Many project management authorities assert that from project management stance all projects are equal. I dare saying that some projects are more equal than others.
In my last post, I argued why I believe software (and ERP) projects are different. But something came to my mind today, and it’s really an important differentiator of ERP projects from other kinds of projects.
To customize or not to customize, that is the question. When you see a complex business process far from the standard ERP system, a knee-jerk reaction is to reach for customization tools and do the development.
Many ERP theorists say that ERP is only as good as it is an exact match for your processes. And they are mostly right about it. But majority of ERP systems are very generic (Microsoft Dynamics NAV included), and to exactly match your processes, they require customization. When it doesn’t work out-of-the-box, you customize it, it’s that simple, isn’t it?
It’s not, sorry.
I was involved with three go-lives this month. Not all of them required the same level of engagement, that was the major survival factor for me, but nevertheless I got into an interesting discussion with a colleague.
– So it was three projects this month, huh? All of the NAV? – she asked.
– No, it was one NAV, two of them were business intelligence ones.
– Ah, ok, so they are not business critical. – she concluded.
I had no clue how good my laptop was. Seriously. Today it kicked ass of an 8-processor server.
Tomorrow we have a go-live of a Microsoft Dynamics NAV deployment, with manufacturing customized to support configure-to-order functionality. Refreshing manufacturing orders now calculates dynamic BOMs and routings, and it takes time.