SOFTWARE SELECTION - Proven methodology for selecting systems and implementation partners

Software selection is a foundational element for PerfOps.  We find that software selection by owners is often undertaken in a manner that benefits the solution providers to sell what they want and not necessarily what the owner really needs.  Owner operations are typically not ready at project outset to license software, which is required immediately by solution providers.  These factors result in wasted dollars and extended timelines, all of which are in the solution provider’s favor.

TESTIMONIALS

"Gene and Glenn provided project consulting services for our corporate data collection initiative. They were very effective at helping us define our needs and were especially concerned about improving our operations while we were applying new technology. Glenn was an incredible resource for our technical team, guiding our team from detailed design through software development. He is very good at mentoring young technology professionals and our team developed many skills in addition to core software development while under Glenn's tutelage. Glenn was able to work and communicate effectively with all levels of employees from production line workers to upper management in our company. I can highly recommend the Performance Operations team."

Jim Balian, Manager of Systems Development, Bar-S Foods

"Gene was instrumental in helping us build out a new warehouse facility and implement a new warehouse management system. He was with us from the initial vision through go live and optimization. Gene was instrumental in identifying weaknesses in our proposed processes that would have seriously impacted the implementation if left unchecked. His experience and expertise was invaluable in bringing the solution online, in time and processing correctly from day 1 of go live. During this project Gene helped us work through several key staffing changes, quickly adapting to new team members and reducing their learning curve. Gene's efforts helped us improve all of our warehouse metrics, I highly recommend Gene and his team for any manufacturing advice and I am available as a reference at any time."

Joe Morris, Controller, Big Train Corporation

"Gene helped us design a new e-fulfillment center including both the mechanics and the software solution. He also provided assistance to me on various operations initiatives and provided good counsel on organizational and staffing topics. He is process oriented but also very results driven and I would welcome the opportunity to work with Gene again."

Naseem Glaubitz, V.P. Operations Obagi Medical

"Gene has been providing production, warehouse automation consulting and project management services to our firm for many years. His is very experienced in the food industry and relates well to our plant floor personnel. He has helped us research, select and implement software and to guide internal software development projects. I have called on Gene on occasion to jump in and pick up some fast moving, last minute projects. I always know I can rely on Gene to handle the details for me while keeping me fully appraised. He is highly recommended."

Farhad Morshed, Chief Operating Officer and Partner, Snak Club

"We have partnered with Performance Operations on dozens of projects over the years and have loved working with them. Their deep industry experience blended with a great 'bed-side' manner makes recommending them and introducing them to our clients easy. They have impressed our clients so much that we now use them as a primary resource in various aspects of the work we do."

Morgan Harris, Co-Founder and Partner, Dynamic Methods, Inc.

The PerfOps method ensures the right software and services provider are both selected.  Our method plans the project from the outset, manages expectations, ensures the project team and the owner’s data is ready for project implementation.  We reduce cost, project timeline and ensure adoption by users.

  • Requirements preparation, with a focus on the most important requirements for each specific owner and those requirements we most commonly see as missing in software solutions and/or more difficult for solution providers to implement. We start with a large set of functional requirements which are optimized based on the industry and type of project, and then reduce to each specific project’s needs. Our requirements efforts produce requirements which are prioritized and phased for implementation and, most importantly, are understood and readily supported by the user team during discovery by the solution provider.

  • Preparation of client-specific use case data which prospective solution providers will use to demonstrate their software to fit the requirements. This is a key step because it makes the fit or gap of the software to requirements more relevant. This step is essentially an abbreviated version of what the owner’s team will need to do in preparation for various stages during implementation, so by bringing this process forward into the software selection phase the user team is more prepared for implementation.

  • Creating a demo script, which will be followed by all solution providers competing for the business. This makes the demos flow similarly, enhancing the ability of the user team to make “apples to apples” comparisons of the software itself, instead of responding to the “wow” factor of slick, marketing-heavy demos.

  • In addition to the software itself, the solution provider, and their methodology is also evaluated. The best software implemented without a suitable methodology or by a solution team inexperienced in the target industry and application will likely fail. The fit of the methodology to the owner’s team is considered, as is the sustainability of the solution.

  • We have a point based, standardized approach to evaluating fit/gap, which considers the priority of the requirements. The method is weighted and ensures a consistent evaluation across all software and solution provider combinations. Our scoring method highlights areas of fit and solution provider weaknesses, teeing up these subjects for solutioning during project planning.

  • As part of the selection process, suggestions are provided to the owner for what questions to ask during reference checks. This is based on areas of weakness or perceived issues. PerfOps can participate in these checks at the owner’s preference.

  • PerfOps selection process identifies gaps for resolution during project planning. By bringing these issues forward to the project’s outset in the project lifecycle we are reducing cost and timeline, thereby protecting the owner’s investment.

  • PerfOps assists with vendor contract review and negotiation, highlighting the areas that commonly result in issues, and considering the project specifics.  In short, we use our considerable experience to protect the owner’s interests.

 
 

Contact us for a diagram showing how our selection process is superior and why solution providers say they prefer projects which start with PerfOps’ involvement.

 

Our method identifies gaps which would otherwise not be found until late in project implementation, thereby protecting the timeline and reducing cost. We identify functional deficiencies which would reduce the effectiveness and life of the solution. Our method starts software licensing later, at the optimum time, with the owner’s team ready to go at kickoff.

