Successful businesses usually reach a point where manual business management processes no longer cut it. When that happens, it’s time to turn to enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to help consolidate business information, streamline processes, and gain greater insights to help drive growth more efficiently .
To ensure a smooth and effective implementation, businesses should prepare and follow a checklist like the one featured in this article. This can help to define individual actions, manage communication, and ensure team members complete all the necessary steps along the road to a successful ERP implementation.
Key Steps in an ERP Implementation
Every ERP implementation is unique, but they still need to follow a structured process. ERP integration typically involves various stages that can be bundled up into four main steps: engage, drive, enable, and convert.
- Engage: During this stage, a cross-functional project team is built that include project managers, engineers, and management. They will conduct kick-off meetings and finalise project budgets, timelines, and change management plans.
- Drive: In this step, the project is driven forward by dividing it into manageable tasks to achieve a successful deployment. This includes planning, configuring, and testing in a structured way, with clear deliverables for each element of integration.
- Enable: The enable phase focuses on the go-live event, implementing the plans developed in the drive phase and migrating the critical data needed to get the system operating. This can involve installation, training, and solution-testing.
- Convert: The conversion step of an ERP implementation project involves transferring the rest of the data from the legacy system to the new ERP system.
To ensure the long-term success of an implementation, it’s important to remember the support phase, which helps ensure broad adoption of the new system by providing assistance during the go-live, resolving user issues, and helping to evaluate project success through key performance indicators.
One organisation that would be familiar with the key steps of an ERP implementation is Harvestaire (opens in new tab), a Western Australian manufacturer, which implemented an ERP to unify back-end business functions and ecommerce. Harvestaire’s data migration centralised information into a single system spanning customers, orders, inventory and financials. By automating processes, they reduced employee time spent on order processing by 75%, enabling the company to reach new markets and re-allocate internal resources.
Planning Your Implementation Schedule
Businesses must allocate enough time and resources to achieve a successful ERP platform integration. The duration of an ERP implementation can vary substantially from business to business. Depending on the complexity and size of the project, an ERP implementation can take between 3 and 12 months or longer.
Key Components of an ERP Implementation Plan
To help an ERP implementation to stay on track, it’s a good idea to create a clear checklist that reflects the typical roadmap of tasks associated with such a project. This provides a structured approach, ensuring all necessary tasks are completed, helping to minimise risks, and leading to a smooth and ordered transition to the new system.
A Checklist for ERP Implementations
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Research
During the research stage, it is common for companies to discover inefficiencies in their existing processes that make certain tasks take longer than they should. This stage focuses on gathering information about the business to identify challenges and pain points before the new ERP platform is integrated. This can include:
- Identifying the common problems, pain points, and inefficiencies within the business.
- Understanding how an ERP system can help and what it needs.
- Comparing ERP solutions and finding the best fit for the business.
- Defining a project scope and plan by setting specific goals and KPIs to work towards.
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Requirements
This checklist item reflects the step in the implementation process that focuses on identifying and documenting the specific needs and functionalities required by a business to operate with the new ERP system.
This can include:
- Finalising the project plan and getting sign-off from the ERP project team.
- Creating a data migration plan to guarantee that all data is clean and accurate for the new solution.
- Building a continuity plan for the data.
- Developing a road map for training for the teams who are going to be using this system.
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Installation
Installation lays the foundation for the success of the new ERP implementation project. The main focus of this stage is on setting up the new software, migrating data, and preparing to go live. This can include:
- Installing the software, migrating data, and configuring the system.
- Choosing a deployment model (cloud, on-premise, or hybrid).
- Preparing hardware and hosting infrastructure.
- Developing plans for data flows between departments.
- Setting up user accounts.
- Defining workflows, customising the system, and setting up modules.
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Migration
This stage focuses on transferring data from the existing system to the new ERP system. The goal is to ensure a smooth transition and accurate data for the new system to function effectively. This can include:
- Reviewing the accuracy of existing data.
- Making sure the data functions correctly in the new ERP system.
- Building data mapping so the data can flow freely between departments and business segments.
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Testing
Testing is used to make sure the new system works correctly and meets business requirements before going live. This can include:
- Testing individual components to work out how modules of the system interact with each other and the whole system to make sure each stage functions correctly.
- End-user system testing to make sure it's user-friendly while meeting business needs.
- Security testing to ensure sensitive data is protected.
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Training
The training stage of the ERP implementation checklist educates users on how to effectively use the new system. This can include:
- Developing and delivering training materials and programs tailored to different user roles.
- Teaching users how to perform their specific job functions within the new ERP platform.
- Providing ongoing support to make sure users are confident and competent using the system.
- Encouraging adoption and ownership.
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Deployment
This stage is where the new ERP system is set live and made available to users. This can include:
- Go-live preparation, with final process walkthroughs.
- Cutover activities and resolution of any issues that arise.
- Final configuration of additional components.
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Support
During and after the go-live, it is important to offer support for those who need it. This can include:
- Answering any questions, resolving issues, and making sure the system meets their needs.
- Ensuring support teams transition to post-implementation support.
- After implementation, teams will evaluate project effectiveness by tracking KPI improvements.
Transform Your Business Operations With NetSuite’s ERP System
When considering which ERP solution to implement, it’s important to choose one that can be tailored to meet the specific needs and budget of your organisation. NetSuite ERP provides businesses with a cloud-based solution that simplifies the deployment process, eliminating the need for a significant upfront investment in hardware, and minimising disruption to accelerate time-to-value. With NetSuite, you can embrace best practices from the outset, including clear definition of requirements and ongoing support to help meet timeline and budget requirements.
ERP Implementation FAQs
What are the 5 stages of ERP implementation?
The five stages of an ERP system implementation project are: discovery and planning; design and development; testing; deployment; and support. Having these five defined stages is very important because they help to manage complexity and minimise risk while controlling costs.
How to implement an ERP system step by step?
Implementing an ERP system is a multi-phase approach which starts by evaluating current systems and defining project goals. The new ERP platform is put in place, data is migrated from the old system, and testing begins for functionality and to track KPIs. Employees are then trained on the new ERP platform before the system is deployed and goes live. After this, support is offered to those using the system, and feedback is given so issues can be addressed to optimise business performance.
