All Enterprise Resource Planning questions

• SAP Business One or Microsoft NAV?
  Dear Joshua, I am choosing between SAP Business One and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. We are a new manufacturing unit (going into production in 2 months -- plastics). Users will number 30-40. Which is a better ERP fit for me? Right now we have no sales history but we estimate $10-$15 million in the first year. Regards.

• Explaining Thin Versus Fat Clients
  What are the differences between fat client and thin client systems? We are looking at IQMS, Syspro, and Consona Intuitive. What is key to being able to operate in a thin client environment?

• How Easy Is ERP to Learn?
  I am working in an accounting firm, therefore I am aware of the advantages of ERP. I have suggested that my family business (>1000 employee) install ERP, but the main concern is the human resources. Should the staff in the company be trained to use the system? Is the typical accounting staff able to grasp the concept quicky?

• The Accounting Library: A Good Tool?
  We are a small ($5 mil, 20 people), fast-growing manufacturer/distributor of diesel engines controls. Most in-house work is design, assembly and test. Most assembly is make-to-order, although some is build-to-stock. Components are generally fabricated by contractors, although we do some low-volume fab in-house. I handle IT and we will either expand the IT staff or outsource in the future. We anticipate being a $10 million to $15 million company in a few years. Currently we use JobBOSS but it is no longer adequate. The accounting and its limited integration to job control make every financial analysis difficult. Having lived with the JobBOSS problems as well as ones we created ourselves, I want to "get it right" from the start. My research has identified candidates but I am leaning toward buying The Accounting Library (TAL) software to clarify our requirements and rank vendors. Two keys are excellent financials and multicurrency support since we import and export. Given our requirements do you think TAL is a good investment? Secondly, is a short list of Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, Syspro, Vantage, MAS 500, MAS 200, Intuitive ERP and Southware Excellence a good start? I realize TAL helps but an expert opinion is more valuable than software. The budget target is less than $100,000 for software and initial implementation. We want to go live in about 6 months with basic operation (accounting, inventory control, etc.). I think our IT infrastructure should work for the next couple of years. Finally, I've read a lot on implementation strategy but wondered what you would recommend. A lot depends on the vendor but I expect to be very hands-on and need guidance to make sure our team stays on course. And I know we will have more work after the initial rollout and I want to stay on track there also. Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!

• More Enterprise Software Selection Questions Than Answers
  We are beginning an enterprise software selection to span all areas of the business: acct/finc, PLM, mfg, procurement, forecasting, DRP, supply planning, distribution/fulfillment, multi-channel retail, and direct marketing. We are a $250 million vertically integrated designer, mixed-mode manufacturer, and multi-channel retailer of fashion-oriented consumer products with a rapidly changing product line. We manufacture in five plants and distribute/fulfill from a central DC. We maintain 6,000-7,000 active SKUs that we sell through 50 retail stores, our eCommerce web store, and a catalog mail order call center. Our business is extremely seasonal, and our products are highly sensitive to the promotional effects of their presentation in catalogs. So though we are not a large company, we have large-company business complexity and therefore need "industrial strength" enterprise software. We know that won't be able to go totally "best in class" because even the Tier 1 vendors don't have everything we need. But we are maintaining a "less is more" strategy with regard to the number of vendors we will integrate to minimize implementation complexity and cost. What guidance can you provide on how we should modify the traditional selection process to meet our needs and garner the attention of vendors that are sophisticated enough to meet our business requirements, but typically don't serve customers of our size? Also, how should we balance two approaches: Tier 1 ERP with a Multi-Channel Retail partner vs. Tier 2 ERP to reduce cost with additional niche partners. Lastly, who should we add to or subtract from our current list:
  • Tier 1 ERP: SAP, Oracle
    
  • Multi-channel Retail: CommercialWare, Escalate
    
  • Tier 2 ERP: Sage, Axapta, SAP All-In-One
    
  • Niche specialists: Logility, Manugistics, Agile, PTC
    
  • Tier 3 ERP: Navision, Great Plains, QAD, SYSPRO, ACCPAC, Multiview, Epicor

• Best of Breed vs Packaged Suite
  Hi, I am working on a project in which I have to determine whether B.O.B. solutions or ERP would function best in order to add integration capabilities. I want to argue for B.O.B. with virtualization because it is cheaper and will still allow us the flexibility to upgrade at a lower cost in the future. What do you think?

• Implementation Advice
  We are in the final stages of negotiating with an ERP Implementer. What will be the best way to approach integration between the ERP and our internal developed systems? The Implementer wants us to perform our part of integration that deals with our systems and for them to work on the ERP side. Your advice will highly be appreciated. - Thanks

• ERP in Africa's Public Sector
  Hi Joshua. I wolud please like to know how ERP systems would be beneficial to public sector organizations especially in less developed and developing countries in Africa.

