Cathy Sweet This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Content Submission

   www.softwarestrategies.com/Web - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/1/1999   Last Visited: 2/1/2001

   "Conventional wisdom surrounding the implementation of ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems describe it as being similar to filling a swimming pool one teaspoon at a time," says Cathy Sweet, information systems (IS) manager for the Commercial Systems Group (Oroville, Calif.) at Spectra-Physics. "We've all heard of major cost overruns, missed deadlines, and high turnover of project team members. In spite of these ERP war stories, we did not find the problems insurmountable and were able to complete a successful implementation within a very short time frame--four months."
   
   The company's investigation of integrated ERP systems began in the summer of 1996, when it became apparent that the manufacturing systems being used by the Commercial Systems Group were no longer meeting business needs. The Commercial Systems Group of Spectra-Physics consists of four distinct business units manufacturing diverse products, ranging from precision-machined metal components to high-end optics fabrication and coatings to small optical systems assembly. Three of those business units were using a legacy mainframe system that provided zero visibility to production floor activity.
   ...
   "A major problem with our older system was the users just couldn't get information out of it--the accountants had to get it for them," says Sweet, who is intimately familiar with the company's accounting functions. Before becoming IS manager, she was a financial analyst for the company. "We needed a system simple enough so that all users could get information out of it. After all, they might need something different than what I might think they need."
   
   "I was very excited about this project to begin with, because I knew the new system would make my life easier as an accountant," says Sweet. "We had all these independent systems, and when we were trying to close the books, it was almost impossible because we had our inventory on one system, our invoices on other, etc, etc. It just made my life miserable. And then trying to troubleshoot system problems made my job even harder, because there were some real low-level interfaces between these systems. So in addition to dealing with the accounting functions, I had to wear this other hat of fixing the systems end of it too."
   
   Defining the Terms
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   "The Group Systems software assisted us in brainstorming a list of system requirements, and then to vote on those requirements and rank their importance," says Sweet. "We invited representatives from each functional area of each business unit, including managers and employees, to participate. A list of system requirements, separated by functional area and ranked by importance, was the outcome of a three-hour session that might have otherwise taken weeks, even months to accomplish. These requirements became the basis of our RFP (request for proposal) and an important checklist during our software demos."
   
   Sweet believes one of the reasons this process was handled so quickly and effectively was that the players were able to discuss the issues and vote on them electronically and anonymously via the Group Systems software. This capability of the software and the way in which the meetings to use it are held at the university has proved appealing to other organizations as well, including Intel and the U.S. Navy. © 1999 Putman Media