The ERP Channel

You will find that the one thing that everyone agrees with in any kind of project is to have a consistent methodology.

If you have an easily understood and repeatable methodology then you increase the likelihood that project success can be repeated. That is not to say that the methodology must be a set of rigid and minutely defined steps. There still needs to be flexibility to adapt to environment, resources, timeframe and the nature of the project. For example a project to implement an entirely new ERP will differ from a project to change the way inventory is valued. The methodology must be scalable, flexible and adaptable.

Here are five stages worth looking at if you would like your next implementation delivered on-time, on-budget and on-expectations.

There is no point even imagining that any ERP can cater for the business rules and needs of every organisation. In a competitive world, each business is looking for the differentiation that makes them more appealing, and given the differences in the nature of products, facilities and equipment there are a variety of operational processes that may be applicable.

Your ERP covers multiple facets of your business. Each facet can have something unique that contributes to the success of the business. Even something small can be a major contributor. The devil is in the detail, your ERP will cover all the general requirements, but it is these small, unique business differentiators that may be missing.

So, either you change to suit what the ERP can achieve, or you change the ERP to suit the way you want to operate. I would say change the ERP. After all, you are not in the business of running an ERP, you are in the business of whatever the business is.

Therefore, the question becomes how to do it without causing problems in the future.

For a lot of businesses, an item that has a negative balance for quantity on hand is normal. It represents a situation where they are playing catch up with their information. For example they send stock out the door as soon as it arrives, before they tell their system that it arrived. Eventually, you would hope that all the information is entered and the balance eventually reflects something realistic.

In short, it was not uneventful.

Like a lot of accounting standards the valuation of stock on hand is subject to some flexible rules. There is no single method that is universally applicable, and businesses usually decide on a method that suits the nature of their business, the nature of the market and the nature of the items themselves.

When bringing items in from overseas factors that you need to consider are when to apply the exchange rate for goods purchased in a foreign currency, and where to get the exchange rate from.