By S.Suren:
The term reverse engineering is normally something you would come across in the mechanical or industrial engineering field, where object are dismantled into pieces and then put together again in a manner that increases their operational efficiently etc. Well when it comes to consulting, we as consultant’s first need to understand the customers end requirements, emphasizing on the word “end”.
It’s normally the case that over anxiety and enthusiasm leads to the consultant jumping into conclusions and proposing solutions even before the exact end requirements of the clients have been identified. Its not actually the consultants fault, it’s just that he/she wants to make an impression and give the best to the clients, that they are looking to make things happen before actually identifying the base of the client’s needs.
This reminds of the hysterical email with the different sequence of pictures showing that the customer’s requirement was for a simple tire swing hanging from a tree, when the consultant proposed a solution that was a half constructed roller coaster.
Anyway coming back to reverse engineering consulting, it’s the method in which as a consultant you would look at the final outcome the client needs and then begin to work backwards to define and design the necessary processes and practices to be set up and practiced in the business operations.
Looking at it from an ERP Consultants point of view, I would first recommend that you collect the final reports that would be generated from a particular process and then begin working backwards using this report as a base in identifying all the processes throughout the operations involved. This method works very well with MIS reports set as the base. Also remember not to get carried away in designing processes and methods which would again be generating the exact same report information, but try to give them something new, make the leading processes more efficient, take into account exemptions to the process followed etc.
Generally the thinking is that being an ERP Consultant, it’s assumed that what we can deliver rests in what the system has to provide, but if you have the domain experience feel free to express your thoughts on possible best practices to the irreplaceable manual activities that are performed around a system, after all no system is good enough to completely automate all operations of a business, though some managers expect them to, if this were the case, there wouldn’t be those innovative companies that have changed the way we do things. Most importantly remember no system can ever replace the desire and potential of an enthusiastic person.
There are more areas in the consulting field where we could practice this technique of reverse engineering style consulting, which of course is easier said than done, but it’s up to you!! I shall post more of these in the future.
Hope you found this article informative and interesting. Feel free to send in your comments and suggestions to ssurenlk@msn.com.
Have a nice day!!!
Sep 14, 2008
Sep 6, 2008
SAP’s Business Intelligence solution offerings:
By S.Suren
In my previous article I had mentioned the takeover syndrome that was present in the ERP Arena, and how some companies poached up some other relative mature companies providing Business Intelligence Solutions. Read "The Take-Over Syndrome".
In this article I thought I’ll details out how SAP’s Business Intelligence Solutions offering have changed after the takeover of Business Objects this year January for $6.8 B. It a known fact that prior to the takeover of BO by SAP, BO had itself taken over one of the most commonly used report designing tool, known as Crystal Report. Now with Crystal Report in SAP’s arsenal, it was announced that this is going to be SAP’s main enterprise-grade reporting tool.
On its BI Platform, SAP has revealed that Business Objects XI is going to be SAP’s main BI Platform. One of the main reason for doing this is, BO’s XI being able to access non-sap data sources unlike SAP Net weaver BI.
SAP is also diving deep into Predictive Analysis with Business Objects. Business Objects™ Predictive Workbench is the new tool offering data mining and predictive analytics integrated with Business Objects XI 3.0, the industry’s first unified business intelligence (BI) platform. Given the current economic climate experienced in the world market this solution is going to be up there for the grabs.
Another product that is expected in 2009 is a solution combining the functionalities of the BEx Analyzer and Business Objects Voyager.
Some of the products and solution offerings that SAP is likely to phase out during the coming years are, SEM-BCS, BEx Report Designer, BEx Web Analyzer and BEx Excel Analyzer. These offering will be replaced by one or more of the above mentioned products and solutions.
With close to $7 B going into the acquisition of Business Objects and the large amounts of R&D already spent on SAP’s BIW solutions, it is only likely that the new products and solution offerings are going to come attached with a fancy price tag, only time will tell, and when it does I shall keep this site updated with the details.
Hope you found this article informative. Your suggestions and feedbacks are welcome on ssurenlk@msn.com.
Have a nice day!!
In my previous article I had mentioned the takeover syndrome that was present in the ERP Arena, and how some companies poached up some other relative mature companies providing Business Intelligence Solutions. Read "The Take-Over Syndrome".
In this article I thought I’ll details out how SAP’s Business Intelligence Solutions offering have changed after the takeover of Business Objects this year January for $6.8 B. It a known fact that prior to the takeover of BO by SAP, BO had itself taken over one of the most commonly used report designing tool, known as Crystal Report. Now with Crystal Report in SAP’s arsenal, it was announced that this is going to be SAP’s main enterprise-grade reporting tool.
