USING BPM TO ACHIEVE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX SUCCESS IN MIDSIZED MANUFACTURERS

RAPID VALUE: BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT FROM COLUMBUS

MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX IMPLEMENTATION SUCCESS WITH BPM

The acquisition and implementation of an ERP system is a watershed moment for any manufacturing or distribution company. Very often, when one speaks to the decision makers and project leaders some years later, they are keenly aware of errors, risks, and ine� ciencies that might have been avoided or mitigated during the ERP project. Many times, that includes a new appreciation of business processes as cornerstones of ERP and organizational success. We have found that in many midsize manufacturing companies—roughly, organizations with anywhere from $10 million to $250 million in annual revenue—the awareness of business processes as a valuable asset is not as high as in large enterprises.

As a result, when these companies plan a Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation, they are often not thinking about making process improvements a factor in increasing overall productivity. Outside of remedying obvious ine� ciencies, business and technology stakeholders will often be satis� ed if the ERP system supports the company’s roles and processes that are currently considered e� ective. Documenting the as-is state of business processes and mapping out desirable to-be process states may not seem like an approach that yields tangible results within a reasonably short timeframe. In midsize companies, business process management (BPM) and business process optimization can sound like expensive luxuries for which only enterprises can spare the time and resources.

HOW SMALL AND MIDSIZED COMPANIES BENEFIT FROM BPM About

ColumbusManufacturingColumbusManufacturing is widely recognized worldwide as a leading software solution that meets the speci� c needs of manufacturing and distribution companies. Built on Microsoft Dynamics AX and designed for a� ordability, � exibility and outstanding user experience, it meets speci� c manufacturing requirements and scales and upgrades with minimal customizations. Optimizing production, managing product complexity and meeting customer requirements are just some of the bene� ts touted by ColumbusManufacturing clients.

Six Main Bene� ts of BPM for Midsize Manufacturing Companies

E� cient, low-risk and fast moving ERP deployment with

broad user adoption

Standardized implementation to minimize costs and e� ort of managing, upgrading, and scaling technology

Proven, industry-best process and role templates to simplify business activities and make them more productive

Low-cost, consistent, contextual employee training in Microsoft Dynamics AX system and company processes

Ability to manage process and organizational change

Powerful resource for charting the company’s growth and evolution

It is no longer the case that enterprises are the only bene� ciaries of BPM and BPM-enhanced ERP deployments. In the Columbus ERP practice, we provide a powerful, � exible solution that has proven its value in many midsize and larger businesses worldwide, ColumbusManufacturing. To simplify and accelerate ERP implementations and help companies devise and deploy more productive business processes, we take advantage of BPM by means of our BPM tool, Columbus RapidValue. With RapidValue for Manufacturing, BPM becomes resource-e� cient and practical for midsize businesses. By keeping the focus on what makes companies and their ERP systems productive and successful, RapidValue lets you take advantage of your ERP project to establish processes that contribute to the organization’s long-term pro� tability and competitiveness.

RapidValue streamlines BPM to emphasize what is most important for midsize companies—reducing risk, cost, and complexity; accelerating the completion of the ERP deployment and its yield of tangible business results; and simplifying e� orts by incorporating sound industry-best practices in your ERP system and business processes. RapidValue-driven BPM ensures that the ERP implementation supports the company’s strategy and goals, and advances at a swift pace with minimal risk.

Working with RapidValue for Manufacturing, you perform process and solution modeling all from within Microsoft Dynamics AX, maintaining the same technology environment consistently throughout your BPM activities. This eliminates the use of disparate systems, which is usually ine� cient and costly. And, when your midsize manufacturing business grows into the enterprise realm through mergers and acquisitions, opens locations in other countries, and gains a presence in new markets, RapidValue is an excellent tool for adjusting ERP system and business processes to sustain this growth.

LOW-RISK MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX PROJECTS AND LASTING PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS

INDUSTRY AND PROCESS EXPERTISE TO IMPROVE MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AXAND OPERATIONS

SIMPLIFYING MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX DEPLOYMENTS WITH A STANDARDIZED SOLUTION

Business Process Management and business process optimization are no longer luxuries for large enterprises.”

It is not worthwhile to simply replicate your current processes in Microsoft Dynamics AX without investigating the opportunity to improve them and ensure their strategic relevance. Early in your ERP project, you document in the BPM tool the business and manufacturing processes that your Microsoft Dynamics AX solution needs to support, and you identify ways to make them as well as the roles who perform and interact in them, more productive. In this e� ort, you don’t start from scratch. We have analyzed and documented optimized business processes and organizational roles in hundreds of consulting engagements in manufacturing companies of all types and sizes. The results of thousands of implementations are part of the RapidValue for Manufacturing content that you can draw on in your Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP deployment and process optimization.

During the implementation, we stay as close to standard ColumbusManufacturing and standardized processes as possible, which reduces the cost and complexity of day-to-day management as well as future upgrades. A close-to-standard deployment will also make it easier to scale your solution to additional users, business groups, and locations. When it’s time to integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX with specialized systems, standard integrations and con� gurations once again keep manageability and scalability high while workloads and expenses can remain controlled and reasonable.

