Introduction

ERP implementation is time-consuming and expensive. A typical implementation will take at least a couple of months to give tangible results. There are specialised ERP systems for most business verticals, like mining, finacial institutions and petrochemical. Each system comes with different modules, e.g. Sales, Purchasing and HR. You can choose the ones you want, and add modules over time. The ERP marketplace is huge, and you’ll find solutions to fit different sizes and lines of business. It’s better to take a piece-meal approach—implement the system in one department, see how it works, test it on a real order rather than dummy data, and then move to other departments. Attempting a quick enterprise-wide implementation is inviting chaos.

Issues to consider

Here are a few pointers to help you chart the road. Project Management: The project needs an executive champion. It is not an IT project!. Manage the project with proper ownership of tasks, planning and control. Ownership: Identify the data owners. Operational responsibilities for the data including executive ownership need to be defined and agreed. Define goals: Determine what is expected from the ERP system and what the budget is. Then, explore the market to see what is on offer before you sign the contract for implementation.

Go modular: Decide which modules to implement first and which later. Expect hidden costs: Consultancy for implementation can be a major part of the costs. Apart from the consultancy and cost of software and hardware, the implementation will involve some other costs. Training employees across your enterprise, converting data from legacy systems and integrating it into your ERP system are examples. Loss of productivity in the first few months after you install ERP is also to be expected. Training: Educate the people not just how to use the software but also in best practice techniques, so that they understand the implications of their actions. Follow an implementation methodology: A methodology aims to cover the entire implementation project lifecycle from initiation to hand over and support. It should have the flexibility to support either a phased approach implementation or an Enterprise wide project. Amoungst other important functions, an implementation methodology should facilitate a good fit between the business requirements and application capability.