ERP Optimization for SCM

Improvement Opportunities

Standardization of process and integrated ERP systems across the Client’s system to a common procurement system with shared master (e.g. vendor, item) data

• The above also provides the foundation for procurement and spend analytics which gives buyers and managers dashboards, best practice type reports, and self-service custom reports that allows them to improve key metrics such as increased net contract discounts, early payment discounts, and key processes such as improved contract negotiation
• Through Requisitioning, workflow automation, integration, and order automation client’s can streamline requisition process flows and increase percentage of spend under PO control (reducing “Special Requests/X-items”)
• Strategic Sourcing to enable greater savings through increased event planning, definition, and execution to collaborative negotiation, bid analysis, and award
• Improve receiving processes via common inventory system, combined with mobile inventory and scanning tools – to reduce downstream matching issues
• Reduce overall inventory “safety stocks” across organization (including O.R.s)  – via improved inventory monitoring tools & analytics

ERP Optimization for EFM

Improvement Opportunities

Standardization of process and integrated ERP systems across the Clients’s system  to a common financial system (GL, AP, Billing/AR) with shared process and setup/data (e.g. one company chart of accounts)

• The above also provides the foundation for financial analytics which gives analysts and managers dashboards, best practice type reports, and self-service custom reports that allows them to drill down on GL accounts, track AR, AP, cash flow, performance against budget, on a daily basis, review intra-period financial information before books are closed
• Automated T&E processing will greatly improve T&E policy enforcement, user satisfaction, and processing time (straight to payroll)
•  vendor focused portal invoice entry & inquiry which can eliminate high phone volume and enable greater electronic invoice capture
• Automated capital assets and project costing  to reduce manual workaround processes and delays
• Automated Cash Management and Forecasting, Debt Management, Investment/Risk Management to reduce manual transactions and optimize cash
• Automated scanning & loading of paper invoices will further reduce manual transaction load

ERP Optimization for HCM

Standardization of process and integrated ERP systems across the Client’s system will reduce unnecessary transactional HR labor and training allowing freed resources to be redeployed on more value add activities

•  The above also provides the foundation for common HR reporting/analytics and shared services which gives administrators and managers a shared view that allows them to improve key metrics such as reducing agency/overtime costs 
• An integrated Time and Attendance system will dramatically reduce transactional workload for all employees and their managers, increase employee satisfaction, and reduce the costs of payroll errors due to manual timecards
• Workflow automation will dramatically lower transaction load on HR staff – freeing them for true high-value recruitment & retention activities.
• Use of web-based employee and manager self-service tools will reduce time requirements in several areas – which also increases user satisfaction.
• Integrated recruiting capabilities leading to shortened vacancy fill times, lower outside recruiting costs and reduced early period  turnover
• Increased efficiency & effectiveness of overall Learning Management capabilities through improved content management, increased web course utilization, and integration of performance & talent management goals with learning delivery.

Successful ERP Systems Begin with Optimization

By optimizing what clients already have, Globalstar is able to improve performance and save money.

•Affected Business Operations

•Clients will standardize processes in four functional business areas:

•Finance

•Human Resources and Payroll

•Supply Chain

•Client's will help managers drive cost out by:

•Develop the timely, consistent information, analysis and integration to contain and reduce health care costs without compromising patient care

•Enhance and streamline data to aid in strategic decision-making

•Increase daily efficiency for finance staff and provide more time for results and performance analysis

•Vision and Goals

•Standardization

•Simplification

•Leading Practices

•Visibility & Agility

•Challenges

•Diffuse organizational power and budgets

•High level of org readiness/maturity disparity

•Org Change Management Risks

•No “big stick” incentive/sponsor yet identified

Successful ERP Installs Begin with Finding Resources

Where have all the resources gone?  When searching for Lawson/Infor ERP resources you may find it more difficult than in years past.  There are some key variables to why this has taken place.

1.  Resources have gotten older.  Many of the Lawson/Infor resources have aged to the point of retirement, thus are no longer available to assist on new implementations or optimization efforts. The amount of training providing to younger resources has also diminished, which has provided for an aging resource pool.

2. Resources have gotten spoiled to technology.  Technology has made it easier to do a lot of things, including business consulting.  Consulting resources have started to utilize technology to aid their functionality. By using webex, video conferencing, and remote desktop connections, consultants are able to assist clients from virtually anywhere.  Consultants like this, because they don't have to travel and they can also assist several clients at once. Unfortunately, virtual consulting doesn't compare to an on-site presence of a business consultant.  As a client, it's much harder to garner a consultant's value when they are not physically in project meetings etc, so they tend to up up disillusioned to the consultant's true value. However, more and more consultants are erring on the side of remote support, thus they are harder to lock down, if on-site assistance is needed.

3. Resources have simply gotten tired of traveling.  Many have taken a pay cut and stepped down into FTE positions.  They find it easier to maintain a family life and utilize their skills.

4. Resources became cautious about Infor acquisition.  Many resources decided to move into another career path during the uncertainty that took place during the Lawson acquisition by Infor.  They either moved to another ERP product (ie PeopleSoft, McKesson, MS Dynamics, etc) or stepped out of the industry entirely.

Resources have gotten less abundant in the Infor/Lawson ERP space, but there are still candidates with a lot of talent to be had.  You just have to be patient.

Successful ERP Installs Begin with Questioning the Market

Has the ERP market matured?  Yes.  Is there still a need for ERP services? Yes. 

