-
January 2003
- The LawsonGuru Letter is a free periodic newsletter containing
provocative commentary about issues important to the Lawson Software community.
The LawsonGuru Letter is published by-and is solely the opinion
of-John Henley of Decision Analytics.
Visit Decision Analytics at
http://www.danalytics.com. For subscription information, see the bottom of this message.
- The LawsonGuru Letter is not affiliated with Lawson Software.
In this issue:
1. Easy Does It
2. Focus: Testing, 1, 2, 3
3. It's the Real Thing
4. Reader feedback
5. Survey Results
6. Lawson tips & tricks
Thanks to everyone who responded to last month's questions on how well
this newsletter is meeting your needs. The vast majority of you think the
letter is perfect as is, so I'll leave it that way.
There were no strong opinions for an HTML version. If you prefer one, I
post an HTML version of each issue at
http://www.danalytics.com/guru/letter/.
1. Easy Does It
A few months ago, I wrote about becoming a "process
enterprise", which is one of the nine themes in Michael Hammer's book "The
Agenda" (ISBN 0-609-60966-1). (By the way, if you don't have a copy of
this book, you owe it to yourself to get a copy.) This month, I want to
talk about another of his themes: becoming "easier to do business with".
Consider these quotes from Hammer:
"If your ways of working are designed for your own convenience rather
than your customers', they will pay the penalty, and in the long run, so
will you. The harder it is to do business with you, the greater the burden
and the costs you impose on your customer and, of course, the less
competitive you become."
"Your company is much more likely to impose penalties on your customers
for the privilege of doing business with you. The experiences of ordering,
receiving, using, and paying for your products and services probably lead
your customers to put your photograph on their dartboards."
So, how "easy" are you? We all know the obvious things that supposedly
make it easy to do business with someone, like having an 800-number, being
open 24 hours, having a web storefront, etc.
But, let's switch the focus to your "back office" processes, and see
whether they make you easy to do business with.
- Do you bombard your customers with unnecessary paperwork and constant
minutia? I had one client who sent their
customers invoices for less than $1! I
couldn't believe it! Assuming they were
even making a gross profit after postage and printing, they couldn't
possibly be making a profit on the processing cost. And,
how insulting to their customers!
- Do you present a "single face" to your customers? Do
you have multiple "customer service" departments? I use Qwest for
internet connectivity, and while the service itself has been nearly
flawless, I have NO idea who to call when I do have a problem. Last
month, I did have a problem, and called at least half a dozen numbers
before I found someone who could help me. They all recognized me, but
it "wasn't
their department". So, why do I remain
their customer? Probably the "pain" of
switching.
- Do you collaborate with your partner suppliers and customers?
A new Deloitte Consulting survey of 300
executives indicates that companies that link partners and suppliers to
their internal business processes report 70% greater profitability than
companies that haven't integrated.
- How about your employee relationships? Do
you make it easy for your employees to work with you? No,
calling them "associates" doesn't mean a thing if they hate working there.
- How about maintaining a "single face" to your employees?
Do they know who to talk to about a
benefits issue? How about a tax
computation error? Do you have a single,
comprehensive, intranet site, where employee can maintain their tax
withholding, benefits, etc?
- If you use timesheets, does each employee have a "default timesheet" so
that they only have to record exceptions?
- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No one responded to my challenge in the last issue to name the
department store I described (and which live
animals they had on display).
Time to up the ante. Be the first one to respond correctly to both
questions, and I'll treat you and your guest to lunch at the restaurant
of your choice. (Offer valid in the US only).
Send your answer to
mailto:comments@lawsonguru.com.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2. Focus: Testing, 1, 2, 3
Testing is not only vital to the success of a software
development project; it's a vital ingredient for a successful
implementation. Here are some of my
thoughts on testing:
- Don't save testing until the end. Testing
is not a "back-end" task, but-rather-it needs to be fully integrated into
the project plan.
