What to expect when you’re expecting... ERP system downtime

To be blunt, no enterprise looks forward to system downtime. The risk becomes particularly critical when a company is largely dependent on its ERP. As we have discussed many times, resource-based companies don’t do particularly well without constant streams of information. When a system goes dark, things can go south quickly.

Nevertheless, planned outages must be accepted as part of operating any technology environment. What matters is the quality of the downtime plan. Its details, ownership, and operational workarounds tend to make or break stability during ERP downtime.

Expect reduced management efficiency

In the case of any planned ERP system downtime, companies are typically able to respond with some prudence before the switch goes “off”. However, planning at a technical level must still be granular, and operational checklists should be used to ensure that the shutdown is well understood and its impacts are clear.

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The same applies to management reporting. If an enterprise knows that the lights are going off on a particular day, the required reports need to be delivered before the outage begins.

Once this is complete, management must be prepared to use manual workarounds for each module and operational process. The longer the downtime lasts, the slower the company will run operationally.

Expect reduced production efficiency

As one might expect, if a company is going to be offline and overall operations are going to be affected, the same impacts will be felt across production processing.

If planned downtime is approaching, make sure all production documentation and reports are available, and, where possible, run workforce refresher training before the big day.

Expect costs to go up

As the old saying goes, “time is money”. Most enterprises become used to the tight cost efficiencies and revenue responses that ERP systems typically provide. If a company is facing a planned outage, and the downtime extends beyond a couple of hours, expect operational costs to go up by pounds, not just ounces.

Ahead of planned downtime, companies typically hold more inventory as a buffer.

Granted, at an operational level, it might feel as though one’s JIT operation is just about to go off the rails. However, having too much inventory on hand will provide far more confidence if Murphy’s Law raises its head and causes a planned outage to last longer than originally expected.