Introduction
An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system covers the techniques and concepts employed for the integrated management of businesses as a whole from the viewpoint of effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. They have many advantages both direct and indirect. The direct advantages include improved efficiency, information integration for better decision making, faster response time to customer queries etc. The indirect benefits include better corporate image, improved customer goodwill, customer satisfaction, and so on.
Many organizations and businesses in the world today as part of their strategic development plan, advocate for ERP solutions which would help to re-engineer their business processes in order to accomplish their long-term goals.
The ERP market is very competitive and fast growing market, which is attributed to three primary factors:
a) ERP vendors are continuing to expand market presence by offering new applications such as supply chain management (SCM), sales force automation, customer relationship management (CRM) and human resource.
b) To sustain their rapid growth, ERP vendors sell more licenses into their installed base.
c) While ERP originated in the manufacturing market, ERP usage has spread to nearly every type of enterprise including retail, utilities, the public sector and healthcare organizations.
Among the industry players include SAP (Systeme Anwendungen Produkte), Oracle, QAD, SSA, Jenzabar, Datatel, Peoplesoft, Baan, JD Edwards, Scala, Navision, Sungard just to mention but a few. Even within themselves they categorise each other into High-end and low-end range. In Kenya a cross section of companies are indeed on the warpath of undertaking or planning to invest in an ERP business solution. The future will see fierce battle for market share resorting to mergers and acquisition for strategic and competitive advantage.
There is much hype when the vendors are out to move their products, and will always sell and tell you about their success stories and how you will leapfrog into your vision. They never tell you of any failures of such ERP projects, and there seems to be no attention paid to lessons learnt from the famous FoxMeyer Corporation scenario, which lead to its bankruptcy and the lengthy legal battles in the courtrooms with their consultants thereafter. “My basic principle is that you don’t make decisions because they are easy, you don’t make them because they are cheap, you don’t make them because they are popular but you make them because they are right”- Theordore Hesburgh.
If not properly planned for, the investment may drive you out of business. The epicenter for the problems that rock the corporate world as far as ERP or in general IT project failure is concerned has remained the same over the years.
The following examples are typical of the projects that failed from statistics available from The Standish group CHAOS database
· The Hershey foods ERP system implementation failure lead to massive distribution problems and loss of 27% market
· The FoxMeyer drug ERP system implementation failure lead to the collapse of the entire company
· The IRS project on taxpayer compliance took over a decade to complete and cost the country unanticipated $50 billion
· The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicle conversion to new software took eight years to complete and public outcry eventually killed the entire project
· State of Florida welfare system was plagued with numerous computational errors and $260 million in overpayments
· AMR Corp, Budget Rent A Car, Hiltons Corporation, Marriott “ confirm” project crumbled having spend over $125 million over four years
· Snap-On Inc project to convert to a new order-entry costed the tools company $50 million in lost sales for the first half of 1998
· Greyhound Lines Inc. “Trips” reservation and bus-dispatch system” failed having spent $6 million
· Norfolk Southern Corp. “Systems integration with merger target Consolidated Rail Corp”. failed having lost more than $113 million in business
· Oxford Health Plans Inc. “New billing and claims-processing system based on Unix International and Oracle Corp. databases” resulted in hordes of doctors and patients angry about payment delays and errors.
· Universal Oil Products Project “ Software for estimating project costs and figuring engineering specifications” resulted in unusable systems
IT projects regularly fall short – and quite few are abandoned entirely. Many IT failures have to do with perceptions and expectations rather than absolute bankruptcy of purpose. Most of the so called failures are better classified as “discouraging successes” events wherein the major purpose is accomplished, but not without a good deal of frustration and inefficiency – and a sour taste in the mouth of many users.
