Dear all,
I found an interesting mail on the Critical Success Factors for implementing an ERP from an SAP implementer. While we know most of it, this mail summarizes it well.
Regards
Nambi
“Everyone is saying similar things, but interestingly after 15 years of working with ERP the pattern is still the same. In my experience (working with SAP specifically since 1993) the following are the key 'influencers' in the success of an ERP programme:
1. Build the Business Case. The implementation of ERP is a component of a wider transformation programme, and as already stated, not necessarily the key driver. Many companies believe that implementing ERP will solve all their business issues. Not true. If this is the idea going in, the programme will never be successful. All aspects of the business must be considered - organizational impact (people), changes in technology (interfaces, reporting, document management, archiving etc. etc.), process improvement (where the business sees value through cost reduction, and efficiencies supporting cost reduction); business vision (where the business is going, what they want to achieve, how to 'prove' the value-add).
2. "Walk the Talk". Executive sponsorship and stakeholder commitment, as already commented by many is fundamental. Too often ERP is 'sold' at the higher levels of the business (since these people normally control the budgets). In order to ensure the best commitment to success, these executives have to be seen by the organization to be 'hands on'. This means attending key meetings, being a visible presence during the implementation process and 'selling' the solution to the rest of the business. The consultants role should be that of subject-matter expert/trusted advisor. The people who own the solution must be visible to their business and enthused about the solution being built and delivered.
3. Understand the Personal Motivators. Since the bulk of the solution delivery will be made by people, it is critical to understand what will keep them motivated and dedicated to delivering excellence. Will they be promoted if successful? Are they unsure of their future? Do they want to acquire a new and marketable skill? The good team leader will be able to use this information to drive their team to achieving results. Constant communication with the individuals that make up the team is therefore critical. This applies from the highest level downwards.
4. Identify early on the Stakeholders, Influencers, Beneficiaries and Saboteurs. This also goes back to the previous point. Stakeholder and Expectation management is often overlooked. Every member of the team has their own group of stakeholders etc. whose agenda they need to manage. Successful projects occur when the project has its finger firmly on the pulse of the business. The 'sales cycle' for the business solution occurs not just during the formal meetings to define as-is and to-be, and the workshops, but at lunchtime, a chat over coffee, a chance meeting in the corridor, and the walk to the train station. Far more powerful messages about how much better life will be with the new system can be transmitted during these casual encounters than in the drier setting of a formal meeting.
5. Long Haul Trips are Expensive. Implementing any business solution is not fast, and certainly not temporary. Many organizations do not realize that committing to ERP is taking them on a long journey. The fully automated, fully integrated fully visible, fully controlled system that was 'sold' initially requires many changes in all areas of the business (also said before - the comment about elephants). This comes back to the earlier point of having a valid business case, and knowing where the business wants to go, and what it needs to achieve it. Also, whether you go 'vanilla' and incur the cost of training staff, migrating and converting data and changing interfaces, or whether you go the customized route, lesser training for staff, little process change, larger interfaces, heavier modifications, it is still going to cost you money. What's more important is to understand how you intend to use ERP once it is in the organization, because it's there for the long haul.
6. ERP is a tool, as I stated earlier. Organizations must be guided by their advisors/integrators etc. to think in terms of building capability to achieve specific goals. The technical solution should be scaleable, flexible and adaptable, of course, but this can only happen if people understand and support what the business is trying to achieve and what needs to change (people, process and technology) to ensure that the results can be achieved.
I could go on for much longer, but there are others who will add their comments. I will leave you with the following Matrix to sum it all up:
Define. Stabilize. Optimize. Excel.
Strategy
People
Process
Technology
If organizations keep the interaction between the 4 core business drivers and the 4 stages of an implementation journey in mind when defining the capabilities they are trying to build, they will implement ERP successfully.
-Nambi
