10 Key Points – Why Spreadsheet Automation?

Point 5 of 10 – You Simply Must Have Spreadsheet Automation during ERP Implementation or Upgrade.

Whilst ERP Vendors provide tools to populate your new ERP system or perform upgrades and Excelogy absolutely support use of these to protect your system integrity and on-going support, they can be a source of some concern  –

•  Standard routines may not fit your situation.  Software Vendors cannot provide proven conversion solutions to convert from every legacy system.  However, they often also provide alternative approaches via batch imports or APIs which can be more flexible.
• IF your legacy system’s database is modified ( or bespoke ), then standard upgrade or load routines may be inappropriate or provide unpredictable results.
• If you are consolidating from a number of systems to an integrated ERP package, then the above issues are compounded exponentially.
• Many/ most client implementations include interfaces to other applications – e.g. Product Lifecycle Management, E-Commerce, Retail, Warehouse Management, links to Extended Supply Chain (  to name but a few ).  It is necessary to ensure your transition does not adversely affect each and every one of these.
• If you are upgrading and skipping ERP Versions - going from an very old release to the latest and greatest, then not only will the platform invariably change, but you may need to run the upgrade in prescribed stages.  This can take considerable time and if any issues arise, it is difficult to establish where the problem occurred.  Vendors may even recommend full validation after each step.
• Inevitably you will not have an exact match of data from all systems; mandatory new-ERP fields often do not exist in your existing system, they need translating, aggregating or breaking down to more detail.   Often the requirement for this or other fine tuning will only surface very late in the project – sometimes as late as system testing.
• Any decision to leave optional or “reporting” fields blank ( to be added manually later ) should be challenged as our experience shows this rarely happens after Go-Live as priorities change and makes reporting difficult as some transactions contain these elements and some don't.
• Vendor conversion/ data load tools require you to present the data in their prescribed form. (For straightforward upgrades this is simply your existing system.)  Otherwise, you must provide the data strictly in this form – doing all necessary cleansing, extraction, field translation, summarisation and presentation to the defined format OR you can contract with the vendor ( or a third party ) to undertake this task.  The latter option can be rigid, expensive and we have seen many many instances when the size, cost and timescales of this exercise has been grossly underestimated during the sales process.
• Often the data load process to the new system can be broken down into steps – populate and validate the master/ static data first and then take the more dynamic data on Go-Live.  This needs careful management, especially if it extends over a significant timespan or you will see the two versions of the data drift apart.
• Whoever provides the data load routines, you will be responsible for validation of your data.  This can be a daunting task in itself – never mind the additional essential commitment to undertake full system testing.
• Due to the above, all but the simplest, standard ERP data migration/ conversion takes a considerable amount of time and must be thoroughly tested and rehearsed/ piloted.  Data creation and load is a sizeable element of the project and needs very careful planning and management. 

Before we address how Spreadsheet Automation can help with the above, there is another important element to consider -

It is widely recommended that major expenditure is always as a result of a detailed justification process.  For an ERP project, this is often undertaken in the form of ROI ( Return On Investment ) exercise – ideally a comprehensive, objective and scientific measure of many elements of the business and which becomes both the case-for and the measure-of how successful the implementation has been in meeting these criteria.  ROI should not only include traditional “hard” financial measures, but also include “soft” people or social factors even if a financial value cannot be attributed to them directly.  In order to define and measure the impact of your project therefore, it is necessary, as a company to identify and agree these measures and the current and the target values of each - from your existing ( As-Is ) system and your new ( To-Be ) solution.  Once this is done, a process should be put in place to measure all of these during the life of the project – an objective and scientific measure of the As-Is to the To-Be. 

To put it simply –

 If you don’t know Why you are going why go ?  If you don’t know Where you are or Where you are going – How do you know you are going the right way ? 

 

OK – It’s By No Means Easy !  How can Spreadsheet Automation Help ?

1.  Spreadsheet Automation can extract live data from any application into Microsoft Excel – the global reporting application of choice.  No need to learn another reporting application or “point” this at all of the applications involved.
2. Any Spreadsheet Automation training required is restricted to the extract of the data into Excel.  Often the task is split between two roles – a more technical person who creates a library of data extracts and traditional key users who use these extracts to create their own reports and analyses.  
3. Although it requires basic knowledge of the data itself, a user can generate Excel reports and set up reusable, standard routines to perform these extracts on demand and forward these as email, save on a shared file or intranet. 
4. Hence this is not a one-shot exercise and can be used repeatedly during validation, cleansing, pilot/ rehearsals and Go-Live.  AND they can be amended/ fine-tuned without major cost or delay if the initial requirements need to change.  
5. Once the raw data is in Excel, it is much easier to manipulate – highlight errors, remove duplication, add missing fields and translation can often be automated using standard Excel features.
6. Excel reports can be automatically filtered, populated and sent to specific users for manual entry and checking.
7. Excel reports become the source of csv or other format files to suit your Vendor’s load routines ( or APIs ).
8. Excel routines and presentation features can be used to assist data validation – record counts, hash totals, identify mismatches and other issues.
9. Within the same formatted or graphic management report, ROI measurements from both legacy and new systems can be used to monitor and manage the progress of the As-Is to the To-Be and hence the effectiveness of the entire project.
10. After Go-Live, Spreadsheet Automation will compliment your Vendors reporting capabilities providing a user-based superior reporting option which can include data from your other systems.
11. Spreadsheet Automation provides a low cost incremental alternative to a traditional Business Intelligence project. 

If you would like an informal, no-obligation discussion about ANY of these points, please do not hesitate to contact Excelogy – we don’t bite….. 

email us - info@excelogy.co.uk