A quick Google search on “ERP failure” yields numerous Top 10 lists and thoughtful articles on the subject. Culprits like badly-run projects, lack of vision and executive support, poor communication, badly-defined requirements, weak buy-in and commitment, no business case, wrong choice of technology and inadequate resources are usually cited among the top reasons for failure. Rockford Consulting Group’s whitepaper “The 12 Cardinal Sins of ERP Implementation” speaks eloquently to these factors.

Here’s what I find surprising: virtually all of the discussion on ERP failure deal with what I call implementation failure and almost nobody talks about what I call failure to achieve benefits. ERP projects are complex, risky, and disruptive, and they require organizations to literally transform the way they do business from the inside out. Many ERP projects fail to meet their objects, go way over schedule and budget, and fail to engage stakeholders in a meaningful way. Entire ERP systems can easily become stigmatized by poorly executed projects making them impossible to stabilize. We have clients who had to introduce an entirely new software platform and start again simply because users experience of the implementation project resulted in negative perceptions of the software itself. In most of these case, the software was functionally rich and easily capable of meeting the organization’s needs.

Badly run ERP implementations can have a huge impact on organizational performance during the implementation. This article from PC World on the “10 Biggest ERP Software Failures of 2011” is revealing. Many ERP vendors and consultants  have been sued by their customer over spiraling implementation costs and fiscal losses incurred as a result of business slowdowns that occurred as a result of a badly-run implementation. The same goes for CRM systems, possibly on a slightly smaller scale.

My point is this: our seeming obsession with stories about implementation failure obscures a more likely, more risky, and ultimately more important failing: not realizing benefits after a successful conversion. I contend that in reality, most ERP projects do result is a successful conversion to the new system and that many organizations struggle to make their ERP system really hum and work for them. The drama associated with implementation failure accounts for why it garners the lion’s share of press attention.

So why do ERP successfully implemented ERP systems fail to deliver benefits and more importantly why do organizations have such a hard time supporting their implementations? Change management is, of course, a critical factor and well covered in other blogs and articles. ZDNet’s post “ERP Change Management: The Silent Killer” makes a compelling argument:

“Beyond communication…is the underlying need to foster engagement, understanding, and cooperation of those impacted by ERP-driven changes. Even small and mid-sized organizations find change management difficult. In late 2010, Lumber Liquidators, a retailer with $650 million in revenue and 225 locations, reported a net income drop of 45 percent due to “reduced productivity” associated with its ERP implementation.”

Change management is more dark art than methodology or science and my perspective is that ERP consultants focus too heavily on system conversion goals over long-term benefits realization. Clients are complicit as well.

Eric Kimberling, CEO of Panorama Consulting points out that companies frequently resist change management, ERP training, and communications. “Most companies view these activities as optional, nice-to-have activities. However, as many companies realize the hard way, these are critical necessities.”

I offer an additional perspective on the failure to achieve benefits. Many organizations are ill-prepared to support their ERP and CRM implementations after conversion. It’s a huge factor in midsized organizations where the IT department may include only one or two generalists, usually tasked with hardware and network maintenance, end-user and desktop support, and procurement. On the functional side expertise is similarly limited. In-house expertise with the new ERP system is generally a function of the investment in training. At best, training prepares end-users to work with the new system but only years of experience can prepare people to get full benefit of system capabilities.

A core challenge is that realizing benefits with ERP and CRM systems requires adaptation to new capabilities, evolution of business process infrastructure, and at the most basic level, the ability to respond to the myriad of technology-related hiccups and issues that arise on a weekly basis. As the organization begins to embrace the new system, new requirements quickly emerge, and new capabilities or modules are desired, and the vision evolves. On the technology side, the pain of the initial implementation may diminish the desire to upgrade the software as new versions are released but keeping pace with technology and staying within the supported version range is critical.

