We’ve been talking a lot about ERP systems and ERP implementations, and we’ve been doing so because more and more companies have been “taking the plunge,” so to speak, and choosing to go with ERP systems. ERP systems, if implemented properly, would truly benefit your company in multiple ways. If you’ve been following along on our blog, we’ve posted several articles about the mistakes made by many companies who are attempting to implement ERP systems. We also posted a blog about the six stages of the implementation itself. As with the mistakes, we’re now going to break down those 6 stages and look at them a little more in depth.
Stage #1: Research and Selection
Research and Selection is the first stage of your ERP system implementation, and your main goal was to research and selection a vendor and a consultant to undergo this journey with you. You also needed to select the members of your implementation team.
Now that you have completed those steps and are officially ready to begin your implementation, it is time to “research” your business and its processes. Yes, your team knows what your company’s main purpose is – that is, what you sell, manufacture, install, etc. – but before you can begin an ERP implementation, the whole process needs to be broken down and examined. That involves looking at your company’s corporate structure, lines of business, departments, product lines, etc.
To do this you must:
Ask Questions
Your implementation team should be discussing their various departments and the processes that they use. They should also meet with other employees at the company – those who are not on the implementation team – to get a deeper understanding of the way that people are working hands-on with the current system. Make sure the team meets with a representative from every department.
The should ask questions like:
- What does your department currently do?
- Do you feel that it works effectively in the current system?
- If not, do you have suggestions as to what would make it work better?
- What do you feel like definitely does not work?
Document, Document, Document
This documentation will become the foundation for configuring the new system. We mentioned mapping current business processes in our 6 mistakes blog, and that should occur in this phase. This phase should also involve the team looking for gaps between what customers want/need/expect and whether or not the system is capable of doing those things. They’ll also look at redundant and unnecessary processes and see if they can be done away with in the new system.
Identify Changes
Using the information collected in the documentation phase, this is where the implementation team looks at all the areas in which the current system isn’t meeting the company’s needs. Based on that information, they can start formulating changes to be used in the new system.
Draw a Map
Think of the implementation project plan as a road map. All of the information gathered up to this point must be compiled and considered as a whole. This map is the end goal of the research and selection process as well as the foundation of the rest of the project.
