Successful SAP Project Team Composition – Technicians or Experts?

By |September 27th, 2010|

Continuing on the theme from a previous post about getting SAP expertise, do you need SAP Technicians or Experts? I want to take some time to review an academic study about gaining SAP ROI and reducing your SAP TCO. The study points out the type of SAP project team expertise to gain ROI and competitive advantage from your ERP project. If you want real return, real results, and real benefits, then you need real skill (see e.g. Screening and Interview Methods to Find the Right Consultant – Part 2 [...]

SAP Implementation Projects: Still Crazy After All These Years – Part 2

By |September 20th, 2010|

In a previous post, I pointed out my discovery of an anonymous blogger who is providing a blow-by-blow of his firm’s painful SAP implementation. (SAP: Loathe It or Ignore It, You Can’t Like It http://sapmesideways.blogspot.com/. )Since that post, I...

ERP Software Selection: Do you want to be a Guinea Pig?

By |August 9th, 2010|

“If the software functionality does not do what we need it to do, nothing else really matters.” Back in the 1980’s, IT department preferences or mandates for specific proprietary mainframe technologies drove many ERP software decisions. They focused on the technologies the IT department could (or would) support, not the mainframe software that best satisfied business needs. Later in the 1990’s, the mainframe vs. open system (client/server) wars caused many to take a blind leap of faith into ope [...]

More on Vendor Selection Criteria and Methods for ERP Project Success

By |June 29th, 2010|

Using the RFI and RFP Process for your ERP or SAP Education During the vendor selection process, you should use the RFI (Request for Information) and RFP (Request for Proposal) processes to solicit comments, methods, tools, and resource examples of how knowledge transfer will be handled. In other words, be sure to actively engage in the RFI and RFP processes rather than simply using them as some kind of a checklist or scorecard for the correct vendor. This is your first and best chance to gain [...]

ERP vs. ERP II vs. ERP III Future Enterprise Applications

By |May 31st, 2010|

ERP I, ERP II, & ERP III Abstract ERP applications integrate enterprise operations within and across enterprise legal entities, or company codes. ERP ii (or ERP 2) applications extend supply functionality to external enterprises (generally vendor-affiliated companies or enterprises) to reduce cost, improve supply chain efficiency, and perform collaborative innovation. ERP iii (or ERP 3) enterprises go to the next level as they integrate the ERP and ERP ii functionality to include customers [...]