If you look up the meaning of the word "project" in the dictionary, you will find the following explanation: a project is a (large-scale) planned or already started endeavour. When it comes to ERP projects, this term also fits like a glove - except that the word "large-scale" should be emphasised twice instead of being left out.
Perhaps these brackets are to blame for the fact that many companies still underestimate the effort involved in a project of this size. That's why we've explained once again what you can expect.
Many factors, one rule
Basically, the extent of an ERP project always depends on the size of the company and whether several locations are involved. In addition, the initial software technology situation in a company should always be taken into account, e.g. if the processes are already sufficiently well mapped, but the software is not sufficient to meet the challenges, e.g. in the Ecommerce to exist. In this case, it is of course always helpful to have a system such as SAP Business One with many flexible expansion options. The complexity of an ERP project also depends on the approach and the company's experience with the project. It is therefore difficult to generalise about the actual effort involved.
However, there should be one overriding rule: the project stands for itself and does not somehow run alongside it. Ideally, this means that there should be one project team dedicated to the ERP implementation and only this team.
The right team in the ERP project
At the beginning of every ERP project, there is a lot of analysis and workshops - ideally, at the end of this process there is a concept for the realisation of the whole project. Here, the ERP provider always works together with the customer's project team. This already shows the relevance of the project team. After all, the provider's experience and expertise is not enough if the project team does not know exactly what the processes in the company are. This saves a lot of time and effort if suitable people are available. It also reduces the workload if the processes are already to be mapped in the system as they are - but a review of these is still essential. And that is no small step.
More than just software
An often completely forgotten, but not insignificant task in the ERP project: the possible need to procure new hardware or other infrastructural measures. In order to utilise the full power of ERP systems In order to be able to utilise the full potential of the company, time recording machines or barcode scanners are required, for example. The resulting costs should also not be underestimated.
A stumbling block for savers
As some ERP projects can turn out to be large (I think we mentioned this), companies try to save money in certain areas. One such area is often the training of employees, i.e. future users. As even the biggest cost-cutters realise that they can't leave their staff untrained on the system, they usually switch to the key user. This means that the more or less official project manager is instructed by the provider to such an extent that he can train his colleagues. However, a great deal of experience is required in order to grasp the scope of a large system. This is where the importance of a good, focussed project team becomes clear on the one hand, and on the other hand the effort involved in getting even a single employee to the point of fluent application.
Testing is good, planned testing is better
Whether an integrated process Whether the system ultimately works as intended is usually at the customer's discretion. For this reason, the system should be scrutinised closely by the company during the test phase and various scenarios should be tried out. A test plan is advisable to ensure that this does not result in pure chaos. This must come from the company. Just like any data sets or the testing of future users.
Duden delivers what it promises
The data records already provide the keyword. However, one that describes a truly Sisyphean task. Because exporting from the old systems, "cleaning" and reorganising the data takes a lot of time. The ERP provider can take over the upload to the new software. However, the data must also be checked again in the system. Depending on the size and the transferred data record, this can be a - well - "heap of work".
According to the dictionary: an activity involving a great deal of effort and time. Without brackets.
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