Project risks
The FoxMeyer Corporation Delta III project had the following project risks
i) Environmental- the management had little or no control. They depended 100% on consultants and vendors who obscured them from gaining control. The focus of the project dramatically changed prompting the projects costs to escalate
ii) Execution- the project lacked skilled and knowledgeable personnel. FoxMeyer did not have the necessary skills in-house and was relying on Andersen consulting to implement SAP R/3 and integrate it with an automated warehouse system from Pinnacle. Over 50 consultants were inexperienced and their turnover was high.
iii) Scope- FoxMeyer was an early adopter of SAP R/3. After the project began, FoxMeyer signed a large contract to supply university health system consortium (UHC). This event exacerbated the need for the unprecedented volume of transactions on their HP servers which they could not cope
iv) Customer mandate – the commitment from the top management and users. This was not the case for some of the senior management. There was a morale problem among some of its warehouse workers. The pinnacle warehouse automation integrated with SAP R/3 threatened their jobs. With the closing of the three warehouses, the transition to the first automated warehouse was a disaster. Disgruntled workers damaged inventory, and orders were not filled, and mistakes occurred as the new system struggled with volumes of transactions
Project Factors
Factors that attribute to escalation of costs include but not restricted to
a) Project factors- there was a perception that continued investment could produce a large payoff. FoxMeyer expected a saving of $40 million annually.
b) Psychological factors- the consultants had prior history of success that encouraged them to continue the project. “we delivered an effective system, just as we have for thousands of other clients” (Computergram international 1998). This created the impression that the project would radically improve the company’s critical operations. FoxMeyer bit more that what it could chew but embarking on a fast track project with unskilled staff.
c) Social factors- the consulting company did not externally justify the project. De-escalating the project through abandonment would have meant bad publicity
d) Organization factors-The advocates for the project later were forced to resign because of the delays in realizing the projected savings. A change in management was needed in order to control the increasing costs – which was too late.
Recipe for failure
· When the management is not controlling the scope of the project especially when you expect the consultant to provide a magic bullet, is a recipe for failure.
· Changing the sails in midstream, by certain deliverables expected within a third of the documented times and volumes is a recipe for failure.
· By engaging in other corporate projects competing for the meager finances midway, is a recipe for failure
· By not having proper change management policies and procedures, is a recipe for failure
· By going for consultants without prior experience or ERP solutions in which you are the only company within your industry, could be a recipe for failure
· If you do not have a knowledge transfer inscribed in the consulting contract, is a recipe for failure
· If the vendor does not understand your business, is a recipe for failure
· If the project has no clear phases, deliverables and quality control components, is a recipe for failure
· If you have not re-engineered your business processes to be compatible with the capabilities of the technology, is a recipe for failure
· Having multiple vendors within the one project, is a recipe for failure
· Not having an external project audit committee, is a recipe for failure
· Not having a clear end-user training program to transfer skills to employees, is a recipe for failure
· Having the project run as a “one-man show”, is a recipe for failure
· Having the management over- committed (excessively ambitious, prompting unrealistic deadlines), is recipe for failure
· Team member not being accountable for actions, is recipe for failure
· Low morale within team, is recipe for failure
· Unclear statement of requirement, is a recipe for failure
· In no standard implementation methodology use, is a recipe for failure
· Inadequate requirements definition (current processes are not adequately
addressed), is a recipe for failure
· Poor ERP package selection (the package does not address the basic
business functions of the client), is a recipe for failure
· Inadequate resources employed by the client, is a recipe for failure
· Internal resistance to changing the ‘old’ processes, is a recipe for failure
· A poor fit between the software and users procedures, is a recipe for failure
· A bottom up approach is employed (the process is not viewed as a top
management priority), is a recipe for failure
· The client does not properly address and plan for the expenses involved, is a recipe for failure
· If any functional gaps have not been identified (GAP analysis), is a recipe for failure
· If the implementation does not take into account future technological convergence, is a recipe for failure
Conclusion
The lessons learnt from the failed ERP projects should be a wake-up call for corporations currently in ERP projects or contemplating to go that way. The lessons learnt can as well, serve as a harbinger for failure or bankruptcy by serving as the jetty for launching the rocket to propel you out of the business orbit. The experiences highlighted provide a litmus test on how to avoid ERP failure. There is one final aspect to be considered in any degree of project failure. All success is rooted in either luck or failure. If you begin with luck, you learn nothing but arrogance. However, if you begin with failure and learn to evaluate it, you also learn to succeed. Failure begets knowledge. Out of knowledge you gain wisdom, and it is with wisdom that you can become truly successful.
