As anyone who has gone the ERP routeknows, getting the system up and running is only half the battle.Getting value out of it is the other half.

"If you had asked us six months after implementation if the systemlived up to its expectations, the answer would probably have been no,"reflected Girgis. "At the time we were still learning how to use it,still looking at what information we could get out of it. We weren'tvery good at the drill-down and the data analysis and so on."

MacFarlane pointed out where some of the problems lay. "We had tomodify our reporting practices because we now had access to real-timeinformation and more data than before," he said. "SAP did have goodreports but they were very transactional detailed reports - they werenot the management-type reports."

It took 12 to 14 months to automate, customize and redesign thereports based on business operational needs because the old metricshad all changed. It wasn't until the new reports were available thatthe business could really understand how to drive and utilize thesystem.

While many firms have had 'Big Bang' ERP blow up in their face, Pratt& Whitney Canada found a variety of ways to minimize the impact ofsuch an inherently disruptive undertaking. With the 'Big Bang' behindthem, they are now in a position to enjoy the benefits.