The Little Geeni

VMware’s virtual server and data center products, from their enterprise computing inspired VMware Infrastructure to their free bare-metal hypervisor ESXi, are known for providing reliable, flexible, and cost-effective platforms for creating, managing and running virtual machines on physical servers. For hosting customers, VMware ESX version 3 offered better performance than other virtual server hosting platforms, allowing the creation of more virtual servers per physical server than other environments.

While VMware Infrastructure took over the enterprise, hosting customers hesitated in virtualizing their largest application servers. To address their performance concerns, VMware rebuilt ESX for version 4, giving it the ability to process more and communicate faster, optimizing it for business applications, and increasing its speed and capacity for iSCSI storage operations. The result is vSphere.

vSphere is for Application Servers

With vSphere, hosting customers get more for their money compared to non-VMware-based hosting and even ESX 3 hosts. They get up to 8-way virtual SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) and 255 gigabytes of RAM; 8,900 database transactions per second, 200,000 I/O operations per second, and up to 16,000 Exchange mailboxes per host; increased iSCSI capacity; and support for 10 gigabit per second Ethernet.

The numbers are impressive, but what matters is what it can do for application server performance, storage performance, server responsiveness, and messaging speed.

vSphere Features 8-way SMP

vSphere allows a single virtual machine to use up to eight physical processor cores simultaneously, enabling the virtualization of CPU-intensive applications like databases, ERP, and CRM. For you, that means your company’s hosted virtual server can be used with your most demanding applications, the ones you thought would always be the source of either extremely costly server investments or slowdowns and user frustration.

vSphere is optimized to support business-critical applications, including Oracle databases, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Exchange. Applications you thought would always need to be run in-house can now be hosted remotely, so that you can get on with your own business, instead of getting bogged down in IT.

Increased iSCSI I/O

vSphere increases iSCSI input/output performance through optimized SCSI drivers and VMkernel-level storage stack optimizations. Optimized iSCSI allows messaging applications and databases to access data more rapidly. This can improve everything from your company’s internal communications to customer response times.

10 Gbps Ethernet

By adding support for 10 gbps Ethernet, hosts running vSphere can connect to storage over redundant 10 gbps links instead of link-aggregated 1 gbps Ethernet. This enables higher performance access to NFS and iSCSI storage, giving hosted servers increased application performance. And for those customers with multi-server deployments, intra server communication is now many times faster than before.

Where It Counts

VMware’s vSphere offers performance features to hosted companies that allow faster access, better communication among applications running on multiple virtual machines, and faster response times. Together, these features result in increased productivity, higher ROI, and more customer satisfaction—the kind of numbers your company is looking for.

vSphere Performance with Infinitely Virtual

To learn more about how VMware and the vSphere platform can increase productivity, ROI, and customer satisfaction through better performance, call (866) 257-8455 or go to infinitelyvirtual.com. Let us show you how hosting with Infinitely Virtual can help you make your applications faster and your databases more responsive. 

Information Technology Customers, Delivers, Domains and Hosting, Performance, VMware's, vSphere

Key No. 3 – 7 essential criteria for selecting your ERP solution and technology partner

Once you’ve made your decision as to why you are considering an ERP implementation (covered in article #1 in this series) and investigated the total cost of ownership (article #2), there are several aspects you should consider in detail when selecting a specific system for your situation.

The seven most important of these are

• Functional compatibility with current and future business requirements
• Total cost of ownership
• Operational Metrics
• Flexibility
• Time and ease of implementation
• Vendor support and relationships
• Industry expertise and customer references

A survey by the Aberdeen Group (June 2007) found when it asked respondents what criteria were most important in selecting an ERP vendor, “remarkably little variation was visible across company size … functionality is the clear top priority for all companies, followed by total cost of ownership”.

1. Functional compatibility

The first question you need to ask is: what applications can accommodate your business needs?

As Christina Soh and Siew Kien Sia point out (MIS Quarterly, 2005), vendors create enterprise systems based around a number of common structures – “ES packages are not custom-built for each implementing organisation”.

”Vendors must make many assumptions about organisational requirements in such areas as organisational policies, structures, standard operating procedures, user knowledge, and interfaces. These assumptions manifest themselves in the processes and features in the ES package”, which the authors refer to as ‘package-embedded structures’.

”ES vendors claim that their package-embedded structures reflect best practice, However, many customers have found that these configuration options do not meet all their specific needs, and many question whether the ‘best practices’ truly do apply to all organisations.

”Developers’ context – that is, their reference organisations – may differ from potential implementers’ contexts, particularly those located in different countries or industries. Even within the same country and industry, contextual differences can exist.”

The system should be able to provide functionality for all of your current and future business processes. To ascertain that this is the case, you first need to define and prioritise your company’s processes, identifying the core business functions and developing a comprehensive requirements list based on input from all stakeholders.

This means that, as Soh et al recommend, “implementing organisations identify, as early as possible, misfits between the package and their organisation. They should create a basis for ascertaining when to align through organisational adaptation and when to align through package customisation.”

’Misfits’, missing critical features or unsupported business processes, could be the elements that transform an otherwise great fit into a complete mismatch. Very often, these only surface upon implementation.

Buyers should be very wary of future promises from software vendors. If the system does not have the necessary functionality right now in the current release, then you should discount any claims of functionality being available in the future.

The Aberdeen survey warns that, while functionality may be the top selection criterion, “ERP is often considered a commodity today. Don’t assume the functionality you need is available. Take a ‘show me’ attitude in demonstration.”

