E-Business and ERP: Rapid Implementation and Project Planning

Book Description

Proven strategies for companies seeking to accelerate an ERP implementation

Almost all large and midsize corporations worldwide will be involved in implementing enterprise resource planning and/or e-business applications over the next two to three years. This is the only book that discusses how to implement a rapid ERP system and shows how e-business is impacted by the implementation of an ERP system. This book also provides valuable tried and true methods of keeping the project under or within budget. A quality ERP transaction foundation is a prerequisite for taking advantage of many of the new e-business opportunities that executives have placed high on their list of priorities. This valuable guide examines the strengths and weaknesses of ERP and shows when rapid implementation is not appropriate. The book also provides outsourcing alternatives and the use of application service alternatives, and shows how e-business is impacted by the implementation of an ERP system.

Murrell G. Shields (McLean, VA) is the Director of Management Solutions and Services and National Leader of Technology and Infrastructure Services at Deloitte & Touche.

Customer Reviews:

Packed with Knowledge!.......2002-09-11

Implementing new software into your company's core businesses processes is a painful procedure. Technically challenged readers might well find some pain in the pages of this book, but the agony is no fault of the author. The topic at hand, integrating new software applications packages with current systems, is one of the most complex and difficult challenges in all of business. We from getAbstract recommend that you take your medicine like a man (or a woman) and read this comprehensive guide to meshing new software with your old business. You are sure to benefit from its practical strategies and management techniques, as will your company.

Structured, Realistic and Well Thought Out.......2002-07-03

This book covers what it takes to successfully manage a rapid implementation project for any enterprise-wide application. It does so in a structured and realistic manner that addresses risks, critical success factors and common deliverables. Project management is much more than common sense - it requires a process and skillful use of PM techniques, such as those contained in PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). This is reinforced by the appalling number of IT projects that either fail or are cancelled. While this book doesn't go deeply into specific PM techniques, nor does it especially align to the PMBOK, it does provide a realistic framework. It also gives a complete list of risks and barriers to success that you'll encounter in ERP and other complex systems projects.

I especially like the way the author decomposes the systems into layers and the project approach into phases. These allow you to step back and see the big picture, and to do a better job of estimating scope, complexity and required resources before embarking on the project. The project management approach itself is solid, and is linked to critical success factors that will make or break any project. He also provides excellent advice on team management, and especially team communications and cross functions.

Managing complex projects are not easy, and this book contains no short cuts. It does show you how to plan and control a rapid implementation project for any enterprise system, and if the advice and general approach provided in this book is heeded and followed your chances for success will be dramatically improved. Just don't let anyone who thinks it's a matter of plain common sense anywhere near the project because you'll find the project to be just another statistic in the boneyard of failed IT projects.

Too shallow.......2002-05-12

To read this book is a waste of time, to buy it is a waste of money. Too much of it is common sense (given that project management is to a good degree made of common sense) and not specifically adjusted to E-Business/ERP projects. The general approach is to do everything faster, but the authors forget that changing volume or quantity of work is affecting the quality too. To take one step out of a 'normal' project plan (realization) and rename it 'rapid implementation' is not enough to live up to the new (and old) challenges that come with implementing E-business and/or ERP solutions. The title of the book is misleading, as the authors are not presenting approaches that should be taken by project managers faced with such an implementation. No specific risks or solutions are laid out that come with such an implementation i.e. interface development, integrating different applications, data exchange etc. If you are an experienced project manager looking for a guidebook this book tells you nothing new, if you are an aspiring project manager this book is not providing enough.

Strong project approach, some gaps - overall: valuable.......2001-05-19

This book provides a sound approach to planning and managing an ERP rapid implementation project, but falls short of the mark on the "E-Business" part alluded to in the title.

First, the strengths: the rapid implementation roadmap that is the topic of chapter 2 is thorough and well thought out. The phases are commit [to the project], start, manage, analyze, configure, test, change, support, convert, prepare, go live and improve. The roadmap gives both structure to a project plan and breaks it down into manageable pieces.

