Project Management ERP Solution of the future.

1. Article
The Professional Services
ERP Solution of the Future
By Jan Bultinck, Sales Manager, Deltek België
For many years, analysts, management consultants and clients have
pinned down the importance of focusing on individual verticals,
encouraging ERP solution providers to develop and deliver solutions
for specific industries.
Business and Industry Focus ERP solution, but rather perceive it as a “bread-and-butter”
When a project-focused organization starts looking for a new ERP tool. They recognize the need for a system and the system
solution, there are some crucial steps it needs to take: Analyze must function properly, but they fail to understand the potential
the industry focus and product strategy of a potential vendor, in streamlining processes or realizing measurable business
look at the vendor’s client references and examine whether the improvements through the use of ERP technology. Meanwhile,
solution really has the deep industry-specific capabilities the pragmatic investments and a positive ROI are in higher demand
supplier claims it has. Some of the vital industry trends we see than ever. I am convinced that tomorrow’s winners in the ERP
these years are: market are effect-oriented ERP providers with proven track
records delivering measurable improvements to their clients.
• Increased focus on streamlining the sales process and
managing client relations – integrated to project A Role-Based, Process-Oriented Solution
management and customized for the unique challenges and It seems patently obvious that an ERP solution deployed
demands faced by project-focused organizations to support the processes of an organization should be
process-oriented. However, we still see many solutions with
• Strong interest in improved capacity and resource planning – a fundamental focus on features and functionality. We do
integrated to project management and project planning acknowledge that ERP solution providers are starting to talk
more about role-based and process-oriented solutions. Having
• Greater demands for proactivity and usability – for instance delivered role-based, process-oriented solutions for more than
by having a solution that actively notifies and alerts users on a decade, we have seen what a tremendous difference this
their pending actions via web portal, e-mail or SMS makes for the actual use and usability of the solution. It is of
vital importance for a project-focused organization to have a
ROI by Realizing Measurable Improvements role-based, process-oriented ERP solution, since all employees
Most organizations today are fairly mature when it comes normally use the solution, but where vast internal differences
to utilizing their finance system to manage their company- exist in frequency of use, skill levels and attitudes toward the
wide accounting and financial management. However, many ERP solution among different types of users.
businesses still haven’t realized the potential of a full-blown
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2. Article
The Professional Services ERP Solution of the Future
Smart and Flexible Business Intelligence “App-ification” of the ERP Solution
A growing number of project-focused organizations are starting Mobile “app”-focused platforms such as iOS and Android
to realize how valuable it is for them to develop their capabilities have shown how high availability and simplicity can create a
to make forward-looking analyses and decisions based on user-friendly experience and more efficient use of information
proactive planning and forecasting. sources and systems. Apps developed to access narrowly
To combine simplicity and the total cost of ownership defined and limited functionality in an ERP solution clearly show
related to proprietary reporting technology with the strength how you can achieve high user efficiency and related business
and flexibility of specialized Business Intelligence solutions, improvements. We also see a distinct trend toward a more
we decided to enter into an OEM collaboration with SAP general “app-ification” related to traditional interfaces where
Business Objects a few years ago. Enabling best-in-class narrowly defined and limited features and information from
Business Intelligence at a very affordable cost, this strategy the ERP solution can be accessed via “widgets” directly on the
addresses the following crucial challenges in project-focused computer desktop or as “embedded apps” in other systems or
organizations: interfaces. An example of the latter is dedicated Web Parts for
time capture or project reports embedded in the organization’s
• Today Business Intelligence is in high demand at all levels SharePoint portals.
of project-focused organizations. The BI solution needs to
enable role-based reporting as well as smart, efficient report Integration to Other Systems and Tools within
distribution and accessibility (scheduled reports distributed the Company
via e-mail and accessed from mobile devices, flexibility in For most users in a project-focused organization, the ERP
formats – web, PDF, Office etc.) solution will never be their central tool during a regular workday.
They spend much more time on the phone, checking e-mails
• The ERP solution and the BI solution need to be seamlessly and updating their calendars, using Office applications, internal
integrated to manage rapid changes and display past, and external collaboration tools etc. Nevertheless, many of these
present and future trends. daily tasks have (or should have) a direct or indirect impact on
the organization’s ERP solution. As a business solution supplier
• The increased complexity of businesses and the use of a we realized a long time ago that an ERP solution must be
growing number of key figures, operational measures and integrated to the existing technology, systems and data sources
KPIs make it vital to present information intuitively and at the organizational level.
visually appealing to decision-makers. However, I don’t think all of our competitors are fully aware
that the same approach should be used at the end-user level.
• While many industries use key figures with standard definitions, In a future-proof role-based, process-oriented ERP solution, it
there are great variations in how project-focused companies is not essential for the end users to use the actual interface of
define vital key figures such as yield, resource utilization, the ERP solution – the ERP solution merely provides process
debit rate/billing rate, average hourly fee, project margin etc. optimization, business logic and control. To realize business
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3. Article
The Professional Services ERP Solution of the Future
improvements based on ERP technology, the users might just
as well interact with the ERP solution indirectly via front-end/
back-end systems, Outlook, Office applications, mini-apps,
mobile platforms, SharePoint or other portals and collaboration
tools. However, that requires an ERP solution with a service-
oriented architecture as well as open and consistent integration
capabilities.
Back to the Future
ERP solutions can be considered a fairly mature technology
today. But in my opinion, ERP solutions for Professional Services
organizations have yet to mature. Bearing the rapidly changing
business world and the higher demands from new and existing
clients in mind, developing and delivering ERP solutions is an
extremely interesting, challenging and exciting endeavor. I look
forward to re-reading this article in 2020 and reflect on the
developments of the past decade.
This article was originally published in Engineeringnet Magazine,
May 2011
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4. Article
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