Resources for implementing ERP and other enterprise applications?

Question

When developing ERP-like software or any other complex business system, what resources do you use for best practices?

I am a developer, not an accountant, not a buyer, not a manager.
I have experience in project management in the field of engineering (not related to software), and I have extensive experience working with business processes in the field of design, procurement, inventory management, sales, production, quality control, after-sales service, etc. .

My problem is that when developing business software you always come across areas where you lack experience, and I believe that a good understanding of processes and other solutions to solve such problems is absolutely necessary for the development of competent software.

So, are there online resources with some best practices or collections of practical experience regarding how people decide and implement business rules and processes in ERP systems, etc.?

Answer 1

There APICS, Operations Management Association, www.apics.org . (The "I" was behind the Inventory, but paradigms are changing ...) In many cities there is a local chapter with regular meetings.

Answer 2

I assume that you do not mean best practices for software. You are talking about business practice, right?

Where do you go? This seems obvious, but you should find experts in the field somewhere. They must be inside your company if they are of any size. If you do not know this subject well, and you are unlikely to be an expert developer and GAAP guru, you need to find sources that really know.

I think this is the right place to make buying and building decisions. Why write an accounting package when there are so many available that do it for you? Most people who decide that they need to write their general book usually justify it by citing the “ridiculous” costs of licensing, but they cannot accurately estimate the true cost of designing, implementing, testing, and supporting their own system. Purchasing a package means acquiring the distilled expertise of all the people the developers contacted. You assume that they also did a good job of this.

Answer 3

To understand how everything works, you first need to look at the internal procedures of the client: procurement procedures are good examples. As a rule, they are fully documented, since the procurement process is considered a potential source of problems in most companies (on the contrary, accounting procedures are usually poorly documented, since they rely on official and mandatory rules).

As part of these procedures, you will find all the standard forms used by the company, who does what, what needs to be stored or archived, etc. This will help you understand the processes before meeting those in charge. Always remember that your application must adhere to these procedures, and if the procedures do not exist, the application will actually become a procedure: in this case you will usually have the opportunity (1) to buy, as suggested by #duffymo or (2) to build, following the requests and specifications of your customers. In this latter case, I would advise you to collect various documents from users that they already use, as a rule, some Word templates + some Excel worksheets for subsequent data processing. This can be a major source of inspiration and can help you develop smart offerings ...

A module for monitoring and managing procedures (applications, proposal proposals, etc.) can be a good way to get started with your ERP-like system.

Answer 4

You already have internal experts who know your company's business processes better than anyone else. Just go and talk with your accountants, managers, customers, supervisors and regular users of the system. They will tell you what they need for the ERP system. Then you just add a few small improvements in addition to this as a developer and make everyone happy.