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| When you should customize your ERP and Why ?? |
While some suggest that ERP customization still exists as a
critical operational element, during the last 10 years, systems have become
more internally adept. Consequently, these advances have allowed today’s systems
to provide for levels of processing and reporting that largely render the
entire concept of customization moot.
On top of this happy result, progressions in complexity and
stability have also come to the fore, since the more customization any ERP experiences,
the higher the chance of experiencing some unexpected behavior. This kind of
event usually requires some type of remedial action - this can sometimes be
resolved internally, but at other times, only third-party support can overcome.
Whether internal or external support is required, time and
money is typically lost. And regardless of the size of a particular enterprise,
unplanned support money is always better directed toward other, more
progressive, operational needs.
So after all is said and done, when does an ERP system
require customization, and why?
If you must customize
your ERP, do it later
Systemically, commercial ERP platforms are created on the
basis of matrices of fixed code instructions, guided by various subjective
operational requirements and limited by the sophistication of a company’s
development capabilities. This means that, other than scale of use, differences
between ERP functionality, its UI, and other relevant operational bits are
primarily defined by what brand managers and developers define as one or more
commercial advantages.
Whether a particular system is driven to showcase the
simplicity of its UI, its depth of reporting, speed of processing, or easy
integration with third-party apps, ERPs live and die on the basis of quality
assurance tests, and are measured on the basis of entirely subjective levels of
judgment. As a practical matter, this recognition means that while a system may
work just fine as long as its technical ‘envelope’ isn’t exposed to anything
but itself, as soon as you open a port, or create an unknown customization, all
bets are immediately off.
As Rebecca Wettemann, an ERP analyst with Nucleus Research
Inc. said in a 2011 article in CIO Magazine; “We…see more and more CIOs going
the 'less customization' route…10 years ago, they did a lot of customizations.
But I would say that the majority today are going 90 percent out of the box —
with very vanilla installations. It gives you a more predictable and cheaper
deployment and then obviously, it makes upgrades less disruptive and less
costly."
Six years down the road, Ms. Wettermann’s analysis of ERP
customization still applies, but only in this case the 10% value has fallen
further.
That said, there will be times when you are going to want to
alter one or more central elements by customizing a process, report or other
kind of script; and that fine. However, if you do, be sure that you know what
going on under the hood, before you turn the ignition.
