Treat your ERP System like a marrage

I came across an insightful post on ERP systems:

...when you purchase an ERP system, you should treat it like a marriage. Not like the crappy marriage your parents had, but a really good one like on The Cosby Show. If you don’t like one aspect of life with your spouse, you shouldn’t go have an affair. Instead, you should work really hard to find a way to adapt the marriage to meet both your needs. Its the same with ERP systems. If you don’t like one thing it does, don’t give up. Instead, invest the appropriate resources to make it work correctly. Otherwise, don’t by an ERP system at all!

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Hard to believe it was written by a HR practitioner ;-)

Generic vs. Product Specific Skills/Knowledge

I recently had the pleasure of attending a HRMS conference attended by SAP, Oracle & PeopleSoft specialists. I was surprised to find there are many common/non-vendor specific issues. A definitive set of Competencies to work with is a good example.

Competencies may be utilized throughout the employee life-cycle, including: Talent Acquisition/Recruitment, Performance Management, Remuneration, Training & Development. In many organizations the responsibility for each phase of the Life-Cycle lies with different parts. At best there may be a slightly different interpretation of a common set of competencies. At worst, separate parts of the organization may use totally different competencies.

Whilst much of the skills/knowledge required to successfully implement a software solution are specific to the application, there are many common skills that can be applied to any system. These are the skills that enable a consultant to easily move to new versions of the system in which they specialize and/or to transition to a different product. These are the skills that are key to the long term relevance of a consultant.