ERP consultant(consultant on implementation of ERP systems) - specialist in the implementation and adjustment of enterprise planning systems. The profession is suitable for those who are interested in computer science (see choosing a profession based on interest in school subjects).
Currently, integrated management systems are in great demand in the information technology market in Russia and around the world. Modern market constantly increases the requirements for enterprise management. Managers have to look for new solutions and approaches to organizing business, increase productivity, and reduce the time for making decisions. Automation of a specific area, such as production management or accounting, is no longer enough.
It is necessary to optimize the accounting of all business processes, such as personnel management, accounting of material and financial flows, production, sales, and others. Therefore, the popularity is increasing profession ERP consultant. The three most common foreign ERP systems in Russia are SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. SAP R/3 maintains its leading position in the market.
ERP system ( Enterprise Resource Planning) is a set of applications that allows you to automate accounting and management at an enterprise and connect its different departments. An ERP system is a single data warehouse for the entire company (finance, marketing, human resources, production, sales, and others). This is a single integrated program instead of several separate ones, which allows achieving consistency in the work of departments of the organization at the lowest cost. Company employees with appropriate authority have access to it.
Responsibilities of an ERP consultant:
- implementation of general coordination of work on a specific project module (finance, logistics, marketing, etc.);
- detailed study and description of the client’s existing business processes;
- identifying bottlenecks and problems in business processes;
- determining the basic needs of the customer’s business;
- making proposals to eliminate deficiencies (creating conceptual models of optimized business processes);
- formation of design solutions and technical assignments for developers;
- setting up the module he is working on, as well as ensuring its integration and interaction with other system modules and other systems;
- training end users of the ERP system in the organization (conducting seminars, trainings, preparation of training materials);
- implementation technical support installed system at the final stages of the project and after its completion (consultation, provision of necessary adjustments and additions).
Required professional skills and knowledge
- knowledge in the field of the organization’s activities and understanding of industry business specifics;
- knowledge of descriptions and methods for constructing models of business processes and information flows;
- knowledge of business process optimization methods;
- ability to structure and systematize business information;
- knowledge foreign language(usually English);
- knowledge of the basics of project management;
- knowledge in the field of finance, marketing, logistics, and psychology;
- public speaking and teaching skills;
- sales and negotiation skills;
- presentation skills;
- mastery of business writing style.
Personal qualities
- analytic skills;
- organizational skills;
- the ability to calculate scenarios several steps ahead;
- responsibility;
- stress resistance;
- scrupulousness;
- communication skills;
- the ability to win over your interlocutor;
- the ability to persuade and be heard;
- ability to apply situational ethics.
Place of work
- large holding structures;
- financial and industrial groups;
- large plants, factories;
- management companies.
Pros and cons of the profession
pros
- high demand in the labor market and large wage(with proper qualifications);
- work experience is measured by successfully completed projects (therefore, if a project is implemented quickly, this will have a positive impact on your future career);
- the opportunity to gain work experience in different fields and organizations, expand the circle of useful contacts.
Minuses
- frequent business trips;
- skeptical or negative attitude of enterprise employees towards innovations;
- irregular working hours.
Salary and career
Salary as of 08/14/2019
Russia 40000—130000 ₽
Moscow 60000—200000 ₽
Currently in Russia there is a shortage of professionals in the implementation of corporate management systems. The most popular profession in this field is SAP R/3 consultant. The salary of such specialists is approximately 50,000 - 200,000 rubles. The income of project managers in large organizations can reach up to 3,000,000 rubles.
The bulk of an ERP consultant's salary is a fixed portion. The income of specialists depends on the product they specialize in, as well as their experience and skill level.
There are several ways to start a career in ERP systems. The first option is to get a job as an intern in the department for implementing such systems, but in Russia few companies are willing to spend time and money on training staff and prefer to look for employees with experience. The second option is to change the professional activity of one of the company’s employees. Typically, two teams take part in the implementation of integrated systems: one from the customer enterprise and the other from the company implementing ERP. At the customer enterprise, the group can include both ERP specialists and employees of financial, logistics or IT departments. Such company employees often, after working in a group, want to stay in this area and further develop their career as an ERP consultant.
