What else can I be doing to get more from Prophet 21?

This is one of the most common questions I get asked by clients.  I understand why.  The investment in an ERP system is a large one, and the more you use it, the more value you get from it.  Nobody wants to spend that kind of money to get just a little bit of value.

According to a Panorama Consulting report, the top 2 reasons for implementing ERP are:

• Improving Business Performance
• Make Employee Jobs Easier

If those 2 things are not happening inside your company, I would suggest you should start finding out why. Prophet 21 has an ongoing cost like most any ERP system does.  That means you should be constantly trying to get more value from it.

There are a couple of questions to consider immediately to evaluate how well you’re optimizing the system you have:

• Are you regularly revisiting your Prophet 21 configuration to see what it can do to adapt with you?
• Are you staying up to date on version upgrades and taking full advantage of new features as they are released?

If the answer to either of those questions is no, then the last question I have is:  Why are you paying so much for the right to stay upgraded if you are not using it? 

For companies using Prophet 21, there is a lot of functionality built into the system.  Sometimes, this can seem overwhelming.  You have to depend on the implementation team to understand your business and configure the system appropriately.  Even if they do a great job, things change.  Your business is always evolving and your needs are constantly changing.

3 Ways to Get More from Prophet 21

If you are not sure whether or not you are getting the most from Prophet 21, here are a few things you can do to try and get more.

Review your system settings at least once a year: There are often new settings being added. Additionally, as your business evolves, your needs may also be evolving. Finally, there may be settings in your configuration that were missed or set incorrectly. A good once-over every now and then is a healthy way to see if there are ways to get more from P21.

Have a user brainstorming session:  More often than not, people do not complain for the sake of complaining.  One tool we have used with great success is to get users together in a room and ask questions.  We like to find out exactly what their specific issues are, and then see if there are ways to overcome the challenges.  We find the best way to do this is to bring in one department at a time.  Make a list of the issues and knock off as many as you can.  Then move to the next department.

Review your error logs: You would be shocked at how many errors and problems go unreported. Users just become numb to them.  We suggest a regular review of the P21 error logs to see if you can find patterns.  Use this data to flush out what challenges users have “just gotten used to.”

You should always be asking how to get more from your Prophet 21 system.  It is a big investment with an ongoing cost, so you have to keep trying to squeeze more performance from it.

We spend a lot of time helping companies get more from the P21 investment.  If you feel like you need some help squeezing more out of the system, we would love to talk to you.  Please contact us for a no strings attached conversation about your P21 system.