UNIT4'S “SELF-‐DRIVING” ERP EMPOWERS PEOPLE

July 2015

UNIT4’S “SELF-‐DRIVING” ERP EMPOWERS PEOPLE

PEOPLE PLATFORM TAPS MICROSOFT AZURE TO GUIDE THE WAY

Today we live in a world where automobiles can drive themselves cross country. These same cars can parallel park far more skillfully than their human drivers. Airplanes spend most of their time in flight on autopilot. Fitness devices tell us when it is time to move and warn us when we are over-‐exerting ourselves. Many of these intelligent devices seem to be one step ahead of us and know more about our next move than we do ourselves. We get spoiled by all this intelligence in our personal lives and then we go to work and wonder why the software and technology that is used to run the business doesn’t empower our work lives like consumer technology empowers our personal lives.

Enterprise applications like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are meant to capture transactional data and streamline and automate business processes. Yet while ERP was originally meant to make our business lives easier, it has never been “one step ahead.” In fact many old ERP systems just can’t seem to get out of their own way. Unit4 is setting out to change that. While Mint Jutras has always admired its modern and flexible architecture and its solutions’ ability to accommodate business change, we now applaud Unit4 in taking a page from consumer technology. Unit4 is partnering with Microsoft and leveraging its Azure platform to deliver “self-‐driving” ERP. That is, ERP that leads the way, where user interaction is minimized and limited to activities where people make the difference.

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST Unit4 has always targeted people-‐centric businesses, where services are the primary product delivered. These targets include professional service organizations, governments, higher education and not-‐for-‐profits. In each case, the key ingredients are people; processes are fluid and dynamic. By the very nature of these organizations, outcomes are unpredictable. The last thing you want is your people doing manual tasks that add no value to the service delivered when the performance of your business depends on their productivity and the quality of their output.

And yet that is exactly what happens when ERP can’t get out of its own way. What do we mean by that? Legacy ERP solutions that are rigid and cannot adapt as business changes, or that don’t allow business processes to evolve, or that force people to work in very unnatural or counter-‐intuitive ways, are more of a hindrance than a help to your business. They get in the way. They don’t

Who is UNIT4?

UNIT4 is a global enterprise application solution provider headquartered in the Netherlands, operating in 26 countries.

ü Founded in 1980 ü 4000+ employees ü Revenue: €525M in 2014

ü Serving over 30,000 clients in over 100 countries

Unit4’s solution primarily support organizations in the following people-‐centric industries:

ü Professional Services üGovernment üHigher Education üNon-‐Profits

Unit4’s “Self-‐Driving” ERP Empowers People of 10

help people navigate through the more complex processes that do add value or facilitate decisions that drive your business. They provide the same static view of history instead of a dynamic view of information and insights.

This has never been more damaging than it is today as we enter the digital age. Everywhere we look we see the pace of business accelerating and business models being disrupted. This is all fueled by today’s digital transformation. And yet many ERP solutions installed today lack the ability to participate in this revolution. They still force companies to transact business the way it has been transacted for the past 50 years. And they don’t contribute much insight in how to more profitably manage and grow the business.

Adding fuel to the fire is the generational gap that continues to widen, along with a skills gap. On one end of the spectrum we see highly trained, highly skilled baby boomers that are beginning to retire. This generation entered the work force at a time when many processes were still very manual, requiring a greater depth of knowledge and understanding, but technology played a relatively minor role as people and careers matured. So they often overlook the value it can bring today.

On the other end of the spectrum are the millennials who have grown up with technology. They don’t know life without the Internet, smart phones and electronic gadgets. They don’t know what it is like to be “disconnected.” When faced with a new task or activity they ask, “Is there an app for that?” They have become very dependent on technology.

While baby boomers knew/know the business and perhaps don’t appreciate the extent to which technology can help, millennials take technology for granted but don’t have the same depth of business knowledge. As businesses are transformed, companies must increasingly looking for ways to bridge this generational divide and this adds a completely new dimension to the enterprise applications that are used to run the business.

Unit4’s products have always been designed for change, but now they have a new goal: to facilitate change and help companies transform themselves in the digital age. In setting out to do this, they take full advantage of technologies such as machine learning, predictive analytics, social and mobile capabilities. Unit4 is intent on making ERP “self-‐driving” – to be one step ahead and support its users in a truly “smart” way.