What is the best way for medium sized organizations to support their ERP and CRM implementations? Our experience has been that clients depend on our support even more after a conversion or go-live. Not just in the initial stabilization period, but for years after. Our consultants are kept busy with a continual onslaught of requests for support. Requests include:

• Issue resolution
• How do I questions
• Process improvements
• Software bug reporting and tracking
• Vendor Management
• New Employee Training
• Refresher Training
• New Release/New Feature Training
• Upgrade assessments, planning and advisory
• Version upgrade services to keep system current
• Scoping and analysis for new customizations and integration
• Reports and ad hoc consulting

We’re happy to oblige these support requests. Benefits realization depends on our clients having ready access to the consultants familiar with their business and implementation. Being responsive and available isn’t enough in my opinion. ERP and CRM application support needs to be packaged into a managed customer experience with a pricing model that decouples service delivery from traditional hourly billing. The traditional consulting model only incents organizations to pick up the phone when internal troubleshooting efforts have failed, and to limit the interaction when they do.

We’re taking this dilemma seriously and rolling out a new approach that bundles limitless support for benefits realization and service level commitments into a fixed month pricing framework based on the ERP and CRM system profile. Clients who subscribe to our managed ERP and CRM support will also benefit from preferred pricing on software and consulting services. We’re thinking of it as a Benefits Realization Club, and like the familiar slogan goes, membership will have its privileges.

Implementation success is simply not enough. When a client goes live with a new ERP or CRM system they are deeply invested and need every possible advantage, particularly access to ongoing support and help, to realize the benefits and drive their organization to perform at its best.

What – The project status meeting is a review of a project’s key performance indicators.  These are typically:

• Scope – making sure the project’s stated scope is what you’re actually building.
• Budget – reviewing the project spend to date compared with what has been accomplished to date.  Remember that if you’re half way through the budget you should also be at least half way through completing the deliverables.
• Schedule – reviewing the current project schedule.  Again, remember if you’re half way through the project timeline you should also be half way through the deliverables.
• Issues – reviewing current project issues that could affect scope, budget or schedule.

Notes can be sent out afterwards in point form, or a status report template can be used to show key project indicators plus document current issues, decisions, and milestones.

Who – Both vendor and client PMs are mandatory invites.  Other team members can join as well, but the meeting chair (typically one of the PMs) must be strict about keeping the meeting on topic.  Any items that are off topic or that need more time for discussion should be parked and follow up meetings scheduled.

When – Use Outlook’s Recurrence option to book a meeting at the same time each week from the start of the project until a few weeks post go-live.  This puts the meeting into everyone’s routine.

Where – This depends on the project and the team locations.  If your whole team is located in one building (or room), face to face meetings work well.  Otherwise a conference bridge should be booked with the recurring meeting.

Why – Stating the obvious, regular meetings facilitate communication.  Issues are discussed (and most times resolved) when they first arise.  Upcoming milestones are planned in advance.   Budget, schedule, risk (and any other key project process) are reviewed on a regular basis.   They make sure there are no surprises.

Keep an eye out for the following two scenarios:

1. A PM regularly doesn’t call in for the meetings. Everyone misses meetings once in a while, but when a PM (either client or vendor) regularly skips the weekly meeting, this should be discussed immediately with the steering committee.
2. The meeting chair (typically one of the PMs) allows others to take over the meeting.  Chairing meetings can be difficult, but keeping these meetings on schedule and on topic is key to ensure all the topics are covered and to make sure the participants stay engaged.

The highly anticipated launch of NAV 2013 promises the first out of the box integration between Sharepoint and the ERP back end system; all based on the NAV Portal Framework (NPF).

Catapult ERP was handed the task of building a prototype that would show the best of both worlds; the rigor, business logic and structure of the transactions-based ERP model combined with Sharepoint’s ability to extract, present, and blend data and documents into a user-friendly application based on the Metro UI theme.

The starting point is the home page for the CFO, shown below with a mix of “live” NAV data, KPI’s and data visualization graphs, entry points to Email and calendar function (Office 365) and Lync (the unified communications platform integrated with outlook), as well as Sharepoint lists and data repositories.