The most in demand are specialists in the following areas:
- FI, CO, MM - financial and material flow management;
- HR - personnel management;
- PM- Maintenance and equipment repair.
Automation of accounting, planning and resource management is a complex task that affects all spheres of an enterprise’s life. To successfully solve this problem, the company needs the help of a consultant on the implementation of ERP systems. This article will discuss the main functions and competencies of such a specialist.
Consultants for the implementation of ERP systems organically combine knowledge of the subject area (finance, management by human resourses, procurement and logistics, etc.) with knowledge of the features and advantages of the relevant information systems, as well as the methodology for their implementation. They help the enterprise to implement automation in an optimal way, train personnel to use the system, reduce the costs of its implementation, and further support and advise the enterprise in the event of difficult cases in using the system or technical (software) errors.
As a rule, consultants for the implementation of ERP systems have two areas of specialization: technological (they specialize in the ERP system of a single manufacturer, for example SAP ERP, Oracle E-Business Suite, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.) and subject (responsible for a specific area of automation: logistics, finance, human resource management, sales, etc.).
Based on the form of hiring, all consultants can be divided into full-time employees consulting companies and specialists working on the freelance principle (free agents not tied to the staff of any companies and operating on the basis of contract agreements). Regardless of the form in which a consultant is hired, his activities are always project-based in nature. Issues of remuneration for full-time employees and freelancers will be discussed at the end of the article, but for now we will talk about the content of the consultant’s work.
Functions performed
Upon implementation information system At an enterprise, a consultant performs the following functions.
Description of business processes and their analysis. Not all enterprises have formalized business processes, therefore, for successful automation, the consultant needs to record step by step all the actions and operations performed by the enterprise’s employees in this area of activity, and then compare the resulting description of business processes with their typical implementation in the information system.
Having discovered discrepancies, the consultant assesses the extent of these differences and makes a decision:
- develop a concept for changing a business process in accordance with one of the options of the ERP system manufacturer (most companies producing ERP systems have their own set of so-called best practices - optimal, from their point of view, business processes in a given subject area);
- automate this business process by configuring the information system (making the necessary settings);
- significantly change the information system by creating new functionality (such a decision is usually made when an enterprise considers a given business process to be its own competitive advantage and not ready to change it).
Setting up and configuring system functionality and assigning tasks to programmers. After making a decision on implementation methods and means of automating business processes, the consultant prepares technical specifications for programmers and performs a number of settings in the system to optimally reflect the business process in it and correctly generate reports. In some cases, consultants carry out software development on one's own. All changes made - both configuration and software - must be thoroughly tested and documented by the consultant.
Training ERP system users, creating user instructions and regulations. The lion's share of the success of the ERP system implementation project from the enterprise's point of view depends on how quickly and with what quality they begin to work in new system employees of the enterprise. To ensure the fastest and highest quality training for future users of the system, consultants provide training and training to users on the optimal methods and means of working in it. The consultant also creates user instructions and regulations for how users work in the system.
Education
Higher education. As already mentioned, a consultant for the implementation of an ERP system must combine technical expertise with functional (subject-specific) expertise. Thus, the ideal option is to successfully graduate as a consultant from two universities in the relevant field. For example, SAP automation consultant financial accounting Ideally, he should have an education in the field of information technology and a higher economic or financial education.
Additional education and certification. Availability additional education according to the implemented system and subject area - significant contribution in the professional success of a consultant. Most companies producing ERP systems provide training and certification of specialists. This certification, as evidence of successful training of a consultant to work with a specific ERP system, is in great demand by customer companies. Sometimes businesses will provide a certain number of project consultants with a specified level of certification when hiring a consulting company. This determines the demand for the consultant and the expansion of his practice and the rapid accumulation of expert knowledge. For the same reasons, employers who hire such a specialist look for certification in the subject area. If we return to the example of an SAP consultant in the field of finance, IFRS certification will be a serious advantage for him.
Project management. Receiving an education in the field of project management by a consultant is not strictly mandatory, but it creates the prerequisites for career and professional growth, and is also significant from the point of view of creating a personnel reserve for filling leadership positions.
Core competencies
The technical competencies of consultants directly depend on the technological features of the systems they implement and their areas of specialization. In this regard, let’s focus on personal qualities.