THE 6 PILLARS OF “SELF-‐DRIVING” ERP

So what is this thing called “self-‐driving” ERP? Can software really make business decisions to drive the business? Of course not. Even an airplane on autopilot still needs a pilot. That car driving itself across the United States still has a driver. Those fitness devices don’t do your workout for you. But all these technological wonders have a common theme: they make people more efficient and productive. People with these devices can do more, accomplish

Defining the Generations

üBaby Boomers: born between 1943 and 1964

ü Generation Xers: 1965 to 1981

üMillenial: born in 1982 or after

Unit4’s products have always been designed for change, but now they have a new goal: to facilitate change and help companies transform themselves in the digital age.


more. That’s what self-‐driving ERP is all about: better productivity, improved efficiency and better, more insightful decisions.

Unit4 likes to refer to the following as the six pillars of self-‐driving ERP:

• Automation of manual tasks. Don’t make the human driving ERP do repeatable, repetitive tasks if they can be automated.

• Drastically reduce the amount of input required; eliminate it entirely if possible. Ask for input only on an exception basis.

• Use the moment of action to ask for the input. Ask a person when that exception actually occurs, not hours or days later and ask it in the context of the real workflow.

• Sense potential problems or bottlenecks well before they occur. • Sense potential opportunities in order to make them happen. • Make intelligent and sensible recommendations.

START WITH SOME EXAMPLES Because this is built on quite sophisticated technology and because it is less important to understand how it works than it is to understand what it can do for you, we give some examples.

Stop and think about the time wasted every day on what might appear to be simple and mundane activities. Yet you can’t completely eliminate or automate these tasks because there is a certain amount of discretion and intelligence that we need to apply. How do you automate the routine without losing that valuable input?

And then there are the processes that are more complex in nature. Can ERP aid in overcoming these complex challenges? Making select processes “self-‐driving” can have a huge impact on productivity.

Think about the following:

• You are asked to deliver a detailed project plan (for resources and costing) for a new opportunity before the close of day. In traditional situations this may be impossible, requiring a seasoned professional to work long hours. Here’s where smart technology helps: By entering several characteristics, self-‐driving ERP crunches through all the details of previously executed projects to identify those with the closest fit. Results are presented with all the key indicators needed to make an informed go/no go decision in accepting this new project. In case of a “go” you select one as a model and create the detailed plan with work breakdown structure and resource assignments in a fraction of the time. This approach saves hours, perhaps even days, for each new project.

• You’re preparing your expense report. Self-‐driving ERP can suggest the majority of the line items (mileage, airfare, meals, etc.) You simply

Stop and think about the time wasted every day on what might appear to be simple and mundane activities…. And then there are the processes that are more complex in nature. Making select processes “self-‐driving” can have a huge impact on productivity.


confirm the suggested (discovered) entries and amounts. Think of both the time savings and relief from the frustration associated with this low value task.

• You leave your customer’s site where you have been working on a project. Self-‐driving ERP asks you if you just spent three hours working on project XYZ. A simple click on yes or no completes your timesheet, allowing you to get to the next site that much faster with no risk of losing track of where you were or what you did. And as it collects more data over time, it can “learn” to be more accurate.

The first of these examples is quite the complex challenge, streamlined and simplified by making the selection of the model project self-‐driving. The latter two examples are quite “ordinary” kinds of tasks, but ones that must be done frequently. It wouldn’t add much value if we were to make activities you rarely do “self-‐driving.” Think about all those mundane tasks, which still require your attention today and think about the time you could save that could be better spent gaining insight and making informed decisions, directing your attention back to those complex challenges.

BUILT ON THE PEOPLE PLATFORM To form a deeper understanding of how Unit4 delivers this self-‐driving ERP, it is worthwhile to take a look at the platform on which it is built. The Unit4 People Platform is comprised of four layers:

• Personal Layer: At the very top is the overall user experience • Business Capabilities: Where features and functions are delivered,

often very specific to the people-‐centric industry at hand • Smart Context: Adding intelligence in the context of a specific task,

question or problem • Elastic Foundation: The base upon which the platform and application

itself is built. Self-‐driving ERP needs a foundation that is both strong and elastic in many ways.

We start at the bottom and work our way up the “stack.”

ELASTIC FOUNDATION

At the base, the bottom layer is the Elastic Foundation. The concept of elasticity is commonly associated with cloud and software as a service (SaaS). Used in this context, the elasticity comes from the ability to grow and consume resources as needed, without additional purchases of hardware, middleware and the associated maintenance. But this isn’t really the elasticity that Unit4 is referring to or what makes it unique.