Chapter 3 covers vendor selection, and provides excellent material for developing RFIs and RFPs and evaluating responses from vendors. Among the best practices given here are identifying key requirements, focusing on what is essential and using a proof-of-concept approach. Managing the rapid implementation, chapter 4's topic, is comprehensive and is consistent with sound project management practices. Key areas that are particularly strong address taking a deliverables-based approach, managing scope and project issue management. These are the ingredients of a successful implementation and the author covers them in depth. Chapter 5 covers the people part of the equation by providing guidance on how to organize the implementation team, roles and responsibilities, and managing change. My favorite two chapters are 6 and 8. Chapter 6 addresses nine essential factors for success, the best (in my opinion) is the rule that no reengineering is allowed during the implementation. This is sage advice because if you attempt to take advantage of opportunities to reengineer you are going to quickly drift outside of project scope, not to mention slowing to a crawl what is supposed to be a rapid implementation. Chapter 8, my other favorite chapter, gives a list of "project accelerators", which are methods or processes that will ensure that the rapid implementation is rapid.

Weaknesses: (1) The author does not address E-business despite the title of this book. I am going to assume that the publisher insisted on including that in the title. (2) There are some glaring gaps in the author's "eXtended Enterprise System" (EXS) framework. He cites six layers using the technical infrastructure as the foundation and moving up through a transactional backbone, advanced applications, cross-application repository and a management dashboard as the capstone. What is missing from the picture is middleware, including transaction monitors, message queuing and the other "glue" that holds together an enterprise architecture. While this book is more suited for project managers, the omission is serious because the middleware layer increases the scope and complexity of an ERP project as well as the cost. (3) Technology support issues (chapter 7) was not strong in identifying release criteria to production, not the artifacts that production needs in order to support an ERP system. Release to production is a critical point in the life cycle that affects IT service delivery, as well as operational considerations (performance and capacity baselines, workload scheduling, etc.).

Recommendation: The rapid implementation approach given in this book is complete and attainable. The author gives practical advice that can be applied to not only ERP implementations, but other system implementations as well. As such, this is a good book for project managers and upper IT management. If you note the gaps I cited above and take them into account, this book will lead you through a successful implementation. I am subtracting a star for the misleading title and the weaknesses, but still highly recommend this book.

Book Description

This book reflects the most current approaches in corporate financial management and shows financial professionals how approaches such as ABC, ABM, TQM, JIT, total customer satisfaction, and value chain management can influence business performance in order to maximize shareholder wealth.

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If You Leave Me, Put It in Writing: Separation Agreement Kit for British Columbia (Self-Counsel Legal Series)
David Greig
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0889087849

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If You Leave Me, Put It in Writing: Separation Agreement Kit for British Columbia (Self-Counsel Series)

Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Law | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0889084394

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The inviolable hills: The ecology, conservation and regeneration of the British uplands
Robert A. de J Hart
Manufacturer: Stuart & Watkins in conjunction with The Soil Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 0722401019

Book Description

This volume provides an overview of a diverse array of defective RNA's associated with virus infections. These agents span a continuum ranging from parasitic to synergic. They include defective molecules with relatively simple genome organizations that depend on all of the functions encoded by their helper viruses, as well as complexes consisting of defective virus-like components that require only a single gene necessary for a critical function. Individual chapters by selected authorities in the field discuss the biology of these agents, their roles in disease development, the structural features and replicative mechanisms characteristic of each defective entity, and the functions supplied by their helper viruses.

Book Description

The Earth is a dynamic place! Witness the changing of our planet over time. Take the grand tour starting with the formation of the solar system. Then, discover the age of the Earth and understand the orbital characteristics of our planet. Learn what's under your feet - the Earth's crust, the mantle and the core. And on the surface, see how Earth's systems - the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, the biosphere and the geosphere - dynamically interact.

