ERP PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Tuesday, 14 October 2008 8:48PM

ERP PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ERP PROJECT MANAGEMENT - AN ACTIVITY BASED APPROACH

INTRODUCTION

A concern for many ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) project managers is how to control the risk of the ERP project. How the project manager controls the critical phases of the project has a direct result on the outcome. There are seven critical activities in ERP projects that need to be managed. By managing these activities the project manager streamlines the control process and adds value by not wasting time on less relevant activities. The critical activities for streamlined ERP project management are:

1. Embrace Overall Goals and Objectives

2. Defining Requirements

3. Review As Is - To Be

4. Use Proto-education

5. Business System Test/Conference Room Pilot

6. Execute Timely Cut-over/Conversion Processes

7. Going Live and Beyond

These seven activities are the crux of any ERP implementation. Manage these activities well and you will greatly enhance your chances of a successful project.

1. Activity One: Embrace Overall Goals and Objectives

The first area that deserves consideration before the ERP project begins is, what is the project trying to achieve? Why are we doing this? What is the payback going to be? It is imperative that senior management defines these objectives and embraces the project up front.

Many firms accomplish this by forming a steering committee composed of senior executives to drive these goals and objectives. The executive steering committee has two functions. The first is to advise and act as a sounding board for the ERP project team. The second is to help with the resolution of issues that cannot be settled by the ERP project team. One of the main reasons for failures of ERP projects is caused by the lack of direction and support by senior management.

Senior management must provide the oversight and support required to make the project successful. The goals and objectives must be disseminated through the organisation and become well known to all levels of the organisation. The goals and objectives should be put into a formal project charter before the project begins.

What is in the project charter? This document can vary in length, but it should basically state in concise terms: what the goals and objectives of the ERP project are, who is responsible for the outcome of these objectives, who will participate in the project, what the timeframe will be, a list of deliverables, what are the project policies and procedures, and how will people know when the project is completed. The project charter becomes the formalisation of the first activity.

2. Activity Two: Defining Requirements

Ask any developer if they have ever created or designed a complex product without a design document. The answer should be NO! Putting into place an ERP system is no less complex. In reality, ERP implementations are the designing of the information system for a business.

If the requirements are not defined in advance and well understood, the result may turn out to be a composite of what other people think the system should be rather than what is right for the business.

If left to software implementers, the implementation will be their version of how they think the business should be run. Defining requirements should consist of an overview of how the new system will function, a list of specific required business functions and processes that must be able to be performed in the new system, and finally the policies and procedures that will need to be in place to support the new system.

Input will be required from many parts of the organisation to fill in the detailed requirements. It is this input from throughout the organisation that makes the requirements reflective of the organisation. The defining of the project charter and defining of requirements should be completed before the ERP project is officially started.