5 Steps to Maximise Leadership Success by Deanne Earle of Unlike Before.

Have you ever been thrown in the deep end of a new role and asked to work miracles? What are the first things you do when you're asked to take on a poorly performing team, department, or project in chaos? Do you leap in like the caped crusader to save the world or are you overly consultative in an attempt to make friends and influence people?

We know how challenging these situations are and we also know that they can be exceptionally rewarding. To help you swim through the mud we've put together a list of the 5 practical steps that we know work. Why do we know they work? Because they're what we do and we've proven their success time and time again. These 5 steps will help you set the scene, quickly establish credibility, build trust and maximize the chances of success.

Try them and let us know how you get on.

1. Get clear
If you're not clear on what it is you're being asked to do how will you be able to do it? Forget about the rumours and forget your own thoughts and opinions for the moment because the first step is to have absolute clarity of your role by asking the following:

* What is it exactly that you're being asked to do? Do not presume to understand from the first explanation.
* What role are you being asked to play? Tough guy, motivate, sort-out, clean-up, delivery, or all of these.
* Why are they asking you? What is it you do that makes you the choice for this role?
* What's the timeframe? Constraints? Dependencies?
* What is the line of accountability, level of authority, and scope of responsibilities?

Important Note - if the person asking you to take the role cannot answer these questions find someone who can. Get clear on your reporting path and purpose. Without this success will be severely limited.

2. Agenda(s)
Find out who has what agenda and why. What are the motivations behind this need and how do they relate to the scope of the challenge at hand? Having this information will help you identify and fill any gaps in the brief and round-off Step 1.

3. Initial thoughts
Based on Steps 1 and 2, and the various bits of gossip, grapevine hearsay and corridor conversations you've picked up, it's time to begin forming initial opinions, ideas and thoughts. Many of these will be questions, which you'll work to answer in Steps 4 and 5. It's important to reserve judgement and for any opinions to remain fluid until you've got all the input because at this stage you've only been spoken to by a higher authority and you haven't yet spoken with your new team.

4. Active Listening
Critical to a successful outcome is consulting with those you'll be working with. The best way to do this is with 1-on-1's. Preparation is imperative:

* Clear your diary and make 1-on-1 times with everyone
* Set expectations via a communication:

* Why you are the chosen one. Set the scene about your role. Stick to the facts
* Purpose of the 1-on-1
* Input expected from each individual. Make it clear that this is a collaborative session and is their opportunity to contribute. You want their input on:

What works well now
What doesn't
What they see as issues and risks
Which things they believe can be improved, why and how
What level of involvement or contribution they're prepared to have / give
What expectations they have of you

* Conduct each session of a base of integrity. Approach each one as a blank canvas and with an open mind. Be firm yet fair. You want to create a collaborative atmosphere. One where trust can be built through honesty and transparency. Let the team know that this is a level playing field and that they have as much, if not more, to contribute as you do.

* Let them talk getting their frustrations out while making sure to bring the session back on track if necessary. It's their opportunity to be constructive and proactively contribute, not just a moaning session.

* Make lots of notes. Paraphrase back what they say to ensure you have understood their meaning correctly. Where you know something is not possible or never going to happen, tell them. There are things you can and cannot influence so don't lead them up the garden path.

* Keep asking 'what else?' until you see in their body language and hear in their words that all is out and on the table.

* Wrap up the session with a definitive statement about what will happen next.

5. Plan for Action
Now it's time to consolidate what you're actually going to do, what you want / need others to do, the milestones that need to be achieved and their timeline, and what approach you're going to take to deliver it all. It's important to invest time and effort here as:

* you don't want to destroy the momentum created in Step 4 by paying lip-service to your new team
* everything you plan needs to remain aligned with the original brief you've been given

Taking all the gathered inputs you can now add your own ideas and opinions to develop a truly collaborative plan. Your delivery style is also critical, though if you've approached Step 4 using the information you received in Step 1, this should already be established and not change radically going forward. Always start how you mean to continue while also being prepared to adapt as situations change.

Don't forget to share the plan! Maintain the momentum you've created and maximise the opportunity for success by communicating what is to be done and the part everyone has to play in it. This clarity of purpose ensures buy-in because everyone in your new team needs you to specify their Step 1.

These 5 Steps are repeatable and work every time. Use them with each new role or situation and we know you will maximise both your and others success.

Deanne Earle is CEO of Unlike Before based near Turin in Italy. Business Consultants and Program/Project managers specialising in organisational change and IT-led projects that are complex in nature or in a state of crisis.
http://www.unlikebefore.com/

The market is screaming out for a social media site which allows and encourages people to talk to each other socially and professionally. We are at the beginning of a social media phenomenon and there will be many changes to come in the future. Some issues are obvious and can be addressed early. Others will be fixed later during shakedowns. Drive Fusion appeals to business and professional people who want to socialise, communicate and collaborate with their peers without the annoyance of spammers and noise.

There are a number of issues with the most popular social media sites. Those issues are either about the site policy, performance or the functionality. People have to communicate in order to build those relationships. But there are too many spammers and too much noise on sites. There is too much emphasis on technology rather than the needs of users. The ability to connect with the right people is restrictive and often requires payment. The allowed number of connections or invitations are restricted on sites. The messages length is often limited by sites too. The most popular sites are so big and growing so quickly, that performance is often slow and frustrating.
Lots of connections are of little value in themselves. So how do we nurture relationships? There are several main ways of developing relationships with your connections, friends and followers.

• Ask them questions. People like to help. Use ?Answers? on LinkedIn and ask open questions in groups and fan pages or tweet your question openly or directly.
• Become a ?thought leader? and blog your views, ideas and vision. You will get responses.
• Always be personal in your communication. Use your own name, photo and profile.
• Be consistent on social media sites ? same name, profile, photo and professionalism on each site.
• Ask connections how you can help them.
• Get to know people ask them for help! People like to help others! Later as the relationship develops you can ask for referrals and business.
• Use bridge strategies to ease your connections ultimately to your website. Send them first to your blog, group or fan pages.

Drive Fusion is a communication and collaboration site for business and professional people who wish to communicate and collaborate socially and professionally. All invitations are sent to recommended people to ensure spammers are excluded always. Users are encouraged to connect easily and get to know each other. Unsolicited pitching or spamming is outlawed. It is designed to encourage momentum in your communications and has the following exciting features:

• Real time communication
• Create & manage groups
• Cross posting to Twitter
• Track topics
• File sharing
• Long posts
• Highly scalable
• Reporting & statistics
• Add external feeds
• Target messages to individuals, groups or everyone
• Invite users
• Shrink url
• Help & Support team
• Updates via email, IM, MMS and SMS
• Applications connections
• Top class present.ly platform by the award winning Intridea team

Drive Fusion is brought to you by the Drive ERP - http://www.driveerp.com/ and Drive Social Media - http://www.drive-social-media.com/ teams and their 20,000+ connections will be invited to Drive Fusion soon.

