Procure

1. Research

First, understand why you need a new ERP and your company’s current situation:

• Decide on the desired outcomes and write them down.
• Document your current business processes, skills and systems.
• Define your available budget and time constraints.
• Research available ERP technologies and what they can do.

Pitfall: Current processes or systems are not documented.

Without this information, transitioning from the current system to the new one is harder to plan.

Solution: Start mapping core processes and the system landscape if you haven’t already.

2. Onboard

Onboard a team of experienced and independent team members to sense-check documents and decisions. This is called becoming an ‘intelligent customer’.

The people you will need to start with are:

• Business Lead (representing the customer)
• Programme Manager
• Project Manager(s)
• Programme Architect
• Business Analyst(s)
• Implementation Lead

Here are some basic programme artefacts they’ll need to create and/or manage:

• Outcomes (now further developed)
• Programme milestones
• Board reports
• Agreed budget
• Contracts
• Project plan(s)
• Risk log
• Resource plan
• Stakeholder map

3. Go to market

Your organisation will probably adopt business processes that fit the ERP. This minimises customisation effort and maximises uptake of new features. In addition to getting the technology live, you may need help to transform your organisation.

Going to market can look like:

• Find a suitable procurement framework or marketplace.
• Express your business taxonomy, goals and current systems.
• Explore multiple ERP technologies.
• Include multiple Implementation Partners and System Integrators.
• Ask the consultancies to recommend new tech and benefits.
• Request strategies from the SI to describe their approach.
• Use your independent team to sense-check proposals.
• Pick a technology and implementation partner (or SI).

Useful terminology

‘Implementation Partner’: A consultancy that offers business and technical services for an ERP programme, including business transformation.

‘System Integrator’: A consultancy focusing on building the new solution, but not always business change. SI and Implementation partner are often used interchangeably because of this.

Common pitfall: Accepting a proposal that contains only one rehearsal (or none)

If there is only one rehearsal and it fails, there won’t be confidence to go live. So, it could require a costly replan.

Solution: Plan for more than one rehearsal from the start.

This brings us to the first stage gate: Procurement complete