On its BI Platform, SAP has revealed that Business Objects XI is going to be SAP’s main BI Platform. One of the main reason for doing this is, BO’s XI being able to access non-sap data sources unlike SAP Net weaver BI.
SAP is also diving deep into Predictive Analysis with Business Objects. Business Objects™ Predictive Workbench is the new tool offering data mining and predictive analytics integrated with Business Objects XI 3.0, the industry’s first unified business intelligence (BI) platform. Given the current economic climate experienced in the world market this solution is going to be up there for the grabs.
Another product that is expected in 2009 is a solution combining the functionalities of the BEx Analyzer and Business Objects Voyager.
Some of the products and solution offerings that SAP is likely to phase out during the coming years are, SEM-BCS, BEx Report Designer, BEx Web Analyzer and BEx Excel Analyzer. These offering will be replaced by one or more of the above mentioned products and solutions.
With close to $7 B going into the acquisition of Business Objects and the large amounts of R&D already spent on SAP’s BIW solutions, it is only likely that the new products and solution offerings are going to come attached with a fancy price tag, only time will tell, and when it does I shall keep this site updated with the details.
Hope you found this article informative. Your suggestions and feedbacks are welcome on ssurenlk@msn.com.
Have a nice day!!
Jul 24, 2008
Curtains comedown on TommorowNow !!
By S.Suren
Its finally happened, the much anticipated outcome of the acquisition of TomorrowNow by SAP is finally here. SAP has opted to close down their much troubled subsidiary TomorrowNow, this would come as a major suprise, as this was bound to happen, given ORACLEs continuous lawsuits and the higher management of TomorrowNow moving out one after another.
Its estimated that the 225 customers of TomorrowNow will now be asked to move back to ORACLE for support and future needs. How smooth this transition is going to be, is to be seen.
However, with regard to the lawsuit files by ORACLE, the final hearing is still pending and expected during the mid of next year. I shall keep you updated on the latest on that, with the expected settlement at a $1B, it going to be hard to miss.
With the global recession having its say on Fortune 500 companies too, its understandable that supporting industry are feeling the pinch too and IT is most often considered a supporting industry.
Hope you found this post informative.
Have a nice day !!
ssurenlk@msn.com
Its finally happened, the much anticipated outcome of the acquisition of TomorrowNow by SAP is finally here. SAP has opted to close down their much troubled subsidiary TomorrowNow, this would come as a major suprise, as this was bound to happen, given ORACLEs continuous lawsuits and the higher management of TomorrowNow moving out one after another.
Its estimated that the 225 customers of TomorrowNow will now be asked to move back to ORACLE for support and future needs. How smooth this transition is going to be, is to be seen.
However, with regard to the lawsuit files by ORACLE, the final hearing is still pending and expected during the mid of next year. I shall keep you updated on the latest on that, with the expected settlement at a $1B, it going to be hard to miss.
With the global recession having its say on Fortune 500 companies too, its understandable that supporting industry are feeling the pinch too and IT is most often considered a supporting industry.
Hope you found this post informative.
Have a nice day !!
ssurenlk@msn.com
Jul 13, 2008
Challenges in the Apparel Industry and SAP’s Solutions for them – Article 3:
By S.Suren
Continuing from my previous posts, I shall in this article give you more insight into the challenges faced by companies in the Apparel & Footwear Industry and how SAP AFS Industry Solution caters to them.
• Poor on time delivery
This is a common problem in the AFS Manufacturing Environment, especially for those companies that have overseas operations and have a lengthy supply chain. Delivery dates of the final product is a crucial deadline given the ever so quickly changing fashion trends, and not to the mention the cost of alternative means of transport selected at the last minute to stick to delivering the product on time.
Given this condition SAP AFS has some useful functionality that caters to these needs:
Allocation Run – also known famously as ARUN, this allocation procedure helps determines the best usage of the existing stocks to meet the requirements of those sales orders that would deliver the best return in terms of customer satisfaction. This function is quite unique to the AFS Environment, as it provides many different built in rules and definable rules that are very much in line with the process built in and around the Sales & Distribution functions of the AFS Industry.
Order scheduling Strategy is an additional process in AFS SD processing that helps to optimize the delivery dates for each item. You can define rules to take account of special customer requests or general business requirements. This process also serves in allocating inventory to key customers in liaison with the Allocation Run procedure described above.
