Enhancing Visibility and Control: Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Capabilities
How the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management solution ensures a more optimized supply chain.
ERP implementations can be challenging but offer immense business value when done right. They drive efficiency, improve business processes, and empower employees to make strategic decisions using AI and automation, with insights emerging naturally to streamline operations. However, when things don’t go as planned, enterprises may find themselves falling short of their initial goals, sometimes even wishing to return to their old ERP software systems.
What may seem like a failed implementation is often fixable, with irate users being a common symptom. The key to ERP implementation rescue lies in quickly identifying and addressing the challenges as well as the root cause.
Uncovering the Challenges of Failing ERP Projects
Project Delays
Dynamics ERP implementation delays often stem from underestimating technical challenges or the limited availability of the client’s team. These delays can disrupt the entire project timeline, leading to resource shortages when needed, further extending timelines, increasing costs, and reducing the quality of implementation. Rushing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project can result in major failures.
Solution: Collaborate closely with your implementation partner to create a realistic project schedule. This schedule should factor in the complexity of requirements, requirements specifically customizations as well as integrations, and anticipate potential issues. Don’t assume everything will go perfectly at every phase.
Ensure the schedule accommodates your team’s availability for training, testing, and questions and answers, and expect your team to invest 2-3 times the hours of your partner. Large projects may require a committed project manager on the client side.
Avoid shortcuts, your team’s involvement is crucial to mitigate risks. Also, ensure timely responses from internal experts to keep the project moving efficiently.
No Alignment with Business Operations
ERP software systems are frequently not customized to meet your company’s specific processes. This misalignment happens when the system’s features fail to meet your organization’s operational requirements or when its delegation of authority (DOA) is out of sync with your business’s established business practices.
Solution: To ensure success, the ERP system must be customized to fit and enhance your company’s specific business processes. This may involve adjusting the system to align with workflows or modifying processes to fully benefit from the ERP’s strengths.
Effective alignment requires careful planning and a clear understanding of both the ERP’s features and the enterprise’s needs. Engaging stakeholders from different departments is key to ensuring all crucial processes are supported.
Budget Exceedances
An inadequately scoped or planned ERP implementation can quickly escalate to double or even triple the original projected expenditures. This often results from not thoroughly evaluating the project’s technical as well as human requirements at the beginning or failing to keep the scope in check throughout the process.
Solution: Thoroughly outline your related business processes and requirements to enable your partner to perfectly scope and assess them, making it easier for you to hold them accountable for their assessments.
Ensure your partner conducts technical confirmation as well as a fit-gap evaluation to assess how well the new enterprise resource planning (ERP) aligns with your needs. Identify if customizations or integrations may be necessary, as introducing unexpected changes during implementation is a common cause of cost overruns.
Flawed ERP Implementation
A subpar implementation may result from ineffective project management, an absence of expertise, or scarce resources. Consequently, it can result in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that is unstable, partially functional, or incapable of meeting your organization’s needs.
Solution: Successful ERP implementation rescue necessitates a team possessing a blend of technical knowledge and practical experience. This encompasses overall familiarity with ERP solutionsand their technical features and integration with current systems, along with project management abilities to ensure the implementation stays on schedule.
Inoperative or Insufficient Functions
The primary reason for malfunctioning features in an ERP implementation is inadequate testing.
Thorough testing identifies functionality issues before the final migration of data and verification of the new system.
Here are some warning signs that your testing process may be insufficient or lacking:
- Testing is not performed by actual end-users
- Testing does not cover all essential business processes
- Only isolated tasks are tested, rather than end-to-end processes
- No established protocol for ongoing testing after updates, crucial for customizations and integrations
Example of task testing: Is it possible to create a purchase order?
Example of process testing: Can I initiate a purchase requisition that converts into a purchase order? Can I receive items on that purchase order? Does the item show up correctly in my inventory as well as general ledger accounts?
Misalignment with actual business needs, leading to disruptions post Go-Live or after updates.
Solution: Prepare in advance to assign appropriate resources for testing every process. Client-side leaders need to convey the importance of testing to the users involved, ensuring they are fully engaged. Without a clear understanding of its significance, users might only complete the minimum requirements instead of performing comprehensive tests.
Incomplete and Incorrect Data
Failing to transfer accurate and pertinent data from your previous system to your new ERP can create significant challenges for users. Implementing effective ERP solutions is crucial to ensure data integrity and improve user trust in the system.
Users may find it difficult to perform their tasks in the new system or may discover they cannot rely on the data provided. This can lead to low user adoption and mistakes in accounts.
Solution: You don’t have to migrate all historical data, but it’s essential to determine which data will be crucial for future operations with your partner.
For instance, open purchase orders must be migrated, but what about closed purchase orders and previous invoices? How much historical data is necessary for the new system?
After identifying the required data, ensure that it is clean and well-formatted before transferring it to the new ERP, as this step is crucial for a successful ERP Implementation Rescue.
Low User Acceptance and Inadequate Training
Even with a technically sound ERP system, inadequate user acceptance and training can leave employees unprepared to leverage it effectively. This issue often becomes apparent only after the implementation is deemed complete.
Inconsistent use of the new ERP can prevent the realization of intended improvements in effectiveness, compliance, and other benefits, ultimately undermining the value of ERP solutions.
Solution: Secure early buy-in from your organization to facilitate the upcoming differences and challenges associated with your ERP implementation. Keep everyone informed throughout the process.
Ask your partner to implement an “empower the trainer” approach, creating a team of power users and early adopters who can support their colleagues in adopting the system.
During training, collaborate with your partner to supervise the learning curve effectively, starting with business processes and then integrating the technology.
Why Korcomptenz?
With over 20 years of experience, Korcomptenz is a Microsoft solution provider that has assisted numerous clients with ERP implementation rescue across various Dynamics 365 implementation scenarios. We are prepared to support you by assessing your current status and identifying the reasons for implementation delays. Our comprehensive audit will reveal the accurate status of completed and pending project tasks, while also helping to ensure effective go-live and ongoing support services.
Conclusion
ERP implementation rescue can be intricate and demanding; however, with the right strategies and capability, even the most problematic projects can be turned around. By prioritizing user needs, assessing the alignment of ERP solutions and processes, and tackling training and change management challenges, enterprises can navigate these obstacles successfully. At Korcomptenz, we are dedicated to transforming your ERP challenges into opportunities for accomplishment and growth. Contact us for a free consultation.
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