As ERP Specialists for the mining industry, we at Innovacon Systems are fully aware of the differences and needs of a mine that is undergoing the construction phase versus one that is in the operating phase.

Most construction projects have outsourced their engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) activities and for this reason systems are needed to manage owner’s costs. Therefore, the emphases in construction are normally cost controls and procurement management with strong finance as the backbone.

In operations, the two major cost components are production cost and maintenance cost. Systems are therefore setup to manage these two costs by ensuring transparent and seamless integration between financials, procurement, inventory management, maintenance, HR, safety and payroll.

Other requirements common to both phases are SOX-compliance, effective network accessibility and robust hardware servers.

Hence, our extensive knowledge and experience puts us in the ideal position to define, select, implement and support any and all mining ERP implementations.

During the definition phase, we not only interview and go through the discovery with stakeholders, but also bring to the table mining industry best practices. One-on-one interviews are followed up with group discussions and walk-throughs to ensure well thought out end-to-end integration.
 
Our selection process involves defining the selection criteria, pre-qualifying vendors, arranging for demos with qualified vendors using pre-defined scripts (those that match the functional requirements identified in the definition phase) and ultimately recommending which vendor to award.

As project managers of the implementation phase, we start by producing a very thorough project charter where the schedule, budget and deliverables are clearly stated. The charter also defines the project structure where each participant’s role and tasks are clearly defined so that there is no ambiguity. As Integration Specialists, we produce integration testing scripts so that end-to-end testing can be conducted and when concluded successfully, is the final acceptance of whether the system is functioning correctly or not. Again, due to our in-depth knowledge and experience in mining, the production of such scripts is something our team is best suited for.

Finally, after go-live, we provide support by helping define a problem-resolution helpdesk process that is normally self-supported by the customer. On many occasions we are invited back to help implement continuous improvement initiatives.