References
Alexis Leon, “ERP Demystified”, 2000
Judy E Scott, “The FoxMeyer Drugs Bankruptcy”, 2004
Kim watch “Future Watch”, 2000
Lloyd Rain “ IT Project Failures”, 2005
Computerworld “Top 10 Corporate Information Technology Failures”, 2000
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A Recipe and Ingredients for ERP Failure
July 17th, 2010 
admin Whip and Era in Sports Handicapping
July 16th, 2010 admin 
Bill James, the baseball numbers guru is being feature on 60 Minutes. But how do his numbers apply to baseball betting?
We are often asked what our best sport is in handicapping. At GodsTips.com we’ve gotten to the point where we are at the top of the list in every sport, so it’s difficult to single one out. However there is no question that our mastery of baseball in the early 1990s is what vaulted me to the point where professional sports handicapping would be my lifelong profession.
Yet, to be perfectly frank, while continuing to improve upon our results in other sports, over the last year and a half, I returned to the pack in baseball. It was time for some serious introspection. Fortuitously, going back to my handwritten spiral notebook scorephone days, I saved my picks, analysis and results from decades past.
Was I doing something differently all of a sudden? After a few hours of soul searching, it became obvious I slowly but surely abandoned some of the basics that got me to the pinnacle in the first place.
In some respects, I became a victim of my own success. In 2005, I had probably my best year winning what we call “Dandy Dogs”. Dandy Dogs are moneyline dogs of 140 or more (includes runline plays getting back 140 or more).
The downside was it led me to develop a bias against even small favorites. I’ve known and preached for years the basics of risk/reward ratio. For example, a 150 favorite needed to have a 60 percent chance of winning to be a break even bet or based on our threshold had to have 70 percent chance of winning to be a premium play. Yet there were nights I’d go 3-4 and still win money because of betting all dogs. Bit by bit, I developed personal chalk reluctance in betting.
Too many well-handicapped favorites of more than 120 became passes for me simply because of my increasing acute prejudice against laying the juice. Since returning to my roots, the 120-160 favorites have been a major reason behind my return to MLB handicapping prominence.
But even with picking our baseball underdogs, we became victims of the successes we had in other sports. We take great pride in being ahead of the curve with modern technology. The Internet made every team the “local team” from a handicapping standpoint because once regional information is now so easily accessible.
The World Wide Web has been a boon to us in preseason NFL with accurate key player rotation and motivation info. In college football and basketball it has revolutionized the way sharp players bet.
While super systems have been a great addition in all sports including baseball, our self scrutiny brought to light that we were allowing the Billy Beane and Bill James inspired new fangled stats to convince us out of winning picks.
In our first two decades of handicapping, we have had significant success with big underdogs by riding either hot but non-elite pitchers and/or fading struggling star pitchers. Yet information overload had us finding a fly ball/ground ball ratio or walks/strikeout percentage that talked us out of the same kind of plays that for decades won for us.
Let there be no doubt whatsoever that ERA and WHIP are still the two most important statistics in foretelling future results of pitchers. Likewise in handicapping offense we have streamlined with great success. Just like for 20 plus years, we returned to utilizing on base percentage and slugging percentage foremost.
We never stop fine tuning our techniques but our introspection reminds us sometimes we need to remember “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. Since returning to our roots in baseball handicapping, not-so-coincidently we have returned to the results our clients and we desire.
With all other sports, utilizing the Internet and cutting edge computer software is imperative to staying ahead of the curve, but MLB is the clear exception. Baseball handicapping is much like playing the game: master the basic fundamentals.
Joe Duffy’s sports betting selections are at www.GodsTips.com He is former General Manager of the Freescoreboard scorephone network and CEO of OffshoreInsiders.com, the premier hub of world-class handicappers.
About the Author:
Joe Duffy is the CEO of OffshoreInsiders.com
and head handicapper of Dream Team at GodsTips.com. He is perhaps the most published and respected
author on sports gambling theory, NFL betting, college football pointspread
winners against the betting odds and ever facet of sports betting. He has been
featured as a regular guest as the handicapping expert on the Rick Ballou Show on Sporting News Radio, Gamblers Zoo national
radio show, Pro Fantasy Sports Internet radio and Grogan’s Fantasy Football
show among several others.
