While conducting “research” for another project, I stumbled across Max Weber’s notion of classification of authority, which was news to me, as is most serious Western thought.

According to Weber, there are three types of authority: Read the rest of this entry »

They say a picture is worth a thousand words—but in my opinion, graphs are sometimes worth even more. Therefore, I decided to let the graphs do most of the talking about the main differences between Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (JDE) and E-Business Suite (EBS).

In order to do that, I have selected our Mixed-mode Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Evaluation Center because it has functionality from ERP for discrete, ERP for process, and ERP for engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing. Read the rest of this entry »

If you did not get the chance to read the article about the 2009 APICS Conference, I thought I should share with you some of the things we (Khudsiya and I) did or learned there.

I thought I would start by imagining a conversation about imaginary analysts, between two imaginary people, in an imaginary kitchen of an imaginary company: Read the rest of this entry »

(Scroll down for my list of Top 10 ERP White Paper Buzzwords!)

Read the rest of this entry »

A recent blog post CRM for the Finance and Banking Industry – Part 1 by Gabriel Gheorghiu touched on a pain point of many of today’s enterprise IT environments. Due to the inconsistency of customer data amongst different systems in use, the bank employee “asked three or four of her co-workers for help, and took about 15 minutes” to simply change the address of one customer. As a matter of fact, the bank that Gabriel mentioned is not the only one in this situation. Recently at the Gartner Master Data Management Summit 2009, I learned from a case study that prior to the master data management (MDM) initiative, a large Canadian retailer had over 45 million domestic customers recorded in its various systems, even though the entire country has a population of less than 34 million. Read the rest of this entry »

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If this proverb were applied in today’s operations, every organization would be in a reactive mode of maintenance and work against the lean manufacturing concepts.

Any breakdown or downtime on the manufacturing floor, in the warehouse, in transportation, or any other business process will create missed customer commitments, failed deliveries, idle time, and lost labor hours. Instead of taking the risk and being in reactive mode, wouldn’t it be nice to have systems or procedures through which an organization can know the status of its equipment? In today’s fast-paced market environment it’s beneficial for organizations to know which equipment needs preventative or scheduled maintenance for better planning, commitment, and allocation of resources. Read the rest of this entry »

As you may know, TEC performs all types of system selection projects with clients in which analysts are usually involved to a lesser or greater degree. In collaboration with a client, analysts usually prepare the “to be”—the future system business and technical requirements document, or request for information (RFI)—and make corrections or additions to the template based on the client’s current needs. Often analysts are astonished about the kind of future requirements that users demand—especially the users of early Application System 400 (AS/400). I clearly understand that with that statement, I am at risk of inciting anger in AS/400 system proponents; nevertheless, I cannot keep silent and as such need to share what I have discovered during these projects.

Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft recently acquired four vertical solutions that target process manufacturing (Fullscope Inc.), professional services (Computer Generated Solutions Inc.), and retail industries (To-Increase and LS Retail ehf). 

These acquisitions are no different from any other software industry vendor acquisition, as each player in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) space is trying to expand its reach of features and functions in a  variety of vertical industries. 

What’s different here is that Microsoft Dynamics’ aim Read the rest of this entry »

The 2009 APICS International Conference and Expo is starting next week in Toronto (Canada). One of the educational tracks is focusing on how to manage inventory in a changing economy. As inventory is a challenging issue for all types of manufacturing organizations, regardless of industry. If an organization can manage its inventory without losing focus on demand and where its dollars are being spent, it may achieve its inventory objectives. Gary Gossard (president of IQR International) gave a preview presentation in a webinar in which he pointed out a technique that can be used by organizations to manage inventory and reduce waste during changing economic times. Read the rest of this entry »

I hope our readers, to greater or lesser degrees, are familiar with our business software selection methodology—as we have been writing a lot on this matter. But the lion’s share of these publications often refer to either the functional or technical sides of the selection process, or what type of business processes a future system can support and how can be achieved. Read the rest of this entry »

The Utilities Industry

From TEC’s perspective and based on our understanding of the industry, the utilities industry consists primarily of the following service providers: electric power generators, network operators, customer power retailers, natural gas, steam supply, water supply, and sewage removal. All of these business segments have common criteria such as a mass customer service department and billing process, remote service supply or power generation, and high cost of asset owning and maintenance. Also, a big part of the utility business is project based as well. Below are some challenges the industry faces: Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weeks ago, I published a blog post called Customer Relationship Manufacturing. In this blog post, I described the symbiosis between the sales and production departments within a manufacturing company, mentioned some customer relationship management (CRM) vendors that seem to have adapted their products for the manufacturing industry, and I also promised I would get back to you with more information on these products. Read the rest of this entry »

In the forthcoming 2009 APICS International Conference and Expo, many educational tracks will be covered by industry leaders, and lean is one of them. Since we are in a global economic crisis where every manufacturer, supplier, and producer is trying to reduce cost and minimize waste while increasing production or throughput, I am particularly interested in the “lean” educational track to hear what the experts are saying. Recently, I had the privilege of attending the preview of “Lean for Materials Managers” by Bill Kerber, President of High Mix Lean. Read the rest of this entry »

We recently certified Deacom Integrated Accounting and ERP Software v 10.4. Before sharing my impressions of Deacom’s product, I would like to briefly describe the certification process so you can better understand how it works. Read the rest of this entry »

As ERP becomes more and more of a commodity, vendors are faced with the challenge of delivering an affordable core offering by delivering just the right mix of “standard” back-office capabilities and the vertical-specific capabilities demanded by the customers they serve. In light of this reality, some vendors have positioned themselves as best-of-breed ERP vendors that serve certain key verticals or microverticals by delivering comprehensive solutions to meet the specific needs of their clients; while other vendors pitch an ERP “platform,” allowing partners or clients to fill in the industry-specific needs.  In any event, both cases demonstrate the increased maturity level of buyers of enterprise software. Read the rest of this entry »