When Uptime is important!

By Rich Duncan

An important metric to consider for an ERP system is system uptime or availability. This metric measures the percentage of time that the ERP system is available to users and functioning properly.

System uptime is important because downtime can have significant negative impacts on an organization, including lost productivity, missed deadlines, and frustrated customers. The longer the system is down, the more severe these impacts can be.

To measure system uptime, organizations can track the following metrics:

  • Downtime: This metric measures the total amount of time the system is down, whether due to planned maintenance or unplanned outages.
  • Mean time between failures (MTBF): This metric measures the average time between system failures.
  • Mean time to repair (MTTR): This metric measures the average time it takes to repair the system after a failure.
  • Service level agreements (SLAs): SLAs define the level of uptime that the ERP system should provide, and may include penalties if those levels are not met.
engineer holding laptop
Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

To improve system uptime, organizations can take several steps, including:

  • Robust infrastructure: Organizations should invest in a robust IT infrastructure to ensure that the ERP system is running on reliable hardware and software.
  • Regular maintenance: Organizations should schedule regular maintenance for the ERP system to prevent unplanned downtime.
  • Disaster recovery plan: Organizations should have a disaster recovery plan in place to ensure that the ERP system can be restored quickly in the event of a catastrophic failure.
  • Monitoring and alerts: Organizations should use monitoring tools to track system uptime and receive alerts when downtime occurs. This can help IT staff respond quickly to issues and minimize the impact on the organization.

Tracking system uptime is critical to ensuring that the ERP system is providing value to the organization. By monitoring system uptime and taking steps to improve availability, organizations can minimize the impact of downtime and ensure that the ERP system is meeting the needs of the business.

Posted in ERP, Implementation, Upgrade

About Rich Duncan

Rich rock-starred his way through large corporations working for the likes of IBM and American Express. Starting out as a "simple" IT Desktop Support Technician he manuvered his way through the scenery learning role after role and eventually felt stuck as a Lead Programmer. Finding that unfulfilling he set out to become an entrepreneur and after building a successful worldwide brand he crossed back over into the professional world as an ERP and WMS consultant.