Business and professional communities and individuals are welcome to join Drive Fusion.
See you soon!
http://drivefusion.presentlyapp.com/

The starting point for any successful social media marketing or collaboration campaign is strategy development. Many questions need to be asked and answered by brainstorming. Some of the key questions include:

? What are the attributes of your best customers?
? Define your brand in terms of the target?s view
? What is it that your brand is / does?
? What is it that you do?
? What is in it for me? (Prospect view)
? SWOT Analysis
? What triggers Customers decisions to buy?
? Define Your Partners
? Who are my competitors?
? How do I measure return on investment?
? What is my sales process?
? Where are my customers?
? Where are my prospective business partners?
? How can we collaborate?

After answering these questions, setting objectives and developing a plan it is time for action. There are many social media marketing tools available and it is important to utilise the most effective and efficient ones. I would suggest the following for starters:

? Twitter
? LinkedIn
? Facebook
? You Tube
? Blogging
? Niche sites

It is important to understand the nature of each tool and its strengths and weaknesses.

Twitter is a microblogging site limiting tweets to 2 or 3 sentences. It has over 20 million users and growing quickly. It is easy to find customers and business partners, as well as joining in conversations. The functionality is limited and the noise and spamming restricts it severely.

LinkedIn is a business professional networking site with about 50 million users. Customers and business partners can be found in groups. Spammers are kept out and the functionality is improving. Building a network is somewhat slow and communications restricted between users.

Facebook has over 350 million users and is growing at half a million per day. It is a ?business casual? site and allows users to personalise their business using fan pages. Users can also join groups to help their search for customers and business partners. All profiles are searchable and spreading messages is easy and effective. Facebook has strict terms of service which they enforce seriously. Although it has text chat boxes it is extremely slow at times.

You Tube is the last of the ?Big 4?. It is a very powerful site for personalising your business with 75 million views per month. Users can have their own channel, load their own and favourite videos, and because You Tube is owned by Google there is a very positive move up the search engine rankings quickly. It?s free and users can even load MS Powerpoint presentations. There is no communication or collaboration tool.

Blogging is a very powerful way to personalise your business. It also enables you to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Blogs should be posted on a regular basis and not too long. They appear quickly in search engine rankings. They are ideal bridges between connecting and directing prospects to your website. Although blogging sites allow comments from readers, blogging tends to be one way communication.

There are over 600 niche social media sites. The easiest way to find one to suit a use is a Google search for ?keyword? and ?social networking?. It is advisable to join only 2 or 3 of these niche sites due to time constraints. These sites are a bit more focused but again communication is slow and this limits collaboration possibilities.

To be successful in exploiting social media tools to attract customers and business partners; and to improve communications and collaboration internally in organisations a systematic approach works best. Begin with developing a strategy followed by establishing a presence on each social media site. Then expand your reach by increasing your following and friends on all sites. A target of 100 new connections per week is easily achievable. Large numbers of connections are of little value in themselves. It is vital to then nurture relationships with speedy and effective communication and collaboration. Finally, once the system is working, it is important to maintain it with good time management and good tools to achieve efficiency.

The weakest link currently is in nurturing relationships. The social networking sites communication tools are often slow, cumbersome and in the case of Twitter full of noise and spammers. Online communities need real time communication tools for users and effective collaboration tools to allow file sharing, long posts, embedded videos, longer posts, built in searching, safety and security, reporting and statistics and highly scalable and much more.....

Both real and virtual online communities can then nurture relationships improving communications, collaboration, lead generation, sales, product development, team working, project success, and customer service.

I?ve just found that tool I?m delighted to announce ....more soon on ?Drive Fusion?.

Continues soon...

http://www.DriveERP.com
http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

Recently I blogged about how people drive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to success. The tools that leverage superior people performance in turn can enhance the business performance of ERP systems in an organisation. The social phenomenon known as social media marketing can play an important part in ERP performance in the future. Let?s see it from the customer / user perspective.

The social media marketing ?Big 4? of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and You Tube together with blogs, websites and intranet pages offer the following possible benefits for ERP customers / users:

? Promoting your site or business
? Improved marketing, PR and customer service
? Powerful strategy to gain connections & knowledge
? Conversations with vendors and ERP experts directly
? Conversations with other ERP customers/ users
? Easy searching of ERP vendors and experts
? Easy searching of other ERP customers/users
? Groups sharing best practises and knowledge
? Personalisation - find people you know, like & trust
? Cost effective marketing solutions
? Obtaining recommendations & references
? Online business meetings
? Intranet pages for ERP user communities
? Ask questions and ask for help

The key objectives for all ERP systems should be:

? Automating processes - achieving cost savings
? Informing stakeholders (reporting) - effective information for competitive advantage
? Educating users and managers - to utilise the full potential of ERP systems
? Transforming the way business is done - use ERP systems to change for the better

Organisations which fail to maximise the potential of ERP systems display similar problems such as heavy customizations, a lack of planning and management, disgruntled users, ad hoc ancillary systems in MS Excel and MS Access, an array of reporting tools, problematic interfaces and are often IT driven. There is a big hole between the users and the applications team in IT. Much disappears down it....

Could it be that just like people, ERP systems need behaviours and attributes to drive them to success? I believe even in successful ERP implementations the Go Live is the half way mark at best.

So what are the drivers for ERP performance success?

In my experience I would suggest the following:

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

So how can the features, tools and strategies of social media marketing support these drivers? Well a little brainstorming suggests the following.

The search and selection of ERP vendors can be supported by finding and conversing with the vendors? existing customers about the suitability of their solution. The recruitment of ERP staff and contractors follows the same line.

There should be greater visibility of both ERP strategy and business ownership of ERP systems in the organisation. Greater personalisation and visibility will enable companies to become demand-driven ERP users rather than supply-driven.

Successful change management can be supported by more informal and rapid communications of visions, strategies, online training, online presentations, conversations, and the publication of short term wins. The team can be fired up by a leadership alliance and team of change agents both visible and consistent in their messages.

An effective support team can be enhanced by joining online communities on social media sites around their ERP system. They can listen to their users daily about their pain points. Support updates, training tips and system downtimes can be communicated by text or video. They should use Intranet forms for support service requests ensuring requests reach support analysts almost immediately.

Both technical and business performance can be measured, published, discussed, and improved using online communities. Such communities can undertake their own benchmarking initiatives covering ROI, service requests, customer analysis, efficiency analysis, change requests and the efficiency and effectiveness of ongoing training provision including online delivery.

Business process, data and information management best practises can also be published and discussed in social media groups and intranet pages.