For more information visit: LINK
I shall keep posting more on this area in the future. Hope you found this post informative.
ssurenlk@msn.com
Have a nice day!!
Continuing from my previous posts, I shall in this article give you more insight into the challenges faced by companies in the Apparel & Footwear Industry and how SAP AFS Industry Solution caters to them.
• Poor on time delivery
This is a common problem in the AFS Manufacturing Environment, especially for those companies that have overseas operations and have a lengthy supply chain. Delivery dates of the final product is a crucial deadline given the ever so quickly changing fashion trends, and not to the mention the cost of alternative means of transport selected at the last minute to stick to delivering the product on time.
Given this condition SAP AFS has some useful functionality that caters to these needs:
Allocation Run – also known famously as ARUN, this allocation procedure helps determines the best usage of the existing stocks to meet the requirements of those sales orders that would deliver the best return in terms of customer satisfaction. This function is quite unique to the AFS Environment, as it provides many different built in rules and definable rules that are very much in line with the process built in and around the Sales & Distribution functions of the AFS Industry.
Order scheduling Strategy is an additional process in AFS SD processing that helps to optimize the delivery dates for each item. You can define rules to take account of special customer requests or general business requirements. This process also serves in allocating inventory to key customers in liaison with the Allocation Run procedure described above.
For more information visit: LINK
I shall keep posting more on this area in the future. Hope you found this post informative.
ssurenlk@msn.com
Have a nice day!!
Jul 3, 2008
Been busy with the LAW !!!
By S.Suren
Well the recent weeks has been quite busy for the 2 top ERP Giants, when it comes to attending court sessions, meeting with lawyers and appointments with investment analysts.
SAP has been in the spotlight with the suit filed against it by i2. Its stated that SAP could end up paying $83.3 M to settle the i2 patent suit. i2 filed suit against SAP, claiming infringement of a number of its software patents related to supply chain optimization and modeling software techniques. However the good news here for investors in both companies is that, this suit is unlikely to have any significant impact on the market values of both companies.
It is also estimated that SAP could pay close to $1 Billion to settle the suit filed by Oracle. This has been a long standing law suit between the company and some expect that this case could drag on up to the mid of 2009 before a judgment can be made. Will keep you all updated when it does happen !!
SAP on the other hand has also been busy with expanding their portfolio, with the acquisition of Visiprise, a privately held provider of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to discrete manufacturing. This acquisition is a strategic step for SAP, in moving forward in achieving its vision of the "Perfect Plant", which I had posted an article on, in the past. With SAP concentrating on small business more now and their investments in delivering products for this markets estimated to be close to $520 M, it is only likely that there are many more acquisition to expect in the future.
Oracle has been busy with acquisitions too, this shouldn't come as a surprise since we all know that Oracle find it very hard to resist take-over calls. Oracle, have supposedly recently agreed to acquire insurance policy software supplier AdminServer Inc and as well as Skywire Software's application software business.
I am still sticking to the prediction that this year is the year of the ERPs and we could very well have a clear cut leader in this industry and a new business process platform (perhaps initiated by SOA) at the end of this year. I shall keep you all posted on the latest developments.
Hope you found this post informative.
Have a nice day!!!
Feel free to send me your comments and queries to ssurenlk@msn.com.
Well the recent weeks has been quite busy for the 2 top ERP Giants, when it comes to attending court sessions, meeting with lawyers and appointments with investment analysts.
SAP has been in the spotlight with the suit filed against it by i2. Its stated that SAP could end up paying $83.3 M to settle the i2 patent suit. i2 filed suit against SAP, claiming infringement of a number of its software patents related to supply chain optimization and modeling software techniques. However the good news here for investors in both companies is that, this suit is unlikely to have any significant impact on the market values of both companies.
It is also estimated that SAP could pay close to $1 Billion to settle the suit filed by Oracle. This has been a long standing law suit between the company and some expect that this case could drag on up to the mid of 2009 before a judgment can be made. Will keep you all updated when it does happen !!
SAP on the other hand has also been busy with expanding their portfolio, with the acquisition of Visiprise, a privately held provider of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to discrete manufacturing. This acquisition is a strategic step for SAP, in moving forward in achieving its vision of the "Perfect Plant", which I had posted an article on, in the past. With SAP concentrating on small business more now and their investments in delivering products for this markets estimated to be close to $520 M, it is only likely that there are many more acquisition to expect in the future.
