Buying ERP is not the end of the decision-making process. In many ways, it's the beginning. Your provider can guide the implementation, configure the software, and help you work through problems. But they cannot decide how your purchasing process should work, tell you which inventory data is trustworthy, or make your employees available for training. Your business has work to do, too.
The implementations that go well have one thing in common: both sides bring time, attention, decisions, and follow-through. Here's a quick Look at who handles what.
| Your ERP partner handles | Your team handles |
| Roadmap and estimated timeline |
Fitting it around your real calendar |
| Software configuration | Process decisions |
| Data templates and import | Data accuracy |
| Training sessions | Attendance and practice |
| Post go-live support | Retiring the old workarounds |
Below are 10 things your business can do before kickoff, during the projects, and after go-live to keep things on track and get your team ready.
BEFORE KICKOFF
1. Schedule around your busy season
Your ERP partner should give you a clear roadmap on what to expect during implementation. This should include an estimated timeline along with a list of action items for your business to accomplish. Your job is to look at that timeline alongside everything else happening in your business and be realistic about what your team can handle.
Don't schedule the most demanding phase of implementation for the same month your warehouse is buried, your service department is booked three weeks out, and the three people you need for process decisions cannot get away for an hour.
There may also be technical work that needs to happen before the project can move forward. Ask early about hardware, hosting, network, devices, integrations, or IT requirements so an unfinished infrastructure project doesn't become the thing holding up implementation.
2. Name a project lead who can make decisions
Implementation projects can stall because the software company isn't waiting on “work” from the customer. They're waiting on answers. Things like:
- Which pricing method are we actually going to use?
- Who should be allowed to override pricing?
- What determines when something gets reordered?
- Who owns a customer record?
- Do we still need this report?
- Which of these three current processes becomes the standard?
To keep things on track, you’ll need to designate some to be the Project Lead. This person isn't simply responsible for keeping meetings on the calendar. In many implementations, this person becomes the internal expert on the new ERP. Choose someone who understands how the different parts of the business fit together and has the authority to get decisions made. They should also be involved enough in training to become one of your team's go-to people after go-live. It also helps if your Project Lead is comfortable with technology and understands the basics of your accounting.
3. Make time for your people to participate.
Your Project Lead won't have every answer. The people who know purchasing, inventory, accounting, production, service, and sales will need to be available when their knowledge is needed. For example, if your purchasing manager is the only person who truly understands how you buy material, plan for her to spend time away from today's purchasing work to help build tomorrow's process.
Key employees may need several hours in a week for training, process decisions, setup, practice, and follow-up work between sessions.As much as you can, try to lighten the load of those employees for a time. If they are expected to participate in implementation without anything coming off their plates, something will give.
Read also: How to keep your team grounded when workloads spike
Keep people in the loop as the project moves along. Your team should know who's responsible for what, what the next milestone is, and when you'll need their involvement. And if something on your end is going to cause a delay, tell your ERP team early.
Keeping to the proposed timeline will largely depend on your team meeting its milestones. If data isn't ready, decisions aren't made, or key employees repeatedly miss training, the next phase of the project may not be able to move forward as planned.
DURING IMPLEMENTATION
4. Define what success looks like and protect the scope.
ERP may eventually touch nearly every part of your operation, but that doesn’t mean every idea needs to become part of the initial project.
Your ERP provider should help you sort through what needs to be part of the first implementation and what can wait. Start with the problems you already know need to be solved:
- We need to trust inventory availability.
- Sales should be able to quote without calling someone for pricing.
- Purchasing needs better visibility into demand.
- Financial reports should reflect what's happening operationally.
- We need a repeatable work-order process that doesn't depend on one person.
Be prepared to say “not now” to some good ideas from your team to avoid scope creep. Every while we're at it request adds time, decisions, configuration, training, and testing.
5. Decide how your processes should work.
A lot of small businesses have processes that work simply because certain people know what to do. ERP asks you to put more of those unwritten rules into the system. Who can create a new inventory item? What information has to be entered? Who can change a price? When does something require approval?
You don't need to make every process complicated, but you do need to make some of those decisions explicit.
A good place to start: pick three processes that only one person truly understands, and write them down before kickoff. Those are usually the one that cause the most trouble when that person is out sick, on vacation, or eventually retires.