From there you can drill down to a workspace that allows the end user easy access to launch the actual ERP application and perform the business transaction that you want.

The solution kicks the door right open for the ERP application; access it from Sharepoint, the web or a mobile application and present it in a way that reflects the latest user-friendly front end look and feel.

Another interesting aspect is the second home page that was created as part of this project, the consultant homepage shown below. The key difference here is the data repository with all sorts of relevant NAV generated reports that can be posted and shared with partners – without giving them direct access to the ERP system.

One could imagine an external consultant helping the client on various business projects, where they would need insight into financial and operational performance – and being able to monitor that on an ongoing basis. No need to email it back and forth with concerns over versioning; the data can be presented in a very friendly and elegant common collaboration platform.

At the same time you can build workflows around a common shared business process, so the client and the consultant can see relevant status updates and track progress.

The most fascinating part is now you are really starting to take advantage of the entire platform, build your solution with different tools that will allow you to create a great looking and intuitive solution, optimize your collaboration capabilities with partners, both external and internal, produce relevant and timely key performance indicator’s – all while your building foundation is  “just” your staff performing their daily business transactions.

Catapult ERP is proud to be have been part of this project for NAV 2013 together with Microsoft – and excited about the projects we can see in the horizon with the new capabilities of the product and the platform.

We are very excited to announce that Catapult ERP has been recognized for successfully selling and implementing Serenic HCM & Navigator – NAV for Not for Profit, which offers non profit accounting software and accounting software for government agencies, with the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics logo by achieving Authorized Reseller status.

Certified for Microsoft Dynamics is Microsoft Corp.’s highest standard for partner-developed software.  Solutions that are “Certified for Microsoft Dynamics” have demonstrated quality and compatibility with the Microsoft Dynamics product on which they run by passing rigorous VeriTest (a service of Lionbridge) testing for Microsoft Dynamics. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics partners who qualify for this status need to be a Certified Partner in the Microsoft Partner Program and provide examples of customers who are successfully using the certified solution and were willing to recommend it.  By successfully meeting all requirements, Catapult ERP can now offer Serenic HCM & Navigator with the distinct Certified for Microsoft Dynamics logo.

For customers, the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics logo helps identify Microsoft Dynamics solutions that have been tested for compatibility, meet high quality standards and are used successfullt by exisiting customers.  This certification represents a signifcant step in elevating the standard for partner-developed software solutions for industry-specific business applications.  By highlighting these solutions, Microsoft also creates new opportunities for partners to expand their reseller channel and to better promote their packaged Microsoft Dynamics solution for customers.

“This milestone demonstrates Catapult’s commitment to delivering leading solutions and expertise for our customers,” said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Microsoft Dynamics Partners.  ”We congratulate Catapult ERP for its commitment to excellence and achieving Authorized Reseller status.”

Catapult will help deliver Serenic Navigator nonprofit accounting software with a full suite of integrated financial solutions to nonprofit, education and government customers in Western Canada.  This collaboration will allow Catapult to engage more deeply with our clients by providing expertise inL

• Fund Accounting
• Grant Management
• Donation Management
• Human Capital Management

You can read more about Serenic HCM & Navigator in the Dynamics Marketplace

During a meeting with a prospective client yesterday, the discussion moved to ERP project schedules.  The first phase of our client engagement is typically a Pre-implementation Analysis (PIA) which is essentially the analysis phase of your project.  This allows us to gather your requirements and perform a “gap/fit” against NAV, taking the unknowns away from the project up front.  The main outcome of the PIA is the project plan which includes detailed scope, budget, and schedule.  (For more info, check out our project management approach to ERP projects.)

The schedule is initially based on our Catapult resourcing availability.  It is then refined to take other factors into consideration such as:

1. Hard dates (e.g. need to implement on year end to coincide with planned inventory counts, need to implement before busy season starts)
2. Unknown dates (e.g. you’ve ordered the server, but the vendor won’t give you a ship date (and yes this really happens… yet another good reason to look to the cloud))
3. Client resourcing

We always recommend clients estimate their resourcing on the project to be 2 to 3 times our work estimates.   For example, for a 400 hour / 3 month project, we would recommend you set aside at least 2 full time resources for the duration of the project.   This seems like a lot of time, especially when we say that these should be your key people.

