That was one heck of a decision, wasn't it?
It is not everyday that your company decides to go for ERP Implementation. Once you decided to go for ERP, the first task was to identify the product. There were a lot of decisions to make. Whether we should go for On-premise or Cloud. Each had its own advantages and disadvantages. You decided to go for cloud ERP since yours was a young company with flexible processes. Also that OPEX...
Then you had to decide on the ERP Vendor. There were many vendors out there, Oracle SAP, Microsoft, EPICOR, Infor. Each of them had cloud offerings and each application had its on strengths and weaknesses and differing levels of flexibility to meet the requirements of your industry. Ultimately you decided to go for Oracle.
This is only the beginning. Once Software is selected and before implementation, company should do the following. These tasks should go in parallel and are arranged in random order.
1. Selection of implementation partner: This is the most important decision that you will make, I will say more important than the selection of Product Vendor themselves. The implementation partner is the one who is going to make the ERP work for your Organization. Here is a set of great articles that will help you select the best implementation partner.
2. Stakeholder identification and communication: Some stakeholders like CEO are easy to identify. There are two other aspects to this step. One is to identify the hidden stakeholders. The ones that many customers miss are the statutory authorities and the auditors. It is very important to take their views while planning for an ERP. The auditor's familiarity with the selected application could be a key decision point in Vendor Selection. Another aspect that is often missed is the identification of 'Negative' stakeholders. Not all of them will view ERP with ebullience. There will be some stakeholders who are skeptical or scared of the impact of ERP. It is very important to identify their concerns and address them at the earliest.
It is important to remember that the list of stakeholders is not static. As the project progresses new stakeholders with their own set of expectations get added to the project. Hence stakeholder identification should be done regularly.
3. Execute internal organizational changes: This process has to start in parallel with the Vendor evaluation. There will be strategic changes. New department might need to be created, new roles may be created, old roles may be discarded. Each of these changes will impact people in the organization and hence will need to be handled patiently and compassionately. There will be process changes due to requirements of ERP application. These changes will call for user training and hand holding. Change management is an ongoing process. Here is my blog post on ERP and Organizational Change Management. There are links here to some great articles by experts.
4. Document internal processes if not done. This is different from requirements gathering: The importance of this task depend on Organizational Process Maturity. Mature processes need to be documented thoroughly. ERP will need to map these processes. SMEs and startups will need to be more flexible and be ready to adapt to ERP processes. It is recommended to document the process flows rather than processes. .
5. Determine and communicate their ERP philosophy. This is the balance between ERP adoption versus customization.: Many customers want to map their current processes directly in ERP. In this case, if ERP do not meet a part of the requirement, they expect to customize ERP. In this case they are expecting ERP to adapt to their business processes, sometime through customization. The recommendation is to modify the processes to meet with the best features available in ERP. Processes should adapt to ERP and not the other way round.
6. Identify project sponsor and give her authority and budgetary flexibility: I guess the first part of this step is already done. However, the second part of budgetary flexibility is very important. You should plan for budget overrun. It is better to have the flexibility to quickly spend on some areas like training. Do not be stingy on user training.
7. Identify the critical resources (business owners): The key aspect here is that allow the key resources to fully focus on ERP Implementation. Do not go into 'Half day here and half day there' approach. This is very difficult for small companies since the ERP business owners will be the critical business resources also.
8. Read up on ERP failures in their / other industries and draw the lessons: The unfortunate fact is that most of the ERP implementations will at best not provide the expected benefits and in the worst case will slow down the business processes. Even worse, it will lead to temporary loss of revenue and loss of wealth. Given this it makes sense to read about the failures. Fortunately (:) ) there are many whitepapers and other material that deals with this topic. Read it up. They may help you to be aware and be prepared in advance. Here are a set of articles that deal with this topic. The other aspect of ERP Failure is to deal with Business Continuity. It is important that Business is not impacted by inevitable ERP Breakdown (Not much in cloud). During your ERP implementation, ensure that you plan for Business Continuity. Business continuity has multiple facets like statutory compliance, document sequencing, getting the data back in ERP, ERP reporting etc. Here is a practical approach to ensuring Business Continuity in the time of ERP
9. Prioritize ERP. It is not just another software implementation: It is a common misconception that ERP is an 'IT Project' and that it is the problem of CIO. This cannot be farther from the truth. ERP is going to change your business significantly. It is a business project and not an IT Project and should be tracked, managed and reviewed just like any other business project.
10. Communicate the plans internally. Take your employees into confidence by explaining 'What is in it for them': When it comes to ERP, all communication is great communication. Communicate frequently and extensively. Open channels to track and handle stakeholders concerns and complaints. Don't penalize people for their complaints and raising concerns. Reward the stakeholders for raising their doubts and worries. Checkout this article from on How the Project Owner should handle ERP Communications
About the author
Ramaswamy Krishnamurti (Ram) is a Senior Freelance ERP Project Manager
and Solution Architect with over 21 years of experience in all areas of
ERP Implementation starting from Product Selection, Vendor Evaluation an
Selection, Presales, Implementation, Upgrade and Support and
Stabilization. A graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Calicut
University in Kerala, India, Ram did his MBA from Kolkata University and
Post Graduate Diploma from the prestigious IIM Bangalore.
He has
implemented more than 25 highly successful ERP implementations. He has
worked on Scala, Peoplesoft, Oracle EBS (11i and R12) and Oracle Fusion
Cloud in various roles including CIO, Program Manager, Delivery Manager,
Project Manager, Solution Architect, Functional Lead and Consultant.
One thing common among all these roles is an average customer
satisfaction rating of more than 90% over his over 20 years of ERP
Implementation expertise.
In a career spanning more than 30
years, Ram worked in Manufacturing, Academia and ERP Implementation. He
has implemented ERP Solution in all business areas including
Procurement, Inventory, Manufacturing, Costing, Order Fulfillment,
Financials and Budgeting. He has also worked as a CIO of a Food Product
Company and has experienced ERP from both sides of the spectrum. Having
done many implementations in India, Ram knows India Localization like
the back of his hand.
He loves ERP Implementation and the value
that it can add to a customer business and the smile on the face of a
delighted customer.
He is currently looking out for
opportunities. You can download his latest CV from his LinkedIn Profile
www.linkedin.com/in/vkramaswamy. He can be contacted on LinkedIn, Email
(vkrama01@gmail.com) and Phone (+919880179317)
Work with him for a perfect, on-time ERP Implementation.
He has implemented more than 25 highly successful ERP implementations. He has worked on Scala, Peoplesoft, Oracle EBS (11i and R12) and Oracle Fusion Cloud in various roles including CIO, Program Manager, Delivery Manager, Project Manager, Solution Architect, Functional Lead and Consultant. One thing common among all these roles is an average customer satisfaction rating of more than 90% over his over 20 years of ERP Implementation expertise.
In a career spanning more than 30 years, Ram worked in Manufacturing, Academia and ERP Implementation. He has implemented ERP Solution in all business areas including Procurement, Inventory, Manufacturing, Costing, Order Fulfillment, Financials and Budgeting. He has also worked as a CIO of a Food Product Company and has experienced ERP from both sides of the spectrum. Having done many implementations in India, Ram knows India Localization like the back of his hand.
He loves ERP Implementation and the value that it can add to a customer business and the smile on the face of a delighted customer.
He is currently looking out for opportunities. You can download his latest CV from his LinkedIn Profile www.linkedin.com/in/vkramaswamy. He can be contacted on LinkedIn, Email (vkrama01@gmail.com) and Phone (+919880179317)
Work with him for a perfect, on-time ERP Implementation.