News & Views

I (Michael Burns) will be discussing “Deltek’s 2010 Operating Statistics Report for the Project-Focused Professional Service Firm” in Vancouver on November 17 and Edmonton on November 18. If you’re in the neighborhood and work for a professional service based organization, check it out.

I think that Deltek provides a useful service in publishing this report, which includes key performance indicators over 10 years. You can only get the executive summary of the report right now at http://www.deltek.com/clarity/ae/default.asp but contact someone at Deltek if you want the complete 73 page report.

October 21, 2010 from ComputerWorld – “Clarity Systems, based in Toronto, has some 600 customers around the world. Its software includes Clarity 7, which provides financial budgeting, planning, forecasting and analysis capabilities. The company also sells Clarity FSR, a product that helps finance departments handle regulatory reporting and filing requirements.  The company will be rolled into IBM’s analytics software portfolio. Big Blue has spent more than $14 billion on analytics acquisitions and related activities in the past four years, according to a statement…”

180 View – This acquisition probably happened because of one of our recent system selection projects ended up with Clarity selected over Cognos. One reason for the decision was the unified approach by Clarity meaning sharing of one database and one user interface for all requirements. Cognos needed a number of products to meet our client’s requirements at that time.

October  18, 2010 from Accountancy Age – “…Despite a combined annual worldwide investment of US$60 billion in BI solutions, half of all BI projects fail according to KPMG-commissioned research from the University of Cambridge…

BI projects are often mistakenly seen as purely technology based, with ownership limited to IT specialists within the business instead of being embedded throughout the organization…”

180 View – There are other reasons given in the article and some suggestions that may be a little helpful. Things are changing fast in the Business Intelligence (BI) world. The thinking today is that BI is not just for the big companies or for the management team. It’s now BI for the masses. It is also needs to be easily consumed by all the non techies. It needs to be inexpensive to buy/rent, use and deploy. There are lots of good systems to consider – too many in fact. Our BI portal (http://www.cpm180systems.com/) has some suggestions for you. Our portal is a self-service and BI vendors and implementers can register and provide basic or detailed information about their product/company.

“In this Guide, you will find:

• An overview of the ERP landscape
• Current product trends and features
• How to evaluate costs/ROI, pricing trends, implementation, and service/support costs
• How to evaluate vendors, vertical expertise, financial stability, references and support
• Comparison tables of selected vendor products
• Vendor profiles: key facts of selected vendors…”

180 View – The guide does include a few systems not included in our guide published in the CAmagazine but only provides high level information and marketing material from the vendors rather than detailed functionality we provided in the ERP survey for CAmagazine available at http://www.camagazine.com/survey2010/camagazine41389.aspx.

September 23, 2010 from Ventana Research – “The vast majority of organizations — almost nine out of 10 — in Ventana Research’s new finance analytics benchmark report said they can improve the way their company uses analytics. If you’re also in need of help, don’t miss this research, which reveals trends, best practices, and the maturity and direction of organizations’ analytics efforts…”

180 View – The research has found that although there is good technology and data available to support analytics, there is a big problem with “stale or outdated data”. This is curious as the technology should support real-time updates of metrics. It’s more likely a case of some metrics don’t get generated by the underlying business systems. For example, metrics on customer satisfaction may take time to generate. Nevertheless there is no reason to have delays with information in your ERP, CRM, HR… systems. Another source of problem not discussed in the report is lack of benchmark data. But help is on the way from 180 Systems and CAmagazine. In the December issue, we will offer a benchmark survey on business processes. Stay tuned.

Published in ProjectTimes and written by Lisa Anderson – “…It is my job as a management consultant to ensure my clients are not only prepared to set up and prioritize the project but to ensure success.  Thus, the 80/20 of my focus has been on implementation.  What are the secrets to success in implementation?…”

180 View – Lisa has her own company but is also an associate of 180 Systems. I (Michael Burns) was so impressed by her writing that I contacted Lisa and asked whether she would be interested in working with us. Hopefully in the near future, we will have the opportunity to do so.

October 28, 2010 from Supply Chain Management Review – “As companies come under increasing pressure to compete on price, the rush to “outsource” and embrace cheap overseas labor and low-cost manufacturing in developing countries has resembled a modern-day version of the California gold rush…

As more companies are competing on price, it is becoming even more important to know our true inventory costs accurately and immediately. This gets complicated by varying costs like freight, the duty imposed on imported products, and of course the exchange rate. The trick is to know our real costs at the time of selling…“

180 View – The article is written by a supply chain vendor that provides a “a community of logistics service providers, carriers, trading partners and banks who are integrated” such that “decisions can be based on visibility into true cost actuals as they occur.” Although the article is clearly biased, it does address significant issues for many companies struggling with complicated supply chain issues. It does not replace the ERP system or update inventory with landed costs but could help detect problems sooner than later. However the ERP system still needs a way to allocate actual costs to inventory on some basis across multiple purchase orders and products. But what happens if the products have been sold before all the costs are known? One solution would be to create a notional account that would not update the general ledger but could be used for product or customer gross profit analysis.

180 View – We have heard great things about this tool which provides remote control, file sharing, systems management, data backup, business collaboration and on-demand customer support of PCs, servers, Macintosh computers, smartphones and other connected devices.

November 5, 2010 from the Financial Post – “The Nicaraguan military commander who led the unintended invasion didn’t mean to start an international incident. He was only following the directions he was getting from Google Maps…”

180 View – It’s a good thing that most of our computer mistakes don’t lead to invasions of other countries.

I recommend taking a few minutes to listen to the music and remember the sacrifices made by others that allow us to live in peace.