Unit4 uses the term elasticity in the context of the business itself. Business change can occur as a result of new disruptive business models, changing

Elasticity of the Cloud

Unit4 does offer a variety of cloud options, including what it calls “cloud your way,” which lets the customer choose the deployment option without compromises.

But this isn’t really the elasticity that Unit4 is referring to or what makes it unique.


financial or regulatory requirements, organizational restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, or new or changed business processes. When change happens, it can wreak havoc on a traditional ERP implementation. Unlike these more traditional applications, Unit4’s “elastic” applications can easily be changed and/or extended without disrupting the installed solution.

The elastic foundation has evolved from the architecture on which Unit4 Business World (formerly Agresso) was built. This is where you define your organizational structure in all its diversity*, address all your information requirements, and the relationship between the two. Traditionally these types of structures, relationships and processes tended to be hard-‐coded in solutions or embedded in codes like the general ledger account, using a “once and done” approach that made future changes difficult and costly. But reality says they need to be fluid, and that is the elasticity that the People Platform delivers.

With Unit4’s Elastic Foundation, no source code changes are required and even if it means changing the business rules, the data model and how the data is presented, this does not constitute multiple changes. You make a single change and it is permeated throughout all the necessary components of the solution. All are on the same page. No delays. Nothing can be out of sync.

SMART CONTEXT

Moving up the stack we find the layer called Smart Context. “Smart” implies intelligence. So the Smart Context layer adds some intelligence, but in the context of a specific task, question or problem. Think about the examples mentioned earlier: pre-‐filled expense reports, timesheets and project plans.

Of course there are some simple ways in which these functions can assist the user in completing the tasks. The developer can assume the standard expense report includes airfare or mileage, meals, hotel accommodations, taxi or car rental and prompt the user through a standard list of common entries. But this “list” needs to be created and maintained and as new policies and preferred providers are developed, they need to be reflected in the list. Unit4’s Smart Context, combined with the intelligence that resides in the Elastic Foundation, relieves the developers and administrators of having to remember to change code, rules or tables. It can actually learn to be more precise by collecting data over time and predicting what kind of expenses will be incurred.

Perhaps a sales executive visits downtown Chicago frequently and travels by taxi while there. When he arrives his expense report detects his location and asks him to confirm his “usual” airfare on United, his “usual” cab fare into the city, his hotel stay at the Embassy Suites and maybe even that recurring $34.66 room service charge. His colleague, with a territory in the Chicago suburbs might be prompted to confirm her usual airfare on Southwest and her car rental from Hertz and her stay at a Hilton Garden Inn. These destinations and preferences are not predefined in the system and do not need to be

*Diversity Creates the Need for Elasticity

Consider, for example, an international engineering company that is comprised of 10 different engineering units, each entirely different. Each has its own unique business dynamics and challenges, which create diverse information requirements and processes.

Or consider a local government authority that is, in essence, a collection of dozens of different departments or entities. They üSupport different constituents (children, elderly, taxpayers…)

üProvide different services (recreation, roads, housing, law enforcement…)

üMust respond to constantly changing dynamics (elections, budget pressures, new regulations…)

Imagine fitting this into a “one size fits all” model.


maintained. The system detects these patterns and learns when new patterns form.

Smart Context is all about removing the clutter, making complex things simpler, and requiring your input only for confirmation and/or dealing with exceptions. By making suggestions where possible, enriching data with additional context, the information you do see is more relevant and complete. This is the real engine behind the concept of “self-‐driving” ERP.

Unit4 will also leverage the smart technology in Microsoft Azure’s platform as a service (PaaS) platform, including Azure’s predictive analytics services like Machine Learning, Power BI and Stream Analytics. The use of the term “services” here might at first seem a little confusing, since the platform itself is delivered “as a service.” But in this context, think of it as a service the developers use instead of writing code from scratch every time, much like you would make use of the calculations included with TurboTax instead of doing all the manual calculations for your tax preparations each year.

And remember, TurboTax “knows” more than you do. While you have access to all your own data, TurboTax has access to external data (ever-‐changing rules and regulations) and pre-‐defined algorithms for calculations. In the same vein, Azure’s predictive analytics services are adding elasticity to business intelligence with built-‐in algorithms and access to not only your structured data, but also unstructured data and streaming Internet of Things (IoT) data.