- Don't assume that--because it's an "off-the-shelf" package-everything in
an ERP has been tested. This couldn't be
truer for ERPs in general, and certainly for Lawson in particular.
While we'd all love to install a
fully-tested package, it's mathematically impossible for an ERP to have
been fully tested. There are simply too
many variables involved for a software company to thoroughly test every
possible setup combination.
- If you aren't measuring what you're testing, you're wasting your time.
This seems like such an obvious axiom, yet
I'm always amazed when I see testing that merely "bangs on the system" and
declares that the system has "passed the test". If you're testing inventory receipts, are you manually calculating the effect
on inventory counts? If you're testing
payroll, are you reviewing YTD buckets to make sure that they are updated?
- You can't test in a vacuum. Your system
will not be operating in a "clean room" environment, why test it that way?
- Testing is a science, not an art. If you
don't have a plan or methodology for your testing, you need to get one.
Better yet, you need to get a qualified
tester. Developers are not good testers.
Neither are accountants.
Testing requires unique skills and
discipline. Spend the money to get a real
tester.
- Security needs to be in place while you are testing. The
majority of testing is done without security in place. This
provides no testing of the security which, when implemented, may have a
dramatic effect on the outcome of your tests. In
addition to testing application security, you also have to include
environmental/platform security in your tests. If
all of your tests are "inside the firewall", and you will have extranet or VPN users, you need to test that as well.
- Treat your testing scripts as a "living investment". You'll
be surprised at how much "re-use" you can get from your test plans.
A number of my clients have told me how
relieved they are that they took the time to properly test and document
their systems for Y2K-now they know which vital processes need to be
re-tested with each upgrade or modification.
- Finally, the test scripts give you a jumpstart on documenting your
procedures. When properly written, they
define your business processes, and how to accomplish them using your new
system.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Worthwhile Reading:
Destructive Criticism: Do performance reviews make the grade?
Fortune Small Business, December 2002
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbusiness/managing/articles/0,15114,401413,00.html
Fact Tables and Dimension Tables:
The logical foundation of dimensional modeling
(Ed: A gentle intro to basics of OLAP)
Intelligent Enterprise, January 1, 2003
http://www.intelligententerprise.com/030101/602warehouse1_1.shtml
Process Power: The latest process management tools
put business users in control
CIO Magazine, January 1, 2003
http://www.cio.com/archive/010103/et_article.html
Partial Clearing: Budgeting software isn't the key to corporate finance
reform, but it can help CFOs manage expectations in a sinking economy.
CFO Magazine, December 2002
http://www.cfo.com/article/1,5309,8240||M|446,00.html
High Availability Has Come a Long Way on Windows
ENT, December 9, 2002
(Ed: ENTmag.com is a site covering Microsoft in the enterprise, so this
article may appear somewhat biased)
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5629
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3. It's the Real Thing
Not a Lawson story, per se, but an important one nonetheless.
As you've
probably figured out by now, I'm a stickler for meaningful business
value, and purposeful processes. Hence, my disdain for the short-sighted
management policies and trends that seem to have become a way of life.
During the mid-to-late 1990's, we--as American businesses, and the
investment community at large--lost our way. We began to focus on
short-term gains, at the expense of long-term results.
Such was the
fascination with the stock market, and the frenzy surrounding the
dot-com boom era. We were lured into opportunities simply for their
quarterly gains rather than what they held for the distant future.
I won't waste our time by recounting the number of times I kept telling
people (including myself) that this couldn't be happening.
I grew up in
the times of double-digit inflation and 20% interest rates, and was
raised to understand that a 5% return was a sound investment.
The fervor a few years ago over companies that had no profits--some
without even a product to sell--made me nervous, and dispelled my faith
in what was ingrained into me since I was a child.
You have to work
hard--and be honest--to earn a living. "Free money" was, and still is, a
fantasy.