His articles on sports gaming strategy have been featured
in top publications and websites. His free daily news and notes are considered
a “must read” for the serious do-it-yourself handicapper. A former college football, basketball and
baseball play-by-play man, Duffy is a long time veteran of the sports gaming
industry first gaining prominence as “JD of the ACC” scorephone handicapping
legend.
He also was the founding General Manager of
Freescoreboard.com, where he led a worldwide search committee to find the
world’s best handicappers.
When circumstances led to a marketing arrangement with MVP
Sportsbook and BetOnSports to discontinue, Godspicks became the Dream Team at GodsTips.com and the elite handicappers from
Freescoreboard/Scorephone made the transition to OffshoreInsiders.com
Microsoft Great Plains Installation Highlights
July 12th, 2010 admin 
Current version of Microsoft Dynamics GP, 10.0 is available on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2000. If you are on older version, we’ll also give you advise on where to find information. We’ll begin with Microsoft Great Plains architecture and technology inside:
1. Application Dictionary. Core dictionary is DYNAMICS.DIC, the dictionaries and their products are listed in Dynamics.set file. These dictionaries are interpreted by Dex.exe application. GP proprietary architecture is Microsoft Dexterity: Dex forms, reports, fields, string and other objects as well as Dex sanscript scripts are stored in the Dex dictionary. Often we have this question asked – what is DEX_ROW_ID. The answer – this is unique identifier, required by Great Plains Dexterity internal logic
2. Connection to SQL Server. GP talks to MS SQL Server databases via ODBC connection. If you are on Windows 64 bit platform, at this time you will have to deploy 32 bit ODBC DSN
3. SQL Server Databases. DYNAMICS is system database, which stored users and security, company definitions plus currencies and system-wide multicurrency settings among other system things. Company database stores settings, master records, work, open and historical transactions for one legal entity – company. You may install unlimited number of companies at this time. SQL objects: tables, stored procedures and so-called atomic stored procedures (their names begin with zdp_). GP doesn’t use SQL referential integrity, “integrity” is programmed on business logic level
4. Installation process. First GP installing copies GP user application with or without SQL objects (SQL objects are required to load Dynamics and company database if you are doing fresh install or initiate upgrade process if this is your purpose). You can do GP workstation initial installation on the server – this will allow you to load GP server side faster, but this is not required – you can install first workstation on Vista or XP machine and load server side remotely. When you install first GP workstation, Great Plains Utilities applications starts automatically to begin Server installation process
5. Additional GP products: Project Accounting, Fixed Assets, Manufacturing, Collection Management are good examples – each of these products has its own Dexterity dictionary file – you can recognize its name by reviewing Dynamics.set file
6. Additional GP workstations install. For end users you do not install SQL objects, plus GP Utilities synchronize Dynamics dictionary with GP database settings (GL account format)
7. Customization install. If somebody did Great Plains Dexterity customizing for you, they typically provide you with so-called Dexterity chunk file, this file you copy into GP workstation folder and when you launch Great Plains next time, this chunk file will be integrated (.cnk file will be transformed into Dex dictionary file and its record will be added to Dynamics.set file)
8. Integration Manager installation. IM is currently under the process of being rewritten in eConnect (integration tool, which is written in SQL encrypted stored procedures with various interfaces to be exposed to BizTalk, Web Services, ADO.Net, etc), so if you will decide to install eConnect connector, you will need to specify your domain user account for eConnect security
9. Great Plains Software old versions installation notes. If you have Great Plains Dynamics 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 7.0 or 7.5, these versions were available on Btrieve, later on purchased by Pervasive Software and renamed into Pervasive SQL 2000 and Ctree/Faircom. Pervasive/Btrieve Client-Server version requires altering for Pervasive SQL Server settings, so if you just need single user GP workstation for transactions lookup only, we recommend you to follow single user workstation installation instructions. Both Ctree and Btrieve versions have Location Translation technology, please give us a call on location translation as it is no longer supported by Microsoft Tech support and is not trivial in its consideration
10. Great Plains Accounting for DOS, MS Windows and Mac. This dinosaur support was terminated in around 2001, however there is migration path to Microsoft Dynamics GP, plus you should get discount on GP modules purchase. It is not practical to try GPA migration to GP on your own, we recommend you to have Great Plains technical consultant to do the migration job.