It is so important to clearly define your customers and users. Then collaborate with these colleagues in organisations using engagement models and custodianship models. These define clearly and consistently engagements, roles, responsibilities, duties etc. Using social media tools can enhance communications and teamwork especially between the business and IT.

ERP Reporting and Business Intelligence are minefields which again need the collaboration of the business and IT. The healthier and more personalised this relationship it will surely improve the chances of clearly defining requirements and jointly seeking optimal solutions from vendors.

ERP Super Users can enhance their teamwork, training and education using social media tools. This should help fill the hole between IT and the business. There are many resources available out there to be consumed, discussed and shared in their communities. Their customers including users, managers, auditors and other stakeholders can join in these conversations.

Organisations can improve change request control and securing value for money processes by increasing visibility and inviting rapid feedback from all functional analysts and business colleagues too.

Project management can be kept simple and more effective by building relationships between all stakeholders; and using online meetings and social media tools to enhance communications, project reporting, asking for help, mitigating risks and fixing issues.

Social media marketing is about personalisation - people talking to each other and nurturing relationships. People working and doing business with those they know, like and trust too. There is greater participation, openness and willingness to help. There are many tools which can be utilised such as forums, groups, fan pages, profile searches, recommendations etc.

Organisations need to have a social media strategy which leverages the benefits and mitigates the security and PR risks; and manages changing relationships with vendors. The costs of social media marketing are a fraction of the potential rewards.

There are real cost savings out there to be gained from improved ERP selection, recruitment of resources, and fiercer and fairer competition between ERP vendors. A highly motivated IT and business alliance can leverage the drivers of ERP performance and drive greater value from ERP systems.

Continued soon...

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

The social media marketing revolution is rising slowly out of the chaos reigning on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. If you thought the internet was always a minefield of dubious quality resources to help your your business then try these social media sites. Over 300 million subscribers are scrambling about these sites, self educating and doing what the internet never really allowed before. People are talking to each other.

And better still their contributions are welcome too. On personal and professional platforms there is openness. There is a huge amount of information available to subscribers and a whole range of subjects. People are connecting with each other on one or more sites. It?s happening on Twitter for micro-blogging, Facebook at a personal or business casual level and LinkedIn at a more formal business level. YouTube brings people to life using video. There are many more niche sites too.

So how can all of this activity help me in the ERP world or you in your business? Social media marketing with the right strategies will: positively promote your business; support effectively your marketing, PR and customer service efforts; generate increased website traffic; generate connections and attention globally; and ultimately bring leads for your products and services.

Those who use online social networks are three times more likely to trust the opinion of others in their network than traditional advertising when it comes down to making a decision about a purchase. It?s all about knowing people and people knowing you too. It?s about personalisation.

I?ve built a network of 13,000 professional connections, a 1200+ member professional ERP group, researched and trained in this new social phenomenon for the past year. I?m taking on clients in the IT sector and more. I am loving it!

Continued soon...

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

I was at the back of the queue when they were handing out mobile telephones. In fact, I wasn?t even in the queue... My first one was thrust upon me by a rather insistent Czech lady Martina who told me I had to have it to do my job as a project manager. After a little training and a lot of anxiety I learned how to make and receive calls. Then I worked out how to send text messages. Ten years later I have progressed little.

My problem was I didn?t want the mobile phone. I couldn?t see the benefits. I thought it was going to cost me money and a lot of anxiety, especially if I lost it. In this case I had to take it but often in hard sell situations my resistance is total and formidable. No insurance, car or real estate salesperson is going to force me to buy something that I don?t want and many of you surely are the same.

Because when I am looking to spend my hard earned (relatively) dollars I want to be treated with courtesy, honesty and respect. In fact I like to buy from people who I like and trust too. It matters not if it?s a personal or professional purchase.

There is a global social revolution taking place all around us which is impacting how we will buy products and services in the future. It?s chaos at the moment and many people don?t understand how it works and its implications. This time I?m at the forefront of change and loving it.

It?s time for buyer power ? bring on the social media marketing revolution!

Continued soon....

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

I never thought I could be comfortably associated with an industry so littered with stories of failure. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems have been implemented and supported globally for all sizes of organisations in the public and private sectors. Various pieces of research indicate the satisfaction rates of customers and key users is around the 40% mark. The remainder are not getting the expected value from their ERP systems.

Now logically it is possible to achieve satisfaction with ERP systems because 40% of organisations are doing so. So where do organisations go wrong? There are several components to successful ERP systems including: effective leadership and management; quality project and support teams; managing customer expectations; standardising and streamlining business processes; measuring performance and value for money; effective ERP reporting; empowerment; business ownership; and tight change request control. Probably the most important component is business change management.

Traditionally, change management around ERP applications projects means:

? Communicating features and benefits of the new system
? Training, education, and external information programmes
? New organisational structures, policies, and procedures
? Monitoring and evaluating the organisation's performance

But this is not the whole change picture. There are 8 reasons for failure of change programmes,

? Too self complacent before and after ERP implementation
? No effective leadership alliance
? Lack of a vision and strategy
? Ineffectively communicating the vision
? Barriers to the new vision - people, structure, culture etc.
? Lack of immediate progress
? Complacency returns
? Change is not embedded in the organisation's culture

Of course, we need to know how to combat these reasons for failure and deliver effective and successful change management around ERP systems.

Winning the Change Game

Here is a framework for effecting successful change management around ERP systems:

? Firing up the Team - Create a sense of urgency and crisis. ERP systems are a source of competitive advantage. You need stretch ERP targets and accountabilities including business ownership at executive level.

? Leaders on and off the pitch - Create from the powerful and influential and make them visible. Especially at executive level across all functional areas. This will inspire the project and support teams including third parties.

? A Vision of Glory - Make the vision feasible, desirable, focused and flexible. Define where you will be in 1, 5 and 10 years time leveraging all the potential benefits of your ERP system. Including competitive advantage, automation, quality delivery of business information and enabling change in how business is done.

? Roaring on the Team - A simple message using many channels with leaders setting an example. Communicate continuously and clearly the vision.

? Battling and Dominating - Align systems and the organisation to the vision, and deal with troublesome managers and other barriers to success.

? Goals - Celebrate and communicate all short term wins.

? More pressure! More goals! - Create more change, more success and more leaders.

? The Winning Mentality - Make successful change part of the culture.

In an increasingly competitive world, organisations must leverage all the potential benefits of their ERP systems. The days of ERP implementations being the responsibility of the IT function and third party vendors are drawing to a close. As are the days of technology driving change rather than the needs of the business. A more embracing, dynamic, business-driven, people- oriented change management process will make a significant contribution to future ERP successes.

It?s time for a change...