Why so much time and why your key people?  During the project they will be in charge of:

• Ensuring your business requirements are defined and conveyed to our analysts.  Only your best and brightest resources understand your business well enough to make the right decisions on your behalf.
• Testing any customizations to ensure they meet your requirements.
• Testing NAV configuration to ensure it meets your requirements.
• Gathering and managing the cleaning of all data to be imported into NAV (such as customer and vendor lists, opening GL balances).
• Planning and carrying out all end user training.  We recommend a “train the trainer” approach where we train project team members who then can own the training responsibilities.

So, as you start planning for your upcoming ERP project, think also of who will make up your project team and what you can do in advance to train up (or hire) resources to back fill during the project.

Imagine if it were possible to keep a partner in a relationship by limiting their choices and options. For example, what if they agreed not to see anyone else for a period of one year following a breakup? Or if they agreed not to use any of what they’d learned in their relationship with you later on in a other future relationship? Or perhaps you could prevent them from leaving because you have agreements with other potential suitors not to date your ex. That’s crazy talk right? Even if these things were possible, and I’m sure some have tried, how toxic would the relationship become?

Ironically this is what professional services firms try to do all the time with their employees and clients – the people they care about and pursue relationships with – and it’s just as crazy. Plus, it costs a fortune in lost productivity and time. Many firms intimidate their people with employment contracts  that restrict their ability to work for competitive firms or provide services to “clients” of the firm for lengthy periods following a resignation. I have to wonder, is that what’s best for the clients these firms claim to love so much, whose interests they are looking out for? Is that what’s best for the employee who is investing in building a career based on providing advisory services, becoming what David Maister has called the “Trusted Advisor”?

Let me be clear. I am not suggesting for a minute that anyone pursue disruptive or unethical business practices. In professional services we have a tendency to throw around the term “client” loosely, usually referring to an organization or individual we’ve rendered services to in the past or one who calls upon us from time to time as needs arise. Even where long-term contracts underpin relationships, there are almost always provisions for cancellation because there has to be a way to disengage if the agreement isn’t serving all parties. Professional services firms may try to retain their clients by preventing their consultants from working with them in other employment contexts but it doesn’t help anyone. In the long run, consultants need to choose the best firms to practice at, and clients who want to continue working with an consultant that knows their business should not have their options restricted by the firms they originally transacted with.

In a romantic relationship all you can do is let the other person know that you care about them, that you want to be with them, and do everything you can to stay with them. If that doesn’t work all you can do is let them go if that’s what they want. You cannot force someone to love you back. If the relationship is meant to be it eventually will be.

My perspective is that our clients make a choice to do business with us every single day and face countless alternative value propositions from our competitors. And we’re happy they do because it forces them to make a conscious choice to do business with us over and over again. What is better than a client or employee who knows they can work with anyone they want to but chooses to work with us? Ultimately we’re just not that motivated to protect our relationships by limiting our clients’ choices and don’t view our relationships as proprietary. We don’t own our clients and employees and any consulting firm that thinks they do are missing a key principle about relationships. The moment we develop a sense of entitlement about their loyalty, we need to remind ourselves about the importance of working hard to earn it and letting them make the choice.

1.     User Productivity Enhancements

• Copy and Paste between Excel and Dynamics NAV
  • You are not only able to copy rows from Dynamics NAV to Excel, but you can also paste rows from Excel back to Dynamics NAV, which is really handy when you need to copy a few rows of setup data without even running dataport/xmlport/data migration tool. I tested this feature on a sales order by just copying a few rows from Excel with 4 fields Type, No., Location, Quantity, it works great as long as the first 4 fields match the fields on the Excel rows. The fields are also validated after when pasting.

