Microsoft Great Plains Implementation for Large Corporation overview for VP IT
By Andrew Karasev
1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918
Alba Spectrum Technologies
Microsoft Business
Solutions Great Plains was historically designed to serve mid-market first and
then with addition and acquisition of new modules Great Plains Dynamics
architects planned to enter into corporate market. When Microsoft SQL Server
took its place as relatively reliable and stable database platform, Great Plains
gained scalability. Lets consider the questions, you need to be placed and
answered for your IT department in ERP selection, implementation, modification
and customization.
- Business System
value. For large publicly
traded enterprise ERM application needs to be tailored to serve unique
business processes. In the case of traditional ERP system for big businesses,
such as Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, the modules have very rich functionality and
you can expect that majority of the required functionality is already
present. In the case when the system is coming the way up from mid-size to
large clientele you expect more customization to be done. There are pluses
and minuses of both approaches: in the case of traditional system you overpay
for the functionality you do not need and probably consulting rates will be
higher, in the case of Great Plains you might need more customization hours
with lower rates
- Implementation
Partner Expertise. This is very
important question. In the case of Great Plains you should be aware that
typical Microsoft Business Solution partner/VAR serves local market and
mid-size clients. Plus it might not have dedicated Great Plains developers
consultants may not segregate functional and technical consulting duties.
Also look for your industry implementation expertise if you are project
organization ask for Great Plains Project Accounting tailoring and
integration expertise, if you are nation-wide placement agency and want to
deploy payroll module for your temps ask for US Payroll module customization
and case studies
- Technology
Diversity challenges. You
should analyze your current technologies in use and cross-integration needs
with Microsoft Great Plains Lotus Notes/Domino, custom Oracle systems,
Unix-based databases, such as DBII, Java/EJB oriented web systems, Siebel CRM
solutions? If you have these so-called non-Microsoft platforms and systems
and you need cross-integration check if proposed Microsoft Business Solution
partner has the expertise
- Do not be sold
select your provider proactively. It is not a secret that when VAR hears
the name of your fortune 500 corporation it deploys its sales heavy
artillery. You need to find people who could do the job and you need to find
them via independent objective research.
Good luck with selection, implementation and
customization, if you have issues or
concerns we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call
1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba
Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft RMS, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization
company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York,
Georgia, Arizona, Minnesota, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple
states and internationally (
http://www.albaspectrum.com ),
he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal
Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew:
andrewk@albaspectrum.com