Prepare yourself for ERP implementation Part 1

I decided to write this article, after friend of mine told me that as usually each year almost any gym gets biggest number of subscribers. And also, he told me that around 90% of subscriptions are not used (wasted). Think about this. Plenty of people every year make a resolution, that during this year, I’m going to improve my body, deposit some money, make one, two, three, somebody five visits to gym, and … give up. Why enthusiasm of majority of gymers fades away? Why each new visit kills enthusiasm and zeal? The same is kind of true with ERP implementation. And believe me, to implement ERP and maintain it in good shape requires efforts, and constant efforts. Therefore, there are not so many successful implementations of ERP systems as we would like.

How to prepare, where to start, whom to stake on, how to behave during an ERP system implementation project? I will try to answer these questions in this article.

First of all, the article is aimed at those who want to be the "locomotive" of the ERP project. I would like that they were heads of enterprises.

Where to start

Right from yourself. The success of such events depends to the greatest extent on the personality of the leader of this project. Try to answer yourself a series of questions.

Do you consider yourself one of the people who are able to bring what you started to its logical conclusion, especially when it comes to complex and lengthy processes in which many people participate? Don’t be in rush with saying affirmative yes. This quality is characteristic of a few. The majority either lacks the will to complete what they have begun, or they lose interest in the process along the way. If this quality is not typical for you, then either you have to force yourself to complete this project, or assign this mission to one of the top managers of the company. But in any case, if you are not so persistent, then your risks of a failed implementation, unfortunately, increase significantly. The implementation of an ERP system is a difficult and time-consuming process. There definitely will be problems and obstacles, and you will have to make decisions every day (by the way, the ability to make decisions is also useful), listen to disgruntled employees, eliminate contradictions both within your business processes and contradictions between your employees. It is possible that some of the decisions you make can ruin your relationship with some of the employees of the company with whom you previously had good relations. Are you still interested in implementing an ERP system? Yes? Then let's move on.

How do you manage your team? Are your decisions followed or often sabotaged by employees?

Just remember how often it happens that you make a decision, but it is simply not carried out by your employees. If this is a common occurrence, you will have to seriously change the way you run the company, as your employees are already used to the fact that your decisions mean nothing. Such a situation is simply not acceptable when implementing an ERP system and, unambiguously, will lead to the failure of the project. Never give impossible assignments. And those that you give, strictly control and demand their diligent implementation.

Are you ready, in detail, personally, to understand your own business processes and seriously change them, if necessary (and there will be such a need)?

Are you ready to carry out these changes, change the habits and consciousness of your colleagues?

It is most likely not so much a change in business processes as in the habits of the people who run these processes. You cannot make one process correct, and let the adjacent process take its course. This approach will further confuse the situation. If we are to edit business processes, then to the end. And here it is important that the consultant does not completely shift this task onto your shoulders. This is a collaborative effort.

These changes will inevitably lead to negative reactions from some employees. This happens, first of all, due to the conservatism of people, they do not like and are afraid of changes. Modern and quickly adapting people will quickly be able to learn how to work in new conditions according to new rules, but there are not many of them. The resistance of others will have to be overcome with strong willful decisions. Get ready to listen to their emotional arguments (namely emotional, not logical, logical, as a rule, aren't many), and also prepare your own counter-arguments.

There is another method - forceful, when they do not explain anything to anyone, but act on the principle of "straighten up and fly right". This is not the best method of personnel management, people do not want to feel like no one. If you engage (or better yet, motivate) your employees in this process, you will be surprised at the level of return you get. The process will go much easier.

You must clearly understand why you need it, and be able to explain it to those employees who need it. I am not saying that it is obligatory to conduct such lectures for all personnel, but you have to explain clearly why the company needs to implement an ERP system to the key employees of the company. Moreover, arguments like “everything will be cool at once”, “now everyone is doing it”, etc. I strongly do not recommend using it. Company employees must clearly understand what problems will be solved, and why it will be easier for them to work. Especially those who actively resist this process, and at the same time are quite an authoritative person. We will dwell on the peculiarities of the behavior of such employees in such situations below. There is no need for public speaking, just voice the problems that prevent you from working today. These are the very issues that need to be addressed after the project is completed. And all employees must understand that it will become easier for them to work.

So, you should clearly see the purpose of the project. I will touch this topic in one of my future articles "Where to start and what to choose". You must not only clearly understand the goal, but also be able to formulate it in front of those who will help you in this project. Formulating a goal, in reality, is not a difficult task. Come from the challenges you face on a daily basis. The financial condition of the company is not clear, business processes are not transparent, there is no control over financial flows, it is not clear in what state what transaction, etc. These are your problems, and hence the goals.

Imagine how much easier it will be to manage the company, the situation will be clearer if you see a report like the one in the pictures below every day.

or this

Are you ready to personally, on a daily basis, devote part of your working time to this project?

A lot of ERP system implementations are stopped largely due to the fact that it is the heads of companies who are not ready to personally deal with these issues on a daily basis. Many people think that introducing such a product in a company is installing it and educating people. However, this is not the case. In particular, the first 3-6 months after the start of industrial operation, since the launch of the system will inevitably lead to inconsistencies, corrections, which were either simply forgotten during the development of the technical specification, or they believed that it would work according to the same principle, but life, as always, made it’s own adjustments.

And you will have to personally eliminate these contradictions on a daily basis. So, get ready to devote at least 1 hour a day to the project. Do not be afraid to devote this time, because a successfully implemented system will return this time to you doubly or tripled in the future, when you will spend a minimum of time understanding the situation in the company and obtaining high-quality reporting.

You personally will have to delve into the terms of the ERP system in relation to your processes and understand the intricacies, inconsistencies of your own processes and problems. If, of course, you want to eliminate them and get the maximum effect from implementation. And the effect of the implementation is not the mechanization of manual labor, namely automation (getting rid of double entry of the same data, transferring processes from paper to electronic form, etc.), optimization (i.e. eliminating nonsense in business processes, elimination of garbage processes, etc.). This means that your task is not to do "as it is, just in the program", but to do "as it should". Not as it is, but as it should.

to be continued...