A4B Notes

Lessons Learned from a Delayed SAP Go-Live

On November 15^th I completed a contract that ended up being a year plus two and a half months in duration.  It was enjoyable in many ways, I met a lot of very talented colleagues (we had a strong team of SAP consultants) and the process owners and the users at the client were both friendly and professional.  The go-live was quite smooth by comparison to typical and the entire team (save the Business Warehouse report developer) has departed within 6 weeks of go-live with everything documented and handed over to the internal support team.  Yet, by budget measures, this was not a successful project and it’s time to share some of my lessons learned (or rather re-learned in many cases).  As we did not have a lessons learned meeting to close out this project (at least not with the consultants), I’ll put my own out there.

1)      When is a “template” not a template?  When it is not documented and many of the processes it may support have multiple methods within other business divisions and there has not been a determination of best-practice.  On this project, we were doing a Canadian deployment of a “template” approach that had been developed for multiple vertical business units in the US.  As is quite typical, Canada (as a horizontal business unit) comprised product lines from each of the US verticals and thus, could adopt business processes from all of the vertical business units in the US.  And, although they shared a common SAP instance, each vertical business unit had developed their own fairly customized business processes and determining what was “in the template” was a matter of judgment.

2)      Who is best suited to estimate the amount of work involved?  The consultants who will do the work (if they are experienced) together with the project manager.  We kind of did this at times during this project.  And we kind of made efforts to level-load the consultants (adjusting roles and picking up some of the variable tasks with lesser-loaded consultants) but we could have teamed better on that front.  It’s important to have honest conversations about how much work we really have (and not be too pushy with those who have lots or too quick to jump on those who have little).  This is difficult in any work environment, but very important for projects as the longest work stream will ultimately be the project duration and there can be a lot of unnecessary cost if the project does not have mostly-balanced work streams.  We had some of that on this project and I was the lightest work stream in this case.  Fortunately, I was local and could be flexible with my schedule.

3)      Change is hard to take, but some take it harder than others.  I have often seen on ERP implementation projects, one business area that just isn’t keen on a new system.  Although this is typical across the board (we all find comfort in what we have every day), when one department finds reason to delay, it can be quite costly as all areas need to wait.  I ended up leaving this client 3 months after I was originally scheduled to leave.  The scope of delivery in my area was expanded and the users and process owners were able to use the extra time to become that much more self-sufficient, but I don’t think that in my area (even with my diminished work schedule) the client really got good value for that investment in the extra time.  I think that some extra leadership push on the change management front to bring in the go-live date by even one month would have saved substantial costs.  As a team, I think we felt we were ready a month early and we didn’t really have a team discussion to make that determination. I do understand that erring on the side of caution can often make sense, but I was left wondering in this case about the cost of that caution.

I’ll leave it there.  This was, overall, a good experience and a fairly smooth move to SAP for the client.  I believe the process has begun for the client overall to recognize the SAP solution as a strong one – better in many ways (but not all) than the solution being replaced and the cost of maintenance will be lowered significantly.  I enjoyed having work I could get to and from daily from my home and it was a great team to work with.  I honed my knowledge in many areas of the SAP solution set (most notably, my areas of production planning and execution) and learned some new tricks (and applied for the first time a few I had known about). 

As all projects should, this one leaves me more qualified for the next one and I look forward to taking that next one on.

IT in Canada Posts article about Answers 4 Business software selections. http://www.itincanada.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=207&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=12552&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid

Answers 4 Business customer Invotronics Manufacturing reports on ERP replacement:

http://www.itincanada.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=207&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=12536&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=

About Answers 4 Business consultant, they say "He deals with enough companies in our industry. He knows all of the crazy nuances that we need. And then he can translate that into a needs analysis for a software company that probably doesn’t know them."

Articles to Share from IT Canada

As an Extended Business Partner to SAP through our trusted Channel Partner Contax, Answers 4 Business is happy to share the following news articles:

http://www.itincanada.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=12463&category_id=331&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

http://www.itincanada.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=334&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=12448&option=com_virtuemart&np=2

Some Things to Consider before Outsourcing

As I sit in the coffee shop as much at work as I ever was when I had a "real" office, it really drives home the nature of structural change our businesses and economy are undergoing.  When anyone can contribute to a business from anywhere, we are left asking what a business really is.  Additionally, the opportunity to reduce cost by outsourcing is virtually limitless (even $0 may not be a practical limit as new revenue models are put in place where businessesmay actually be paid for doing traditional cost processes a different way).  So what must remain core to all businesses?

At the inner-circle level, I'd contend there must be two things:

1.  Harmonization of intentions.  Whether your inner-circle is employees, partners, outsourcers or other stakeholders, it is important that they be carefully selected such that their business and other intentions create a harmonic resonance with your own.  Without that, growth will be very difficult to foster.

2.  Understanding and control of strong business processes to develop brand.  Your brand is ultimately the impression you leave with your customer - and this impression is developedbased upon high-quality delivery, at speed for a favourable price.  Each of these elements is the outcome of sound business processes (regardless of whether you or your outsourcer executes them).

I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on the above.  Of course, if you're reviewing what is "core" versus "outsourcable" at this time (as many of you are) we'd be happy to be involved in the discussion.

Some things to consider about your commercial business system when times are tough.