So, my excitement level skyrocketed this past month upon reading an
announcement by Coca-Cola
that it would no longer publish "earnings expectations" on a quarterly
or annual basis. (http://www2.cocacola.com/presscenter/nr_20021213_corporate_strategic_approach.html)No more luring investors into thinking something is
good, or bad, and then having this speculation drive the market.
Focus
on what is good for the long-term, not on a quick quarterly gain.
A quote from Douglas N. Daft, Coca-Cola CEO:
"We are quite comfortable measuring our progress as we achieve it,
instead of focusing on the establishment and attainment of public
forecasts. Our shareowners are best served by this because we should not
run our business based on short-term 'expectations'. We are managing
this business for the long-term."
You may remember a few months ago, when I chided Lawson for some layoffs
that were, in my opinion, shortsighted. I felt that the point of these
layoffs was solely to send a message to shareholders that Lawson would
"do what it takes" to produce a "clean quarter", and in the process,
dispense with its long-term objectives.
So, the announcement by Coke made my day. I hope
that Lawson and all other
public companies pick up and
carry this trend. We, as business people--whether for-profit or
non-profit--all need to send a message: We are re-focusing on the
long-term. The days of the shortsighted quarterly mentality are over.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- QUOTE OF THE ISSUE -
"He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human
institution
which rejects progress is the cemetery."
- Harold Wilson
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4. Reader feedback
I received some great responses on the last issue.
In particular,
the feature on the need for improvement in quality and responsiveness of
Lawson's support process hit a nerve with some customers:
- "Nice job on the J.D. Edwards/Lawson quality section. I hope Lawson
does take your message to heart, but I don't believe they will. A PO30
issue we had just got fixed after 2 months of bantering ... although
Lawson did create a clean-up job to catch all the orphaned records
associated with this bug, it took too long and created too much
frustration in our organization, ultimately reaching the desk of the
CEO."
- "I have been surveyed a number of times and so have the people in my
company. EVERYTIME I am surveyed, it is in reference to a call
that has been answered on the phone very quickly on the first call.
They never survey me on calls that have dragged on for months. Each
time they go through their series of question I tell them - yes, I got
good response on this call, but I want to tell you about the dozen other
calls that are still hanging that no one seems to care about. I suspect
(okay - I am positive) that all that goes into the survey results is the
case number that they were calling on. So their survey results, in my
opinion, are due to very careful selection on which cases they choose to
include in the survey."
- "You are right on the mark concerning Lawson. Lawson does not want to
hear anything negative (which is impossible in the software business).
I
unfortunately feel that Lawson will never get the message.
The minute
they went public was the last time they thought of the axiom 'A Customer
for life'."
- "I also agree that Lawson is quickly becoming customer unfriendly.
In
the last couple of projects, the word lawsuit has been heard more often
than normal. A lot of this has to due with 8.0 being released way to
soon. The technical WEB bolt-ons were just not ready.
Lawson is still
having problems with RMI and Portal."
Continue to send your comments to mailto:comments@lawsonguru.com.
Collaboration Means Profits
A new Deloitte Consulting survey of 300 executives indicates that
companies that link partners and suppliers to their internal business
processes report 70% greater profitability than companies that haven't
integrated.
Information Week, December 2, 2002
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021127S0025
5. Survey Results
I got some AWESOME responses to last month's survey, in which you
were asked to make ONE (and only ONE!) wish for a change to Lawson's
software. Some of the ideas you sent in:
- "Eliminate the old mainframe user interface FC (function code) for
identifying a record to be edited."
- "I have always wanted a calendering ability in Asset Management.
Example: You have your fleet vehicles in AM.
You know the purchase
price, the repair expenditures, the LTD depreciation, but can you tell
me when I need to change the oil? Can you tell me the last time I
rotated the tires? Don't have fleet vehicles?
How about hospital
equipment, then? When does the warranty expire on my X-ray machine?