Guiding Principles are general rules of engagement and help to shape scope.  They help consultants to architect the solution with the guidelines in mind so that the solutions are not over architected, too simplistic or even not used at all.  In addition, the Guiding Principles help define which areas of the project where our resources may be more or less engaged, or where the client will take ownership and therefore provide a framework to approach scope, budget and effort during an ERP implementation.

Guiding Principles also move the initial discussion beyond the typical software sales cycle and change the focus and motivation from selling software to that of trying to successfully implement the software your client has selected.  There is a profound difference between these two approaches to selling ERP solutions – the main difference being that by adding Guiding Principles into the discussion and baking it in to part of the engagement, the behavior of sales people tends to be driven by metrics such as successful implementations, higher customer satisfaction and higher user adoption rather than numbers of units sold.

It can be difficult to get a customer to buy into discussing guiding principles especially when they are solely focused on price and/or want to manage their own process, however I find that most clients and prospects are open to the discussion and more often than not feel that the process brings alignment and understanding about the approach and how the engagement will take shape.   ERP implementations that have a set of Guiding Principles outlined to use as a framework for the engagement are one of the keys to successfully implementing ERP solutions and enable valuable long term partnerships.

Some guiding principles that we have worked to develop with our clients that have proved successful are below –

• The ERP Solution shall be implemented to enable automation to support business growth by leveraging technology and limit the hiring of additional human resources
• The ERP Solution shall be implemented to limit a reliance on manual processes to consolidate subsidiary data, limit redundant data processing, increase data validation and help to increase user adoption
• The ERP Solution shall be implemented in phases in order to limit initial budget expenditure and provide a foundational, transformational platform for growth.  Requirements should be approached with consideration for their impact and budget in order to determine their priority in the scope of the ERP platform.
• The ERP Solution shall be implemented to enable operational efficiency and to implement change within the organization. Emphasis on adoption of new processes, process improvement and efficiency are the priorities of the implementation.

Please feel free to reach out to me at jeff@catapulterp.com if you’re interested in learning more about setting Guiding Principles in your ERP engagement!

Some scenarios I’ve come across:

- an admin clerk tasked with entering service fault issues into Excel, but not able to pull trend reports off the data to see faults by category over time

- IT staff in a data conversion exercise having to call in consultants to pull apart data embedded in item codes (e.g. Item code redpantWXL)

- a controller without working knowledge of pivot tables unable to properly perform consolidations

All of these people were capable of learning the skills (and were pretty stoked when we taught them), they just hadn’t had the training.  It doesn’t take a lot of time, and doesn’t need to cost a lot of money, but adding these skills to your staff’s toolkit can have immediate payback.

The young girls were absolutely stunning, and the young boys looked so handsome all dressed up and ready to take the world by storm.  I think we can all remember the stress involved in picking the all-important prom date – and that stress didn’t just involve who was the prettiest.  But really, what does that have to do with selecting an ERP system? Actually, a lot.

Based on the look there were some obvious candidates to be picked first, but this is where experience with the potential date comes into play. It matters how people react on a stormy day when things are not developing just like expected; it matters who will respond when you ask for help even if it is a bit inconvenient; it matters who will let you know if you are making the wrong decision; and it of course matters who will stand by your side when you need it most.

Looks won’t do that by itself; you need more substance. You need a good person inside, you want someone by your side who will be there 5 years from now. That’s what partnerships (and friendships are all about).

If you cut away all the glossy materials and yes, yes, yes answers to the RFP selection process – and really think deep down inside “who do I want to be my RFP date” – will you make that selection based on just picking without engaging and understanding the “candidate”? Will you do it based on a one day interview process ? No, you identify your preferred partner based on so much more – and even if your choice is “not available” – at least you have gone through the right process…

You might not end up with the best looking date, but hopefully you’ll get one that shares your values, respects you as the person you are and has chosen to partner with you because of a common alignment. And that will be proud of saying 5 years from now, “that was my graduation date and we are still the best of friends.”

And from a proud dad : My son passed his test in flying colors – he did not apply the RFP principles, but he still ended up next to what looked like a super choice.