Posted by Liz Alflen on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 @ 05:52 AM
I can't say I have it all figured out, but I know there's an answer to the balancing game and it's mine to find.
Sometimes I like being at work better than I like being at home and other people have commented on this phenomena to me as well. At work, responsibilities are somewhat orderly or at least defined in some way, whereas all kinds of crazy things can go hay-wire at home. Mates, spouses, kids, cooking, household appliances, neighbors, "inventory" - all kinds of surprises can be waiting for you upon your arrival back at your happy home.
Granted, all kinds of surprises can be waiting at work, too, not all pleasant, but a person can say, "at least I don't live here".
Well, that's only sort of true.
We all know we spend more waking hours at work than we do at home. And depending on where you are in your life, home can represent a near equivalent (given your situation) of the stress represented at work.
So why do we do this? Because work provides income we can use to feather our nests, or perhaps to enjoy a vacation: those blissful hours and days spent away from the office and sometimes away from the routine at home, too. It's not that you can ever really get "away" from your responsibilities, but you can hold them at bay for some defined period of time.
That is, unless work calls you away from vacation, or you just can't resist logging on to your manufacturing ERP system from your BlackBerry or home computer. It happens to all of us at some time ("Honey, I just want to check my email real-quick, just give me a few minutes"). Your BlackBerry can deliver your email to you anywhere and it can deliver your Manufacturing ERP to you anywhere, too (ex., EnterpriseIQ for the BlackBerry). Is this a blessing or a curse?
Communication is undeniably more efficient than every before and we rely on it. Is it so bad to take a call when you are supposed to be "off"? If you have the information available to make the necessary decision in the most efficient manner, you can avoid a bigger problem to be waiting for you later upon your return to the office. If you can access information while sitting by the pool or on a beach, does it alleviate your worries? There may be no nicer place to check the status of your orders or your meeting schedule in CRM than pool- or beach-side.
It may seem that you missed part of your vacation time, but to avoid problems lurking, I don't mind. I have an investment in my work, and work supports any time I can get away from it, whether at home or away, so I'll take the benefits along with the drawbacks. Don't take away my vacation and don't take away my BlackBerry!
Posted by Randy Flamm on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 @ 02:19 PM
In my last blog (IQMS Community Server – Game Changing Technology) I discussed the affects that Community Server has had on our Design, Programming, Testing and Documentation departments. This time I will discuss how the rest of our organization has been impacted.
The Professional Services Group is charged with successful implementations by focusing on meeting the client’s business goals. During the implementation GAP analysis, when software workflows are compared against currently used business processes, it is not unusual to uncover issues that need to be addressed with software modifications. By using Community Server to input and track these software change requests (SCRs), the overall turn around time has been shortened as we are able to give priority to these SCRs. The rest of the customer community is able to comment on best practices regarding individual business processes that will be affected by the proposed changes. Remember that all enhancements to the core modules are made available to all EnterpriseIQ customers at no extra cost.
Community Server has had an immense impact on the day-to-day operations in the support department. Prior to managing SCRs through Community Server, all SCRs had to be reviewed by a support technician to ensure that the requested functionality was not already a part of the latest version of the software. Often this would require additional correspondence between support and the customer to get all of the necessary details. When it was determined by support that the SCR was valid, it could then be escalated to the development group. By removing the “middle man”, we have not only freed up additional time for our support staff, but also decreased the steps necessary and the time it takes to get a response to the customer. A decreased call volume in support can also be seen because users are now able to check the status of their SCRs on their own. Plus, due to the visibility of other users' SCRs, the number of duplicate SCRs has decreased as well. The use of Community Server for managing SCRs has truly created a “win-win” situation for our technical support group and the customers we serve.
I feel that the biggest win this technology has enabled lies in our product offerings. The EnterpriseIQ family of products offers more integrated modules for every aspect of the manufacturing enterprises than any system on the market - bar none. With the input of thousands of Community Server members, we work toward the goal of making every module “best of breed” in both quality and functionality. Not only has customer satisfaction improved but our new licensing sales have increased. Our sales staff enjoys showing off the product in comparison to our competitor’s products.
The following are new modules directly related to requests and ideas that came in via Community Server: Expense Reporting, Quality Audit, Process Monitoring, UPS / FedEx Certified Shipment Manager, and the Environmental Regulation Tracking and Reporting Module.
