Common Mistakes While Implementing Business Intelligence Solutions

implementing-Bi

Today in this article we would like to highlight some of the common mistakes most of the companies do while implementing Business Intelligence Solutions.

1. Requirement Gathering Mistakes:

– Jumping to design before getting the requirements. Requirement gathering is about building the right system and design is about building the system right
-Gathering requirements for a BI implementation is challenging as it involves a broad scope. It offers potential for use of data and analytics, business culture, agility and adaptability, continuous improvement and much more.

2. Project Planning Mistakes:

– Generally organizations try to do everything at once by bundling their BI implementations with other IT projects
– Failing to get everyone on the team behind the project

3. Rushing into Implementation:

– A rushed and quick implementation often leads to an unsuccessful implementation
– Frustrates client and the management alike

4. Solution that is not scalable and adaptable:

– Choosing a solution that’s not agile
– Not choosing a solution that can grow, or adapt, to business needs

5. Too much or too few BI software tools:

-Too many tools lead to a lot of confusion and soaring training costs. Too few tools frustrate the users
-Not thinking strategically about the toolset, recommended by ERP vendors

Conclusion – A BI implementation can take lot of effort and money unless planned and executed well with experience. Bista Solutions has worked on medium to large scale BI deployments with success. Do reach out to us if you are looking for a BI partner, we would be more than glad to bring our experience

For more information you can consult our experts on  sales@bistasolutions.com or call on USA: 404 631 6219 / Other Regions +91 897 609 8988

ERP Failures and common mistakes in choosing ERP

ERP is critical software and the chances of ERP failures are always with it. ERP is a ballgame, not many people play it well. But, what is even worse, some don’t know they aren’t playing well, there are many reasons for ERP failures. Choosing an ERP solution is another ballgame, whose story is no different. Many of us must have read articles on how to choose an ERP, what parameters to look for while approaching vendors, partners, or solution providers, and what common ERP failures needed to keep an eye on. But not many emphasized the commonplace misconceptions or mistakes made while choosing an ERP. Let’s address a few common mistakes made when an organization chooses an ERP.

ERP failures

  • Engaging The Essential Resources:

Companies fail to understand the importance of an ERP implementation project and possible ERP failures. Many times, the right resources are not included. Organizations do not plan well in advance for the activities and tasks needed through the implementation. The solution provider is well equipped with all the tools to be able to deliver as per the timeline, but companies need to reciprocate likewise as well. All of this results in the quality of implementation delivery and removes the chances of ERP Failures. And then the solution provider, or at times the ERP technology takes the blame.

The best way to avoid ERP failures from happening is to set priorities right from the beginning. Organizations should engage crucial team members from the very start. ERP tools touch all the forefronts of your company, so it is essential to have people from all the various departments participate in the process.

  • Implementation Timeline:

Some ERP vendors claim to have their products easy to install, and once installed the company can run on it flawlessly. Well, it never really works that way. The next common misconception we’ll talk about is the implementation timeline.

Companies think of ERP solutions as a plug and play tools. ERPs are systems that need to be designed for the company, as per requirements. This is not a one-day job, it takes time and resources. Huge implementations can go up until 3 quarters of a year. if done methodically. Solution partners take resort to implementation methodologies, many times it is technology-specific. The project is divided into phases, with intermediate milestones.

Teams are deployed, with dedicated skill sets for niche tasks in the implementation. Resource allocation from either end is essential. Dedicated resources from the organization are a must, they can work with the solution partners throughout the implementation tenure. Changing the resource from time to time leads to the implementation of ERP failures.

  • Best Practices:

Different organizations have different business processes, different scenarios, and different needs from their ERP. But organizations fail to understand that each ERP is built based on some best practices across the industry. Implementation partners will help to bridge the niche need, but the vast majority of business processes should be following best practices. Many ERPs have the best practices standardized, these are moduled or bundled along and can be deployed as per customer needs. Companies must always remember, less customization equals less possibility of breakage. Implementations that are more inclined toward best practices are more successful compared.

  • Speed and Agility:

Today’s business runs at the speed of thought. And if the ERP fails to catch up, you always end up with one wheel behind the finish line. Speed is a relative term, and for many ERPs, it’s dependent (on server capacities, locations, etc). Organizations typically fall prey to the speed and agility demonstrated by the vendor or solution provider. The demos presented are generally hardwired and preset on servers or local machines. It thereby becomes difficult to understand the true ability of an ERP. The best way to tackle it is to run a trial instance yourself. A real-life demo!

