What is an Application Process Review?

What we do in an Application Process Review (APR) is pretty straightforward, and we perform several for our clients over the course of a typical year. In the review, we observe how the ERP processes have been built to manage the business. Then, we make recommendations to streamline and improve the processes and procedures related to the flow of data in the company. For example, how to use the ERP to alert procurement of projected material shortages, as opposed to having them look for shortages in a spreadsheet that was manually updated. In essence, an ERP application process review is a gut check on how things are working, and what can be done to make them better.

Here is a closer look at how the process works from start to finish.

How the Application Process Review Works

Kickoff Meeting

Before our consultant sets foot on your site, we hold a kickoff meeting with your key contacts. Our consultant walks through the APR process, and your team shares the key concern areas they want to focus on. This ensures we arrive on-site already oriented to your business and your priorities, not starting from scratch on day one.

Pre-Visit Preparation

After the kickoff, our consultant builds an onsite schedule and shares it with you before arrival. They prepare interview questions tailored to each functional area of your business:

• Purchasing
• Production
• Inventory
• Shipping
• Finance, etc.

The goal is to make the onsite visit as focused and efficient as possible.

Onsite Visit

The onsite visit typically runs two to three days. Here is how those days generally flow:

• Day 1: Introductions, a plant tour, a leadership group interview, and the start of functional area interviews.
• Days 2 and 3: We complete the remaining functional area interviews. Your subject matter experts demonstrate their processes live in the ERP. Our consultant actively observes, asks questions, and captures screenshots where relevant.
• Day 3, closing session: We meet with your leadership team to summarize key findings and set expectations for the report timeline. Specific recommendations are not made during the onsite visit. Those come in the report, after we have had time to fully analyze what we observed.

Report and Roadmap

After the visit, your engagement produces two documents.

The first is the Findings and Recommendations Report. Our consultant documents the current-state process narrative for each functional area, along with a numbered list of specific recommendations tied to what we observed. It is a clear record of where things stand and what needs to change.

The second is the Sprint Roadmap. This is a prioritized, logically sequenced action plan built around the recommendations in the report. Each sprint is independently executable, meaning your team can work through improvements in an order that makes sense for your business and your capacity.

Review Meeting

The Review Meeting is where our consultant walks your leadership team through the full findings and the Sprint Roadmap. You will have time to ask questions, discuss priorities, and decide which sprints to move forward first. Sprints can be executed in any order based on what matters most to your business right now.

Fixing Your ERP Processes

In some cases, customers will fix their ERP processes on their own once they understand the causes and solutions. In other cases, we manage the project of fixing the issues. Many times, it’s a mixture of both.

Here is something to keep in mind if you want to tackle the issues on your own: Implementing any solution always results in unintended side effects. That is simply the nature of change. We may have given you the solutions to the problems outlined in the APR, but you won’t have solutions for the inevitable side effects that come with making any type of change. This, along with people poking holes in the new processes, usually derails the project if you don’t have someone with knowledge and experience there to help navigate the twists and turns of the journey.

Is that a plug for our services? I guess it is. But it’s also a fact. Remember, the goal of a APR isn’t to find problems—it’s to find solutions. And it’s not an actual solution until it’s implemented. In my experience, if help is needed to identify the solutions, you probably need help implementing them.

How to Implement the Changes

When we review the findings of an APR, it feels good for everyone involved. The customer leaves the meeting with a sense of clarity and direction, and our team is happy to have provided that. But clarity is not change. You now have a roadmap. The next step is walking it.

Harness Resistance to Change

Change is the hard part. This is where resistance shows up. Generally, there is no resistance during the APR itself. Employees openly share all the things that aren't working, how hard it is to get the information they need, and how they know it can be better. Talking about problems and solutions is the easy part. Doing something to fix them is much different. It means changing how things are done and going through a learning curve. That is uncomfortable, and resistance is a natural result. Every organization goes through it. It is completely normal.

Companies that are successful in implementing change have learned how to funnel that resistance into a positive force. They don't ignore it; they embrace it and deal with it. Employees responsible for getting a job done have every right to be skeptical of change. Their concerns need to be heard and addressed. It is the burden of the change agent to prove that the new process is better than the old one. When that happens, resistance becomes a productive force that actually improves the outcome.

Leadership Buy-In is Non-Negotiable

Leadership needs to be bought in from the beginning, not brought in as a last resort. If leadership believes in the APR and believes the proposed solutions are better than the current state, that conviction will carry the project through resistance and keep it on schedule. If leadership is not bought in, they become part of the resistance. And when that happens, the project is most likely going to derail.

The leader driving this effort also needs to be empowered to make decisions. Having oversight is fine. But a leader who cannot make calls without layers of approval will slow the project down at exactly the moments when momentum matters most.

Bring in ERP Experts to Implement Solutions

The APR is the starting line, not the finish line. Identifying what needs to change is one thing. Actually changing it, navigating the side effects, keeping the team aligned, and seeing it through to a result that improves how your business runs is another thing entirely.

That is what Visual South does. We have been helping manufacturers get more out of their ERP systems since 1988, and we bring that experience to every phase of the engagement, from the initial kickoff call through implementation and beyond. If you are ready to find out what your ERP is capable of, we are ready to show you.