Category Archives: Best Practices

10 Best Practices for Software Selection from Software Advice

Industry Week recently published “10 Best Practices for Software Selection” from Software Advice that were pretty good. In brief, they were:

  • Take Ownership of Selection ProcessDon’t delegate to a subordinate or IT. It’s your process that you’re trying to automate and improve, so make sure you get the software that you need.
  • Determine Your NeedsKnow exactly what you need before you even issue the RFP. As I previously wrote, you don’t want to fall for a fliggle-flaggle-floogle sales pitch.
  • Get the Right Software for Your IndustryWhile there are many products out there, some will be tailored to specific verticals. If it’s tailored to yours, it could be a good thing. But if you’re an automotive component manufacturer and it’s tailored for a bottler, it might not be the right software for you.
  • Integrate the Enterprise over TimeBuying a suite that integrates the majority of your back office functions under one umbrella might be the right decision, but the last thing you should do is a big bang implementation — unless, of course you want your operation to go out with a big bang. Remember Foxmeyer? They were a 5 Billion Dollar company until they tried to do a big bang update of all their hardware and software systems, which went up in a bang that resulted in Chapter 11 and a fire-sale to their arch rival for a mere 80 Million.
  • Assess Ease-of-use CarefullyEven if the system does everything you ever wished for, it’s not a good investment if it’s hard to use, because it will just end up being bypassed. It’s much better to have an 80% solution that’s easy and pleasant to use than a 100% solution that requires a team of PhDs and magicians.
  • Ensure Strong Support and MaintenanceThere’s no such thing as bug free software. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Some software will be more bug-free than others, but all systems go down eventually. Make sure the vendor offers great support, because you will need it.
  • Pay Close Attention to Vendor ViabilityThis doesn’t mean that you should buy from the biggest, because even the mighty can fail. It just means the company should be stable with a sizeable customer base that can support it for years to come.
  • Be Realistic About Your BudgetIf you only have 200K, don’t look at software in the 1M range. Don’t even look at software in the 500K range. Focus on finding a solution you can afford, even if it’s not perfect. If you can find a point solution for 100K that has a 5X ROI, then you’ll have a 500K budget next year to fill in the gaps.
  • Understand your Deployment OptionsIf you don’t have a solid IT department, or they’re overworked, you probably should not be looking at on-premise. Similarly, if corporate policies prohibit certain data from leaving your four walls, you might be forced into an on-premise solution.
  • Plan your platform technology needsUnderstand your current platform and the options you are able to support. If you’re a Microsoft Shop, you should probably be looking at .Net solutions. Similarly, If you’re a Linux or Unix shop, a .Net solution should be immediately crossed off the list.

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Extracting Great Performance from Great Strategy

Back in 2005, Mankins & Steele wrote a great article for the Harvard Business Review on “Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance” that outlined seven rules for successful strategy execution that fit nicely within our strategy development and execution framework. Since the article has probably faded from collective memory, here are the seven rules and why you should revisit the article.

  1. Keep it SimpleClear goals. Clear actions. Clear boundaries. If an average high school student can’t understand the plan, it’s too complicated.
  2. Challenge AssumptionsIt’s important to ensure that the assumptions underlying the strategic plan represent real market economics and actual organizational performance relative to industry peers and rivals. An organization should continually analyze market profitability, costs, and pricing relative to the competition, for starters.
  3. Speak the Same LanguageOperations, marketing, and finance must agree on a common framework for execution and performance assessment.
  4. Discuss Resource Deployments EarlyExecution requires people, who have to be trained, geared up, and ready to go.
  5. Identify PrioritiesMake sure that strategic priorities are explicit and focussed on.
  6. Continuously Monitor PerformanceTrack real-time results against the plan, reseting assumptions and reallocating resources as required.
  7. Develop Execution AbilityMake selection and development of leaders and trainers a priority.

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Supply Chain Calibration

The scientific definition of calibration is to check, adjust, or standardize a measuring instrument, usually by comparing it with an accepted model. In a lab, instruments must be calibrated regularly if they are to yield accurate measurements.

The same holds true for supply chains. Regardless of how much effort is put into supply chain plans, systems or measurements, the plans, systems and measurements will have to be calibrated from time to time to keep them running smoothly. But when should you calibrate?

A recent article in Design News had some good tips on “when to calibrate”. Basically, you calibrate when:

  • Measurement varies from observed results or results seem unusualFor example, your system records 90% on time delivery, but your warehouse staff are claiming the number is closer 70%. This could happen if your system only records day of delivery, and not time.
  • A disruption occursAfter a significant disruption, such as a supplier going bankrupt, which forces you to shift to a new source of supply, you’ll have to recalibrate your measurements to the new mode of operations.
  • A new high-value element is being added to the supply chainWhen you start sourcing a new product or service that’s high value, you want to make sure everything is running smooth to insure you maximize your investment.
  • A contract stipulates precise performanceEverything needs to be double checked, especially if there are corresponding penalties for non-performance.
  • Too many imperfect ordersIf the system allows a dip in perfect order performance, it needs to be calibrated to find, and fix, the failure.

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Get Your Metals Prices Under Control

AT Kearney recently released a short piece on “Driving Down the Cost of Raw Materials”: A four-pronged approach to managing input steel prices and commodity purchases that had some good tips for managing your metals spend. The report broke your opportunities down into four types:

  • Material Cost RecoveryUp to 30% of inputs are unused and considered a waste by-product of the manufacturing process, but can be sold as scrap, melted down, and reused again. In peak markets, this scrap can be worth hundreds of dollars a tonne.
  • Sourcing Power IncreaseGoing straight to the source and bypassing intermediaries can generate better prices and more power, especially if the metal needs (grades, gauges, sizes) etc. are bundled into a single buy.
  • Usage OptimizationReducing complexity (through standardization on gauges, grades, etc.) and segmenting suppliers (based on common needs) can lead to design and production cost decreases as well as unit cost decreases.
  • Supply Chain ManagementOptimizing the inbound (sourcing) and outbound (sale and delivery of scrap) can yield a number of process cost improvements.

Given the price volatility that follows every boom and bust in the economy, getting a good grip on total cost of ownership of organizational metal buys can save an organization 12% to 25%, which is well worth the effort. For more on how to save in specific metals categories, and when to lock in long term contracts, see the Metal Miner blog — the only blog focussed on helping organizations optimize their metals strategy.

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Unnecessarily Overworked? Take the Worth-Your-Time Test and Find Out!

Do you have to get to the office early and stay late every day to get anything done? Do you work 60-80 hour weeks but yet feel like you accomplished nothing? Does work seem like a black hole?

Chances are you’re spending too much time in meetings, in your inbox, and, most importantly, in PowerPoint and Excel … and getting nothing for it. Collaboration is good … when you’re collaborating. But e-mail, spreadsheets, PowerPoints, and meetings where all you do is sit around while someone else takes 50 minutes to present a 50 slide PowerPoint deck that you could read in 5 minutes is not collaboration.

If you’re working 60+ hour weeks but, as far as you’re concerned, getting nothing done, chances are you’re wasting too much time on tasks that are not worth your time, and more importantly, not worth your company’s time. Before you do any task, take Peter Bregman’s Worth-Your-Time test, which consists of three simple questions:

  1. Am I the right person?
  2. Is this the right time?
  3. Do I have enough information?

If you answer “no” to any of these questions, move on to the next “priority” task. While this won’t get rid of all the time wasting activities that fill your day, it will get rid of a significant number, and it’s a great first step to getting your work life back in order.

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