ERP/HRIS/HRMS Systems LO18692

Jason Smith (jsmith@quantumsolutions.on.ca)
Tue, 21 Jul 1998 12:07:44 -0400

Replying to LO18689 --

>I would like to start a new thread on the history and evolution of these
>monster software HR systems. As part two I would like to continue with
>how to learn, bid, acquire, implement, and live with this software that
>radically changes our organizations and HR practitioners' lives.

I do consulting work with firms on how to acquire and implement these and
other types of software applications. Implementation is important, of
course. However, it's been my experience that implementations don't go
well if the evaluation process is flawed. In projects I do, we tend to
follow a four stage process for evaluating and proposing package
installations.

a) Researching - Here we do a quick survey of the products in the area
under evaluation. We also do a preliminary assessment of needs and wants
with the user community.

b) Shortlisting - Here we drive needs down into a detailed set of activity
and data specifications. We also define our technology compatabilities
and what we want from the vendor besides software (training, support,
on-going consulting). We package up these needs, ship them out to vendors
with attractive solutions, and let them tell us just how they can meet our
needs. We select a short list of options.

c) Benchmarking - We test drive our shortlisted options. Usually this
means we gather up data from our organization and actually use it to
perform the activities we perform using the systems we are considering
buying. This doesn't have to take a long time, and usually produces some
interesting results. At the end of this, we know what product and vendor
we want.

d) Proposing - Evaluation isn't done yet. What we do next is actually sit
down and work though a pretty detailed plan of how we are going to
implement and support this product in the long term. Often we involve the
preferred vendor in this exercise. We do this so we can put forward an
accurate assessment of how much our prefered solution will really cost the
organization. We also present the benefits to the organization compared
to those costs. It's interesting to note that a lot of bad ideas really
do start to look bad once you are honest about the costs and benefits. We
carry off our proposal to the people who can approve expenditures to see
how they feel about spending the money.

We do have defined stages for implementation too. These are considered as
part of the implementation estimate which is prepared in the Proposing
stage.

It's been my experience that organizations don't succeed in implementing
software packages because they don't invest enough time in defining needs
and in investigating how well vendor solutions fit those needs. People
sometimes think that their situations are not unique and that somehow
vendors already know what they need. Other think that software
implementation is as simple as dropping a CD into a drive, loading the
software and then running it. That may be true with a new word processor
at home. It's not the case with a multi-user ERP system in a real
organization. The financial risks of failure are enormous and have to be
mitigated with good evaluation and implementation processes that are run
as well-defined and competently administered projects.

I have to say that it's been an uphill slug with many clients. Even
clients that have had a few disasters seem to want to race into more of
them. I tend not to spend a lot of time in organizations like that. On a
brighter note, there are organizations who see technology as strategic,
who know that there are risks that need to be managed, and are prepared to
spend the time to do a good job of evaluation and implementation. It's
interesting to note that these organizations tend to have already made a
committment to being learning organizations and are willing to learn.
Surprise, surprise.....

Jason Smith
jsmith@quantumsolutions.on.ca (work)
pax@passport.ca (personal)
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." - Yogi Berra

-- 

"Jason Smith" <jsmith@quantumsolutions.on.ca>

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