After investing for years in your ERP system, you expect it to boost efficiencies, not drain them. Yet, some organizations find that users experience slow response times and other performance inadequacies, undermining their ability to get the job done efficiently. Infrastructure tuning — if planned and implemented by those with a deep understanding of your ERP architecture — will correct system performance and relieve organizational stress.
Though tuning is a somewhat arcane science, tuning experts can test various performance indicators and then fix the problem areas, regardless of how simple or complex. Perhaps the system needs more RAM and an expanded communications channel. Default parameters may need to be reset. Or components aren't optimized. Or the database needs to be reorganized. Testing usually uncovers a combination of tuning issues.
This was the case for one of our clients, a major transportation agency. Extremely slow response times prompted them to call us for our tuning expertise. After monitoring and testing various areas of the system, CherryRoad made improvements that allowed a batch job to run in 3 minutes instead of 18 hours.
Many organizations are taking tuning beyond a reactive "fix it" approach to a more strategic discipline. They are establishing and monitoring ERP performance objectives as well as measuring improvements from tuning initiatives. At any given time, their IT departments know the state of their ERP system's health, regardless of the number of users. And, they know to incorporate tuning into all major implementations and upgrades.
For example, the port authority of a major city was performing a large, complex Financials upgrade. In the final stage, they turned to CherryRoad for performance optimization troubleshooting services. Through in-depth tuning in numerous technical areas, we improved the new system's response time by more than 50 percent, resulting in greater than satisfactory performance for users as the upgrade went live.
Whether you embrace tuning from a reactive or proactive mindset, don't neglect the importance of including infrastructure experts in the tuning process. While your organization likely employs talented IT professionals, don't expect them to have the breadth and depth of infrastructure experience needed to resolve challenging tuning issues. As we previously stated, this is an arcane science requiring very specific knowledge and insights. But the results of a nominal investment in tuning are often substantial to the organization as a whole.
CherryRoad has the infrastructure experience required to optimize your organization's system performance. To learn more, contact us at info@cherryroad.com.