Are you thinking about, preparing for, or currently engaged in an ERP implementation or upgrade? If so, I would like to share some of the best practices you can use for a seamless implementation from my experience in doing so. You can use this opportunity to enhance your employees’ ERP system knowledge. As the client you can bring an ownness to departments within your company through task-based implementation projects.
Share the experience
I have 20 years of experience sitting in the seat of the client before becoming a consultant. I can provide you a relatable perspective on how the partnership with your ERP implementation provider will push through from start to finish.
First, you might sense a “been there, done that” sort of attitude from your partner. This simply shows their expertise in the process. Rest assured that through multiple discovery sessions, they will focus on communicating and understanding your unique business structure.
All clients are special in their business design and how they need their ERP system to work. With the framework configured to best suit your company’s needs, your new ERP tool can streamline and improve business practices, processes, and standards across the company.
Fostering employee engagement
Giving the employees a voice throughout the ERP implementation allows growth of employees. You can add their value to the project implementation without adding more to their workload.
You need to introduce the ERP as a tool that not only will give greater visibility for their team, but that will also assist with the daily, monthly, and yearly activities that can drive the business into quality growth. Creating a team environment as the client allows for better internal processing assessments by department. Get their feedback on how this new ERP tool will best fit the company strategies.
Your ERP implementation partner will provide a hands-on experience in a test arena. This will give your team the freedom to explore the default ERP processes and how they integrate into your company. They can then provide valuable feedback on where the system needs to be tweaked to fit your company’s needs.
Test, test, test!
There will come a time in every ERP project’s life when the ERP environment has all the acquired data to represent your company. This is your time to shine! Testing is the key component of any ERP implementation, upgrade, or startup. It allows for the client’s team to begin to see the real-life workings of the ERP system in relation to their unique processes, workflow, and output.
Testing will bring out your employees’ ability to embrace the system as a real tool for their daily operations. Testing will also provide valuable feedback to both the consultant and the client on any issues that still need to be resolved before the Go Live date.
Get in the game
Whether you are a part of the client’s implementation team, management, a supervisor, or a valued team member, your involvement is needed.
It will be important for the employees to share their experience within the business and how the processes work. This will assist in driving an “all-in” attitude to the ERP implementation. Get everyone involved within their respected departments to have the input needed for employee engagement.
Finally, be ready to test and allow those real-work experiences to guide the finishing touches to the implementation. I can’t say it enough: Test!
