1.      5.  Imagine that you are conducting a field based research project for your ERP class in a small local business. Assume that the business is a custom furniture manufacturer. In the course of your project, you tell the owner that you are using SAP B1 in your ERP class. The owner asks if he should be using SAP or some other ERP system in his business. What would be your response? What questions would you ask or what information would you need to answer that question?

4.       Choose a familiar Web Site, such as Dell, Amazon, and so on. Describe the order – to – cash process from the customer’s perspective as illustrated by that site.

2.       Conduct research on an ERP package other than SAP that would be suitable for a large organization (>Php 1 billion in revenue) and compare the modules that it has to SAP modules.

As 2012 comes to a close, the ERP software market's biggest players, Oracle and SAP, are seeing their long rivalry become a stalemate, while they face a common set of enemies in the form of upstart ERP vendors based in the cloud, such as NetSuite and Workday.

"The old battle between SAP and Oracle is kind of being fought to a draw," says analyst Frank Scavo, president of consulting firm Strativa. "The real battle is the old guys vs. the new guys, and every indication is the new guys are winning."

While newer ERP companies' revenues remain much smaller than those of SAP and Oracle, they are growing at much faster percentage rates, Scavo says.

Oracle and SAP, as well as other large players such as Infor, Epicor and Microsoft Dynamics, have moved to offer customers some cloud deployment options for ERP.

Amid all this a debate has emerged among ERP customers, says Forrester Research analyst China Martens: "Do I stay put, and put up with all the stuff that makes me unhappy, or do I move?"

While SAP and Oracle's products have the benefit of decades of product development, resulting in deep functionality that cuts across many industries, cloud ERP vendors can offer faster implementations, the promise of painless upgrades and patching, as well as a fresher overall take on the software through features such as social collaboration and analytics.

SAP is positioning its main Business Suite for large enterprises as an on-premises core ERP system, while offering add-on SaaS applications as well as the Business ByDesign suite for midsized companies and divisions of larger ones. Oracle, meanwhile, has highlighted the cloud deployment option for its new Fusion Applications while emphasizing that customers can take an incremental approach to adopting Fusion.

In either case, the strategy runs a certain risk, according to Martens. "As you start encouraging your customers to look at complementary software, that also opens you up to competition from other vendors."

But those who decide to go all-in with ERP in the cloud may face a new conundrum moving forward, namely whether to go with a single vendor or stitch together a suite from "best-of-breed" SaaS components, Martens says.

Still, some customers will always prefer to keep certain components of ERP, such as the general ledger, inside their own data centers, while choosing to switch to Workday for HCM (human capital management), for example.

Overall, it seems clear that incumbent ERP vendors are on red alert, according to Scavo. "You can tell who Larry Ellison is concerned about by who he criticizes during his keynotes," he says. The Oracle CEO has long taken potshots at CRM giant Salesforce.com, but more recently delivered stinging criticisms of Workday.

3       Conduct research on an ERP package, such as Microsoft Dynamics GP or Microsoft Dynamics NAV, for small – to – medium sized (SME) organizations  (between $30m and $ 1b in revenue). Compare that package for available modules, functionality, and so on to the SAP system.

If you are comparing two different ERP software solutions, you know how easy it can be to get bogged down in lists of features and modules and lose sight of your ultimate goal of finding a system that will help your business improve efficiencies to save you time and money. 

This is especially true when comparing Microsoft Dynamics GP and SAP Business One. Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly known as Great Plains, and SAP Business One, sometimes called SB1, have very similar module/feature lists.  When feature lists are similar, you have to look beyond what the features are to how they function to determine which product is the right choice for your business. 

In a functional review of small- to mid-market ERP systems, the Accounting Library ranked Business One near the bottom in all five areas while Microsoft Dynamics GP was at or near the top of all five lists. The difference in functionality has a direct result on user productivity.  A 2007 analysis of the impact of ERP applications on people's productivity revealed that Microsoft Dynamics users on average scored Microsoft Dynamics 18 percent higher than SAP users scored SAP applications. 

Microsoft Dynamics GP works off of three core strengths to gain the functional upper-hand over SB1:

Works like and with OfficeAs a SQL-based Microsoft product, Dynamics GP works like and with Office products.  As a result, integrations with products like Outlook and Excel are seamless and available “out-of-the-box” for Microsoft Dynamics GP users.  Additionally, users already familiar with Office products will require less training on Microsoft Dynamics GP due to its Office-like interface.  On the flip-side, SAP is still working with Microsoft to build their integration to Office. 

Role-based home pagesWhile SAP Business One provides a traditional user interface with immediate access to all of its features, Microsoft Dynamics GP provides each of its users with an individualized, task-centric experience based on 20 pre-defined, customizable role templates and information views.  These role-based home pages save each user time by providing them with the information that is most relevant to them at all times.  They also streamline the way that information moves through the organization, protecting data and improving efficiency in every process. 

Enhanced data analysisSAP relies on ISV solutions for reporting and analytics functions.  On the other hand, Microsoft Dynamics GP enables you to analyze data from multiple angles using cubes within Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services.  Additionally, with Microsoft Dynamics GP’s SmartList Builder, Excel Report Builder, Business Portal and direct integration with SharePoint, the possibilities for data analysis and collaboration are boundless. 

Due to the benefits derived from the enhanced functionality of Microsoft Dynamics GP, it can provide a lower total cost of ownership and a proven Return on Investment(ROI) for the feature set than SAP Business One.  By looking beyond the features to how they function, it is easy to see ways that Microsoft Dynamics GP can save your organization time and money when selecting a new ERP software solution.

SAP CLAIMS AND THE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX TRUTH

SAP CLAIM 1: Microsoft Dynamics AX is more of a midmarket solution and is not appropriate for a large, complex business.

THE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX TRUTH: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 supports the unique requirements for businesses in 36 countries—all from a single-instance deployment of the software. Multiple currencies, multiple time zones, multiple languages, and compliance with multiple banking and reporting standards and legislative codes give you the global coverage that you require. Furthermore,Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has benchmarked performance of 5,200 users and 1 Million Lines per Hour across 10+ workloads.

SAP CLAIM 2: Microsoft requires a number of third party or ISV solutions to provide a complete offering.

THE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX TRUTH: Microsoft Dynamics AX offers robust core functionality out of the box (feel free to review the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Capabilities brochure). Microsoft also uses ISV solutions to bring deep industry expertise to customers who required very specialized, industry-specific functionality that cannot be met by out-of-the-box solutions. Business partners who specialize in specific industry solutions provide rich insights and leading-edge business expertise - such as Merit Solutions' food safety (MAXFood) and Life Sciences quality and compliance (MAXLife) solutions for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

SAP CLAIM 3: Microsoft Dynamics AX offers too much flexibility, making compliance a challenge.

THE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX TRUTH: By actively managing a balance between compliance requirements and agile business practices, organizations can minimize risk, increase operational efficiency, and successfully build a foundation on which to grow. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has made key enhancements in compliance and auditing, enabling companies to enforce compliance in a consistent and cost effective manner, while streamlining business processes and improving efficiency across the organization. As noted above, for companies who required FDA compliance, our MAXLife and MAXFood solutions can provide further compliance support for those regulations.

SAP CLAIM 4: SAP’s Fast Start Program reduces the risk, time, and cost of implementing the solution.

THE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX TRUTH: Merit Solutions' Rapid On Implementation Methodology is designed to speed time to value and maximize return on investment - while minimizing the risk to your organization. The Rapid On implementation methodology reduces the cost, complexity, and time required to realize the benefits of your ERP investment. Every project is managed against a clearly defined scope, with a fixed, affordable price.

WHY CHOOSE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX OVER SAP?

Here are the top five reasons why companies looking for new ERP solutions choose Microsoft Dynamics AX vs SAP: 

• Analyst Rankings. Gartner, Inc. identified Microsoft Dynamics AX as a Leader in its ERP Magic Quadrant (December, 2010). Nucleus Research ranked Microsoft Dynamics AX as a Lead in it's Value Matrix, which is based on functionality and usability (May, 2012). And Forrester Research found that Microsoft Dynamics AX is a Leader as an Order Management Solution (August, 2010). See Analyst Views below.
• Improve Employee Productivity. Inflexible systems overwhelm, overload, and frustrate people – the employees, managers, customers, vendors, and partners who are working hard to make things happen and grow your business. The easier a software application is to use, the faster employees are able to adopt it and thereby enable the organization to reap the benefits the system provides. And when you connect your people to the right processes across your company with a fully integrated business management solution that is familiar and easy to use, you are setting the stage for increased productivity and efficiency.
• Low Total Cost of Ownership. Independent research has demonstrated that, on the whole, Microsoft Dynamics AX offers a higher return on investment (ROI) and lower overall costs than other major competitive offerings. A recent survey by Panorama Consulting also found that Microsoft Dynamics had the highest percentage of users who realized between 81- and 100- percent of benefits compared to SAP and Oracle.
• Scale With Your Business. Microsoft Dynamics AX is designed to empower your people to be more productive and your systems to last longer, with the ability to scale to accommodate growth while delivering the insight you need to respond quickly in an ever-changing world of business. Expand business opportunities, modify processes, and differentiate your business with comprehensive ERP software that provides unprecedented agility that makes it easy to adapt, grow, and change.
• Flexible Deployment Options. Microsoft Dynamics AX offers deployment options that give you choice today and flexibility for the future. Companies can deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX on-premises or in a Cloud ERP model with a single ERP solution that can be implemented all at once, or in phases according to your needs.

PROVEN VALUE / RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Nucleus Research has found that Microsoft Dynamics AX customers achieve returns in areas of increased visibility, increased productivity, and reduced costs:

• Users moving from disparate systems or paper-based processes can expect Microsoft Dynamics AX user productivity to increase by up to 30 percent.
• 75% of Microsoft Dynamics AX customers see a positive ROI in 23 months.
• 75% of Microsoft Dynamics AX customers reported improved operations and visibility.
• 56% of Microsoft Dynamics AX customers were able to directly reduce staffing costs.
• 44% of Microsoft Dynamics AX customers were able to reduce IT costs.

Learn more by reading the full reports: The Real ROI of Microsoft Dynamics AX ;The Value of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Manufacturers.  

ANALYSTS: "MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX IS A LEADER"

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has been positioned in the Leaders quadrant of the Nucleus Research "Technology Value Matrix - First Half 2012 Enterprise Applications". The Value Matrix is based on functionality and usability, the two core measures that Nucleus has found indicate an application’s ability to deliver initial ROI and, ultimately, maximum value over time. The Value Matrix evaluates products that have a global presence and provide core functionality for finance and accounting, human resources, manufacturing, supply chain management, project management, and customer relationship management. (May 2012)

Microsoft Dynamics AX has been positioned in the Leaders quadrant of the Gartner Inc. "Magic Quadrant for Midmarket and Tier-2 Oriented ERP for Product-Centric Companies", a research report that evaluates global ERP products and that is specifically tailored for product-centric, midmarket companies with 100-1,000 employees and with annual revenue between $50 million and $1 billion. (December 2010)

Forrester Research, Inc., a leading independent research firm, cited Microsoft Dynamics AX as an order management hub solutions leader in "The Forrester Wave™: Order Management Hubs" (August, 2010).  

1.     1.  Conduct research on the Web Sites of either CIO Magazine or CFO Magazine for stories about ERP implementation successes and failures. Using specific examples, describe the reasons for the successes and failures. What conclusions can be reached?

ERP Systems are complex, and implementing one can be a difficult, time-consuming, and expensive project for a company.  The technology is tightly integrated and requires a commitment from all divisions and often a change in the way a company does business to make it work.  It can take years to complete and cost as much as $500 million for a large company.  Moreover, there is no guarantee of the outcome.

A notorious example of a failed ERP implementation is the Hershey Foods’ SAPAG’s R/3 implementation.  The company spent $112 million and 30 months on their ERP project.  When they went live in July 1999, the company experienced problems pushing orders through the system, resulting in shipping delays and deliveries of incomplete orders

Many reasons have been cited for the Hershey ERP failure.  One, the project was originally scheduled to take four years, but the company forced the implementation to go live in just 30 months.  Two, the company simultaneously implemented a customer-relations package and a logistics package, substantially increasing the overall complexity and employee learning curve.  Three, the company went live at their busiest time of the year, just before Halloween, and the resultant delays caused third quarter profits to fall by $151 million compared to the previous year

Conclusion:

There are as many reasons for successful ERP implementations as there are for failed projects.  However, success seems to often be measured by whether or not the project came in on time and under budget.  Whereas, fully utilizing the system to achieve improved business practices appears to be ignored.  Performance measures must be developed and standardized to give organizations a clearer picture of the benefits derived from Enterprise Resource Planning implementation.  Much has been written about and learned from some well-publicized successes and failures in ERP implementations.  Some of it has even been directly contradictory.  However, most agree on some basic rules:

·         Establish the business processes prior to selecting the software.

·         Staff the project team with members of the user community in addition to IT staff.

·         Develop an implementation plan and stick to it.

·         Train the users thoroughly on the process changes and flow of information in addition to the actual software.

·         The project doesn’t end with “go-live”, but must be continually monitored.