Why consider Output Management early on in an ERP Project?
Early focus on output = ERP on scope
It’s easy to overlook the complexity of business documents. Document Management is often underestimated as a small task at the end of an ERP project, but this can become costly. To keep Total Cost of Ownership low, make sure to consider it from start.
When analyzing the actual time spent, it often turns out that ERP implementation projects end up taking about three times longer than estimated. This can quickly add up to hundreds of hours of extra costs, which could have been avoided if Output Management had been considered early in the project.
“Begin with the output to reduce surprises and avoid panic solutions”
“We always begin with what needs to come out – the output part – otherwise, we don’t know what needs to go into the system. We do this to align expectations, get suggestions, adjustments, and wishes early in the process, and build the system with the right processes from the start.”
Kjeld Ohland-Andersen
Solution Architect
It reduces hazzle and hours of coding
“In the old days, you customized everything. You never said no to a customer. If the customer wanted a field moved, it was moved. Ten programmers were brought in to code. It was a nightmare to do,” says Kjeld Ohland Andersen.
“If you just needed to move something, it would go back and forth to the customer twenty times. ‘Was it like this?’ ‘No, just a little more to the right.’ And then back in and code again. Therefore, many companies have ended up with a team of programmers coding reports the old-fashioned way. But the problem is either the customer ends up paying an unreasonable amount for their reports or the consulting firm can’t charge for it because the customer refuses to pay for all those hours of coding.
If we’re going to run a cost-effective business, we have to do everything we can to make our customers efficient. That’s why we only use standard programs”.
Proof of concept – early
“It’s a big problem that many don’t include output from the start. Therefore we always begin with what needs to come out – the output part – otherwise, we don’t know what needs to go into the system.
Customers always want a lot of information delivered: barcodes, EDI, management reporting, inventory turnover reports, customer data, etc. Therefore, we need to have the external and internal communication in place first,” says Kjeld Ohland-Andersen.
“It’s about quickly running through proof of concept in workshops, based on standard. We do this to align expectations, get suggestions, adjustments, and wishes early in the process, and build the system with the right processes from the start”, Kjeld Ohland-Andersen explains.
