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2023/01/12 21:10:10
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Worldwide expansion reliant on delayed Microsoft Dynamics project as Amazon deal beckons
UK tabletop wargames maker Games Workshop's seemingly neverending battle with its own ERP implementation has entered another chapter, as global projects are delayed owing to the difficulty integrating the new system.
In 2020, The Register revealed the Warhammer manufacturer was struggling with a Microsoft Dynamics ERP implementation, which was meant to finish going live later that year.
However, in its latest half-year results [PDF], the UK-based company said: "Our global projects continue to be delayed – it remains an ongoing challenge to integrate new IT systems when we are still heavily reliant on working with our legacy IT systems. Finishing these projects and upgrading our systems continue to be a key area of focus. We are making some progress but it's costing us more time and money – we will remain cost conscious."
The document went on to describe "the challenges our relatively new global head of IT is dealing with."
"The team is starting to make some progress. They are feeling part of the solution and the broader team rather than a support function. The goal remains the same: our IT systems and infrastructure adapt and scale with the business as we grow - they’re currently holding us back. We will continue to invest in the team in the period ahead, the senior IT team must spend this investment wisely," the note to investors said.
Spending on the project dates to 2019 when investment in computer equipment and software went up to £3.7 million ($4.5 million) from £2.6 million ($3.15 million) in the previous financial year, largely owing to the ERP migration.
Later in 2020, the Nottingham-based injection moulding specialist said it had parted ways with its ERP implementation partner – a company The Register revealed as DXC. It would not name the new IS, despite our requests.
"We have made some good progress on implementing our European ERP system and we are working with a new partner to help achieve the completion of this long and complex project," a company report said.
Individuals close to the project suggested a team has left DXC Technology to work with Games Workshop independently.
In 2021, the tiny character maker launched another £500,000 ($605,000) at the project. "We have made some good progress on implementing our European ERP system and we are working hard to help achieve the completion of this long and complex project with £0.5m incurred in the period," a report said at the time.
The Register has contacted Games Workshop for comment.
Interest in the table-top figure manufacturer has increased since December 2022, when Amazon reached an "agreement in principle" with Games Workshop, giving the online retailer, tech and media giant the film, television and merchandising rights to the company's sci-fi Warhammer 40,000 franchise, and signed up actor Henry Cavill, most recently seen as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. ®
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/01/12 21:12:02
2023/01/12 21:12:00
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
The Phazer wrote: It must be said, I don't recall ever seeing an ERP changeover implementation happen on time or on budget ever, so GW are hardly unique here.
My company uses DXC for support as well. They suck.
2023/01/12 22:44:36
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Uff. Best of luck with that. ERP migrations are never easy, massive headache to everyone involved, especially (from what I recall) they had a lot of departments running on different software.
anonymous @ best Warhammer Miniature wrote:i vote the choas dwarf lord as they are the greatest dwarfs n should get there own codex
2023/01/12 22:58:40
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
beast_gts wrote: We are making some progress but it's costing us more time and money – we will remain cost conscious."
In more entertaining times this would have read "we're spending an indecent amount of [the shareholders'] money". How dull GW has become under competent management.
2023/01/12 23:03:41
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Flinty wrote: Why is the register seemingly incapable of using the same description more than once?
Wargames maker
Warhammer manufacturer
Injection moulding specialist
Tiny character maker
Table top figure maker
That’s quite a lot of different terms. They are all accurate, but it seems like an odd set of phrases to use, especially the 4th one
Because readers get board if you use the same phrase over and over again. Thus, professional writers will use various synonyms when writing an article to avoid repetition.
2023/01/12 23:54:34
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Flinty wrote: Why is the register seemingly incapable of using the same description more than once?
Wargames maker
Warhammer manufacturer
Injection moulding specialist
Tiny character maker
Table top figure maker
That’s quite a lot of different terms. They are all accurate, but it seems like an odd set of phrases to use, especially the 4th one
It's called "SEO" (Search Engine Optimization) - by having multiple terms that might be used in search engines, you increase the chances that your article will be found, without having to add a bunch of hashtags at the end of the article.
