FSN: Mid-market ERP Implementation requires hard work

Mid-market ERP Implementation requires hard work – there is no escape

31st March 2008
Recent weeks have seen a frenzy of activity around the approach to implementing mid-market ERP systems with the principle vendors vying with each other to demonstrate that their system is easier to implement. Of course any measure which can make smooth the passage of an implementation and make it less stressful is to be applauded. But regardless of methodologies, software utilities and other aids, migration from one system to another is painful. Gary Simon , FSN's managing editor looks at different approaches being promoted.

Matters have definitely improved in the world of mid-market systems implementations. The ease with which data can be ported from one system to another, directly or indirectly via spreadsheets and specially written utilities has significantly reduced the technical complexity of an ERP migration.

In a market where information flows fairly seamlessly and unimpeded, most software houses are familiar with the data structures of competitors' products. For example, Microsoft Office Accounting provides pre-canned utilities designed to help a migrating user import their data from an existing Sage system (various ‘flavours' of Sage are covered). No doubt Sage provides utilities allowing ‘direct' transfers into their product suite – it's all part of the software industry's rich tapestry of marketing techniques.

Of course there are good migrations and difficult migrations and much depends on the similarity of the data structures between one system and another. For example wildly different charts of accounts between old and new system inevitably gives rise to ‘mapping' issues. Having said that, FSN's recent conversion from Sage to Microsoft Office Accounting went as sweet as a nut. The only mapping involved confirmation of VAT accounts and one or two other minor adjustment of parameters. Stock, debtors, creditors, VAT, cash came across perfectly.

If you are starting from scratch these days most of the mid-market packages, including those available as a hosted solution (Software as a Service) offer a choice of chart of accounts. SAP and Microsoft, for example offer pre-built charts of accounts based on industry sector from which you can choose the closest fit. Furthermore ‘global' parameters such as, VAT scheme, method of stock valuation (weighted average cost or FIFO) and currencies in use allow the new system to be established with the greatest of ease ready to accept the data.

If you cannot get your data across using one of the common utilities provided then most packages allow you to import customers, products, suppliers and employee records as well as transactions from a spreadsheet. Since the majority of mid-market systems allow data to be exported in a spreadsheet or CSV (comma separated variable) format then the task of importing data is greatly reduced. Nevertheless, there can be considerable work involved in marshalling the information, cleaning up the data to be exported and getting it in the right shape and order so that it can be harvested by the new system. To this extent it is important not to overstate the usefulness of utilities or gimmicks that promise near instant implementations.

No system can overcome the necessity of checking the completeness and accuracy of the migration and it is this effort which is frequently overlooked. Take debtors for example. There is a need to check that all accounts have come across and not fallen through the gap between one system and another – that coding structures are formatted correctly and historic invoice numbers have not been corrupted. Are open item transaction correctly displayed with the right date and signage? Have transactions been correctly aged on the aged debtors list? Have VAT codes been established correctly overall and on individual customers where they are different? Multiply the effort for the other applications in a mid-market ERP suite and the scale of the task starts to become apparent.

Automatic configurators, processing wizards and parameter screens are indeed very helpful but let's not kid ourselves. Implementation is a seriously time consuming endeavour!

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