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NFORM  ➢  ERP  ➢  3 Clues employees need SAP Help

Mike Hawryluk / January 20, 2017

3 Clues employees need SAP Help

SAP Help for SAP Workarounds Perth AustraliaThis article looks at SAP workarounds with fictionalised stories from experiences over the last 15 years. Each applies to any ERP system, and each one screams SAP Help needed!

A quick note on these stories

None of the stories below was written to embarrass individuals or businesses who may have these issues.  The stories are intended solely to provide a visual clue that an opportunity exists.

SAP Help required – Clue #1: Big piles of printouts

The manager of a production facility in Western Europe called for a review of processes in the purchasing department.

A Green Belt was called in to process map the purchasing process from requisition to receipt.  The ERP processes appeared to be well understood and working correctly.   Inventory transactions were correct, and finance had no complaints.  The Green Belt reported to the plant manager that everything was fine and the process should continue without change.

The manager didn’t accept the response.  There were too many delays occurring. She ordered the Green Belt and Purchaser to go back and review the process again.

On the second attempt, the following dialogue occurred:

GB: Why is there a giant pile of purchase orders on your desk?

P: Those are all of my outstanding purchase orders.

GB: Why do you need to print all of them?

P:  It’s very simple. When a part comes in to be received, the receiving clerk comes to see me.  We find the PO that the parts are for, and cross off the items that have come in.  That way we know exactly what has come in and what is outstanding.

Comments on “piles of printouts.”

Ok, the writing is corny, (wow Mike terrible) but the situation is real and not uncommon.  In fairness to our purchasing officer, you will see versions of this example in every area of business.  Further, it’s unlikely that most plant managers would know to look for the issue or even that it was an issue.

I see this approach to managing tasks a lot.  In some cases, the individuals are very passionate about their piles of paper, and there is significant sensitivity required.

SAP Help for big piles of printouts

Show the user the one transaction needed to see the list of open purchase orders and train them how to set up their variants.

SAP Help required – Clue #2: Excel files that shouldn’t be excel files

Microsoft Excel Purchase Order - SAP Help
Microsoft Excel Purchase Order

Examples of these excel files include:

  • Purchase orders
  • Sales order acknowledgements
  • Invoices

And the list goes on and on.

Comments on “Excel files that shouldn’t be Excel files.”

An excel based Purchase order when you have any reasonably sized ERP system is a clear sign of a workaround.  It’s very likely there are more serious issues beneath.

In this one example it’s likely we would see:

  • Associated manual general ledger entries putting unnecessary work on Finance
  • System MRP cancellation messages on purchase orders because the team are not working on the system plan
  • Excess and obsolete inventory build-up
  • Inaccurate cash flow planning
  • Incorrect items ordered

SAP help for manual document workarounds

My first suggestion is SHUT IT DOWN!  The longer response is probably two articles long.  In these cases, a business needs to work on upskilling the individuals and changing the culture.  You need to get to a point where the staff understand the danger of such workarounds.

SAP Help required – Clue #3: “MRP doesn’t work”

MRP, when managed correctly, is extremely effective.  In one facility I was responsible for I watched inventory drop from over 15Million USD to under 8 Million after the implementation of SAP.  This inventory reduction occurred without any significant shortages.
That said, it is extremely common for businesses to either:
  • Not turn MRP on out of fear
  • Ignore MRP completely
  • Use MRP partially

In one business, there was a regular complaint among the sales and production staff that required items for production were never on time.

The following issues were apparent:

  • Past due backlog was soaring
  • On time performance was below 50%
  • Air freight costs were extreme and often for items not required for the current order backlog
The person in charge was given a report that showed all of the sales orders with the status of each planned order. (Like a big giant MD4C for the SAP gurus reading this)  The immediate response was
MRP doesn’t work, and neither does that report.  We do things manually.  That way we get it right.

Comments on SAP MRP doesn’t work

99 times out of 100, the comment “MRP doesn’t work” means that there is training required on material masters, routeings and production bills of materials.  I have yet to come across a situation where SAP MRP failed.  This case is also likely to need a plan developed to address all of the potential data issues.

Conclusion

The above three cases are just some of the clues that indicate that there are problems with the use of SAP or ERP.  In each of these cases, there is a massive cost incurred as a result of the workarounds.  For resolution, I suggest bringing in either in-house training support or external support to correct the issue.

What are the workarounds that you’ve encountered and what are the clues?

NFORM provides SAP support and training based out of Perth, Australia, You can also see our SAP Services here.

We ask of you only two things: If you liked this post share it and tell us why in the comments.  If you don’t like it, let us know why in the comments.

 

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Filed Under: ERP Tagged With: SAP, SAP Training

About Mike Hawryluk

Mike Hawryluk is a SAP/ERP and Analytics Consultant based in Perth, Australia. He's an avid cricket fan, husband and father of 2.

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