{"id":884,"date":"2008-04-29T01:00:16","date_gmt":"2008-04-29T09:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/?p=884"},"modified":"2008-04-29T01:00:35","modified_gmt":"2008-04-29T09:00:35","slug":"a-time-and-place-for-erp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/?p=884","title":{"rendered":"A Time and Place for ERP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many might argue that this is a point solution market.\u00a0 Indeed, much of what we hear these days is about point solutions.\u00a0 They are the \u201cbest of breed\u201d solutions, have the most advanced functionality, slickest user interface and self service tools, and probably the best per function process and workflows.\u00a0 And while I won\u2019t go into ROI or TCO, there is usually a significant difference in the cost model between ERP and point solutions.\u00a0 Maybe this does sound good, but it\u2019s not always everything.\u00a0 In fact, the listed advantages are never everything.<\/p>\n

All things holding equal, what are the advantages that go to the ERP?\u00a0 Well, there is always end to end processes.\u00a0 Anything else?\u00a0 Well, not really.\u00a0 So the list for ERP is indeed much shorter than it is for point solutions.<\/p>\n

Here is my argument.\u00a0 Having great end to end processes will in many if not most cases trump any incremental gain in any other functional area.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 No process is contained within itself with an originating event and conclusion within the same application module and HR function.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a couple simple examples:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Job Requisitions, they start not when the manager initiates the requisition, but it all actually starts in core HR.\u00a0 At some point in the distant past, the compensation group set up all sorts of job codes.\u00a0 In an ideally integrated world, the job requisition will pull data from the job tables into the job requisition.\u00a0 That\u2019s integration point number 1.\u00a0 Number 2 is going to be any type of position control or workforce planning tool that might automate the creation of requisitions for newly created or recently vacated positions.\u00a0 This is also often with core HR, but may also be housed somewhere else.\u00a0 Integration point number 3 is for competencies.\u00a0 These might be sitting in core HR, or your talent system.\u00a0 Hopefully you are not replicating your competency tables throughout the modules.\u00a0 Once these initial integration points have been completed and the requisitions have gone out, interviews completed and candidates hired, then you need to integrate into all sorts of other things.\u00a0 You might have a separate payroll system and timekeeping, you\u2019d have to push data out to HR, there may also be an onboarding system or website.\u00a0 All of these also disperse data out to numerous other systems as well.\u00a0 So having said this, is it worth it to go with the point solution over the ERP?\u00a0 If you go with the point solution and don\u2019t effectively integrate all functions, have you actually created additional manual work?<\/li>\n
  2. Compensation Merit Reviews, they have very distinct begin and end points.\u00a0 And all of these are outside of the normal compensation process.\u00a0 Hopefully the merit process will begin by pulling performance data from the performance module.\u00a0 Remember that this is not the beginning of the process, but performance is also somewhere in the middle.\u00a0 They (perf) had actually pulled from competencies, job, learning, etc.. already.\u00a0 As compensation, you\u2019re just the recipient of a recipient.\u00a0 Then there is the merit budgeting process.\u00a0 The budgets might come from core HR, they might come from finance, but they might also come from some consultant\u2019s salary system where surveys are stored and aged.\u00a0 So you collect all this data and then send it along its merry way for managers to process.\u00a0 Once that is done, it needs to get back into core HR, and the whole process probably ends in payroll when new salaries are paid.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My point is this:\u00a0 don\u2019t go out and buy any modular systems without first understanding that your process is part of a much larger organism.\u00a0 A breakage in your world (or getting into or out of your world) breaks the whole thing.<\/p>\n

    Integration is important.\u00a0 And every point solution will tell you that they have standard integration routines to all the major ERP\u2019s.\u00a0 This might be true, but are those standard routines good enough?\u00a0 Will all the data you need to get from 5 different originating systems get in? or will you need to customize to add fields?\u00a0 Will all the data you need to get sent to consumer systems get out?\u00a0 From what I\u2019ve seen, real, simple and comprehensive integration just isn\u2019t there yet.\u00a0 We all keep talking about SOA, but the reality is it\u2019s 3-5 years away.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Many might argue that this is a point solution market.\u00a0 Indeed, much of what we hear these days is about point solutions.\u00a0 They are the \u201cbest of breed\u201d solutions, have the most advanced functionality, slickest user interface and self service…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enterprise-solutions","category-hr-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}