When it comes to choosing and implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, finding the right tool is just the first of many important steps. Even if the ERP system you find is a great fit for your organization, it doesn’t have a chance of succeeding without good processes already in place. Instead of a system that you can simply install and then forget about, the technology will impact the organization in many ways, each of which should be evaluated in advance. The first step is addressing areas where your company needs to improve. Also, the project should have sponsors on both the IT and business sides of the company. When evaluating vendors, consider input from employees in the trenches who will be affected by the project; they can better define mission-critical aspects of the business to create a list of must-haves for any system. And don’t try to use all features of the ERP system just because they are available; it can bog down implementation and training and may increase complexity. Finally, make training a priority. That’s important, because ERP systems are complicated and sometimes difficult to learn.

Read more about success with ERP implementations:
- read the article at TechTarget

Sure, we showed you how to automate a backup process using SSH yesterday. But maybe all that command line mumbo-jumbo scared you off. Well, good news…if you’re a Mac user. CronniX is a little piece of freeware that sticks a nice, friendly GUI on top of all that Unix stuff, so that you can schedule any task–from backups to a web browser sporting your favorite site–without breaking a sweat.

Good project managers are essential to ensuring that projects are delivered on time and on budget, but they can be hard to find. Because of the dearth of good project managers, more than half of companies surveyed by Forrester Research plan to train their staff in project management this year. But training IT staff to make the transition to project management isn’t easy; often, they lack the training, experience and business knowledge to get the job done. Good project managers must constantly sell the project, keep all constituents in the loop, deal with changing customer demands and report back to upper management. While project managers don’t have to be technical experts, they need to understand the technology well enough to explain its benefits and constraints to every user group the technology touches. They should also be good communicators.

Learn more about how to train IT staff to be project managers:
- read the article at TechTarget

ALSO:
- read this on getting needed business skills on staff

If you no longer wish to receive communication from IT Knowledge Hub: