ERP System Vendor Research

Question: Discuss about theERP Systemfor Vendor Research. Answer: Introduction The report will cover such issues as overview which will detail related processes including user requirement-features matching, vendor research, request for bids, and analysis of vendors and evaluation of bids, management of contracts alongside license agreements. The discussion will focus on the major issues in such processes mentioned. The report will conclude by making professional recommendations for solving problems and managing issues keeping in mind application of theories into real world practice. ERP and Vendor Selection Understanding ERP Significance ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. These systems are valuable tool for any given organization. They have an impact on every single aspect of the business. ERP system is highly sought after application for enterprise. This is because they help manage activities encompassing planning, purchasing, research and development, supply management, marketing, sales as well as supply chain management. There are infinite number of ERP systems existing, and hence it is essential that one makes the right selection which fits a given organization. There are several factors that an organization seeking to implement ERP system must consider when selecting an ERP vendor (Esteves and Bohrquez 2014). Because the deployment of an ERP system remains quite expensive and consumes substantial time, an organization needs to make the right selection by making a decision on which factors remain the most significant for it and the entire staff. Laying Groundwork It is important to lay an effective groundwork before ERP requirement establishment. There is a need for a comprehensive organizational readiness assessment carried out via surveys and focus groups. Laying groundwork provides the organization with an idea of where certain pockets of resistance exist in the organization. It is important to acknowledge such functional areas that are extremely resistant than others to provide clues on how the organization can tailor the requirement session. ERP Requirement Planning The first important step regards laying groundwork with workforce and seeking their respective input frequently to make sure that ERP requirements culminate in long-run success. The most significant step in ERP project planning is to make a decision on what users want from the system. An organization with a well-defined requirement alongside a sound set will ensure that everything else will flow easily. The search for vendors will flow from such set requirements, and hence when at implementation phase, the future state flows from it, and hence the test scripts. This means that requirement planning is the foundation of everything (Baskerville and Myers 2012). In the requirement session, the organization needs to document each business issue which emerges in sessions. Even seemingly trivial ones like dollar limits which trigger manager sign-offs must be documented. In so doing, at this early phase, it will help the organization to avoid problems in the future linked to conflicts between departments. Apart from maintaining careful documentation, organization needs to set up an iterative process for accumulating ERP requirements which entails review of sessions with all stakeholders fully engaged. The requirements should then be classified into three categories; mandatory, valued-add as well as nice to have. Such a classification is helpful in phasing the implementation and hence all the mandatory requirements are performed first to make sure that the organization can progress operating like it does, with the 2nd phase ushering value-add products to optimize the processes. This is significant since trying to undertake everything too fast by putting all the optimization in is inappropriate. This is because individuals are still in the learning stage of the system and they are even yet to get there. Therefore, the organization will not even realize the ERP benefits. There is a need for an organization to go phase by phase by considering tasks that are carried out both outside and inside of the ERP system, alongside the stakeholders doing each one and what proportion of their time is dedicated to the process. This will help acknowledge poor visibility into key data thereby making it right to the ERP requirements list. Upon gathering the requirements and prioritizing them subsequently, the project team is set to send out the request for information (RFI). It is recommended that RFI should be sent to between six and eight vendors. Emphasis should be made on the leading ten percent of requirements which are distinct to the organization and those not link to the ability to automate workflows or give visibility into some data sources that tend to be vastly available across the brands. Vendor Selection and Evaluation Once the RFIs have been returned from the vendors, the project team should boil them down to shortlist of 2 or 3 vendors. The project team should then send the selected vendors requests for proposals (RFPs) with a 4-week deadline. The organization should then bring in the vendors who then respond for the demonstrations. The first step is to examine the financial viability of the individual vendor, particularly the probability of the vendors being acquired and how much R$D the vendors devote to the mandatory and value-add requirements on the list (Grabski, Leech and Schmidt 2011). At this stage, the project team needs to make discovery calls to each vendor, providing them an opportunity to probe them regarding what is anticipated in the demonstrations along with inviting the vendors to a site tour. This is the phase at which gamesmanship can emerge. Certain vendors may push back against the 4-week deadline, may be with creative excuses, and everybody shall jokey for the last time slot. The demonstration themselves have both art and science all their own. It is recommended that the project team invites the subject-matter experts who participated in the requirements sessions to see how their work was transferred and feel their respective voices are still of value in the selection (Grabski, Leech and Schmidt 2011). The project team must be willing to dedicate an entire day or two, for every vendors demonstration, even though the core project team is requires to be present whole time. Other members of the team can choose to be present for