Steps to a successful ERP installation
The dematerialization of the processes is an answer to certain situations, particularly when the stagnation feeling in the activities of the company or SME starts to emerge. Indeed, an ERP sometimes comes as a lifeline to simplify tasks and allow a new organization to bring efficiency.
If you are at this stage of reflection, a few steps away from the change, here are some tips on when to install your ERP and the steps to succeed in your specifications!
What is an ERP?
An ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning software is a data management solution that groups the company’s information on a software database system.
Why install an ERP in your company or SME?
ERP is the fundamental element of data management in a company. The benefits of an ERP system are numerous, including time savings in daily operations. Installing an ERP system will simplify the understanding and sharing of interdepartmental data by consolidating it into the system.
What type of ERP to choose?
An Open Source ERP is a solution that includes a code freely available to all. Open Source is a real community.
Several solutions exist for secure data storage:
On-premise
The company installs the ERP and hosts it on its internal servers.
Hybrid ERP
Hybrid ERP enables mixed storage by combining data stored in the company’s internal servers with data in the cloud.
Public / Private cloud
In the public cloud, hosting is done on third-party, shared servers, whereas, private cloud ERP has dedicated servers. In both cases, the hosting is managed remotely.
Saas
The software is subscribed to remotely, without acquiring the software for the users.
The development mode: Low-code/No-code?
No-code does not require development, so it calls for less expensive skills and offers cost-saving benefits to the company.
An ERP in Low-code allows users greater customizing ability than No-code, with approximately 70% being pre-developed. The rest enables developers to adapt the software to their specific needs.
Which signs indicate the need to implement an ERP in a company?
The implementation of an ERP in a company, or a SME, depends on several parameters. It may be a desire to expand its services or a response to changes experienced by the company.
The signs are concrete elements, such as circumstantial difficulties, an unstructured workflow, a lack of clarity on information, or even a feeling of stagnation in the management of the company. It can be a global feeling of deceleration of its activity which generates the need for change in its internal system.
5 situations where an ERP can boost productivity!
Transitioning to digital management leads to the reorganization of processes which creates a better workflow and improves efficiency. Of course, in complex situations, the mere implementation of an ERP in a company will not be sufficient. It will be essential to reorganize the dysfunctions upstream and to make a clear and realistic expression of needs.
These different blocking points alert us to the need to change to a digital ERP solution:
A work organization that becomes painful
As the workflow becomes more complex, it generates a lack of anticipation or hindsight on daily tasks. The time wasted with mountains of paper documents to sort through feels like stagnation. One of the main functions of an ERP system is the centralization of data and information systems of the company, thus allowing better visibility of the tasks and the previous organization. Anticipation then becomes possible. The dematerialization with the installation of an ERP facilitates access to the documents and resources of the company, saving the material storage (paper, files) and providing a dematerialized storage element with a data protection system. The installation of an ERP and its deployment, therefore, generates time savings and a better workflow.
A variety of tools and supports
The multiplicity of supports and work tools, although offering a wide range of possibilities, creates a waste of time on a daily basis. Multiplying tools to manage tasks, documents, CRM, workflow, etc. require more storage than centralizing data. An ERP as a multipurpose tool provides a solution for managing a set of elements, which in turn negates the use of different tools to track processes, offering time-saving benefits. Each hour saved is valuable time.
Waste of time on low value-added tasks
The most redundant tasks with little added value for the company are particularly time-consuming. When this becomes problematic, it is essential to question your processes to gain efficiency. The implementation of an ERP in a company as a management tool can bring not only a simplification but also automation of specific tasks.
Less clear communication
The effects of poor interdepartmental communication can become problematic very quickly. Tasks can be poorly distributed or ineffectively managed, and misunderstandings may arise. This climate necessarily creates tensions and even errors in execution and a lower level of reactivity to unforeseen events. What if installing an ERP could turn this dynamic around? An ERP adapted to your needs resolves these situations by providing a more stable and transparent organization. The ERP brings together all the information and makes it available to all company departments.
A desire to improve its services
Finally, it may simply be a desire to restructure the company to achieve greater workplace efficiency and productivity. This can happen when there is a need to extend services, and a desire to automate or reduce specific tasks, such as organizational, administrative, CRM, etc. The deployment of an ERP meets multiple needs but requires the great involvement of the whole team to determine the contributions.
The different steps to install and implement an ERP!
Discover in our whitepaper all the steps to install and implement an ERP software.
1.
Diagnosis and analysis of the company's processes:
As an anticipatory step, before integrating the ERP, it is important to observe and understand the processes already in place in the company to analyze them. Before its deployment, an ERP installation project requires a precise understanding of the context, the different missions of the employees and their needs. It will be essential to determine the contextual present and future issues of the company, its projects and any problems regarding the implementation of the ERP. During this analysis phase, you will be asked to survey your company, its business sector, its main and secondary activities, the employees, the hierarchy and the links between each division. The needs of each collaborator will be studied, and the problems to be improved with the ERP will be defined to finally proceed to a clear and realistic inventory of everything.
2.
The expression of needs:
Expressing the problems, conditions and specific constraints are key steps. A feasibility study is followed by an audit to carry out the ERP installation project once the back and forth is complete between each party involved in the process. How can we make a realistic assessment of the company and its processes? Examine the processes in progress in a simple, concrete and empirical way, to describe them as close as possible to reality. The goal is that the specifications and estimate are as realistic as possible by establishing a resort that is factual. In the same way, defining and envisaging the company's future prospects and making them explicit, will allow the company to project itself in time with the use of its ERP and above all, will allow it to make the right choice. It is at this stage that the decisive elements in the development of the ERP implementation project will take root. From all these steps, an expression of needs in the specifications naturally follows, which must be clear and precise: for example, it is important to detail the volume, as well as to take into consideration the chosen implementation and development mode. A definition of the constraints and a field evaluation are carried out during an audit to ensure the conditions of implementation and deployment of the ERP in the professional environment.
3.
Collaboration :
To carry out a more complete and precise diagnosis, it is essential to bring together all the people concerned by the choice of the ERP. Define their needs beforehand and be as realistic and concrete as possible to arrive at a reliable diagnosis, and finally a stable price. It is necessary to establish a dynamic collaboration between the different departments of the company to deploy and integrate the ERP, which will be present at each stage of the ERP installation for the follow-up. Thus, this team will be more sensitive to the positive results of the task and will be led to see if the processes match the expectation, especially from a more concrete perspective regarding their tasks.
4.
Implementation :
After having validated the parameters, detailed the needs, carried out an audit and detected all the problems to overcome, the implementation of the ERP can begin. It will be a matter of setting up, testing, and deploying the solution by choosing its deployment mode: Saas, Cloud, local, etc. Then, the migration phase will come, consisting of reorganizing and centralizing all the information and data from the multiple tools to the ERP. Following the data migration, the project will need monitoring, maintenance, and support. It will be important to determine the expected level of service in order to establish a realistic project. This need for reactivity of the support service varies according to the activity of the company and its project. This will be essential to limit bugs and failures, or problems that may occur. Support has an anticipation and accompaniment function after the deployment.
5.
The training
For better assimilation and mastery of the ERP, training is important for the employees and users of the software. Axelor regularly offers training courses to help you understand and experiment with the software, in order to go further into its technical and functional architecture. All of these steps are important to get the most out of your ERP deployment.
The keys to an ERP installation and a more efficient implementation
The support and expertise of vendor partners in understanding the scope of the ERP project, from its inception to its implementation in the system, is necessary throughout the process. The dialogue must be effective and meticulous in order to resolve issues and problems. Thus, trust and understanding between the editor and the company are key elements in propelling the evolution of the project.
One of the most important criteria for a successful specification is the constitution of a detailed file and a clear expression of needs to establish a quote as close as possible to the needs!
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