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

I had to laugh when I read extracts from Adrian Maile?s book: Secret Habits of Successful Bastards. It?s a self help book for those wishing to be successful but who are too nice. Adrian has many tips on how to be an SB on his LinkedIn group including some of my favourites:

? Make mountains out of molehills
? Be confrontational
? Expect the unachievable
? Put people down
? Change the rules to suit you

No doubt many of you recognise these characteristics from people you have worked with or worked for in the past. To get to the top it seems you have to trample over everyone in your way, act in a nauseating manner and slide knives in many backs.

The choice appears to be either adopt these behaviours and succeed in your chosen career; or stay a nice guy or girl, and never hit the dizzy heights.

In reality, we have all worked for successful people who were to also nice people. I can think of at least six bosses I admired, respected and liked from my past. However, it is the SBs who stand out especially if they have had a detrimental effect on our careers or even our lives.

So what are the deep rooted issues with these SBs that cause these behaviours? In my humble opinion, many SBs share the following afflictions:

? Incompetence - usually struggling academically and professionally
? Boring and Friendless - all they can talk about is themselves and work
? Bullies - abusing the power of their position and ruling by fear
? Spineless bosses - incapable or unwilling to bring these SBs into line

A man once said to me: ?Never underestimate anyone .....and never overestimate anyone either.? The latter stuck with me and over the years I have realised that SBs like all bullies are selfish and cowardly - so hit them hard when you can...even little acts of rebellion can upset them.

A few strategies to keep them awake at night:

? Find their past screw-ups and inefficiencies - let them know you know
? Use FACTS not EMOTIONS - easier to gain support with facts
? Take out grievances for poor management style
? Argue the toss forever about the SB?s appraisal of yourself
? Socialise often with colleagues causing the SB to get paranoid
? Refer to the ?autocratic culture? often of your department
? Send up great reports and ideas to the boss of the SB?s boss
? Join staff associations, trade unions etc.
? Use company communications to promote work / life balance, anti stress, progressive policies etc.

Winning is distressing these SBs by exposing them as sad, limited, lonely individuals who despite the wonderful challenges and opportunities in life struggle to be ?successful? employing 100% of their energy on an activity which should consume less than 30% of your entire life. Work to live and widen the scope of ?success? to embrace family, friends, interests, travel and great personal challenges.

Don?t expect to change or beat the SBs at their sad game. Don?t worry about it either. Find a job with a nice boss or nice colleagues and leave them in the mire as much as (legally) possible before you depart their workplace.

This is the Kiss My A**e strategy.

How do you fare on the Bastardometer?

http://www.successful-bastards.com/bastardometer.aspx

The case for ERP Super Users: If you are in a hole - stop digging!

I mention it because in these recessionary times companies are focused on delivering more efficient services in the ERP world. Their proposals usually require investment and often meet resistance. When the resistance is from senior managers it is all the more challenging...

I can think of no bigger weakness generally in the ERP world than the big hole between IT (Applications) and the Business - the home of lost ideas, issues, duties, roles, responsibilities, tasks, deliverables, improvements, productivity, solutions, resources, policies, communications etc. Once a system goes live, often the momentum for improvement disappears with it. The spark then lies with the Business for further improvements but they are constrained by a lack of knowledge about ERP systems. The answer to filling in the big hole is...ERP Super Users.

Identify, select, develop and empower key business users who have an aptitude and passion for your ERP system. ERP systems are enterprise systems and should be driven and owned by the Business and not by the technologists. ERP Super Users should strive to support and satisfy four objectives:

- Automation of business processes to improve productivity
- Information to enable better decision making
- Education of best practises and developments around ERP
- Transformation of how to do business using ERP as an enabler

An ERP Super User is a role within a job. It is not time consuming but the benefits can be huge. The ERP knowledge combined with the functional knowledge is a powerful combination. It is also a lot cheaper option than additional IT (Apps) resources or expensive external consultants.

So how can they fill in that hole? These are the key activities which can be undertaken by ERP Super Users that will drive greater value from your ERP system:

? Business Process - manager of the business processes for selected area. Working with IT (Apps) team to promote further automation and process streamlining

? Module owner / manager - controls access to own functional modules

? Change agent - a positive and active force for change programmes around ERP

? Educator - updating colleagues at all levels on the further capabilities, updates and potential of the ERP system

? Training - consulted on implementation training plans and ongoing training for current and new users

? Solutions - leading Business side and jointly delivering with IT (Apps) a cost benefit analysis for all significant spending on ERP

? Engagement model - regular meeting with appropriate levels on the IT (Apps) team to fix issues and planning around ERP

? Housekeeping - assuring housekeeping routines and data quality standards maintenance

? Custodianship model - supporting the clarity of roles and responsibilities of the Business side and IT (Apps) side in the ERP space

? Intranet Site - championing continuous improvement in the use of ERP and communicating updates to users

? Rapid reaction - coordinates the Business side on serious incidents and extraordinary requirements

? SMEs - Subject Matter Experts for the implementation team and for upgrades and major enhancements

? Support System - 1st line support and monitors active support tickets and expedites

? Super User group - member of the functional Super User Group

? Reporting - working closely with the IT (Apps) team to meet functional reporting needs in the most cost effective way and controlling access to reporting tools

ERP Super Users combine their applications skills with business expertise in a cost effective way to drive greater value from Enterprise Resource Planning systems. They are a shining example of empowerment in an organisation. Once the big hole is filled in, it?s time to start building on secure ground.
A natural evolution is the formation of functional Super User Groups.

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

If she said it once she said it 10 times....?I?m a customer and this isn?t good enough.?

It was early days and I had been warned...but my blood pressure was rising. The ?evidence? was turned out on the table. It was like a legal battle...the whole history, dates, places, statements, escalations, disappointments etc. It went back years and it was all very fascinating but hardly relevant to me - the new kid on the block. I wanted to know what the issues were now and if I could help. Her attitude was poor and on par with her competence.

It was one of those rare occasions when I led the ERP applications team in a meeting with a senior manager from the business side and despite our best efforts, it was impossible to make it in anyway a productive meeting.

There were a number of factors which I had quickly gleaned that would prevent this lady leaving the meeting entirely satisfied.

Firstly, her demands were totally unreasonable in terms of resourcing them.

Secondly, her proposed solutions were highly inefficient or unworkable.

Thirdly, she had managed her functional area side for more than 5 years and it was a mess.

Fourthly, after a few chats with people I realised that many user tasks were being performed by my own team. That would change.

Fifthly, there was a record of the lady going outside IT and ERP applications support to implement an array of inefficient application and reporting tools.

She was out of control and the executive had done little to redress the situation in the interests of the organisation. Politics ruled not professionalism.

But what really riled me was the statement that she was a ?customer?. In fact, she was a manager in the same organisation as me. It seemed only IT had ?customers?. The other functional areas were not suppliers as we were, although HR did have business partners which seemed very positive.

