Most ERP software packages are designed around industry-accepted business practices, operating philosophies, and techniques that have evolved over many years. Today, the issue is not businesses have a body of knowledge with supporting software tools; the question is, are clients educated enough to see the value or understand the proper use of the tools? The short answer is no.
Education versus ERP software training
Many have lost sight of the difference between education and software training. End-user software training is important, but it mainly teaches the team how to do transactions in the software and how these transactions relate to your business processes. This can be very different from understanding the original design intent and industry application of the tools.
For example, the issue of education vs. software training is analogous to training someone how to fly a 767 but not educating them on the concepts of jet propulsion or flight– or how to start-up a chainsaw, but not the best way to cut down the big tree.
The root of the problem is that senior managers and end-users never changed their behaviors to take advantage of the tools. A big part of this is lack of education.
Independent Sources of ERP education
Keep in mind: education is more than just a seminar of best practices put on by a software vendor (with a hidden agenda) in room full of 300 other clients. It is about getting some real independent education, not focused on any specific package. In addition to understanding key concepts, one must also delve into the implementation mechanics.
Baked into the ERP implementation methodology
Management and user education used to be part of the standard implementation methodologies. Interesting enough, the project success rates were much higher.
The great Joseph Orlicky wrote the first groundbreaking book on the topic of MRP (forerunner to ERP) back in 1975 (updated and still a good read). It focused on concepts and techniques to plan and control materials in a manufacturing plant. However, the most interesting thing is Mr. Orlicky (an employee of IBM) never glorified the role of the computer. He believed if one did not understand the underlying principles of MRP, the computer was not much help anyway.
However, the late Ollie Wight (the godfather of MRPII) said it best: “MRPII is not a computer system, it is a people system made possible by the computer.” Orlickly and Wight went on to build and grow the APICS (The American Production and Inventory Control Society). The best thing that ever happened to manufacturing practitioners.
Back to ERP Basics
Today industry best practices and what clients attempt to do with their systems face a disconnect. It might be time to get back to the basics of blocking and tackling, or at least try to understand the intent of the package you just purchased.
Instead, we focus on software, technology, implementation tools, and turnkey solutions (which usually exist only in the marketing literature). Cheaper and faster is the name of the game, even when we do not accomplish anything worth the effort. We naively assume the mere existence of better tools automatically results in a change in employee behavior (if we build it, they will come). We fail to educate senior management and then wonder why they are not committed to the project. We set higher expectations of our employees, yet as leaders, we fail to provide them with the knowledge they need to succeed. When our projects go down the tube, we blame software vendors, consultants, the entire senior management staff, all employees, maybe even our spouse– everyone else except ourselves.
No, education is not glamorous, so proposing it will not make you a hero. Nevertheless, successful IT projects require education. If Ollie knew what was going on today, he would roll over in his grave.
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Contributed by Steve Phillips of the Street Smart ERP Blog – Visit his site for more great project insight.
