Innovation Is Everyone's Job

Innovation Is Everyone's Job

Six Basics of Preventing Pain in Your ERP Implementation

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -Leonardo DaVinci

Over the last decade of being involved with customers and implementation partners for ERP projects, I simply cannot overstate the above sentiment - if you keep everything simple, you make an ERP project smooth and constructive.

Let me explain further. I remember hearing multiple horror stories related to heavy solutions like SAP and Oracle including implementation failures, busted budgets, law suits, and other negativity. It is contrary that the ERP project is aimed at easing organization's way of working ends up being another pain itself.

I don't wish to paint a simplistic picture that the ERP journey is necessarily tough and complex. Things have changed with the advent of more user friendly ERP products like Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. But even with the best tools, if you are involved in an ERP implementation you can avoid repeating the mistakes of those who walked before you by heeding these important points:

1. Did you check your expectations from the project? Are they realistic and timely? If not, get down to drawing board and write down what you want to achieve. One simple exercise would involve business shareholders discussing their pains before finding a solution. E.g. Is high inventory cost your problem or lack of supply chain visibility bothering your business? Do you get your payments on time and your profitability ratios remains green? Information Technology is definitely an enabler and the journey to implement business solution should start from the business issues.
2. Once you know your problems, you can begin your journey for solutions. The next step is finding the right solution and the partner. Did your solution partner devote time to exploring your problem further before jumping to conclusions? An have they done similar projects? It's a clear analogy to when you fall sick - you go to a specialist and highlight your pain areas. Would you like to go to a doctor who wouldn't have time to explore your problem, has never treated your illness before, and jumps to prescribing the cure?
3. Once you select your solution and the partner, please ensure that their team remains in place. You cannot invest time and effort sharing your business problems with one consultant and expect a replacement to have the same understanding. Ensure continuity of the team involved right from start till the end of the project.
4. Break the project into more and smaller milestones. Create 10 milestones instead of 4 or 5. It will create better control and accountability of project stakeholders. Remember the time management principle of taking realistic and smaller targets and achieving them. It creates positive energy in the implementation teams as the smaller targets are easier to achieve. Plus, celebrate your each milestone to compound this positive energy.
5. A carrot and stick approach works well. Keep the stick around to push your implementation teams - internal and external team members - to achieve the milestones. Dangle lot of carrots too, you need to create a motivated and committed energy around the project. Did you provide any bonus to project team for putting in extra hours?
6. Customisations - the most evident hurdle to any ERP success. Did you weigh the risks for any customizations to the product? I think this is one area where customers should definitely meet other existing customers of the same product. How has their experience been with customizing the product? Did you evaluate all the options to the customized approach and their benefits?

Beyond these points, the customer users need to love the solution. It is going to be part of their daily routine of activities. I favor the user centric design of ERP products like AX 2012, since historically most ERPs fail in ‘connecting with the users'. Microsoft's entry into business applications market has changed the rules of the game in the last decade. It has brought more customers into the ERP fold and has introduced more customers to user friendly ERPs.

Simplicity should rule - both in the product and the implementation process!!

by Raman Dhooria, IT Consultant, Microsoft India

http://msdynamicsworld.com/story/six-basics-preventing-pain-your-erp-implementation