Although the advent of Community Server has increased the development, testing, and documentation workload the payoff has been very good for both IQMS and our customers.
Posted by Diane Ramaglia on Tue, Aug 03, 2010 @ 08:40 AM
Some people do not realize the impact of what happens within an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system when your inventory is not accurate. And when I say accurate; I mean at least 98% accurate.
A common issue at companies is they do not have the disciplines in place to assure inventory accuracy. Some common pitfalls of inventory inaccuracy would be that bills of material (BOM) are incorrect. I have a history working with plastic processing (along with other types of manufacturing) and one thing that throws off inventory is incorrect part and runner/sprue weights in the BOMs. A lot of manufacturers also do assembly/secondary processes and the quantity per could be incorrect in the BOMs. There are two different ways I have seen consumption of materials being completed during production reporting.
One is the function of back-flushing material based on parts produced based on your BOM. Many systems that I have used allow for the back-flushing of their materials when they report production. This is the time when you can catch inventory issues due to BOM inaccuracies. You can check your work center location inventory and verify at the end of shift if the computer matches the actual inventory counts. If not, start weighing your parts and checking your BOM.
The other type of system out there allows you to issue material to a job/work order. The downside to this is you can’t see this inventory since it is typically removed from any on-hand quantities. You have to reconcile at the end of the job/run.
Another common factor with inventory inaccuracy is that your users are not moving material to proper locations based on procedures. If your system allows a location to go negative, it's time to check a negative report and get to root cause of what may have cause this. It can come down to material not being moved or inaccurate BOMs. I hate repeating myself on the BOM issue but I have seen issues time and time again. In fact, I have recently worked with two customers who are struggling with negative locations. If a location is negative and other locations are positive, what is your true on-hand quantities? One can only guess.
What happens within your ERP when your inventory is inaccurate? The system might not generate work/job orders for customer orders if it thinks you have finished goods/work in process stock. If you don’t have the inventory or the work orders you will likely miss shipments. Customers won’t be too happy if you don’t have on-time shipments. In addition, if the work orders are not generated the system will not tell you to purchase material. It’s a downhill spiral from here.
Speaking of purchased material, let’s talk raw materials and purchased on-hand balances. If these are not correct, you will not have product to produce your manufactured parts. You will possibly be expediting material which can become very costly to your company. On top of that, it can cause havoc on the production floor. A scheduler has to decide to keep running parts that might not be due for over a month or lose costly production time by keeping the machine in downtime.
Think of the breakdown for downtime costs due to material inaccuracy in this way: If a machine rate if $50 per hour and your machines sits down for 48 hours, the cost is $2,400 for two days. If that happens weekly, the annual lost utilization is $124,800. That is more than a lot of peoples' salaries on the production floor. For this annual cost, you can justify hiring people to fix the inventory issues.
Add to this cost, other factors such as the cost to deal with machines that need to be changed over quickly to fill an order because your finished goods on-hand counts were inaccurate. How much does it cost your company when you have to switch over jobs that you were not thinking you had to run? What is the time it takes to switch over jobs? Depending on the jobs, setup times can range from one hour to ten hours. That is a lot of downtime for changeovers.
What can you do to start fixing these issues?
- Have the right people handle inventory management – they have to care and be analytical.
- Training/education– you need to make sure that people know what they are supposed to do in the system and what the impacts are if they don’t.
- Get to root cause of the inventory issues and have a corrective action to prevent this from happening again.
- Track the downtime costs due to inventory issues (waiting on material, changeover/setup)
- Create a process to validate bills of material.
- Ensure people are following their procedures.
I hope this helps some of you out there in the manufacturing world.
Posted by Randy Flamm on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 @ 08:15 AM
It's been a year since we introduced the IQMS Community Server. It's clear to me that this project is "game-changing technology" on many levels.
The IQMS development effort encompasses many different departments. All have been directly affected by the advent of Community Server.
The design team is charged with evaluating each software change request (SCR) in regards to the module(s) to be affected. The Community Server users have averaged three SCRs per day including weekends and holidays. The content ranges from brilliant to not so brilliant. Sometimes it's a challenge to really understand what the author of the SCR is trying to achieve. This is when the collaboration tools (ability of the author to include other documents including screen shots) become essential. When a designer approves the SCR he or she must then submit a workable design to the programmers and mark the SCR as being "Approved" and "Designed". Community Server SCR Workflow enables the life cycle of an SCR to be transparent to not only IQMS employees but to all customers.