The ?customer? philosophy applied to those receiving services from the IT department. It also included the whole array of service delivery managers, customer support, liaison people etc. etc. None of whom added any real value and often promised what they themselves could not deliver. It was chaos and those who ranted the most got a bigger slice of the cake. IT project managers were reduced to order takers. There was no partnership. It wasn?t even customer service as is applied to ?real customers?. It was pure servility.

It is so important to clearly define your customers. They will have a big impact on your ERP systems performance as they consume your resources. So what is the traditional view of a customer?

• Consumer of your goods and services

• They pay for your goods or services

• They are able to choose other suppliers

• Unprofitable or troublesome customer relationships can be terminated

• There is a legal agreement

In an enterprise-wide system the only group that would fit the criteria as customers are those at the executive level. They are as near as possible to real external customers. Senior and middle managers do not have the enterprise view or responsibility - yet can often cause strains on ERP resources and performance.

The so called internal ?customers? can exert an undue influence on the ERP applications teams. The system can become inefficient, yet the responsibility is totally blurred in the chaos. Internal customer demands are rarely scrutinised and override organisational needs. Customisations are many and costly. ERP resources are misused and sometimes abused by ?customers?. And the latter can make decisions around technology and service provision about which they know little.

If you are not a customer then you are a user, albeit you may be very senior in your organisation. Users can be supported professionally and it should not matter whether they come from within or outside your organisation.

Especially in large organisations it is important the right ERP project and/or support team members meet the right business users at the right levels in the same organisation. The frequency, content and reporting of those meeting should be pitched at the appropriate levels. Action points rather than minutes should be the output. Set up an Engagement Model to deliver it all.

A Custodianship Model defines roles, responsibilities, duties, and relationships between the applications team, the users, all levels of management, Super Users and other stakeholders. Without it - chaos reigns.

Some of the key principles of a Custodianship Model internally should include:

• Overall priority is the interests of organisation
• Equal partners in all dealings ? a parity of esteem
• Business Partner analysis evaluates services and costs for each partner
• Escalation to IT senior managers and Business Partner senior managers
• ERP team challenges all Business Partner requirements for value for money
• Exploitation of ERP modules via ERP Super User Groups
• Joint work delivering efficiency savings
• Reciprocal services afforded to ERP team by Business Partners
• Agreed Code of Conduct
• Business Partners own business processes and controls
• ERP teams implement and maintain agreed controls in ERP modules
• Business Partners authorise access to their modules
• ERP teams grant and monitor that access
• Business Partners own the application data
• ERP teams monitor and report on data quality
• ERP teams are custodians & managers of live ERP applications
• ERP team authority is delegated from the executive via the IT Senior Leadership Team
• All actions are aimed at benefiting the whole of the organisation
• Reporting Strategy ? constant agenda item for partnership meetings

A mature, professional and ultimately beneficial relationship can arise from a well defined internal Custodianship Model. People know their roles and responsibilities. IT, ERP and business resources do what they do best and collaborate on areas that require partnership with other stakeholders.

The organisation is the winner and the cowboys can ride off into the sunset ...

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

People drive ERP systems performance

Why do people who ostensibly have the same start in the career race perform at different levels? Despite the same standards of academic achievement, similar backgrounds, the same training, shared social skills and work experience, some individuals perform much better than others. Recent studies have shown that our natural and learned skills through training and experience - the basics - only represent at best a 20% contribution to our performance. The remaining 80% which affects our performance comes from our personal skills - those crucial other elements such as our thinking and our behavioral aspects. Including but not limited to:

• Decision making ability and judgement
• Leadership
• Assertiveness
• Coping with stress
• Enthusiasm and energy (Passion)
• Motivation
• Team building
• Self-confidence
• Initiative

These are the drivers for successful personal performance. It explains why some professionals with less academic achievement outstrip their better qualified peers. Perhaps acquiring the basics will ensure satisfactory performance - but it?s the drivers that deliver superior performance.

In a recent poll on the value of ERP systems as seen by business professionals on the social networking website LinkedIN.com the results were as follows:

32% - Real Cash Benefit / Can?t Live Without It

68% - Too Complex / Little Value / In Learning Mode

So why are so many organizations failing to perform to a high level in automating processes, informing stakeholders (reporting), educating users and managers, and transforming they way business is done? Surely these are the key objectives for all ERP systems. I believe we can learn a few things from people performance when we analyse the shortcomings of ERP systems performance.

Many of these organisations share the same basics including: the technical infrastructure; qualified IT and Applications staff; competent users; the project methodology; implementation integrator and the same ERP application itself which is in use in many global organizations.

Organisations which fail to maximise the potential of ERP systems display similar problems such as heavy customizations, a lack of planning and management, disgruntled users, ad hoc ancillary systems in MS Excel and MS Access, an array of reporting tools; problematic interfaces and are often IT driven. There is a big gap between the users and the applications team in IT.

Could it be that just like people, ERP systems need behaviors and attributes to drive them to success? Does the ?Go live? signal the end of the process or merely a point in the journey. I believe even in successful ERP implementations the ?Go Live? is the half way mark at best.

So what are the drivers for ERP performance success? In my experience I would suggest the following:

• Actually Managing Oracle Applications ? as an investment
• Successful Change Management - people are key
• Leading a Support Team ? proactive not reactive
• Measuring Success and Value for Money ? monitoring performance
• Data and Information ? planning and managing
• Customers and Collaboration ? working together for the benefit of all
• Reporting and Business Intelligence ? the right tools for the job
• Empowerment and Super Users ? unleash skills and passion
• Change Control and Value for Money ? cost benefit analysis
• Project Management Kept Simple ? the short and long term view
• Process Improvement ? continuous and alignment with applications
• Management Information Systems ? efficient and effective systems
  

These are all people centred activities required for better ERP systems performance. Fundamentally, ERP systems are investments. They need plans, actions, energy, rules, policies, analysis, management, customer focus, leadership and lots of passion to drive performance. The drivers of people and ERP systems performance have striking similarities.

I wonder if there is a link between highly performing ERP management and highly performing ERP systems?..

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

What is ?Oracle ERP Reporting??

In any company there are 2 clear aspects to reporting ? namely the definition and the technology.

The definition of reports required for internal and external customers is entirely a matter for the business managers. For example, Finance teams define what reporting is required to meet statutory and regulatory requirements. They define what information is included, who receives the report and when the report is delivered to the customer.

The IT team is responsible for advising on, developing and supporting the technology used to meet the needs of business reporting. The IT role is to focus on how reports are delivered effectively and efficiently using the most appropriate reporting tools.

A partnership is required to meet the reporting needs of the business. Too often those roles are blurred and confused with the result being inefficient delivery.

