What is Baan ?

 

Baan is one of the leading ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning ) Solution in the world. At this moment

Baan is part of a company called SSAGlobal (http://www.ssaglobal.com), which is one of the leading

Enterprise Solutions company in the world, with solutions available in most of the enterprise areas, 

Like SCM ( Supply Chain Management), CRM ( Customer Relationship Management), PLM ( Product

Lifecycle Management), CPM ( Corporate Performance Management)

 

 

How many customers Baan have in the world ?

 

Baan has 13000 odd customers worldwide in various industries?

 

 

How do I learn Baan ?

 

Best way to learn Baan is to have software either in your company or with you. Baan provides various

Learning tools. If you are totally new to ERP( Enterprise Resource Planning), you should learn more

about ERP. One of the starting point is this site, you may extend your learning by asking more questions.

 

It is important to go through one Baan Implementation cycle to know the intricacies of ERP Implementation.

 

Good starting point to know Baan, understand problems and download lot of useful documents which will

Help both functional as well as technical people is  Akash’s Baan Repository, http://akashmavle.fortunecity.com

 

 

What is the best way to implement Baan ?

 

This is a million ( probably, billion dollar question) for Baan ( and for any Enterprise Resource Planning, software).

Since any ERP implementation, involves basic changes in the way people do their day to day tasks, it is really

important to separate, people and software issues.

 

So, best way is to go by books, look at experiences of other people. Look at your companies capabilities, people

and their belief in systems.

 

To know more please go to http://akashmavle.fortunecity.com/baan/target.pdf  , this is a methodology created

by, Coopers and Lybrand ( which is not Pwc), way back in 1997. It was branded as Goal Directed Project Management.

 

Finally, the driver of Baan implementation initiative in your company, will have to created a highly localized,

Customized blue-print of Baan Implementation for YOUR company. That is the best way to implement Baan.

 

 

What  are the strengths of Baan ?

 

Baan is extremely easy to use ( as compared to its larger rivals like SAP and Oracle).  Much easy to configure,

Implement than SAP and Oracle.

 

Baan has traditionally been extremely good fit for Discrete Manufacturing companies, in recent times they have

been lot of success stories of Baan implementations in Projects Industries, Construction. Over the years, Baan has

made software extremely sophisticated and it can fit many industries very well.

 

Baan’s MRP engine is comprehensive, and is very easy to configure and plan for an experienced planner.  Which is

not the case of SAP or Oracle.

 

How is Baan priced?

 

For knowing exact price in your country, please contact Baan/SSA Global or its partners.

 

But, what we have seen is,  it ranges from USD 1500 to 3000 per concurrent user. From country to country the prices

may change.

 

How much will it cost me to implement the Baan ERP ?

 

Here is a sample calculation ( assumed for a 5 user license), all prices in USD.

           

            Following Calculation assumes, a small company, with say 50 people, needing 5 concurrent user licenses.

           

            Baan License ( 5 Users)                                                                                           =   1500* 5                              = 7500

            Windows 2003, IBM Hardware, Windows Small Business Server                  =   4000                                   = 4000

            Total   ( in USD)                                                                                                                                USD                34000

            Total ( Indian Rupees)                                                                                                                    INR                 15 L    

 

 

This are not the actual price calculations, should not be taken as price by Baan. These prices are given to help you

in visualizing the  prices and their breakups.

 

 

Can my existing programmers learn Baan to reduce the cost of consulting?

 

Yes, very much, Baan Tools and its newer versions, are very much easy to learn languages and there is ample

material available to help them learn.

 

 

Why not build the ERP to suite my company needs ?

 

To this question, there is no easy answer; people have spent lot of time researching this field. The real answer depends

on lot of factors.

 

Packaged ERP gives you the vendor’s vision and features all wrapped into one solution, which  is continuously updated.

 

When you build your solution, you are on constant need to upgrade it, and not necessarily, you will be best of the

development team with you, that team may not remain with you. And finally it will cost you a minimum of 50K USD to build

an ERP.