Successful Actions for ERP Projects
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software projects can range from straightforward to complex. What are some of the actions one can take to ensure the project goes well?This will be written from the viewpoint of the customer.
As a customer, what can you do to ensure the project is successful?
Select the software that closely meets your needs. No software will match 100%. Your partner should be able to fill in any gaps.
Select a partner that is competent, has good communication and organizational skills. Check references. Ensure you meet/interview technical resources that will be working on the project. Ask about their implementation methodology. What tools do they use for project plans? What are the phases of the project? Do they provide documentation? Have them walk you through step-by-step how the implementation will be carried out. Is training done remotely or on site? Is go-live done remotely or on-site? Is there a design phase? What are the deliverables for design? Does the partner use a checklist for going live? Ask for a sample copy.
Assign an internal resource as the Project Manager. The ERP vendor will have a Project Manager on their side. These two contacts are key to moving the project forward. Project Managers key skillset must include strong communication, follow up and good organizational skills. Your internal project manager must take charge and be able to gather up internal resources and set meetings and ensure users are actively engaged.
Assign an internal ERP team consisting of key department managers who will be responsible for their area.
Have a company-wide briefing on the purpose of the ERP Project and what it will do for the company and how it will affect their roles and what benefits you expect to gain from it.
Schedule weekly meetings with your team and partner. and ensure they are productive and not time-wasting sessions.
Design requirements sessions must be carried out and your partner must provide a written document indicating what will be implemented, what data will be converted, any custom requirements, documents, reports, etc. You should have a good understanding of what your partner will be providing.
Insist your partner demonstrates work-in-progress on a regular basis. You don’t want your partner to go into a black hole for 6 months and show you what they did and find out it widely missed the mark. Regular demos of work-in-progress gives your partner feedback to deliver what is needed and wanted.
Insist training is done with your data. There is nothing worse the training done with irrelevant data. On site training is superior than remote training.
Get your team engaged for user-acceptance testing. This means regular testing and feedback and an efficient way to communicate test results back to your partner so they are addressed quickly.
Have your team verify data conversions and validate the integrity of the data. Make them responsible for the accuracy and quality of the data. Communicate issues back to your partner and ensure they are addressed.
Have department heads write procedure guides for each post. Alternatively, you can have your partner write them. However, having your resources write them will reinforce their training and take greater responsibility for their part of their project.
Understand the final data conversion that is done just prior to going live with the software. What time will you stop using the old system? What time will the data be exported? When will your partner import the data? Who will validate the data and when?
Ensure you partner prepares a go-live checklist well in advance of the go live date. There may be dozens of tasks that need to be done prior to go live. You cannot leave this to someone’s memory or chance.
Assess your go-live readiness by consulting your team and the partner. The partner may have a completely different concept than your team. It is unwise to force a go live that is not ready. The results of going live before you are ready can be serious and costly. Users should be confident they can do their jobs in the new system and you must be able to run your business processes start to finish in the new system and hit all of the various types of transactions that you would typically encounter.
Ensure your partner is physically present during go live. On site presence is ideal when going live. Remotely supported go lives can be done succesfully, but an on site go-live will result in faster response and help smooth over any bumps.
After the go live week, don’t consider your work done. To the contrary, you will undoubtedly have many follow-up tasks. Keep your partner and team engaged and addressing those tasks until the team is running smoothly.
This should serve as a good guideline to ensure your ERP implementation is successful. A successful ERP project is a team effort between customer and partner. Good communication, a friendly working relationship, organized activity, well-managed and run will ensure your ERP project will succeed.