The IT team should have a clear strategy for delivering reporting including:

• Align with the company Reporting Strategy
• Top down?bottom up approach
• Utilise best practice
• Deploy appropriate Oracle tools
• Baseline current reporting
• Customers define requirements - the WHAT
• Change request raised and fully scrutinised for value for money
• Service provider - the HOW
• Detailed analysis
• Agreed solution - effective and efficient
• Controlled development
• Fully tested
• Deployed in production
• Maintained and supported
  

Oracle ERP Reporting tools

There are a number of Oracle reporting tools deployed in the ERP arena. Often companies have no clear strategy for reporting then it is easy to conclude that their deployment has been supply rather than demand driven.

The reporting tools include:

• Standard reports ? out of the box and reliable
• FSG - user defined in Oracle Financials but needs control
• Customised reports - costly and high maintenance
• SQL ad hoc queries - risky but quick
• Oracle Discoverer - good ad hoc tool needs control
• Business Intelligence.- needs a full strategic analysis
  

These tools may have been deployed without aligning: it to any business reporting strategy; or analysing demand; or by structuring appropriate support and expertise in the business side or IT teams.

As one senior business manager told the author recently: ?I asked 3 Oracle tools the same question and got 3 different answers.?

Security

The ownership of Oracle reporting necessitates access to live production systems and sensitive HR, Contracts, Projects and Payroll data.

A great deal of work is needed in restricting and managing access to these areas with customers' consent. The IT team should be the custodian of Oracle ERP applications on behalf of the company. They should manage access for users, databases, and applications' security, menus, responsibilities and functions

Skills

The business side rarely has the skills long term to develop reports at the correct standards, although Super Users should be encouraged to be actively involved in design, development, testing, deployment and support.

Cost

The IT team need to prioritise development working with the business. Their aim should be to meet all current and future support, development and reporting needs of customers with the current established numbers of analysts and absorbing new requirements by eliminating wasted efforts.

They need to be flexible in working across projects and support areas; seek to manage a robust change control for reporting including value for money; and have a mix of permanent staff supplemented by short term contractors to satisfy periods of high demand and backlogs.

Reporting Strategy

The IT team should identify the need for an Oracle ERP Reporting strategy with the following highlights:

• Oracle applications customers
• Start with a blank sheet of paper
• Top down ?bottom up approach
• Challenge all current reports
• Select appropriate reporting tools
• Minimise customisations
• Deliver efficient and managed reporting
• Deliver? One Truth? reporting
• Empower users
  

The strategy should be led by the business and supported by the IT team. There are huge potential benefits to successfully managing Oracle ERP reporting delivering correct, timely useful management information in a more efficient manner than the ad hoc supplementary tools often used in organisations.

www.DriveERP.com

http://twitter.com/John_McGrann

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

We are in a global recession. The future is unclear. Sales and revenues are declining. Profit margins are under attack. Costs need to be cut. The The drama begins....

Even before recessionary times of course, outsourcing has been a legitimate tool for Oracle applications implementations, development work and support services. I could put a good case for outsourcing, but I'm not going to...

I have witnessed outsourcing in various guises: Competing for Quality; Market Testing; Private Finance Initiative; et al. What grinds with me is the unfairness at times to the client's in-house team. The guys and girls who have been doing the job for years, albeit maybe not as efficiently as is possible. Suddenly, they feel they are under attack and for good reason.

So just in case you find yourself in that position I've made a shield...

In summary, the quoted advantages of outsourcing are:

24 x 7 application support
Clients focus on their core business
Cost savings
In-house staff risks such as holiday/sickness/leaving
Access to a large pool of Oracle skills
Improved customer service

24 x 7 application support

I have yet to see effective 24 hour cover provided by a supplier support team. Quite often you either get the company help desk which is not very helpful, or it fails to send the message on to the right analyst or DBA. The alternative is to talk to the guy directly who is often out of the office or home and away from his computer until later. Additionally, they usually know little about your company or the urgent issue. Language and communications are further difficulties at times too.

Very frustrating and and a lots of wasted time.

Client focus on their core business

Ah OK so we concentrate on producing, packing, marketing, distributing and selling our widgets then. Fine. Except that we inevitably want to do all these activities much better. To do that we need meaningful information. Which in turn means we process huge amounts of data, refine it and the end product is company information.

Our information is therefore very near the core of our business.

Do we need to pay out large fees to outsourced consultants to constantly enhance and optimise reporting and intelligence. Can we afford to trust them to deliver and secure company data and information?

Cost savings

These are likely to be short term only. The supplier will press for a short term contract. The client company will lose is own experienced resources and the next time the contract negotiation comes up there will be a big hike in price.

Make sure you have a good accountant look at the costs of the rival camps. For decision making purposes, only in-house 'avoidable costs' should be considered rather than total costs for the in-house team. Basically these are the client company's cash savings as a result of outsourcing.

The vast majority of Oracle internal applications services are for internal use only. They don't need to make a profit. The supplier should be at a distinct disadvantage here. A rough guide would be that the service provider needs to be 25% more efficient on cost than the in house team.

In-house staff risks such as holiday/sickness/leaving

Get yourself some staff turnover figures for IT companies and you will probably find the in-house team fares better than most of them. A well managed and flexible applications team can cover sicknesses and holidays and a fall back position is to employ contractors on short term engagements.

Access to a large pool of Oracle skills

Another myth in my opinion. Only the very biggest companies have such a pool and many of the smaller and medium sized companies engage contractors on individual projects.

Cover this risk with an Oracle Support contract.

Improved customer service

It is hard to see how remote working can improve the service offered to users and ultimately the customer. The warm approach engendered by working for the same company is lost and the supplier's team will be pressurised to deliver new pieces of work at a significant cost to the end client.

Offshore support and development can be particularly difficult especially around communications. Many times in the past I have had to replicate discussions about issues during a telephone call by email because the analyst's English just wasn't good enough.

World class organisations will always treat their employees in a fair manner. Executives and managers responsible for the past performance of their in-house teams should not be allowed to shop internal resources. In-house teams can offer an efficient and effective Oracle applications service given a level playing field.

Otherwise they may well have an axe to grind...

www.DriveERP.com

The best job interview I ever had was laying on the sofa watching television. Shorts and tee shirt was the attire. It was a telephone interview of course. The client was a large multi-national and 'needed someone like me asap'. Two days later I had seven face-to face interviews with the IT and Finance teams at their EMEA HQ in a beautiful European capital city. Three days later I was in at the deep end...

There was much to do. A large and diverse professional user community was very demanding, Super User groups needed to be established, new modules to implement and upgrade, and an EMEA project on the horizon. Great stuff I thought and a big challenge. Especially, trying to keep up with the Harvard and Oxbridge starlets that swarmed around the place. Everyone had to add value at SUPER ORG PLC, and egos reigned supreme.