One who has documented this ‘road test’ guide to assess the suitability of a specific solution is Esref Akpinar (2005), who describes a software selection process for a liner shipping company using fuzzy logic decision making. This entailed five scripted scenarios to understand how software packages would handle specific key operational situations. A demonstration evaluation document was prepared, with every question in the document given a weighting according to their importance. An evaluation table was prepared of the results of the demonstrations which clearly indicated which product best fitted the company’s operations and requirements.

2. Total cost of ownership

Prospective buyers should ensure they fully understand the true cost of ownership beyond the initial software licence fees and hardware cost. These may include costs such as those for integration, interfaces, systems communications , extra staff required, upgrades and helpline support. This topic is so important that it has been covered in great detail by the second article in this series, “Managing The Total Cost Of Ownership – What You Need To Know”.

3. Operational Metrics

It is imperative to ensure that not only the costs, but also the benefits of an ERP system are controlled and measured during the implementation project. The benefits generally come in the form of cost savings and operational improvements (e.g. lead time reduction). Cost savings should be built into budgets and operation measures progressively tracked.

Legacy systems often do not support the operational metrics and these have to be assessed manually. A key selection criterion for the new system is thus also the ability to support these operational metrics.

4. Flexibility

Can the application be modified and scaled according to the changing needs of a dynamic and growing business?

Look for an ERP solution that will accommodate new operating protocols, future business growth, market expansion and any other initiatives that might arise.

Things to consider when evaluating flexibility:

• System parameters and default settings;
• Customer screen and menu options;
• Tools for modifying standard forms;
• Data access options and custom reporting; and modular format.

5. Time and ease of implementation

Key questions you should ask regarding the implementation process itself include:

• How long will it take to implement the ERP system?
• Will it cause any major disruptions to your normal business operations?
• Is there an implementation control process (ICP) in place to manage this?
• What sort of business process re-engineering will be required in order to implement the system?
• How long will it take to train staff to use the system?

6. Vendor support and relationships

Your software vendor decision is one that, hopefully, continues well beyond the normal, five-year decision cycle. To that end, three questions are important:

• Does the vendor have a sustainable presence backed up by experience in your industry and a proven track record on installations to similar sized organisations as your own?

• Will you and your management team have a comfortable working relationship that extends to their knowing you and your business intimately? Do they show a sense of responsibility and accountability for making your system choice a success?

• Do you have ‘one throat to choke’? In the event that issues need to be resolved, do you have a direct executive contact who is accountable for making sure your customer service experience is consistently at the highest level?

• How many total vendors will you deal with on your ERP package? Sustaining multiple vendors is cumbersome.

7.I ndustry expertise and customer references

Key questions that will determine the reliability of the vendor include:

• Does the vendor have a proven track record in your specific industry?

• Can the vendor point to a number of companies in your industry who are already using the software and who will confirm that they made a sound decision.

One issue that cuts across many of these selection criteria is the issue of customisation of the software, so it is worth briefly flagging the topic in this context. As Aberdeen Group points out (July 2007), only 11 per cent of respondents to one of its surveys got away with zero customisation.

According to Soh et al, the simplest form of implementation – so-called ‘vanilla’ implementation – requires the organisation to bend to accommodate the software package. “[Vanilla] promotes organisational adaptation, either by conscious redesign and substantial change management, or by piecemeal, evolutionary workarounds, such as individuals and groups adapting. Their adapted practices lead to new organisational structures. Package [software] modification can range from customising the package code to interfacing with custom-developed modules or modules from other vendors.

”Users tend to push for package modification to minimise the amount of change they will have to make. Consultants and project managers tend to advocate organisational adaptation, to simplify package implementation and avoid the tangible costs (time, resources and risks) of package modification.”

The playoff between these two apparently conflicting viewpoints can be a key ingredient to the success of the ERP project, particularly the total cost of ownership, and should therefore be a prime consideration among your selection criteria.

References:

•Akpinar, E., “Software selection for a liner shipping company using fuzzy logic decision making”, paper submitted to the Institute for Graduate Studies in Science & Engineering, Systems and Control Engineering, Bogazici University, 2005
•IBS, “6 Essential considerations when selecting an ERP system”, IBS Australia, February 2008
•Jutras, C., and Dalle Tezze, H., “When relacing ERP – Size matters”, Aberdeen Group, June 2007
•Jutras, C., Trost, J., and Dalle Tezze, H., “Taking the ERP plunge for the first time”, July 2007
•Soh, C., and Siew Kien Sia, “The challenges of implementing ‘vanilla’ versions of enterprise software”, MIS Quarterly Executive, September 2005

ERP Keys, Maximising, Optimal, Performance, Selecting, Solution, Through

Something that is borne out in every survey of those who have implemented an ERP system, or those who are contemplating doing it, is that the three most important concerns are functionality, ease-of-use and total cost of ownership.

Functionality and ease-of-use are both purely technological issues that rely on a proper understanding of your requirements and how well the system or systems under consideration comply with and, hopefully, anticipate those needs. Total cost of ownership, on the other hand, extends well beyond the IT/user arena, into wider operations, finance, management, and even into sales and marketing as it can impact on profitability as well as efficiency. There are cases where a disastrous IT implementation has taken down the whole organisation, or at the very least severely damaged it, so you had better get your numbers right from the outset.

The emphasis should always be on the “total” cost, and this figure can be sliced and diced a number of different ways.

Firstly, the upfront or project costs are those costs related to the initial purchase & implementation. They include:

• Software licensing & hardware costs, although these can be deferred though leasing or hosting options.
• Implementation costs contained in the supplier’s proposal;
• Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;
• Costs associated with data conversion from the legacy system

Secondly, ongoing costs you will face during the system’s lifecycle (and don’t forget that this could extend up to a decade). These are:

• Leasing or hosting costs depending on the method of initial purchase.
• All costs associated with system communications;
• Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and
• Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

These costs are influenced by a number of factors, including:

• Number of users; and
• Amount of functionality implemented (i.e. number of modules).

