Need of BPR before Navision Implementation

bks

Hey All...

Do you believe there is a need for the customer to go for Business Process Review (BPR) before going for Navision Implementation?

Sometimes, it so happens that becuase cusotmer's processes are not based on industry standards, we end up modifying the functionality of Navision. I dont think this is advisable at all.

Navision is based on some standards and the company going for it should follow those standards. What do you think?

nrapendra

bks wrote:

Navision is based on some standards and the company going for it should follow those standards. What do you think?

My dear friend,

you are absolutely right.but navision is based on some specific standerds.
but the standerds changes in company according to their nature of business.BPR helps us to map the navision standerds to clients business
Process on which his entire company is working.There are so many things which are not fit to their business process if they are going to implement navision as it is.


through BPR partener reviews their buusiness process and maps that how much navision's existing functionality fits to meet out their requirment,and how much customization is required.

bks

So... asking the client to go for BPR before Navision implementation would be a wise step...right?

AdamRoue

I would always advise that business processing is undertaken prior to the implementation to ensure allparties understand the ultimate aim of the implementation.

However I would not generally advise them to alter procedures to meet the needs of the software. Navision has the strength of development, so it should be used, but again you need to question why they want it, and this is part of business process review and the agreed way forward.

DenSter

Standards are always subjective. Most customers I've been involved in say that their way of doing things is 'industry standard', and many get very upset if standard NAV does not support that process.

During your requirements gathering, one of the things you do is to show the customer how things are done in NAV, and you evaluate if that fits their business process. If it does, you move on to the next item. If it does not, then you talk to the customer about what they want to do. Some times they will want to adjust their process to the NAV way, and some times they will need to do some development. For instance, some companies adjust easily to having to receive before invoicing, while others MUST have the ability to invoice before receiving.

Don't confuse 'adjusting a business process to fit the software' with a BPR project though. Those are two entirely different things. I would never do a formal BPR project before a NAV implementation, because in BPR you optimize the process, without taking any particular software product into account. Theoretically, I guess you could make a case that what I described before is similar to BPR, but really what you're doing is mapping business processes to the software, and that is not really BPR.

jlandeen

Even worse is when different customers in the same industry try to argue each of their processes is closer to the "industry stanard".

I am still convinced that a lot of the power of Navision comes from the customizations that can be done to the base product. However it is absolutely critical that those customizations are well thought out and planned. It doesn't always make sense to heavily customize Navision just to fit with a clients process - especially if it will lead to performance, upgrade or other issues down the tract. So the importane decisions are not how to optimize existing business processes, but which processes fit standard Navision, which ones can be built and which ones should be left out all together.

bks

Another important thing to note is to know whether the client wants his processes built in Navision or Standard Industry practices built in Navision.

DenSter

bks wrote:

Another important thing to note is to know whether the client wants his processes built in Navision or Standard Industry practices built in Navision.

You're missing the point. Almost every company claims that their processes ARE industry standard. I have this discussion with almost every customer.

bks

Actually, I came across one customer who complained that we have developed "their" processes in Navision and not the the industry standard!!!!!!! (indirectly, he was saying that thier processes are not industry standard!!!)