E-Business and ERP: Rapid Implementation and Project Planning

Rating:
Summary: Packed with Knowledge!
Review: Implementing new software into your company's core businesses processes is a painful procedure. Technically challenged readers might well find some pain in the pages of this book, but the agony is no fault of the author. The topic at hand, integrating new software applications packages with current systems, is one of the most complex and difficult challenges in all of business. We from getAbstract recommend that you take your medicine like a man (or a woman) and read this comprehensive guide to meshing new software with your old business. You are sure to benefit from its practical strategies and management techniques, as will your company.

Rating:
Summary: Structured, Realistic and Well Thought Out
Review: This book covers what it takes to successfully manage a rapid implementation project for any enterprise-wide application. It does so in a structured and realistic manner that addresses risks, critical success factors and common deliverables. Project management is much more than common sense - it requires a process and skillful use of PM techniques, such as those contained in PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). This is reinforced by the appalling number of IT projects that either fail or are cancelled. While this book doesn't go deeply into specific PM techniques, nor does it especially align to the PMBOK, it does provide a realistic framework. It also gives a complete list of risks and barriers to success that you'll encounter in ERP and other complex systems projects.

I especially like the way the author decomposes the systems into layers and the project approach into phases. These allow you to step back and see the big picture, and to do a better job of estimating scope, complexity and required resources before embarking on the project. The project management approach itself is solid, and is linked to critical success factors that will make or break any project. He also provides excellent advice on team management, and especially team communications and cross functions.

Managing complex projects are not easy, and this book contains no short cuts. It does show you how to plan and control a rapid implementation project for any enterprise system, and if the advice and general approach provided in this book is heeded and followed your chances for success will be dramatically improved. Just don't let anyone who thinks it's a matter of plain common sense anywhere near the project because you'll find the project to be just another statistic in the boneyard of failed IT projects.

Rating:
Summary: Structured, Realistic and Well Thought Out
Review: This book covers what it takes to successfully manage a rapid implementation project for any enterprise-wide application. It does so in a structured and realistic manner that addresses risks, critical success factors and common deliverables. Project management is much more than common sense - it requires a process and skillful use of PM techniques, such as those contained in PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). This is reinforced by the appalling number of IT projects that either fail or are cancelled. While this book doesn't go deeply into specific PM techniques, nor does it especially align to the PMBOK, it does provide a realistic framework. It also gives a complete list of risks and barriers to success that you'll encounter in ERP and other complex systems projects.

I especially like the way the author decomposes the systems into layers and the project approach into phases. These allow you to step back and see the big picture, and to do a better job of estimating scope, complexity and required resources before embarking on the project. The project management approach itself is solid, and is linked to critical success factors that will make or break any project. He also provides excellent advice on team management, and especially team communications and cross functions.

Managing complex projects are not easy, and this book contains no short cuts. It does show you how to plan and control a rapid implementation project for any enterprise system, and if the advice and general approach provided in this book is heeded and followed your chances for success will be dramatically improved. Just don't let anyone who thinks it's a matter of plain common sense anywhere near the project because you'll find the project to be just another statistic in the boneyard of failed IT projects.

Rating:
Summary: Strong project approach, some gaps - overall: valuable
Review: This book provides a sound approach to planning and managing an ERP rapid implementation project, but falls short of the mark on the "E-Business" part alluded to in the title.

First, the strengths: the rapid implementation roadmap that is the topic of chapter 2 is thorough and well thought out. The phases are commit [to the project], start, manage, analyze, configure, test, change, support, convert, prepare, go live and improve. The roadmap gives both structure to a project plan and breaks it down into manageable pieces.

Chapter 3 covers vendor selection, and provides excellent material for developing RFIs and RFPs and evaluating responses from vendors. Among the best practices given here are identifying key requirements, focusing on what is essential and using a proof-of-concept approach. Managing the rapid implementation, chapter 4's topic, is comprehensive and is consistent with sound project management practices. Key areas that are particularly strong address taking a deliverables-based approach, managing scope and project issue management. These are the ingredients of a successful implementation and the author covers them in depth. Chapter 5 covers the people part of the equation by providing guidance on how to organize the implementation team, roles and responsibilities, and managing change. My favorite two chapters are 6 and 8. Chapter 6 addresses nine essential factors for success, the best (in my opinion) is the rule that no reengineering is allowed during the implementation. This is sage advice because if you attempt to take advantage of opportunities to reengineer you are going to quickly drift outside of project scope, not to mention slowing to a crawl what is supposed to be a rapid implementation. Chapter 8, my other favorite chapter, gives a list of "project accelerators", which are methods or processes that will ensure that the rapid implementation is rapid.

Weaknesses: (1) The author does not address E-business despite the title of this book. I am going to assume that the publisher insisted on including that in the title. (2) There are some glaring gaps in the author's "eXtended Enterprise System" (EXS) framework. He cites six layers using the technical infrastructure as the foundation and moving up through a transactional backbone, advanced applications, cross-application repository and a management dashboard as the capstone. What is missing from the picture is middleware, including transaction monitors, message queuing and the other "glue" that holds together an enterprise architecture. While this book is more suited for project managers, the omission is serious because the middleware layer increases the scope and complexity of an ERP project as well as the cost. (3) Technology support issues (chapter 7) was not strong in identifying release criteria to production, not the artifacts that production needs in order to support an ERP system. Release to production is a critical point in the life cycle that affects IT service delivery, as well as operational considerations (performance and capacity baselines, workload scheduling, etc.).

Recommendation: The rapid implementation approach given in this book is complete and attainable. The author gives practical advice that can be applied to not only ERP implementations, but other system implementations as well. As such, this is a good book for project managers and upper IT management. If you note the gaps I cited above and take them into account, this book will lead you through a successful implementation. I am subtracting a star for the misleading title and the weaknesses, but still highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Too shallow
Review: To read this book is a waste of time, to buy it is a waste of money. Too much of it is common sense (given that project management is to a good degree made of common sense) and not specifically adjusted to E-Business/ERP projects. The general approach is to do everything faster, but the authors forget that changing volume or quantity of work is affecting the quality too. To take one step out of a 'normal' project plan (realization) and rename it 'rapid implementation' is not enough to live up to the new (and old) challenges that come with implementing E-business and/or ERP solutions. The title of the book is misleading, as the authors are not presenting approaches that should be taken by project managers faced with such an implementation. No specific risks or solutions are laid out that come with such an implementation i.e. interface development, integrating different applications, data exchange etc. If you are an experienced project manager looking for a guidebook this book tells you nothing new, if you are an aspiring project manager this book is not providing enough.