ERP Implementation Lifecycle

The major ERP vendors have all developed

a recommended implementation process
basedon years of experience with hundreds
of customers. Each vendors process
typicallydivides the effort up into welldefined stages with associated tasks

 There are several common factors

associated with failed ERP implementation
projectsincluding failure to gain senior
management commitment and involvement,
choosing thewrong business partners to
help, not adequately assessing the level of
ERP customizationthat may be needed,
failure to contain project scope, and lack of
planning for effectiveknowledge transfer.
The following section will address how to
avoid these problems

Initiation
Requirement analysis
Erp software selection
Design
Implementation
Maintenance and continuous improvement

1
Initiation Perform stage initiation tasks
(at the start of each phase):
Identify, recruit, and prepare appropriate
team members for this stage
Develop detailed schedule and cost
estimate for this stage

 Identify desired business needs to be met

through this project
Develop business justification for project
Determine if system integrator will be used
and select one
Perform stage closing tasks (at end of each
stage):
Release team members not needed for
next stage
Develop high level schedule and cost
estimate for remainder of project
Review project benefits compared to costs

 2
Requirements Analysis Perform stage
initiation tasks
Analyze current business processes for
strengths and weaknesses
Determine business processes to be
supported by ERP system
Define mandatory business requirements

 3
ERP Software Selection Perform stage
initiation tasks
Identify 2 to 4 candidate ERP software
packages for in-depth evaluation
Develop set of software package selection
criteria
Evaluate candidate ERP software packages
against selection criteria

 Perform gap analysis to identify if packages

fail to meet significant
businessrequirements or are unable to
support desired business processes
adequately

4
Design Perform stage initiation tasks
Define inputs needed and sources of inputs
Define required reports
Define necessary ERP system interfaces
Define other system outputs
Perform business process re-engineering
Define any mandatory software customization

 5
Implementation Perform stage initiation
tasks
Set ERP system configuration parameters
Clean up and migrate data from old sources to
ERP system
Develop required interfaces
Perform necessary customizations
Implement controls and security
Train the trainers

6.
Maintenance and
continuous improvement
Provide on-going technical support
Deliver on-going training for new end users
and to cover system
upgrades
Plan and implement necessary software
upgrades

Gap anlysis
A technique that businesses use to
determine what steps need to be taken in
order to move from its current state to its
desired, future state. Also called need-gap
analysis, needs analysis, and needs
assessment

bpr
Business process re-engineering is a
business management strategy, originally
pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the
analysis and design of workflows and
business processes within an organization.
BPR aimed to help organizations
fundamentally rethink how they do their work
in order to dramatically improve customer
service, cut operational costs, and become
world-class competitors