If you like us to help you with GP upgrade, integration, software licenses, reporting, please give us a call
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Kids Party Games Are The Secret To A Fun And Enjoyable Birthday Party
July 3rd, 2010 admin 
Is it possible for everyone to enjoy your kids birthday party? Including you? The answer is yes. It just takes a few kids party games a little bit of planning and the following tips. You don’t need to pay an exorbitant amount of money to have a successful party. Say no to booking that clown, fairy or magician. Say no to booking that fancy restaurant or indoor play center. You can do it yourself, save money and most importantly enjoy the experience that much more. Your kids will love you for it.
A little preparation on your part will ensure the smooth running of the party. The point of this preparation is to maximize fun at the party. It will ensure you are not running around looking for bits and pieces of equipment for a particular game or trying to understand how a game is played. Fun is the name of the game and parents are entitled to have some fun too.
A checklist of the equipment you need and the order in which you intend to play the games you select is most helpful. This way you know that your party will run smoothly and be trouble free. Flowing from one game to the next will keep the kids so enthusiastic and excited you will be surprised how quickly the time flies.
Don’t worry about supplying enormous amounts of party food either. The kids will be so involved in the games, that the food will take a back seat to everything else. Some of the games you play will include food anyway, but in a much more interactive manner.
So come on parents, save yourself some money, give yourself a laugh and bring back the kid’s party that we all grew up with and loved.
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Our Top 10 Meeting Icebreakers
June 25th, 2010 admin 
Getting people comfortable in a group setting before a team meeting can be the best investment of ten to 15 minutes of time that you can make. Ice breakers get creative juices flowing, can increase the exchange of ideas, establish team identity, and create a sense of community. All of these items are important in forging top productive teams. But how do you get people to participate and not feel uncomfortable with an ice breaker?
For meetings in a business setting in which participants are professionals, ice breakers that require actions not normally associated with day-to-day behaviors in the office generally make people uncomfortable. Successful ice breakers for these type of groups generally consist of having attendees share memorable information with each other, create innovative ways to get people to introduce themselves to each other, or have group members collectively work on a problem where everyone has to contribute.
We’ve selected our top ten team meeting ice breakers that are sure to get your meeting participants relaxed and ready to focus on your agenda as well as to connect with others in the group.
1.Brainstorm!: Break the meeting into teams of four or five. Give each team a topic. Pick topics that are fun and simple like, “What would you take on a trip to the desert?” or “List things that are purple”. Give your teams two minutes, no more, and tell them “This is a contest and the team with the most items on their list wins.” Encourage the teams to write down as many things as they can and not to discuss anything, just list things as quickly as possible. At the end of two minutes, the team with the most items on their list wins! This helps people to share ideas without fearing what other people will think.
2. Same or Different: Divide the meeting into teams of three or four and give each team a large sheet of paper and then give each person a different colored marker. Have each person draw a large oval such that each oval overlaps with the other ovals in the center of the piece of paper. Give the group or groups, a theme that pertains to your meeting objectives. Ask the participants to write down at least five or more entries in the non-overlapping and mutually overlapping areas of their ovals. Give them five minutes, no more than that, to talk about their similarities and differences and write them in their own ovals on the paper. If there is more than one group, compare results and identify common themes in both parts of the diagrams and what light these similarities and differences shed on the purpose of the meeting. This helps team members develop an understanding of shared objectives and in a non-confrontational way learn how their views differ from others in the group.
3. Fact or Fiction: Have everyone write down three surprising things about themselves, two of which are true, and one of which is made up. Each person, in turn, reads their list and then the rest of the group votes on which “fact” they feel is the “false” one. If the group does not correctly pick a person’s made up “fact”, then that person wins. A group can have more than one winner. At the end, the whole group votes on which of the “winners” of the final round, had the most deceiving “fact”. This helps people get to know and remember their colleagues.