The programmers are sent the SCR designs with enough information to complete the development. Some designs require significant detail including changes to database structures, flow charts and most importantly screen shots. Other easier designs are straight forward but pretty much always include screen shots. All EnterpriseIQ modules are "owned" by a designer/programmer/tester team. The average tenure of these IQMS employees is over 6 years with senior members over 10 years. This is why the constraining activity to fulfill SCRs is not the programming department. They can knock this stuff out with uncanny speed due to their experience and the modern object oriented development tools they utilize. They are also very good at what they do.
When the programmers are finished they check their development source code and scripts into our state of the art version control system. The Community Server workflow is updated which notifies the testing department that the ball is now in their court. This is when it gets very interesting. The testing technician is charged with testing the development on many different Oracle and operating systems as well as adherence to our own "prime directive". Our prime directive, unlike the Star Trek one, has to do with not undertaking any development that will negatively affect how our customers are using the current functionality of a module. At times this directive can be difficult to adhere to when customer users find ways to use undocumented functionality that we hadn't thought of.
At the end of the testing phase the Community Server workflow is updated which sends the SCR to the Documentation department. Each SCR that has been approved, designed, programmed and tested is now documented based on input from the SCR (what we want to achieve), the design (how are we going to achieve it), the programmers and testing technician notes. As it happens the documentation department technicians also retest the change to fully understand what needs to be documented. This method is the next best thing to having the change being used in a production environment.
The IQMS development workflow process can best be described as an "Agile Software Development System". All work is done in house which allows complete control over both the process and the outcome.
My next blog will discuss the impact that Community Server has had on our Training and Professional Services departments and our product offerings.
Posted by Shannon Holloway on Fri, Jun 04, 2010 @ 06:43 AM
I had an interesting conversation today with a few members of our technical support and training staff. The discussion was sparked by a comment from the trainer in the group. She was thinking back to all of the EnterpriseIQ Software classes she has taught that include our Capable to Promise module. She says that without fail when she teaches this module, jaws hang open and someone in the group asks how they get that module and how much does it cost. When they learn that it is already part of the core product that they own, and has been for years, they can't wait to get back and start using it. One of the support technicians chimed in that he had two calls just today from customers asking for features that already exist in the EnterpriseIQ software. The users just didn't know they were there.
On one side, these are great moments. Our staff loves the opportunity to help users learn what features and functionality they already have available to them and to teach them how the software will benefit them and make their job easier. However, on the flip side, this leaves me with the concern about those customers that aren't calling support or aren't coming to training. What features are going unused? What cumbersome workarounds have been devised by unknowing users when the perfect solution lies, unnoticed, right under their nose?
It reminds me of a time (many years ago) when I couldn't wait for the latest cell phone to come out. I don't remember the exact feature I was waiting for, but what I do remember is that about two months after I had purchased it, I learned that my previous cell phone would do the same thing. I used my phone the same way I always had. I was only familiar with the basic features I used each day. I never thought to look for anything more.
So whether you are using EnterpriseIQ by IQMS or a different ERP software package, it is important to find ways to constantly stay apprised of the latest features. Check with your software provider to determine what they offer to faciliate learning new functionality. IQMS offers many tools to help users stay up to date. Aside from our standard offering of training courses on multiple topics and standard documentation, users can also review release specific "What's Changed" documents, attend release specific virtual training sessions (VTC), or even participate in the on-line community for Software Change Requests where you can learn about and give feedback on changes before and as their happening.
What's Changed documentation is shipped with each update or can be viewed in advance on our website. Enhancement VTC sessions are performed by a live trainer with student interaction and are free of charge. Users merely contact the training department to sign up. Community Server requires registering as a user and from there you can choose to merely browse requests and review approved changes, submit your own change requests, or comment and vote on changes requested by others. So the moral of the story is to know what you have, use the tools available to you, and don't spend $300 to upgrade your cell phone unnecessarily.
Posted by John Asi on Tue, Jun 01, 2010 @ 03:23 PM
Okay, so that is not how the line from Hamlet went (in more ways than one), but what is happening with traditional EDI in the industry these days. For a standard that has been around for quite some time without much change, is it still relevant in the modern day world of the Internet, Web 2.0, XML, Web Services, etc.
I was curious to see what the X12 Organization had to say about the future of EDI.
