You're faced with vague ERP customization requests. How can you ensure clarity and efficiency?

When faced with vague ERP customization requests, understanding the underlying needs is the crucial first step towards ensuring clarity and efficiency. Begin by engaging in detailed conversations with stakeholders to uncover the specific business challenges they are trying to address. Ask open-ended questions to encourage them to articulate their pain points and desired outcomes. It's important to listen actively and identify any implicit requirements that may not be immediately obvious. Additionally, take the time to understand the broader context of their requests, including the business processes involved and the strategic goals they aim to achieve.

you setup a face to face meeting with the customer, and you go over the requirement and the business need behind it, the purpose of this meeting is to ensure that you completely understand why the customer is raising such a request before you even consider any customization. not to mention that you need to allocate adequate time to look for a out of the box solution if not 100% fit before you even think of customizing.

Entender as necessidades específicas do solicitante pode ser feito por meio de entrevistas detalhadas, onde você pode fazer perguntas direcionadas para descobrir os objetivos e desafios que a personaliza??o deve abordar. Ao captar essas informa??es, é possível criar um escopo mais claro e definir expectativas realistas para o projeto. Essa compreens?o profunda n?o só melhora a comunica??o, mas também aumenta a probabilidade de que a solu??o final atenda às necessidades da equipe.

Effective communication helps to identify precise ERP requirements and explain ERP solutions for mutual agreement. These need to be satisfied in order of preference by ERP configuration, personalization, report or user interface customization and programming tools or citizen development platforms provided by the ERP vendor.

Actually you need to not have vague requests at all. So you should have a robust process involving your Business Analysts and Functional Consultants that captures requests in a standard format. This removes the vagueness and allows them to be validated and either approved or not. They should be challenged, certainly by the Team but truly by your Solution & Enterprise Architects. Personally you need a fully robust system for me it's Microsoft Azure DevOps. It will help you manage the end to end well.

Few things I find helpful are: ? Prioritize and document absolutely needed functionalities over nice to have functionalities. ? Among absolutely needed ones, document dependencies and differentiate the work that can be accomplished in parallel. ? Set priority on the ones with highest dependency and assign practical timeframe to complete them while keeping cushion for unforeseen circumstances. ? Always have a contingency plan.

Comece classificando as solicita??es com base na urgência e no impacto que cada uma terá nos objetivos da empresa. Isso ajuda a focar os esfor?os nas personaliza??es que realmente agregam valor e atendem às necessidades mais prementes. Ao estabelecer essas prioridades, você pode otimizar o tempo da equipe e assegurar que os recursos sejam alocados de maneira eficaz.

You have to make the possibilities assessable and put a figure behind them. If you have the costs in mind, unimportant requirements quickly become relative.

Once you understand the needs, it’s crucial to prioritize the requests based on their impact and urgency. You should rank each customization request by considering factors like business impact, urgency, and resource availability. And let’s focus on the requests that will provide the most significant benefit to the operations first. Setting clear priorities helps allocate resources effectively and ensures the most critical tasks are addressed promptly.

Comece por reunir todas as partes interessadas e esclarecer os objetivos desejados com a personaliza??o. Isso permite que você estabele?a limites claros sobre o que está sendo solicitado e evite mal-entendidos no futuro. Com um escopo bem definido, será mais fácil gerenciar expectativas e direcionar os esfor?os da equipe de forma eficaz.

So clearly defining the scope of each customization request is essential to avoid scope creep and ensure all parties have a shared understanding. You need to outline exactly what the customization will involve, including deliverables, timelines, and responsibilities. You can draft a detailed scope document and get sign-off from all stakeholders. A well-defined scope helps manage expectations and provides a clear roadmap for the project.

Ao se reunir com as partes interessadas, use uma linguagem simples e evite jarg?es técnicos que possam causar confus?o. Fa?a perguntas específicas para obter detalhes sobre as necessidades e expectativas, incentivando um diálogo aberto. Essa abordagem ajuda a alinhar as expectativas e a criar um entendimento mútuo, resultando em um processo de personaliza??o mais eficiente.

Always effective communication is the key to ensuring everyone is on the same page. Regular updates and transparent communication help manage expectations and keep the project on track. For example you can set up regular check-ins with the stakeholders to update them on progress and address any questions or concerns. Clear and open communication helps build trust and ensures everyone is aligned with the project goals. Because consistent communication encourage collaboration and prevents misunderstandings.

So documenting all changes and decisions made during the customization process is crucial for accountability and future reference. You have to make sure to document every change request, decision, and approval throughout the project. This documentation will serve as a reference point and help us track the evolution of the customization. Proper documentation ensures transparency and provides a historical record for future projects.

Formalizar as solicita??es de mudan?a deve ter um processo claro e definito. é importante detalhar cada requisito e especificar o que precisa ser ajustado. Isso ajuda a evitar ambiguidades e permite que todas as partes interessadas tenham uma referência clara. Além disso, documentar as altera??es facilita o acompanhamento das solicita??es e serve como base para futuras revis?es.

Totally - in a systematic, methodical way with a defined standard. Use a tech based system, led by your Business Analysts. For me Microsoft DevOps, and Jira are my preferred ones. DevOps is an important thing that promotes a lot of things, of which stability and robustness are two.

Document changes or pay later... Documentation can seem like a step easy to skip. Proper Documation of the initial requirements as well as changes are crucial. Changes should be part of the original documentation to ensure vital information is not overlooked. As changes are made testing plans should also be revisited to ensure they properly capture changes.

Everything you do, be it configuration to customisation, or development, MUST go through rigorous Testing. You need a specialised Test Team who understand this world inside and out. Key. Must have. Cannot do without. Don't chance it. Too mission critical. No thinking it doesn't matter. Ever

Unfortunately, testing is hugely underestimated by many customers and causes the most problems in projects. A thorough test should also include rare processes such as inventories, annual financial statements, etc.

Utilizing your test plan rigorously test customization before user acceptance testing will help things run smoothly. I like to utilize my training tool to both capture the customization and automate the testing including various scenarios and multiple iterations. Once initial testing is complete having the ability hand over training materials and a completed customization will assist in improving the user experience, avoid costly mistakes and rework. Detailed testing ensures new features are working properly and does not impact other areas negatively.