP system, a software package generally would only need to provide functionality in a single package that would normally be covered by two or more systems. Technically, a software package that provides both payroll and accounting functions would be considered an ERP software package.
However, the term is typically reserved for larger, more broadly based applications. The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance (one system instead of two or more) to easier and/or greater reporting capabilities (as all data is typically kept in one database).
Overview
Some organizations - typically those with sufficient in-house IT skills to integrate multiple software products - choose to implement only portions of an ERP system and develop an external interface to other ERP or stand-alone systems for their other application needs. For instance, the PeopleSoft HRMS and Financials systems may be perceived to be better than SAP's HRMS solution. And likewise, some may perceive SAP's manufacturing and CRM systems as better than PeopleSoft's equivalents. In this case these organizations may justify the purchase of an ERP system, but choose to purchase the PeopleSoft HRMS and Financials modules from Oracle, and their remaining applications from SAP.[citation needed]
This is very common in the retail sector[citation needed], where even a mid-sized retailer will have a discrete Point-of-Sale (POS) product and financials application, then a series of specialised applications to handle business requirements such as warehouse management, staff rostering, merchandising and logistics.
Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:
Manufacturing
Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Management, Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow
Supply Chain Management
Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods, Claim Processing, Commission Calculation
Financials
General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets
Projects
Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management
Human Resources
Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Benefits
Customer Relationship Management
Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support
Data Warehouse
and various Self-Service interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees
Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) that followed material requirements planning (MRP). MRP evolved into ERP when "routings" became major part of the software architecture and a company's capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity. ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management, and human resource management.
ERPs are often incorrectly called back office systems indicating that customers and the general public are not directly involved. This is contrasted with front office systems like customer relationship management (CRM) systems that deal directly with the customers, or the eBusiness systems such as eCommerce, eGovernment, eTelecom, and eFinance, or supplier relationship management (SRM) systems.
ERPs are cross-functional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and Information Technology, this would include accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.
ERP II means open ERP architecture of components. The older, monolithic ERP systems became component oriented.
EAS - Enterprise Application Suite is a new name for formerly developed ERP systems which include (almost) all segments of business, using ordinary Internet browsers as thin clients.
Before
Prior to the concept of ERP systems, departments within an organization (for example, the Human Resources (HR) department, the Payroll (PR) department, and the Financials department) would have their own computer systems. The HR computer system (Often called HRMS or HRIS) would typically contain information on the department, reporting structure, and personal details of employees. The PR department would typically calculate and store paycheck information. The Financials department would typically store financial transactions for the organization. Each system would have to rely on a set of common data to communicate with each other. For the HRIS to send salary information to the PR system, an employee number would need to be assigned and remain static between the two systems to accurately identify an employee. The Financials system was not interested in the employee level data, but only the payouts made by the PR systems, such as the Tax payments to various authorities, payments for employee benefits to providers, and so on. This provided complications. For instance, a person could not be paid in the Payroll system without an employee number.
After
ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly separate applications. This made the worry of keeping numbers in synchronization across multiple systems disappear. It standardised and reduced the number of software specialities required within larger organizations.
Best Practices
Best Practices were also a benefit of implementing an ERP system. When implementing an ERP system, organizations essentially had to choose between customizing the software or modifying their business processes to the "Best Practice" functionality delivered in the vanilla version of the software.
Typically, the delivery of best practice applies more usefully to large organizations and especially where there is a compliance requirement such as IFRS, Sarbanes-Oxley or Basel II, or where the process is a commodity such as electronic funds transfer. This is because the procedure of capturing and reporting legislative or commodity content can be readily codified within the ERP software, and then replicated with confidence across multiple businesses who have the same business requirement.
Where such a compliance or commodity requirement does not underpin the business process, it can be argued that determining and applying a best practice actually erodes competitive advantage by homogenizing the business compared to everyone else in their industry sector.