Unit4 delivers this type of intelligence by bringing together technology focused on business value through a variety of components:

• An alerts engine to keep you up to date with smart business feeds • A rules engine establishes and configures the rules to be invoked during

data entry, allowing for dynamically alteration of the user interface (UI) based on conditions, or proactively assisting the user in entering consistent data. Adding machine learning even makes it self-‐configuring.

• Definition of communities (defining who cares about what) and the capture of conversations within the communities (no more lost threads after you hang up the phone). This creates a social context.

• Mobile context, through technology that can detect location with a time stamp. This allows for location-‐based filtering and time tracking and can push information automatically (e.g. customer configurations pushed to a field service technician arriving on-‐site).

• Predictive analytics, capable of pattern detection. This can involve complex analysis, bringing together technologies such as machine learning and event stream analysis for sensing problems, bottlenecks or opportunities. Or it can be as simple as pre-‐populating an expense report or suggesting a project plan.

Microsoft Azure’s predictive analytics services are adding elasticity to business intelligence with built-‐in algorithms and access to not only your structured data, but also unstructured data and streaming Internet of Things (IoT) data.

Smart Context is all about removing the clutter, making complex things simpler, and requiring your input only for confirmation and/or dealing with exceptions.


• Cloud and crowd context through capture of peer analysis and customer sentiment.

• A workflow engine.

The net result is filtered, contextualized data that can be presented in a simple, relevant and complete experience.

BUSINESS CAPABILITIES

The next layer is business capabilities, those horizontal and vertical functions that address specific processes. Mint Jutras research confirms this as an appropriate focal point. Our latest study confirms that the most important selection criterion for choosing an ERP solution today is “fit and functionality,” followed closely by “the completeness of a solution.”

Expanding the footprint of its ERP remains a priority for Unit4, but it will pay particular attention to individual vertical markets. Unit4 will develop some of these business capabilities, some will be acquired, and some may in fact come from partners. The June 2015 acquisition of Three Rivers Systems is a perfect example of how Unit4 can take some giant steps in business capabilities, in this case, significantly expanding Unit4’s solution for higher education.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

The very top layer is the personal experience. This is all about a new, improved and modern user experience, which Unit4 has been working on for the past two years to improve existing functions. Efforts will continue as new and different ways of engaging with ERP and new functions are introduced. This includes access through mobile devices of all sorts.

Figure 1: “Top 3” Factors Influencing Ease of Use

Source: Mint Jutras 2015 Enterprise Solution Study

Defining the Generations

üBaby Boomers: born between 1943 and 1964

ü Generation Xers: 1965 to 1981

üMillenial: born in 1982 or after

Student Lifecycle Capabilities with

Three Rivers Systems

Three Rivers Systems’ solution is called CAMS Enterprise. CAMS is short for Comprehensive Academic Management System.

As the name implies, it is a comprehensive higher education solution that automates the entire student lifecycle into a single system. It can be run on-‐premise or hosted in the cloud.


But Mint Jutras believes the best user interface is often no user interface, and Unit4 is also heading down this path in automating those manual, repetitive tasks. Ultimately it is all about making software easy to use.

Of course ease of use means different things to different people, especially when we consider the different generations we spoke of earlier. We asked survey participants in our 2015 Enterprise Solution Study what factors were most important in defining ease of use (Figure 1). While perceptions vary, minimizing time to complete tasks is right at the very top of the list across all generations. So Unit4 is right on track in automating manual tasks and reducing the amount of input required. In fact complete automation of many of these repetitive tasks is really the ultimate goal. But if companies want to attract bright, young talent, they also need to be concerned with the visual appeal, and this is something Unit4 is very conscious of as well.

AN EXAMPLE REVISITED While all this discussion may provide good background, nothing illustrates what Unit4 is doing better than an example. Let’s explore the project plan example mentioned earlier in a bit more depth.

Projects are common in many services organizations. For some, projects are simply internal. But in many companies, particularly in professional services organizations, these projects are core to their business. Unit4 has been listening to these types of customers as they expressed a desire for better ways of winning profitable business. When your business is project-‐based, that means coming up with more accurate estimates faster. This is one of the scenarios Unit4 has been working on that will showcase all the layers described above.

To better understand this endeavor, put yourself in the shoes of a project manager at a project-‐based business that has identified a new opportunity. You need to come up with an estimate of cost, resources and schedule in order to propose a price that is both competitive and profitable. And you need to do so quickly and efficiently or either your window of opportunity will close, or your current projects will suffer, or both. If you are smart you don’t start completely from scratch. Instead you find a similar project, hopefully one that was successful, and start from there, modifying it to reflect the current needs of your prospect.

