3 posts tagged “infor baan”

An important part of our business is providing a managed service to companies who use Microsoft AX (formally known as Axapta) and Infor ERP LN (formally known as Baan). This covers both technical support and functional consulting. We also, for a number of customers, provide support for all of their IT systems – we become the IT department.

Often businesses approach us because they are looking to save money on their internal resource, or realise that they are facing some risk in that the people that they employ could depart and leave them in a fix. It is not untypical to find that the people who work in IT, and who support the ERP system, have been around the business a long time. They have had the excitement of implementing the ERP system and are now lynchpins in the continued use of it.

There is a paper on our website ‘IT Support Options’ that discusses this in more detail – take a look and tell me what you think.

The challenge we always face when discussing our pricing with the potential customer is often centred around our estimates for the number of calls we believe we are likely to receive each month. We always suggest a higher number than the customer anticipates. For clarity we don’t just pick a number out the air – we will go on site and interview the users and look closely at how the systems are currently set up and used.

Why the disparity? Why do we always, in the eyes of the customer, overstate the number of calls (cases) that will be handled? We call it the ‘Not Jim Syndrome’.

‘Not Jim Syndrome’ is this: Where a long serving employee is in sole charge of IT and ERP the demand from the users decline in proportion to the user friendliness of Jim and how Jim feels valued by the organisation.

Actually I am being particularly flippant here and I don’t want to offend unnecessarily any Jims out there. It is obvious though that an internally resourced IT department of one, or two, is going to be limited by a number of things. Mainly time – there are just not enough hours in the day to solve all the problems, or importantly, take advantage of the features of your IT and, more particularly, your ERP system. It is also likely that the person just won’t have the breadth of knowledge about your IT and ERP to be able maximise the use of it. And finally, there’s history. I’ll expand a little more on this if I may.

The chances are that the user requests came in thick and fast in the early days of the ERP implementation and on some days Jim could, under the pressure of work, become a little tetchy. After a while people stop asking. They either accept that something can’t be done or start working round ‘the problem’. (See my other blogs on using spreadsheets for reporting).

Another issue is that it is often easier to keep fixing the symptoms of an issue rather than dealing with the underlying cause. Each day Jim ‘fixes’ an error rather than investigating and changing the system to prevent the error occurring in the first place. This is sometimes done for one of three reasons; one, they just don’t have the time to do the investigation. Two, they just don’t have the knowledge on how to solve the problem or three, they prefer it that way as it makes then ‘indispensable’.

Anyway, to return to the main body of this blog: Eventually, after some haggling we agree a managed service contract with our customer and we offer our helpdesk service. The calls start at a trickle and then, when people realise they are getting answers to their questions, and solving some long term issues, the trickle becomes a stream and then a river. Importantly they begin to ask about the functionality they are not currently using in their ERP systems and we help them investigate the use of that.

So, what conclusions could you draw from this? Well I’d suggest these; If you’re a business that is relying on one or two people to run your IT and ERP then you may not save vast sums by outsourcing but you will probably make greater use of the IT and ERP you already own – get better value from it. Or, if you are a Jim – then you might do your business a favour by contracting with some external resource to help you get the best out of your systems.

Tell me what you think…..

Hey, and I know I like my syndromes!

I love Microsoft Excel. I remember clearly the first time I came across an electronic spreadsheet application (for the record it was Smartsuite) and being blown away with the possibilities it offered. The ability to use macro’s and automate various tasks allowed for the creating of ‘mini-programs’ that would remove the mundane paper filling in the office and make data available for analysis.

Not long later I was taught, after much badgering of the IT department, how to create and download files from the ‘Master Business System’ which I could then import into the spreadsheet to then slice and dice and produce my own sets of figures for my management meetings.

At the time I was, at least for the business I was working in, quite a pioneer and I was very much lauded for producing reports that not only looked good but had information that was timely and accurate. No waiting for the production of reports overnight from the IT department on dot matrix printers with faded ribbons and fan-fold paper for me!

In truth this activity was responsible for my later selection to a project to implement a new ‘Master Business System’ – something that was called ‘ERP’.

Nowadays, as part of a company that implements ERP, both Microsoft Dynamics AX (formally known as Axapta) and Infor ERP LN (formally known as Baan, iBaan, SSA Baan, Triton etc, etc), I see a number of companies who have developed terrific spreadsheets with incredible macros and code that actually seem to be so essential to the business that, in the event of their loss, the business would be in serious trouble without them.

And herein lies the problem. In most cases the spreadsheets have been developed by people within the business who have used their talents and taught themselves to become spreadsheet Gurus.

Once these people move on (as I did) the ‘applications’ (in effect the business system) are essentially unsupported. The business has a choice; work out how and what the spreadsheet does, or employ someone from outside to do this, or start again.  An important aside here is that often these spreadsheets are not even backed up properly and reside on the authors PC introducing further risk.

A more robust answer is to implement a business system that doesn’t require all the spreadsheets to make the business work – such as ERP.

Or… actually look at what your current business system offers and make sure you are not ignoring what it could do for you therefore replacing the functionality of the spreadsheets. For instance some report enhancements or utilisation of modules that perhaps you currently don’t use.

Importantly, I would urge you to look at your business right now and see if you are in this situation – and if you are take some action before you find yourself facing an emergency.

Well, I was going to say ‘The Never Ending Project’ but it didn’t sound so good, and it would make a lot of CEO’s and CFO’s shudder at the thought.

However, anyone who has got an ERP system, or is considering implementing one should recognise that the effort of getting the best out of your new business system doesn’t stop a month (or six months!) after ‘go-live’. Sure, there is a shift from the frenetic activity of moving to the new system and training people, not only the basics, but in the advanced or infrequent activities within the software, but for many companies they believe that is the end of their project and they often move the key players in the implementation team either within, or sadly, out of the business.
I’ve yet to see any project where the entire functionality that could be used, is used by the business.
Yet many companies believe that they should stop developing their understanding of their ERP and lose the opportunity to gain a better ROI.

Here at Neustro we are often called in to offer consulting and managed services for Microsoft Dynamics AX and Infor Baan and I find in some instances that the last time the system was ‘developed’, by this I mean functionality that is available is used, is often around the time of the original implementation project. Part of our review process, and the value we bring to our clients, is getting more value from the software they own. I’ve often sat with the directors and managers of companies where they have lamented the fact that they have lost years of opportunity to get additional value out of their ERP system, or worse, where they have invested in alternative solutions not realising that they already had the functionality available to them.

My clear recommendation is that your ERP project shouldn’t stop when it’s implemented – make sure that you have the budget and resolve to optimise its use on an ongoing basis.