Developing and following a best
practices list for the implementation of an ERP system is critical to success. Companies must recognize, anticipate and plan
for the affects that an ERP system will have on functional business departments,
individual workers, stakeholders and business processes. Below I’ve identified 6 practice areas relative
to ERP implementation and measured Bombardier’s performance in each.
1. Define
Clear ERP Goals & Objectives:
a.
The overall simplistic goal of Bombardier’s EPR
system was the “one company” initiative.
The one company initiative sought to increase the visibility of
inventory and improve the communication of cross functional business departments. Bombardier correctly identified the goals of
the ERP system and used vision teams to transform the vision into a working
plan.
2. Choose
the Correct Software:
a.
SAP was the software Bombardier chose to use for
their ERP. The case does not disclose
much information as to why Bombardier selected SAP over other ERP systems.
3. Prepare
for Business Transformation:
a.
ERP systems cause business processes and staff
roles to change. Bombardier recognized
this and attempted to inform employees of the impending role changes. However, Bombardier’s performance in this
area was subpar. Many employees were not
informed of the impending changes and those who were received the news on short
notice. An implementation team dedicated
to informing employees of upcoming role changes should have been used to transmit
the EPR plans throughout the company.
4. Provide
Initial Training & Implementation Support:
a.
Bombardier developed a strong plan to provide
training through power and super uses as well as help desk support. However power users felt the information they
were given was inadequate to prepare themselves to train others and they often
found themselves seeking information and new processes themselves. In addition to power users third party
consultants were hired to conduct training but more often than not the
consultants lacked an intimate understanding of the business. More focus should have been placed on
ensuring the power users and consultants were educated properly so they could
effectively train the end users. The
timing of training sessions was also an issue as many trainees were informed of
training sessions at the last minute. Training
sessions should have been scheduled weeks in advance and trainees should have
been provided a briefing on what they were being trained for. Lastly, after the ERP went live support was
too heavy during the first week and too light during subsequent weeks. Mangers said that problems are not found
during the first week of implementation they are found 3, 4 and 5 weeks
later. A better balance of post
implementation support should have been utilized.
5. Develop
a Clear Implementation Timeline:
a.
Bombardier excelled in creating an
implementation timeline. Upper level management
held firm and met the implementation deadline of August 4th. As a whole the ERP implementation was a success,
it was delivered on time, under budget and met its monetary goal as evidenced
by the inventory reduction of $1.2 billion.
6. Develop
a Budget & Allocate Necessary Resources:
a.
Bombardier developed an initial budget for the
project of $363 million and estimated it would take 400 people to facilitate
the implementation. The firm also
analyzed the cost savings of the ERP system and estimated the savings to be $1.171
billion. As can be seen from these
figures Bombardier conducted significant research and developed a clear budget
for the project which included an estimation of required manpower. Once the budget was developed the firm appointed
Senior Project Managers, Project Sponsors, Functional Councils and project teams
to facilitate implementation of the ERP system.
Bombardier’s budgeting process and allocation of necessary resources was
satisfactory to complete implementation.
No comments:
Post a Comment