Today I had a long discussion with someone that wanted to know all about the ERP System, what it is like managing it and challenges we face. I decided that this was a great idea for the Blog so here it is.

What is the ERP System: The Enterprise Resource Planning system is used to manage, automate and maintain various business functions. It is designed to streamline operations, improve efficiency and provide a central information source.

This is a critical business system as it serves a a number of key business areas, like Finance, Billing, HR, Payroll and Supply Chain. What are some key items to be aware of.

System Uptime and Availability: The ERP system in a Healthcare Institution is required 24/7, either by direct user requests or by any number of downstream applications. These applications look to the ERP data as the source of truth so downtime will really affect operations and could affect revenue.

System Maintenance and Upgrades: The ERP system needs to be regularly maintained, with updates and patches applied as necessary to ensure it runs smoothly and is reliable. However work can only be carried out in previously agreed maintenance windows to ensure minimal impact to users and the business.

Data Security and Compliance: Most of the data on the ERP is highly sensitive. It is critical to ensure data accuracy and security, with relevant access controls in place with strict security protocols. Any breaches or data errors could have business and legal ramifications with ethical ramifications.

Integration with Multiple Downstream Systems: The ERP integrates with many systems like the Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Document Management System, Time and Attendance System, Organizational Policy System and many others. All these systems depend on the ERP data for them to function accurately.

Performance and Scalability: Due to the critical nature of the system there are periods when demand and utilization increases. The system needs to be able to meet the increase in load and demand. We always planned ahead and worked with the Infrastructure team to allocate extra backend resources if required.

Customization Requests: The Business users occasionally require customization as part of their improvement plans. These requests are implemented and prioritized based on how they affect the  business. They are agreed and deployed in phases depending on the level of development effort required.

Change Management: The ERP is a closely guarded system. No changes are applied without demonstrating a good business case, getting presented to and approved by the Change Board.

Vendor Management: We maintain a close relationship with our vendors for visibility of product roadmaps (new features or improvements). Also for managing support or development requests.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery: We had a robust plan in place which was reviewed annually and tested to ensure it met the needs of the Institution.

The ERP is critical to the business as it helps manage operations effectively, improve productivity, adapt to changes and remain competitive.

Have you ever stopped to think about what it would be like to manage over 25 Business Systems for an Institution. How would you manage applications that are accessed 24/7. What are the day to day challenges. How do you manage the different Business areas each with their own set of requests and goals. How do you manage uptime, upgrades, performance etc.

I hope this post will provide an insight into what it was like and how to juggle the various challenges.

Communication:

• We had weekly meetings with each of the business areas. This would allow them to share any new requests, receive updates on work in pipeline and also to raise any concerns they may have.
• Real-time dashboards for some applications.
• Internal status reports updated and shared in a central location for all concerned to have access.
• Monthly status meetings with Senior Leadership.
• Weekly reports to Middle Managers.

Security:

• It was crucial to have secure systems, with real-time monitoring.
• Encryption and access controls in place with regular audits.
• Requirements to apply vendor patches and updates needed to be carefully managed with Change Board visibility. Especially if they would require downtime.
• Changes tied in with Backups with clear roll-back plans in case we encountered issues.

Application Performance:

• Each application required monitoring, ensuring visibility of bottlenecks, performance issues and optimizations as required.
• Access to real-time reports with clear routes for escalations as required.
• Regular performance optimization reviews.

Support and Training:

• Communication with IT Helpdesk to provide updates.
• Provide day to day application support to end users
• Provide training for new staff, new features to existing staff (normally part of upgrade project but delivered by the team)

Change Management:

• Weekly meetings with the Change Board
  • To provide progress updates.
  • Get approvals for new changes
  • To have visibility of changes in other systems that could impact our applications.

Vendor Management:

• Working with various vendors has its own set of challenges.
• Working with them to resolve bugs or issues.
• Maintaining communication with Support, Accounts, Contracts and their Leadership to always ensure smooth services and deliveries.

Resource Allocation and Management:

• We had Technical Resources from the team allocated to each of the Applications
• In some cases a person would be allocated to multiple applications.

Emergency Preparedness & Business Continuity Plan

• Some areas of the organization required 24/7 access to applications so we had an agreed plan that would be activated in emergencies.
• Business had a manual work around if required. This was always a short term plan.
• Each System had a plan and was listed in the BCP.

We had a daily session at the start of the day where we reviewed the progress of all pipeline activities for each business area across all the applications. Ensuring deliveries were on track as previously communicated to the business. This allowed me to have full visibility of all the areas.

In the event of any failures, we all joined a call (regardless of time or day) to identify cause and agree a resolution plan. Any affected Business areas were made aware of the issues so they could initiate the previously agreed back-up plan as defined in the Business Continuity Plan.

No two days were the same and we always needed to have “enough fuel in the tank” as in Operations there was always a possibility that the next call could change the direction and plan for the day. Yes some days were tough but with the right team the days were always fun…