 

It tests the always stated ability of how easy the software is to configure and also confirms the skills of the candidate solution providers.  An important byproduct of this approach is that the owner’s team is better prepared for project implementation which results in faster, better implementations. A key result of our method is that the owner’s team is better prepared for project implementation, which improves the result as well as the ability for the team to sustain the solution.

SYSTEMS EXPERTISE

 

ERP

PerfOps maintains a superior methodology for selecting enterprise software as well as finding the right ERP solution provider for each project. We reduce risk, ensure the right fit and identify resource gaps prior to spending on software licenses and solution provider services. During implementation, PerfOps offers a complete portfolio of services scaled and provided on an as needed basis, including project management, solution design, process and SOP development, training, application of technology, project governance and executive advisory.

WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION & WMS

PerfOps has been guiding the selection, designing and implementing warehouse management and automated material handling systems since 1988. There is nothing we haven’t seen in warehousing and distribution including all forms of Automated Data Collection (ADC) and every level of real-time automation. PerfOps can operate across all activities from the initial vision through facility design, storage and material handling equipment selection, software implementation and process optimization. Our team of project, operations and technology professionals can provide any level of service you require to achieve your warehousing objectives.

TMS

PerfOps has been working with TMS solutions for the past 20 years, including integration of such systems with ERP and WMS, and assisting owners with implementation. Our methods of bringing all resources together, including supply chain partners, to develop the optimum “to be” process, build stronger teams offering more supply chain resilience. As with all our areas of focus, we can work from initial vision through software and vendor selection, solution design, testing and optimization.  Our project management and governance methods ensure these solutions actually achieve stated objectives. We help design and conduct testing and ensure project timelines are maintained.

MES

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are all part of PerfOps’ foundational expertise.  PerfOps’ founder specialized in this area for 20 years prior to founding PerfOps and our teams regularly address MES and other related automation subjects on our projects.  PerfOps maintains the skills and methods to lead selection, implementation and optimization of MES solutions, along with the integration of MES solutions into ERP and Asset/Maintenance systems. We were there before the term “MES” was coined and we literally helped develop the standards and write the handbooks defining what MES is today.

OTHER ENTERPRISE LEVEL SOLUTIONS

PerfOps has deep experience in other supply chain related solution technologies such as PLM, QMS, CMMS, etc. We can quickly generate Enterprise Software Roadmaps which pull all these functions together into a coherent system over the appropriate timeframes. The same methods we apply to ERP and WMS for software and solution provider selection, project planning, governance and management applying to projects in these areas.

 
 
 
 

Our knowledge and experience across these operations areas gives us the means to quickly create effective systems and operations roadmaps which speed deployment, reduce rework and protect owners’ investments.

 

SYSTEMS EXPERTISE

 

ERP

PerfOps maintains a superior methodology for selecting enterprise software as well as finding the right ERP solution provider for each project. We reduce risk, ensure the right fit and identify resource gaps prior to spending on software licenses and solution provider services. During implementation, PerfOps offers a complete portfolio of services scaled and provided on an as needed basis, including project management, solution design, process and SOP development, training, application of technology, project governance and executive advisory.

WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION & WMS

PerfOps has been guiding the selection, designing and implementing warehouse management and automated material handling systems since 1988. There is nothing we haven’t seen in warehousing and distribution including all forms of Automated Data Collection (ADC) and every level of real-time automation. PerfOps can operate across all activities from the initial vision through facility design, storage and material handling equipment selection, software implementation and process optimization. Our team of project, operations and technology professionals can provide any level of service you require to achieve your warehousing objectives.

TMS

PerfOps has been working with TMS solutions for the past 20 years, including integration of such systems with ERP and WMS, and assisting owners with implementation. Our methods of bringing all resources together, including supply chain partners, to develop the optimum “to be” process, build stronger teams offering more supply chain resilience. As with all our areas of focus, we can work from initial vision through software and vendor selection, solution design, testing and optimization.  Our project management and governance methods ensure these solutions actually achieve stated objectives. We help design and conduct testing and ensure project timelines are maintained.

MES

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are all part of PerfOps’ foundational expertise.  PerfOps’ founder specialized in this area for 20 years prior to founding PerfOps and our teams regularly address MES and other related automation subjects on our projects.  PerfOps maintains the skills and methods to lead selection, implementation and optimization of MES solutions, along with the integration of MES solutions into ERP and Asset/Maintenance systems. We were there before the term “MES” was coined and we literally helped develop the standards and write the handbooks defining what MES is today.

OTHER ENTERPRISE LEVEL SOLUTIONS

PerfOps has deep experience in other supply chain related solution technologies such as PLM, QMS, CMMS, etc. We can quickly generate Enterprise Software Roadmaps which pull all these functions together into a coherent system over the appropriate timeframes. The same methods we apply to ERP and WMS for software and solution provider selection, project planning, governance and management applying to projects in these areas.

 
 
 
 

Our knowledge and experience across these operations areas gives us the means to quickly create effective systems and operations roadmaps which speed deployment, reduce rework and protect owners’ investments.

 

  • Our professionals work together because they prefer to and not because they happen to be employed by the same firm. PerfOps is a principled organization and our team members meet a high level of standards.

  • While our teams focus on each project’s goals, our team members must also demonstrate a commitment to achieving long-term results for clients beyond each project’s specific scope.

  • The PerfOps consortium is comprised of highly experienced individuals. Most team members exceed 10 years of continuous skills development in their chosen areas of work.

Solutions are the sum of People + Process + Technology. Any combination of these not in balance leads to sub-optimal results at best.  PerfOps’ methods have been optimized in this regard with the objective of leaving the client team better prepared to maintain and improve the solution for the long term.