This is how the EstesGroup approaches Epicor 10 Project Management in a nut shell. Watch this brief video to understand the things we do differently within our approach to your projects. Read more here: /epicor-consulting/our-approach/peak-methodology
Question:
From time to time our paint line goes down. Totally without warning, and never at a convenient time. What is the quickest way to launch an emergency Epicor subcontracting purchase order operation that is not in the Job MOM?
Answer:
While policies differ from company to company, this simple approach may help you. I sense that you need to issue a subcontract PO. And that you already have a business relationship with this subcontractor (and maybe even have an agreed-upon price list) since the paint line issue happens with some frequency. And it appears that the paint line goes down unexpectedly, which means the Job MOM has the paint operation as an internal operation.
Here’s an approach. Involve your purchasing department right away. They can create a subcontract PO in such a way that it automatically adds the subcontract operation to the released job. This is base functionality in most versions that I’m aware of. It works in Vantage 8.03. It works in Epicor 9.xx, and it works in Epicor 10. It may likely work that way in older versions as well. This approach provides the proper linking of subcontract PO to subcontract operation on the job. You don’t have to go into Job Entry and add the subcontract operation first. In fact, unless you want to reschedule the job, there is no need to go to Job Entry at all.
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The 1980s were a golden age for independent music in America. Shunned by popular radio, American indie bands filled their Econoline vans with amplifiers and drum kits and set out for the open road. At a rate of a show a night, they reached their audience from beyond the confines of the traditional recording industry. And in the absence of major label coddling, they founded independent record labels and created independent distribution networks, all outside of the mainstream. In doing so, they reconceptualized the Do-It-Yourself (D-I-Y) ethos as applicable to areas well beyond basement breweries and backyard patio projects.
This D-I-Y ethos is not unfamiliar to most ERP consultants. The popular conception of consultant life resembles the back sleeve of a men’s magazine: a life of executive suites and first class flights, champagne after takeoff or a plush robe and a goblet of brandy before bed. The reality of the average consultant’s life resembles that of many indie bands: tightly packed flying closets with dive-bomb economy landings onto the short tracks of major airports, so vast and confusing as to comprise cities within cities, compact car rentals and hotels splitting the five star rating system in two, with a glass of OJ from concentrate and a reconstituted egg patty for breakfast. We make it work on a shoe string to keep the costs of implementation down for our clients, while providing the best personal service necessary for project success. Even still, the costs of travel figure significantly into the overall costs of an average implementation, comprising as much as 30% or more of project budgets.
This D-I-Y mentality finds a place similarly in the hearts of many small and medium-sized companies implementing ERP. When discussing consultation options with a prospective client, it is not uncommon to hear phrases like “we prefer to go-it-alone and pull in help only when it’s absolutely required.” Because of the costs of consultation, many small and medium-sized businesses view consultation as an either-or proposition: either implement independently and keep costs in check, or introduce consultation and blow the budget. Not surprisingly, many such companies choose to implement independently, but by choosing to do so, they risk falling into one many ERP implementation pitfalls, the kind that seasoned consultants could help a project team to avoid.
To mitigate this risk, some companies employ hybrid approaches, and technological innovations increasingly allow for such alternative implementation models. Some examples might include the following: * Many consultation efforts do not require full-day allocations and onsite visitations. Quite often, a two-hour prototyping session, facilitated by a web conferencing application, can move a project team forward. * A consultant with a VPN connection and a remote desktop can review a client’s GL structure and make recommendations. * Remote user training allows for modular and incremental learning, apportioned into manageable two-hour blocks that helps to avoid the educational fire hose-effect associated with full-day training sessions.*
Remote sessions help keep teams from stalling into idle between consultant visits, which reduces the pressure to pack all project progress into a monthly onsite session. Fundamentally, consultation is of benefit to clients when it furthers their project’s best interests—when it helps project teams gain the necessary traction to implement a system to meet the needs of the business. And such traction need not require an hourly quota. When working with your consulting partners, explore the options for remote work. Many projects will likely require some form of onsite engagement, but remote consultation may better fit your budget and your company’s culture, especially if you intend to D-I-Y.
Want to see a quick video about this topic? /blog/save-money…-implement-better-estesgroup-remote-consulting
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Many companies boast they have found the ERP software that is fully integrated and will serve the entire organization. When the principals make the decision to implement they are making a long term commitment. Once the company administrators and directors have performed their due diligence, a “new” integrated solution for the organization is born. The new addition will include a comprehensive ERP Solution together with state of the art technology. Does your business plan include an integrated solution? And if so why would you want to expend thousands of dollars to install and implement this new system without a firm commitment by all the employees in your company?
With each part only focusing on his or her area of the project, your company should be concentrating on breaking down silos in business. A well-managed organization with good leadership, will address how to handle and produce a quality implementation with its employees, and will take the time to motivate the employees to function as a team. I have been in several organization where the end users as well as the functional leads will only look at his or her area or department and refuse to take a look at the whole picture. Investopedia’s definition of ‘Silo Mentality’ as a business organizational structure is: “An attitude found in some organizations that occurs when several departments or groups do not want to share information or knowledge with other individuals in the same company. A silo mentality reduces efficiency and can be a contributing factor to a failing corporate culture”.
This kind of business organizational structure can also be one of the reasons an implementation project will fail. What’s more is some of the departmental employees operating in silos are not willing to spend time on the “Project” because they only have enough hours in the day to work on his or her “normal” work this will present a problem and slow progress. If a work plan was properly laid out at the beginning of the project there should be minimal grumbling by those that need to put in extra effort to achieve the overall organizational goal. Proper planning and expectations need to be set from the beginning, or employee cooperation and morale will erode quickly. The detailed work plan should be monitored and meetings held on a weekly or by weekly bases.
Finally the Project Manager will set the tone and take the lead, if he or she lacks the leadership ability and the skills require to spearhead the project, the project will be ill-fated and may require reorganization.
Learn more about how EstesGroup’s ERP project management services approaches breaking down silos in business.
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EstesGroup remote consulting mixes in with onsite visits to provide you a more flexible implementation schedule when the work still needs to get done. See more about our approach here: Epicor Consulting.
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