How about start a RFI process?

From the facts given, Turtlespice does not have the experience to manage a wide-ranging ERP project and they are most likely not aware how desastrous it can become without help from experienced hands.
Best advise is to talk to peers to see what it takes to manage such a project succesfully and use this to educate the CFO.

[…] He just posted the first installment on The TEC Blog. […]

How about putting the ERP on the back-burner ans starting with defining business processe - then see to it that the ERP responds to that.

I agree with Brian “….starting with defining business processes…” except that, at this point in time, it appears that Mike may not have the knowledge necessary to correctly define business processes. From the choices given, I would begin by studying/understanding several mature, industry specific, ERP applications. Doing this will not only help Mike better define TurtleSpice’s business processes, it will also give him a better understanding of what it is he is shopping for.

Defining current business process must be supported by proposed business process based on the best parctices and what is feasible to make the best use of ERP system. This means a gap analysis, cost/benfit analysis, data analysis, resource analysis etc

This a very goog way to choose a software

Most of the answers are appropriate as their turn comes.But organizational awareness and motivation and knowledge of the nature of ERP solutions ought to be the first preparation step.

This will be a good series. I look forward to following along.

Before this company jumps in and starts looking at ERP packages, the current process and business requirements need to be firmly nailed down. Otherwise, you have nothing to compare against to determine if you are getting the right package. Too often a company will start looking at packages and talking to the vendors with out knowing what they want. Instead the vendor ends up telling them what they need and that doesn’t always turn out well for the customer.

Why not turn to an Erp product where the vendor listens to what you have to say? Where you can have it as a rental model. Where you can pick your super users, you decide what functionality is required, and you can pay for it monthly in arrears, with no minimum contract. Too good to be true???. What if I also said this system has replaced Baan in a multinational,in of all places the UK. Turtle spice would loveto speak to me! Wouldn’t they???

Mike may benefit from bigger picture, without previous ERP experience. Back to basics, a general overview of systems, functions, industry applications, the ‘do’s and dont’s’, may provide a starting point in defining business processes. There may be ERP limitations that require business processes to be modified - software may be limiting for the businesses current pratice.

Before get into the ERP software, know what the business want.
To launch an ERP project, Mike may want to view this as a complete business process change. As CFO he may not have the complete solution to all, but he certainly should start provide a high level budget for this project. Organise a ERP committe, involves all the senior management, top-down to the user champion at each functional group. Spearheading the project and involve the business owners,to understand what is the immediate business priority and next 3-5 years business direction.
Collecting the wish list from senior management till executive staff. He then should idientify internally who/which department is the key function group to spearhead the project. Sametime approach some industrial well known ERP consulting firm to engage them to work hand in hand with in-house project team, to carry out business requirement study/workshops and ERP software selection.

At a million a week with at least a $100M weekly payroll the company has been using something to run the business. Before determining what ERP solutions should be invollved perhaps a short and long-range plan would be in order. If the earnings and multiples are right it could be a good time to sell. The new owner could already have a system in place to solve most of the issues and a new system could make the “deal” unattractive.

I seem to agree with a lot of what is being said. ERP is a tool to help manage the process. If the process is not understood the ERP will simply confuse the matter. Know your process before you try and change it. Without the correct metrics you will not be able to determine if the change was positive or not.

A multi-million dollar manufacturer, working with customers like airlines, delivering packets varying from single serving to bulk containers, having outsourced the logistics and are supposed to face regulatory authorities and YET working without anything which can be called SOFTWARE; GREAT.
I, in fact, appreciate if things are still moving in right direction even with difficulties. I believe that Mike is well versed with the business requirements….the only reason of survival….ERP is always a blessing for a huge business like this involving complex inventory calculations based on consumptions in accordance with recipes. Mike should understand the ERP himself and must constitute a committee consisting high caliber members in the fields of I T and Business….Good Luck to him

1.A well structured Budget covering the entire business transactions is to be prepared for one year.
2.Similarly a forecast of all activities is to be prepared for a furture period of one year with comaprative figures for the previous year.
3.Study the abovementioned documents and analyse the business processes involved to find out the major areas of business transactions to be covered for automation.
4.Establish which ERP moudles are to be implemented and professional consultants of such modules are to be consulted and a blue print of proposed steps to be drawn.
5.Based on the professional advice select the ERP package to be implemented for a trial run and after full satisfaction of the client , the purchase of the software could be finalised.
6.These are the suggesitons for Mike to consider and ponder over before submitting his views to the CFO or CEO.

I would do a few things in parallel. One, looking for on-line evaluations, talkig to peers and begin looking into processes.

With on-line evaluation, I want to make my task of generating alternative solutions as undaunting as possible. I would furnish basic information for a macro analysis and come up with 3 or 4 alternatives in stead of lookig into a maize of solutions existing out there.

