A position
paper on the Eccma* website by data validation specialist Daryl
Crockett (Validus) reports a ‘marked decline’ in new SAP and Oracle
Financial implementations. While larger organizations have migrated to
the ‘promised land’ of mega ERP, many are suffering from a
post-implementation hangover with the realization that these highly
disruptive and costly deployments fail to bring the expected return on
investment. Crockett attributes the lacklustre performance to one
‘spectacularly under-emphasized’ risk, poor data. ‘The road to success
is littered with the bodies of senior managers and executives who
realized too late that they had a data problem.’
The concept
of data as an asset is relatively new in the business world and the
majority of ERP adopters are unprepared for the responsibilities of
data ownership. Companies that rely on IT-led technology initiatives
suffer especially as after systems are designed and implemented, the
data will be around ‘long after the consultants have collected their
frequent flyer miles and moved on to the next job!’
Crockett
advocates getting a handle on data quality before embarking on an ERP
implementation. The best place to start is with a master data quality
and governance program. Even this can be tricky as suppliers like to
make their products seem unique so that buyers can’t shop around. Items
in a material master are often poorly described or entered as free
text. Would-be master data cleansers will find free white papers,
presentations and data dictionaries on Eccma.org.
* Electronic commerce code management association.
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