A Wish List for your ERP Solution: How to
fulfill your Employees'
Wishes - without losing Focus

The Requirements Specification: the Wish List for your Software Solution

Does it seem like the year has just flown by again? It won’t be long before Christmas 🎄 is just around the corner again. Christmas is not only the time for speculoos, gingerbread and mulled wine, but also the time for giving.

Some people always have an incredible number of creative gift ideas for their loved ones. Others find it more difficult and even stressful. The traditional wish list makes the whole thing much easier: it reveals the wishes of the person who wrote it and helps with the gift selection. 🎁

This also makes sense when it comes to selecting a new ERP solution. You can compare the requirements specification with a wish list for your new ERP system.

A big Change: Employees have detailed Wishes

When you implement a new ERP solution, it is usually an incredibly big change for the entire company. After all, a very large number of people from different departments have to work with the new software for a long time.

For this reason, it makes sense to involve all employees. As a rule, all departments have the opportunity to express their wishes for the requirements specification, whereby most employees are used to describing these requirements and wishes in great detail.

Why is that? They realize that they have to take the opportunity to have a say in this profound decision. After all, an ERP system is not like changing your electricity provider every few years because it’s economically viable or disposing of a pair of sneakers after two years because they’ve worn out. An ERP system is a more long-term investment.

In order to just think about everything, employees tend to demand more functions than they actually need. Have you ever heard of the saying “Some customers want to communicate with the moon via XML”? It characterizes this process pretty well.

Users write down Wishes “blindly” - without knowing the Cost-Benefit Ratio

Is it any surprise to hear that companies often only use a small part of the available functions in practice? When the desired system is finally put into operation after the implementation marathon, it turns out that the dynamics of the market have changed so much that the chosen configuration is already outdated.

It is also remarkable that the end users are allowed to state their wishes without being given any insight into the cost-benefit ratio. And without dealing with the consequences for flexibility for new versions.

This often makes the new system cumbersome, takes a long time to implement and logically results in higher costs and risks.

How you can solve this: “Less is more and simple is better”

1. Less is more

This principle applies to many fields. Also when it comes to defining requirements and wishes for your ERP solution. Try to sensitize your employees to this as well. If you stick to the standard functions of your desired solution, you can benefit from all the innovations that can be expected in the coming years.

You can implement Updates more easily

Another advantage of the standard solution is that all new features are delivered as standard. Logically, this takes the pressure off your IT staff - who can then focus on other topics.

Customization vs. Standard Software: Why you can
minimize your Project Risks
with an Out-of-the-box Solution

2. And simple is better

Nowadays the world is very fast-moving and almost everything is subject to permanent change - it’s a great advantage if your business processes are kept simple, which also makes you an attractive partner for your customers. And attracts new employees to the company.

You are less dependent on individual Employees

You are also less dependent on the few employees who understand the system with all its complexity. It is obvious that it makes much more sense if the system is kept so simple that all employees are equally familiar with it. You can then work much more independently - and that is of course more efficient than constantly having to ask more experienced employees for help. You can also invest the budget for the countless extensive training courses elsewhere.

Your Company is more adaptable

And finally, your company will be more adaptable, which means that your ERP system will be easier to cope with new requirements, especially when your company grows and new employees join the team. The simpler the processes, the lower the customization effort.

You should therefore simplify your internal processes and workflows before you start choosing your new software. To do this, you need good change management.

Think about these Questions when evaluating your Employees’ ERP Wish Lists

• Are the requirements feasible both technically and organizationally?
• Do they match the requirements of your other systems?
• Are they also legally permissible?
• Are there conflicts between several requirements?
• What costs are involved in the realization?

Save unnecessary Effort: sort out the Non-essentials

Explain to your employees why it makes sense to remain realistic when writing wish lists. Focusing on reducing complexity will save the company a lot of unnecessary effort with your ERP system and make processes simpler.

The Chinese philosopher Laozi already knew this in the sixth century:

Sorting out the unimportant is the core of all wisdom.

This would probably also be good for many a Christmas wish list. 😊