Oracle has been busy with acquisitions too, this shouldn't come as a surprise since we all know that Oracle find it very hard to resist take-over calls. Oracle, have supposedly recently agreed to acquire insurance policy software supplier AdminServer Inc and as well as Skywire Software's application software business.
I am still sticking to the prediction that this year is the year of the ERPs and we could very well have a clear cut leader in this industry and a new business process platform (perhaps initiated by SOA) at the end of this year. I shall keep you all posted on the latest developments.
Hope you found this post informative.
Have a nice day!!!
Feel free to send me your comments and queries to ssurenlk@msn.com.
Jun 25, 2008
Getting ready for an Enterprise Resource Planning System?
By S.Suren
Going for an ERP System requires a clear cut picture as to what is expected out of the system when users have adjusted to it.
Many businesses generally consider that the system will begin to return on its investment from day one onwards but the unfortunately that’s not exactly how it works, click here or general facts on the Returns on Investment of an ERP Implementation.
In this post I thought I’ll list down as many issues and procedures that the business has to address when considering implementing an ERP system.
Don’t wait until the last minute : The moment you know that the reports you need from your present system or manual process is not available at the time they are needed you know there is something wrong. Money is probably draining out of your business, inferior data is building and worst of all you might be making absurd business decisions. Timely information is crucial, so make immediately provision and plans to start assessing a system.
Understand that good things come at a price: Many people decide to go for an accounting or ERP System and then look to minimize as much as possible on the expenses related to it. Now, I am not saying you should be spending freely on a system, its just that you need to understand and analyse how much is the opportunity costs of not having those additional functions done with your new accounting system.
The fact is that, in most implementations this impact is hardly considered because most often the excuse is that, it is either hard or not logical to quantify the benefits or savings, but I’ll say put it down in paper and just keep jotting all the pros and cons of what you do now, and you’ll be amazed at the list you would end up with.
Get your wish list out : Once you have got vendors knocking at your doorstep, make sure you have the right must have points listed in front of you. Generally the case is the higher management team of the clients would sit in at the vendors first initial sales demo and everyone would be looking at what the vendor has in relation to their specific area of work and will be evaluating the system based on how much it addresses the requirements of that area.
Its very rarely that you would have a senior management team have a meeting within themselves to identify and understand that core business requirements that they need to have and must be evaluating the potential vendors against. Most important make room for compromise, understand that the system will not cater to all 100 % of your business requirement, most likely maybe at least 90%, the remaining 10 % try to decide on how best to tackle them, but avoid trying to get the full 10 % customized, that’s the slippery path that could drag the 90% standard functionality backwards.
More to follow soon, hope you found this post informative and interesting. ssurenlk@msn.com.
Have a nice day!!
Going for an ERP System requires a clear cut picture as to what is expected out of the system when users have adjusted to it.
Many businesses generally consider that the system will begin to return on its investment from day one onwards but the unfortunately that’s not exactly how it works, click here or general facts on the Returns on Investment of an ERP Implementation.
In this post I thought I’ll list down as many issues and procedures that the business has to address when considering implementing an ERP system.
Don’t wait until the last minute : The moment you know that the reports you need from your present system or manual process is not available at the time they are needed you know there is something wrong. Money is probably draining out of your business, inferior data is building and worst of all you might be making absurd business decisions. Timely information is crucial, so make immediately provision and plans to start assessing a system.
Understand that good things come at a price: Many people decide to go for an accounting or ERP System and then look to minimize as much as possible on the expenses related to it. Now, I am not saying you should be spending freely on a system, its just that you need to understand and analyse how much is the opportunity costs of not having those additional functions done with your new accounting system.
The fact is that, in most implementations this impact is hardly considered because most often the excuse is that, it is either hard or not logical to quantify the benefits or savings, but I’ll say put it down in paper and just keep jotting all the pros and cons of what you do now, and you’ll be amazed at the list you would end up with.
Get your wish list out : Once you have got vendors knocking at your doorstep, make sure you have the right must have points listed in front of you. Generally the case is the higher management team of the clients would sit in at the vendors first initial sales demo and everyone would be looking at what the vendor has in relation to their specific area of work and will be evaluating the system based on how much it addresses the requirements of that area.
Its very rarely that you would have a senior management team have a meeting within themselves to identify and understand that core business requirements that they need to have and must be evaluating the potential vendors against. Most important make room for compromise, understand that the system will not cater to all 100 % of your business requirement, most likely maybe at least 90%, the remaining 10 % try to decide on how best to tackle them, but avoid trying to get the full 10 % customized, that’s the slippery path that could drag the 90% standard functionality backwards.