Columbus demonstrated their expertise in both the product and the manufacturing sector which gave us the con� dence that they would help deliver a successful implementation.”A Columbus Customer

ENABLING ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY WHILE MANAGING CHANGEThe business environment in midsize manufacturing companies can be extremely dynamic. You can take advantage of your BPM tool to help manage organizational change when you need to adjust to changing business requirements, market trends, and competitive challenges. Over time, BPM can also help you transform your company’s culture by enabling people to understand their contribution in the context of the processes they touch, and communicate more directly across teams and business groups.

Key individuals can play an outsized role in any organization, but their impact can be comparatively larger in midsize companies than in enterprises. They tend to own a wealth of business and domain expertise, and it is not unusual for them to ful� ll multiple functions. BPM with RapidValue for Manufacturing can help you reduce the dependency on key people and minimize the fallout if they should leave the organization. Starting with the validated, process-aligned role templates that already come with the tool, you can use RapidValue to document and design business roles, including their interactions with other roles and business processes, and maintain them in line with actual business needs no matter who � lls them.

Throughout the initial deployment and the life of the system, RapidValue for Manufacturing serves as the content repository for all documentation, de� nitions, work� ows, project milestones, processes, and role descriptions that apply to your organization. Instead of a document-centric practice that is as ine� cient as it is common in many companies and projects, you gain from a centralized knowledge management resource that helps to maintain the momentum of your Microsoft Dynamics AX project by making important information available to stakeholders.

We have analyzed and documented optimized business and manufacturing processes and organizational roles in hundreds of consulting engagements in manufacturing companies of all types and sizes.”

Customer Story

A mid-sized manufacturing company producing goods for a number of markets including sports and leisure, packaging and the military was expanding into new markets, and was looking for a new ERP solution that would grow with the business. They worked with Columbus and Rapid Value on the implementation to map out their processes and to help them to stay as close to the standard solution as possible. This has enabled them to take advantage of the industry templates in Rapid Value and cut the cost of modi� cations, training and support.

ACHIEVING HIGH TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AND DELIVERING MEANINGFUL TRAININGBPM powered by RapidValue can help midsize companies accomplish more than successful, e� cient, low risk ERP deployments based on process and role optimizations. There are many possible applications for RapidValue when businesses revise and enhance their processes and roles for sustained productivity. By providing companies with a centralized, highly usable tool to translate their goals and strategy into processes and roles, RapidValue helps them to reach the next stage in their maturation without the ine� ciencies and disruptions that can accompany growth. That may entail, for example, translating industry best processes into new business units or subsidiaries. Or, companies may choose to use BPM to make improvements in certain areas. Some manufacturing companies, for instance have successfully used RapidValue to speed up the development of new products, ensuring that all requested and proposed enhancements receive consideration and can become part of the next iteration of a product if they are strategically sound. Other companies have made use of RapidValue to ensure e� cient compliance with corporate or industry quality standards such as ISO norms.

It was clear that Columbus knew what they were talking about, and had the resources and commitment to deliver, using people with an industry background who had implemented ERP solutions many times before.”A Columbus customer

FOSTERING BUSINESS EVOLUTIONFlagging user adoption is a signi� cant risk in many traditional ERP deployments. Companies often struggle with motivating employees to adopt a new ERP system, especially if the new software tools clash with roles and work� ows or if shortcuts compromised training. By shaping the Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment in such a way that it enhances and � ts with how the company’s people and processes work, BPM typically results in much faster and more widespread user adoption as well as broader use of the system’s capabilities by employees.

RapidValue also helps you reduce the costs and e� ort associated with training employees in the company’s business activities and the use of Microsoft Dynamics AX. You can use the solution to create training materials and contextual guidance for employees and publish this content to the Help system in your solution. Workers can on their own review how they � gure in business processes and how they best make use of their new capabilities. When your company grows into other regions, you can use RapidValue’s multi-language features to translate these materials into other languages. For a number of reasons, many organizations tend to cut corners when it comes to familiarizing employees with their systems and processes, or when they need to create training materials. By greatly simplifying this critical task, RapidValue eliminates a substantial risk from your Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment and your operation.

’Columbus’ is a part of the registered trademark ‘Columbus IT’

ABOUT COLUMBUS

Columbus is an industry-based consultancy and award-winning technology developer focused on

the manufacturing, food processing, and retail industries. We are the preferred consultancy for

ambitious companies wanting to streamline business processes, improve operational e� ciencies,

reduce costs, and improve visibility into their businesses.

Our approach to solving our clients’ issues can best be described as proactive. We challenge our

clients’ traditional ways of thinking, help them see new opportunities for improvements, and take

responsibility to drive change in their organizations. We’ve delivered these business bene� ts for

over 25 years to many of the leading companies worldwide.

WANT TO KNOW MORE? For more information about Columbus, visit www.columbusglobal.com/manufacturing

As companies newly implement or upgrade their solution, they can take advantage of value-driven BPM and Columbus RapidValue to transform business processes for greater productivity and ensure success by fully aligning their strategy, processes, resources, and technology systems. A Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment is a major milestone in the life of an organization. When done well, it can position a company for long-term viability, increased competitiveness, and sustained growth. More powerful and productive than any other approach, value-driven BPM helps you realize high-value, low-risk Microsoft Dynamics AX deployments or upgrades.

NEXT STEPS

To view a fourteen minute RapidValue demo, go to: www.columbusglobal.com/rvdemo or visit www.columbusglobal.com to � nd out more about RapidValue for Manufacturing.

Thanks to our contributing authors: John Robinson, Norman Carmichael, John Petersen, Bjørn Pedersen and Petur Snaeland

The Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation success with BPM series also includes: