ERP Consolidation & Upgrades
Overview
Title: ERP Systems Analyst
Area of Specialization: Technology
Location: Michigan
Term: 24 Months
Background
A manufacturing and distribution company in Michigan was looking to expand it's internal ERP support team. The organization has a very distributed and complex ERP deployment. The initial thought is to consolidate the ERP instances to a more manageable level while also upgrading each instance to a, common, supported version.
Project Plan
- Evaluate Each Functional Company and Their Use of the ERP
- Organize the ERP into Consolidated Instances
- Upgrade all Instances to a Single Supported Version of the ERP
- Introduce New Residual Functionality Within the ERP, Post-Upgrade
- Introduce New ISV Solutions, Post-Upgrade
Length of Engagement
This engagement was intended to be open ended. We wrapped up the engagement at around 24 months due to a number of external factors. Industry decline and a reduction in revenue was a leading contributor to a scale back in operations.
Outcome
In the limited time of the engagement we were able to successfully complete 3 Operational and Technical Assessments. That covered only about 25% of the Corporate structure. Although a relatively low number we were able to successfully assess the divisions that faced the most scrutiny and uncertainty. We were able to consolidate databases down to show a reduction in hardware and separate deployments of about 50%. Multiple ISV solutions were introduced filling some major gaps in both efficiency, productivity and security. Training on residual functionality also proved to be a major source of efficiency gain. All instances of the ERP were upgraded to the latest, most stable, version. The engagement ended once the last upgrade was performed. A downturn in the industry, caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, lead to significant spend reductions.