Book Description

In this new study, Cristina Chimisso explores the work of the French philospher of science, Gaston Bachelard by situating it within French cultural life of the first half of the twentieth century.

Chimisso, Cristina. Gaston Bachelard: Critic of Science and the Imagination.(Book Review): An article from: The Review of Metaphysics

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Chimisso, Cristina. Gaston Bachelard: Critic of Science and the Imagination.(Book Review): An article from: The Review of Metaphysics
Joseph LeFevre
Manufacturer: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on December 1, 2003. The length of the article is 832 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Chimisso, Cristina. Gaston Bachelard: Critic of Science and the Imagination.(Book Review)
Author: Joseph LeFevre
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2003
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: 57 Issue: 2 Page: 391(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Great Read!

The Long Dark: An Alaska Winter's Tale (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska) (Humorous Historical Fiction Set in Alaska)
Slim Randles
Manufacturer: McRoy and Blackburn Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0970671210

Product Description

Imagine a place where people know each other by the color of their parkas, where dogs are citizens, and where a handshake is as good as currency. Imagine a time when the wild went on forever, and the only link to the outside was a brave pilot with a shy smile. Imagine a world blanketed in snow and warmed by people… In the season of the long dark, fending off the isolation and cold of winter near the top of the world, it is the small town that can save Alaskans from themselves. The romantic image of the hardy loner braving the wilderness dominates popular thinking about life in the north, but the little towns of Alaska ar the last great secret of the Last Frontier. True Alaska living is found in small villages of scruffy cabins and odd characters, presented here as the ficitional town of Kahiltna. In this classic of Alaska fiction, the array of mushers and pilots, cheechakos and sourdougs who call Kahiltna home are exuberantly true to life, from the hilarious to the horrible.

Customer Reviews:

Great Read!.......2007-01-12

Amazon recommended this book on-line to me as something I'd be interested in based on past purchases. I am so glad I read it -- I was laughing out loud in some places. Very well written -- you feel like you're right there with the characters in Alaska. Very quick read, too.

Book Description

Here, one of America’s most popular military historians re-creates, using their own moving and powerful voices, the true stories of the U.S. Marine pilots who flew the Allies to victory in World War II. These riveting accounts recreate conflicts ranging from the Marines’ gallant defense of Wake Island, where Captain Henry “Baron” Elrod destroyed two enemy planes before joining the fight on the ground, earning a posthumous Medal of Honor in the last-ditch attempt to stave off the Japanese, to the Battle of Midway and Guadalcanal.

Running the gamut from Second Lieutenant Alvin Jensen’s single-handed destruction of twenty-four grounded Japanese aircraft on Kahili to Lieutenant John W. Leaper’s sawing off a Kamikaze’s tail with his propeller over Okinawa, these thrilling oral histories of the Pacific war’s air battles bring them to life in all their terror and triumph.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2007-01-13

I was looking forward to reading this book, but in the end it was rather disappointing. It was disappointing for a number of reasons:

1. As a previous reviewer noted it really focused on the Guadalcanal air battles with scant attention being paid to anything later in the war. While the Marines at Guadalcanal are worthy of study it doesn't provide a real overview of the Marine Air Battles of World War II (outside of Guadalcanal) as the title implies.

2. Some of the chapters seem to be misnamed, for instance, the chapter entitled "Bougainville, The Gilberts, and the Marshalls" does not once mention anything about the islands of the Gilberts or the Marshalls. Perhaps it was just a matter of poor editing.

3. The first hand accounts of the fliers are interesting, but they begin to get rather repetitive. From one dogfight, patrol, bombing run, etc. to another it seems as if you are just reading the same account just rehashed.

It seems as if Astor kind of got all geared up for the Guadalcanal portion of the book and then just decided to wrap it up quickly. It's not a bad book, just not what was advertised and (a tad) boring.

