At this phase, you are forced to request your employees to take care of the new ERP implementation and their regular work, this could be overwhelming for them. Hence, setting the context by bringing the employees on-board and getting them prepared for the storm ahead is critical to taste the project success.   

Project Approach Image 

The following points are of high importance: 

• Blueprint Documentation  

This is a very important design thinking stage where you should be discussing each process, thinking about improvements in the process and aligning it with the software. More often, it’s the process which will require changes than the software. The team has to be aware of the changes in the process, so they prepare themselves for go live from this phase.   

• Personalization (Not Customization) Documentation 

Typically, during the blueprinting phase, there are areas identified which are not part of the core product but critically required for the business. Ensure these requirements are aligned and you spend the right amount of time discussing in detail about each customization request. The personalization if done extensively or if not well designed, can become expensive to maintain and will be non-upgradable. Ask ‘Why’ for every request! 

•  Iterated Demo’s   

Have the partner demonstrate the product at various stages of the implementation, so the team has an understanding of what they are going to get after Go-Live:  

First Demo: At Process Discussion & Blueprinting – To understand the product & change requests  

Second Demo: At 50% of Build Phase – To understand if the build is aligned with expectations 

Third Demo: Before User Acceptance & Training – To confirm the work-flows, design & build of ERP 

• Training   

We often see the users don’t spend enough time on training as they are too busy focussing on the daily priorities. This is one of the major reasons for extended support after Go-Live. More time should be spent on explaining the redesigned processes. This ensures your team has adequate training of all the processes including exceptions & is very critical for the success of the project.   

• User Testing  

Have test case scenarios documented and ensure that your teams test all the business processes. Having the testing after training will be helpful as the team will be able to navigate around the system.   

• Mock run   

We request our clients to pick 5 days transaction from their current business and have them enter all the transactions in the newly designed ERP before go-live. This provides a self of confidence to the team on the new system.  

Project Tool: Smartsheet 

Give Away: Project Plan  

DOs: 

1. Have a dedicated PMO from your side with 100 % dedication of their time  
2. Have a shared project plan with the partner, identifying the tasks  
3. Conduct a steering committee meeting biweekly to update the stakeholders regarding the project status 
4. Do ensure to create internal workshops for change management process   
5. Before sharing the data, printing formats, report formats – Do a full quality check and finalize with stakeholders input to avoid multiple iterations 

DONTs: 

1. Do not creep in additional functionalities or wish-list during implementation. Stick to the scope discussed in the blueprinting unless it is critical for business 
2. Own your processes – Do not let ERP vendor design your processes and the ERP partner should work only from the technology perspective. Process suggestions should be heard but documentation and maintenance of the processes should be with your organization 
3. Do not de-rail from the existing project plan and timelines as the intensity of the project decreases  
4. Do not change your core team during the implementation as it will have a huge impact on project success 

Continuous Process