How does an ERP vendor support customers in using the system?

In using an ERP system, the ERP vendor has the duty to support the organisation’s use of the system, so that using the ERP system achieves the highest efficiency for the organisation.

In supporting the use of the ERP system, the ERP vendor has the following duties:

1. Overseeing installation and system use

The ERP vendor has the duty to gather requirements in order to analyse and design an ERP system that best matches the organisation’s objectives — in order to increase the organisation’s management efficiency.

This includes helping improve the organisation’s decision-making ability by integrating various processes within the organisation, reducing the problem of redundant work, and reducing errors in the organisation’s various transaction data, so that the data is accurate and reliable.

2. Overseeing updates and improvements

Regularly updating and improving the ERP system is an important process that helps maintain the ERP system’s performance and keep the ERP system up to date, so that it responds to the organisation’s use in a current manner.

The development team will analyse and test the update before actually updating the system, including checking the system’s stability to make sure there are no problems or errors.

The update has steps that must be considered, as follows:

• Back up important data before the update so that the data is stored safely.
• Present the update to users or the system administrator to carry out the update according to the defined steps.
• Test the system after the update to verify the accuracy and performance of the system.
• Notify users about the update and improvements, including arranging training so users can adapt to the system changes.
• Monitor the system’s performance after the update and provide support to fix problems or answer related questions.

Updating and improving the system is a process that requires caution and good coordination, including thorough testing so that there are no unexpected impacts on the whole system.

3. Overseeing problem-solving during system use

Solving problems in using the ERP system has steps that should be followed so that problems arising from ERP use can be resolved completely, as follows:

• Clearly identify the problem that occurred, recording information about the problem, when it occurred, and who reported it — so there is information for later review if the same kind of problem occurs again.
• If an error occurs at any point, check that point by examining what steps the user took before the usage problem occurred, then find a suitable way to fix the problem. For example, if a database check is needed, the development team should take a copy of the user’s database to examine, always backing up the database as well.
• Once the development team has fixed it, the fix should be tested to verify correct system operation, after which the user is notified that the problem has been completely fixed. The user should then test the system once more themselves.

In summary, the ERP vendor should support the using organisation across three main areas: installing the system, improving the system, and overseeing problem-solving during system use.

And if additional user training is needed to keep users’ knowledge of the system current, the ERP vendor should also provide support in this part as well.