Communication skills. The ability to communicate correctly and build effective working relationships both within the project and with representatives of the customer enterprise is a key factor in the success of the consultant’s activities. Since the duration of his employment on the project is limited by a time frame, this specialist must be able to build correct communication from the first minutes of work and with almost any participant in the system implementation process, regardless of his position or personal characteristics. It is also worth including in this competency knowledge of a foreign language at a level sufficient for free communication.
Mobility. Obviously, the ERP systems implementation consultant should be located where the implementation project is being implemented. The geography of implementation of large systems is very extensive, so mobility is extremely required competence consultant. As a rule, large-scale implementations are carried out at large industrial enterprises, which are located throughout the country. The consultant must be prepared to travel up to 50% of his working time (and sometimes more). In addition, customer enterprises may be located far from large populated areas, and the consultant needs to be prepared for the lack of comfortable working conditions.
Goal orientation. Like any project, the implementation of an ERP system assumes a predetermined expected result. The consultant must do everything necessary to achieve this result within the specified time frame. It should be borne in mind that project implementation does not always go according to plan, which entails overtime work, no days off and high stress levels. All this requires additional internal resources from the consultant.
Subordination structure
As a rule, consultants have a double (matrix) reporting structure: within the company, of which they are part of the staff, and within the project on which they work.
If we talk about the company’s staff, then consultants, as a rule, report to the head of a department or practice, who primarily performs organizational functions (evaluating professional activity candidate, organizing consultant training, monitoring the consultant’s employment on projects, creating a vacation schedule). Upon returning to work, the consultant becomes subordinate to the manager, who leads project management(sets tasks, controls the quality and timing of their implementation, monitors working hours).
The subordination structure of a project is directly related to its scale. All consultants involved in a small project usually report directly to the project manager. If the project requires the participation of a large number of consultants, additional levels of management are identified: positions of leaders of groups of consultants or project managers are formed in functional areas. An example of such a structure is presented in drawing.
Compensation structure
What determines the amount of compensation?
Compensation for consultants for the implementation of ERP systems directly depends on factors such as: technological and subject specialization, and the consultant’s work experience.
Technological specialization. Experience with different ERP systems is assessed differently in the market. For example, compensation for a SAP ERP implementation consultant is different from compensation for a Microsoft Dynamics implementation consultant. It is possible to identify a pattern according to which the level of average compensation for consultants directly depends on the average total cost of implementing the system and its demand in the market (the number of implementation projects currently being implemented).
Subject specialization. Areas of subject specialization are also in uneven demand. For example, the financial area is subject to automation in almost every project for implementing an information system in an enterprise, but automation of the management of regulatory and reference information is not always the case, which determines some difference in the income of ERP implementation consultants in the relevant areas.
Experience as a consultant. The difference in the number of completed projects (which can be conditionally tied to length of service) also determines the difference in the compensation offered by employers.
Compensation schemes
There are several compensation schemes provided for consultants on the implementation of information systems, depending on the form of their employment.
Full-time employees. Compensation for in-house consultants for the implementation of ERP systems of consulting companies, as a rule, consists of two parts: fixed (salary) and variable (bonus). The ratio of these parts varies from 50:50 to 70:30. The size of the bonus most often depends on compliance with the deadlines for the project and the completion of all its stages in accordance with the schedule approved by the customer. Some companies offer their consultants a fixed 100% fee, but this is rather the exception.
Currently, consultants for the implementation of ERP systems are in high demand in the market, so large employers provide these specialists with a good social package, including voluntary health insurance, life insurance, accident insurance, compensation for food and mobile communications, as well as a laptop.
An important part social policy IT companies - providing consultants with comfortable conditions during business trips (high class passenger space, high level of hotel and acceptable travel allowances).
Freelance. Free agents, usually working under a contract, are paid piecework. Its size is tied either to a certain amount of work - a set of functions software that need to be implemented during the project implementation (scope), or to the duration of work on the project.
Career Development
As a rule, the career of a consultant for the implementation of ERP systems has two vectors of development.
1. Expert growth. As knowledge and experience accumulate, the consultant has the prospect of professional growth to the level of an expert who is a carrier of knowledge in certain functional areas and deals with particularly complex cases in ERP systems implementation projects, as well as the transfer of knowledge and expert support within the company.
