Seven steps to Euro success
A company euro checklist
Have a senior manager assume responsibility for the project.
Form a working group from each functional area (Sales, Accounts, etc)
Start the working group members collecting information from:
Parent companies, subsidiaries, partners, customers, suppliers, bank(s)
Official publications from Euro information Centres and Forfás
Trade/Industry association Codes of Practice and case studies
Media sources, web sites and mail lists, conferences, seminars, user groups
Professional advisors: accountants, auditors, legal consultants
Software suppliers and training providers
Review findings to analyse scope and impact on your business.
Use Forfás checklists and planning tools for more help
Think through (visualise) transition scenarios
Look along the supply chain for second-order ("ripple") effects - e.g. in
distributors
Plan how to assist customers
Are some customers dominant and how does that affect your changeover?
List for both home and export markets the products, threats, and opportunities
Consider sales, contracts, customer service, PR, advertising, corporate image
What are equipment, cash handling, and security implications of cash changeover?
What is the effect of price transparency on buying and selling, pricing policy?
Will you change packaging, translation, document design, promotional literature?
What changes will you have to make to price lists and price points?
Do you need dual display of prices and when will the euro be dominant?
Do you know what your competitors are doing about the euro?
Plan how to deal with suppliers
Are any suppliers dominant in the market?
Do suppliers set prices for you (e.g. RRP)?
Will the eurozone offer you potential new suppliers of materials and services?
Identify functional / operational implications of change
Accounts
- Speak to your accountants and note what needs to be done by whom and when.
- Consider PAYE, PRSI, VAT returns and filing annual accounts
Bank
- Talk to your bank to learn what euro services are they offering and at what charges
- Will you be opening a separate euro account?
- When will you change your Púnt account to euro?
Information Technology
- Hardware inventory (computers, cash registers, scanners, and credit card terminals)
- Software inventory (accounts, order processing, stock control, payroll, specialised)
- What warranty and evidence do vendors provide of how their software handles both púnt
and euro in databases, transactions and accounts?
Set up the project organisation with tasks and work plans for the changeover
Track the work closely by schedule, lead-times, priorities, conversion dates
Provide a budget; this could be 1-2% of turnover.
Develop a contingency plan for risks
Employees may need training for new functionality
Manual currency conversions are notorious for causing clerical errors.
Design, rehearse, test, and implement changes and take corrective action as required
Communicate progress, achievements, and benefits to all!
Patrick O'Beirne is a software quality consultant with a special interest in the Year
2000 and euro currency changeover. His book "Managing the Euro in Information
Systems: Strategies for Successful Changeover" was published by Addison Wesley in
August 1999, ISBN: 0-201-60482-5. The accompanying CD has software,fonts, web links,
europapers and articles. The table of contents can be seen on the web at http://www.sysmod.com/maneuris.htm
He may be contacted at Systems Modelling Ltd in Ireland at the web site http://www.sysmod.com
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