Solution providers can enable organizations with trial versions that can run for a couple of weeks. Organizations can set up basic stuff there and learn whether the speed is up to the mark.

  • Security:

Companies capture massive confidential data. This can be customer credit card credentials or their financials for that matter. But while choosing an ERP, many times they overlook the need of having a secure system to handle the data as cleanly as it should.

Companies need to choose a secure ERP. Some systems can be hosted locally, on the premises. In such scenarios, data security is often overlooked. Some ERPs come with very secure database backing. Surprisingly some cloud-based solutions are more secure than on-premises systems. There are ERP vendors which claim to be as secure as any banking system. Companies must not miss checking the security norms of ERPs before implementation.

  • TCO:

The total cost of ownership of any product, especially that of an ERP system, has many components. Some ERPs can be completely owned by the company, while some are sold based on the subscription model. Today is the day of cloud ERPs, which dramatically reduce the TCO of the organizations owning it. Many companies miss computing the TCO for an ERP before investing in it. This is something all companies must do.

An attractive TCO will also get your return on investment sooner and will make it look much better compared to a very short period. Today’s cloud offerings claim to get a healthy ROI within months.

  • Support Mechanism:

Many ERP products provide after-sales support. Not just that, many implementers do that too. It is essential to choose your support channel wisely. Most of the time, the product company provides product support and fails to cope with the implementation specifics. Moreover, they charge a fortune for each ticket. This is a commonplace problem. As opposed, the implementation companies also provide after-sales support. If need be, they also have some reservations about the production company itself. It is more advisable to go with your implementation partner for support, as he is the one who knows your ERP better than any other.

  • Test Environment:

Customers tend to think, if we hire expert implementers we won’t need test environments. This is a myth! Test environments are not just for implementation partners to test. This is where the company can test during the acceptance testing, the future phases can be rolled out, the sample data can get in, and the users can be trained. If you are planning to do away with the test environment, you’ll have to compromise on a lot.

Test environments are typically instances wherein the implementation of mock-ups can be configured. Maintaining a backup of the customizations becomes so easy with the test environments in the picture. Cloud ERPs of the day have compatibility to fully replicate the test environment as per your live instance.

  • Data Migration:

Data migration for many is just like uploading files on the internet. Well, it isn’t only about uploading. Companies tend to pay less attention to data migration activity, whereas data is the backbone of any ERP. A considerable fraction of migrating systems goes into migrating data. Different ERPs have different data structures or tables, it requires mapping efforts to push data the way it is needed.

Data migration is a combination of many tasks, namely planning, identifying and removing data redundancy, data hygiene, mapping, and importing/uploading. The result is significant and gives the true look and feel to an ERP. Implementers are equipped with a data migration skill set and help in pinpointing the effort estimate in this aspect.

  • Discontinuing Legacy System:

The system which you were using before the advent of your new ERP is the legacy system. Many companies conveniently forget to discontinue the legacy system. Any system comes with a cost, and continuing it for no reason means an unnecessary cost to the company. Some organizations think of legacy systems as a backup plan, on which they can fall back on. But the reality is that the fallback system never shows the true picture. Once a new ERP comes on board, the legacy system is not updated, and transactions stop flowing in unless deliberately entered. The best recommendation is to keep a single version of the truth, many versions can be delusive.

If you are looking forward to implementing an ERP Solution, You can consider Bista Solutions for ERP Implementation services. We are partnered with leading ERP Solutions including Odoo – Open Source ERP, and Ramco, For more information, you can consult our experts at sales@bistasolutions.com and call on the USA: +1 (858) 401 2332 

 

Automate your Purchase Requisition Process with ProcessMaker

Maintaining and managing corporate spending is consider being really critical task, but with the help of ProcessMaker it has been turned into a simple process automated process than you imagine.

ProcessMaker has core capabilities which will enable you to design and automate your organization approvals on the Purchase budget.
Today in this article we would like to show you that how you can design your Purchase Requisition process in ProcessMaker

Complete Process of Purchase Requisition will look like this.

purchase-requisition

2. Login Screen:

Login screen for ProcessMaker.