In a number large companies such growth is considered vertical and is accompanied by a corresponding change in position, for example: junior consultant, consultant, senior consultant, expert. Horizontal growth is also possible when the consultant acquires expertise in related subject areas or functions.
2. Project management. Most common form career growth consultant as his level of expertise and area of responsibility increases - promotion to the level of project manager. At the same time, team management, finance and risk management are added to expert functions.
S. Stojanovic took part in the implementation of these standards in more than 100 small organizations, dealing with all aspects: from creating documentation and organizing on-the-job training to maintaining them in working order.
ISO 9001 is the most popular management system standard in the world. He has helped many companies create a quality management system (, - ed.) and ensure the production of products and the provision of quality services, helping them achieve customer satisfaction. Considering the fact that the standard is used all over the world, it is understandable why organizations have a constant need for . Company managers want, on the one hand, to be explained to them exactly what they require, and on the other hand, to be shown and told how these exact requirements apply to their organization, how they work in the conditions of their industry. And it makes sense that many people aspire to become consultants. Let us ask ourselves, what is the optimal way to achieve this goal?
What qualifications do you need to be a quality consultant?
I am often asked the question: “What qualifications do you need to have to become a consultant?” This may sound funny, but no formal diploma or certificate is required. At least this is true for most countries. In fact, anyone can be a quality consultant, without any formal qualifications at all. For now, this sounds strange to you, but remember that your work - the implemented quality system (QMS - quality management system - ed.) will be assessed during the audit of the system by the certification body. Who cares about your qualification certificates if you were able to correctly implement the standard in the company? Of course, early in your consulting career you will need to prove your competence to clients. This is not an easy matter if you don’t have anyone’s recommendations. Therefore, to start working as a consultant you need the following...
Professional certification in ISO 9001. To begin with, you should at least obtain a certificate of a leading auditor (Lead Auditor, - ed.) or a “lead implementation specialist” (Lead Implementer, - ed.). Ideally, you should have both documents. Getting certified is not easy at all, so if you didn’t know anything about ISO 9001 until now, you need to get certified training course By internal audits or the basics of the standard, at a minimum.
Certificate in Project Management. When you become a consultant, your job will be nothing more than leading projects - you need to learn how to manage them. You can get another similar one.
Experience. Theory alone is not enough. Need to get practical experience in one of the following ways:
- work as a certification auditor - conducting audits is a great introduction to the matter: this experience allows you to understand what is possible and what is not in the implementation of ISO 9001;
- work for another consultant - this will open up implementation methods to you and help you learn how to find new clients;
- You can work as a quality manager or quality assurance manager (quality assurance, – ed.). If you want to understand how everything looks from the client’s side, then this is exactly what you need. What are the most pressing problems for companies? Why do you especially need expert help?
- be a representative of management for . If you become responsible for the QMS, you will become better acquainted with the requirements of the standard, understand it, and see how the requirements are met in real life; for many consultants, their career begins this way.
ISO 9001: what skills do I need?
It is not an exaggeration to say that a successful consultant must have a set of special skills, let's see which ones.
Knowledge of the standard. This lies on the surface, but it is really very important. in detail and in what may change in it. He must be ahead of change.
Trained attention to detail. The consultant is expected to pay close attention to details that other employees will look at. That's why they hired him. As a consultant, you must have a trained eye to notice details and be an asset to any project you become a part of to perform or manage.
You need to be a good leader. There may be a situation where, as an ISO 9001 consultant, you will have to break down the wall between top management and staff. It is necessary to “sell” the advantages and benefits of the project to each of the parties. The good ones can play a key role in this.
Communication skills. Even the best plans can be ruined by poor planning. Ensure that your communications with all stakeholders are timely, practical and effective. Deficiencies in this area can lead to a lack of awareness and competence in the project among staff. You need to make sure that no trouble awaits you from this side.
Organizational skills. An ISO 9001 project is often complex and requires work to be done - you cannot be a single-tasker without initiative, and it is possible that you will have to act in several roles in the project. More information about this in our article "".