2023/01/13 04:44:42
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
The Phazer wrote: It must be said, I don't recall ever seeing an ERP changeover implementation happen on time or on budget ever, so GW are hardly unique here.
100% this! Some are much worse than others and can go on forever, and the crazy licensing and implementation costs can easily.spiral. Companies have gone bust with botched projects, a lot of the time because of a poor or under-resources implementarion partner, not to mention the broken marriages and heart conditions that are a by-product as well.
The Phazer wrote: It must be said, I don't recall ever seeing an ERP changeover implementation happen on time or on budget ever, so GW are hardly unique here.
100% this! Some are much worse than others and can go on forever, and the crazy licensing and implementation costs can easily.spiral. Companies have gone bust with botched projects, a lot of the time because of a poor or under-resources implementarion partner, not to mention the broken marriages and heart conditions that are a by-product as well.
Yeah it's estimated around half of all ERP projects fail outright, and the majority go significantly over budget.
I've been involved in around a dozen successful company launches, but before those there were a lot of problems and false starts. The hardest obstacles are finding a good partner to work with, and preventing upper management from making constant changes to the project while it's underway.
2023/01/13 09:27:06
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Flinty wrote: Why is the register seemingly incapable of using the same description more than once?
Wargames maker
Warhammer manufacturer
Injection moulding specialist
Tiny character maker
Table top figure maker
That’s quite a lot of different terms. They are all accurate, but it seems like an odd set of phrases to use, especially the 4th one
Because readers get board if you use the same phrase over and over again. Thus, professional writers will use various synonyms when writing an article to avoid repetition.
This is straight out of Writing 101, and is often simply wrong. Yes, repeating the same description 5 times is not brilliant writing, but if you're drawing undue attention to your phrasing it's even worse. It just looks clumsy and unprofessional. It's also misguided from an SEO point of view because those phrases really aren't going to be popular, or relevant, enough to help out much.
As far as the meat of the article, yeah, that's major It projects for you. I'm increasingly of the opinion that pretty much every outside contractor/agency is not worth the money when it comes to these things. Companies should be pushing harder on the initial contracts to cover themselves against cost overruns, but they're kind of over a barrel given how mission critical most of these projects are.
2023/01/13 10:34:16
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Sadly can't find the amusing story about GW firing IT staff to save costs immediately after they installed very expensive temporary internet connections as a work around to launch I think European operations. No one realised they had to cancel the (ASDL? what were those dedicated internet lines called back in the day?) connections charged monthly and by the time they realised the bill was over a million quid, all because they went for one of those 'you are fired dangerous IT person, leave immediately, then did again with the guys boss...
2023/01/13 11:10:07
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
The_Real_Chris wrote: Sadly can't find the amusing story about GW firing IT staff to save costs immediately after they installed very expensive temporary internet connections as a work around to launch I think European operations. No one realised they had to cancel the (ASDL? what were those dedicated internet lines called back in the day?) connections charged monthly and by the time they realised the bill was over a million quid, all because they went for one of those 'you are fired dangerous IT person, leave immediately, then did again with the guys boss...
IIRC It was an expensive 'temporary' leased line that was only meant to be active for a few months until the other connections were ready - but they got rid of the team and no-one read the note to cancel it...
2023/01/13 11:48:27
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Flinty wrote: Why is the register seemingly incapable of using the same description more than once?
Wargames maker
Warhammer manufacturer
Injection moulding specialist
Tiny character maker
Table top figure maker
That’s quite a lot of different terms. They are all accurate, but it seems like an odd set of phrases to use, especially the 4th one
Journalistic writing tries not to use the same name for things more than one as it suposedly means the reader switches off, Dave Gorman does a good piece on it
2023/01/13 12:00:17
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Flinty wrote: Why is the register seemingly incapable of using the same description more than once?
Wargames maker
Warhammer manufacturer
Injection moulding specialist
Tiny character maker
Table top figure maker
That’s quite a lot of different terms. They are all accurate, but it seems like an odd set of phrases to use, especially the 4th one
Because readers get board if you use the same phrase over and over again. Thus, professional writers will use various synonyms when writing an article to avoid repetition.
