The Right Systems

[CajunCenturion]

At the conclusion of this article, Computer Flaws Cause Dangerous Hospital Errors, are the following paragraphs.

"Rather than framing the problem as 'not developing the systems right,' these failures demonstrate 'not developing the right systems,'" Wears and Berg write.

Designers of computer systems make a basic mistake, they argue. They see hospital errors as a technical problem. But hospitals are worlds in which real people interact with each other as well as with technology.

"An information technology in and of itself cannot do anything, and when the patterns of its use are not tailored to the workers and their environment to yield high-quality care, the technological interventions will not be productive," Wears and Berg conclude.

That last paragraph is particularly pertinent, regardless of your environment.

Good Luck
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[MasterRacker]

Exactly so. At a former employer I watched a continually failing ERP implementation. The business managers would ask the consultants how they should be doing something instead of telling the consultants what their systems were so the consultants could implement it. There was a constant expecation of the software being a "magic bullet" that would somehow solve all their problems for them.

Any software package is nothing more than a tool that can be misapplied just like any other tool. If you simply try to automate a bad process, you do no more than create the ability to make mistakes faster.

[purple]Jeff
It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day

 

[svanels]

I totally agree, the same is happening with CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Systems) wich is a combination of Maintenance, Purchasing and Stores. We started in 1994 (decission which software) but we are still not using 100% effectively (maybe 75%).
First we had to make an inventory of all the assets, procedures, decission lines and all the bussiness processes involved. Then we asked the consultants how the software would handle every process. We have made modifications to our organizational structure and also the software went through a lot of changes. We are still busy with improvements, and it will be going on fore some more years. These systems are dynamic and are still evolving, because real life systems evolve also.

Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[LNBruno]

>>failing ERP implementation

Man did that hit a nerve! We spent $200K and 6 months trying to get an ERP system up and we're still wrestling with implementation! Without a doubt some of the buggiest software I've ever seen in my life.

As a programmer, it kills me to see the kind of crap being foisted off on unsuspecting consumers. The reason, of course is that too many software development companies are being run by the CFO instead of the CIO; translation: to develop software quick and cheap, quality goes right out the window.

So you make a quick buck, then get a rotten reputation, go out of business, start a new company, make a quick buck...

And then, these same geniuses figure that they can save a buck by outsourcing...

Oh, don't get me started on THAT one!!!

< M!ke >

 

[svanels]

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems are big.
If the CEO's have the latest and greatest software/hardware, the Financial Division also (at least the payroll), but the rest of the company still live in the stone-age, forget a succesfull implementation...

Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[CajunCenturion]

You are absolutely correct that you might keep the grass roots folks happy, but I don't think it matters whether or not anyone has the latest/greatest hardware and/or software. That's not what counts.

The issue is whether or not the software does what the end-users need it to do. If the people have to adapt to the software, which is often the case for ERP systems, you're likely to fail. The software needs to adapt to the user's environment. The people cannot be slaves to the software, the software must work for the people.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[svanels]

CajunCenturion with "Stone Age" I do not necessarily refer to only to hardware and software, but also in terms of business process documentation, organization etc.

It is a fact that office automatization started mainly in the financial sector of most companies, the payroll is the first thing that comes in mind. The accountants, Financial Control, Auditers etc.. they need computers and data. Show me one acountant who can not operate a spreadsheet.

On the other side you have the production processes, which can be very sophisticated like a refinery with Distributed Control System etc., but still need "normal" people that eventually sit behind a computer. About 80% of the "workfloor" force do not have access to corporate e-mail or even care about it.

I once read an article with the self explaning title "Who will feed the Monster"

In theory an ERP gives Management in "real time" information about:

1)The financial status of the company (profit/loss)
2)Orders
3) Stocks (store management, not Wall Street)
4) Asset management (inventory)
5) and many more

so they can manage the whole company.

But if the guy that receives the goods (materials) at the gate, do not punch in "3000 eggs received on friday from John Doe"

And the operator/supervisor do not punch in "2990 eggs recived from stores to make 300 lbs of mayonese for batch number 100"

The ERP will be worthless, contributing to the high implementation failures of these type of "business software"

Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[CajunCenturion]

I understand and agree svanels, but I'm addressing a somewhat different point.

My point is that if the software does not make it easy and painless for the guy at the gate to punch in the data, then he won't punch it in. If the guy at the gate has to substantially change the way he does his job in order to punch in the data, then he's going to resist punching it in. That is what I mean by forcing the guy to be a slave to the software. For the system to be successful, the software must work for the guy. As from the original quote, you have to tailor the software to the guy and his environment, otherwise, the system will not be productive.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[willir]

Always good to see your posts CajunCenturion

Like others, I have seen system implementations fail ... badly ...
- Greed factor. It makes sense to have sales involved with the deal, but when the greed factor tips the scale too far, problems may result ... Sell too many bells and whistles at the detriment of the basics. Or, make lots of promises and then outsource to save money -- information and an undertsanding of the requirements are lost in the translation.
- Know thy business. Getting a top consultant / service delivery compnay in to a job for a field they have little experience is a recipe for disaster.
- Know thy technology. Ever been involved with an implemenation where non-technical people make the technical decisions?

Some light reading...
Share Your IT Horror Stories
Some of these stories are a consequence of poor implementation.

What I have seen work...
- Look at the functional requirements.
- Take advantage of new technologies and languages instead of porting the code, with a shoe horn, to act like the orignal code. I have seen this specific problem atleast three times. One consulting company convinced a software development company that they could port the code with Unix tools with sed, awk, lex and yacc from basic flat file database to an Informix relational database. This decision resulted in the software house going bust -- they had a great product, loyal customers but wasted millions on development charges on something that was suppoed to be a short cut.
- Understand the needs to the customer and the end user.
- Get the customer to understand that the new product may look and feel different, for a reason, but it will do what it is supposed to do.
- The customer / consultants needs to pharse their questions as "I need the software to be able to do this... What is the best way to accomplish this?" instead of "Make the software do this, this and that" without allowing the provider from determining the best approach for accomplishing the goals. In the words of SAP, the cusotmer can "bespoken" to death, the customer ends up with a fragmented and ineffecient product and the consultants get rich on all the customization.

Richard

 

[svanels]

CajunCenturion I totally agree with your vision of slave to the system, men must think, machine must work and not the other way around

But it is not only in the software industry that these things happen. People are reluctant to changes and they have many reasons why.

if the software does not make it easy and painless for the guy at the gate to punch in the data, then he won't punch it in

In the oil drilling industry, the average floor worker is about 6 feet long and his preferred tool is 15 lbs sledge hammer. Convince such "caveman" that operating a drilling rig can be done without brute force and personal injuries, ... it took us years, despite heavy regulations.
sigh...


Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[svanels]

Just found something about SAP, Enterprise Resource Planning

http://www.idcon.com/toastforum6503/toast/toast.asp?sub=show&action=posts&fid=4&tid=93

Regards

Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[willir]

The link does not work -- 404
I was able to navigate to the subdirectory until I got to "Branding code not found"
Not the first time I have seen an SAP article disappear.
..or perhaps I am just paranoid. ;-)

 

[svanels]

Willir copying the link to Tek-Tips doesn't work

To see the article, go to

http://www.idcon.com

Click on the tab Reliability info--> Discussion forum --> Computerized Maintenanance Management Systems Forum and the topic is SAP PM module

No you don't seems paranoid

Regards

Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr