It's hard to believe, but we're nearing the end of 2023, and it's a good time to reflect on your goals and plan for the coming year. If your plans for 2024 include upgrading your Infor ERP system, then Crossroads RMC is here to help. With over 35 years of industry experience, we can ensure a successful upgrade that meets your expectations in terms of results, timeline, and budget.

Our expert consultants can offer the following services:

1. Custom Component Review: We'll assess your custom components to identify and eliminate any that are no longer necessary.

2. Benefits Analysis: We'll provide a detailed analysis of the specific benefits your company can achieve by upgrading to the latest version.

3. User Training: Our team will train your users on the latest functionality to maximize the benefits of the upgrade.

4. Ongoing Support: While the project team focuses on the upgrade, we'll provide support to your users on the old version to minimize disruptions.

5. Project Management: We'll handle the entire upgrade project from start to finish, ensuring a smooth transition.

6. Resource Augmentation: We can supplement your existing project team with 1-2 key resources to enhance expertise.

7. Integration Development: We can develop integrations with third-party systems that are essential for your business when upgrading.

We all remember our school days and the nervousness that we felt when it came time to get our grades. Even if we were doing well, we were still nervous. Sometimes we experienced that same nervousness when it came time for a performance review in our job. Nervousness…sometimes dread…knowing that our performance maybe was not what we wanted it to be, or others expected it to be. 

Somehow I think the feelings that we felt in our past often find ways to creep into our present. I have seen this recently when I suggested an ERP system review to one of our customers. They immediately became flustered and thought about every possible problem that they knew existed within the software and how they were currently using it.

An ERP system review or more specifically a Utilization Review is NOT a personal report card, or performance review showing how well a particular individual does his/hers/their job, nor is it an attack on the team that implemented the software. 

An ERP Utilization Review will:

Transformation: (definition)  A thorough and dramatic change.

We all dream about it….how can we transform ourselves into something better…something more desirable? Maybe it is our appearance that we want to improve, maybe it is our physical strength and stamina, or maybe it is our mental toughness.

Have we thought about transformation when it comes to our businesses? More specifically, our ERP systems that are the lifeblood of our businesses?

When it comes to this type of transformation, we’re talking about a digital transformation. This means taking...

MEASURE WHAT YOU WANT TO IMPROVE!

Six simple words, but put together they convey a powerful concept that can transform manufacturing companies. It’s a basic concept that’s hard to argue with: Collect data, see where the data leads you, and make changes that have a positive impact on the data. Repeat often.

If your company is manufacturing a product, you’re...

What items should be MPS planned, and what items should be MRP planned…

Master Scheduled Items are those items that are finished goods, or service items, that receive their requirements either specifically from Independent demand, or both Dependent and Independent demand.

• Independent Demand is...

Did you implement your ERP system 5 years ago… or maybe 20 years ago? At the time, it was like a brand new car… sleek, fast, top-of-the-line, and fuel-efficient. And although it may have needed a few minor “adjustments”, overall you were very pleased. Fast forward to today. Does it still have that new car smell? Does it run as efficiently as it used to? Do you know how to fix a problem when it occurs?

While ERP systems are certainly designed to last, over time, your business changes, your customers’ needs change, employees change and you are left with a system that may run “fine”, but you certainly don’t feel the same way about it as you did when it was brand new.

So the good news is that you CAN restore that “new car smell” with a utilization review, or business process review.

What is a Utilization or Business Process Review and Why Do I Need One?
Simply put, a business process review is an...

MARCH… "in like a lion and out like a lamb"

Problems = Risk

Boy, it sure seems like we’ve seen our fair share of March “LIONS” over the past few years, wouldn’t you agree? Those lions have manifested mostly as external global problems outside of the control of any given person or manufacturing operation. As we know, problems = risk.

So, how do businesses respond to risk, specifically when it comes to their ERP system? We all deal with risks in our jobs every day. It is our response to the risk that makes all the difference. Creating short-term, midterm, and long-term response strategies ensure that a company can not only handle a fast-changing situation or emergency but also make the investments needed to seize opportunities and become more resilient.

To create these response strategies, manufacturers should examine:

• How did we get here?
• Where are we now?
• Where are we headed?
• What to do about it?

In order to really dig into each of these areas, our customers have successfully partnered with us to review a particular part of their business that they feel is at risk and sometimes have asked us to review everything…soup to nuts. This review is done through an ERP Utilization Review. In this review, we can dig into such things as...

The calendar is fresh, the resolutions are made and the opportunities are endless!

So, it is time to dive right in and start tackling your to-do’s?

Right??

...Not just yet!

First, you need to take the time to think about your ERP strategy.

What’s an ERP strategy?