Finally and most importantly, there are business benefits achieved, which should be incorporated into the cost equation as a positive, as they are influenced by functionality (and whether and how well you use it), ease-of-use and efficient and effective upgrades and customisation. These potentially include:

• Improved delivery performance percent on-time and complete shipments;
• Improved back-office efficiency due to order processing automation
• Reduced order lead time
• Reduced levels of inventory;
• Fewer number of days needed to close a month;
• Reduction in administrative costs.

Immediate cost issues.

The five immediate cost issues mentioned above can be dealt with through a variation of mechanisms.

Software and implementation costs

You should firstly avoid any ambiguity when communicating the specific requirements of your business. You should ensure that potential vendors are given every opportunity to understand your business processes and needs as well as you do. It also means avoiding big unknowns such as conversion, customisation and integration – activities for which vendors can legitimately say they are unable to give you a fixed cost.

You should also be aiming for, at least, a 5 to 10 years relationship with your vendor. A 2007 benchmark report on a survey by the Aberdeen Group on ERP in manufacturing found “the average age of implementations to be almost nine years, implying the longevity of these solutions often exceeds the anticipated life”.

With software and implementation, there is the opportunity of seeking a fixed price proposal, where the software vendor contractually accepts some of the risks associated with your system implementation.

Interface customisations and system modifications

Wherever possible, you should try to avoid any modifications or customisations. Modifications in particular should be avoided at all costs unless they are absolutely ‘show stoppers’ or business critical. This is particularly because modifications often prevent upgrades from being applied and you will be stuck with outdated versions of the software.

This is not as easy as it sounds, though. Aberdeen reports that only 11 per cent of respondents to its survey of organisations undergoing ERP implementations had zero customisation.

”If your business processes were developed over time – in an unstructured way – the possibility exists that no ERP system will match exactly.”

But it agrees that, while some customisation of software may be necessary, doing so does add expense and effort to the initial implementation and the complexity of future upgrades.

Rather it recommends you search out ERP solution providers with customers in your industry, evaluate the fit, and balance the need to adapt your business processes to conform with the software against aligning the software to your processes.

System communications

One area often neglected by many organisations is the significant disparities between different vendors when it comes to the efficiency with which their systems manage data behind the scene, i.e. the speed with which information is processed and transmitted around the organisation.

As surprising as it might sound, there can be a cost difference of 5-7 times between vendors for exactly the same transaction. Multiply that over the system’s lifetime and then by the number of users in an organisation and the figures mount up.

Additional or specialised staff

Implementing a new system can mean new recruits in your IT department, such as database administrators or systems analysts or additional training of existing personnel. This has obvious salary and employment costs, particularly as, in a competitive global environment, specialists are in high demand and regularly headhunted and enticed away with better salary packages and career prospects.
A key criterion in deciding which software vendor you choose should include whether you can implement your ERP system without having to increase the number of technical staff. The implementation of new technology should be seen as an opportunity to reduce the IT burden instead.

System upgrades and helpdesk support

This is probably the easiest cost to determine, because it is normally presented as an annual percentage of the vendor’s software pricing list.

One thing to keep in mind is that you are normally much better off if your support comes directly from the software vendor – agents do not qualify as part of the vendor’s organisation. There are too many cases where support has been outsourced offshore, with the service quality suffering accordingly.

Aberdeen points out that, very often, “the ratio of services to software costs is indicative of both ease of use and ease of implementation”.

Users and modules

It is a corollary of software implementation that, the larger the organisation the more users you have, and that means the total cost of software and services will rise as well.

However, it is not always a linear increase.

Surveys by Aberdeen of medium and large-sized ERP users shows that average maintenance cost per user might actually drop when you reach certain economies of scale, thanks to potential volume discounts.

The number of modules implemented will also impact on TCO, since the more extensive the implementation, the more services may be required.

Of course, the larger you are, and the larger the deal, the more bargaining power you may have over the TCO. But again Aberdeen warns that “with rising costs and weakening economies, we see evidence that cost savings are becoming harder to produce”.

Ongoing business benefits

While later articles in this series cover in greater detail the potential business benefits you can achieve on an ongoing basis through an ERP system, in summary it is fair to say that, when implementing a new ERP system, you have a great opportunity to improve business processes. So it is important to not just simply re-implement existing processes. Not only may you may be able to save costs during implementation, but also achieve significant benefits from an improved business process on an on-going basis.

Aberdeen research has shown that those organisations which pay the closest attention to the ROI of a project reap far more rewards. “Yet few demonstrate the discipline to closely monitor this level of payback and performance.”

”While TCO has proven to be a significant factor in software selection, it is important to keep both costs and benefits in mind throughout the life of an ERP implementation and beyond.”

Whether you are an IT or operations manager, or a C-level executive, it is vital that you consider all elements that comprise an ERP system’s TCO. In addition to evaluating whether the ERP system fits your business requirements, you need to consider what the ongoing costs will be in the long run. If not careful, these may add up to significantly more than the initial capital outlay for the software and user licences.

In simple terms, you need to table a comparison of all of these cost elements for your preferred supplier and their competitors. What you will glean from this exercise is a clear insight into the true life-cycle costs associated with running an ERP system and a much better perspective on your ROI.

The next article in this series will look at “7 Essential Criteria For Selecting Your ERP Solution & Technology Partner”.

