Working with advisors at NRC-IRAP helped HERD develop a systematic process for selecting the right ERP system. That includes identifying and understanding the needs of the company, establishing a structured series of checks and balances, and actual testing to assess if the supplier is the right one and if the system meets those requirements. "When we began working with DTAPP, I just wanted to get it done," recalls Daudet. "But being patient in scrutinizing vendors and software, and not skipping steps is absolutely essential to getting it right the first time." The ERP system now in place is "extraordinarily successful because it has the right base software, and the vendor provided exceptional service during implementation."
This time around, to ensure that the ERP system succeeded where the previous attempts failed, HERD took a phased approach to implementation. "We made sure that the various pieces of software talked to each other," says Daudet. HERD also hired an expert business process analyst to work onsite throughout the entire system implementation, help prioritize jobs and do the day-to-day firefighting. "The result is that orders are going into the system while being processed and shipped, and customers are paying," he adds.