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Tips on Staffing Your ERP Project

Posted by Brevard Neely on November 7, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

When it comes to an ERP implementation, it can be wildly tempting to keep costs down by relying on internal

resources to get the job done. While your employees certainly need to be involved at every step, it is important not tolean so heavily on their expertise and insight that you overestimate their availability and willingness to divert attention

from their own critical tasks. It can be a fine line to walk. Following are some tips on how to best include your best

people:

  Make sure you’re staffing with folks who are available. If some of your staff are already up to their ears in the

details of another major project or initiative, respect the preexisting situation and try to limit their involvement in the

ERP implementation until the time is right for them to transition. It would make anyone ill at ease to hear that the

work they’d been valiantly struggling to accomplish on Friday is suddenly back-burnered on Monday.

  Don’t assume that the ERP project is of the utmost importance to everyone. If your organization’s

communications about the implementation have been sparse or spotty, your staff probably won’t understand the

importance of the project’s success and their unique role in creating that success. Thus, their level of enthusiasm or interest may not be to the level anticipated. Overcome this hurdle by taking the time to talk to your people about their

roles in the initiative and address their concerns on an individual basis before assigning responsibilities.

  Don’t lose sight of the forest. When determining your staffing structures, remember why you hired these people in

the first place: to keep your business running, not to implement ERP software. If your project plan indicates that key

people will be pulled off their jobs for time during the implementation, then you must examine the opportunity cost of

such a play . . . can your business handle the hit?

In our experience, most organizations embarking on an ERP project position themselves for success by hiring

temporary or permanent staff to ensure that the ERP software is implemented correctly and that the business is

running smoothly. But hiring accomplished IT staff members can be tricky and time-consuming — especially for

organizations that have never embarked upon an ERP implementation before.

IT Staffing

Most organizations do not have the internal resource capacity or expertise to handle the complexities and workload of

a large ERP implementation. To ensure enterprise system operability and success, organizations often need to

expand IT teams both in the short- and long-term. With specialties including mobile workforce recruiting and human

resources training, Panorama Consulting Solutions leverages the latest technologies to help organizations build the

best staffing structures available. We are well-equipped to work either in concert with existing HR departments and

hiring practices or to create an independent model specific to each client’s needs. 

We work with a global network of experts and sub-contracted consultants that specialize in one or more areas. Each

team member has been screened by Panorama to meet our exacting criteria and trained in our proprietary, proven

methodologies. Below are just some of the global network of consultants, leads and managers that we can provide to

your ERP implementation: 

  ERP implementation project managers and program managers

  Functional experts certified in SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics and other top ERP systems

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  Organizational change managers

  Business process analysts

  Data strategy and data migration analysts

  Solution architects and system integration experts

  System and business process testing managers and analysts

  ERP system trainers

  Functional experts in financials, accounting, supply chain management (SCM), warehouse management (WMS),

logistics, customer relationship management (CRM), and other key ERP modules

  Functional experts in SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, JD Edwards, and Tier II ERP solutions

ERP Training Tips

Posted by Brevard Neely on August 8, 2011 ·  Leave a Comment 

You’ve heard us say time and time again that no ERP implementation is successful without focused, comprehensive

end-user training. No matter how bright you think your people are, no matter how adaptive everyone is to changes

and new technologies, there just is no way of getting around it: your staff needs to be trained and then trained again

and finally trained some more. Following are a handful of tips to help get your training program off the ground:

  Allocate enough time. As our research reports always show, ERP initiatives frequently go over both budget and

anticipated duration. By the time training roles around, organizations can be in a rush to get the project done and

behind them. Unfortunately, this is the worst time to start cutting corners. Plan to begin training at least 60 days

before the ERP system switchover.

  Leverage internal resources. Your super-users and subject-matter experts are critical to training success; theyknow all the ins and outs of the system, the organization and many of the people in the training classes and likely

will be effective communicators of important information. Make them key players in the process.

  Variety is the spice of training. Taking a rote approach to ERP training is not the way to go. To be most effective,

build up your program with several different types of formal and informal training. Options to consider include

classroom training, online tutorials, self-study, cheat sheets, hands-on simulations and interactive distance learning.

  Connect the new to the old. Rather than throwing enormous amounts of new information at your employees cold,

create context by showing them how the new business processes are related to the old. By creating a before and

after set-up, you’ll be able to highlight the many benefits of the new ERP system and make staff feel more positive

about the changes in general.

  Get your OCM working overtime. Your implementation needs to be enveloped in organizational change

management activities long before training begins. An environment where discussions are welcome,

communications are frequent, and executives are energized and engaged is an environment ripe for training.

Organizations that wait to ―spill all‖ during training rather than dispersing information as it becomes available, often

overwhelm and frustrate the very people they need to make the initiative a success: their employees.

Nobody ever said this stuff was easy, but there are proven tactics to make it a little less taxing.

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Six Tips for Effective ERP Software Training

Posted by The Consultants' Corner on September 15, 2009 ·  Leave a Comment 

 As Panorama Consulting’s ERP research suggests, ERP software projects fail not due to software, but because of 

issues related to people and processes. Effective training and organizational change management is an area that is

often overlooked and underemphasized during an ERP implementation. However, our research also shows that

successful and best-in-class implementations have one thing in common: effective training and organizational change

management.

We recently published an article on the SearchManufacturingERP site about tips to deploy an effective ERP training

and organizational change management program. Since our clients often turn to us for help with their ERP training

and OCM initiatives, we thought we would share some of our lessons learned with organizations preparing for an

ERP rollout.