This is straight out of Writing 101, and is often simply wrong. Yes, repeating the same description 5 times is not brilliant writing, but if you're drawing undue attention to your phrasing it's even worse. It just looks clumsy and unprofessional. It's also misguided from an SEO point of view because those phrases really aren't going to be popular, or relevant, enough to help out much.
As far as the meat of the article, yeah, that's major It projects for you. I'm increasingly of the opinion that pretty much every outside contractor/agency is not worth the money when it comes to these things. Companies should be pushing harder on the initial contracts to cover themselves against cost overruns, but they're kind of over a barrel given how mission critical most of these projects are.
It's not just variety and SEO though. It's Register house-style. They're a serious tech site with a lightly humourous approach to coverage. Increasingly silly descriptions of the main thing they're talking about is part of that. It adds a bit of levity to it.
2023/01/13 12:23:29
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
This stuff always reminds me of when new governments come in and the new ministers want to bring private sector expertise to logistics. One discussion followed a presentation from, I believe, a Tesco exec proudly explaining the two thousand lines they carry nationally and the system behind it, and what it could do for the team. The Typhon team then explained they had over 5000 lines for this one airframe and its various systems and packages, and this was only one of a number of airframes currently in use, with none of them able to be cut or not be supplied due to the way the platforms work. Almost as good as the JIT logistics system adopted for ammunition and other consumables around 2000 to save warehouse spare. IN the 2003 invasion of Iraq it was discovered the margin for error int he contract meant JIT normally meant slightly late, which was an issue when the munitions were required with some pressing immediacy.
2023/01/13 19:10:36
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
This is straight out of Writing 101, and is often simply wrong. Yes, repeating the same description 5 times is not brilliant writing, but if you're drawing undue attention to your phrasing it's even worse. It just looks clumsy and unprofessional. It's also misguided from an SEO point of view because those phrases really aren't going to be popular, or relevant, enough to help out much.
Yeah I agree. I'm not a trained writer (though English was my best subject in school) and it annoys me when they write articles like this. It's just instinctively wrong, very tryhard, annoying, and more besides. Sprinkle in some synonyms by all means, but show some restraint.
2023/01/13 19:38:06
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Flinty wrote: Why is the register seemingly incapable of using the same description more than once?
Wargames maker
Warhammer manufacturer
Injection moulding specialist
Tiny character maker
Table top figure maker
That’s quite a lot of different terms. They are all accurate, but it seems like an odd set of phrases to use, especially the 4th one
Because readers get board if you use the same phrase over and over again. Thus, professional writers will use various synonyms when writing an article to avoid repetition.
Is that why you used an incorrect word as a homonym?
Games Workshop Delenda Est.
Users on ignore- 53.
If you break apart my or anyone else's posts line by line I will not read them.
2023/01/14 17:09:47
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Never helps that IT can't reveal actual costs or timelines up front, because management would never agree to such long timelines or costs - even though they are needed in the first place.
It never ends well
2023/01/14 17:15:24
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
This is straight out of Writing 101, and is often simply wrong. Yes, repeating the same description 5 times is not brilliant writing, but if you're drawing undue attention to your phrasing it's even worse. It just looks clumsy and unprofessional. It's also misguided from an SEO point of view because those phrases really aren't going to be popular, or relevant, enough to help out much.
Yeah I agree. I'm not a trained writer (though English was my best subject in school) and it annoys me when they write articles like this. It's just instinctively wrong, very tryhard, annoying, and more besides. Sprinkle in some synonyms by all means, but show some restraint.
As i remember it, the accepted wisdom in technical writing is that using stuff like 'said' repeatedly is perfectly fine most of the time because the reader is less interested in your prose than in the content of what was being said, so using unremarkable, clear language allows them to tune it out almost completely and focus on the interesting part. Using every word in the thesaurus for the heck of it becomes jarring and a drain on the reader's attention, especially in long-form articles.
2023/01/14 18:42:31
Subject: Games Workshop once again battles scariest monster of all: ERP gone wrong - The Register
Ultramarines, 3rd Co. and friends, 16k+ 
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