Each module should have an assigned ES design team that reflects the company functions most involved in that area. These groups are different from the ERP project team and task forces. In a combined ERP/ES implementation, one of the challenges is keeping the ES design teams aligned with the ERP teams, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is with some degree of common membership. One or several members of a given ES design team are assigned to the related
ERP organization and vice versa. The big difference between an ERP team and an ES team is that the ERP team focuses primarily on people and data integrity while the ES team focuses primarily on the software and hardware. However, both are involved in re-designing business processes, and thus it’s critical that these processes be a joint effort.
So what do the ES design teams do? Well, think of the data flow in the company as hundreds or thousands of trains moving along a myriad of tracks toward one station—the central database. You must decide if those trains only go to the final station or if the data can be switched to a different track along the way, in order to serve a particular function. Also, once the train arrives at the station, the passengers or freight can be re-routed to other destinations. Decidin where all these switches should be located and where the data should go is the job of the design team, and it’s a major task requiring knowledgeable people.