When
is it time to rebuild my blood transfusion machine? Not a hospital? How
about office equipment? When does my software licensing expire? When did I
upgrade the OS on a workstation? When was the last time I changed my fax
cartridge? When is the next scheduled service on my copier?"
- "I would love to see laua enhanced with search capabilities and the
ability to copy chunks of definitions between product lines and into
existing security classes."
- "My one wish is that they would re-write the AC/BR modules.
These were
written piecemeal (and continue to be developed that way) as Lawson
attempts to enter different markets (i.e. professional service or
government contracting). In re-writing the modules, they should take a
good look at the big picture - how it affects other modules and what
improvements are needed in the other modules to get the proper information
into and out of the system. Finally, Lawson support people need to
understand the entire integration of ALL of the modules."
All of these are excellent suggestions! To our Lawson readers: that
these are YOUR customers-asking YOU to act on these suggestions!
If you still haven't sent in your ONE wish, send it to me at
mailto:survey@lawsonguru.com.
6. Lawson Tips & Tricks
If you have a tip you'd like to share, send it
to
mailto:tips@lawsonguru.com.
a. Displaying Pictures/Images of Inventory Items
in SEA Requisition Self Service
(Thanks to Brian Carr at Vinnell Corporation for sharing this tip).
- Place your pictures in the following directory,
(webserver)/(documentroot)/lawson/images/inventory/items/(itemgroup#)
For example, if item "HAMMER" is in item group "1000", HAMMER.jpg should
be stored in:
/usr/HTTPServer/htdocs/lawson/images/inventory/items/1000/HAMMER.jpg
- Picture files must be JPEG format, with the item's number as the
filename, and .jpg as the extension.
- Note that the item group and item code are case-sensitive on Unix
platforms.
- Note: you can also display employee and requester pictures in those
SEA modules...
let me know if you need instructions...
b. Troubleshooting a pgmdef "coredump"
(Thanks to Mark Burneskis of AT&T Government Solutions for allowing
me to share this tip).
Had a client where pgmdef would "coredump" (on
Solaris) if you tried to add new
programs. No other problems with pgmdef, and pgmload worked just fine.
The client had recently "tightened-up" some Unix permissions
(specifically attempting to control the Lawson-mandated belief that
"world" access be required for every file on the entire system).
Would you believe changing permissions on the following files caused
pgmdef to not work? pgmdef is owned by lawson and somehow needed to be
able to read the following files:
# cd /var/adm
# ls -la *tmp*
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Dec 2 11:26 utmp
-rw-r----- 1 root root 4464 Dec 9 12:22 utmpx
-rw-r----- 1 root root 360 Dec 6 17:16 wtmp
-rw-r----- 1 root root 125736 Dec 9 12:22 wtmpx
# chmod 664 wtmp*;chown adm:adm wtmp*
# chmod 644 utmp*;chown root:bin utmp*
# ls -la *tmp*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root bin 0 Dec 2 11:26 utmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root bin 4464 Dec 9 12:22 utmpx
-rw-rw-r-- 1 adm adm 360 Dec 6 17:16 wtmp
-rw-rw-r-- 1 adm adm 125736 Dec 9 12:22 wtmpx
The LawsonGuru Letter is a free periodic newsletter containing provocative commentary about issues important to the Lawson Software
community. The LawsonGuru Letter is published by--and is solely the
opinion of--John Henley of Decision Analytics. Visit Decision Analytics at
http://www.danalytics.com.
To subscribe, send an email to:
mailto:letter-subscribe@lawsonguru.com To be removed from the subscription list, send to:
mailto:letter-unsubscribe@lawsonguru.com
© Copyright 2003, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved.
Please share The LawsonGuru Letter in whole or in part as long as copyright and attribution are always included.
Decision Analytics is an independent consultancy, focusing on Lawson technical projects, and specializing in customization/modification,
data conversion, and integration/interfaces (including BCI/Mercator).
Please visit
http://www.danalytics.com for more
information.
Decision Analytics. Integrating Lawson
with the Real
World.
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