Enterprise Strategy

Description:The Enterprise Software Consulting Group provides the expertise to independently plan and manage selection and implementation of packaged software, such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) suites. The group also provides related process engineering and re-engineering facilitation, and the selection of integrators and other service providers to implement such software products. A complete set of consulting services offered within the Enterprise Software suite, as detailed in separate product sheets, includes:

  • Selection Services:
    • Product Selection
    • Service Provider Selection
    • ASP Selection
  • Independent Program Office:
    • Program Planning
    • Program Management Assistance
    • BPR Facilitation
    • Change Management
    • E-commerce Enablement
  • Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance
  • Legacy Systems Outsourcing Assistance
  • Restaging of Failed or Troubled Implementations

Value:To facilitate the effective planning and execution of high-risk package selection and implementation activities with proven methodologies and a single focus on our client’s needs.

Benefits:

  • Services are directly linked to business priorities
  • Structured, scalable methodologies
  • Our clients employ us as their “experts” to keep vendors and integrators honest
  • Early anticipation and identification of potential barriers to success

Linkage:TBI’s 48-year history of vendor selection competency joined with in-depth knowledge of E-Business, Performance Measurement, Testing, Change Management and ERP product selection and implementation literally involves the entire TBI organization in the Enterprise Software service offerings.

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2.Product Selection

Description:There are six major ERP vendors and many ERP products available from second- and third-tier vendors. Various standalone data warehousing, customer relationship management (CRM), EDI, supply chain (SCM) and warehouse management software products are also available. So many questions need to be answered correctly for a selection (and its subsequent, very expensive implementation) to be successful.

Best of Breed vs. Integrated Products?Unique business processes that differentiate you from competition may deserve the improved functionality of Best-of-Breed packages, but the cost of integrating them is high; less unique processes could benefit by a fully integrated ERP, even at loss of some functionality.

Fit to Your Industry/Company?Some ERPs are strong in one area but not in all areas. Some products are strong for one industry or segment but not others. Some standalone products integrate well with certain ERPs, some do not. Some ERPs are more forgiving of unique business process variations than others. Some vendors provide superior customer support, some provide less robust service levels. What are your priorities?

Actively Reengineer Processes or Not?Some vendors and integrators implement within a framework of active business process reengineering. For those that do, does this meet your needs? The more extensive the required BPR the more flexible the ERP needs to be.

Degree of Required Confidence and Speed of the Selection?You may need to select (and implement) very fast or with very high confidence of accuracy and success. TBI offers a highly scalable approach to selection that accommodates a client’s specific needs.

Vendors probably won’t help you answer these and many other questions independently: their interest is to sell you the product; and integrators used as selection consultants could have an interest in getting you to use as many consultants as possible for the eventual implementation.

Value:TBI can serve as your independent navigator through the arcane process of product selection, representing your interests alone.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Structured, scalable selection methodology
  • Your own “experts” to keep the vendors and integrators honest

Linkage:TBI brings to bear its deepest core competency of selection to its Product Selection service.

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3. Service Provider Selection

Description:Software vendors and resellers (companies which license the ERP software on behalf of the ERP vendor for a profit) increasingly are becoming integrator’s. The traditional large global consultancies offer both integration capabilities and specialized services, such as generic or best-practice model business process reengineering. Finally, there are small and mid-sized regional consultancies which offer depth in the products to be integrated.

Vendors and resellers are often the least costly service providers (because they want to close the software license deal and often are willing to extensively discount services to do it), but often lack all the skills needed for an effective implementation. Small and regional providers also are less costly than large consultancies and also usually lack all required skills. Large consultancies often have all necessary skills but are very costly. They may also have other relationships with a client that could be perceived as conflicts, such as an auditor relationship.

The keys to effective service provider selection understand the full range of skills required for the specific type of implementation, the relative strengths and weaknesses of candidate providers and the priorities of the client company. TBI possesses the first two keys and the third is developed rapidly to assist a client in developing an effective implementation team capable of maximizing the chances for success.

Value:TBI can serve as your independent navigator through the arcane process of service provider selection, representing your interests alone.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Knowledge of skills required for success
  • Your own “experts” to keep vendors and integrators honest
  • Familiarity with capabilities of regional and national service providers

Linkage: TBI brings a 48-year methodological and experience base of vendor selection to the Service Provider Selection offering. Key success factors in vendor selections also require depth in another of our core competencies, Full Spectrum Performance Measurement.

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4. Application Service Provider (ASP) Selection

Description:The ASP Selection service is targeted to mid-sized and smaller companies who traditionally have not been well served by package vendors and service providers due to the overall high cost associated with implementation and use of the products. Reintroduction of the timesharing vendor, or “Application Service Provider,” is one of a number of factors that are moderating this tradition.

