Why is the Discovery Phase Important to an ERP Project
Companies that are in search of ERP solutions, usually search for a few vendors, and request them to submit demos. Many times businesses think this is all they have to do to get the best ERP Software. However, there is a crucial stage that a business has to go through before checking demos from vendors and finalizing the ERP solution. That step is ERP discovery.
What is an ERP discovery?
Every company wants to get the best for its business especially when it is about choosing and deploying a business management software. Companies want a solution that can help them achieve their business goals at cost-effective rates without compromising quality and productivity. As a business, you might be aware of what all functionalities and features you want in your ERP solution, however, that is not enough to decide whether the solution is a perfect fit for you or otherwise. Here ERP discovery comes into the picture. You need to look for a vendor who is ready to understand your business, needs, expectations, work culture and people. Here are two things that play an important role in ERP discovery:
Functional requirements: Here you decide which modules and functionality you want, what will be the expected configurations, the kind of reports you want to generate and whether the ERP solution should be integrative.
Business challenges and opportunities: Businesses should be clear and aware of market challenges and opportunities leveraging which they can make their business more efficient. If businesses effectively resolve all the challenges improvements are mandatory.
Discovery is compulsory before demos:
Suppose you want to renovate your existing house. For this, you will have to strip down the house in order to build as per an entirely new layout. Here, will you expect the contractor to come up with a fully developed construction and architecture plan? No. Because you have not shared your vision, expectations and needs with the contractor yet. You will have to tell the contractor what you need and don’t need, according to which he/she will come up with designs and only then you will be able to modify those designs if required before finalizing.
The same is applicable while implementing an ERP solution. You will look for some reliable ERP solution providers that are ready to give live software demos. During these presentations, each vendor will present the best the software has to offer. Some of these features might and might not be of your needs. This might concise you even more.
ERP Discovery helps to avoid such situations altogether. Discovery is an important stage of any demo. Here are a few effective ERP Discovery processes which help you finalize the best possible ERP solutions for your business and specific needs.
Current state process mapping and analysis
Is your company undertaking the right business process for a better workflow? Before you plan to implement ERP, it is important that you examine, define and record your current operation status, find out where processes reach across different operational units and point out inefficiencies. You need to know what goes into the process in order to integrate the process and the ERP software. Your business staff can pinpoint the trouble spots and keep the business running smoothly.
However, you must change the business workflow and culture to adapt to the ERP, rather than changing ERP to adjust to the current business operations and process. Moulding a new ERP as per the old business process leads to a lack of efficiencies. However, businesses can improve efficiencies by leveraging modern and relative ERP features.
Current business data
Data is the new fuel on which business and the non-business world operate. Business processes work in the context of your business data. Your business can get benefited from a well-planned data conversion strategy along with efficient data cleansing efforts. Accurate data is essential for every business. A business should start with cleaning the data, taking out duplicate, errored data and maintaining accurate data on the customer, vendor and product lists to avoid feeding wrong data to the system.
Existing customization, interfaces and reports
Request your IT department to conduct a complete review of all software customizations, integrations and reports. Tell them to organize the findings with different labels and categories. This helps the decision-makers while selecting the ERP when specific customization, reports or integration will be required in the new ERP software.