The article focuses on six keys to an effective ERP training program:

1. Focus on business processes, not system transactions

2. Relate new business processes to the existing environment

3. Leverage a multitude of tools for ERP training

4. Train the trainer

5. Allocate plenty of time for ERP implementation training

6. Reinforce training with more comprehensive organizational change management activities

Supporting Your ERP System After Go Live

Posted by Eric Kimberling on October 24, 2006 ·  Leave a Comment Those of us that have been involved with ERP projects know what it’s like to experience the thrill of an ERP go -

live. It’s exciting, confusing, difficult, and full of opportunity, all at the same time.

While it may be a huge step in a long battle, it is by no means a final step. It seems that many project managers

use the go-live date as their primary milestone and key measure of success. However, just getting to the go-live

date on-time and under budget is just one piece of the ERP benefits realization puzzle.

What about the effect the new system has on the organization? Are people using the system effectively? Is the

software making the business more efficient? Is it adding value to the organization? These are many questions

that go unanswered until well after go-live, which is why it is important to have a solid user support program in

place to supplement your technical cutover activities.

Although pre-go-live end-user training can mitigate many of the risks that organizations face at the time ofcutover, there needs to be additional reinforcement after go-live. For example, core project team members (or

―superusers‖) should be leveraged to provide general support and answer simple, process- and system-focused

questions. Immediately after go-live, about 80% of user issues are related to lack of understanding of rather than

a problem with the system, so superusers should be the first level of support.

In addition, providing additional tools, such as cheat sheets and training documentation, will make employees

more comfortable with the system more quickly. Refresher training should also be provided as needed on an on-

going basis.

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By clearly defining your go-live and on-going support processes as part of your overall ERP planning, you will

better leverage your ERP technology to realize real business benefits and ROI from your ERP project.

ERP Success Factor: The Importance of Communications

Posted by The Consultants' Corner on February 12, 2007 ·  Leave a Comment Most ERP project teams understand the value of training. Ensuring that employees understand how to complete

transactions in a new ERP system is very important, and training in an ERP software package helps enable that

level of understanding. However, much more than training is required to ensure all stakeholders have a solid

understanding of the new system and how it affects them. Therefore, it is important to include a comprehensive

communications plan as part of your organizational change management and ERP project planning activities.

For example, employee communications is just as important as training. Throughout the deployment, employees

should be apprised of the status of the project, as well as how and when the rollout will affect them. Employees

should know when they can expect to be trained, when they will be expected to convert to the new system, and

what tools they will have at their disposal should they have problems or questions. Perhaps most importantly,

employees from each workgroup should be informed how their business processes and day-to-day jobs will

change. These types of employee communications go a long way to help alleviate the anxiety and confusion of

an ERP rollout.

In addition to communicating with employees, it is important not to overlook other key stakeholders. For example,

customers and vendors also need to prepared for what to expect from your ERP project, especially if you are

involved with a high-visibility organization or ERP implementation. What precautions are being taken to ensure

customer deliveries aren’t delayed? Are there changes to the ways orders will be processed? These are just a

few examples of items that should be proactively defined and communicated with customers and employees.

Finally, but certainly not least importantly, it is important to keep your executive stakeholders informed as part of

your communications plan. What is the status of the project? What are the major risks and risk mitigations in

place? Where do you stand on budget vs. actual? Regular updates and meetings with key executives should

also be incorporated into your project’s communications plan. 

Many of the above items are handled by the project management team. However, often times these items can

fall through the cracks and should be handled by the organizational change management team to ensure there is

focus on these important activities. These communications are critical to an effective organizational change and

ERP benefits realization plan and should be carefully considered during your ERP planning efforts.

Covering All Your Bases: The Importance of ERP System Training

Posted by The Consultants' Corner on February 9, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Spring training is finally here! To a seasoned baseball fan, it means the anticipation of a World Series

Championship, warm days and cool summer evenings sitting in the grandstands, hot dogs and peanuts, home

runs and stolen bases.

This time of year also makes me also think about that word: ―training.‖ Why, you ask yourself, do veteran players

need to go through training every year? Since most have played the game for the better part of their lives,

wouldn’t they know as much as any coach? 

The answer is simple: no matter how experienced players might be, training is the lifeblood that builds a team,

strengthens skills, creates harmony and builds strategy for the upcoming season.

Training should be just as important for your employees. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked – especially during

an ERP implementation. And lack of good training is a hotbed of poor performance.

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One of the least scrutinized (and most important) areas during the ERP software selection process is training;

specifically, each vendor’s program offerings and ability to provide training at all levels. Many  – and dare I say

most – ERP vendors assume that the project team members will learn as they go. They leave the end-user

training up to the team members. What many companies fail to realize is that the team members are so busy

trying to make the system do what is necessary to accommodate the ir processes and needs that they often don’t

learn all the ―tips and tricks‖ shortcuts, and problem-solving techniques imbedded in all software systems.

Do not let training become a secondary thought during your implementation. Negotiate the need for strong,

experienced trainers. Negotiate the time for (at the very least) all department managers to have full hands-on

training prior to go-live. Negotiate documented processes and step-by-step instruction manuals.

The best software configuration will ―strike out‖ if your end-users can’t navigate through the system, can’t enter 

and move orders without difficulty, and/or can’t perform to their usual high standards. If an end-user cannot

provide a quick, appropriate and reliable answer to a customer, your company just lost the game.

If your vendor cannot provide these services, make sure they can point you to a third-party that can train your

employees in your new ERP system and leave you with documentation to assist in further training. And once

your consultants have gone, be sure you develop an on-going training plan for your company. Don’t leave such

an important task to a peer or, even worse, an out-going employee. Make sure your team all the tools necessary

(plans, documentation, hands-on practice) to hit one to the grandstand.