ERP Readiness: Are Your Facilities Ready?

In this latest post on ERP Technology Readiness, Adam Orgeron, one of SYTE’s Technical Analysts, walks us through a series of questions to help determine whether your facilities and technology infrastructure are ready for a new ERP system, upgrade, or add-on.

When determining whether or not your facilities and technology infrastructure are ready for a new enterprise solution, like a new ERP system, asking yourself the following questions are crucial:

1. Where in my facility will my employees need to access the ERP system?
2. Have I mapped my facility? Do I know where wifi dead zones are?

Walking the facility with a network reader, cellphone, or any of the many devices that they use now to test your wireless feed is necessary.

Orgeron says, “Some places that people forget to look at is if I’ve got a high temperature or low temperature zone. A refrigerator, or maybe an industrial oven or incinerator area, may not have wireless passing through because of the insulation that’s keeping it cold or hot in that particular section of the building.”

3. Should I set up specific virtual local area networks (VLANs) or am I better off creating completely separate wireless LANs?
4. In a wired environment, is every outlet labeled and identifiable? Do I know which switch it goes to? Do I know where the cabling for each outlet is run?

Orgeron points out, “If I’ve got to trace back where, exactly, particular lines go, that could get very costly depending on how many runs and drops you have in your building and how long the length of the run is—if the drop is in the back warehouse and the server room is in the front, for example.”

5. What will my bandwidth requirements be after I install a new ERP system, upgrade to a new one, or introduce a new add-on? Do I have modern cables and switches that are capable of Gigabit and better network speeds? Have I conducted stress tests on my network prior to installing an ERP system?

“The last thing I want to do,” say Orgeron, “is to implement an ERP system designed to enhance my productivity that ends up deteriorating my network performance.”

6. What about my Wide Area Network (WAN)? Do I have multiple locations? Are those locations in close proximity—on the same campus—or not? Are they close enough to use an Outdoor Wireless Network (OWN)? If so, do I have line of site? Or, will I put cable in the ground? How am I going to interconnect my WAN? Will I use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?

Orgeron shares a story: “I’ve got a location in far north where ground freezing is an issue. If I’ve got to have lines run to my location, I’ve got to make sure that they go into the ground before November or December as the ground may not thaw until March!”

The most important takeaway for Orgeron is that newer enterprise solutions, and ERP systems in particular, are typically going to use more system resources in order to achieve the results and performance that are expected from those systems. “If you’re having performance issues in your current format,” says Orgeron, “then just switching to a new ERP system is likely not going to change that for the better.”

Need help assessing the readiness of your facilities and technology infrastructure? Call us! We’re happy to help.

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