• Implementation Scale
  Hi Joshua, What is the right size of implementation team? Is there an accepted optimum number of consultants/domain knowledge experts that you should expect to be put onto an ERP implementation by the vendor for them to be viewed as appropriately resourced versus over-doing it or not being serious? Appreciate speed and size will have a bearing on this so as a stake in the ground; a 100-user situation looking to implement within a 9-12 month timeframe and concentrating on the key modules -- finance, MES, scheduling,inventory management, order and job management. Appreciate your thoughts.

• Vetting VARs
  You recommend a close assessment of the VAR as well as the ERP vendor. Any thoughts on what or how, especially in comparing radically different installation and support models. What would a "due diligence" on a VAR be (compared to on an ERP vendor)? Thanks.

• Will ERP Consolidators Roll Up New Software Licenses?
  Infor will become the third largest ERP vendor behind SAP and Oracle with its acquisition of SSA Global. This is purely from a revenue standpoint, which doesn't indicate what percentage of revenue is driven by new software sales vs. maintenance fees. With Infor being a conglomeration of over 30 software companies, including 12 ERP packages (many of which were built 15-20 years ago for the AS/400 ... the dying iSeries), do you expect them to actually be competitive with SAP, Oracle, even Microsoft Business Solutions and Lawson/Intentia, when it comes to "new" software sales?

• Extending the Short List
  Hi Joshua, We are a small family owned and operated company established 1959 and turn over $6 million annually. What we do is:
  • Modify Vehicles for wheelchair access
  • Field & In house service
    
  • Training of our customers
    
  • Importing,Wholesale & Retail
    
  • Mixed mode manufactuing/ made to order
    
  • Custom design using 3 D Solidworks
    
  Curently there are two operating Companies/Divisions but this will grow to five in the next two years We need to up grade from Quickbooks Enterprise but where to go and who is going to be around to to service us in the long term. Our current short list includes Microsoft Navision or Axapta and Epicor Vantage. Who would you add? Thanks,

• Vendor Evaluation Advice
  Hi Joshua, We're a $20 million mixed-mode manufacturer supplying primarily the auto industry. We are focused on growing the business aggressively in our current market and in new industries. For the last 20 years we've developed a proprietary IT system to run our operations but the time has come to invest in a proper ERP system. We are looking at Microsoft (Navision), Epicor Vantage and Syspro. All of these products seem (on the surface) to provide the features and functionality a small manufacturer needs but I was hoping to hear your opinion on these vendors and indeed if there is anyone else we should be considering. Any insight you might provide would be appreciated. Thanks

• Keeping ERP on Schedule
  Hello, I would like to know if ERP packages can actually help with scheduling or do we need to have a scheduling system to complement our ERP package? Regards

• Thinking Big
  As a small manufacturing company moving from R&D into production, we have ambitious goals to be a $50 million company, where we manufacture 65% of our vehicles in house. My inclination is to buy a Tier1/Tier 2 ERP system like QAD or SAP Business One or Oracle Special Edition with Manufacturing capabilities over getting a smaller less robust Tier 3, as I want to think like a much bigger company and want to be able to scale. I have been unable to find a case study of a very small company using a Tier 1/2 application to grow rapidly. In our case we expect to go from 20 to 120 staff within 24 months.

• In Search of a Regulatory Recipe
  We are a three-site business unit with approximately 350 employees in an FDA-regulated industry. We are looking for an integrated ERP/MRP, Document/Change Control, and PLM software solution that would comply with FDA protocols.

• ERP -- Signed, Sealed & Delivered
  We are a leading envelope manufacturing company in Israel. We have decided to make a transition to a modern ERP environment from an Oracle-Unix "DOS" program environment; i.e., without drill-down and data cubes... Our database is quite complex and we have a few tailor-made applications to complement the main accounting and logistic program modules. We are checking the existing ERP programs in Israel and haven't decided yet. Given your Israeli experience, could you give a few guidelines?

• SOX Requirements; Staying the JDE Course?
  Josh: Any view as to what packages or tools with ERP systems are doing the best to respond to Sarbanes-Oxely requirements? Also, any view on whether JD Edwards (old versions) need to be replaced at some point because of the Oracle acquisition?

• Hungry for MRP
  Hi Joshua! I'm working with a small food company (11 employees) and they are just starting to hit the first level of complexity whereby managing "Materiel" is an issue. I'm looking for a low end, low cost, PC based MRP system that a company with only $2 million in sales can afford. I've done ERP implementation and worked with systems from SAP at a Fortune 50 company down to the mid-market size folks at around $50MM but this tier is new to me. Any suggestions for possible sources would be most appreciated!

• Moving Upstream
  We are currently a high-end user of Macola, but need more than this product offers. We have no IT department, need to upgrade our ERP package, Want one that will take us to $75mm in revenues, handle 15,000 parts, discreet, batch, process and configurable. It has to be simple to use and under $150,000. Any suggestions? Thanks.