Six steps to your ERP Implementation
There are several key stages to an ERP Implementation. Project One can work by your side at each stage, providing the expertise and support required to make your transformation a success:
1. Up-front concept and feasibility
2. Programme mobilisation
3. Delivery
One of the first activities will be to select which ERP solution/vendor to progress with, by executing a well-managed Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Alongside this, the team will need to document the as-is processes for the in-scope business units and also map out the future state. A systems integrator is likely to be required to run the delivery phase – they will also need to be selected. At this point the roadmap will need to be drilled down into more detailed project plans.
This is a crucial first step to agree the ambitions and outcomes of the ERP transformation. There will be some big questions to answer, for example, is this a cloud-based or on-premise solution? Determine how to change your business processes to minimise customisation to the base ERP package. At this stage, it is critical to define the business case for the change and to define a high-level roadmap. A senior business sponsor also needs to be appointed, to ensure this is a business-driven transformation, and not an IT project.
ERP Transformations will have many issues and changes in direction. Incredibly strong customer- side control and drive is required, and this can only be provided with deep expertise in complex programme management and supplier control. There will be multiple suppliers to manage, and the change impacts will be across multiple business areas. It’s imperative to establish and run a governance and control PMO engine, who drive the key delivery processes and establish ‘one version of the truth’ reporting and decision making. This phase will drive delivery through build, system integration testing and user acceptance testing through to go-live implementation.
5. Architecture and Data
6. Post go-live support
4. Change Management
Running alongside all of the above stages is the need to have dedicated focus on IT architecture to ensure that the solution lands within the current IT estate and all interfaces are identified, and the approach to integration is agreed. Alongside this, it will be essential to define the data approach, for example, for any data migration required or to determine the data archiving strategy. These are key items that need to be addressed up-front in any transformation so they don’t impact the project plan later.
Due to the complex nature of the change, the project will need to supply enhanced post-go- live support to help embed the new systems and processes into live operation, both on the IT and the business process side.
In addition to driving the solution delivery, focus is required on Change Management. ERP Transformations will not be successful unless the impacted people are bought into the change and are supporting its success. This will require significant stakeholder management across the organisation and the setting up of a network of change agents to facilitate the changes in the individual areas. This will drive the required process design as well as the general awareness and training. Communication across many different channels will be required to drive this successfully.
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real change • real difference
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