Implementation
Because of their wide scope of application within a business, ERP software systems are typically complex and usually impose significant changes on staff work practices. Implementing ERP software is typically not an "in-house" skill, so even smaller projects are more cost effective if specialist ERP implementation consultants are employed. The length of time to implement an ERP system depends on the size of the business, the scope of the change and willingness of the customer to take ownership for the project. A small project (e.g., a company of less than 100 staff) may be planned and delivered within 3 months; however, a large, multi-site or multi-country implementation may take years.
The most important aspect of any ERP implementation is that the company who has purchased the ERP product takes ownership of the project.
To implement ERP systems, companies often seek the help of an ERP vendor or of third-party consulting companies. These firms typically provide three areas of professional services: Consulting, Customization and Support.
Consulting Services
The Consulting team is typically responsible for your initial ERP implementation and subsequent delivery of work to tailor the system beyond "go live". Typically such tailoring includes additional product training; creation of process triggers and workflow; specialist advice to improve how the ERP is used in the business; system optimisation; and assistance writing reports, complex data extracts or implementing Business Intelligence.
The consulting team are also responsible for planning and jointly testing the implementation. This is a critical part of the project, and one that is often overlooked.
Consulting for a large ERP project involves three levels: systems architecture, business process consulting (primarily re-engineering) and technical consulting (primarily programming and tool configuration activity). A systems architect designs the overall dataflow for the enterprise including the future dataflow plan. A business consultant studies an organization's current business processes and matches them to the corresponding processes in the ERP system, thus 'configuring' the ERP system to the organization's needs. Technical consulting often involves programming. Most ERP vendors allow modification of their software to suit the business needs of their customer.
For most mid-sized companies, the cost of the implementation will range from around the list price of the ERP user licenses to up to twice this amount (depending on the level of customization required). Large companies, and especially those with multiple sites or countries, will often spend considerably more on the implementation than the cost of the user licenses -- three to five times more is not uncommon for a multi-site implementation.
Customization Services
Customization is the process of extending or changing how the system works by writing new user interfaces and underlying application code. Such customisations typically reflect local work practices that are not currently in the core routines of the ERP system software.
Examples of such code include early adopter features (e.g., mobility interfaces were uncommon a few years ago and were typically customised) or interfacing to third party applications (this is 'bread and butter' customization for larger implementations as there are typically dozens of ancillary systems that the core ERP software has to interact with). The Professional Services team is also involved during ERP upgrades to ensure that customisations are compatible with the new release. In some cases the functionality delivered via a previous customization may have been subsequently incorporated into the core routines of the ERP software, allowing customers to revert back to standard product and retire the customization completely.
Customizing an ERP package can be very expensive and complicated, because many ERP packages are not designed to support customization, so most businesses implement the best practices embedded in the acquired ERP system. Some ERP packages are very generic in their reports and inquiries, such that customization is expected in every implementation. It is important to recognize that for these packages it often makes sense to buy third party plug-ins that interface well with your ERP software rather than reinventing the wheel.
Customization work is usually undertaken as bespoke software development on a time and materials basis. Because of the specialist nature of the customization and the 'one off' aspect of the work, it is common to pay in the order of $200 per hour for this work. Also, in many cases the work delivered as customization is not covered by the ERP vendors Maintenance Agreement, so while there is typically a 90-day warranty against software faults in the custom code, there is no obligation on the ERP vendor to warrant that the code works with the next upgrade or point release of the core product.
One often neglected aspect of customization is the associated documentation. While it can seem like a considerable -- and expensive -- overhead to the customization project, it is critical that someone is responsible for the creation and user testing of the documentation. Without the description on how to use the customisation, the effort is largely wasted as it becomes difficult to train new staff in the work practice that the customization delivers.
