What are the best practices for minimizing ERP disruptions to end users?

In my experience, a program like ‘ERP before ERP’ to harmonize the process, plug data gaps, solid business contingency plans can help absorb the shock of massive business transformation through the implementation and go-live. It requires total commitment and ownership by the functions.

Know your As-Is processes: All work is a process, processes produce work products, work products can be digital like data or physical like a part. Don’t skip a deep understanding of your As-Is Processes, it is key to understanding the processes (who is doing what, how that work is getting done and how well it is performing) and charting the changes needed achieve the To-Be. Imagine using a GPS and you enter your destination, but it does not know where you are. How effective can it give you the path to your destination?

My 30 years experience say that there are three main themes that can drive or affect an ERP project. 1. change management 2. process mining and governance 3. get to know more what's in the user mind 1. change management is key to mantain control of the balance between productivity/margin and flexibility/competitive 2. process mining and governance is central to align the applications (e.g. demand to warehouse) to avoid different silos of information 3. know the user mindmap will grant the success of the project

In my experience, the most critical practices for minimizing ERP disruptions involve thorough testing and effective change management. These approaches have consistently been the difference between success and failure in ERP implementations, ensuring smooth transitions and minimal user impact.

I've observed several times that organization had a need for ERP project, and it was starting it, but management had very little experience with projects of such magnitude. If it is a technical upgrade of system from current version to a new one, then IT can handle it, provided that there are no customizations. If the project is about re-implementation, then it's crucial for the management to learn better what they are stepping in. A Project Advisor or an experienced ERP Project Manager can help with setting right expectations and mindset for coming months and help Board and SteerCo to prepare for what's coming, better risk assessment will help with right budget. In my view this should happen before even mapping user requirements.

Creating a "day in the life" view for specific personas is another effective change strategy to minimize ambiguity, boost buy in and help users better understand what is and isn't changing about how they do their work (especially if new deployment)

Most ERP disruptions can be attributed to the lack of communication and training. Communicate the 'why'; why is the system being changed, why changing the system will lead to additional value and insights to transactions and data. Next would be to train, and herein lies the process of training. Most of the time it's a 'train the trainer' activity, but these key trainers must come from a pool of users that safely represents the users from all aspect of the company. It would not be fair to say that every user has a high level of technical and operational expertise (to drive an ERP solution). Make sure quick reference guides / cheat sheets are available for quick queries when needed.

Very Important Factor; before communicate & train, Users' Role definition should be carefully done. This will simplify the equation for the end users to understand the New system & its functionality.

Communicating plans with timelines will help you to align with the overall implementation duration and budget of the ERP project. Offer plenty of training in the classroom, online method or user manuals are going to assist end users to understand ERP processes however I would always recommend to support all end users while they go live with new applications and be there with these end users to assist live in person. It will help all the end users to receive quick help and gain trust in the new application. It will keep alive the interest and struggle will be reduced.

" Change Management is the key" . Communicating the process and regular training and support at the initial phase of implementations will definitely help in accepting the new way of working. Reward and train the trainer concept also help.

In my experience having dedicated business users who are part of the ERP project team from the beginning has made all the difference in user adoption and ongoing solution validation to ensure that it is fit for purpose. A winning formula every time! When it comes to testing you cannot stress enough the importance of early business user involvement. Including business in the last cycle of system integration testing / integrated product testing is an early-in to get ready for user acceptance testing and get the alignment you need to be successful!

What has been helpful in the past was having the end users review the User Acceptance Test (UAT) scripts well in advance and allowing for some test cases to be edited or added by key users (example a few leads that represent their individual business units). It's fair to say that in depth detail test cases may not be able to be created at one go (by say, the ERP vendor), and this is where the organisation must call upon their power users to provide feedback on the test cases (and also provide expected results to compare against the test cases).

A process map should be drafted to ensure that all the steps of the process are captured. During the testing and validation, parts of the process map will either be updated to match the capability of the ERP system or parts of the ERP system will be updated to match the expectations of the process map. In the end, this will ensure that the ERP system can fully support the physical expectations of the process on the floor. Standard Operating Procedure documentation and/or Working Instructions would follow suit.

Engage Super Users very early in process-guided capability building that prepares them for strong execution of UAT (User Acceptance Testing). My opinion is that Super Users/Test Users are brought in without enough preparation. This is where OCM can really plug in to make this happen. This requires a strong partnership between OCM, the technical team, basis, and security. There's a lot of setup that has to take place to make this work.

A sandbox environment is always handy to ensure that the end users are comfortable in using the system. Along with this, ensure that the UAT scripts are adherently followed and any disruption is adequately taken care of.

Es un proceso no menor que muchas veces no se lo toma en consideración desde el inicio que es evangelizar del cambio que se va hacer, y cómo eso les puede ayudar en su día a día , que no se sientan aislados y lo vean como un proyecto de TI , para que se involucren en las pruebas , definan escenarios que sean complejos en su día a día . Escúche al usuario final sus puntos de vista desde fases tempranas para mitigar cualquier necesidad

To implement ERP system it not like sprint project but it long marathon game so it need good planning before start executing and most important is inform your end users about impact of the deployment. All important data need to backup before start. The management should also monitor and evaluate the results.

For On-Prem ERPs, version upgrade is a major step and often is a project itself with lots of resources allocated. For Cloud ERPs, the upgrade process is less disruptive with customisations carried forward to the new version seamlessly. However, it should still be planned. Activities like release preview random testing and scheduling the upgrade to outside business hours can be arranged. Both types of ERP upgrades should focus on communications to users on the expected downtime to minimise disruptions.