ProcessMaker Login

3. View after Login

Inbox view after login in to ProcessMaker.

purchase-requisition

4. Starting New Case

We can start new case by clicking ‘Start Case’ button in Process Information frame.

processmaker-case-start

5. New Case

processmaker-new-case

6. Filling Form

processmaker-form-filling

7. Assigning Case Step:

processmaker-assigning-case

8. Email Notification with link to respective case:

After assigning the step request information is notify by Auto Generated email notification with pre-design template to the next user.

Processmaker approval

9. Case Received by Department Head:

The request submitted by Applicant will be received his manager

Case-received-in-processmaker

 

10. IT Head Approval:

For example, if a person has requested for IT Asset, than after approval it will go to the IT manager.

it-approval

11. Approval Committee Case:

Approval Committee Case

12. Approval Committee Head Case:

Approval Committee Head Case

13. Purchase Department Case:

Here the purchase Manager will get all the information of the purchase request along with the Applicant name and approval date & time.

Purchase Department Case

14. End of Process:

14. End of Process:

15. Request Acceptance Email Notification:

Once the request gets approved by everyone the Applicant will get an auto generated notification along with auto generated output document in the form of attachment.

Request Acceptance Email Notification

16. OUTPUT Document of Process:

OUTPUT Document of Process

17. Request Rejection Email Notification:

If manage rejects purchase request an email notification will goes to the Applicant along with Case no of request, time of rejection and reason of rejection.

Request Rejection Email Notification

I hope this document is helpful, for more information or for the demo request of ProcessMaker email us on sales@bistasolutions.com

What If Analysis Scenario in Tableau

Parameters are one of the most powerful features available in Tableau to analyze and interact with data. Parameters are dynamic values that can replace constant values in calculations. For example, you may create a calculated field that returns true if Sales is greater than $500,000 and otherwise return false. You can replace the constant value of “500,000” in the formula with a parameter that you can change dynamically using the parameter control.

In this post we will use parameters feature to create a “What-if” analysis. A “What-if” analysis is the process of changing the values a parameter to see how those changes will affect the outcome of data in a Tableau worksheet.

Let’s use superstore data that comes with Tableau desktop. We will analyze Gross Profit % (GP%) from the data set and build a KPI that would help us in identifying months that have exceeded the Profit Target set by a parameter.

  • Create a calculated field with GP% = sum([Profit])/sum([Sales])
  • Filter out the data for 2013 year in “Filters” pane. Also, setup a quick filter with single value list
  • Create a view like below with order date in row shelf and GP% in column shelf

 

Tableau Bi

  •  To create a parameter, right click in the Parameters window in the bottom left corner of the sheet view and select “Create Parameter”. You will have six data type options to choose from. We will select float data type as GP% is best represented in decimals. Name the parameter as GP Target. Let’s keep the current value as 0 (which will be default value when you use parameter for the first time). Choose display format as “percentage” with one decimal point. Giving a “range” would specify the lower and upper limit of the parameter. Here we will take it as 0 and 1, where 1 being highest (100%) and 0 being the lowest (0%) with increment of 5% (0.05 step size).

Tableau-what-if-analysis

  •  A parameter is a dependent variable which means it does not do anything on its own. There has to be a condition defined that would allow us to use the parameter. In this what-if analysis we want to see whether GP% was achieved in a particular month or not. So, we will create a calculated field that would satisfy the condition if the GP% is greater or equal to GP Target

Tableau

  • Drag the calculated field “Profit KPI” from the above step and drop it in color shelf of marks card

Tableau-What-if

  • Last step is to right click on the parameter “GP Target” and select “show parameter control”
    Your first what-if analysis is ready! As you move the “GP Target” slider, you will have the months highlighted (in blue or red) if they have achieved the profit target or not.

What-if-in-Tableau

For more information related to Tableau, kindly email us on sales@bistasolutions.com.

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FIFO Method in ERPinCloud

FIFO – First In, First Out:-

FIFO Method is as simple as it sounds. The first lot of stock that comes into your warehouse should be the first that goes out including sending the goods to stores or sending them directly to customers.

So, FIFO is method of moving stock through your warehouse. FIFO is used for inventory management.

