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ERP: Areas of professional services | ||
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 (if they did not, there would be little need to implement them). 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 (eg, 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, Customisation and Support. Consulting ServicesThe 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. 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 customisation 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 as more is not uncommon for a multi-site implementation. Customisation ServicesCustomisation 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 which 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' customisation for larger implementations as there are typically dozens of ancilliary 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 previous a customisation may have been subsequently incorporated into the core routines of the ERP software, allowing customers to revert back to standard product and retire the customisation 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. Customisation work is usually undertaken as bespoke software development on a time and materials basis. Because of the specialist nature of the customisation 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 customisation 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 customisation is the associated documentation. While it can seem like a considerable -- and expensive -- overhead to the customisation 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 customisation delivers. Maintenance and Support ServicesOnce your system has been implemented, the consulting company will typically enter into a Support Agreement to assist your staff keep the ERP software running in an optimal way. 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.Copyright 2008 - France BtoB from Wikipédia
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