While many companies have been able to stabilize their environment, many firms had installs that weren't set-up in an ideal/best-practices manner.  These client's limp along performing processes, many times less efficiently than prior to installing their ERP system (i.e. cutting manual checks, ordering of POs that aren't linked to the system, not tracking ALL items in inventory, mismanaging employees comp time, etc).  Many of these clients could benefit from an optimization effort, or re-implementation, but see it to be a waste of money/time. 

Clients are live already on their current product, so why bother re-implementing?   To save time, money, and earn the ROI they had originally expected.

The bottom line is that the ERP services industry has been profitable.  This profitability has created a surge of providers who aren't client focused.  Instead they are focused on $$$$$ for their firms, not the client. Bigger, more well known, and more expensive doesn't always equate better. 

For Example:

The resource complement for a big firm's Implementation/Re-Implementation generally looks as follows:

• 1 Project Director
• 1 Project Manager Human Capital Management
• 1 Project Manager Financials
• 1 Project Manager Supply Chain
• 1 Functional Lead Human Capital Management
• 1 Functional Lead Financials
• 1 Functional Lead Supply Chain Management
• 2 Technical Leads (1 DBA, 1 Programmer)
• 2 Specialty Consultants (Talent Management, Grants Management, Installers etc)

Total: approx 11

vs

Smaller Firms:

• 1 Project Director/Manager
• 1 Functional Lead Human Capital Management
• 1 Functional Lead Financials
• 1 Functional Lead Supply Chain Management
• 2 Technical Leads (1 DBA, 1 Programmer)
• 1 Specialty Consultant (as/if needed)

Total: approx 5-6

Smaller firms utilize a resource complement of roughly half of what a big firm provides. Clients are sold on the idea that more hands on deck is a good thing, but what happens is that the consultants tend to do more of the work. Instead of having the clients internal staff learning and understanding the product throughout the installation process (which as allows for a smoother running system going forward, and less need for future consulting). 

When considering a re-implementation/optimization effort, remember that the more invested effort and buy-in on the client side is ideal.  This will allow for a greater probability of success going forward.  

GlobalStar has Extensive Experience with Lawson Financial Systems

Globalstar has implemented Lawson Financial Systems components in a majority of the projects we have undertaken.  IF/GL, AP, AM, AR, AC are the highest-volume modules, but we do have experience with all. We have implemented Financial solutions in healthcare, government, service, retail, manufacturing, utility, education, and transportation businesses.  Our implementations routinely include interfaces to/from internal, external, regulatory, and trade systems and organizations.  We have extensive experience working with purchasing associations, EDI and EFT integrators, and vendors.

As part of our Business Transformation process, we not only implement, but we define measures of success for each solution at the onset of each implementation to gauge our delivery

Successful ERP Installs Begin with GlobalStar - Lawson Healthcare Specialists

GlobalStar has extensive experience implementing healthcare clients in the Lawson environment.  Our team includes functional leads that have not only Lawson experience but extensive business experience in their functional area that allows them to ask the right questions to develop best practices that are geared to addressing our clients' business requirements.

Our team members also retain memberships to industry affiliations such as HIMSS, HFMA, AARHM, and ASHHRA. By doing so, we maintain the most up to date knowledge on industry best practices.

Successful ERP Installs Begin With Happy/Informed Clients

Maintaining 100% reference-ability,  we have not experienced a previous unsuccessful implementation within Lawson or any of our other implementation engagements.

GlobalStar has stepped in to correct unsatisfactory implementations and developed remediation plans to correct project issues.  Common reasons for a less than ideal implementation include lack of senior management support and participation, undefined project scope and scope creep, resourcing  was inadequate on the part of the client, validation activities were not given adequate attention, client participation during build and testing phases was inadequate.

Successful ERP Installs Begin with Diverse Teams

As an integral part of our Activation Services, GlobalStar leverages local Colleges

as an avenue to provide efficient, trainable labor-forces to offer support. In addition to the activation support resources, GlobalStar utilizes firms located within close proximity to an engagement as needed to build social community awareness for the organizations.  GlobalStar is a Woman-Owned Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) in the State of Texas.  GlobalStar does not discriminate by race, age, sex, etc when hiring our consultants and administrative staff. 

Plan our work, Work our plan

GlobalStar understands that great projects start with great planning.  Our project management approach to large scale implementation projects is multi-faceted in managing project schedules and budget variances. We utilize industry standard PMP tools, Microsoft Project, for the management of the project schedule and tasks completions, along with certified PMP consultants. We also supplement these with our own proprietary tools such as T-Minus Activation Plan, Resource Burn worksheets and other associated project management deliverable. Below is a brief description of a few of our standard tools:

·         Project Plan in Microsoft Project – This plan is at a detail level providing you with the tool displaying tasks, durations, resources, dependencies, milestones, and on an ongoing basis a percentage of task level and overall project level completions. We have provided a Rush University specific sample project plan as requested in question B6 and can be found in Appendix 3

·         T-Minus Activation Tasks Listing – This is in Microsoft Excel format for easier sharing with team members and encompasses not only the technical team but all project affected team members and facility departments/areas. Within a forty (40) to forty-five (45) day window leading up to the Activation Date, this task level tool is utilized as a countdown type of utility illustrating all tasks and activities requiring attention/completion. The worksheet is shared across the organization for full visibility and demonstrating inter-dependencies and reducing the risk of redundant tasks activities which often create confusion and/or missing tasks completions.

·         Project Burn Worksheet – Utilizing existing burn worksheets, we work with the client’s finance team and project sponsor to refine a tracking tool in Excel where actual resource time and associated billing amounts are compared to forecast estimates and remaining available project budgetary totals. This spreadsheet is at a detail and summary level for  reporting at the project and leadership level.