Mission: Drive ERP..

My goodness Oracle applications have given me some great experiences over the years but left me with an underlying sense of frustration.... In today's recession, it's even more important than ever that clients secure value for money from their investment in Oracle.

My background as a management accountant and general manager combined with my functional and technical knowledge has certainly helped me manage ERP systems. As a contractor I've had project, support and change management roles in the UK, Europe and the Middle East; both public sector and multinational corporations.

I'm on a mission now at www.DriveERP.com to address these frustrations... Questions I need to answer.. I believe to the benefit of our clients.

Why are Oracle applications rarely managed as a business unit, or cost or profit centre? Does it really fit in IT? Or should it sit between the business and IT? How much is your organisation spending over the next 10 years? Time to give it some focus.

How many organisations monitor and report on the performance of their Oracle systems? I don't just mean database and transactional performance. What about customer service? The efficiency of the support system? Measuring the success of project objectives? Internal and external benchmarking? The measurement of solutions delivered after the implementation can raise the profile.

Why are some businesses driving business intelligence initiatives when their basic reporting capability is mediocre? Why are Oracle clients still heavy reliant on Excel and Access databases? Why do reporting and intelligence tools give different results to the same query? Let's get the basics right and ensure the business drives BI rather than the technology.

Why do large Oracle implementations fail to meet expectations? And fail to deliver the desired benefits to the business? Is it enough just to tick boxes for training, communications, and documenting process and job description changes? There must be more to successful change management.

Why are support teams often restricted to being a purely reactive force? What real value can and should they add to Oracle applications? Is there room for a more proactive approach here? Time to empower the professionals and the users.

Why is there such a heavy focus on data rather than on information? Isn't data management merely preparation for the added value product of delivering information? Is data an IT issue? And information one for the business only? Information is to key to business success.

Who are our customers? Is the internal customer really 'king'. Does this premise drive Oracle applications successfully? I believe a more realistic view of internal customers will bring improvements.

Are we really delivering the full potential of Oracle applications? Is the 'go live' an end date or the start of a much bigger process ? How do customers or users know what else Oracle applications can deliver? Too often the 'go live' signals the end of planning and progress.

I'll continue to articulate these questions. I have some answers and I'll be looking to test those solutions in the future:

• Actually Managing Oracle Applications
• Successful Change Management
• Leading a Support Team
• Measuring Success and Value for Money
• Data and Information
• Customers and Collaboration
• Reporting and Oracle Technology
• Empowerment and Super Users
• Change Control and Value for Money
• Project Management Kept Simple
  

It's a huge challenge which I am relishing. Contributions are invited from business and IT managers; ERP functional and technical consultants; subject matter experts; and Oracle applications users.


Enterprise Resource Planning: a business management system that integrates all facets of the business,

Supported by Oracle applications and driven by people.

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann