Interoperable Worlds !!!

By: S.Suren

In my previous posts I talked about how ERPs rely on excel and to what extent excel is needed in supporting an ERP System, when it comes to reporting and analysis etc.

Definitely this is something that the ERP Vendors have also been aware of and have identified that the best way to go about would be to integrate Excel with ERPs with regard to the business functions itself, to make work easier for the end users when it comes to using the ERP and excel together.

SAP has partnered up with MS and have developed the Duet Software for SAP, the Duet software enables seamless access to SAP business processes and data via Microsoft Office. SAP Terms that this development was done specially for those Information workers, yeah that’s right, its for those workers who work a lot more on excel analyzing and sorting information downloaded from the ERP itself. Initially this project initiated by SAP and MS Office was referred to as project “Mendocino” however later they changed it to “DUET”

Duet is sold and supported by both Microsoft and SAP. The product is available from SAP, as of June 28, 2006.

Looks like the Giants are beginning to address the fact that they cannot keep competing forever and have to tie their knots somewhere where there is no clear threat to either of them. Just for your information, there was a time when SAP and MS were considering merging, the idea came from MS and however this was later turned down due to reasons based on complexity !!!

However, I am sure a merger of this nature would have likely invited antitrust scrutiny. A merger of this nature would have outdone ORACLE, but ORACLE came back strongly to this saying that the market looked healthy and there was enough room for competition.

Coming back to the Excel integration, let’s look at ORACLE. They have also been ahead of the curve in this regard and have jointly with MS, come up with the technology via their Fusion Middleware that integrate business functions in ORACLE with MS Office.

Namely:

The technology and the products being, ORACLE Fusion Middleware and E-Business Suite,

the processes integrated being, Business Activity Monitoring, BPEL (Business process execution language) Manager and Business Intelligence (the ultimate module, I would say) and

MS office products being, MS Excel, Outlook and InfoPath.

ORACLE too have integrated with Office in such a way that 2 way information exchange takes place seamlessly and helps in increasing producvity of information workers specially.

I should say however that ORACLE has an impressive graphical display of performances and information in this regard.

For more information, check out this link below, it’s a very nice demo done by the ORACLE

Senior Director himself.

http://download.oracle.com/otndocs/tech/ias/Oracle_MSFT.html

So taking all the above into consideration and the demands of information workers, expect more integration with MS Office and ERPs in the future. I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to contact me on ssurenlk@msn.com if you have any queries.

Have a Nice Day !!

S.Suren

Consulting Between the LINES !!

By : S.Suren

Convincing the OBVIOUS

How often have you found yourself as a consultant, in a position where your customer is not willing to accept the changes you recommend, simply because he/she have got used to an old process and don’t wont to change it ?

I am sure you have all come across this issue. The normal argument the client would use would be to justify that the old process has been working fine; he/she would call up on old facts about how well the company has been doing in its 100 – 150 years in business and the increasing market share.

One very interesting comeback line for this is what I came across when reading an article by Dr.Alan Weiss (http://www.summitconsulting.com), where he asks the customer, what stops them from thinking that their market share can’t be more than what it is.

It’s all about persuasion, I guess, however as a consultant you need to be sure about what you say and recommend. Convincing the obvious in the best possible manner is something we consultants should have the knack of doing, and this is a talent arising out of marketing than anything else.

Learning to LOVE CHANGE

For those of you who have come across the “The Management GURU - Tom Peters” writings, I am sure you would know this.

This is one of the strategies he proposed to practice “Thriving on CHAOS”. This is very apparent in the IT world, especially when implementing a new system to replace another system that has been in existence for a long long time.

It is likely that the end users are not sure what they would be dealing with, it is now when we as consultants need to positively educate them on the benefits for them and teaching them to LOVE the Change.

There are more than a many practical ways of doing this, but the simple most effective way, would just be to get them involved in as much as possible in the change over process (referred to by TP as “Leading by Empowering People”), giving them the feeling of ownership and making them feel as an important element in the entire process.

At the same time, make sure that as a consultant you do not lose control of the situation, this would simply mean that the overall objective of improving the business process and efficiency maybe going of track to achieving something that is already been done in a totally new different way.

More soon....

Rgds
Suren

Whats it’s all about then??