Talking to peers allows me to maintain reality check and ensure the selection process is not plagued by “paralysis by analysis” syndrome.

I will need to be open about processes. I must understand my processes and be open about re engineering some of them to fit the best practice offered through existing solutions.

1 The best thing I noticed is “no technical jargon is mentioned” ,GREAT!
2. As long as decesion makers look to ERP as a management issue ,things are still on track.
3. Getting any vendor to show ,is very dangereous
, ERP reminds me about Data Bases when announced more than 20 years ago ” ALL PROBLEMS WILL DISAPPEAR “,is this the case now !!!!
4. I am worried about 6-12 months time. Expectations are to be realistic.

I totally agree with guys pointing out the importance of knowing business processes, before starting with any software selection. Mike could start, in parallel, an overview of existing “best-of-breed” products with their related success (or failure) stories.

“Start learning more about ERP solutions, success stories, failures and organizational requirements for deploying an ERP solution.” AND in parallel will initiate structured RFI/RFP Process.Something along following lines:

1. Need Assessment (Functinal, Technical, Internal Constraints )
2.Identify and Prioritize End to End Business Processes requiring automation
3. Publish RFP
4. Evaluate Vendor Responses (using some sort of scoring)
5. Scripted demos
6. Vendor capacity and post implementation support assesment
…

Not sure what this blog entry is trying to achieve beyond setting up a scenario with limited ‘outs’.
Clearly, a need to define and understand business processes comes first, especially where there is a pain point such as compliance.
The danger of looking at software before you understand your own problems is that you see how you fit the software rather than how the software fit’s you, and until you really know ‘you’, it’s a slippery slope.
In a growing enterprise such as Turtlespice, they should facture in their operations not only today, but tomorrow and in the years to come to ensure that whatever they do use can keep up.

A $50 million company that grew quickly out of a kitchen? I suggest that while all your ideas are appropriate in many circumstances you should not assume that the personnel is sophisticated in their knowledge of processes or systems. In fact there current processes may be convoluted in order to deal with the fact that they have many manual disconnected systems in place with many “work-arounds”. Defining business processes in such an envirionment may not produce the best results.

They should be educated in the capabilities that modern ERP systems provide and best practice process models for their industry and market. They should seriously consider consultants to help them down this path.

[…] story so far: Mike Chelonia, TurtleSpice’s comptroller, has been tasked to select an ERP system by his CFO. When we asked you what you thought Mike should do next, ? you voted overwhelmingly in favor of […]

All good thoughts. It’s a chicken-egg situation which needs to be broken. Internal knowledge versus External Advises. How much can external advices be trusted? How independent are they? What are the company’s projections/strategies?
How well can your managers express their needs? How well are the holistic pictures? etc. I suggest to do a continously improve your knowledge by internal discussions, listen to stories of people in your network, trusted informal advisors. Before you start the real work do some discovery tacticts.

[…] story so far: Mike Chelonia, TurtleSpice’s comptroller, has been tasked to select an ERP system by his CFO. Swamped by phone calls from software vendors and consultants, and facing pressure from […]

The mere fact that the buisness grew indicates that there is an apparent plan and process in place. What is not obvious is whether or not it fits the requirements of an ERP solution. It would be ridiculous for them to redefine their processes without knowing what format or even what the end point would be. Therefore, knowledge of what ERP is and the requirements of ERP solutions are necessary.

[…] story so far: Mike Chelonia, TurtleSpice’s comptroller, has been tasked to select an ERP system by his CFO. Facing pressure from his VP Wade Sharkey to short-circuit the selection process and […]

ERP is a mean to facilitate business. In what way facilitation that is to be decided. to answer above question followinw is required:
1. operational knowledge of business including every section
2. what difficulties business is facing currently.
3. what are future plans.
answering these questions require cooperation from each department. Mike should try to gain confidence of various section heads of business.

[…] Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode […]

[…] story so far: Mike Chelonia, TurtleSpice’s comptroller, has been tasked to select an ERP system by his CFO. Facing pressure from his VP Wade Sharkey to short-circuit the selection process and […]

[…] story so far: Mike Chelonia, TurtleSpice’s comptroller, has been tasked to select an ERP system by his CFO. Facing pressure from his VP Wade Sharkey to short-circuit the selection process and […]

[…] story so far: Mike Chelonia, TurtleSpice’s comptroller, has been tasked to select an ERP system by his CFO. Facing pressure from his VP Wade Sharkey to short-circuit the selection process and […]

Dear Sir,

I want to study a Master Degree in ERP Oracle Financial in Canada .

Could you advise me , please?

My name is Hisham from Egypt.

I have 33 years old.

Many thanks for you.

Yours