Concentrates on the big marine battle - Guadalcanal.......2006-03-31

Although this book has a few pages on earlier and later Marine aviation, the bulk of it is on the activities of the Marines during World War II.

The WW II activities began at Pearl Harbour where several Marine Corp aircraft were destroyed. The action then moved to Wake Island, where Brewster Buffalo's and Grumman Wildcats went up to face Jpanese Zeros and were shot out of the sky. Later the Marines got Corsairs when the Navy refused to use the Corsair from carriers. The Marines thought they were just fine and used them to great distinction all over the Pacific.

But if there was a single place where Marine aviation earned its spurs it was Guadalcanal where five of the eleven Medals of Honor were awarded.

This book is mostly told from the standpoint of quotations from the people who actually flew them in combat.

Marine Fliers in Action over the Pacific!.......2006-03-02

Having detailed the combat histories of such organizations as the 8th Air Force in WWII, military historian Gerald Astor turns his attention to Marine Corps squadrons in this volume from Presidio Press.

Although the book is subtitled "The Marine Air Battles of World War II," that description is a bit misleading. Marine air combat peaked with the Guadalcanal/Solomons campaign and only revived in 1945 with the invasion of Okinawa. In the interim most Marine combat ops centered on close air support and bombing missions, often against bypassed Japanese bases. Though not as exciting as dogfights involving the likes of Joe Foss, Marion Carl or Pappy Boyington, those support missions were a necessary part of ultimate victory in the Pacific and Astor gives them their due.

SEMPER FI's chief selling point is the many first-person narratives that run throughout the text. The narratives range from top-scoring Wildcat, Corsair and Hellcat aces to SBD and PBJ drivers. Astor was wise to tap into the wonderful oral history collection at the Marine Corps Historical Center, the source of most of the narratives.

All in all, this is a workmanlike accounting of Marine squadrons in combat. For someone new to the subject matter, it does a good job of showing the wide spectrum of USMC combat ops in World War II.

Having said that, I must admit I was disappointed by the book. I have enjoyed other titles by Astor but found this one slow going. SEMPER FI IN THE SKY follows the winning formula of his previous books but perhaps the formula is wearing a little thin. Then too, for someone like me who has read many books on USMC fighter combats in WWII, while some of SEMPER FI is new, much is old hat.

Bottom line: at $15.95, you can't go wrong!

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The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region of the Great Lakes, as described by Nicolas Perrot, French commandant in the Northwest; Bacqueville de la Potherie, French royal commissioner to Canada; Morrell Marston, [2 volumes - COMPLETE.]
Emma Helen, editor. BLAIR
Manufacturer: Cleveland, Ohio: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1911-1912.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JFHTZA

Book Description

Deals with fluid statics, basic laws for systems and control volumes, differential analysis of fluid motion, considerations for compressible flow, and dimensional analysis and physical similarity.

Fluid Mechanics and Dynamics I Essentials

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Fluid Mechanics and Dynamics I Essentials
Research & Education Association
Manufacturer: Research & Education Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MBMOIS

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Houston Journal of International Law, published by University of Texas at Houston on March 22, 1999. The length of the article is 5249 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Environmental Management on North America's Borders.(Review)
Author: Sanford Gaines
Publication: Houston Journal of International Law (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 1999
Publisher: University of Texas at Houston
Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Page: 605(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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Environmental management on North America's borders.: An article from: American Review of Canadian Studies

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Environmental management on North America's borders.: An article from: American Review of Canadian Studies

Manufacturer: Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008GOQS8
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Review of Canadian Studies, published by Association for Canadian Studies in the United States on September 22, 2000. The length of the article is 995 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Environmental management on North America's borders.
Publication: American Review of Canadian Studies (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2000
Publisher: Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
Volume: 30 Issue: 3 Page: 397-9

Article Type: Book Review

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Environmental Management on North America's Borders

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Environmental Management on North America's Borders
Richard and John D. Wirth, eds Kiy
Manufacturer: Texas A&M Univ
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GRCHKS

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