TxM 007 Section 1.5 History of the JAR&A Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomy (SEPT) approach? Created by James on 6/26/2013 4:09:49 PM
This document outlines how the James Robertson and Associates Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomy (SEPT) approach has developed over a period of nearly forty years.
1. Early days – late 1960's – practical application of existing taxonomies – insects first and then butterflies
2. Early 70's – Computer Science for Engineers – finite element analysis and other techniques – precision in data definition and complex repetitive calculations, statistical and presentation techniques
3. 1977 – detailed study of catalogue design principles – design of a very complex taxonomy for my PhD research – ultimately used to make sense of over 7,000 pages of laboratory data in a prize winning PhD thesis
4. 1982 – first high value decision support solution designed and built – client organization doubled turnover in twelve months by supplying the right information to the right people at the right time in order to make the right decisions – high value investment decisions which gave rise to dramatic earnings
5. 1981 to 1984 – grounding in economics – how business and economies work
6. 1980's – the NATO filing system – a very complex document storage and retrieval catalogue system
7. 1987 to 1990 – first ERP implementations – some good and some bad – hard lessons about the psychology of change
8. 1990 – one thousand hours of unremunerated research and development – the Cubic Business Model General Ledger Chart of Accounts taxonomy solution – first use of software tools – developed standards that remain in use today – tried and tested
9. 1993 – dramatic ERP win – V3 Consulting Engineers – "fantastic -- more management information than we know what to do with" plus dramatically reduced audit time and cost and headcount reduction – refer white paper
10. 1993 – Price Forbes – CRM Risk Control – insurance loss control system for SA Post Office – "fantastic -- more management information than we know what to do with" plus saving of eight clerks and dramatic increase of information captured – simple software with quality taxonomies delivers massive benefit – refer white paper
11. 1994 – Rennies Group – Strategic Master Chart of Accounts taxonomy across over 100 companies with dramatic results – refer white paper
12. 1994 to 1995 – clever technology does NOT compensate for the lack of taxonomies – major software development that failed because of lack of taxonomies – hard lesson that I did not yet know my own techniques and strengths well
13. 1996 to 2002 – diverse projects, taxonomies low profile, strategic analysis methods, software sustainability, etc
14. 2003 – Financial Mail reports that "19 out of 20 ERP implementations do not deliver what was promised" – executive level view of non-performance – reinforces my findings of a 70% outright failure rate
15. 2003 – fourth generation of StratSnap software, JAR&A catalogue of the factors causing IT and ERP investment failure and the Critical Factors for Information Technology Investment Success with particular emphasis on ERP – start presenting courses
16. 2003 – wrote the book "The Critical Factors for Information Technology Investment Success". Published in 2004. Expanded portfolio of courses
17. 2005 – Gartner reports that despite huge investments in Business Intelligence technology "most organizations are NOT making better decisions than they did five years ago" – reinforces my conviction of the importance of taxonomies but still not seeing the full importance
18. 2005 to 2007 – diverse projects – some taxonomies, many other aspects of system implementation and StratSnap Critical Issues Strategic Analysis Approach
19. 2007 to 2008 – African Sales Company – taxonomy driven ERP implementation – software to manage a critical taxonomy in Syspro (the Product Class) and build associated sophistication (which I was told "could not be done") – final result a "strategic resource" – refer white paper
20. 2009 – opposition and "James you are the only person in ERP in South Africa who understands taxonomies" and discover to my surprise that big brand implementers do NOT know how to implement their software to full potential
21. 2010 – major Group Consolidation Chart of Accounts for Foodcorp in association with EOH Impact Africa and Group Chart of Accounts for MoreGolf Group – developed GL Builder software – some lessons with regard to implementation, post implementation support and need for software tools to accelerate processes, increase speed, reliability and sustainability
22. 2010 – finally got that taxonomies were THE MOST CRITICAL ELEMENT of ERP and business system implementation AND that seemingly no one else knew what I did – started to "evangelize" taxonomies and give much more detail in my courses – developed high level specification for a comprehensive suite of taxonomy software – Project Butterfly – alliance with Nicolaas Hugo
23. 2011 – current clients in Steel and Mining sectors looking at major green field data warehouse projects using Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomies to JAR&A standards – the method is finally coming of age – discovered that the real cost of re-implementing an ERP is more than just about any organization can justify – new data warehouse with Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomies and THEN trickle taxonomies down into the ERP
The above gives a headline level history of how the approach has evolved over the years in tandem with other milestone events in my career which have informed, confirmed and supplemented my overall outlook and approach to business information systems.
It has been a long and challenging journey but the benefits of the approach are huge, I have every confidence that this approach will have a MAJOR impact on business information systems and will redefine standards with regard to ERP implementation worldwide.
Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomies RAISE THE BAR for ERP and Business Intelligence Worldwide!
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