Odoo ERP Demo Best Practices
In order to narrow down the choices for an ERP software solution for your manufacturing firm, it’s useful to utilize planning and forethought to reduce vendor confusion among your numerous ERP choices. Due to the amount of time and effort corporations spend on ERP discovery and product demonstration, efficient preparation is beneficial to provide maximum worth and reduce the blurring of vendors throughout your search. Carefully planning your Odoo ERP demo assures that your organization’s needs are met, your questions are answered and all requested info is available to facilitate a well-educated ERP selection.
While it may seem overwhelming to sort through prospective software providers, approaching the process with proper care helps make sure that you select an ERP solution and/or vendor that’s the proper fit for your enterprise. An improper fit can prove to be costly and time-consuming, requiring workarounds and customization to compensate for the ERP’s shortfalls. By systematically addressing the invention and demo stages, you’ll get the data needed to compare and distinction ERP solutions effectively to make the best choice.
This is completed by preserving in thoughts that whereas ERP software vendors can declare they excel in all areas, independently researching their claims is suggested. When correctly dealt with, the invention and ERP demo help decide the solution that works greatest for your enterprise, in addition to determining any gaps.
Helpful Tips to Get Started
As you start your ERP project, it’s essential to remember that the ERP discovery and demo process is time-consuming. While time investment varies based on every firm’s needs, it’s suggested to speak with potential distributors relating to the timeframe that works greatest to permit for efficient evaluation of related features of the ERP system.
When scheduling, keep in mind your workforce’s availability and the period of time required by the seller to successfully demonstrate the software. Consistent attendance by firm stakeholders is a should, requiring scheduling flexibility by division heads all through the demonstration. In addition, permitting ample time for follow-up questions, drill-down demos on particular options and assessment of pertinent info can be essential.
Due to the involvement of a number of vendors over a prolonged interval, it’s essential to hold correct notes to make sure that key factors don’t get lost over time. Utilizing a measurable scoring methodology helps handle expectations and permits stakeholders to supply suggestions relating to their ideas. Specific choice standards must be shared with all firm evaluators and the ERP vendor as effectively – together with particular feature necessities, price range, platform and different standards decided by the selection team. Remember, your organizational stakeholders and department heads would be the most proficient at evaluating which distributors are the very best match in your firm’s unique tradition, requirements and processes.
Keep in mind the significance of evaluating “apples to apples” as you analyze multiple distributors – ensuring that ERP vendors’ software solutions are designed to fit with the dimensions and sort of your organization. In addition, work to make sure that the distributors narrowed down for an ERP demo perceive your wants and the worth of constructing vendor-client relationships. Lastly, open dialogue ought to happen from the start to the end of the selection project to ensure all areas are addressed.
Key Best Practices
The following greatest practices will assist eliminate the confusion that may happen when reviewing a number of vendors, permitting for extra readability in making your last ERP choice.
1. Discovery Processes
As you start discovery, the method should deal with the reasons why your organization needs ERP and the advantages it can present your organization. Are there key processes of your enterprise which can be time-consuming or inefficient? Do you use manual strategies similar to whiteboards for scheduling or pen-and-paper inventory counts?
Members of the management workforce ought to conduct a cautious and demanding examination of every department’s wants, the challenges the corporate is experiencing and needed options to enhance operations. These should be the foundation that underlies your seek for an ERP solution that meets your organization’s necessities as a complete.
In order to objectively decide the variations between Odoo ERP vendors and make an informed determination, you’ll need an approach to rank vendor capabilities and their potential affect on operations. A typical technique for accomplishing that is using an RFP whereby your crucial needs are prioritized and scored so as to examine capabilities to different ERP solutions. While it isn’t needed to use an RFP, its methodology can present distinct benefits.
Whether you make the most of an RFP or opt to forgo one, identifying your organization’s top 5 to 10 key enterprise requirements and any requirements unique to your operation is crucial. These necessities must be clearly communicated to potential ERP vendors to ensure that every feature is correctly coated within the demonstration part. It is helpful to be clear relating to different ERP software vendors being thought-about, as this gives the chance to highlight the features that differentiate themselves from their rivals. Company stakeholders ought to maintain an analysis scorecard all through the method to maintain ERP expectations in thoughts, document impressions and assess software performance.
Before an Odoo ERP demo happens, an essential a part of the choice process is the onsite discovery go to which consists of an in depth tour of your facility, meetings with key division stakeholders and the choice committee, and a assessment of the 5 to 10 crucial needs for an ERP solution. Caution must be taken if a potential vendor isn’t within the discovery process or visiting your facility, as it’s crucial for communicating your unique manufacturing and operating necessities in addition to fostering early relationships. The discovery visit provides the perfect technique to speak what your group is looking for and what you expect of the vendor that you simply associate with, offering a way to discover the appropriate match for your company.
2. Demo Prep
Ideally, narrowing the demo prospects to 3 ERP distributors helps eliminate vendor blur and keeps you from overwhelming the ERP selection workforce. This quick record should embrace distributors which have choices inside your worth vary, provide the options you’re looking for, are designed for the dimensions and scope of your organization, and have scored extremely by your analysis technique.
Per request, present potential distributors with an information sampling (e.g. BOM, recipes, manufacturing notes, and so forth.) to allow them to carry out personalised transactions throughout an interactive software program demo. Communicate with the seller beforehand to discuss particular factors you need to deal with, in addition to perceived performance gaps, so clarification could be included in your personalised demonstration. Provide an inventory of questions in advance of the scheduled Odoo ERP demo as well, while at the same time reserving the best to ask questions through the presentation or at designated occasions to make sure all areas are coated. It is important to take detailed notes throughout the ERP Solutions demonstration to effectively evaluate the variations amongst distributors with out complicated every software program’s performance and uniqueness.
3. Demo
As a crucial a part of the choice process, a full Odoo ERP demo ought to take you through a day within the lifetime of your organization, detailing order entry, buying, invoice of material/formula administration, manufacturing, high quality management, accounting and different organizationally related features. This level of element requires a time dedication, and your organization ought to put aside roughly eight hours to get a whole image of an ERP’s capabilities. This time-frame could be one eight-hour day or broken up into two four-hour days relying on what works best for your organization. Keep in mind that the format must be the same for every vendor to make the comparability easier.
This detailed software demonstration gives your organization with the data wanted to check and contrast solution options – focusing on your organization’s wants and expectations of a new ERP system. Handled correctly, every vendor will successfully display how their software program will work for your operation, highlighting the strengths of their solution and their licensed answer offerings.
4. Post-Demo Assessment
Following the Odoo ERP demo, the choice committee should meet to summarize the demonstration, decide takeaway factors and compile additional questions that will have come up following the presentation. It could also be decided that part of the demonstration must be repeated for an additional explanation – requiring extra time to finish evaluation. After any needed secondary demonstrations are completed, the workforce should evaluate software efficiency and performance indicated by scorecard rankings, in addition to your general notion of vendor functionality. After the entire materials is compiled, the choice workforce ought to have the data wanted to make an knowledgeable buying determination to make the appropriate choice in your firm’s distinctive tradition, necessities and processes.
Conclusion
In the seek for an ERP solution, confusion amongst distributors oftentimes happens because of the overwhelming quantity of data offered throughout the process. By applying the greatest practices of efficient planning, open communication and standardized scoring methodology within the discovery and product demonstration parts of the search, vendor blur could be minimized in making the very best ERP choice determination for your company.