REASON TO AVOID HEAVY ERP CUSTOMIZATION

ERP customization is considered as one of the hectic and time consuming task during the implementation phase. Customization are time consuming as well as cost consuming. As we all know that every business follows certain business processes to ensure that they are on top when it comes to growth. ERP implementation with standard feature is one part whereas there are few areas where an organisation needs to be dependent on customization of certain module so to ensure that business processes are the similarly implemented in an ERP solution. Nowadays ERP customization is becoming essential part either for the following reason.

1. The company doesn’t want to change their existing business processes

2. The modules which company is looking out for is not available in the ERP software (New development)

Why one should avoid ERP customization:

In this blog post we will cover why one must avoid heavy customization in an ERP software implementation. Simple ERP customization or configurations with settings can be done quickly but when it comes to complex customization in an ERP there are various problems arise which is as follows

• Timeline Increases – ERP customization increases the timeline of the project as there are code level changes that one needs to perform during the customization areas. Further based on the the level of customization such as minor, major, or complete code customization – the timelines can be increase drastically
• Project Pricing – When the timelines of the project increase it will increase the cost of the overall project. There are certain instances where the customization cost are higher than the implementation cost due to loads of complexities.
• Enhance Risk – Complex customization enhance the risk of failure as new customization need a proper foundation of understanding the need of the customer and if the solution doesn’t match the requirements due to low project control than that particular customization enhance the risk of wasting time money and resources.
• Migration Issue – When you develop a customize module as per your business requirement then Migration of that particular module to new version can be too much time consuming if there are standard features upgrades and migration can be done easily.

Apart from the above there are many other issue a company face when they perform heavy customization. Therefore we suggest that complex customization can be avoided as to ensure the cost of development is less and your organization or department don’t need to wait for a long to use the solution. If you check all these points these pain points of extreme customization in ERP it lies to the organization and not to the vendor as whatever changes an organization need, ERP vendor can perform based on their capabilities and experience.

ERP customization is one of the most divisive topics. Many of the companies today avoid heavy customization and leverage the out of the box or vanilla implementation as to ensure the cost are reduces, However because of too many decision maker from each department who ask for small customization in every functionality of ERP solution these issue make the over all customization heavy and lengthy.

Tips on Improvising Customization during ERP software Development

1. Configuration and Customization differs

Both the term sounds similar and often get confused by the developer and by the organization. Remember that Configuration is not customization – Configuration in an ERP software includes setting up of parameters, fields, workflows and son these are small changes which don’t require customization in the source code or to add a new line of code. Whereas customization requires either creation of a new module from scratch by adding new line of code which also falls under new development category.

2. Business Requirements Analysis

Make sure that Business requirement analysis team have covered the area of customization properly and it is properly understood by the Project management team and technical team as sometimes low understanding or misunderstanding of particular area can lead to failure in the project.

3. Choose Proper Methodology

Methodology during the implementation also plays a very important role when you develop any custom module development as there are certain methodology which don’t offers you solid control over the project, for eg : You can apply water fall methodology when you know the work is related to configuration and installation but when it comes to new module development the vendor and organization needs to be communicated powerfully so to ensure the customization is going on correct path

4. Change is good but not during Customization

Always clearly define the customization you are looking out for and freeze them in advance there are some cases where customization even changes during or after the implementation which create more hassles compare to extreme customization.

As we have always said that businesses are unique in working from their competitors therefore not a single ERP solution serve 100% company needs, However when one perform for ERP customization the above 4 points can make your customization successful.

As an expert Globalteckz team always roll out the out of the box modules or implement Base ERP modules without undertaking complicated customization first to ensure the project is rolled out quickly and client can come up with complex customization in Phase 2. Further sometime it also happens that companies are happy with the standard features and changes their business process as per the ERP standard features.

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• 10 Important steps before implementing an ERP system
• Odoo ERP Software Development Methodologies
• How to evaluate Manufacturing ERP Software and Vendors
• Manufacturing ERP with Odoo Software
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