Interesting bit of reading, if we were in 1990. We are in 2010. This is the future. The day and age of ultimate connectivity to data, instantaneous communication, endless content, and more than enough blogs to numb the mind is here whether we like it or not. Not sure if you have heard, but there is so much data out there on so many websites that the IPV4 address space may be depleted as soon as September of 2011. And I was worried about the ozone layer. Traditional EDI must be dead.
Don't you believe it. The reported demise of traditional EDI has been floating around for over a decade. It seems that every time a new standard or protocol or buzz word appears, EDI is on the verge of being put to rest. Then it never happens. A perfect example of this was when the concept of Web services started to materialize. The thought was that EDI would be obsoleted in favor of the new method of passing data. XML was the standard that was adopted for passing messages through the web and it was thought that this format would at some point replace the "archaic" EDI formats currently in use. That was the thinking in 2001.
Interesting thing is that the industry did not seem to buy into the Web Services concept as a replacement for EDI and businesses started looking for new ways to communicate EDI transactions with each other. Even though XML was the bright new child in the industry, not many companies were jumping on board. Big players such as Walmart, J.C. Penney, and Hallmark understood that XML existed as an option, yet they opted to continue using standard EDI transactions rather than take the plunge with the new technology right away. In addition, Walmart took the initiative to drive some change in the landscape by implementing the use of an Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) protocol for connecting directly between two trading partners and eliminating the value-added network (VAN). This would introduce savings for the businesses that would adopt this protocol and helped fuel the continued growth of EDI in the supply chain.
As much as it seems that EDI may not play well in new environments, part of its ability to survive is that fact that it is adaptable. Even though traditional EDI tools were not replaced by a new data interchange standard based on Web Services in the early 2000s, those same EDI tools were used as the framework to support new technology. As these technologies mature, some of the tools used for processing EDI may change, but the standard will still define the content.
To further prove how relevant traditional EDI is to the modern industry, there have been many companies from retail foods to high end automotive companies that continue to benefit from the use of EDI. Two examples of such are Natural Products Market Place and Mercedes-Benz US International. Both of these companies made the investment to use EDI to manage their supply chain and have found that they are in a better position to handle difficult economies and fully realize good market climates because of their choice.
IQMS, a leading ERP company, has put a significant amount of energy into building upon many technologies including Web Services and community driven portals to bring high levels of data visibility and collaboration to its user base. Traditional EDI continues to be a relevant component in the suite of tools that the company offers. Through the use of the eCommerce Module, IQMS has a large customer base that is realizing the benefit of an integrated EDI solution utilizing a combination of traditional, non-traditional, and XML based EDI. These customers are able to handle orders and shipment notices in a much more timely fashion than would be possible in a manual entry process. As IQMS moves further into 2010, the number of requests for new transactions and trading partners has picked up pace. More businesses in the supply chain are moving to leverage the power and efficiency of a standard that has been around for over 25 years.
Is EDI dead? Not by a long shot.
Posted by Tina Jolicoeur on Wed, May 26, 2010 @ 11:33 AM
Call me old-fashioned, I still enjoy a good commercial or print ad. Not only are they entertaining, but I appreciate the skill, innovation and imagination put in to them. Right now one of my favorite ad campaigns is Microsoft's 'I'm a PC and Windows 7 is my idea'. Of course I know that it's just an ad campaign and those are actors, but I'm sure Microsoft considered change requests when they developed Windows 7. Wouldn't it be great if we had a voice in the improvement of all of the devices, software, appliances, vehicles, etc. that we use everyday? That got me to thinking about EnterpriseIQ software and we've always been customer driven, taking and implementing literally hundreds and hundreds of software change requests (SCR) per year. That's evident especially now that we have reached our one year anniversary since implementing IQMS Community Server. Anyone who logs in can see We have over one thousand SCRs posted to Community Server - in just one year! Not only are there over one thousand SCRs, over half of them have been approved. Our customers, real users not actors, can say they have a voice in the improvement of our ERP software.
All SCRs can be viewed by all customers. Customers can comment good or bad on any SCR; they provide input on whether or not they like a feature and if it would be beneficial to them and/or all users. They also comment when they disagree with a change request. Which leads me to my next train of thought. I sometimes picture our lead developers, who review EVERY SCR, as Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty. There's a scene when he is going through the prayer emails and is so overwhelmed he grants every prayer. Not only do our Developers read every SCR, they have to sometimes take the time to decipher what the customer is requesting and then consider, "Is this in the best interest of all users?" That's because our software is fully integrated and we don't make changes to the core software without considering all of our customers and their manufacturing types.
