Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can be a daunting task for any business. It involves significant investment, time, and resources, which is why it's important to have a well-designed implementation plan in place. An ERP implementation plan consists of several stages, each with specific objectives that must be achieved before moving to the next. In this blog, we'll dive into the five stages of an implementation plan for an ERP system, outlining the key objectives of each stage and how to successfully navigate them. By following these steps, you can ensure a smooth and successful ERP implementation process.
The phases may vary somewhat depending on the company, and there could also be some overlap between them.
1. Discovery and Planning
Every ERP project starts with a discovery and planning phase, which includes researching and selecting a system, setting up a project team and defining detailed system requirements.
2. Design
The design phase uses a list of requirements and current workflows to develop a detailed design for the new ERP system. This includes designing new, more efficient workflows and other business processes. It’s important to involve users in the design phase to leverage their intimate understanding of current business processes and to ensure that they’ll adopt the new system. Businesses should conduct a gap analysis to address uncommon needs that may require either customising the ERP software or modifying processes. The team can present the gaps to its implementation partner or supplier and ask them to identify potential solutions.
3. Development
Armed with clear design requirements, the development phase can then begin. This
may involve configuring and customising the software and integrating the platform with any of the organisation’s other existing business applications. If you’re using an on-premises ERP system, the organisation will need to have purchased and installed the necessary hardware and software, as well.
Meanwhile, the team should develop training materials for the new system. Begin planning data migration, which can be complex since it often involves extracting, transforming and loading data from multiple systems, each of which may use different formats or hold duplicate or inconsistent information. The project team should determine which data to migrate in this phase, avoiding the blanket migration of all historical data, a lot of which is likely irrelevant.
4. Testing
Testing and development may occur concurrently. For example, the project team may test specific modules and features, develop fixes or adjustments based on the results, and retest. Or it may test one ERP module while another is still in development. Initial testing of the basic functions of the software should be followed by rigorous testing of the full capabilities of the system.
Most vendors can supply pre-and post-deployment resources to begin user training. But the organisation should also make good use of the training materials created in the development phase. There is real value in resources that specifically cater to the use cases of different employees.
5. Deployment
Be prepared for potential issues in deployment, since there are plenty of moving parts and possibly some befuddled employees, despite your best efforts to prepare them for the change. The project team should be readily available to answer questions, help users understand the system and attempt to fix any issues. Your implementation partner should be able to assist with troubleshooting, if necessary.
Some data can be migrated ahead of deployment, while other information—such as current transactions—should be migrated immediately before going live. There are a number of different approaches to deployment, which we cover in detail in this series.
By understanding the five stages of an implementation plan, you can ensure a successful ERP implementation that meets your business needs. In the next blog, we will discuss the importance of building the right implementation team. Building a team that includes the right expertise and resources is crucial to ensure that your ERP system is implemented efficiently and effectively. Stay tuned for our next blog post to learn more about how to assemble the ideal ERP implementation team.