Maintenance and Support Services
Once your system has been implemented, the consulting company will typically enter into a Support Agreement to assist your staff to keep the ERP software running in an optimal way. To minimize additional costs and provide more realism into the needs of the units to be affected by ERP (as an added service to customers), the option of creating a committee headed by the consultant using participative management approach during the design stage with the client's heads of departments(no substitutes allowed) to be affected by the changes in ERPs to provide hands on management control requirements planning. This would allow direct long term projections into the client's needs, thus minimizing future conversion patches (at least for the 1st 5 years operation unless there is a corporate-wide organizational structural change involving operational systems)on a more dedicated approach to initial conversion.
A Maintenance Agreement typically provides you rights to all current version patches, and both minor and major releases, and will most likely allow your staff to raise support calls. While there is no standard cost for this type of agreement, they are typically between 15% and 20% of the list price of the ERP user licenses.
Advantages
In the absence of an ERP system, a large manufacturer may find itself with many software applications that do not talk to each other and do not effectively interface. Tasks that need to interface with one another may involve:
design engineering (how to best make the product)
order tracking from acceptance through fulfillment
the revenue cycle from invoice through cash receipt
managing interdependencies of complex Bill of Materials
tracking the 3-way match between Purchase orders (what was ordered), Inventory receipts (what arrived), and Costing (what the vendor invoiced)
the Accounting for all of these tasks, tracking the Revenue, Cost and Profit on a granular level.
Change how a product is made, in the engineering details, and that is how it will now be made. Effective dates can be used to control when the switch over will occur from an old version to the next one, both the date that some ingredients go into effect, and date that some are discontinued. Part of the change can include labeling to identify version numbers.
Computer security is included within an ERP to protect against both outsider crime, such as industrial espionage, and insider crime, such as embezzlement. A data tampering scenario might involve a terrorist altering a Bill of Materials so as to put poison in food products, or other sabotage. ERP security helps to prevent abuse as well.
Disadvantages
Many problems organizations have with ERP systems are due to inadequate investment in ongoing training for involved personnel, including those implementing and testing changes, as well as a lack of corporate policy protecting the integrity of the data in the ERP systems and how it is used.
Limitations of ERP include:
Success depends on the skill and experience of the workforce, including training about how to make the system work correctly. Many companies cut costs by cutting training budgets. Privately owned small enterprises are often undercapitalized, meaning their ERP system is often operated by personnel with inadequate education in ERP in general, such as APICS foundations, and in the particular ERP vendor package being used.
Personnel turnover; companies can employ new managers lacking education in the company's ERP system, proposing changes in business practices that are out of synchronization with the best utilization of the company's selected ERP.
Customization of the ERP software is limited. Some customization may involve changing of the ERP software structure which is usually not allowed.
Re-engineering of business processes to fit the "industry standard" prescribed by the ERP system may lead to a loss of competitive advantage.
ERP systems can be very expensive to install often ranging from 30,000 to 500,000,000 for multinational companies.
ERP vendors can charge sums of money for annual license renewal that is unrelated to the size of the company using the ERP or its profitability.
Technical support personnel often give replies to callers that are inappropriate for the caller's corporate structure. Computer security concerns arise, for example when telling a non-programmer how to change a database on the fly, at a company that requires an audit trail of changes so as to meet some regulatory standards.
ERPs are often seen as too rigid and too difficult to adapt to the specific workflow and business process of some companies—this is cited as one of the main causes of their failure.
Systems can be difficult to use.
Systems are too restrictive and does not allow much flexibility in implementation and usage.
The system can suffer from the "weakest link" problem—an inefficiency in one department or at one of the partners may affect other participants.
Many of the integrated links need high accuracy in other applications to work effectively. A company can achieve minimum standards, then over time "dirty data" will reduce the reliability of some applications.
Once a system is established, switching costs are very high for any one of the partners (reducing flexibility and strategic control at the corporate level).
The blurring of company boundaries can cause problems in accountability, lines of responsibility, and employee morale.
Resistance in sharing sensitive internal information between departments can reduce the effectiveness of the software.
There are frequent compatibility problems with the various legacy systems of the partners.
The system may be over-engineered relative to the actual needs of the customer.
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