Aligning Technology and Strategy

It's inevitable. Along with the growth of your company comes the need to centralize the increasing mass of data you produce. It's no longer enough to have your department managers functioning independently of each other and maintaining independent islands of data.

You need a single point of control-you need enterprise resource planning (ERP) integrated software that reduces input time, increases accuracy and yields reports that enable informed business decisions. ERP software provides the level of oversight and control that is absolutely necessary for you, as a manager or owner, to make sure that all of your resources are working toward the same goals. All of your data needs to operate together in real-time, aware of each action, reacting (and enabling you to react) quickly, correctly, and confidently.

Fox Run Systems & Solutions enables our customers to realize increased value from their ERP software applications investment...sooner. From implementation to best practices to optimization, you get the right ERP solution delivered by the right people, at the right time.

Fact

The Fox Run Systems & Solutions consultant team is a leader in Syteline ERP implementations. Fox Run Systems & Solutions consultants are Syteline ERP experts, working closely with all areas of business and manufacturing to provide the best solutions for our customers. Fox Run ERP Implementation services leverage years of experience and a global knowledge base. Each consultant is an experienced SyteLine consultant with knowledge gained from working with the product in real-world applications, not just education drawn from academia.

Value

A correctly configured and implemented ERP system increases out-of-the-box functionality, yields higher performance, requires less overall support, drives higher business value and lowers overall total cost of production. FoxRun consultants vast experience both using and implementing SyteLine makes them excellent resources to guide your enterprise through the transition process.

Our Implementation Strategy:

• Comprehensive Business Assessment
  Fox Run's Comprehensive Business Assessment is the first step and required for the successful implementation of a complex enterprise-wide ERP system. We take the time to interview all of the key employees at a company so we can gain an understanding of how the company operates today and share a vision of how it can operate more efficiently tomorrow. The Fox Run Comprehensive Business Assessment defines the current issues and goals and is then used as a guide for the implementation.
• Budgeting Process
  Developing an accurate budget is crucial to the success of the project. No one likes surprises and Fox Run works to minimize them. We use solid methodology and tools to determine the depth of training needed for success thereby minimizing the time and expense for training. To ensure the project stays on track the budget is updated weekly by line item.
• Data Conversion
  Using data currently stored in other sources can ease the transition into a new or upgraded version of an ERP system. Filtering out old or unwanted data is performed at this stage to ensure that the new system can run as efficiently as possible.
• Training & Education
  Fox Run provides hands-on customizable training so that the teams of our clients can quickly become self-sufficient competent uses of their ERP. Effective training is crucial to the long term success of the program to result in increased data analysis, reduced input time, and overall production cost controls.
• Pilot
  Pilots are used to identify operational responsibilities, to identify any new procedures needed, and to test procedures and policies documented during the training phase.

The installation of a system-wide ERP software solution is not a simple task.

To succeed, the project has several needs that must be satisfied in order for payback to come to fruition. Indeed, implementation of a new ERP system means dedication to the project by both Fox Run Systems & Solutions and the company ERP team. First and foremost, all ERP implementations need an executive to champion the project. In short, ERP implementation is not just an IT project—it’s a company-wide endeavor mandating the management of planning, tasking, and control. It must also be remembered that there are always pressures on implementation deadlines and the tendency to look for shortcuts (as is the case in many other areas of business). These will not work in an ERP implementation since compromises in the short term will always turn into major problems in the long term. In this regard, there is an importance placed upon knowing just how your business has changed over the years since it moved from one planning/shop control system to another.

Finally, when it comes to transitioning from the old system to the new ERP system, it’s vital to make it as rapid as is feasible—without compromising production, quality, and customer service. In a staged implementation process, there needs to be a constant awareness that not all data is dynamic—but some is. This is one reason, an important reason, behind the simple fact that running the new system parallel to the old system with dynamic data is very difficult. At the same time, though, parallel running will often reveal problems in both the old and the new system, therefore allowing a way to monitor the implementation in stages that are constantly building upon and improving each other. This is not to say that software problems should be tolerated indefinitely, indeed such delays are usually not conducive to delivering business benefits. So, getting implementation right the first time takes a concerted effort and focus of attention on the part of all personnel—shop floor, management, and administration. Only with such dedication can a company see the dream of a single-system ERP software program come to life and serve as a platform for continuous improvement and growth.