Re: Events at SSA

BPCS is no walk in the park, but what complex software package is?

We are on 405 CD & it is running our company Ok ... we get 100% accuracy on 
our stock room physical inventory, which we never got on packages we had 
prior to BPCS ... WIP inventory accuracy is still an embarrassment.  There's 
all kinds of problems we had on other packages that we do not have on BPCS.

When we run out of raw materials in the middle of production it is because of 
our own internal accuracy problems, and not being agile enough when customers 
requirements change.

SSA Tech Support is still there ... I used it last week on our "Invoicing 
State" problem.  OSG gives me indigestion, but I have not given up on it.
SSA Tech Support continues to have a mixed bag of levels of expertise, in 
which some people are really proficient & some just don't get it what the 
problem is & some recognize their failings & make a great effort to help us 
anyway.  

The big difference between SSA Tech Support now & when we were on BPCS/36 is 
that then they would say "here is how to do things" & we would have to 
explain S/36 to them & then ask how to do that in S/36 terms & eventually 
they would figure out that it could not be done & after a week they would 
start work on solving the real problem.  Today the tech support people who 
don't get it instead act like I don't know what I am talking about ... 
communication failure has been replaced with arrogance.  However, tech 
support people who do get what we are asking about ... they outnumber the 
problem calls.

When I compare SSA Tech Support Performance with all the other places I get 
Tech Support, I have to give SSA a C-, 99% of the places an F or D-, and only 
various IBM partner hardware places get an A or B ... most of them B 
something these days.

Some of my co-workers, who shall remain nameless, went job hunting at other 
manufacturers, then quietly crept back here & decided to stay on, because the 
competition did not have what we enjoy with BPCS ... they had the choice of 
leaving us & earning more money but living & working a nightmare existance by 
comparison.

I have been reading some articles in general trade press about overall ERP  & 
struggles by various companies to try to install ERP & am amazed to see that 
many manufacturers are somehow functioning without an ERP ... more do not 
have one than do have one, if the polls are to be believed.

Management's patience may be related to experience with what to expect from 
an ERP & how recently you installed 405 CD ... implementation can be a 
nightmare ... and what your company wants that you are not getting.  I 
remember when we implemented 405 CD ... it had an impact of causing many 
humans to become quite fragile, probably because we are good at doing our 
regular jobs, but not so good at coping when everything is being changed & 
half the tools for changing things are broken.

So, are you shopping around to see what other vendor packages have features 
comparable to BPCS V6 & what the prospects are for that other vendor to still 
be around in 10 years say compared to the Gore Group prospects & how that 
package's user support community compares to BPCS & what the volume of user 
gripes are with that system, compared to BPCS_L, & what is involved in 
converting BPCS data to the other system & what it will cost to re-educate 
100% of your personnel to the new way of thinking?  Or are you not yet at 
that analysis of alternatives point?

>  From:    bandit@bicnet.net (Bandit Motorsports Inc.)
>  
>  I've been reading the posts from this group for the past 6 months. It's a
>  great learning tool to read everyone's issues and replies.  Thanks!!
>  
>  We are on 4.05 CD.  With the recent melt down at SSA, I'm not sure, how
>  much life this product will have at my company. Managment's patience is
>  running very thin. Havn't seen much written on the subject here.  Will
>  people in the group please share their thoughts on the subject?
>  
>  Thanks.  George.

Al Macintyre  ©¿©
http://www.cen-elec.com MIS Manager Programmer & Computer Janitor
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