Setting up an ERP can also be completely botched if the company’s representatives don’t fully grasp all the functions needed. What I’ve been going through as a customer of an ERP suite is that the “stars” of the software don’t actually understand the other 50% of functions outside their department. That remaining 50% is distributed among 4 other departments, so representation wasn’t exactly prioritized. Add in high turnover circa 2021 and the whole thing is logistical nightmare that finally at least has a goal in sight.
The other underlying issue is the existing forms usually lack what we need and have too much fluff. Once our ERP partner modifies it, the ERP developer drops all support for that form. We get zero help when it gets mystery glitches.
So yeah, I can get why some places say fuck it and stick with excel. Half the workforce knows excel well enough to write what they need. Take 10% of them to format and lock down spreadsheets so the other 50% of the workforce can just fill in boxes and pick drop downs. It just works.
All that to say, I both expect more form a Healthcare company but also am not surprised.
Yeah, the requirements should also be clear - or at least clear before any sort of implementation starts. Defining the requirements is a large part of what our consultants do and the more experienced ones know how to ask questions to get perspectives of people other than the “stars”. Takes months usually to get things to where us developers can get started on anything. We’ve built some hella cool shit for some customers but then you look at the git history and realize that it took the customer over a YEAR to go live. They must’ve easily invested six figures getting this ERP just right for their needs. Automatic imports from other software they use, lots of customizations, including some brand new in-erp apps. They’re loving it so far. But you don’t get this without considering a bunch of people’s needs.
Setting up an ERP can also be completely botched if the company’s representatives don’t fully grasp all the functions needed. What I’ve been going through as a customer of an ERP suite is that the “stars” of the software don’t actually understand the other 50% of functions outside their department. That remaining 50% is distributed among 4 other departments, so representation wasn’t exactly prioritized. Add in high turnover circa 2021 and the whole thing is logistical nightmare that finally at least has a goal in sight.
The other underlying issue is the existing forms usually lack what we need and have too much fluff. Once our ERP partner modifies it, the ERP developer drops all support for that form. We get zero help when it gets mystery glitches.
So yeah, I can get why some places say fuck it and stick with excel. Half the workforce knows excel well enough to write what they need. Take 10% of them to format and lock down spreadsheets so the other 50% of the workforce can just fill in boxes and pick drop downs. It just works.
All that to say, I both expect more form a Healthcare company but also am not surprised.
Yeah, the requirements should also be clear - or at least clear before any sort of implementation starts. Defining the requirements is a large part of what our consultants do and the more experienced ones know how to ask questions to get perspectives of people other than the “stars”. Takes months usually to get things to where us developers can get started on anything. We’ve built some hella cool shit for some customers but then you look at the git history and realize that it took the customer over a YEAR to go live. They must’ve easily invested six figures getting this ERP just right for their needs. Automatic imports from other software they use, lots of customizations, including some brand new in-erp apps. They’re loving it so far. But you don’t get this without considering a bunch of people’s needs.