Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #10

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

       9.     Take steps to ensure things progress as expected 

     10.   Measure results

Measure results

At each stage of an implementation, results are compared the objectives. To accomplish this, we define milestones at the onset of the project, which is reviewed periodically during the project life, confirming that they are trending toward project goals. Using the ERP system as intended, and staying focused on achieving greater productivity, we will measure the project and the project team’s proficiency and might suggest retraining where operational readiness is struggling.  As part of closing the project, we will evaluate if clients are ready to take their ERP deployments to the next level with additional system capabilities.

We remain onsite with our customers for at least one week during the go-live transition ensuring timely response and support for any issue that surfaces. We also provide support for month-end close and year-end processes to gauge additional comfort with the system and any final changes needed to operating procedures.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #9

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

       9.     Take steps to ensure things progress as expected 

     10.   Measure results

Take steps to ensure things progress as expected 

Companywide internal communication/reporting and transparency of issues are essential keys for success. Your issues list should articulate the issue, assign an owner and due date. Throughout the life of the project, we regularly schedule project status & action item meetings that happen more frequently as go-live approaches.

To organize and handle your implementation issues list, we recommend the use of a project and document management portal where everyone on the implementation team can access: schedules, task lists, manage issues, and post shared files. The portal is used to convey requirements, and findings so that everyone has dashboard visibility to the status of all tasks and access to the details of each individual task. The portal also features a help desk system where every issue is assigned a ticket number and an implementation partner resource. This is where your team can communicate issues with your assigned representative and all issues will be documented and addressed to mutual satisfaction.

Top 10 Key Elements to Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #8

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

       9.     Take steps to ensure things progress as expected 

     10.   Measure results

Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

We schedule as many as three pilots before go-live with each implementation. The first pilot tests processes by functional business area to observe how the system operates on a day-to-day basis. We determine what does and doesn’t work with these processes and improve accordingly. The second pilot is an end-to-end dress rehearsal to assess the hand-off from one function to another – ensuring processes are running as intended from start to finish. Occasionally, additional tweaks are made to finalize these processes and a third pilot will confirm our mutual assurance of quality before go-live.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #7

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

      9.      Take steps to ensure things as expected (establish a method to resolve conflict and issues)

     10.  Measure results

Create a training plan

At the beginning of the project, we determine what modules will require training and develop a strategy for education. We will work with your team to provide a mutually acceptable step-by-step training agenda and will schedule it into the overall implementation. This is typically handled with a two-phased approach. 

The first phase includes standard training on how CloudSuite™ Industrial (Syteline) works out of the box, including best practices. The training comprises a combination of online training, with self and instructor-led approaches. The second phase includes a more targeted onsite instructor-led method of working through our clients’ specific processes to provide operational alignment. 

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #6

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

      9.      Take steps to ensure things as expected (establish a method to resolve conflict and issues)

     10.  Measure results

Prepare your data

Data conversion impacts the success of an ERP implementation. Analysis and strategic decisions start at the beginning of the project. It’s critical to identify ahead of time what data will need to be transferred, with an emphasis on how many years of historical data you wish to convert, who is responsible, and how much clean-up is required.

An example is when a client converts from their legacy system to CloudSuite™ Industrial (SyteLine), the client must prepare and cleanse their existing customer and vendor data. They may discover that address fields between legacy and the new systems are used differently and must be updated prior to being moved to the new system.

When you consider clean up, account for the fact that a customer may not have placed an order in several years –it might be more practical to add them as a new customer rather than spend the time transferring their data over from the legacy system.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #5

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

      9.      Take steps to ensure things as expected (establish a method to resolve conflict and issues)

     10.  Measure results

Identify, designate, and support key personnel

Who are the key people on the team?  It’s important to designate the proper resource internally to act as the Project Manager whose job is:

·         Track progress and accountability of each of the implementation team member’s assigned tasks to promote on-time completion with their milestones

·         Interface with the implementation partner ensuring transparency and communication on requirements, issues, and risks

·         Make sure all tasks are clearly defined and the team members understand the milestones to accomplish.

·         Ensures overall project is appropriately structured and planned

·         Drives overall project plan and project direction

·         Monitors the progress of all activities to plan

·         Facilitates project meetings and steering committee meetings

·         Raises risks, issues, and project flags to Operations and/or Technical leader as well as to Engagement Managers and Project Sponsors

·         Manages weekly project status reporting to Sponsors

Another critical project team role is the Operations Leader whose role and commitment include:

·         Oversee and monitor all workstream activities daily

·         Provides progress status updates

·         Accountable for on-time completion of their operational area(s) of responsibility

·         Presents to steering committee reviews of operational area

·         Raises risks and addresses issues that will impact the project’s success

·         Promotes collaboration between operational and technical areas

We also encourage clients to designate Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who know the intricate details of their respective areas current business processes and pain points. These SMEs don’t necessarily have to be managers, they can be employees who have good visibility into processes and are willing to champion the associated best practices transformation.

Change often includes automating previously manual processes, freeing up time to streamline the operation. If these resources are critical for day-to-day functions – plan for alternative coverage. Your company’s leadership team needs to support best practices transformation resulting from these employees’ efforts.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment-Key Element #4

AIT’s Professional Services Group is responsible for managing the implementation of an ERP deployment, making sure the project is properly resourced and executed. Our role with clients really starts during the sales process where we gather information about the company, its requirements, and the unique problems it is trying to solve. We get an idea of the personality and culture of the company. That gives us a great head start to hit the ground running after a contract is signed. AIT has developed a list of the top 10 keys to successful ERP deployment.

Top 10 Key Elements to a Successful ERP System Deployment

      1.      Develop a project mission statement

      2.      Get executive team commitment

      3.      Identify and define the scope; map requirements to objectives

      4.      Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline

      5.      Identify, designate, and support key personnel

      6.      Prepare your data

      7.      Create a training plan

      8.      Conduct pilots to work out the kinks

      9.      Take steps to ensure things as expected (establish a method to resolve conflict and issues)

     10.  Measure results

 Establish methodology, realistic resources, and timeline 

Before we begin the project, we hold a detailed project planning meeting that may last the better part of a day. Given the timeline, we review the scope realistically. A “go live” date is established, and the schedule is determined based on keeping each of the milestones and the end goal in mind. We ascertain what’s required for training, the appropriate methods of training delivery by audience, and identify needed documentation such as:

·         Standard Operating Procedures

·         End User Quick Reference Guides

·         Process and Transactions Flow Charts

     We collaboratively decide how many pilot testing phases will be required to ensure a thorough and confident roll out; communicate our project methodology to make certain the core team understands how and why we follow the proven approach; and the importance of adhering to it. Straying from the methodology may result in derailing the project, running over budget, people losing motivation and lost momentum.  It is highly advised that our proven methodology be followed with the right resources in the right seats to keep the project on track.