A nice feature in Community Server is all customers can view the status of SCRs from submission, to review, to approval (or denial) to programming, testing and documentation. Customers can filter on the status of the SCR as well. For example a customer can choose to view only SCRs that are pending approval or just the SCRs they've submitted. A lot of our customers have been with us since the 'early' days and they know they sometimes had to contact IQMS to find out the status of their SCR, now they can go to Community Server any time they'd like and review the status without picking up the phone or sending an email.
IQMS employees love Community Server too. Support, Development, Testing, Sales, Professional Services- all of us view the requests, look at the status and view any notes. We can quickly see which customer and/or user made the request, refer back to what they were trying to achieve and how they were accomplishing that currently. We often have conference calls to review an SCR, it doesn't matter where we are, as long as we have web access, we have access to the SCRs. The turnaround time for SCRs has improved exponentially. There isn't a bottle neck at any level. And it's not that we weren't trying to get to all of the SCRs before in a timely fashion, but there were hindrances that are no longer there with this method.
So, if you are an IQMS customer or thinking about becoming one, let me give you some tips on how to get your SCR reviewed and approved.
- Attach a screen shot. We are visual people and a picture speaks loudly and clearly.
- Be brief but succinct in each area of the SCR; what is your request, what are you trying to accomplish and how do you achieve your goal currently. Is it a workaround, a separate report, etc. All three of the questions on the SCR are well thought out, we are trying to keep our customers focused on their request and ask leading questions that prompt our customers to provide well thought out responses. Re-read your request; if you can, have someone review it. I do a lot of proofing and always find errors or missing information in other people's work, but often miss it in my own writing.
- Make sure to leave the box checked to email responses to the SCR. When we reply we might be asking for further information or more detail and the faster you can respond, the faster we can push your SCR through the approval process. And when you respond to our reply, do so within the SCR not in the automatically generated email.
- Take the time to review other customer's SCRs on occasion and reply to a SCR if you'd like to see the same change. Then when you submit a SCR your community is more likely to have your back. If you have a special area of use in EnterpriseIQ, for example, Quality Document Control, review just these SCRs on occasion. Not only will you know what's coming in the next version, you can comment on an area of the software that's important to you. You have a voice.
- Review other SCRs to see if what you've requested is already approved. If you are on an older version of the software, you can also read the What's Changed documents for the newer versions before you submit a SCR.
Our customers have a voice in the continuous improvement of IQMS' EnterpriseIQ software; they are IQMS customers and EIQ is their idea.
Posted by Neil Gow on Tue, May 18, 2010 @ 07:03 AM
What an exciting time to be involved in software development! Right now the economy is tough, but we can't rest and wait for things to get better. Here at IQMS headquarters in Paso Robles, California the development team is pushing forward and creating our own destiny. Some of the most extraordinary new ideas are coming to fruition as we explore the possibilities.
Last year we introduced the RealTime LightStick to bring visibility and awareness to the plant floor. It doesn't matter if you are using Wired or Wireless RealTime. EnterpriseIQ can give the entire plant a look at what is running "lean" or not. With a glance at the Work Center everyone will instantly know if a machine is down, running standard, or faster/slower than standard! If the red light is blinking it means the work order has been completed. It can also be used as a call for technical help, just push a button and the LightStick scrolls through all the colors, attracting attention right away. Once you respond and cancel the call you can address the situation whatever it is!
What is even more exiting is that some of the best ideas come right from you the customer! A new LightStick status shows a flashing yellow light which indicates the scrap is exceeding the allowable scrap percentage on the Bill Of Material (BOM). Great customer input! This is now available for both Wired and Wireless RealTime users.
For those of you who have EnterpriseIQ ERP systems you know we work very hard to accommodate the ideas brought to us. This is all made possible through Community Server. Our online forum allows the customer to submit a software development request and if it is feasible, everyone who is paying attention gets to vote on the change. So if it works for you, great! If not, then chime in and voice your concern to both IQMS and the rest of the customers! Our management staff and the primary designers are watching Community Server for more of the ideas that meet your needs for today's competitive manufacturing world.
I'm thrilled to say my next blog will be regarding the newest idea to come from IQMS. I won't say anymore right now, but don't miss it! Its full of ideas from you!
