Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are a major piece of the IT industry. And for the organisations that use them, keeping them healthy and accurate is vital to their success.
But running checks on these advanced systems isn’t always at the forefront of people’s minds when they use them. ERP systems are so automated and feature-rich that it’s easy to forget that they need maintenance once in a while.
Additionally, as companies evolve and their type and volume of business expand, some of the systems and processes that made sense in the past might not be optimal in the present.
That’s why regular health checks of the ERP, PSA (Professional Services Automation), and HCM (Human Capital Management) systems are necessary — to identify potential problems and fix them before they create bottlenecks.
5 benefits of ERP health checks
1. Data integrity and data excellence
Organisations can only really be optimised when they’re both data-rich and data-driven. Since data is scattered across various departments and software systems, there’s a good chance that hiccups will develop somewhere along the line.
Running an ERP health check ensures:
- Data integrity and accuracy
- Timeliness
- Data quality
- Consistency
- Uniqueness
- Security
- Validity
Additionally, health checks ensure compliance with regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA).
2. Support system efficiency and ROI
Different departments and sub-departments of an organisation need to be integrated and updated as data is fed into them. For example, an employee’s salary needs to be updated in the finance system when they get promoted without creating a duplicate of the original record.
This kind of ERP integration with existing domains keeps things running smoothly. As data grows and collects, evaluation of your ERP solutions becomes essential to keep everything neat, organised, and functioning properly.
These ERP health checks ensure there's efficiency in the systems that you’ve invested in and support their ROI. They mean the ERP solutions you use will always be able to perform to their highest level.
3. Improve forecasting
ERP solutions offer built-in business intelligence and reporting capabilities to manage and oversee data coming from multiple sources.
For example, the professional services team of a product company can view extrapolated data and gain insights into their customer’s projects, including contracts, sales, subscriptions and billing.
Regular ERP health checks enable greater control over the data being generated each day. They can then improve the system’s forecasting capabilities, which is extremely advantageous for the company.
- Demand forecasting: For a company to run smoothly, demand-supply chain management should be robust. ERP solutions help the company to determine which products are in demand when, which times of the year are busier, and how to create profitable strategies based on that information.
- Financial forecasting: ERP solutions predict capital requirements and product demands. They monitor financial expenses in real time. These financial projections are forecasted more efficiently and help elevate the overall ROI of a company.
- Supply forecasting: To meet customer demands, planning, production, and distribution processes are crucial. Knowing the lead times of your suppliers and planning for backup could mean the difference between delivering on schedule and experiencing production halts and backorders. ERP solution help manage all of the above, so keeping them healthy is essential.
4. Reduce downtime
Companies with intensive supply chain management can’t afford downtime. But as a company grows, data grows exponentially and processes become more and more complex, creating more potential for system issues. That’s why transitioning from reactive to proactive maintenance through ERP health checks is so important.
An ERP health check can help with:
- Planning for downtime and reassigning resources to prevent production declines
- Keeping track of equipment and software utilization rates, and scheduling maintenance when it rises above a certain threshold
- Spotting irregular performance and technical issues and reallocating the budget to fix or update resources or equipment.
5. Gauge ERP maturity level
The three stages of an ERP system are well defined:
- Stage one is the initiation stage where a company adopts an ERP solution.
- Stage two is the implementation stage.
- Stage three is where the ERP systems are fully accessible and normalised across business operations.
The ERP health checks help identify the system’s maturity level, evaluate operativity across different departments and allocate financial budgeting accordingly in each stage.
They provide actionable insights to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the system in order to raise the degree of overall maturity.
Find out more
If you want to learn more about health checks, get in touch with us now. We can provide all of the guidance you need to have a fully optimised ERP solution for your business.
We’ve been in the industry for more than 20 years, helping businesses create and maintain operational efficiency through the use of ERP systems. We provide a comprehensive solution that caters to the needs of businesses of all shapes and sizes. Speak with one of our professional consultants now for free.
