{"id":9053,"date":"2015-12-08T10:49:34","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T10:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sg.syspro.com\/blog\/10-reasons-why-goals-alignment-is-imperative-for-your-erp-system\/"},"modified":"2021-03-04T14:49:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T14:49:01","slug":"10-reasons-why-goals-alignment-is-imperative-for-your-erp-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sg.syspro.com\/blog\/applying-and-operating-erp\/10-reasons-why-goals-alignment-is-imperative-for-your-erp-system\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons Why Goals Alignment is Imperative for Your ERP System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Misalignment of goals is one of the common reasons why many companies fail to realize the full value of an ERP system. Goals alignment should be the starting point BEFORE any company starts the ERP selection process, and BEFORE it sets its performance and measurement targets (metrics) and objectives.\u00a0 Goals should be consistent with policy, they should be clearly defined, articulated, and communicated through the company.\u00a0 This is a top-down, not bottom-up approach.<\/p>\n

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  1. Policy, goals, and objectives should be the foundation for your ERP system.\u00a0 If they are not, your ERP system will not be aligned, and you will not get\u00a0the result you expect.\u00a0 ERP will be working against you, not for you.<\/li>\n
  2. When you have set policies, goals, and objectives you will be able to see the gaps in your existing processes and practices.\u00a0 This will give you a much clearer idea of what needs to change, why it needs to change, how it needs to change, who has to change it, and who is affected\u00a0by the changes.<\/li>\n
  3. You now have a starting point which will determine the requirements for your ERP system and the metrics (measures) that you will be using. \u00a0Your selection\u00a0and implementation teams need to understand them.<\/li>\n
  4. Failure to do this will result in your selection team focusing on ERP systems that do things the way they are done now.\u00a0 They will be focused on features.\u00a0 The same applies to your implementation team who will, quite naturally, implement something that broadly does the same as your present system.\u00a0 You will get what you already have, which is unlikely to be what you wanted.<\/li>\n
  5. If goals are not aligned the metrics that you use will be wrong.<\/li>\n
  6. You will be spending a lot of money, time, and effort.\u00a0 You will drill into your people the importance of hitting their numbers (hitting their target metrics).\u00a0 In general, people do what they are measured against.\u00a0 They will do their best to hit or exceed their targets, and will be congratulated and rewarded for their achievements.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the better they perform the worse the result will be if the metrics are wrong.\u00a0 \u201cThe system said\u2026. So I did it\u201d.<\/li>\n
  7. You will spend a lot more<\/strong> money, time, and effort fixing things after the event.\u00a0 This presupposes that the system you chose can be adapted.\u00a0 You may need functionality or information that the ERP system is not capable of providing.<\/li>\n
  8. If you can\u2019t fix it then you have a failed implementation.\u00a0 If you can fix it but at the expense of cost, time, and effort, you still have a failed implementation.\u00a0 The ERP system will be blamed, but it will be doing what it was asked to do.<\/li>\n
  9. Failure isn\u2019t ERP\u2019s fault.\u00a0 It is lack of planning, preparation, and execution.\u00a0 That\u2019s your fault. (I expect this will result in some heated comments, but unless you were mis-sold what is the alternative explanation?)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are hundreds of goal setting methods and techniques.\u00a0 One that is quite easy to explain and be understood is the SMART<\/strong> goals method that uses S<\/strong>pecific, M<\/strong>easurable, A<\/strong>ctionable, R<\/strong>ealistic, <\/strong>and T<\/strong>ime-based concepts.<\/p>\n