Released on = April 16, 2006, 12:55 pm

Press Release Author = Alba Spectrum Group

Industry = Computers

Press Release Summary = Microsoft Dynamics GP, AX, NAV, CRM implementation - success
factors - based on installation, data conversion, user training, customization,
following technical and functional support, upgrade consulting practice

Press Release Body = Alba Spectrum Group, USA/Canada: 1-866-528-0577,
1-630-961-5918, Europe: +44 20 8123 2580, +45 36 96 55 20, Mexico: 52-55-535-04027,
Brazil: 55-11-3444-4949, help@albaspectrum.com skype: albaspectrum

Microsoft Dynamics GP, AX, NAV, CRM implementation - success factors - based on
installation, data conversion, user training, customization, following technical and
functional support, upgrade consulting practice

As seeing large number of implementations - in our case these are Microsoft Business
Solutions Products: Great Plains, MS CRM, Navision - we would like to give you our
opinion on what should you consider to do to secure implementation success. These
principles should work as for large corporation as well as for midsize and even
small business. We will not be talking about old-wisdom, which you know from the
college classes or business school about management and staff involvement into the
decision making, brainstorming, etc. - we'll be ERP specific
. In-house Technical Expertise. Well, complication of computer networking and its
security, plus the fact that SQL is now standard for the database platform
(Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, etc.), plus internet connection line and its
support make it inevitable to have IT expertise in the company - this might be the
whole department or just coming or part time networking consultant. Our experience
indicates that the lack of internal or always available onsite specialist decreases
the chances of success dramatically. And the explanation should be simple to this
fact. Nowadays ERP system requires minor or major customization, integration and
reporting and all these steps in turn require patient coding and testing in the test
environment or on the sample dataset/database
. Dedicated ERP Administrator. This is true that users could be trained and would
know how to use the system. However typical ERP has its own life and somebody
should assign new users, setup security roles for them, modify reports and makes
custom reports available for the users, setup printers, try first to resolve the
issue by looking at the techknowledge database, and so on. ERP Administrator
doesn't have to be IT guru - she/he needs to be trained on how to administer the
program and how to deal with technical support. Image for a moment that if you take
out manager from the company - even if all the employees have excellent training and
used to work for the company numerous years - you will still expect performance
degradation. The same should be said about ERP system
. Expect Certain Number of Issues. IT industry is not yet mature and it is probably
sad, but the reality, that even very experienced consultant, developer, programmer
makes errors - or your software environment has something that make the custom piece
malfunction. When you see the consultant being persistent in resolving your issues
- please be patient and try to help him or just don not make him nervous.
. Trust Your Consultant. When you decide on somebody to implement the system, you
need from this moment on to trust him and let him have high security access to the
ERP hosting server. Complex security makes consultant suffer from getting
connected, installing the patches or custom pieces. So many times we were spinning
our wheels in trying to test new custom business logic, when, say Windows or MS SQL
Server security was restricting us to do the actions we needed
. Do Not Overnegotiate. This is from the sales cycle. When you purchase the system
- you should purchase the software and implementation from the same company -
otherwise your partner will place you on the second priority list. We saw numerous
examples, when client purchases Microsoft CRM licenses from nation-wide distributor,
and then is trying to find somebody to implement the system. Also if you are
cutting software prices - you may see your consulting company rescheduling the work
for you in favor of somebody else.

About Alba Spectrum Technologies. Alba Spectrum Technologies is joint venture of
several IT and business consulting companies, now operating as single business
entity. We have local presence in the Texas, California, New York, Illinois,
Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Arizona, Louisiana, Oregon, Nevada, Minnesota, LATAM &
Brazil, Germany, Russia, South East Asia and Oceania. We believe in the coexistence
of Java (J2EE, EJB, Linux, Unix), Oracle and Microsoft (.Net, C#, VB) platforms and
systems and specialize in several product lines and cross platform integration,
customization, heterogeneous report design, plus we provide ERP/CRM systems
comparison and reviews, not being committed to just on MRP platform. We also stake
on XML cross-platform data interchange to be advanced in the coming decade.

Alba Spectrum Technologies websites:
http://www.albaspectrum.com
http://www.greatplains.com.mx
http://www.enterlogix.com.br
http://www.ronix-systems.de


Web Site = http://www.albaspectrum.com

Contact Details = Alba Spectrum Group, USA/Canada: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918,
Europe: +44 20 8123 2580, +45 36 96 55 20, Mexico: 52-55-535-04027, Brazil:
55-11-3444-4949, help@albaspectrum.com skype: albaspectrum