Sounds simple, but in reality, how do you go about finding the right project to use as a starting point, especially if it was a project in which you had no personal involvement or experience? Unit4 is developing a scenario where you will be able to enter a few key characteristics of the project including the customer (if you have done business with the prospect before), type of project, time frame required, cost range, etc. Using these parameters, Unit4 will present you with potential reference projects, each assigned a rating of how

Unit4 is right on track in automating manual tasks and reducing the amount of input required. In fact complete automation of many of these repetitive tasks is really the ultimate goal.


closely they match your criteria. They do the legwork; you pick the closest, most profitable and start from there.

Under the covers, Unit4 is leveraging the predictive capabilities of Microsoft Azure’s Machine Learning. This is a classic example of what is commonly referred to as “supervised machine learning” where you have known inputs (type, scope and cost range, etc. of the project) and known (expected) outcomes (cost, resources required and time frame). In this type of scenario, you have a good idea of which factors are most important in terms of predicting outcomes. These are the project characteristics you enter and you know what you are looking for – a similar project.

But have you ever managed a project that looked great on paper, but in reality it was the project from hell? You can’t tell everything from the numbers. So Unit4 uses sentiment analysis to assist, which is an example of “unsupervised machine learning.” With unsupervised learning you infer and identify patterns, structures and relationships.

In this project example, the solution will be able to look at conversations and infer where negative things are said. Here we are looking for patterns we might not otherwise see on our own. What is the most common word used? Perhaps you find it to be “team.” What other words or phrases are used in conjunction with team? If they are “complaints” or “excessive overtime,” perhaps the team is complaining about too much overtime. Is that sustainable? Do you really want to use this as your starting point?

By automating the process, Unit4 delivers on all of the pillars of a “self-‐driving” ERP, from automating manual tasks to reducing input and asking only for input at the moment of action. It can sense problems, as well as potential opportunities and give intelligent recommendations.

This is just one of many possible scenarios. Mint Jutras anticipates more and more of these types of scenarios will be identified through working with actual customers. Once some are delivered (later this year), this could have a snowball effect, with one idea generating many more. Then it will be up to Unit4 (and possibly some select partners or customers themselves) to deliver against the promise of self-‐driving ERP.

SUMMARY AND KEY TAKE-‐AWAYS In summary, self-‐driving ERP is a fully integrated suite of modules, built on modern, enabling technology, designed to empower people in service organizations to effectively manage and grow the business. It applies the same concepts we have come to expect from the consumer technology that enhances our personal lives. This means adding intelligence and limiting the user interaction to those activities where people can actually make a difference, relieving them of the burden of tedious, repetitive and mindless input.

Under the covers, Unit4 is leveraging the predictive capabilities of Microsoft Azure for both “supervised” machine learning, and “unsupervised” machine learning.

Mint Jutras anticipates more and more of these types of scenarios will be identified through working with actual customers. Once some are delivered, this could have a snowball effect, with one idea generating many more.


Unit4’s self-‐driving ERP leverages the elasticity of the cloud, without forcing you down only one path. It supports “cloud your way.” Building upon its own modern and flexible architecture that is designed specifically to accommodate on-‐going change, it is now partnering with technology powerhouse Microsoft and its cloud computing platform. Through Microsoft Azure, it delivers infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and uses these extensive technologies to deliver its own software as a service with a level of embedded intelligence that has the potential of being ground-‐breaking.

Every organization today seeks to differentiate itself for competitive advantage. In a world that is more and more dominated by technology, Unit4 is focused on leveraging that technology in such a way to empower people to make the difference.

About the author: Cindy Jutras is a widely recognized expert in analyzing the impact of enterprise applications on business performance. Utilizing over 40 years of corporate experience and specific expertise in manufacturing, supply chain, customer service and business performance management, Cindy has spent the past 9+ years benchmarking the performance of software solutions in the context of the business benefits of technology. In 2011 Cindy founded Mint Jutras LLC (www.mintjutras.com), specializing in analyzing and communicating the business value enterprise applications bring to the enterprise.

Unit4 is focused on leveraging technology in such a way to empower people to make the difference.

UNIT4'S “SELF-‐DRIVING” ERP EMPOWERS PEOPLE

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