References:
• IBS, “5 things you should know about total cost of ownership (TCO) for ERP systems”, IBS Australia, March 2008
• Jutras, C., “The total cost of ERP ownership in mid-size companies”, Aberdeen Group, July 2007
• Jutras, C., and Barnett, R., “The total cost of ERP ownership in large companies”, Aberdeen Group, July 2008
• Jutras, C., Trost, J., and Dalle Tezze, H., “Taking the ERP plunge for the first time”, July 2007

ERP cost, Keys, Know, Managing, Maximising, Need, Optimal, Ownership, Performance, Through, Total

Key No 1 – Charting the course of success for your technology investment

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers’ requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas – many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group’s 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared – rightly or wrongly – that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports (“When Replacing ERP – Size Matters”, June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking “low cost options that minimise risk”.

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen’s surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, “best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements.”

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;
Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;
All costs associated with system communications;
Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and
Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;
Ease of use;
Integration capabilities;
Ease and speed of implementation;
Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and
Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest (“An update on business-IT alignment”, September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a ‘silver bullet’, whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications – exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value – balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance – who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership – including IT’s role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other’s contribution;

Scope and architecture – IT’s provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills – HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals’ skills, and the organisation’s readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that “business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives”. In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions – and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state – any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner (“Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, August 2007) suggests that “enterprises should focus on five technology areas – business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks – as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation”.

Payne says “focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply chain organisation]“. He goes on to recommend:

Periodic demonstrations of new technology capabilities, coupled with the co-development of supply chain initiatives, as new capabilities arise in these areas;

Developing a plan for incorporating new infrastructure components that are needed to support innovation areas; and
Evaluating the supply chain IT strategies and SCM vendor-sourcing criteria with the supply chain organisation for conformance and alignment based on the five key themes and related discussions, adjusting IT and sourcing strategies to address perceived gaps.

All well and good. But, despite the best planning and setting of firm criteria, there is always the issue of compromise – that such an important and far-reaching a system as an ERP will not perfectly match your organisational set-up. The Aberdeen report suggests that “if your business processes were developed over time – in an unstructured way – the possibility exists that no ERP system will match exactly. Search out ERP solution providers with customers in your industry, evaluate the fit, and balance the need to adapt your business processes to conform with the software against aligning the software to your processes. While some customisation of software may be necessary, (only 11 per cent of respondents have zero customisation) it adds expense and effort to the initial implementation, and the complexity of future upgrades.”

In other words, if you bend a little to accommodate the ERP, while still maintaining your markers of success, you will find that the ultimate payback is a system that works well with an organisation in sync with itself.

It is important overall, therefore, to look at all options, and that includes a range of suppliers, to assess the issues, drivers and pain points that you may have been facing in the past, and that you might be looking to deal with or, hopefully, avoid in the future to ensure the best fit for your organisation.

The next article in this series will look at “Managing the total cost of ownership – What you need to know”.

IBS Australia develops ERP solutions, ERP Systems and business management supply chain software for inventory management systems, manufacturing ERP software, business intelligence systems and integration ERP software.

Peter Clarke will present on ERP Systems at the Gartner 2008 ITxpo, 11-14 November to be held in Sydney, Australia

References:

•Jutras, C., and Barnett, R., “The total cost of ERP ownership in large companies”, Aberdeen Group, July 2008
•Jutras, C., and Dalle Tezze, H., “When replacing ERP – size matters”, Aberdeen Group, June 2007
•Jutras, C., Trost, J., and Dalle Tezze, H., “Taking the ERP plunge for the first time”, July 2007
•IBS, “5 things you should know about total cost of ownership (TCO) for ERP systems”, IBS Australia, March 2008
•IBS, “6 essential considerations when selecting an ERP system”, IBS Australia, February 2008
•Luftman, J., and Kempaiah, R., “An update on business-IT alignment: ‘A line’ has been drawn”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 6 No 3, September 2007
•Payne, T., “Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, Gartner Research, August 2007
•Ward, J., Daniel, E., and Peppard, J., “Building better business cases for IT investments”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 7 No 1, March 2008
•Ward, J., Taylor, P., and Bond, P., “Evaluation and realization of IS/IT benefits: an empirical study of current practice”, European Journal of Information Systems (4), 1996, pp 214-225 (as cited in Ward et al, 2008).

ERP Directive, Keys, Maximising, Optimal, Performance, Software, Through

Key No 1 – Charting the course of success for your technology investment

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers’ requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas – many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group’s 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared – rightly or wrongly – that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports (“When Replacing ERP – Size Matters”, June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking “low cost options that minimise risk”.

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen’s surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, “best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements.”

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;

Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;

All costs associated with system communications;

Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and

Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;

Ease of use;

Integration capabilities;

Ease and speed of implementation;

Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and

Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest (“An update on business-IT alignment”, September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a ‘silver bullet’, whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications – exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value – balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance – who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership – including IT’s role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other’s contribution;

Scope and architecture – IT’s provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills – HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals’ skills, and the organisation’s readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that “business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives”. In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions – and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state – any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner (“Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, August 2007) suggests that “enterprises should focus on five technology areas – business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks – as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation”.

Payne says “focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply Key No 1 - Charting the course of success for your technology investment

Is your current ERP system is lacking in functionality? Does it limit your ability to respond quickly to customers' requests? Where are you placed in comparison with your competitors, and does your existing system help you or hinder you in meeting industry best practice or benchmarks? Are you simply unhappy with your current supplier and their ability to respond to your requirements, let alone those of your customers?

Whatever the case, you are unlikely to stand alone in these areas - many companies have faced similar issues with their ERP systems, so no user is likely to be unique. There are common drivers you can consider in your deliberations over a replacement ERP system, and these include the measures you use to chart the success of your technology investment, the major issues you need to address and the consideration of how much pain you are willing to put up with to achieve your ultimate goal.

According to Aberdeen Group's 2007 ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark Report, 328 companies out of 1245 companies surveyed were planning to replace their current ERP systems at one or more locations within the next three years. In other words, at any one time, a quarter of companies are looking to replace their existing ERP systems.

In the past, enterprise resource planning has garnered a mixed reputation. While there are fundamental reasons and obvious benefits for going down the ERP path, many have feared - rightly or wrongly - that ERP entailed major organisational disruption if not re-engineering, at high cost and high risk.

Aberdeen Group reports ("When Replacing ERP - Size Matters", June 2007) the primary driver for large companies is consolidation and rationalisation strategies. An underlying issue, considering the proliferation of ERP and other enterprise applications, is the need for integration. For mid-sized and small companies, on the other hand, the concerns are more with gaining functionality and integration. These sized firms are also more heavily concerned with updating their outdated user interfaces, an important factor in raising employee productivity and efficiencies.

Other issues include requirements of expansion, pressure from trading partners, compliance with regulation and even disastrous events, but overall companies looking at ERP implementations are primarily seeking "low cost options that minimise risk".

Risk and cost in combination imply a concern for return on investment, but Aberdeen's surveys show that fewer than 25 per cent of respondents consistently estimate ROI to cost estimate ERP projects, and 20 per cent or less measure the actual post-implementation costs and gains to calculate ROI.

In contrast, "best in class companies are on average 88 per cent more likely to estimate ROI before initiating projects and are 130 per cent more likely to measure ROI after project completion. As a result, these best performing companies produce, on average, 93 per cent more improvement across a variety of metrics such as cost reductions, schedule performance, headcount reduction or redeployment and quality improvements."

The reality is that minimising risk with an ERP implementation is an achievable result and, by minimising risk, costs should also be kept under control. By following a formal process of charting the reasons for your implementation, assessing the various offerings from your current supplier and, importantly, from suppliers who might be new to you, and checking off against the various criteria for selection, an ERP implementation need not be a nightmare; in fact, it could prove to be the instigator of quantifiable benefits for all concerned.

Specific success markers

Getting down to brass tacks, there are a number of key aspects of an ERP system that need to be addressed, both prior to any decision to move to such a system and certainly as part of selection criteria. Near the top of the list is total cost of ownership, which incorporates:

Software and implementation costs;

Costs associated with any interfaces or system modifications;

All costs associated with system communications;

Costs associated with employing additional or specialised staff; and

Annual costs for system upgrades and helpline support.

Other specific areas of consideration that will impact on the success or otherwise of your ERP program include:

Functionality;

Ease of use;

Integration capabilities;

Ease and speed of implementation;

Ability to tailor functionality without programming; and

Software licence price.

Added to this, or overarching these considerations, is return on investment. Whether and how quickly you achieve this is dependent on many factors, not least the rigour and realism applied to the assessment of current circumstances and the contribution made by the ERP system as outlined in initial business cases. An article as far back as the European Journal of Information Systems in 1996 reported on a survey of the 200 largest UK companies that found that 47 per cent openly admitted to overstating the benefits to get approval for IT investments.

But wishful thinking and creative accounting aside, these are all relevant considerations. (And in future articles, covering total cost of ownership, selection criteria, best and worst practices, and maximising ROI, we will look at them in more detail.) But it should be noted that the level and mix of these factors and how successfully they are achieved is specific to individual sets of circumstances, including size and type of organisation, intended purpose, individual business priorities and, of course, budget.

The big picture

The overriding consideration that affects all organisations, large or small, regardless of industry sector or even of budget, is alignment with the business objectives of your organisation.

Jerry Luftman and Rajkumar Kempaiah of the Stevens Institute of Technology suggest ("An update on business-IT alignment", September 2007) that the issue of achieving IT-business alignment was first documented in the late 1970s and was in the top 10 IT management issues from 1980 through 1994, as reported by the Society for Information Management. Since 1994 it has consistently been issue #1 or #2.

Nonetheless, it has proved to be an elusive target. Luftman and Kempaiah suggest a number of reasons for this, including that, while IT might be aligned with the business, business is rarely aligned with IT. They also add that organisations have often looked for a 'silver bullet', whether technological solution or improved communications, as well as improved governance to identify and prioritise projects, resources and risks. Another reason they suggest for missing the alignment target has been the lack of an effective tool to gauge the maturity of IT-business alignment.

On this last point, they suggest a set of six components that indicate (if not mandate) alignment maturity: Communications - exchange of ideas, knowledge and information between IT and business; Value - balanced measurements to demonstrate the contributions of information technology and the IT organisation in terms that both business and IT understand;

Governance - who has authority to make IT decisions and set IT priorities;

Partnership - including IT's role in defining business strategies, the degree of trust and how each perceives the other's contribution;

Scope and architecture - IT's provision of flexible infrastructure, evaluation of emerging technologies, driving business process change, and delivery of customised solutions internally and externally; and

Skills - HR practices of hiring and retention, encouragement of innovation, developing individuals' skills, and the organisation's readiness for change, capability to learn and ability to leverage new ideas.

Interestingly, they say that "business executives score alignment maturity higher than IT executives". In other words, it is the IT side of the business that feels most that alignment is not being achieved. Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions - and it should be added that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state - any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.

Supply chain criteria

Many ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner ("Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes", August 2007) suggests that "enterprises should focus on five technology areas - business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks - as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation".

Payne says "focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply chain organisation]“. He goes on to recommend:

Periodic demonstrations of new technology capabilities, coupled with the co-development of supply chain initiatives, as new capabilities arise in these areas;

Developing a plan for incorporating new infrastructure components that are needed to support innovation areas; and
Evaluating the supply chain IT strategies and SCM vendor-sourcing criteria with the supply chain organisation for conformance and alignment based on the five key themes and related discussions, adjusting IT and sourcing strategies to address perceived gaps.

All well and good. But, despite the best planning and setting of firm criteria, there is always the issue of compromise – that such an important and far-reaching a system as an ERP will not perfectly match your organisational set-up. The Aberdeen report suggests that “if your business processes were developed over time – in an unstructured way – the possibility exists that no ERP system will match exactly. Search out ERP solution providers with customers in your industry, evaluate the fit, and balance the need to adapt your business processes to conform with the software against aligning the software to your processes. While some customisation of software may be necessary, (only 11 per cent of respondents have zero customisation) it adds expense and effort to the initial implementation, and the complexity of future upgrades.”

In other words, if you bend a little to accommodate the ERP, while still maintaining your markers of success, you will find that the ultimate payback is a system that works well with an organisation in sync with itself.

It is important overall, therefore, to look at all options, and that includes a range of suppliers, to assess the issues, drivers and pain points that you may have been facing in the past, and that you might be looking to deal with or, hopefully, avoid in the future to ensure the best fit for your organisation.

The next article in this series will look at “Managing the total cost of ownership – What you need to know”.

IBS Australia develops ERP solutions, ERP Systems and business management supply chain software for inventory management systems, manufacturing ERP software, business intelligence systems and integration ERP software.

Peter Clarke will present on ERP Systems at the Gartner 2008 ITxpo, 11-14 November to be held in Sydney, Australia

References:

•Jutras, C., and Barnett, R., “The total cost of ERP ownership in large companies”, Aberdeen Group, July 2008
•Jutras, C., and Dalle Tezze, H., “When replacing ERP – size matters”, Aberdeen Group, June 2007
•Jutras, C., Trost, J., and Dalle Tezze, H., “Taking the ERP plunge for the first time”, July 2007
•IBS, “5 things you should know about total cost of ownership (TCO) for ERP systems”, IBS Australia, March 2008
•IBS, “6 essential considerations when selecting an ERP system”, IBS Australia, February 2008
•Luftman, J., and Kempaiah, R., “An update on business-IT alignment: ‘A line’ has been drawn”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 6 No 3, September 2007
•Payne, T., “Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes”, Gartner Research, August 2007
•Ward, J., Daniel, E., and Peppard, J., “Building better business cases for IT investments”, MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol 7 No 1, March 2008
•Ward, J., Taylor, P., and Bond, P., “Evaluation and realization of IS/IT benefits: an empirical study of current practice”, European Journal of Information Systems (4), 1996, pp 214-225 (as cited in Ward et al, 2008).

ERP Directive, Keys, Maximising, Optimal, Performance, Software, Through

Times are Uncertain – do you really need that upgrade or new PC?

Our customers and prospective customers frequently come to us and ask that we suggest either upgrades or whole new PC’s that will solve their current non-performance nightmare with an aging PC.  It’s quite amazing how sometimes as the conversation and understanding of requirements and problems experienced proceeds we discover that actually the PC they already have may just still have a few laps around the circuit left in its tired chassis.  In this article we will explain how you can diagnose your performance woes, streamline and tune them up.  You’d be surprised just how much more you can get out of what you have.

Tip!  Before making any serious system changes such as some of these are its wise to take a backup or restore point of your system before each change.  Then should you subsequently find something is ‘broken’ you can restore back to a previous working configuration.

Analyse the problem before implementing the solution…

Use monitoring tools regularly – get in the habit of watching Task Manager and lookout for tasks and processes that are hogging your system memory or CPU.  Task manager displays both in the process view as you can see below, you can also sort by clicking on the column headings.  Even if you only use the Internet and eMail both these applications are renowned for memory leaks and processor bound loops (see an explanation of these problems in the next section).

Monitor Free Disk Space – ensure you have at least 20% disk space, preferably 30% or more should be free.  If you don’t the file system struggles to operate as it needs some space in order to allocate and deallocate files the operating system and applications require while in use.  Imagine walking into a hall full of boxes and you need to order them all by colour, in a room 70% full you’ve got 30% free space to temporarily put things in while you move other stuff around, in a room 99% full you may have no room at all to use as a temporary store.  Use our earlier tip for reducing disk space consumption by eliminating unused installed programs or disk space is cheap these days with 1TB at under £100, upgrade your disk.

New Software invariably uses more Memory – finally, if you need an upgrade the one that makes the biggest difference in 80% of cases is simply adding more memory.  RAM is now fairly cheap and you should consider 2GB to be the minimum of practical RAM to have installed.  Every time you upgrade it try to double it or you’re unlikely to really notice the difference.  On 32-bit systems there is little advantage to having more than 3GB of memory but usually it makes sense to upgrade to 4GB due to the size of memory kits available.  If you need more than 4GB you will also need to upgrade to a 64-bit operating system.  You can see your memory utilisation by consulting the Task Manager, ctrl-alt-del presents you an option to start the task manager.

In a typical example 2GB of physical memory is installed, of which roughly 1GB is available, although windows is misleading us a bit here as it will always make sure some memory remains available or it will simply cease to function.  So don’t look for 0 available free memory as an indicator that you need more, it never will be allowed to reach 0 as windows will swap a process out into the page file to free more memory up.  There is 1.11GB of memory currently consumed (in the page file ‘PF Usage’, Commit Charge – Total).  The page file is actually virtual memory on disk as tasks become active and inactive they may be swapped into and out of memory into the page file, hence that pause sometimes when you switch to another task as the disk is accessed to bring it back out of the page file.  Activity in the page file and virtual memory is complex and I won’t go into any more of that here as it doesn’t help you with performance issues.  The key point to remember is if Windows is swapping memory out to the page file on disk then your system will be going a lot slower as you can be sure however fast your disk is it’s an awful lot slower than physical memory.