The ability to overcome difficulties. You will be seen, first of all, as a person who has. Ability to solve problems and give good advice- this is what you need to have. If you don't have solutions, they will expect you to find them. Cultivate balance, balance, organization and prepare for everything as well as you can.
SAP overtakes Oracle in the labor market
It recently became known that the leading European software manufacturer SAP AG is going to acquire the American Internet company Ariba for $4.3 billion. This deal, already approved by the management of Ariba, will be the next step in the confrontation between two IT giants: SAP and Oracle. While analysts debate whether Oracle will try to offer Ariba management more profitable terms acquisition of the company in order to prevent SAP from strengthening its position in the cloud services segment, the Research Center of the recruiting portal Superjob.ru found out the situation on the labor market for consultants for the implementation and maintenance of SAP.
Judging by the number of vacancies and resumes for a consultant position, the labor market for SAP specialists is 10 times larger than the labor market for Oracle consultants. The average salary of an SAP consultant in Moscow is 110,000 rubles.
Salary offers for SAP consultants grew by 15.8% over the year, which is almost 2 times more than the average salary increase in information technology(8.2%). However, given the current boom in ERP systems, this is not surprising, especially since SAP is the leader of this market both in Russia and in the world (according to a study by Panorama Consulting Solutions, in 2011, 38% of companies planning to implement an ERP system considered SAP as an option, followed by Oracle with 32%).
Will the demand for SAP consultants continue to grow? On the one hand, until complete automation of business processes in Russian companies still very far away. This means that SAP consultants will continue to be in demand. On the other hand, it should be remembered that the SAP system, just like their closest competitor Oracle, is tailored to the needs big business, while other players (Microsoft Dynamics, 1C, etc.) are betting on small and medium business. Since the wave of implementation of IT solutions began with large businesses, in the near future it will, in all likelihood, have to move to medium and small businesses. For SAP, this means not only a continuation of the fight with Oracle for large clients, but also active development in another direction - in the niche of solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. It is obvious that, adapting to market realities, ERP system developers will have to create more cost-effective solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Most likely, this will also be reflected in the salaries of implementation specialists: the growth rate will be equal to the industry average, and, perhaps, for some time it will become even lower.
This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that the average salary offer for 1C programmers is 80,000 rubles, and it is with 1C that SAP will have to compete in the segment of solutions for medium and small businesses. On the other hand, the most experienced 1C implementers are offered approximately the same salaries as those offered to SAP consultants on average (100,000 - 145,000 rubles). In addition, there is a significant shortage of SAP specialists on the market who meet the requirements of employers, which will also stimulate the growth of salary offers for them.
Job responsibilities
Let's take a closer look job responsibilities SAP consultants. IN professional competencies These specialists include carrying out a full cycle of work on SAP implementation, namely:
- pre-project inspection of the enterprise;
- analysis and modeling of enterprise business processes;
- conceptual design of an information system;
- assigning tasks to programmers, writing technical specifications;
- setting up and testing the information system;
- development project documentation;
- user training;
- maintenance and support of the operation of the information system.
Salary offers and employer requirements
The average market salary offers for SAP consultants in Moscow are 110,000 rubles. Applicants for a similar position in St. Petersburg can expect an income of about 90,000 rubles. In Yekaterinburg, SAP consultants earn an average of 65,000 rubles, their colleagues from Nizhny Novgorod – 50,000 rubles. The average salary offer for SAP consultants in Kazan is 48,000 rubles, in Novosibirsk - 60,000 rubles, in Omsk - 50,000 rubles, in Rostov-on-Don - 55,000 rubles, in Samara - 53,000 rubles, in Ufa - 47,000 rubles ., in Chelyabinsk - 60,000 rubles.