I managed to build a bridge between the IT and Finance teams ? no mean achievement. I translated and interpreted, and kept the 'company interest' as the focal point. Super User groups were set up and were driving value out of the applications. Everyone seemed content, even happy, except the IT director one day....

?John this is your No. 1 priority this week. There is a top management graduate from the USA who is torn between two offers of management positions. One in Finance and one here in IT. He must end up here working on Oracle applications. Joe will give you all the details and I've agreed with the Finance Director that you will talk to the graduate and after that we need a decision from him. The right decision John.?

? OK I understand? I said. ?He must end up in IT to massage your ego and it's one in the eye for Finance. And it won't look too bad for you back in CORP HQ .?

? Correct, and it must be in the company interest of course? he concluded with a wink.

The young guy was a fast-stream candidate with many connections back in the USA. He enjoyed his time in Finance and IT as part of his graduate programme and had a degree in accountancy. He understood the challenges and rewards within the company. They were virtually the same whether he was in Finance or IT.

I spoke to him for less than 3 minutes. He joined IT and the director was ecstatic...in the company interest of course.

?Brilliant John! How did you manage it?? asked the IT Director.

? I told him there was a world outside of SUPER ORG PLC and it was full of opportunities. And it was a fact that 70% of graduates left the company within 5 years of becoming managers.?

? And?? he asked.

? I asked him a question. 'If I could show you a way of earning $1000 per hour would you join the IT team?' He agreed he would if I could show him how to achieve it.?

? And?, he pressed me.

? Well we agreed that he would probably leave SUPER ORG PLC by the age of 30. And he would work for 30 years in the 'other world' outside SUPER ORG PLC. Where, and I showed him the research, Oracle applications staff earn at least $10,000 per year more than the accounting and finance equivalents.?

?And??..

.? He knew that training and development would mean him spending personal time on it also. About 300 hours was our agreed estimate. The rest was simple maths. Total additional lifetime income of 30 years x $10,000 a year divided by the number of additional training/development hours on Oracle?.

?Being??...

? $300,000 / 300 or $1000 per hour?.

? Excellent John! Well they didn't teach us that one at Harvard! Where did you pick it up?? he grinned.

? Bootle Tech......?.

www.DriveERP.com

The best job interview I ever had was laying on the sofa watching television. Shorts and tee shirt was the attire. It was a telephone interview of course. The client was a large multi-national and 'needed someone like me asap'. Two days later I had seven face-to face interviews with the IT and Finance teams at their EMEA HQ in a beautiful European capital city. Three days later I was in at the deep end...

There was much to do. A large and diverse professional user community was very demanding, Super User groups needed to be established, new modules to implement and upgrade, and an EMEA project on the horizon. Great stuff I thought and a big challenge. Especially, trying to keep up with the Harvard and Oxbridge starlets that swarmed around the place. Everyone had to add value at SUPER ORG PLC, and egos reigned supreme.

I managed to build a bridge between the IT and Finance teams ? no mean achievement. I translated and interpreted, and kept the 'company interest' as the focal point. Super User groups were set up and were driving value out of the applications. Everyone seemed content, even happy, except the IT director one day....

?John this is your No. 1 priority this week. There is a top management graduate from the USA who is torn between two offers of management positions. One in Finance and one here in IT. He must end up here working on Oracle applications. Joe will give you all the details and I've agreed with the Finance Director that you will talk to the graduate and after that we need a decision from him. The right decision John.?

? OK I understand? I said. ?He must end up in IT to massage your ego and it's one in the eye for Finance. And it won't look too bad for you back in CORP HQ .?

? Correct, and it must be in the company interest of course? he concluded with a wink.

The young guy was a fast-stream candidate with many connections back in the USA. He enjoyed his time in Finance and IT as part of his graduate programme and had a degree in accountancy. He understood the challenges and rewards within the company. They were virtually the same whether he was in Finance or IT.

I spoke to him for less than 3 minutes. He joined IT and the director was ecstatic...in the company interest of course.

?Brilliant John! How did you manage it?? asked the IT Director.

? I told him there was a world outside of SUPER ORG PLC and it was full of opportunities. And it was a fact that 70% of graduates left the company within 5 years of becoming managers.?

? And?? he asked.

? I asked him a question. 'If I could show you a way of earning $1000 per hour would you join the IT team?' He agreed he would if I could show him how to achieve it.?

? And?, he pressed me.

? Well we agreed that he would probably leave SUPER ORG PLC by the age of 30. And he would work for 30 years in the 'other world' outside SUPER ORG PLC. Where, and I showed him the research, Oracle applications staff earn at least $10,000 per year more than the accounting and finance equivalents.?

?And??..

.? He knew that training and development would mean him spending personal time on it also. About 300 hours was our agreed estimate. The rest was simple maths. Total additional lifetime income of 30 years x $10,000 a year divided by the number of additional training/development hours on Oracle?.

?Being??...

? $300,000 / 300 or $1000 per hour?.

? Excellent John! Well they didn't teach us that one at Harvard! Where did you pick it up?? he grinned.

? Bootle Tech......?.

www.DriveERP.com

I'm not sure who had the more incredulous look. Me as I listened to the constant message '?It cannot be done?. Or the HR Senior Management Team as I advised them that it will be done, and done to plan. It was my initial meeting as project manager with the customer at SLOW ORG. Except the project sponsor, the HR Director, hadn't bothered to show at all. The Oracle HRMS / OTA project was clearly at risk.

It was a government agency established a couple of years earlier. The workforce was long term public sector in the main and the pace was moderate to slow. Funding had become available centrally and the Chief Executive wanted an HR system by the year-end. The HR Director and his team were under pressure and had seen it attempted twice before without success. They had no resources and the data was poor. Very poor. So poor that they had 3000 personnel paper files as their legacy system and much was missing from those files.

Traditionally, change management around Oracle applications projects meant:

• Communicating features and benefits of the new system

• Training, education, and external information programs

• New organisational structures, policies, and procedures

• Monitoring and evaluating the organization's performance

All of this is required but doesn't deal with the 8 reasons projects fail to meet their stated change objectives. Two of those reasons are:

• There is no effective leadership alliance

• Obstacles are allowed to block the change vision

Back at SLOW ORG I had decided these were the two most likely reasons for failure. The HR management team were not going to lead the HRMS implementation and change project to success. Additionally, they would be the obstacles to the achievement of the project objectives. I formulated a radical proposal and went off to see the Chief Executive.

? Your HR management team are not supportive and will block any new ideas and drive to a successful project. conclusion I need you to be Project Sponsor and your Finance, IT and Operations directors to fly the flag for the project. ?

?Agreed? she said.

? I need total flexibility in the budget spending to appoint some casual staff...basically to do the work of the HR staff working on data issues?.

She agreed again.

?Finally, I also need you to do something you really won't like doing but there is no other way?.

? Try me? she said smiling.

