Why ERP Project Management is Key To The Success of Your Implementation

Often overlooked by small to medium sized businesses during an implementation of ERP software, proper project oversight should never be ignored. Allocating an appropriate portion of your resources to leadership is vital, and organisations should make sure to allocate at least 10% of their total ERP implementation budget directly to project management.

Two Halves of a Successful Leadership Strategy

ERP project management is divided into two key elements, which are your ERP implementation partner project manager who belongs to the external vendor team, and your own internal ERP project manager.

Even if you have the best external ERP partner implementation project manager, you should always appoint your own internal project manager to assist with the management of your ERP project. A strong internal project manager will make a huge difference to the timely delivery and within budget completion of your ERP software implementation.

These dual ERP project managers share the responsibility for guiding the implementation through its various deployment phases. Together, they protect the project by:

• Managing operational scope changes effectively
• Maintaining strict budget control over consulting hours
• Ensuring critical business decisions are made in a timely manner
• Reporting milestones and configuration progress back to the company stakeholders

Appoint a Project Manager to Avoid Common Pitfalls

Very often, the costly delays associated with an ERP implementation do not stem from software errors, but relate directly to organizational bottlenecks. You can appoint a dedicated manager to specifically avoid the following structural challenges:

• Slow decision making from executive steering committees
• Poor planning of meeting agendas, leading to unproductive workshops
• Unnecessary scope changes that alter the foundational project blueprint
• Unclear operational scope or poor communication directed to the ERP implementation consultants
• Poor delivery of legacy data during the critical migration phases
• These issues can be fully resolved with careful ERP project management by both the external ERP implementation consultants and your own internal ERP project manager.

Assuming you have chosen the right ERP implementation partner for your software project, they will provide you with a highly capable external project manager. The important aspect now becomes your specific choice for the internal ERP project management role.

Very few small to medium sized companies maintain dedicated IT or professional project management skill sets inside their standard business structures. As a result, you will typically be asking someone already in the business to take on the internal ERP project management role as a part time duty for the duration of the ERP software project. For most small to medium sized businesses, this represents a three to six month timeline commitment.

Key Skills and Core Responsibilities

If an internal team member, such as a senior accounting professional, is happy taking on the internal project management role for your ERP software implementation, you must ensure they possess the right personal attributes and business capabilities.

Essential Professional Skill Sets

• Excellent communication skills across all corporate levels
• Good general business knowledge spanning accounting, operational workflows and technology
• Highly organised work habits with exceptional attention to detail
• The ability to operate well under pressure and meet tight project milestones
• Securing the explicit buy in of senior management
• Being well respected by peers across different operational departments

Daily Operational Responsibilities

Once appointed, your internal project manager will take direct responsibility for managing the following core elements of your software deployment:

• Financial Tracking: Reviewing budget versus actual billing to prevent consulting cost overruns.
• Scope Protection: Monitoring scope changes and identifying when a request falls outside the original blueprint.
• Corporate Communication: Acting as the main point of contact between the ERP implementation partner and your business units.
• Resource Provisioning: Making sure that the external ERP implementation partner gets access to the right people, the right technology and the right data in a timely manner.
• Meeting Representation: Serving as the definitive company representative at formal project governance meetings.
• Expectation Setting: Aligning staff expectations regarding system capabilities and project timelines.
• Change Management: Assisting employees with change management as they transition to new digital workflows.
• Documentation Support: Helping to create internal system documentation and customised training manuals as required.

Conclusion

Appointing a strong internal project manager to manage your ERP implementation is an important step in the process of successfully implementing ERP software in a small to medium sized business. Taking the time to free up a respected internal leader for this role ensures your organisation avoids costly delays and secures a rapid return on your technology investment.

The team at Leverage Technologies has helped more than 250 Australian businesses grow smart with Enterprise Resource Planning. Call our experienced enterprise systems consulting group on 1300 045 046 or email your project scope documentation to [email protected] to talk to an expert ERP consultant in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane today