Enterprise Applications – ERP

What is it?

The feasibility / Readiness phase is an approach that helps set the expectations of stakeholders and key members of staff that will be working on the ERP programme, for the challenges ahead. It is a structured methodology that helps identify the people involved, what the scope of the implementation is and the state on which the optimal future ERP is based: Customer satisfaction versus costs versus buying “best of breed”.

How will it help you?

Before embarking on a costly and complex ERP programme, it is wise to ensure the foundations are laid for the whole business which ensures the best chance of success. Remember, an ERP programme is not an IT initiative – it’s a business initiative.

ERP projects are long, complex and costly. They drive significant changes to the way people work and the data that is used. ERP systems touch every aspect of the organisation, which has an exponential impact in the event of failure.

Next steps?

If you are considering an ERP project, even if you have already completed an RFI or RFP, it is still important to create the foundation for the success of the project, ask about the assistance Effectus can provide.

A readiness checklist and assessment report will help identify those areas that are at risk and where Effectus can assist in ensuring areas are supported when moving forward.

What is it?

Identifying and clearly documenting the business requirements is a key foundational step in preparing for an ERP implementation or Major System replacement. It is important to understand that these requirements can come from several directions, information availability, integration between systems, data (security, accuracy and quality) and better reporting etc.

How will it help you?

Effectus can assist in documenting the business requirements through workshops and templates that will help you to understand the mega processes and other factors that drive the ERP functional and non-functional requirements and how to prioritise them. This will result in the foundation details for the RFI or RFP. This is an important step on the journey that is used to hold vendor accountable to delivering an outcome that meets your needs.

Next steps?

Looking for assistance in identifying requirements? Contact us today.

What is it?

Companies must determine the best way to leverage a modern ERP system to deliver business value. The overarching approach should be “Adopt, not Adapt” or “Configure, not Customise”. Configuration and training are low effort tasks that can be done in a minimal amount of time and allows you to maintain your path to upgrades and maximises the use of vendor support.

This implies that you should optimise your business processes to best meet the way the new system operates and only configure the system accordingly and not to extensively customise the ERP system to accommodate under-optimised existing business processes.

To attain any real ERP benefits, you must remove the emotion from the optimisation process and use metrics such as Relevance, Cost, Opportunity and Satisfaction, to make decisions.

How will it help you?

Effectus can assist in reviewing your current mega processes such as “procure to Pay”, down through 2nd and 3rd levels to see how they align with the new system’s processes. Effectus will:

• Review and justify the prioritisation of identified business processes to identify which priorities are key candidates for improvement
• Review identified processes and associated projects to help you to decide which approach to take to improve the identified business processes
• Facilitate internal sessions with staff to analyse processes and identify opportunities for improvement and feedback collection
• Help you to understand how to incorporate any ERP optimisation into the ERP system

It is important to understand that reviewing business processes for improvements is an activity that should be executed in conjunction with the overall project planning function and that you must:

• Be prepared to say “no”. Many user-generated requests for changes to an ERP system can be ignored because they are unrelated to key business priorities or involve processes that account for little cost and present minimal value for improvement
• Focus on optimising those processes that contribute to business priorities or present opportunities in terms of cost reduction or revenue increase. This attention to detail enables you to ignore most user-generated requests.

Next steps?

Looking for assistance in Business Process Improvement or Alignment with a New System? We can help you.

What is it?

Before you can make a Business Case you need to understand the business requirements (needs) and the technology drivers, along with the wider organisational goals and any environmental factors. These, along with an understanding of the known barriers will form the basis of the Business Case. Identifying the types of technology and people costs associated with the current systems (e.g.: system maintenance, annual renewal, licensing, full-time employees, application support staff and help desk tickets), will help quantify savings of an ERP solution. This will culminate in an ERP Business Model.

How can it help you?

It is important to understand the Business Case is required after the foundation has been set for the Programme, the processes have been mapped, the requirements have been gathered, the RFI / RFP and the vendor selected. It is important to have all the foundations in place and firm support from the sponsor to ensure the Business Case can clearly outline the costs, benefits, and risks to secure the necessary approval for the appropriate funding.

Effectus can assist in building the ERP Business Model through a series of workshops that will help you to understand the factors that drive the ERP business model and the cost models for the savings, through a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model, that will result in the foundation details for the Business Case. Developing the business case is an iterative process that evolves through the Feasibility / RFI / RFO stages as more information becomes available and validated.

Next steps?

Looking for assistance in building a Business Case? Give us a call.

Your portfolio of applications may be growing rapidly due to the demand for new applications or application upgrades from your different areas of business. We map your applications to your business processes and highlight those key priority applications to target for investment.

What is it?

The Application Assessment is a structured approach to systematically evaluate all the applications in your portfolio to determine which applications are performing well against business expectations, applications that are at risk and applications that are non-essential.

How can it help you?

Your portfolio of applications may be growing rapidly due to the demand for new applications or application upgrades from your different areas of business. We map your applications to your business processes and highlight those key priority applications to target for investments.

An Application Assessment will help you examine the applications in your application portfolio and decide whether it is worth investing in specific upgrades or investing in new applications. We work with you to develop guiding principles for application investment and quality, to optimise how effective the applications are for your users. This is a useful exercise to complete prior to launching an ERP project as it informs that application priorities, gaps and user requirement from your business applications.

Next steps?

Do you have a large application portfolio? Do you know which applications are delivering value to your organisation, and which are problematic? Why not start with an Application Assessment?

What is it?

RFI stands for ‘Request for Information’ while RFP stands for ‘Request for Proposal’. Effectus provides independent RFP Management process to ensure that you benefit from an unequivocal independent and unbiased response from IT vendors. We scrupulously prepare the tender document to ensure it includes all your business requirements. We in turn manage the tender process on your behalf with vendors capable of delivering solutions that address all your business requirements with tried and tested solutions.

We work with you to review and consider the responses, and through carefully designed assessments, choose the solution best suited to your organisation based on agreed criteria and our in-depth knowledge of good practice solutions. Once you have shortlisted suitable vendors, we engage each vendor to demonstrate their solutions and capability. The vendor demonstrations are based on agreed scenarios to ensure that they can deliver on their specific responses.

A key role we fulfil is to support you in the commercial negotiations with the selected vendor. This is an important aspect of ensuring a partnership where accountability is established upfront.

How can it help you?

Our focus is on delivering the right solution for your business. We will help you collect and define your requirements should you require it.

In many instances, we will have prior relationships with some vendors based on previous engagements but strictly maintain our integrity in not recommending a particular vendor, unless it is fait accompli.

The vendors respond to a list of requirements that have been mutually agreed to and is subject to review and evaluation based on several measurable factors. We liaise with the vendor on your behalf.

We produce a clear and concise recommendation on the results of your objective evaluations.

Next steps?

Do you need help with RFI / RFP Management? Do you want an independent RFI / RFP process?

What is it?

The Effectus Project Management Methodology (EPMM) is a set of processes, tools and techniques used to achieve predictable outcomes. The Effectus Project Management Methodology is flexible and scalable which means that it is based on the level of complexity and size of the respective project. It aligns with industry best practice guidelines from recognised project management institutions (Prince2 & PMBok).

How can it help you?

Using the EPMM across the projects in your organisation helps create a strategic value chain that supports your organisation to remain competitive and relevant particularly in high risk markets and sectors. Not only does it ensure that projects are delivered on time, within budget and scope but also ensures that the requisite organisational change is delivered effectively across your organisation and that the project delivers business value.

We incorporate the tools to manage your portfolio of projects and help you prioritise them according to what the business needs, including project planning and resource scheduling.

We work with you to tailor our methodology, to suit your business needs, based on our extensive knowledge and project delivery success with similar organisations.

Next steps?

Do you want to bring some consistency to managing your IT projects? Why not use our Project Management Methodology?