ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was the hot technology of the late 1990s, and most large companies have already been sold on the benefits. But this is
an area that's going through its own evolution.
ERP solutions deliver more functionality for the dollar than custom applications and companies with limited or declining IT budgets often see an ERP program as a way to reduce internal
IT staff. ERP software can improve operational efficiency and reduce time to market, while helping deal with increased regulatory oversight. Many large companies are pushing their vendors toward electronic supply chain integration, another
area where an ERP initiative can help.
However, the ERP market is in a period of consolidation. The vendors are boiling down to a few large firms, and are themselves struggling to keep their offerings up to date with current
technology.
INSYS CAPABILITIES
InSys can provide resources with knowledge in all phases of ERP initiatives, together with a recruiting process that can assemble complex ERP
implementation and operations teams.
Our practitioners have experience with many kinds of ERP projects, including needs assessment, package evaluation, package selection and acquisition, installation, configuration, data migration,
training and post-implementation support. Our product experience includes SAP, Oracle, CARS-IS (a contract management application for the pharmaceutical industry), PeopleSoft and JD Edwards.
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INSYS AT WORK: ERP PROJECT SNAPSHOT
SUPPLY CHAIN RE-ENGINEERING
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The Mission
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The client, a pharmaceutical and life sciences organization, is engaged in a multi-year strategic transformation program targeted to improve its supply chain process across the US. This
"Order-to-Cash" (OTC) initiative is aimed at building and delivering a business solution that will support the organization's continued profitability and growth.
The OTC process is a womb-to-tomb concept
and includes the customer interface, order processing, warehousing, delivery management, back ordering, invoicing and payments – the entire supply chain from the point a customer makes an order to the point the
organization receives the cash.
This is a major, on-going effort, for which InSys has supplied resources with direct experience in large scale Program Management.
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The Approach
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Phase One of this project was focused on changing out the front end of the OTC process using Siebel's Customer Order Interface, a web-enabled, GUI system, and webMethods middleware providing the connectors to the
legacy environment.
Phase Two, involves several major projects. The client is bringing in PeopleSoft for A/R, along with a Warehouse Management System and a Transportation System from a third party. The
first major project is the A/R upgrade, for which InSys has helped define and establish an internal Center of Excellence to address any program level challenges. This center is involved in
reorganizing/redefining staffing levels, establishing special work teams and otherwise managing the program.
An InSys consultant was assigned to this center to manage the infrastructure acquisition and
installation, data load, data conversion and reporting.
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The Results
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By providing expertise in Mainframe environments, Siebel, PeopleSoft, webMethods, Enterprise Resource Planning, project/program management and software testing, the client expects to realize an ROI of 60% at
project completion.
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