4. Free Association: The object of this ice breaker is to have small groups generate as many words or phrases as they can that are related to a particular topic that focuses on the objective of your meeting. Give the group or groups a key word you want them to associate with and then give them two minutes to list, as quickly as possible, as many words or thoughts that pop into their heads. For example, if your company is trying to decide on whether to reduce travel and increase the use of teleconferencing, you might use the word “teleconferencing” and have people list as many words or phrases they can that they associate with the key word. For example they might say: “saves money”, “saves time”, “impersonal”, “need to see other people”, “get distracted”, “sound quality”. This reveals what people are thinking, similarities in viewpoints, and possibly even problem areas or topics that need addressing or further discussion.
5. Nametags: Prepare nametags for each person and put them in a box. As people walk into the room, each person picks a nametag (not their own). When everyone is present, participants are told to find the person whose nametag they drew and introduce and say a few interesting things about themselves. When everyone has their own nametag, each person in the group will introduce the person whose nametag they were initially given and mention something of interest about that person. This helps participants get to know and remember each other.
6. Desert Island: Group people in teams of five or six and tell them they will be marooned on a desert island. Give them 30 seconds to list all the things they think they should take and each person has to contribute at least three items. At the end of 30 seconds, tell the teams they can only take three things. Have the person who suggested each item on the list tell why they suggested it and defend why their item should be one of the chosen three. This helps the team learn about how each of them thinks, get to know each other’s values, and how they solve problems.
7. Commonality Plus: Group your meeting participants at tables. At each table ask the group to list ten ways that everyone in that group is similar. Let them know that they cannot list body parts or clothing and that what they select cannot have anything to do with work. One person at the table should be tasked to make their list. At the end of your time limit have the group share their list with all meeting members. This is a great opportunity for your meeting attendees to learn about each other’s hobbies, families, and common interests.
8. Line Up: As people enter your meeting hand each one a piece of paper with a different number written on it. Ask the group to arrange themselves in numeric order without using their voices, hands, or showing their number. This helps the team to think of other ways to communicate with each other and to work together to achieve a common goal.
9. Meet and Greet Shoe Pile: This works great in large groups and is a variation of the name tag ice breaker. Have everyone take off one of their shoes and throw it into a pile. Have each group member pick up a shoe and walk around the meeting room greeting other people as they try to match their selected shoe to the one another team member is wearing. This is a great way for new people to meet several members in a group.
10. First or Worst: Have each member tell the group their first or worst job in turn. This easy to use ice breaker works great with teleconferences too and allows team members to spark conversation with each other and to have some fun commenting on the jobs that they have each done. Many of our top ten ice breakers can be used for on-site meetings and teleconferences alike. The nature of ice breakers is to get the group to talk, to share, and to get to know each other in a casual exchange. The best and most successful teams start with a little bit of fun; learning how to value what each member brings into the group. Ice breakers can help facilitate this exchange of information and comfort in doing so at the very start of the team forging process.
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Fashion online: pictures everywhere
June 18th, 2010 admin 
Before we start our fashion topic, let’s do a survey “what do you think is the most lacking element in today’s mobile phones?” I believe most people will point out the “size of the screen”. As the mobile phone becoming smaller and thinner, how could we get a large screen for us to have a wonder visual experience. As the old saying goes: you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
When you are reading e-book with your mobile phone, are you crazy about the small screen which makes our eyes ache, and if you want watch a movie or match, would be freak out at the small figures. It seems that the tiny mobile phone screen always disappointed us again and again. Even the biggest mobile phone screen now available on the market failed to meet our needs.
A few years ago, it is merely a concept to apply a projector into mobile phone. After people’s hard working, all things come true. Mobile phone built in projection system concept is no longer a dream but has been a gradual shift from concept to reality.
Mobile projector phone makes things possible which allow us enjoy a big screen instead of a small one without carry a large projector device. At first sight, the mobile phone looks exactly like a conventional one; if you press a key and launch the projection function you will see a big screen right in front of you. This mobile projector phone runs under a principle as easy as you send a text message. When we want share beautiful photos or movies with your friend, instead of gathered round as a mess, we can take a site comfortable and enjoy it happily. Possess such kind of mobile projector phone. You are nothing more than the luckiest person in the world.
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