Posted by John Asi on Fri, May 07, 2010 @ 03:13 PM
Successful companies have always been on the search for ways to streamline their business processes and run their daily operations as efficiently as possible. These companies know that their success as a business relies on how efficiently they interface within the supply chain and adapt to demand as needed. The brutal economy that crippled companies around the world last year and the slow recovery that has followed has forced many companies to evaluate how they operate within the supply chain and find ways to increase their productivity while keeping the cost of doing business down. EDI is a powerful tool in streamlining business processes and providing cost savings in the right environment.
So one might ask, "What is the wrong environment?" Good question. Too many times the consideration for using EDI does not go beyond the effort needed to get an EDI file in-house and possibly formatting a report to output some needed information from the data because a trading partner requires communication through standard EDI documents. Another situation may be the result of a legacy system that has been in place for many years with no one understanding what the magical "EDI box" really does other than it regularly outputs reports containing business critical information. From there a user might take that information and key in any orders and then call it a day and a job well done if they entered all the data correctly. In either case EDI has not proven its usefulness as a powerful and effective cost saving business tool.
Finding the "right" environment in which to implement EDI is not very difficult. It does require a little investment of time, a good understanding of internal business processes, and the right tools to make the most effective use of EDI within the corporation.
The time investment comes in the form of doing the research and understanding what documents a trading partners can work with and if those documents are used in sufficient quantity such that they consume a significant time to handle manually. A simple example of this is an automotive manufacturing delivery schedule (X12 862 or EDIFACT DELJIT). While receiving 1 or 2 on a weekly basis may require several hours to process manually, handling 20 or more of these documents becomes a significant process.
Understanding internal business processes is critical in order to adequately define business rules that are needed to correctly translate and process EDI. Knowing how key data elements are used within the company will help in configuration and support of the EDI process.
Ultimately, the most important piece in the equation is having the right tools available to make effective use of the EDI process and the data it provides. EnterpriseIQ and its integrated eCommerce module is such a tool. The eCommerce module is capable of processing both inbound and outbound transactions. Being integrated makes it possible to take inbound EDI data directly into the system and automatically create forecast schedules and firm sales orders and output order acknowledgements (855), shipping notices (856) and invoices (810) just to name just a few transactions. With the powerful MRP engine in EnterpriseIQ, the system can create work schedules and purchase requirements based on the data provided by the EDI transactions. Add the ability to take purchase requirements and generate outbound vendor purchase forecasts/orders (830 and 862) through the eCommerce module, EnterpriseIQ shows its strength. Another tool available within the EnterpriseIQ suite is EServer. This tool is used to completely automate the defined business process for handling EDI from start to finish. Specific actions can be defined to allow processing of acknowledgements, orders, notices, reports or any other requirements to effectively monitor and process the data flowing through the system. Utilizing EServer with the eCommerce module and the MRP engine allows EnterpriseIQ function seamlessly and efficiently within the supply chain while reducing the amount of time required handling manual processes, eliminating the chance for human induced errors, and keeping data and material flowing where it needs to.
Any company looking to streamline their processes and better fit into the supply chain should take the time to research how EDI might help them cut costs and become more efficient. While EDI may not be a fit for every company, knowing how they interface within the supply chain can provide valuable information and other opportunities to look for efficiencies.
Review how automotive supplier Nissen Chemitec America is utilizing eCommerce solutions by reading their case study.
Posted by Diane Ramaglia on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 09:22 AM
When a company purchases a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system there are any number of reasons why they have made that decision. A company would normally have a project team that will implement the system and they are considered the in-house experts for their functional areas. They go down the path of implementing specific modules and during that time they might hold off on improving or implementing other modules that might streamline their business processes. They might say, let's do this at a later date and focus on what is critical at that time.
A common theme is that they are live on the system and they never seem to go back and look at what they can still improve. They get busy with their day-to-day activities or employees that were on the implementation team leave and no one takes over that expertise. So there is minimum improvement while they are using the system.
When a company spends that much money on software and consulting services, I would think that they would want to improve and streamline their business processes because, in the end, it would be a cost savings. You could possibly remove staff that is no longer needed or you may have an increase in business and not have to add more staffing.
As a manager of a Professional Service department for an ERP system, I am starting to see an increase in companies that are re-implementing because they see the benefit. Is this something your company would be interested in doing?