? I need you to communicate an open letter to all your employees informing them that the data we have on them for HR purposes is poor and much is missing. Also explain the benefits to them of the new HR system around speedier administration, pay issue resolution, training and career development. We need them in the next 4 weeks to complete a 100 point questionnaire which I will design and issue. It cover everything from personal details and work history to ethnicity questions and skills and training?

She needed to think and consult with her directors. They agreed and somehow I got the feeling that this alliance was based on getting even with HR team. I didn't care...

The email letter went out. We designed a powerful user friendly questionnaire well tested and distributed to all employees including directors. Casual staff were brought in and fired up. League tables were set up to monitor and publish submissions by functional and operational teams on a regional basis. The HR team were to validate the data as much as possible.

I still needed to keep them on board of course and my next meeting was a communication exercise. Their noses were put out but I went for the jugular anyway. ? Honestly, what are the chances of success now?? I asked. ? About 20%? said the HR No. 2. The others agreed.

Six months later and it's my final day and my final Steering Committee meeting.

?This will be a short meeting.? said the Chief Executive. ?I believe our deputy HR Director would like to say a few words to our Project Manager?.

He smiled and said thanks for their new HR system which they are thrilled about. Yes 98% of employees had returned completed questionnaires. Sorry for being disbelievers. And more importantly, thanks for demonstrating everything is possible.

I headed for Heathrow bound for home in Cyprus..his words ringing in my ears...:-)

www.DriveERP.com

Achievement not activity. Results not process. Facts not emotion.

That's what it should all be about in the exciting world of Oracle applications.

In a big organisation with multiple modules and a bureaucratic culture, there are usually more crises - and also more people to deal with them of course. Some, however, just have that bit more drama than others. Today was one of those days at BadOrg PLC.

'There's a problem' was written all over my Technical Support Manager's face. Not a functional, technical or database issue which we dealt with at the rate of 500 per week. This was a 'management' problem. Two of the Senior Leadership Team had phoned my No. 2 in my absence. There were emails and voice mails all within an hour of the incident. The CEO on walkabout at one of the many organisation's locations had received a complaint from an Oracle Financials user to say the 'support for a reporting issue was taking a long time to get to resolution'. The CIO got a call, then her team, then us in the support team.

We had a name and location and that it was a 'reporting issue'. I got my No. 2 to lead on it and dedicated an Oracle Financials analyst and my business analyst on the case. There was no support call number. My team ran around like headless chickens and rightly moaned about the lack of information. Politics prevented asking the SLT members for more useful details.

The user had no support call on the system. They tried the HQ Finance team but no joy. They searched against other support calls at that location and came up with a couple of calls which they expedited. They eventually took the bold step of contacting the user, a provincial accountant, by phone and by email and via his boss...all to no avail. Yes the user who had the CEO and CIO in tow could not be found for 2 days...nor did he return any communications. I smelt a rat.

When he was eventually cornered ...... It was clear that:

1. The issue was related to OFA
2. No support call had been logged by the user
3. My team did not support OFA ? Finance supported it themselves

My team was peeved but were accustomed to it all. I was furious and let the 2 SLT members know the outcome. I got a curt response. ' Thanks but he must have had a problem' . Oh so we have 3 or 4 people diverted from important tasks to chase around after a support call which either didn't exist or was never ours! And the bad publicity for my team.

. Time for a considered response.

Dear SLT

As always we aim to deliver excellent service in a very cost effective manner..

Today we closed a support call that never was, which was initiated outside our agreed process . We wasted a lot of time and received bad press on this non issue.

The cost of my time and 3 members of my team over 3 days?
£2100

The alternative course of action ( the support process) would have been an hour for a Finance analyst who support OFA:

£25

Additionally, in future we shall formally report back on these type of incidents to all interested parties.

Regards

John

I got no response from the 8 SLT members. I expected none. The point was made. There was no repetition.

It amazes me at the total waste of resources I see around Oracle applications projects, support and development. Nearly all decisions, activities, processes can be quantified and communicated more effectively in cash terms. It is far more powerful than reason and pure emotion.

Use it!

www.DriveERP.com

The first day on a new assignment is always a mixture of dread and excitement. What are the problems? Who are the key people? What's the culture? Will the days be long or just flash by.... It's only 3 months this time..

It's no fun being a smoker in the UK these days, especially in the winter. Outside in the cold and rain smokers like to stick together. It does have its advantages though....

I soon found 'smokers corner' on my first day. My solitude soon broken by the arrival of a middle aged northern lass, well wrapped against the elements. I knew exactly what she was going to ask as she lit up her Marlboro Red..

?You're the new guy? she told me bluntly
?I am indeed? I replied. ?Well new to here..? I added.
?Bet you're glad you came here. The last two didn't last long.?

I smiled. Maybe she was an informer for the London crowd. The big bosses at BadOrg PLC.
?I should be OK. There's lots of nice people here.? The PR bit done.

Her turn to smile. ?Yes but they think you will soon get fed up here. It's a mess up there and you're just a contractor, passing through..?

?Well I like to think I can do a job even though I am only here for 3 months.? I countered.

?I hope you do? she replied. ?Better sort out the Finance people here. They pee all your guys off. And there's too many people playing on the Internet too. And the big bosses could do with getting themselves up here to show some support?. She continued: ?They keep throwing more at your guys to support but they inherit problems from the project teams?

She was ranting but seemed to have an insight. I guessed she had waited her moment for our chance encounter in the smoking area. She was confident about her analysis.

I must stay positive. After all it was only my first week.

?I'm confident we can pull things around? I said. ?I've worked in a few big organisations and they all have their problems. I'm looking forward to the challenge? I was on a roll.

?Good luck? she said stubbing out half a cigarette. ?I got to dash I'm just starting my shift. Let's hope you're the decent manager they need upstairs....?. She smiled again cheekily.

?I hope so? I smiled. ?And what do you do then starting work at 6pm of a night??

?I'm your office cleaner luv. See ya!?

I make a number of assumptions before I arrive at a new assignment site. It matters not whether the designated role is support, change or project management. I always find on arrival:

- The brief from the recruiter (agent or direct) has big holes in it
- The senior management brief is on their priorities and little on the problems and obstacles
- There are always good people willing to share their views on the issues
- No appraisal exists of whether Oracle applications give Value for Money
- A black hole exists between the business and IT teams
- A black hole exists between the Oracle projects and support teams
-The Oracle applications investment is rarely managed as a whole

Of course there can be many other issues to be addressed but these assumptions help me get off to a flier! Most other issues tend to be related to my assumptions. I like to do my best work in the early days of a contract. I'm careful not to divert too many resources away from support and projects activities whilst we address the basic problems and start adding value.

It does pay to be always prepared.

Oh and be careful what you leave lying around in your trays or throw in the waste paper basket!

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