ERP – POST IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

In BSNL, ERP is successfully implemented as a part of Business Process Re-

engineering involving the IT solutions. This project has been completed in BSNL by
Nov. 2015 while the South Zone has completed initially in December 2014 itself, well in
advance of the target assigned. On implementation of ERP many operational,
developmental, financial and planning matters are streamlined on adopting uniform
policies and procedures through the organization. Financial discrepancies are sorted
out. Un quantified stores & equipment are brought into record and most assets are
accounted for. Thus the ERP implementation played a vital role in setting and speeding
up the process in BSNL organization. The estimated project cost is approximately 238
crores. But the consequential benefits on implementation of project is much more than
that and are accrued.

ERP is a SAP based system involving mainly six modules viz. HCM, PM, REM,
PS, MM & FICO. it is implemented with the help of the System Integrator (SI), M/s.HCL.
The left over SD module will be implemented shortly which is held up due to some
technical reasons. For effective implementation of ERP some of the IT expertised
officers are power trained in various modules and then organized a vide range of
training to all the SSAs in BSNL. The respected ITPC Data Centres, i.e. Hyderabad,
Kolkata, Pune and Chandigarh have taken major role in training them and carrying out
the knowledge transfer in various aspects down the line to the ERP users all over India.
After implementation of ERP, subsequent Technical issues / challenges are getting
resolved by the ERP Core Group situated at ALTTC Ghaziabad thereafter. However, if
any normal PIS issues particularly Roles & Authorisations (R&A) issues will be handled
at Data Centre level only. The ERP application has been hosted in a centralized
main server located at Data Centre, Hyderabad with Disaster Recovery System at East
Data Centre, Kolkata. Post implementation support has been started by SDC,
Hyderabad for both ERP Infra and for ERP Modules. The existing ERP HW production
storage is 43 TB at SDC.

Post Implementation Issues:-

Though ERP is getting popularized among the Telecom Circles in BSNL, to get
the support from “the bottom to the top” in its implementation, it is inevitable to extend
the post implementation support. Post Implementation Support (PIS) is a customized
version of MANTIS bug tracker which is being used for escalation of ERP issues for
BSNL Units that have gone live. It is hosted on URL
http://10.197.216.213/mantis/login_page.php and it can be opened in computer system
having CDR/VPN connectivity.
To handle the different issues arising time to time the Power Users categorized
as L1, L2 and L3 have been the delegated the powers and authorizations are
categorized and enlisted below:-
L1– SSA/Area/Region/Unit based module SPOC as nominated competent
authority.
L2 – Circle / Unit HQ based module SPOC as nominated by competent authority.
L3 – Module based core team member
L1,L2 and L3 (Power Users) will resolve issues of Users on their own (if
possible) or forward it to higher levels in case they are not able to
get it resolved at their level.
The Corporate Office decentralized ERP PIS works to respective Data Centres for
resolving the issues fast. The respective Data Centres keep close monitoring on the
dockets raised by PIS and resolving them time to time to create confidence in the field
units and effective usage of ERP. The field units has to raise dockets through Mantis
and has to pursue at different levels for early clearance.

Apart from that the ERP Core Team at Ghaziabad in coordination with the HCL
experts deal Main Data Management (MDM) related issues and they also resolve the
PIS issues whichever is not resolved at Data Centre stage. It also handles certain
development patches in implementation of certain software patches to fill up the gaps in
the system implementation. Moreover certain rights are reserved with them so as to
protect the system in tact. Recently, ERP Core Team at Gaziabad is ordered to merge
with ITPC Pune.

Altogether the ERP Core team and teams of Data Centres are playing
predominant role in achieving best results and seeing that the ERP process is
accomplished successfully. In turn, the ERP is giving a back bone support in taking
correct decisions by the Corporate Office as well as the Circle Heads. ERP has made
available the upto date Financial, Managerial and Operational Reports instantly to Board
Meetings and Circle Heads for taking right decisions faster.