Such companies offer ERP functionality, increasingly over the commercial Internet, on their own equipment platforms to industrial customers who are willing to accommodate “vanilla” (unmodified) implementations. In most cases, this requires that customers bend their business processes to the constraints of the ERP.

For companies whose business processes can be made to qualify, an ASP vendor can offer world-class ERP functionality at affordable cost. For larger companies who regard transaction processing to be a commodity and who can also standardize their processes, this represents an opportunity to de-couple themselves from the need to maintain very expensive proprietary technology infrastructures. This is a relatively new offering. Software vendors, large outsourcers and new venture-backed companies have shown interest in the potential profits inherent in better penetration of the very large base of smaller companies. However, their customers will be placing their very survival in the hands of partners who control their ability to process transactions, take orders, move inventory, purchase and ship goods, and financially account for operations.

Choice of the right partner will be critical. TBI, with its nationally recognized core competency of outsourcer selection, can increase your chances for finding the right partner, measuring performance and maintaining a productive partner relationship.

Value:TBI can serve as your independent navigator through the arcane process of ASP Selection, representing your interests alone.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Familiarity with capabilities of regional and national service providers
  • Your own “experts” to keep the service providers honest
  • Recognized outsourcing methodology and experience

Linkage:TBI’s ASP Selection offering exploits our core competencies of Strategic Outsourcing, Relationship Management and Full Spectrum Performance Measurement. It is also linked strongly to Enterprise Software’s offerings of Product Selection and Independent Program Office.

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5. Program Planning

Description:The Program Planning offering results in an integrated program plan for the implementation of an ERP. It specifies the implementation order – in what sequence the ERP modules (financial, distribution, manufacturing, others) will be implemented, and the organizational order of implementation (all-at-once, by division, by nation, etc). It also synchronizes key events, activities, tasks and deliverables across the various methodologies employed by the different consulting service providers employed by the client in the implementation. The need for multiple equipment and software vendors, integrators and providers of specialized services such as BPR complicates an ERP implementation severely but the need often is inescapable. Each player, including internal IT staff, may have a proprietary methodology in which many people are trained, perhaps affecting the productivity of expensive consulting professionals. A very costly proposition. Depending on its deep background in methodologies, TBI can mediate among the various players, helping construct a plan framework and vocabulary that is at least partially familiar to the greatest number possible while ensuring that all key activities are included and dependencies with other activities are mapped.

Value:TBI can serve as your independent mediator of complex implementation issues across diverse providers, and the source of independent planning expertise.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Professional mediation across multiple business partners
  • Methodological depth to avoid missing key items in the translation
  • Your own “experts” to keep the service providers honest

Linkage:Program Planning is strongly linked to Enterprise Software’s Product Selection offering, where actual planning usually begins. It is also linked strongly to all other components of the Independent Program Office group offering, as the results of each component need to inform the development of a program plan.

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6. Program Management Assistance

Description: The Program Management Assistance offering provides assistance to clients in actually executing an ERP implementation program. Key contributions include development of performance measures for determining status and measuring program progress, definition of tools and processes, provision of experiential basis for assessing quality of deliverables, and mediation among the various players in the program execution. Strongest contribution is independent assessment of issues brought to client management by service providers and objective recommendations of options and solutions.

Value:TBI can serve as your independent mediator of complex implementation issues, and the source of meaningful and independent status measurement.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Professional mediation across multiple business partners
  • Methodological depth to avoid missing key items in the translation
  • Your own “experts” to keep the service providers honest

Linkage: Program Management Assistance is the framework within which other Independent Program Office group offering components are performed, regardless of who actually performs them. It is also strongly linked to the Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance offering and, if employed, to the Legacy Systems Outsourcing Assistance offering, since they also are performed within the Program Management framework. Linkage also is strong with a key TBI core competency that of Full Spectrum Performance Measurement, in the definition of standards and measurement conventions to assess performance, program status and deliverables quality.

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7. Business Process Re-engineering Facilitation

Description: BPR Facilitation provides assistance to clients in prioritizing, staging, managing and facilitating process engineering and reengineering projects, usually as the framework for an ERP implementation. Key contributions include development of performance measures for determining status and measuring program progress, definition of tools and processes, and provision of experiential basis for assessing quality of deliverables. We also assist clients in defining the performance measures inherent to the process change itself, i.e., how is success or failure of the engineering or reengineering determined on-going? One of our strongest contributions is independent assessment of issues brought to client management by service providers and objective recommendations of options and solutions.