More to follow soon, hope you found this post informative and interesting. ssurenlk@msn.com.
Have a nice day!!
A Perfect Plant !!
What Is a Perfect Plant?
It’s an ideal meant to serve as a blueprint for your own manufacturing transformation, helping you prioritize when and where you should devote resources to produce steady, incremental improvements to your manufacturing processes.
In the perfect plant, you have visibility into all aspects of your manufacturing operations. You can optimize your use of manufacturing assets and drive increased production performance — all in concert with enterprise-wide plans and objectives.
In a perfect plant, personnel no longer waste effort constantly reacting to line failures, supply network disruptions, and operations emergencies.
Manufacturing employees can anticipate change and devise innovative solutions that improve production efficiency, optimally use assets, and reduce waste. Information and processes across your production network deliver
timely, context-sensitive, actionable intelligence. Production managers, supervisors, and operators can use this intelligence to plan and drive responsive execution that exceeds your delivery, quality, and cost objectives.
Becoming a perfect plant involves leveraging your investment in enterprise applications, exploiting your existing manufacturing infrastructure and data sources, and delivering simplified business processes to frontline operators.
How to Become a Perfect Plant: 5 Strategic Steps
With your key metrics in mind, the drive toward the perfect plant includes the following core actions:
· Coordinate the aggregation and analysis of global demand. To have the perfect order, you must clearly see demand across every market and tie it into production.
· Integrate data flowing from enterprise applications and planning and execution systems into a single, harmonized flow of information; it’s critical to coordinate across network partners, suppliers, and customers to deliver that perfect order. In addition, having the ability to combine and recombine systems to support new processes — without ripping and replacing the underlying functionality — is the technological underpinning of the perfect plant.
· Plan accurately. Your ability to do so improves immensely when your systems are completely integrated and you have clear demand signals arriving from your enterprise systems. These systems provide real-time updates to keep the plant informed about strategic changes, and automatically relay local events and disruptions to decision makers. This way, the entire company can react more responsively.
· Embed intelligence into your planning and execution systems. Successful planning and execution depends on your ability to parse, collect, and analyze data arriving from the shop floor and present it in context-appropriate forms for plant managers, the vice president of operations, and the CEO. Greater integration with planning systems means the shop floor can adapt quickly to changes caused by disruptions elsewhere in the business.
· Execute responsively by identifying what is important to your organization’s strategic advantage and deploying execution systems accordingly. This means connecting local systems accordingly. This means connecting local execution processes to business operations in the context of your operating environment. Sometimes it’s as simple as providing work instructions to operators; other times it includes capturing detailed information to support tracking and tracing components to their last identifiable source. Ensure that your execution system provides the flexibility you need to rapidly compose new applications and business processes unique to your environment to support any changes in manufacturing operating requirements.
Each industry and customer must prioritize these steps differently. A consumer goods manufacturer might focus on coordination and planning first, as assessing global demand and harnessing it to develop and launch new products is a top priority. A high tech manufacturer, on the other hand, is more worried about rapidly ramping up production of a hot new product, which requires tight integration between planning and execution systems.
Summary
The perfect plant is a new manufacturing paradigm. It’s an idealistic yet achievable vision that helps an organization align its manufacturing strategy with its corporate objectives, and one that helps IT make its technology decisions more strategic. The pursuit of the perfect plant empowers plant personnel, operations, and IT to collectively design, prioritize, and implement plant strategies. SAP is armed with solutions that are ready to help you make this manufacturing transformation.
Source: SAP Insider - Business Process Excellence
I hardly copy paste other articles on my blog, but when I come across something real good its hard not to share.....
S.Suren
ssurenlk@msn.com
It’s an ideal meant to serve as a blueprint for your own manufacturing transformation, helping you prioritize when and where you should devote resources to produce steady, incremental improvements to your manufacturing processes.
In the perfect plant, you have visibility into all aspects of your manufacturing operations. You can optimize your use of manufacturing assets and drive increased production performance — all in concert with enterprise-wide plans and objectives.
In a perfect plant, personnel no longer waste effort constantly reacting to line failures, supply network disruptions, and operations emergencies.
Manufacturing employees can anticipate change and devise innovative solutions that improve production efficiency, optimally use assets, and reduce waste. Information and processes across your production network deliver
timely, context-sensitive, actionable intelligence. Production managers, supervisors, and operators can use this intelligence to plan and drive responsive execution that exceeds your delivery, quality, and cost objectives.