Certain things ERP Implementation teams need to be aware of:

• The implementation of a system will not completely eliminate the amount of manual work done by a user.
• A system cannot cater to the inefficiencies of people, the process is what the system looks to streamline. Like the saying goes “Junk In, Junk Out”
• Don’t expect the system to do everything that it is capable of from the very beginning itself; because it will take time for people to adjust to the new system, only after the users truly understand the importance of the system and use it in such a way, will the system begin to generate value addition to the business.
• They say it takes about a 18 months for any system to begin return on investment, but don’t take this for granted, I am sure with the right methodology this time can be reduce. Another important things to consider is that, its also a known fact that the average period of a system to be in place before it requires an upgrade is 5 years, if this is the case, then that would mean that the system would be directly contributing to the business in full throttle for 3 ½ years (5 – 1 ½).
• The system will only be as good as the people using it and the processes built into it. Typically, like a car and its driver, a bad driver could even make a merc look bumpy.

Issues to be aware of when implementing SAP (Source: AMR Research)

• Allow sufficient time after the pilot goes live to refine processes. Continue learning SAP products to resolve issues and prepare for the next phase.
• Segregate responsibilities to ensure that conflicting priorities or unnecessary tasks do not cause costly delays. Certain business processes may not be relevant until later in the project.
• Change management is a big issue. People will always resist and have conflicting initiatives, including those dedicated to the project. Get people to focus on data clean-up and conversion.
• Master data management is equally daunting. Cleansing the data, creating new data and technically migrating the data to SAP should not be underestimated.
• Complete the global blueprint before starting the pilot and be mindful of how resources are allocated. Do not complete the global blueprint while implementing the pilot site. In AMR's study, the £2.6bn firm tried doing the two things at once and ran into unnecessary angst and shifting of priorities. It also indicted that, with hindsight, the team should have considered implementing Finance and HR globally first. Being able to segment SAP functionality and decide how best to deploy it is critical.

Hope you found this post useful. 

Have a nice day!!

Rgds

Suren

Consultant Skills Required in the Field

Some Useful tips from the Million Dollar Consultant - Alain Weiss

I’ve filtered the necessary skill points that need to be considered mainly in a project environment and added some practical tips on the following points in RED,

Consultancy Process

• A consultant's thinking should be at a degree of freedom more than that of the client's. Question the client's assumptions.

Practicality: Question when the clients states they don’t want change a previous process simply because it has been in existence for a long time. Remember this is just to question, why, perhaps there could be a reason why it is being done that way and if it fits with the overall objectives of the company and is producing maximum efficiency, then LET IT BE!!

• A consultant's insight is demonstrated as much by good questions as by good answers.

Practicality: Know the impact of your final recommendation on all other related aspects of the business before saying it aloud.

• Organisations are perfectly designed for the results they achieve. So start by assuming that nothing is happening by accident!

Delivery process

• Put effort into managing your clients' expectations - it will build good relationships.

Practicality: This is simple put yourself in the client’s shoes, and figures out what you would expect from the consultant with regard to that particular issue, and then skip back into your shoes (figure of speech!!) and do something beyond that expectation!!

• Remember that you are not a supplicant! Sometimes you have to say "no" to the client.

Practicality: A tough thing to do, but someone’s got to do it, only if in the best interest of the project.

• Manage the context. It is easy to concentrate on the content of a project, and totally overlook the environment in which it is taking place.

Practicality: Best way to avoid this is to keep other relevant parties informed as well when an important decision is made.

• Build client confidence in the early stages of a project by looking for quick successes and making sure the client is well informed about progress

Practicality: Putting yourself in the clients’ shoes should again do the trick here as well.

Interpersonal & Communications Skills

• When you aren't talking, you aren't screwing up! Consultants sell by how they listen as well as what they say.

Practicality: In any meeting give the customer the first 10 minutes of it, and if possible get others from the clilents side involved in the initial discussion too, this gives you time to assess the situations your clients are in and identify the key players in the meeting, then you can begin to discuss your points with these key players.

• The description of your services has to be so clear that a client can describe it to one of his or her colleagues

Practicality: After your initial discussion with the client on what your services or recommendation is about, make sure to draft a document with most of the exact same words you used during the discussion. However, I would recommend that you inform your clients to let you know if someone else is interested in your service so you could approach them directly, after all, it’s always better for anyone to hear it from the horse’s mouth!!!

• Speak the simple truth. Being truthful is simple, but keeping the message simple requires time and effort.

Practicality: Avoid Jargons, speak the customers language!!!

Skills for the world of consultancy

• In consultancy, the person is the product. Make sure your "product packaging" is good - you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Practicality: You are your own BRAND Ambassador, don’t let it go!!!

• In consultancy you sell and deliver promises. Winning and maintaining the trust of clients is therefore vital.

Practicality: You have probably heard this many times before but nevertheless here goes “Don’t make Promises you can’t keep, and if you can’t keep your promises….don’t make excuses!!!

• Murphy's Law of time for consultants: things always take longer - whether consultant tasks or client decisions!

Practicality: Well what can I say, that’s Murphy’s Law, but if we as consultants can add our own law to it, it would go as something like below :

"Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment, but….if it can be avoided it should have been atleast identified in advance “

The Stages of a Project that everyone knew, but no one wanted to elaborate on!!!

S.Suren

In this article I would like to mention that the difference type of stages in a Project Implementation.

Here are the six stages of a typical IT project:

1. Wild Enthusiasm
2. Total Confusion
3. Fear and Uncertainty
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the Innocent
6. Promotion of the Uninvolved

I’m not saying that these occurs in every IT project, but common, it does happen in some and makes us wonder, if this is whats happening will it ever be looked into and corrected. The answer to that would be “No” I guess, simply because there will be always be a human influence on any project and as long as that happens, these things tend to happen.

Lets look at each of these stages in detail and see what can be done to make the most of these situations, for the good of course!!

1. Wild Enthusiasm – There is always bound to be some of this, expecially when it comes to implementing a new system, everyone is not quite sure what to expect and what will become of the old practices, this is where the consultant / project manager will have to step in and make sure to communicate to the users on what this project is all about, and what to expect and not to expect too. People handling skills at this point of time is crucial, but this is also the enthusiastic and enjoyable part of the project, this is best part of the project where the consultant /project manager can really build up a good rapport with the customers.

2. Total Confusion – Getting deeper in the project, the complications begin to arise to the top. This is when the customers are not too sure, who is going to take responsibility for the project and everyone make an effort to get prevailing operational issues sorted out, before the consultant digs deeper into their relevant areas. This is where the consultant / project manager needs to draw up a plan with clear guidelines as to who would be responsible for what, and he needs to make sure that he uses his rapport built in the first stage in getting the users to accept these responsibilities.

3. Fear & Uncertainity - This is bound to be there in every project, and is something that needs to be addresses with utmost importance, as this could escalate into something big and jeopardize the entire project. The consultant / project manager need to again communicate to the team the importance of knowing what to do, and the fact that crucial functions be double checked and confirmed before performing them. I have come across customers who sometimes are just too afraid to have to do anything with the project simply because all senior managers and directors are involved to some extent into the operational areas too, this leads to them not even making an attempt to question and clear their doubts about the project. As they say in an ERP Implementation expecially, there shouldn’t be a single stone not unturned, and if the above situation were to occur, a lot of important information would be lost. The Project Team should keep everyone informed on the importance of their input and assure them that they will always have the higher management support.

4. Search for the Guilty – My personal stance on this is, people will make mistakes and as long as they are involved in projects, this will happen; therefore it is up for the consultant / project manager to prepare for contingencies too. If in case, there is someone who is incapable of doing something that was assigned to him / her then this should be identified and that individual should be moved to something else they are capable of doing. I strongly believe that everyone have their strengths and weaknesses and a good manager should be able to identify this and make the most of that persons strengths.

5. Punishment of the innocent – As I said before, there is no need for this to happen if the previous can be done in a proper way. The reality is however that these situations do happen and I believe that if the consequence is something that can be sorted out without loosing a life, then it should just be done and the person responsible should be educated on the importance of his task and how the relevant task should be performed correctly.

6. Promotion of the Uninvolved – Well, the reality is that the person who stays late and arrives earlier than the boss, just prior to the project going live is who gets all the credit for the final effort taken. They say, there are two kinds of workers, 1. The person who can finish his work assigned to him double quickly and efficiently and so finds the time allocated for his work more than enough, 2. The person who cannot finish his work assigned to him in the time allocated, simply because he has not got his task priorities right, and ends up staying late and doing those things that need to completed in that day, that could have been done in the time provided itself.

The last point is controversial to say the least, and could be debated for the rest of mankind’s existence, but a good manager will know the difference and make the right decision. Hope you found this post interesting, your suggestions, comments and ideas are always welcome!!

Have a Great Day !!!

S.Suren