Applicants applying for the position of SAP consultant for the first time must have experience working with this information system, skills in analyzing and modeling business processes using MS Visio, ARIS. Novice consultants need to know application testing procedures and scenarios and have experience in developing technical specifications. Employers are ready to hire university graduates and candidates with incomplete degrees for positions as SAP consultants. higher education. The starting salary for young specialists in the capital is from 75,000 to 85,000 rubles, in St. Petersburg - from 60,000 to 70,000 rubles, in Yekaterinburg - from 45,000 to 50,000 rubles, in Nizhny Novgorod - from 33,000 to 38,000 rubles.
|
City |
Income level, rub.
|
|
|
Moscow |
75 000 - 85 000 |
Higher/incomplete higher education |
|
Saint Petersburg |
60 000 - 70 000 |
|
|
Volgograd |
30 000 - 35 000 |
|
|
Ekaterinburg |
45 000 - 50 000 |
|
|
Kazan |
32 000 - 37 000 |
|
|
Nizhny Novgorod |
33 000 - 38 000 |
|
|
Novosibirsk |
40 000 - 45 000 |
|
|
Omsk |
37 000 - 40 000 |
|
|
Rostov-on-Don |
34 000 - 38 000 |
|
|
Samara |
35 000 - 40 000 |
|
|
Ufa |
32 000 - 36 000 |
|
|
Chelyabinsk |
40 000 - 47 000 |
Entry into the next salary range is open to SAP consultants with more than 1 year of experience who have previously participated in projects to implement this information system. Job vacancies require such specialists to have experience in maintaining one of the SAP modules and knowledge of ABAP at the level of program debugging. The upper limit of salary offers for applicants meeting the specified requirements in Moscow reaches 100,000 rubles, in the northern capital - 80,000 rubles, in Yekaterinburg - 57,000 rubles, in Nizhny Novgorod - 42,000 rubles.
|
City |
Income level, rub.
|
Requirements and wishes for professional skills |
|
Moscow |
85 000 - 100 000 |
Knowledge of ABAP at the program debugging level |
|
Saint Petersburg |
70 000 - 80 000 |
|
|
Volgograd |
35 000 - 40 000 |
|
|
Ekaterinburg |
50 000 - 57 000 |
|
|
Kazan |
37 000 - 40 000 |
|
|
Nizhny Novgorod |
38 000 - 42 000 |
|
|
Novosibirsk |
45 000 - 50 000 |
|
|
Omsk |
ERP consultant (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a specialist in the implementation and adjustment of systems that allow you to automate business processes in an enterprise.
Wage
50,000–200,000 rub. (rabota.yandex.ru)
Place of work
ERP consultants work in companies providing IT services, as well as large holdings, industrial enterprises and management companies.
Responsibilities
Competition in the market forces managers large enterprises constantly look for new ways to optimize business processes, look for new approaches to customer service, try to reduce costs to increase profits. To do this, they resort to the help of integrated management systems, that is, ERP systems. The most common systems on the Russian market: SAP, Oracle and Microsoft.
The ERP system stores all company data, which includes: finance, personnel, production, warehouse, marketing and other areas. An ERP consultant is obliged to thoroughly study all processes and propose a configuration for a future system that would ensure maximum automation of processes.
The consultant describes in detail existing processes, determines the needs of the customer and the needs of his consumers, identifies bottlenecks, and forms a design solution. Next, IT developers get to work. Upon completion of implementation, the consultant helps company employees adapt to the system. In the future, a consultant is contacted to improve the existing system settings.
Important qualities
The following qualities are important in the profession: excellent analytical skills, responsibility, resistance to stress, the ability to predict the situation, win over the interlocutor, high intellectual level, sociability, charisma.
Reviews about the profession
“Now it’s very interesting time. I am optimistic about the ERP solutions market. We have to constantly improve the quality of our services and offer the best to our clients. I myself have worked my way up from an SAP consultant to a company director and therefore, unlike top managers of many competitors, I can discuss the nuances of implementation in detail and understand all the pros and cons of certain solutions. In the next 3 months, companies will draw up budgets, and then the volume of upcoming investments will be clearly understood. I know this is just the beginning and I suggest you work hard. Then it will be possible to accurately manage expectations and achieve planned indicators without looking back at difficulties, because they will always be there.”
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Bukhanov,
CEO of SKYRISE.
Stereotypes, humor
Relatively new profession, the barriers to entry are very high. However, the specialist gets the opportunity to study business processes in various fields, travel, expand your circle of useful acquaintances and constantly communicate in foreign languages.
Education
As such, education for future ERP consultants is not provided in Russian universities. Most often, specialists have a technical or physical and mathematical higher education, and also have diplomas and certificates of completion of business courses.
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