What we care most about is activity in real physical memory and the point at which we might run out of it and the page file becomes more active hence slowing down the system.  Crucially the Commit Charge Peak should balance the physical memory available otherwise it means an awful lot of page file swapping is going on (known as ‘Page Faults’).  If it was the yellow line in Page File Usage history would be bouncing around, or worse just steadily increasing.   

Adjust Total Page File size – following on from the point above if your system page file size is too small your system will slow down or even fail to start tasks (usually with a system message to tell you the computer is out of memory).  You can check this by looking at the Page File Total versus Peak size.  If they are close to each other then you need to increase your page file size.  With most windows default configurations this will happen automatically.

The exotic world of Deadlocks, Infinite Loops and Cartesian products – are all programming jargon that essentially describe bugs (though not always).  The programmer of an application or product you’re using (and that includes the ones you take for granted like Windows and Device drivers) has likely made an error in designing or implementing the code such that logically it can never get past a certain point in its execution.  The consequence of this poorly designed code can be that the processor cycles used in this ‘loop’ consume all the available resources of your PC (check your task manager, which process is using 99-100% of the processor!? Or just ‘not responding’).  You will notice this as your machine will suddenly lock-up, go dead slow, or the application in question will just hang.  Thankfully with multi-core PC’s hanging is less of a problem as the other free cores can be used to KILL the task off and bring your PC back to life…

Run concurrently as few tasks as you need – each time you open up a task remember each one is using up a little more memory.  If your memory or processing power is limited try to keep open only what you regularly need and close what you don’t it doesn’t take so long to reopen, and if it does it probably means you have too many open already!  Also bear in mind just because you can’t see an application doesn’t mean it’s not using up any processing cycles, it will be.  All applications process events which might be system activity, emails being sent/received, diary alarms going off, keyboard or mouse movements, activity from external devices like printers and USB drives.  They also monitor activity in the background even when you aren’t doing anything with them.  This consumes more of those valuable clock cycles…

Typical solutions to try or consider

De-install and delete any unused software – take a look at your control panel Add/Remove Software icon and go through the list of installed applications line by line.  If you don’t need or use it remove it.  It may be taking up valuable space or cycles on your machine.

Disable Windows Defender – For Vista users there are a number of new Windows ‘features’ that if you are an experienced PC User who understands how to roam the internet or email and download files safely you do not need. Windows Defender and Firewall are such services, if you have a third party or router firewall you more than likely just don’t need this services enabled.  To disable windows defender, go to control panel->administrative tools -> services -> windows defender and stop the service, setting it to disabled or manual so that it does not restart on reboot.

Disable UAC (User Access Control) – To experienced Windows XP users this feature has won a thousand polls as the most annoying new feature. Whenever you execute anything which affects system configuration or the filesystem (which is just about everything you might want to do that’s useful!), a modal popup asks whether you want the operation to proceed.  Again use your judgement on your experience and competency with Windows, inexperienced users should probably leave it as is otherwise you will want to disable it.  To disable user access control, go to control panel->user account->turn user account control off.  You can also disable it using the msconfig.exe utility on the Tools tab, or directly in the registry.

Optmise the Windows GUI – Windows Vista Premium and above has by default the Aero user interface enabled, this uses the 3D capabilities of your graphics card and will use up some precious CPU cycles.  Unless you love the new look interface feel free to reduce load on your processor and memory and turn it off.  To optimise system configuration for maximum performance, go to control panel->performance information and tools-> advanced tools-> adjust the appearance and performance of windows-> Select Adjust for best performance radio button and hit Apply.

Remove Startup programs – A lot of applications helpfully install themselves on your machine to startup and drop into the System Tools tray as your machine boots or, or as you log in depending on how they are configured.  Almost none of these programs will actually be required and they are only installed this way to save on the time taken for their first execution (as they are already in memory, in theory).  Our recommendations are you remove all programs to reduce startup time, reduce memory overhead and to improve overall system performance. You can change startup programs using msconfig.exe or directly in the registry with the regedit command (alter the registry with caution!).  Our recommendation is that you use msconfig.exe (pictured below, Windows XP version) and scroll through the list of startup programs unchecking anything you know you don’t use or need to startup on boot/login.  In the registry find the startup programs under Computer-> HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software-> Microsoft-> Windows-> CurrentVersion-> Run.  In Windows XP you can safely remove ALL startup programs without it being terminal, you need to be a bit more careful with Vista. 

AntiVirus (AV) – programs are notorious for reducing system performance and increasing hard disk load.  Take a long and careful look at the configuration of your AV product and turn off any scanning or intervention that is unnecessary, turning off any supplementary tools, and any duplication of tools such as double spam checking etc.  Typically you should treat AV as your second line of defence behind the firewall.  You are only really likely to get a virus from outside the secure zone that is ‘Your PC’, unless you’re in the habit of writing your own.  So a viral attack is only likely to come from a software download, a rogue floppy or CD install, or a malicious Browser add on from the Internet.  Some scare mongers have led us to believe that the viruses crawl down the wires and install themselves on your PC, they don’t, they only get installed from outside and only then if you allow it.

For this protection all you need virus scanned is inbound email, inbound software installs from removable media (CD, DVD, USB, eSATA, Firewire, Blu-Ray, Floppy etc.).  We recommend turning off automated and scheduled scans, these are real system hogs and should be totally unnecessary if all inbound scans are working as they should be.  Instead manually choose for yourself when you would like a total system scan just in case something was missed as it came in.  We like minimalist AV tools that just do the simple jobs well and no more.  A good AntiVirus should be like good children, nice to know you have it, but invisible and unobtrusive.

Disable unnecessary services – Your system might have a lot of services which you may not need. But identifying them may not be very easy.  Open up control panel-> administrative tools-> services and stop/disable services. Some of the services which should be disabled are Windows Search, Windows Defender, Windows Cardspace, and usually a number of third party tools such as HP print managers, Adobe tools, Real player, MSN, Google toolbar, Antivirus control panels etc.

Windows Search Indexing – A tricky one as it sometimes speeds things up, but at other times can slow things down.  In theory it only runs when your machine is idle, but we’ve found that is not always the case and it can also consume shared network bandwidth.  We suggest you disable Windows Search indexing as it may improve performance substantially, especially if you have a new system as it will expend a considerable amount of system resources building indexes. However, once the indexes are built it will reduce the time to find files with a file search (if you do that much?) considerably.  So, if this something you do a lot you should turn it off while you are using the PC then turn it on again when you’re done and just leave it running.  Windows Search will then just happily build indexes in the background while the PC is idle.  Eventually you will have a fully populated index and you can just leave it on so that the index is automatically maintained.

Defragment hard drive – perhaps one of the oldest tricks in the book.  As you install, deinstall, and move files around on your PC clusters of files and parts of files get distributed all over the disks surface.  Over time this gets worse and worse, more and more fragmented.  Every time you read a file of the disk the disk head has to reposition to pickup all these different fragments which slows down file access radically.  The ideal scenario is to have all files contiguous, no fragmentation, and have the most frequently used files around the centre of the disk to minimise average head movement time (seek time).  The defragmentation tool analyses and then defragments the disk for you and is available on the tools tab of the disk properties option (right click on your disk, select properties).  You need to defragment roughly every two to three months, more often if you install and reinstall a lot of programs and files.  It’s a good idea to run Error Check (also on the tools tab) and close all tasks and as many services as you can before defragmenting.  Files currently open or in use cannot be moved…

Check for BIOS updates – For an experienced overclocker BIOS updates are a no brainer as they usually fix performance holes or issues with the motherboard.  For most users we recommend if you have no known BIOS issues then do not update it.  Either way close all programs before flashing an update to the BIOS, should the BIOS flash fail, be interrupted, or get corrupted (and you would be surprised how easily this can happen!) then your PC will be dead and you will need a new BIOS chip.

Check for chipset and operating system updates – Often new drivers or windows updates can speed things up a little or a lot.  Windows Update is a blessing and a curse.  With Vista you are now able to do ALL updates with the Windows update tool, including many third party drivers.  Our usual recommendation is to leave it on Automatic, however, sometimes a new update can introduce instability or worse.  If this happens revert to the last Restore point.  If you are an experienced power user we recommend you manually run Windows Update and carefully select updates you know are comfortable with or know you need.

Easy performance boost – Vista’s ReadyBoost feature allows you to plug in a USB flash drive or a flash memory card and use its available capacity to cache frequently used files, augmenting the system file cache in main memory.  Though slower than main memory Flash memory is an awful lot faster than the hard disk and will speed up general file access markedly.  Even quite large Flash drives are now very inexpensive.

Restart regularly – Even large Enterprises and Government datacentres have a regular restart regime to clear down processes that have been executing memory for some time and refresh the operating systems own memory and programming state.  Any problems with stale resources or processes is compounded by possible memory leaks and memory fragmentation occurring over time (which happens in the same way as disks can get fragmented).  If you find your PC is getting slower the longer its left on you probably have some runaway process or processes eating up memory or cycles and you can either kill the processes or restart the whole machine.  If you are monitoring your process and memory utilisation as we discussed earlier you will have noticed this happening.  If it’s a problem deep in Windows that’s causing a performance problem over time then it’s unlikely you will be able to diagnose it and only a restart will fix it.  Generally you should be looking to restart your PC at least once a week.  We restart non critical desktops and servers daily, our long term benchmark tests can run for up to a month non-stop without a restart.  In the latter case we use a stripped down Windows build that we have tested as stable for at least a month.  Remember Hibernate or Standy shutdowns are NOT a reboot, only Shutdown or Restart.  Preferably do a cold reboot by shutting down and switching off completely and leaving for 10 minutes before powering on.  This will also reinitialise your BIOS and all PC hardware.

 

Troubleshooting Assets, Optimisation, Performance, Sweat, Troubleshooting, Windows

There are a few simple maintenance tips that will optimize your game experience. These tips are for the computer amateur! Minimal technical details to follow!

Keep the discs themselves clean. You can purchase disc cleaner/repairer. But preventative maintenance is the better alternative! If you are also using downloaded games it may be necessary to uninstall and reinstall the files after repeated use.

Close any programs that are not being used. If your computer is trying to run too many programs, use too many of its resources, when also trying to play a graphic intensive game, the graphics will be choppy, and figures will move slowly.

Download CCleaner for free from www.ccleaner.com. CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your internet history. But the best parts are that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and incredibly simple (double click the icon and then click run). CCleaner contains no spyware or adware. You can run it as often as you like depending on your frequency of computer use.

Disable anti-virus software. Anti-virus programs can slow down the loading and playing of games. You can disable the anti virus software by right clicking on the icon and choosing disable. Remember to turn it back on when you log back on to the Internet!

Shutdown your computer properly. By not shutting your computer down using the start button you run the risk of losing data and in turn making files not work as efficiently.

Take advantage of free operating system updates. Often times you are prompted but in the event that you are not you can easily do a quick search for the latest updates.

By staying on top of these simple maintenance tasks you will optimize computer game’s performance!

Computer Games Amateur, Computer, Enhance, Games, Performance, Tips