Let us see the Flow of FIFO in ERPinCloud

Configuration:-

  1. Create product and select costing method as FIFO and set cost price.

Go to ->>Warehouse->>Product->>Procurements->>Select Costing Method as FIFO & Set the Cost Price

create-products-in-fifo

  1. Set inventory valuation as real time automated and set stock input account and output account.

Go to ->>Warehouse->>Product->> Set Inventory Valuation as Real Time (automated) & Configure-Stock Input Account & Stock Output Account

validation

 

How to use costing method FIFO in ERPinCloud:-

Step 1: Create purchase order-1 of 4 quantities for that product and set different unit price other than defined in product and click on receive product

create-purchase-order

Step 2: Check Journal Entry and the amount which is calculated based on the cost price defined in purchase order-1

Cost price= 80 (Defined in purchase order-1)

80*4=320 (4 =number of quantities)

check-journal-entry

Step 3: Check product cost price which remains unchanged

check-product-cost-price

Step 4: Create purchase order-2 of 5 quantities for that product and set different unit price and click on receive product

crete-purchase-order-2

Step 5: Check Journal Entry and the amount which is calculated based on the unit price defined in purchase order-2

Unit price= 110 (Defined in purchase order-2)

110*5=550 (5 =number of quantities)

check-journal-entry-2

Step 6: Check product cost price which remains unchanged

cp-remain-unchanged

 

Step 7: Create Sale order of 7 quantities of that product which has costing method as FIFO and click on deliver

crete-sale-order1

crete-sale-order2

Step 8: Check Journal Entry and the amount which is calculated based on FIFO

Calculation: Purchase Order-1 is created for 4 quantities at a cost price of 80

Purchase Order -2 is created for 5 quantities at a cost price of 110

As Sales order is for 7 quantities, so 4 quantities is charged at cost price of 80 (4*80=320)

And remaining 3 quantities is charged at cost price of 110 (3*110=330)

As costing method is FIFO 4 quantities is charged as per first purchase order cost price and remaining 3 quantities is charged as per second purchase order cost price

check-journal-entry3

Step 9: Product cost price is changed

product-costis-changed

 

As Sales order is for 7 quantities, so 4 quantities is charged at cost price of 80 (4*80=320)

And remaining 3 quantities is charged at cost price of 110 (3*110=330)

As costing method is FIFO 4 quantities is charged as per first purchase order cost price and remaining 3 quantities is charged as per second purchase order cost price

So cost price of product is calculated as (330+320)/7=92.86

You can Try Free Product Trial Today: http://www.erpincloud.com/signup-cloud-erp-free-trial/

 

JasperSoft – Robust Business Intelligence Tool

To analyze an organization’s performance in order to improve its turnover and competitiveness it is a usual requirement to exhibit data in Tabular or Graphical manner.

Reporting tool provides an implementation that makes the task of generating data in Tabular or Graphical form as reports. When one thinks of an open source reporting tool Jasper Reports comes to mind as it is freely available. Jasper Reports/iReport is a Jaspersoft product and one of the best BI frameworks. It is entirely created in Java and a platform independent tool. It allows connectivity through any kind of Datasource to produce pixel-perfect documents that can be viewed, printed or exported in a variety of document formats including PDF, RTF, XML, XLS, CSV, HTML, XHTML, text, DOCX, or Open Office.

JasperSoft – Robust Business Intelligence Tool

Jasper Report Template can be easily incorporated in most of the ERP applications by deploying its related jars and it’s all set for execution.

Now, you may be eager to know about Jaspersoft more. You can simply email us for Jaspersoft Demo on sales@bistasolutions.com

Top Benefits of Workflow Management Software

Workflow Management Software

Workflow management software is also known as Business Process Management software (BPM). It is a powerful platform that can be used by any industry across all the departments in an organization whether in the telecom, retail, eCommerce, pharma, or professional service industry.

BPM software helps you with the measurable difference in working efficiency. Well-designed scenarios, built on a strong BPM software platform allow organizations to improve their business processes.

 

Workflow-management-software title=

 

Here are some important Benefits of using Workflow management software for the organization

  • Workflow management software helps identify and minimize unwanted processes and steps in your Business.
  • It helps you to modify the order and make the process more efficient. You can run multiple processes in parallel.
  • You can simply assign tasks and they can be designed as per a particular individual based on specific skills to perform tasks.
  • With the use of BPM workflow software, management can easily concentrate on strategic Business activities, rather than everyday operations including task allocation and monitoring its daily progress.
  • Workflow software helps to eliminate paperwork, reduces wastage, and saves time.
  • It improves Business visibility. The real-time tracking feature allows employees as well as executive members to quickly check the status of ongoing activities. It allows viewing of critical processes at each point so that it is easy to identify the errors and smoothen the end-to-end Business process.
  • Workflow management software ensures all the defined processes are completed and followed properly
  • As Workflow processes are linked to a database, it keeps all the records of what occurs in the system. As who, what, and when the actions were performed.

Bista Solutions has implemented Workflow (BPM ) Software for major industry leaders, We are Gold Partners of ProcessMaker which is the world’s #1 Open Source BPM Software.  To Request Free Demo of ProcessMaker email us at sales@bistasolutions.com or call us at USA: +1 (858) 401 2332

Bista Implemented ERPinCloud with BigCommerce Integration for Mancrates

 

Client Profile:

Mancrates is an US based eCommerce Company, providing exclusive gift collection for men. They have assembling and distribution centre in the West coast.

 

What was the Key Challenges Faced by Customer?

Mancrates was managing their ecommerce operations using multiple Business software such as Brightpearl, boxora and shipworks (These are some of the eCommerce applications holding different capabilities). Since these software’s were integrated with each other the eCommerce operations was getting complex. There was no proper communication between this software’s and hence they end up doing manual work.

Mancrates were looking for a single integrated system which can take their entire requirement including assembling, sales, purchase, inventory management and etc.

BigCommerce Integration

 

How Bista Solutions Helped Client to overcome with the challenges? (Key Implementations)

Bista Solutions implemented “ERPinCloud” (Robust Cloud ERP Software Owned by Bista Solutions) It is integrated software with all the advance features in it.

The ERPinCloud Implementation helped Mancrates to seamlessly manage all the eCommerce business operations using one system including requirement generation, purchase orders, multiple warehouses, manufacturing, shipping etc.

Bista not only helped Mancrates with ERP implementation but also, integrated ERPinCloud with BigCommerce (BigCommerce is an eCommerce online Store, It helps to create own eCommerce store). With the BigCommerce Integration – it became easy for Mancrates to have sales order directly into ERPinCloud from BigCommerce. Hence ERP implementation and BigCommerce Integration made eCommerce simple for Mancrates.

 

What was the Impact on Client Business after Project Implementation? (Benefits)

The ERPinCloud is empowering Mancrates to take their Business to the next level. ERPinCloud is fulfilling their needs to meet expected for next coming years

 

What
Mancrates say’s about Bista?

“Bista has been a great partner to work with, fully committed to do whatever it takes to make the project a success, and always working with us finding ways to improve the process on a consistent basis.”

Bista Working with Hyundai Construction Equipment to Implement Tableau

Tableau Integration

Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas, Inc. (HCEA) is working with Bista to integrate Tableau with their Odoo implementation. Tableau’s rich functionality will greatly improve forecasting functionality, and reduce migration headaches by allowing them to leave their very large sales and purchasing history data in the previous system.

The Right ERP System Is Out There

Selecting the Perfect ERP for Your Business

In today’s software market there are many options in ERP, nevertheless selecting ERP Package that fits the requirements of a business is an overwhelming task.
Although most of the ERP packages are more or less similar there difference in detailing. A lot of features in an ERP system are unexplored and are usually not used. To take advantage of the beneficial features in an ERP system, it’s essential to examine the specs accurately and try using them. However to try thousands of the ERP features is time consuming and extremely difficult.

Initially, the first step you have to decide what features you would like to have in your ERP Package and then in the second step you have to make a list of the ERP features which you actually need for your Business.

In the third step, you have to divide the list into three sub lists such as

1. Features Your ERP Must Have – This list should have all the features you need to run your Business ( You can also specify the reasons of each requirement )
2. Features Which Are Good To Have – This list should have all the features which are convenient for Business but are not that necessary to have.
3. Features which your business can do without – This list will be the longest among all. Include all the unwanted features which are irrelevant for your Business.

Now starts looking at the ERP Packages offered by the companies and evaluate what you see carefully in terms of your Must-Haves and decide which products you want a full demonstration on.

Keep in mind that picking an ERP package is a critical business decision and you can waste a lot of money and effort if you pick the wrong product. It’s important to take the time and make efforts to select wisely.

We at Bista Solutions offer wide range of ERP software. With our expertise and experience we can assist you in selecting the right ERP solution for your business. We also have capabilities of customizing ERP as per your Business needs. For more information email us on sales@bistasolutions.com or call us at USA:404 631 6219 Other Region: +91 897 609 8988