A fim de se planejar e evitar eventuais interrup??es de uso destes sistemas, que v?o impactar diretamente quase todos (se n?o todos os setores) e imprescindível que se possua ferramentas e conhecimento dos riscos. Um exemplo trata-se de links redundantes para atua??o em caso de paralisa??o de acesso. Equipamentos reserva para rápidas substitui??o também podem ser úteis e importante. Levantamento dos principais pontos e problemas que podem gerar interrup??es e busca por solu??es que reduzam o risco além de treinamento sobre o que fazer em caso de problemas. Outro ponto trata do monitoramento em tempo real e constante dos principais riscos e elementos que podem paralisar o sistema ERP.

Minimizing ERP disruptions to end users is crucial for ensuring a smooth transition to the new system and maintaining business continuity. Here are some best practices to achieve this: Thorough Understanding of User Needs Comprehensive Communication and Training Detailed Change Management Plan Continuous Support and Improvement User Adoption Strategies Monitoring and Performance Evaluation Establish Clear Governance and Roles

Discuss with your ERP implementers to have a minimum of 1 financial closing cycle support after going live. This will ensure users are confident that the new ERP system is running well and rest assured that the ERP implementers are ready to support when needed. Minor adjustments or tuning can be done quickly. After the project handover, it is a good practice to conduct a user survey 6-12 months after going live to gather feedback for improvements or assess the need for additional refresher training.

Continues support is an important factor even if a system is running smoothly. ERP (in most cases) is a vastly developing and changing environment, form technical perspective in terms of updates, new features and new coding and integration standards. And from the perspective of the client, their activities may change overtime as do their needs for information. Regular checkups ensure timely anticipation of this changes and often limit impact by making several smaller changes instead of a major update or revision.

Ensuring a seamless post-upgrade experience demands the presence of a well-prepared and proficient support team, ready to tackle any challenges that may arise. A swift resolution hinges on empowering this team with comprehensive information about the latest changes. Best practices dictate not only arming them with the necessary insights but also facilitating a streamlined comparison of performance metrics before and after the upgrade. This proactive approach not only accelerates issue resolution but also sets the stage for continuous improvement, making the post-upgrade phase as smooth and efficient as possible.

Yes support is really needed after going live system. And same time change request and modification will improve the system periodically so users will get new things on period basis.

Continued support and enhancement post-deployment are vital for minimizing ERP disruptions. Swiftly address end users' concerns, monitor system performance, and gather feedback for ongoing improvement. Proactively identify and implement enhancements based on evolving business needs to ensure sustained satisfaction and efficiency with the ERP system.

The best practices should concentrate more on transactional errors, infrastructure and network issues, security guidelines, preventing functional errors to minimize the rollback chances.

Best practices (or Leading practices) can also be functional processes E.g. 1.CRM: Lead to Quote 2.Sales: Order to Cash 3.Procurement: Procure to Pay 4.Production: Design to Build 5.Financials: Record to Report 6.Assets: Acquire to Retire Evaluate ERPs that have these best practices built-in by roles, workflows, KPI reports and dashboards to speed up the project implementation and reduce risks of budget overruns.

A crucial aspect of ERP maintenance is to ensure system availability. Longer system outages cause frustrations amongst users. The reality is that users won't tell you what they expect beforehand, that is, until they actually face an outage and their work gets disrupted. If it's in the midst of a period-end closing, the degree of dissatisfaction increases. I like to address this by defining and communicating adequate RPO (Recovery Point Objectives) and RTO (Recovery Time Objectives) and by ensuring I can meet these objectives. In my experience, cloud computing solutions have come a long way in keeping RPO and RTO narrow and short.

To ensure scalability, leverage existing ERP features as much as possible (afterall, they work for thousands and thousands of other companies) and only customize once you've thoroughly validated that OOB will not work for your use case.

Best practices blah blah blah...the best advice I can give is to learn from the mistakes of others. That being said, there are right and wrong ways of doing things - methodogies work - follow them.

Beyond the standard change mgmt playbook (impact assessment, training, comms plan, etc), a well-orchestrated "business readiness" phase 12+ months in advance of the implementation project can be a game changer. Have a small ninja team of experts assess current state business processes, inventory management, data quality, org design, and management reporting to help design a series of 'readiness' initiatives that reduce process/data/role variability, gets the business working closer to end state, and shrinks the inevitable change curve.

In order to build a stable & resilient ERP application, one must invest time & energy in designing a robust architecture foundation. By ensuring all single-point-of failures are designed in a manner that they are fault-tolerant, a more resilient architecture can be built. Additionally, the recovery time objectives as well as recovery point objectives must be discussed and agreed keeping in mind a disaster scenario. Businesses should plan a business-continuity plan should there still be disruption. Any architecture design is generally a trade-off between cost and the ability of the business to absorb associated availability and disruption risks yet a well architected ERP goes a long way in avoiding un-planned and avoidable disruptions.

Implementing a new ERP system is a challenging process for any company, and one of the biggest challenges is often the disruption to normal business operations. Project leaders must carry out various strategies to limit these disruptions so company work can continue as smoothly as much as possible.

Thorough testing and validation of an ERP system are imperative to ensure a smooth transition to the live environment, minimizing disruptions and enhancing user satisfaction. Consider a manufacturing company implementing a new ERP system. During testing, they simulate real production scenarios, input actual production data, and involve shop floor operators in navigating the system. This process helps identify potential issues related to data integration, user interface, and system performance.By incorporating feedback from end users, the company ensures that the ERP system aligns with operational needs and workflows. This testing approach mitigates the risk of post-implementation disruptions and enhances the effectiveness of the ERP system

Involve key stakeholders in the entire process, convince them to take the ownership as their own project and ensure they remain interested in the project. Try to keep the entire development and implementation phase simple and timeline should not be too long as people starts loosing interest.