Becoming a perfect plant involves leveraging your investment in enterprise applications, exploiting your existing manufacturing infrastructure and data sources, and delivering simplified business processes to frontline operators.
How to Become a Perfect Plant: 5 Strategic Steps
With your key metrics in mind, the drive toward the perfect plant includes the following core actions:
· Coordinate the aggregation and analysis of global demand. To have the perfect order, you must clearly see demand across every market and tie it into production.
· Integrate data flowing from enterprise applications and planning and execution systems into a single, harmonized flow of information; it’s critical to coordinate across network partners, suppliers, and customers to deliver that perfect order. In addition, having the ability to combine and recombine systems to support new processes — without ripping and replacing the underlying functionality — is the technological underpinning of the perfect plant.
· Plan accurately. Your ability to do so improves immensely when your systems are completely integrated and you have clear demand signals arriving from your enterprise systems. These systems provide real-time updates to keep the plant informed about strategic changes, and automatically relay local events and disruptions to decision makers. This way, the entire company can react more responsively.
· Embed intelligence into your planning and execution systems. Successful planning and execution depends on your ability to parse, collect, and analyze data arriving from the shop floor and present it in context-appropriate forms for plant managers, the vice president of operations, and the CEO. Greater integration with planning systems means the shop floor can adapt quickly to changes caused by disruptions elsewhere in the business.
· Execute responsively by identifying what is important to your organization’s strategic advantage and deploying execution systems accordingly. This means connecting local systems accordingly. This means connecting local execution processes to business operations in the context of your operating environment. Sometimes it’s as simple as providing work instructions to operators; other times it includes capturing detailed information to support tracking and tracing components to their last identifiable source. Ensure that your execution system provides the flexibility you need to rapidly compose new applications and business processes unique to your environment to support any changes in manufacturing operating requirements.
Each industry and customer must prioritize these steps differently. A consumer goods manufacturer might focus on coordination and planning first, as assessing global demand and harnessing it to develop and launch new products is a top priority. A high tech manufacturer, on the other hand, is more worried about rapidly ramping up production of a hot new product, which requires tight integration between planning and execution systems.
Summary
The perfect plant is a new manufacturing paradigm. It’s an idealistic yet achievable vision that helps an organization align its manufacturing strategy with its corporate objectives, and one that helps IT make its technology decisions more strategic. The pursuit of the perfect plant empowers plant personnel, operations, and IT to collectively design, prioritize, and implement plant strategies. SAP is armed with solutions that are ready to help you make this manufacturing transformation.
Source: SAP Insider - Business Process Excellence
I hardly copy paste other articles on my blog, but when I come across something real good its hard not to share.....
S.Suren
ssurenlk@msn.com
Jun 14, 2008
SAP Future Talents in Demand !!!
By S.Suren
As of now it is apparent that there is high demand in the market for SAP Consultants with the relevant domain experience that those that have been just concerned with standard SAP. Having that in mind, it’s also become evident about the increasing demand for SAP Consultants in certain industries, namely the Apparel, Health Sector, Oil and Gas Industry and Financial Institutions.
Latest research by companies such as Foote Partners have shown that there is certain specific SAP Module Knowledge that is in demand at present and that is likely to be there for a few more years to come.
Modules such as SAP MDM, SAP EDI an SAP Business Intelligence are the modules that seem to be in the spotlight as of now. I read elsewhere that SAP EDI is also beginning to grab the attention of those industry that deal with a lot of commercial papers, yes I know every company does have this requirement, but I am referring to those industries where global regulations related to commercial paper requirements need to be satisfied as per the countries operating in.
The saving that companies can make with an EDI system is truly amazing, commercial documents that ones costs hundreds of dollars with an EDI system could cost just about $2 to $3 and its much faster than the traditional method, remember the savings is on all of the additional activities that go into generating and administering of the commercial papers.
Its been forecasted that SAP could face a talent crunch in 3 years time in certain markets since there are not enough university graduates coming out and also the fact that there is a shortage of soft skills available too, which in the ERP Consulting Industry is a key factor in spelling out success.
Its also good to note that, given the above situation, SAP have already gained a good ground in joining hands with universities to develop relevant curriculums to help turn out graduates with the right skills. This programme is known as SAP UAP (University Alliance Programme), which was started off in the mid 1990s in Germany and now has over 500 universities worldwide as members.
There is whole lot more happening with the SAP Business Intelligence solutions after the Business Objects take-over by SAP, these I will discuss in my future posts.
With so much happening in the ERP industry its of vital importance that all consultants make sure that they make the right decisions and keep their ears up against the right doors to make sure that they hear the knocks coming through!!!
Hope you found this post informative and interesting. I will be glad to answer your queries on ssurenlk@msn.com, and perhaps some counseling too!!!
Wish you the very best and have a great day!!
As of now it is apparent that there is high demand in the market for SAP Consultants with the relevant domain experience that those that have been just concerned with standard SAP. Having that in mind, it’s also become evident about the increasing demand for SAP Consultants in certain industries, namely the Apparel, Health Sector, Oil and Gas Industry and Financial Institutions.
Latest research by companies such as Foote Partners have shown that there is certain specific SAP Module Knowledge that is in demand at present and that is likely to be there for a few more years to come.
Modules such as SAP MDM, SAP EDI an SAP Business Intelligence are the modules that seem to be in the spotlight as of now. I read elsewhere that SAP EDI is also beginning to grab the attention of those industry that deal with a lot of commercial papers, yes I know every company does have this requirement, but I am referring to those industries where global regulations related to commercial paper requirements need to be satisfied as per the countries operating in.
The saving that companies can make with an EDI system is truly amazing, commercial documents that ones costs hundreds of dollars with an EDI system could cost just about $2 to $3 and its much faster than the traditional method, remember the savings is on all of the additional activities that go into generating and administering of the commercial papers.
Its been forecasted that SAP could face a talent crunch in 3 years time in certain markets since there are not enough university graduates coming out and also the fact that there is a shortage of soft skills available too, which in the ERP Consulting Industry is a key factor in spelling out success.
Its also good to note that, given the above situation, SAP have already gained a good ground in joining hands with universities to develop relevant curriculums to help turn out graduates with the right skills. This programme is known as SAP UAP (University Alliance Programme), which was started off in the mid 1990s in Germany and now has over 500 universities worldwide as members.
There is whole lot more happening with the SAP Business Intelligence solutions after the Business Objects take-over by SAP, these I will discuss in my future posts.
With so much happening in the ERP industry its of vital importance that all consultants make sure that they make the right decisions and keep their ears up against the right doors to make sure that they hear the knocks coming through!!!
Hope you found this post informative and interesting. I will be glad to answer your queries on ssurenlk@msn.com, and perhaps some counseling too!!!
Wish you the very best and have a great day!!
Jun 11, 2008
Challenges in the Apparel Industry and SAP’s Solutions for them – Article 2
By S.Suren
As promised in my previous posts I have posted this article to give you more insight into the challenges faced by companies in the Apparel & Footwear Industry and how SAP AFS Industry Solution caters to them.
Excess/redundant inventory or Stock shortages/out of stock
This is quite a familiar occurring scenario in the AFS Industry. It is understood that given the variations in demand patterns in this industry it is likely that the related functions of apparel manufacturers such as procurement and production will have to cater to these variations as much as possible in the most efficient manner.
Given this condition SAP AFS has some useful functionality that caters to these needs:
Material Substitution – This is a function in SAP Sales & Distribution that allows substitution of one material for another within a sales order. The importance of this functionality is that by allowing for substitutions during times of more than expected customer demands, the company can avoid lost sales and helps increase and maintain/or customer satisfaction with on time deliveries.
Availability Check – This is standard function in SAP which helps to identify if there is are available stocks to satisfy the schedule line’s requirements based on the delivery date. If there is not enough stocks it would then check when there will be enough stocks available and will confirm a new delivery date based on the availability.
Over/Under delivery tolerance levels is a standard functionality that SAP provides to avoid having shortages or excess stocks in your inventory. With SAP AFS this can be monitored at SKU level.
ATP Check with the AFS Component – With this function you can view whenever the item is either not available or not completely available in the system. With SAP AFS you can view this information from the system on an AFS Overview Screen that shows the availability status at the SKU levels. With the AFS component multiple schedule lines can be checked during ATP runs at SKU Levels.
Reservation in MM – This standard function allows you to make reservations on certain materials so that it can be used at a later date for a special purpose. This way you can avoid the stock outs that could occur in the future when demand is higher than expected and there is not enough specific stocks to meet the demand. With SAP AFS this processing of reservations can be done at SKU Level.
I shall keep posting more on this area in the future. Hope you found this posts informative.
ssurenlk@msn.com
Have a nice day !!
As promised in my previous posts I have posted this article to give you more insight into the challenges faced by companies in the Apparel & Footwear Industry and how SAP AFS Industry Solution caters to them.