It seems that maintenance fee just sits out there - untouchable, rising, and not delivering business benefit.  As budgets get tight, there must be SOMETHING we can do to affect it somehow.  There may be.  Here are two things to consider as the budget needs to be scrutinized.

1)  Understand what is deployed.  Is there un-deployed (or under-deployed) functionality in your larger packages that could be used to displace some of your stand-alone software or remove a home-grown solution you need to maintain.  Maintenance software, quality management, contact management, service management, etc. are all places to look where you may be paying maintenance fees, but not yet utilizing the software.  If you can get these functions addressed with no or minimal increase to your maintenance fees, your value equation can improve.

2)  Know your users.  There are methods for tracking exactly who is using what processes and how.  Quite often, more users may be licensed than are using the software (we call that shelf-ware) or the types of users may be lighter (and cheaper) than you are licenced for.  It may take a little negotiating, but  this information can usually lead to a maintenance fee reduction.

There are other items that can be considered, of course, and opportunity on the hardware side as well, but the above is usually a good place to start.   If you need a hand going into the next fiscal budget, give us a call.

An Operating Framework for an Organization

Vision?  Mission?  Purpose?  Values?  You can see these words thrown around with respect to operating a business.  Organizations can easily spend "too much time" on these things but, kind of like "too much training" that I wrote about on Monday, I'm not sure that "too much time" is a possible perspective here.  To effectively accomplish something, an Organization (Enterprise, Corporation, Club, etc.) must have enough of a stated "raison d'etre" that it can guide and serve its own people and society in general. 

Components of the above may be for team only, customers only or for some other subset or stakeholders, depending upon the culture of the Organization, but some statement of the above should exists.  Here's a framework I have adopted from a few different sources.

1.  Purpose

This answers the fundamental question - Why do we exist?  As individuals and for ourselves, we may struggle with this our whole lives, but with an Organization, it's founders had better be able to articulate Why.  If this can't be answered, we may as well close up shop.

2.  Vision

How is the world different (or how is it going to be different) as a result of the Organization's existence?  Of course, while existing, the Organization does things, so you could take this also to mean "What changes will the Organization's actions effect?" but I think the original context is more broad and allows more freedom in mode of achievement.

3.  Values

How will the Organization conduct its affairs?  What can customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders expect consistently from the Organization?

4.  Mission(s)

Guided by its Vision and respecting its Values, what concrete step is the Organization currently focusing its intentions toward?  Some will contend that there can be more than one Mission at a given point in time, but I'd suggest that is risky (although, yes, possible).  Mission provides focus and focusing on more than one thing can be difficult.

Like most Organizations, Answers 4 Business is a work-in-progress, and we are still strengthening our ability to define and articulate Vision and Mission.  If you want to review where we are currently with that, the link is below.  We do work with businesses on aspects (developing, communicating and re-engaging) of the above and would welcome discussions and suggestions you may have.

http://www.answers4business.com/WhoVision.html

On having a long-term, relationship-based perspective.

As I review our active client engagements, it always warms me to see the number of engagements that are repeat engagements for a client and the number where the client has been using our services for more than 2 years (currently 75% and 50% respectively).  Having been on the buying side for ERP and other business improvement investments, we remember how important it is to invest time and money at the appropriate time -some years will, by nature, involve more investment than others.  As a supplier, we endeavour to build long-term relationships with no "drive-by implementations".  Certain firms specialize in implementing software in a "get it done at all costs" manner.  We see the negative impact this can have on a business from a perspective of organizational readiness and, unfortunately, from a financial perspective.  Thus, we view patience as a very important virtue and we see ourselves as taking a long-term position in our clients' success.

It's fairly easy to find "friends" when you've got a big budget and a defined plan - finding friends who can adjust to add value and provide guidance in the lean times is a little tougher.  Some current examples where we are proud to be continuing services include:

1)  Performing an ERP replacement for a client for whom we performed initial implementation of a different ERP.  Over the years, we also helped this client improve in the areas of scheduling, logistics, inventory management and system roles (Sarbanes-Oxley compliance).

2)  Defining and now supporting a client-led project for improving capacity analysis and related scheduling and inventory planning for a food-industry client.

3)  Financial and controlling leadership and advice on a subsidiary SAP rollout for a food industry client for whom we have previously provided staffing and advisory services.

Our focus remains on creating winning clients in all economies - when our clients win, we know we do as well.

Answers 4 Business client selects, implements and goes live with ERP in less than 3 months!

On July 15th, 2009 I walked into a long-standing client of mine whose ERP systems I had installed in 1994.  After 15 years of usage, their AS/400 (er, iSeries) green-screen system was a little long-in-the-tooth but was still running their business adequately.  An ownership change (putting the company back into Canadian ownership) was prompting a re-think about several aspects of how they would re-energize and re-do their business and I was excited to participate in this process with them.  Together with Tom Perdue, also of Answers 4 Business, we mapped out a rapid formal software requirements review and, ultimately, selection process that reviewed three bidders.

With the help of a hard-driving leadership team, a selection process that resulted in the choice to implement SAP's All-in-One software was completed within less than 5 weeks of that date.  SAP mid-market partner Contax, working with my client and with Answers 4 Business, has successfully steered the system to an initial state of readiness for go-live after this long weekend (October 13th).  It really is quite invigorating to know that business change does not have to take as long as some might think.