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Create a Fail-Proof Accounting System RFP

Basic knowledge and key points for creating an RFP for an accounting system are explained.

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Three pitfalls in package selection

There are numerous processes involved in package selection, such as determining requirements, preparing requests for proposals, obtaining budgets, and negotiating with vendors, and many "pitfalls" lurk in the process.
For example, there may be a lack of research on the current situation, and all the operations of the various parties involved may not have been identified. If the current operations are not fully identified, the new package system may not be functional enough. In other cases, even though the system implementation was completed smoothly, it may not be recognized as a "success" because the expected benefits of the system investment were not fully shared within the company.

Many of these package implementation failures can be summarized in the following three "deficiencies.

• Insufficient identification of business operations
• Insufficient review of operations
• Lack of evaluation of introduction effects

How can these "shortfalls" be prevented?

Click here for specific points to consider when creating an RFP: How to create an RFP that will be communicated to vendors

How to avoid insufficient identification of business operations?

In order to know what functions are desired from the package, a comprehensive identification of current business operations is conducted.

Often there are cases where operations that could be operated with the previous system are not possible with the new system or become inefficient because the inventory of operations was not completed. If you have been developing your own system for many years, or if you have developed many additions to your package, you may not have a correct picture of the overall functionality of your current system.

The current operations and functions need to be done correctly so that what can be systematized now can be continued with the new package.

There are two major patterns of insufficient identification of business operations: breadth and depth.

Lack of "breadth

There are cases where requirements related to a specific business area are left out entirely. This problem stems from the fact that each person in charge has identified the business by simply listing the company's internal operations. In order to prevent the lack of "breadth," a system of work for each department and responsibility should be created, and the broad categories of work should be determined to prevent serious omissions when compiling the work.

<Example>Case of payroll calculation
Even if the workflow of payroll calculation for general employees has been properly inventoried, if, for example, only some employees require overseas payroll calculation and such work is actually performed manually by the person in charge, it is necessary to include such information as well.
However, the person in charge may have the misconception that it is sufficient to list only what is currently systematized.
In order to prevent such a situation, it is very important to determine the broad categories of work in advance.

Lack of depth

Even if the broad categories of work have been determined, it is also important to determine how much detail is needed to identify the work.

If the work is always performed every month, the possibility of omission during the work inventory may be low. However, what if it is a task that occurs irregularly and is actually extremely burdensome?

<Example>Case of payroll operations
A "Perform payroll calculations for overseas employees"
B "Perform payroll calculations, taking into account purchasing power indexes, price indexes, etc., according to where overseas employees are posted"
The granularity and depth of such operations are completely different between A and B, and must be considered to the depth as in B.

If we are not able to identify operations while being aware of the risk of lack of "breadth" and "depth," we will lose the opportunity to streamline and automate operations that could have been streamlined and automated in the first place.

Another way to prevent such a situation is to use a general template. We also have templates for a list of common tasks for major companies.

In this way, you can avoid pitfalls and proceed with the selection process. Please refer to this article for more information on the key points to proceed with the selection process.
Achieve an ERP implementation that maximizes effectiveness! Explaining the key points of ERP selection.

How to avoid insufficient review of business operations?

So, is it enough if all the functions of the current business and current system are covered?

Implementing a new system costs money. Therefore, it is necessary to prove that the value of the system implementation is worth the investment. To do so, it is necessary to anticipate certain effects of the new system among the issues in the current operations.

There are two main methods for reviewing business operations.

Eliminate business

One is to eliminate the business. The larger the size of the company, the more tasks can be eliminated. For example, your company may have some "possibly useless operations," such as the creation of forms that you do not know who is looking at them, or data entry that you do not know how they are used in what situations. Replacing the system is a great opportunity to eliminate these tasks.

Change the way of doing business

The other method is to change the way you do business. For example, going paperless. By converting various application forms that used to be filled out and submitted on paper by employees to the Web and reducing the amount of input work in the administrative department, the man-hours that can be reduced throughout the company can be very significant. However, such operational improvements will not be successful unless the new operational procedures are carefully communicated while obtaining internal consensus on operational changes. To ensure success, refer to successful examples from other companies.

How to avoid insufficient evaluation of implementation effects?

The current generation of managers has experienced and hearsay of numerous IT investment-related failures. As a result, companies expect more secure and stable system implementation and demand more accurate measurement of effectiveness. Compared to front-line systems such as sales and sales management systems and production systems, accounting and human resource systems have very strong requirements for low-cost operation. Nevertheless, back-office systems must be more sophisticated and expensive for large companies with complex and diverse business processes compared to systems in small and medium-sized companies. Without appropriate indicators of return on investment, this can lead to management dissatisfaction, such as "Is this too expensive for a back-office system?

To avoid such management frustration, before implementing a new system, appropriate KPIs should be set to ensure accountability for the investment. These KPIs should be set according to the status of the company's systems. For self-developed systems, one way to do this is to visualize the current maintenance costs. It may also be useful to clarify how many man-hours are currently being spent on the results of an inventory of operations, and to calculate how much man-hours can be expected to be reduced by introducing a new system.

The ideal package selection procedure to avoid the three pitfalls

To summarize the above, the following process should be followed.

The "HUE AC" accounting system supports legal and system revisions within a fixed maintenance fee.
We cover a wide range of areas such as improving operational efficiency, breaking away from gerrymandering, paperless, etc. We will support you in creating new value such as analytical work while securing your current operations.

If you are interested, please contact us through our contact page.

White Paper

Create a Fail-Proof Accounting System RFP

Basic knowledge and key points for creating an RFP for an accounting system are explained.

Download ArielAirOne