World Class Technology Discussions

Choosing Your New ERP System 11/29/2012

After you’ve gotten the approval to start the process for a new ERP software system, it is time to start the search and make the decision of what to buy.  It is a project on its own just to make that decision.  It should take one to three months to go through all of the options to determine the best solution.

The way to begin this project is to lay out your plan.  You need to have an idea of what steps you will take and how long you have to finish.  The plan needs to include who will be involved, how much, and who gets to make the final decision.

The first part of the plan is who will be included.  This is an important project and the right people need to be included on the team.  A senior manager that knows how important the project is, and has authority to set priorities needs to be on the team.  Others as representatives of major departments need to be included.  The best person to represent the department doesn’t have to be the highest manager; you need to include the one who understands what is needed, but also has the time to attend the meetings.

As you get a commitment from enough people to fairly represent the company, you will create a meeting schedule.  Once a week may be enough to start, but eventually you will have vendor responses to review and demonstrations to watch.  This will increase the time commitment from the team.  These people need to understand that this project is just as important as their ‘day jobs’.  They will need to dedicate some time to this project, even if it means doing overtime on their normal responsibilities.  This part is crucial because ignoring the project for too long will ensure failure.

Probably the most important part of the selection process is the requirements.  The team needs to define their requirements for the new system and prioritize their needs.  Not all software will do exactly what they need in the way that they want it, so they need to be ready to determine what is critical and what is nice to have.  The requirements should start with replacing what they already do, and then consider what is needed for the future of the company.  You will need to include the details of current operations such as Purchasing, Selling, Accounting, etc.  Also think about reporting, dashboards, paper output and screen design. 

Along with the processes, you will have to consider the technical aspects of the software.  Will you want it in the cloud or on premises?  If you are thinking about the cloud, do you want software as a service (SAAS) or platform as a service (PAAS)?  You need to know the difference, and understand the language so that when a vendor describes their solution you can correctly interpret what they are saying.

Can your IT department support the new demands of the software?  Will you need new people to create reports, customize the software, and support the growing demand for security?  These are import discussions to have before choosing the final software.

Once you have a good set of requirements, you can send out some sort of questionnaire, request for proposal (RFP), or other document to a list of vendors.  Their responses should be evaluated by the full team to determine a short list for demos.

You can have 4 or 5 short demos if your list of vendors is still too long to decide.  That should help you narrow the choice down to 2.  These demos need to be held to under two hours, and the vendor needs to be aware that you will cut them off if necessary.  Doing a lot of demos can be overwhelming to the team and they will forget what the first demo looked like at the end of the process.  You need to make sure that discussions are timely and that notes are taken for later review.

Your final choice should be made from the top 2 vendors.  These final vendors should be given the opportunity to show you their best presentation.  Give them the amount of time that they need to impress you.  This might take several hours for each of them and require a couple of days worth of time from your committee.

I like to prepare a document for the team that lists out the requirements and gives them the ability to write notes about each requirement and give each a grade.  The grades can then be tallied to objectively decide which software is better.  If notes are made using the same format, they are easier to compare.  The notes also make it more difficult to forget the important parts.

One of the hardest parts of this process will be to notify the losing company that they were not chosen.  They may come back with lots of questions that will require more work and put you in an uncomfortable position.  One time, I had a salesman email my boss describing how unfair my process was, and how they thought they were being strung along when the decision had been made in advance.  While embarrassing, I had the full documentation to show that no decision was made until the end, and the notes showed the grades where the number 2 company was very close, but clearly the second choice.

Once you make the decision and notify the winning company of your intentions, it is time to sign a contract.  Make sure that you have professional negotiators at the table to get the best deal possible.

Now that you have decided on your new ERP or other large software project, the fun is just beginning.  You already have a good team who understands the issues, and are ready to work.  They know that it is a global world, and Technology makes it happen.