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332 THE e REVOLUTION

What Is the Relationship of B2B with Other Outreach Practices,
Such as PSA and PM/ERP?

We see PSA as generally another term for professional-services-based enterprise
project management. Some groups define the integration of CRM, Enterprise Proj-
ect Management (EPM), and ERP as PSA. We see that product offering is a good
match only for the niche of emerging organizations who need to implement all of
their enterprise solutions at one time. The fact that a single-source provider for all
of these features must necessarily be broad and shallow is not always a problem for
these emerging companies. For most established organizations, and those with ma-
ture processes in place, full replacement of all systems at one time would be ill ad-
vised. They are usually looking for upgrades in specific areas, with the requirement
that tools and techniques integrate well with tools and processes they mean to keep.

PM/ERP is an integration point more than a new system. The core competen-
cies of work breakdown structures, relationships, resource assignments, and risk
plans are very different from the general ledger accounts, invoices, and accounts
payable of the ERP world. Generally, an ERP product would see project/person
as being the appropriate level of management detail, while an EPM system deals
with the assignment of resources to an activity. The appropriate question is where
is the best place to merge these two core competencies? In a single PM/ERP or at
a contact point—like project accounting?

Anything Else?

There is a trend causing many IT/AD organizations to reorganize how they man-
age their resource pools. In the past it was typical to have a functional organiza-
tion that owned the projects and the resources. Recently, we have seen more
matrix organizations that improve resource productivity by sharing resources
across multiple projects. Web-based collaboration and virtual project teams are
requirements in this environment. As B2B functionality allows for external re-
sources to be viewed as if they were a part of the virtual organization, it will lead
to an organizational structure that will probably give the project and resource
managers as much control over external resources as they have over internal ones.

B2B in Construction

The B2B capabilities in IT/AD are aimed at facilitating service-type work, espe-
cially by matching defined resource needs with available skills. B2B applications
are also being developed in the Architect/Engineer/Construct (A/E/C) area,
where one of the aims is to facilitate procurement of materials.