Value: TBI can serve as your independent manager of a process engineering or reengineering program, mediating complex implementation issues; and, we serve as the source of meaningful and independent status measurement.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Independent assessment of BPR Program status
  • Direct linkage to ERP implementation
  • Methodology scalable to meet your speed vs. confidence needs

Linkage: TBI’s BPR Facilitation offering is strongly linked to the Enterprise Software’s Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance offering, as well as to all other Independent Program Office services. Linkage also is strong with a key TBI core competency, that of Full Spectrum Performance Measurement. Here, we help define standards and measurement conventions to assess performance, program status and deliverables quality, as well as help define measures for determining on-going success or failure of an engineered or reengineered process.

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8. Change Management

Description: Change Management is the discipline that seeks to identify barriers to change in an organization attempting large-scale change, such as that represented by an ERP and required BPR, and to develop programs to manage and lower the barriers, thereby enhancing chances for success.

Cultural difficulties are common in such programs of change, and individuals make them more difficult by their fear or unwillingness to accommodate the change. Unmanaged, such difficulties can derail an otherwise well-planned program, with potentially disastrous consequences. Key contributions include development of a communication plan and identification of barriers to change. Among the strongest contributions are independent assessment of issues brought to client management through our own assessment, by other service providers, and objective recommendations of options and solutions.

Value: We can help you define an effective communication program to keep stakeholders throughout your company informed of program status, and we can help identify change related barriers to success while developing programs to manage and lower the barriers.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Constant “forward-look” at potential implementation pitfalls, with actionable remediation plans
  • Direct linkage to ERP and BPR implementation
  • Independent view of change requirements

Linkage: TBI’s Change Management offering is strongly linked to Enterprise Software’s Selection Services and Independent Program Office components, as well as to the Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance offering.

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9. Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance

Description: Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance provides a framework for complex testing as well as techniques that support different levels of testing confidence, in order to assist clients in meeting varied needs. The primary deliverable of the test planning process is the Test Plan, which consists of:

  • An organizational structure and set of rules to administer testing
  • The Test Specification, which sets out the business processes and automated system components to be tested, and how they will be tested, as well as test schedules and budgets.
  • A physical environment to support testing.

We assist clients in organizing for and in producing the Test Plan, primarily for ERP implementations and related business process change. Once produced, we assist clients in execution of the Plan, advising as to severity of problems encountered and options for remediation.

Value: The major risks of business process change and new transaction processing software are not the cost and duration of their development and implementation, but the possibility that they may fail once in production use. Such failure can have catastrophic consequences, including inaccurate information provided to customers and management and inability to take orders or ship products. We can help you manage this risk with comprehensive and structured testing techniques and procedures that leverage your internal people rather than consultants.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Structured, highly scalable methodology for test planning and execution
  • Highly leveraged approach using client personnel, guided by very few consultants

Linkage: TBI’s Structured Test Planning and Execution Assistance offering is strongly linked to the component offerings of Independent Program Office, and is supported by our experience in developing custom performance measures through Full Spectrum Performance Measurement.

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10. Re-staging of Failed or Troubled Implementations

Description: ERP Implementations can, and do, fail for many reasons; and, failure can take make forms. It can be complete, as in a write-off of the capital expended, or it can be a project that is taking too long, costing too much, causing too much internal discord or not producing the capabilities expected. Often, when clients come to the realization that their ERP implementation is troubled or has failed, a great deal of capital has been expended: declaring failure and starting over is not an option, or is a very poor one. We help our clients salvage the dollar and human investment made by assisting them to re-stage the implementation. Understanding why the implementation is troubled is the first step. The cause can be as simple as:

  • Incomplete planning resulting in unforeseen problems that delay and complicate, or
  • Poor expectation setting at the outset or inattention to expectation management throughout the implementation life-cycle, or
  • External conditions may have changed dramatically, calling into question the assumptions on which the original program plan was based.

Or any of many other reasons. Employing our depth in program planning and change management, we help our clients determine the cause of difficulties and develop a program to address the causes so that implementation can proceed or re-commence.

Value: Our independence and our depth in program planning and change management arm us uniquely to help clients understand problems underlying troubled implementations, and to assist them in salvaging effort and investment.

Benefits:

Reduced Risk of Expensive Failure:

  • Structured, highly scalable methodology for implementation allows comparisons and improvements to existing plans
  • Independent view of status is key to determining real cause of problems

Linkage: TBI’s Re-staging of Trouble or Failed Implementations offering is strongly linked to Enterprise Software’s Independent Program Office offerings, as well as to our core competency of Full Spectrum Performance Measurement.

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