Excess/redundant inventory or Stock shortages/out of stock
This is quite a familiar occurring scenario in the AFS Industry. It is understood that given the variations in demand patterns in this industry it is likely that the related functions of apparel manufacturers such as procurement and production will have to cater to these variations as much as possible in the most efficient manner.
Given this condition SAP AFS has some useful functionality that caters to these needs:
Material Substitution – This is a function in SAP Sales & Distribution that allows substitution of one material for another within a sales order. The importance of this functionality is that by allowing for substitutions during times of more than expected customer demands, the company can avoid lost sales and helps increase and maintain/or customer satisfaction with on time deliveries.
Availability Check – This is standard function in SAP which helps to identify if there is are available stocks to satisfy the schedule line’s requirements based on the delivery date. If there is not enough stocks it would then check when there will be enough stocks available and will confirm a new delivery date based on the availability.
Over/Under delivery tolerance levels is a standard functionality that SAP provides to avoid having shortages or excess stocks in your inventory. With SAP AFS this can be monitored at SKU level.
ATP Check with the AFS Component – With this function you can view whenever the item is either not available or not completely available in the system. With SAP AFS you can view this information from the system on an AFS Overview Screen that shows the availability status at the SKU levels. With the AFS component multiple schedule lines can be checked during ATP runs at SKU Levels.
Reservation in MM – This standard function allows you to make reservations on certain materials so that it can be used at a later date for a special purpose. This way you can avoid the stock outs that could occur in the future when demand is higher than expected and there is not enough specific stocks to meet the demand. With SAP AFS this processing of reservations can be done at SKU Level.
I shall keep posting more on this area in the future. Hope you found this posts informative.
ssurenlk@msn.com
Have a nice day !!
Jun 5, 2008
SAP moving deeper into Asia-Pacific
By S.Suren
In my previous posts I had discussed about how the big boys in the ERP Industry are investing in more resources in India to make sure they make maximum use of the demand of the Asia-Pacific region which is the fastest growing markets for ERP Solutions.
It’s no surprise that companies such as SAP are beginning to invest more in India in the next 2 to 3 months, which would be in the range of USD 4 – 5 Million in new opportunities.
In my previous posts I had mentioned SAP’s Global vision to meet the 15000 SME customer target in the coming years, and this new investment by SAP seems to concentrate on expediting that process since these investments will be targeted at start-up companies in India, via SAP Ventures.
It was stated by a SAP Official that there was a global shortage of 60,000 SAP Consultants, of which 1/3 is in India. The new investments would definitely help in addressing this shortage in the coming years.
For more information on the IT Industry trends read the “2008 IT Skills and Certification Pay Index TM” report published by Foote Partners LLC which is a Vero Beach, Florida based management consultancy and independent market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about managing the IT professional workforce.
Visit: http://www.footepartners.com/htscpi_latest.htm
Hope you found this post informative.
Feel free to contact me on ssurenlk@msn.com
In my future posts I shall discuss about the talent crunch faced by ERP Solutions providers and the demographic changes that are having an impact on it, for instance an aging population and declining birth rates in much of the developed world are also beginning to cause a talent crunch in this part of the world.
Have a nice day!!
In my previous posts I had discussed about how the big boys in the ERP Industry are investing in more resources in India to make sure they make maximum use of the demand of the Asia-Pacific region which is the fastest growing markets for ERP Solutions.
It’s no surprise that companies such as SAP are beginning to invest more in India in the next 2 to 3 months, which would be in the range of USD 4 – 5 Million in new opportunities.
In my previous posts I had mentioned SAP’s Global vision to meet the 15000 SME customer target in the coming years, and this new investment by SAP seems to concentrate on expediting that process since these investments will be targeted at start-up companies in India, via SAP Ventures.
It was stated by a SAP Official that there was a global shortage of 60,000 SAP Consultants, of which 1/3 is in India. The new investments would definitely help in addressing this shortage in the coming years.
For more information on the IT Industry trends read the “2008 IT Skills and Certification Pay Index TM” report published by Foote Partners LLC which is a Vero Beach, Florida based management consultancy and independent market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice about managing the IT professional workforce.
Visit: http://www.footepartners.com/htscpi_latest.htm
Hope you found this post informative.
Feel free to contact me on ssurenlk@msn.com
In my future posts I shall discuss about the talent crunch faced by ERP Solutions providers and the demographic changes that are having an impact on it, for instance an aging population and declining birth rates in much of the developed world are also beginning to cause a talent crunch in this part of the world.
Have a nice day!!
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