ERP Consulting

Your organization/ company has reached the point, at which a new ERP solution is needed and will have to be implemented. There might be a number of reasons for that – no existing ERP system and your business is growing, obsolete existing ERP system, existing „ERP-like“ system not covering the current and forthcoming needs, expansion to new markets, changes in ownership, etc.

And with the great number of ERPs on the market and companies offering implementation services the task is far from easy. And if you dig into more details of what modules they have, and if they have CRM, Mobile CRM, Retail or BI, then the task can get even more complicated and confusing.

In order to identify the best option for your organization on the market, NSC is using and recommends, a very strict and systematic approach which is reducing strongly the potential risks of failure and mitigates a number of potential issues.

Project Manager on your side

A Project Manager on your side should be assigned and empowered to manage and consult all activities needed for successful implementation. This Project Manager could be an employee from your organization, possessing the required experience and competence, or it could be hired from an external consulting company, to protect your interest during the process, and lead in a capable way the whole project.

Requirements Identification

This is always the first step in the process and includes a very thorough drill-down in the activities of the company and identification of all internal and external company processes, that will need to be covered by the ERP solution. Includes talks to key persons from all departments and functions that will use the ERP solution to identify correctly their needs as well as issues they meet and that need to be solved. All findings are summed up in a document, which will be the requirements description.

The findings provide also insight, that helps the Project Manager and the team to clarify what ERP functionalities are needed and potentially what modules, e.g.: Accounting, Finance, Budgeting, Warehouse Management, Manufacturing, Import, Supplies, Expenses, Document management, Project Management, CRM, Mobile CRM, Retail, E-commerce, BI, etc. Special focus is paid to all needed Integrations with other software and hardware systems.

Identification of the right ERP Solution

Wrongly selected ERP solution leads to unsatisfactory results and lack of the desired functionality, which often could not be solved and in the worst-case scenario the project needs to be restarted and another ERP solution shall be selected. This may lead to a significant waste of resources, demotivation and other internal issues. That is why NSC proposes that you analyze into details the existing ERP solutions on the market, preselect the most appropriate few and make meetings with their representatives to clarify if all requirements can be met and if not all, how this can be solved. In any case the final decision for the ERP solution(s) shall be made based on information.

Offers and Selection Procedure, Negotiations.

Once the most appropriate ERP is selected, offers will be asked from selected companies that are implementing it. Offers will be analysed against predefined set of criteria and the winner will be awarded the contract. All conditions shall be set and agreed during the negotiation phase.

Implementation Phase

Here the Project Manager has the responsibility to manage the process from the client’s prospective, and check and guarantee, that all milestones are met properly and finally all agreed requirements are delivered as requested. He shall be in constant touch with the implementor and follow and test every step of the project plan.

Go-live and Support

Project Go-Live is the date, when the project becomes operational and all functionalities are “live”. After that, the project enters its Support phase. All conditions regarding the Support, shall be preliminary agreed in the negotiating phase. The smooth running of the project and small fixes have to be guaranteed.

Further Development

Your business is dynamic and you may enter new markets, may add new departments or create new subsidiaries. This all will have to be reflected into the ERP solution, so its flexibility needs to be a key criteria in the selection procedure.