the portions which involve their respective departments. There is a need for providing the demonstration training beforehand for workforce to have precise and clear anticipations along with instructions but not to give hints on how they feel regarding the ERP software. The vendors are present and they will pick up on it, and it restricts the ability to bargain with them later on. The demonstrations should be anchored on business processes as outlined in the requirements list, premised on scripts given to vendors and should be light upon bells and whistles. Working from the scripts makes its feasible for the project team to check the vendors earlier claim honesty. The demonstrations will further uncover if there is a cultural fit. The project team needs to set up a good demonstration by asking vendors to perform it on the actual data of the company and giving vendors real scenarios (Galliers and Leidner 2014). An organization should have a demonstration scripts that illustrate exactly what the organization want so that when vendors turn up and perform whistles and bells, the project team will know that vendors are listening to them on the first day. In such a case, the organization will have the ground to send vendors back home. It is also significant to check customer references by this stage of the remaining contenders putting a clear focus on the organization in the same industry or the locality. The project team should conduct online survey to uncover the experiences the users of ERP software had relating to hiccups using the system. It is also the time when certain organizations make mistakes of selecting the vendor and subsequently going silent for many months before the implementation (Borman and Janssen 2013). It is, therefore, suggested that utilizing that time for planning the project further as well as getting end users engaged, sharing certain data and processes with them along with working to break down silos of department is fruitful. Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that the process of selection does not stop at that stage. Upon selecting the software, the project team should ensure that whoever vendor is chosen to implement the software must culturally fit with the organization (Borman and Janssen 2013). It is recommended that going through the similar process of sending out RFP to particular interrogators, probing them, inviting them to come in and demonstrating their methodology approach is incredibly necessary. In summary, ERP vendor evaluation and software selection activities are given below; The project team develops requests for proposal for the implementation of software, integration as well as business consulting services. The project team then establishes the demo scripts to allow the vendors to make presentation The project team will then undertake preparation as well as discovery calls with individual shortlisted vendors to make sure that vendors are comfortable with the requirements, demo scripts as well as evaluation process of the client The project team will then create on-line workforce evaluation surveys anchored on the specific requirement of the client The project team will then undertake to facilitate the demonstration sessions of the vendors The last step is the analysis of the functional strengths along with weaknesses relative to the business requirements of the client. These steps are essential in ensuring that the organization receives a balanced alongside neutral perception of key attributes, functionality, limitations as well as limitations of vendors products to assist the project team acknowledge the best-fit software alternative. Recommendation It is recommended that upper management support should be sought when selecting and implementing ERP system. This is useful in eliminating the challenges facing the companies that lack upper management level engagement. This will make the senior level management fully engaged hence ensuring that resources at the lower levels to be edicated and involved with project implementation. The executives should be aware of issues that cause delays to the project and hence should be engaged for a successful ERP system. It is also recommended that project team makes a clear and extensive list of requirement before beginning to look for vendors. The project team should commence by carefully defining the project scope. This should focus on the particular business processes along with system requirements. The more particular project team can be upfront, the more comprehensive the vendors can be in their respective proposals. Conclusion The current ERP implementation undertakes effortless attempts to integrate the mobile devices with the ERP system. The ERPs technical stakes of the modern concern integration include hardware, networking, application and supply chain (Boonstra 2012). The ERP currently captures extended functions and roles such as stakeholders relationships, transparency, globalization, standardization and decision making. The features of current ERP implementation include an integrated system operating in real or near time regardless of the periodic updates. It also has a standard database that supports all applications, consistent look and feel throughout the modules. The installation of the system has comprehensive integration of data and application by the IT department so long it is not small step-based. Reference List Baskerville, R. L. and Myers, M. D., 2012. Fashion waves in information systems research and practice. Mis Quarterly, 647-662. Boonstra, J. (Ed.), 2012. Dynamics of organizational change and learning. John Wiley Sons. Borman, M., and Janssen, M., 2013. Reconciling two approaches to critical success factors: The case of shared services in the public sector. International Journal of Information Management, 33(2), 390-400. Esteves, J., and Bohrquez, V. W., 2014. An updated ERP systems annotated bibliography: 2001-2005. Instituto de Empresa Business School Working Paper No. WP, 07-04. Galliers, R. D., and Leidner, D. E., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge. Grabski, S. V., Leech, S. A. and Schmidt, P. J., 2011. A review of ERP research: A future agenda for accounting information systems. Journal of information systems, 25(1), 37-78. Hanafizadeh, P. and Ravasan, A. Z., 2011. A McKinsey 7S model-based framework for ERP readiness assessment. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems (IJEIS), 7(4), 23-63.