-
Reason #1: Disparate Systems
-
Reason #2: Multiple divisions/locations
-
Reason #3: Multiple modes of operation
-
Reason #4: Usability
-
The Solution
Carrie Ghai, senior business software consultant, IFS North America
If you are involved with engineer to order (ETO), design fabricate install (DFC), configure to order (CTO) or even make to order (MTO) manufacturing, you almost certainly have a hard time capturing and managing project costs in your enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.
In nearly every company I visit, I have seen disconnected finance, engineering and manufacturing systems that prevent real-time visibility of budgeted versus actual costs in ERP. A solution to this problem is usually one of the main things they are looking for in a request for proposals (RFP).
In the end, I have found that there are four reasons why manufacturers so often struggle to leverage their ERP systems to adequately capture and manage their project costs. Resolving these issues is the key to ensuring profitable and successful manufacturing projects.
Reason #1: Disparate Systems
One of the greatest barriers to accurately capturing project cost is the fact that many project-oriented companies are running multiple enterprise solutions in different parts of their business.
There are a number of reasons why a business may find itself using more than one ERP systems. Merger and acquisition activity, for example, can certainly leave a business with complicated or redundant software pairings. So too can organic growth into new markets that are not adequately addressed by an existing software package. Some businesses also pursue a best-of-breed software strategy that involves purchasing multiple point solutions that each address a different part of the business.
It is essential for enterprise software used in a project environment to allow for comprehensive roll-up of project costs, as is shown here in IFS Applications.
These disparate systems may force a business to spend hours or even days to obtain things like daily logs and reports including materials data, incident reporting and time reporting. This leaves someone managing a project from a desk perspective without knowledge of the exact number of hours or the exact cost that has been incurred during a certain time period. They don’t really have a true picture of everything until the end of the day, the end of the week or in some cases the end of the month.
