While implementing any ERP project, it is very important for the Project Manager as well as the customer to understand that if the ERP Project is not on time then they will end up spending more money. The delay can be due to many factors – over customization, wrong scope of work or delay in training and delivery. There are a few key factors to keep in mind for having the ERP Project implementation on-schedule. To achieve this, the team involved in the ERP Project implementation process has to be selective and quite efficient in order to handle the implementation in an effective way.
5 ways to keep ERP Project On – Schedule:
- Get Approval of Project Objective and Scope: For any implementation to be on track it is very crucial to define the scope of the project and it should be in accordance with all the stakeholders and consultants involved in the team. Once all of them are on the same page then, it is quite important to get the necessary approvals and sing offs on the scope so that it could be locked and then we can move ahead with the next process. The ERP Project also has to be in accordance with the objectives of the company and the need for the ERP software. If the objectives are not clearly understood then there will be problems when the ERP project has been deployed.
- Understand Your Team: It is very important for the project manager to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his team who are working on the ERP Project Implementation, so that the right resource gets the right job and he is nor over or under burdened. Working with the perfect team helps the PM to recognize the cause of the problem at the right time so that a solution can be found. ERP Project can many times be delayed due to clashes in the team. If the PM understands his team well, he will be able to resolve issues faster and get the ERP implementation on road.
- Assign Critical path items to the most trusted member: When we have setup the team, it is also important to assign the critical parts of the project to the most trusted members so that they can feel that they are also fully trusted by the PM. If this task is assigned to any person who is not is not trusted by the project manager and at the crucial stage of the project, the consultant may leave the project in between, hampering the implementation process.
- Set Upfront Expectations: From the start, the expectations should be very clear from the customers end, so that the ERP vendor does not end up investing many long hours of discussion. These activities help the ERP vendor to avoid any technical complications which in turn may become a very huge road block in getting the project on track.
- Prioritize Tasks and Develop a Hierarchy: A Project manager is also responsible for prioritizing the tasks and also to maintain the hierarchy so that one knows well in hand, at what point what is required. If this is not done, it may happen at the later stage that when one group of tasks are left to be executed and since they were not prioritized, they were ignored. This can lead to a much worse problem and complication for the implementation ahead.
To know more about how can you implement an ERP Project smoothly, write to Sage Software Solutions Pvt Ltd at sales@sagesoftware.co.in.
