How to Optimize Your ERP System?

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is often seen as a necessary evil. Necessary for the many business processes that have the potential of being improved and evil for the time and pain endured during an ERP implementation. Optimizing ERP is a never-ending process. Almost all ERP implementations initially leave a company worse off than when they started. This is because drastic changes in the way people work have been proposed and attempted. It takes time for the employees to become comfortable with the changes. Once a comfort level is attained, the ERP system can be optimized.

Instructions

Implement an ERP solution. Learn how others in the same industry as your company have done it and apply the lessons learned. Realize that the first day of use after implementation of ERP will probably result in a worse situation than before the implementation. Use the implementation as the first step toward the road to optimizing.

Establish a continuous improvement program. Spread the word that optimizing requires the company to encourage employees to offer improvement suggestions. Train managers on skills to encourage and elicit suggestions from employees. Hire a consultant experienced in continuous improvement to help establish the culture and programs necessary for continuous improvement.

Evaluate and implement the improvement suggestions. Document every suggestion. Develop criteria to analyze each suggestion so that employees are clear on why suggestions are approved or not approved. Implement approved suggestions by using formal project management processes including testing in conference room pilot scenarios and establishing training programs for employees who will use the new business processes supported by the ERP software.

Evaluate and audit the results of the continuous improvement program. Audit the management skills used in eliciting suggestions and the processes used to document, analyze and approve suggestions. Measure business process results in terms of whether or not key strategies in the company are being executed. Measure the business process results in terms of dollars related to revenue increases and cost reductions.