1. Secure a Committed Project Sponsor

A dedicated project sponsor is essential, you need buy in from the top. Whether it’s the CEO or CFO, they provide vision, leadership, and decision-making authority, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and resource allocation. The sponsor also promotes cross-departmental collaboration, addresses risks proactively, and champions change management, driving the team toward transformative results. They don’t need to be heavily involved from an hour’s commitment point of view, but their presence needs to be felt.

2. Appoint a Project Manager

While it’s unlikely your organisation has a knowledgeable project manager on standby, it’s important a senior member of your organisation who understands your company’s operations steps into this role. They need to manage the project effectively from your side, work closely with the implementation partner, make timely decisions, monitor progress, manage risks, and facilitate collaboration within the organisation. This role is vital to meeting timelines, budgets, and achieving desired outcomes. Your Implementation partner should provide guidance and do the heavy lifting, but without this role your new system implementation is on the back foot before you start.

3. Define Clear Requirements

Solution design is a critical phase where key business requirements are identified, and decisions are made about the ERP system’s design. Involve key stakeholders from each business division to ensure specific requirements are identified and incorporated, minimising the risk of costly rework later on. Don’t assume you understand how specific staff perform their roles and duties, get their feedback and include them in the process. Always have the project scope requirements defined in writing and signed off by all parties, and don’t try to introduce every bell and whistle from the beginning. Often the best approach is to focus on core requirements in stage 1, and plan further smaller stages afterwards to introduce ‘nice to have’ functionality.

4. Conduct Thorough Business Process Testing (BPT)

Once the initial setup of your new system has been completed, you’re still a long way from going live. You will need to validate and test the newly configured system against your organisation’s specific business processes. Gather real transaction examples from all areas of the organisation and perform Business Process Testing with your implementation partner to ensure that all functionality aligns with real-world scenarios and requirements. Identify gaps or discrepancies and allow for necessary adjustments before moving to End-User Training and User Acceptance Testing. This step helps avoid costly errors and optimises system performance.

5. Provide Comprehensive User Training

Inadequate training can lead to resistance, inefficiencies, and costly mistakes. Proper training empowers employees to navigate the new system confidently, maximising productivity and minimising errors. Well-trained users embrace the change, become advocates for the new system, and promote smooth adoption across the organisation.

6. Perform Rigorous User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

UAT allows staff to build on their training by gaining hands-on experience with the system. Proper UAT is essential for identifying and addressing potential problems before full deployment. Insufficient testing can lead to undiscovered system errors, functional gaps, and usability issues, which could hinder daily operations and decrease user satisfaction at go live. Here’s the truth, all organisations we work with say they will do this, but many struggle. A good Implementation partner will keep you honest with User Acceptance Testing.

7. Manage Resistance to Change

Employee resistance to change can hinder new system implementations. To encourage buy-in, communicate the benefits of the new system clearly and involve employees in key stages of the process. Providing adequate training, coaching, and support helps alleviate fears and uncertainties, fostering acceptance and reducing delays.

8. Monitor Budget and Scope

To avoid budget overruns, fully understand and document the scope of your project (point 3). Make sure this is agreed upon with your implementation partner. Understand your partner’s financial terms and actively involve your team in project tasks to help control costs and ensure successful outcomes. Fortnightly project hour reports should be provided by your implementation partner to ensure you are kept well informed of actual hours vs budget before it gets away from you.

9. Plan for Post Go-Live Support

The level of post go-live support required correlates with the thoroughness of the project stages. Clients who actively participate and complete all stages thoroughly often require less support, which contains costs. Ensure you have dedicated staff with the time and motivation to complete critical project activities.