A properly implemented ERP is central to any successful organization as it supports efficient operations, reliable reporting, and future planning. But beware; an ERP implementation project is not for the faint of heart. Given that the EEZEE Solutions ERP team has run the ERP implementation gauntlet many times, here are what we believe are the top 10 must-dos when implementing an ERP:
Get a full understanding of what your organization needs. A good amount of 'soul searching' is required up front to understand the organization's current state and future goals, including identifying operational pain points and inefficiencies. Performing this exercise isn't easy, as the current state is directly tied to how important team members perceive their value within the organization. This first step is crucial as it identifies the key inputs defining what you would need an ERP to do for your organization.
Engage stakeholders early and often. Involving stakeholders from different departments at an early stage in the process of an ERP implementation can help in identifying key requirements and ensuring that the chosen system meets the needs of key user groups. During the process of understanding your organization's ERP needs, key stakeholders and their level of involvement throughout the ERP implementation will be identified. This step is especially important to help secure 'buy-in' to the ERP implementation initiative.
Find a solution that works for you. After determining what your organization's ERP needs are, independent research on possible solutions should be performed relative to the requirements and use cases that were identified in the previous steps. Would your organization benefit from an industry-specific ERP? What is the overall scope of the ERP relative to existing solutions already in place? What KPIs will be used to measure operational performance? Arriving at a pared-down list of possible ERP solutions and then measuring their respective fits against what you ultimately would need them to do will determine what solution to move forward with.
Find a vendor you can trust for the long haul. Following solution selection, choosing a vendor to fulfill all of the specific functional, technical, and licensing needs around the implementation is the next key step. This vendor will be your partner throughout the project and, ideally, beyond, from a support and growth perspective. You're in it for the long haul with this vendor, so extra diligence is needed upfront to understand the vendor's track record, implementation success rates, and approach to ongoing support. Ideally, at this stage, you will have a few quality vendors that you can compare and contrast to confidently select the right partner for your organization.
Plan, plan, plan: Your organization will be leaning on the selected vendor to guide you through the ERP implementation project, so having visibility into the overall implementation plan and being able to hold the vendor accountable to that plan will help to ensure implementation success. The project plan should be detailed, and realistic, and include timelines, milestones, responsibilities, and potential risks. It should capture the scope of the project and determine how the operational benefit of executing this project will be measured following implementation. A clear communication plan should also be in place to avoid any confusion as to how any project-related communication should be carried out. A thorough data migration strategy must be meticulously planned to prevent data loss or corruption and include contingencies for potential failures. A change management plan should also be laid out to track and account for all deviations from the project baseline. Keep in mind that changes aren't a bad thing, as they help to fine-tune the value required by the organization, but they do need to be managed. The project plan should encompass all stages of the implementation, from additional discovery through configuration, testing, training, go-live, and initial support. Your organization should consider appointing an internal project manager to essentially be the point person with the vendor to help facilitate communication and manage internal project resources.
To customize or not to customize: A lot of ERP solutions these days are essentially platforms where many ERP components can be customized based on operational needs. While customizations that can be carried out within interfaces provided by the ERP itself (i.e., screen modifications, workflows, etc.) can likely be leveraged with little risk, excessive modifications to ERP systems can complicate upgrades and maintenance. Overall, the more that your organization can align its processes with standard functionalities, the less risk there will be around overall ongoing support and maintenance.
Test, test, test: While the vendor can implement the ERP based on its understanding of your organization's needs, testing performed by key users is crucial to making sure that the ERP will ultimately perform the way your organization needs it to perform. Testing should include as many test cases as needed to fully vet the ERP, from department- or function-specific testing to end-to-end testing. Establishing a strategy with the vendor on how to identify issues stemming from testing and how they will be resolved and re-tested is important in making sure that the ERP will ultimately do what it's supposed to do.
Don't forget the other change management: Managing the overall change from a user standpoint is crucial to driving overall solution adoption within the organization. This includes teaming up with the vendor to roll out a training strategy (classroom style by department or function, train the trainer, etc.) that's appropriate to the organization, including full user documentation. As important, if not more important, is establishing open communication channels for users to voice any concerns around the new ERP and related processes. Change can be scary, so making sure that any issues are addressed properly is vital at this stage. Putting this upfront investment into managing the overall change for the users that will ultimately be using the ERP is challenging but should result in overall solution adoption.
Go live carefully but with conviction. Making the decision to go live with the new ERP is a milestone worth celebrating, but definitely not to be taken lightly. A full go-live plan should be laid out with the vendor to ensure that any system outages are managed and communicated, all technical steps are laid out, and there's a roll-back plan in case anything goes wrong (just in case, but it won't go wrong, but just in case). The communication plan during this stage should be clearly established. Any team members involved in any initial post-go-live testing should be ready to go and have a clear definition of what they need to do once tagged in.
You're live! Now let's make sure we're getting the expected benefits: Hooray, your go-live went perfectly! Now, in addition to going through the awkward first steps of operating a new ERP, eventually, your organization will need to make sure that the expected benefits of implementing the ERP in the first place are being realized. Continuously monitor the system's performance against established KPIs and gather feedback from users and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement.
Now a bonus point, and please take this with a grain of salt Invest in getting an experienced team to help guide your organization through the ERP implementation process. Having a team that can look at things objectively and help you make implementation decisions without being too attached to the current way of doing things has been very beneficial to our clients. Also, your internal team is great at the day-to-day, but that skill set is different than the one required to navigate through an ERP implementation. Leaning on an experienced team helps reduce ERP implementation risk, which is a key component of a successful ERP implementation. We hope that this list helps clear up (or sheds light on) the big items when considering an ERP implementation for your organization. Again, an ERP implementation is a tall task, but approaching it the right way from the beginning, maintaining a clear line of sight of the specific items that the ERP is supposed to improve for your organization, and never forgetting that it's your team that is ultimately going to drive the desired change are some of the key points to helping to ensure a successful ERP implementation. Good luck, and reach out if you need us!
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