Goal #6 in Selecting Your The Best Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) System: Learn How To Analyze The Details!
The 10 Principles of Success
We continue to review the 10 Principles of Success and how they’re applied to ERP Selection with the 6th Goal for Success: Learn How to Analyze the Details!
The 10 Principles of Success are:
1. How You Think is Everything!
- Always be positive.
- Think success not failure.
- Be aware of a negative environment.
2. Decide on What Your True Goals Are!
- Write down what your specific goals are.
- Write down a plan/time line in how to obtain your goals.
3. Take Action!
- Goals/Plans are nothing without action.
- Don’t be afraid to get started – “Just Do It”, it doesn’t need to be perfect to start, nothing ever is!
4. Never Stop Learning!
- Get on-going training so use to better your organization.
5. Persistence and Hard Work Pay-off!
- Success is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Never give up on the goal/plan that you created in number 3 above, original or revised!
6. Learn How to Analyze the Details!
- Get all the facts/input you can – Learn from your mistakes.
7. Focus Your Time and Money!
- Don’t let other things and people distract you!
8. Don’t be Afraid to Innovate and Change – Be Different!
- Following the way that it’s always been done is a sure way to achieve nothing.
9. Communicate and Deal with People Effectively!
- Learn to understand what motivates the people you work with and what they need to be successful. No person is the organization or is indispensable.
10. Be Honest and Dependable!
- Take Responsibility – Otherwise 1 through 9 above won’t matter.
As a disclaimer, these 10 Principles of Success come from Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) newspaper aimed at helping stock market investors understand what good growth stocks to invest in, based on what the current overall market conditions are. EstesGroup believes that a company can apply these 10 Principles of Success to ERP systems; that is selecting, implementing and using them.
How does the 6th Principle of Success apply to:
Choosing the Right ERP System for Your Business?
Principle # 6: Learn How to Analyze the Details!
- Get all the facts/input you can – Learn from your mistakes.
How does one go about getting all of the facts about an ERP system while you’re in the Selection Process? A great start to knowing all of the good, bad or indifferent detail of an ERP system is to befriend the salesperson who is trying to sell you the system. If that sounds like a counter intuitive statement, it’s really not. If you’re up front and honest with the salesperson in regard to what you want your company to accomplish with the purchase of an ERP system, they will be open and honest with providing you the detail information you need to make a proper decision. Believe it or not most ERP software vendors don’t want to sell you their software if it’s a bad fit for your business. Bad ERP fits, mean bad implementations, which means negative customer feedback, which means potentially lost sales from company’s that are a good fit for the ERP software. Therefore, providing the salesperson with what your ERP software/service budget is (upfront), your timeline for purchase as well as who from your company will be participating in the review of the system will go a long way for you getting the detail information you need to analyze. Schedule time for everyone on your review team to introduce themselves to the ERP salesperson, including upper management. This is where your company will establish the needed relationship with the ERP vendor for future success as you implement and use the ERP system you select. So the 6th Principle of a successful ERP selection is to first get all of the detailed information you can, before you sit down to analyze it. It’s the ERP salesperson who can provide you with that information or should be in a position to allow you access to other people within their organization to provide you the necessary information to make a knowledgeable choice.
So what detailed information should you be analyzing in the selection process? The list below, should be a good start:
- Detailed module documentation – for each module of an ERP system you’re looking to purchase.
- Detailed Demonstration Script and Agenda – this should be a step by step guide of showing you and your review team how the system will work for your business, highlighting “Best Practices”using a sampling of your data.
- Detailed Demonstration – typically allow a total of 8 hours for each ERP system. This does not have to be done in one day.
- Detailed Price Quote, showing each module’s price. Including on-going maintenance costs.
- Software License Agreement – the ERP vendor of choice will ask you to sign this document at purchase.
- Master Service Agreement – this document basically describes the details of the “Scope” of your ERP system implementation.
Need help analyzing the detail of the detailed documents listed above and then compare that to the 3 to 5 ERP vendors you’re receiving this information from? EstesGroup can help! We’ve been providing this type of information to our customers for years. Our ERP system selection knowledge and our honesty on your behalf is what makes us different.
We would love to talk with you about HOW to “Analyze the Detail” in your ERP selection process. Pick up the phone and call 1 888 300 2340 and together we will:
