Working inside an ERP system can be tricky. Sure, these complex technology packages come brimming to the teeth with useful functions, but more often than ERP providers would like to think, users have no idea how to handle them. The goal is to make ERP systems as easy to use as the many consumer-level programs we all interact with daily.
Software developers are always struggling to strike a balance between program functionality and usability. The most comprehensive software program available will be of no use if organizations don’t know how to use it, and vice versa.
The need to reach this balance has been a major part of ERP software development for years. However, an article published recently by CFO.com describes a 2008 survey from ERP provider IFS stating that 20 percent of ERP users said their number one time waste is learning how to perform particular tasks.
It does no one any good when users are having trouble working with their ERP systems. In the article, IFS chief technology officer Dan Matthews says that usability issues severely impact productivity. If a technology solution improves productivity and makes the user happy, then it more quickly becomes an integral part of the user’s day. If it’s difficult to use, then they may not even try.
“If you ask CFOs, they don't really care about how delighted employees are about using the new software," Matthews says. "But they do care about how many months there are between when the software goes live and when employees are regularly updating time and expense reports in the system, or project managers are using it for planning.”
In the last few years, the usability of business software has been trumped by consumer solutions. While consumer can log into technologies like Apple iTunes or Facebook and be fully proficient with zero training, business software traditionally requires significant training.
Obviously, approving an invoice inside an ERP system is more complex than loading an MP3 player with songs, but that’s not stopping ERP providers from attempting to apply some of the concepts that make consumer software so user friendly to ERP.
The CFO.com article says that many ERP developers are paying special attention to software usability today. For example, Agresso is working with a usability firm to help make their next release easier to use. A representative of the company says the main reason that business software now needs to be as user friendly as consumer software is that the number of people interacting with business software has grown.
In addition, Microsoft’s “role-tailored” design for it’s Dynamics ERP enhances usability by only showing the parts of the software to a particular user that are important to his or her job. According to the CFO.com article, “Microsoft built a customer model that describes 61 corporate "personas," or user profiles, and the core activities, interactions, pain points, and psychographics of each. One persona, for example, is Phyllis the Accounting Manager, for whom an acute pain point is the tedium of correcting posted transactions.”
For users in AP departments, this is nothing but good news. One of the trickiest parts of an ERP implementation is training resistent employees on the new system. If the new system comes as easy to use as the programs they interact with at home, then there may be less resistance. Improved usability undoubtedly means improved productivity.
Patrick Harbin is Editor of The Accounts Payable Channel and Assistant Editor of The Accounts Payable Network.