6. Decide what data moves, then clean it
Your project lead (or a capable delegate) should be prepared to decide what stays, what gets cleaned, and what doesn't migrate.
There are two main considerations here:
First, decide what portions of your data are worth moving. Not all old data deserves to migrate.
- What needs to be live transactional data?
- What historical information needs to remain accessible?
- What is obsolete?
- What could simply be archived?
Then, make sure the data you do bring over can be trusted. Which customer records are duplicates? Are item descriptions consistent? Do units of measure make sense? Are inventory quantities trustworthy? How clean is your chart of accounts?
Your ERP provider can give you templates, help you map information, and guide the import. But they cannot determine whether the information you're giving them is correct.
Moving bad data into a better ERP still leaves you with bad data.
7. Run your real work through the system before go-live.
Before go-live, have the people who do the work run through the messy orders too, not just the perfect ones. A customer changes an order after you've allocated inventory. A vendor ships 8 of the 10 items you ordered. A technician uses a part that wasn't originally on the work order. Someone returns a serialized item. A customer gets a special price.
Go-live should not be the first time someone discovers how the system handles an exception.
If your provider gives you access to a sandbox or test environment, use it heavily. Here you can prove out the system without worrying about the implications from mistakes made while you learn.
GO-LIVE AND BEYOND
8. Plan the cutover, not just the implementation.
Before go-live, decide what happens to the tools and workarounds you're leaving behind: the spreadsheets, paper forms, QuickBooks files, standalone programs, and shared drives.
Some stay around for historical reference. Other may still have a legitimate job outside the ERP. But if a process is moving into the ERP, be clear about when the old way stops. Set a firm cutover date, and make the old files read-only after it. Otherwise, people will quietly keep working the old way, and you'll end up running two systems instead of one.
9. Expect a stabilization period after go-live.
Expect the first stretch after go-live to require more attention than normal. Your team is now applying what they learned to real transactions, real exceptions, and real deadlines. There will be questions. But the number and complexity of those questions will decrease as the new process becomes routine.
Your ERP provider should stay closely involved for a period after go-live while your team settles into normal operations.
Read also: How the right support make ERP implementation less daunting – Keener Electric’s Story
10. Keep a “phase two” list
ERP is meant to become a foundation your business can build on over time. As your team gets comfortable with the system, you may identify additional processes to bring in, reports to improve, workflows to adjust, or functionality that would make more sense once the basics are firmly in place.
Your business will keep changing, too. You may add employees, locations, services, product lines, or new ways of working. The ERP should be able to adapt alongside those changes.
That’s why implementation is rarely a true “one and done” project. Go-live gets the foundation in place, but there is still value in revisiting how you use the system as your needs change. You made a significant investment in the ERP. Keep putting it to work for your business.
You don't need every answer on day one
A good ERP partner should help you work through the decisions, keep the project moving, and give your team the support they need along the way. Your part is to stay engaged, communicate openly, do your part to keep the project moving, and give the project the attention it deserves.
Done well, implementation gives your business a stronger foundation for the years ahead. Your processes become clearer, your team has better structure to work from, and your ERP can continue adapting as your needs change.
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Frequently asked questions
How long does an ERP implementation take?
It depends on the size of your operation, how much data you're moving, and how quickly your team can make decisions. Your ERP partner should give you an estimated timeline before kickoff. At Koble, the average implementation timeline is 6 months.
Who should be our project lead?
Someone who understands how the parts of your business fit together, has the authority to make decisions, and is comfortable with technology and basic accounting principles. It doesn't have to be the owner, but it does have to be someone that the owner backs.
What's the most common reason an implementation stalls?
It's usually not the software. It's unanswered questions and key people who aren't available when they're needed. A strong Project Lead and a realistic schedule solve most of it.
Can we implement in phases to spread out the cost and learning curve?
Often, yes. Many businesses start with core functions like accounting and inventory, then add modules such as e-commerce or business analytics later. Ask your ERP partner whether a phased approach fits for your situation. See also: How much does an ERP cost?
Brian Esh is the Director of Professional Services at Koble. He is passionate about following Jesus and helping small businesses grow. Brian has spent nearly a decade working with numerous business leaders to facilitate growth by putting software to work. When not working, Brian enjoys competitive sports and spending time with his wonderful wife and four children.
