When is a good time /not a good time to go live with your ERP system? Let's consider accounting periods, a fiscal year, and other factors.
What are your lessons learned? Saving Changes...
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace CorpsYaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Hi Maria, here is my two cents
The ideal time should be at the beginning of an accounting period/fiscal year to avoid passing many adjustment entries .... But some situations may mandate you to launch an ERP in the middle of such a year
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1 reply by Maria Hrabikova
Jan 13, 2021 6:23 PM
Maria Hrabikova
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Good points, KWIYUH. Thank you.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
For each implementation we have a hypercare period before close the project where those periods are included mainly the monthly close for each involved business unit.
Avoid any other significant events happening in the affected areas of the company. One of the biggest sources of implementation risk I've run into with many clients is milestone convergence where multiple independent work streams all pick the same time frame to go live.
I'd also avoid the time before and immediately after the major holidays in your country both from a staff availability perspective but also from a mindset and focus perspective.
Kiron
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1 reply by Maria Hrabikova
Jan 13, 2021 6:17 PM
Maria Hrabikova
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Thank you for your input, Kiron, and a great observation on "milestone convergence" - I will bear this point in mind.
In a manufacturing environment, in the past we have done this at the time of an annual manufacturing shutdown. This allowed select people to start using the system "live" and find bugs while there was really not much manufacturing activity.
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1 reply by Maria Hrabikova
Jan 13, 2021 6:09 PM
Maria Hrabikova
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It makes sense - thank you for sharing your experience, Bob.
I guess that the answer to my question - when is not a good time to go with your ERP system live, would be a peak production period, and, consequently, a need to consider seasonal shift patterns in the manufacturing.
In a manufacturing environment, in the past we have done this at the time of an annual manufacturing shutdown. This allowed select people to start using the system "live" and find bugs while there was really not much manufacturing activity.
It makes sense - thank you for sharing your experience, Bob.
I guess that the answer to my question - when is not a good time to go with your ERP system live, would be a peak production period, and, consequently, a need to consider seasonal shift patterns in the manufacturing. Saving Changes...
Avoid any other significant events happening in the affected areas of the company. One of the biggest sources of implementation risk I've run into with many clients is milestone convergence where multiple independent work streams all pick the same time frame to go live.
I'd also avoid the time before and immediately after the major holidays in your country both from a staff availability perspective but also from a mindset and focus perspective.
Kiron
Thank you for your input, Kiron, and a great observation on "milestone convergence" - I will bear this point in mind. Saving Changes...
For each implementation we have a hypercare period before close the project where those periods are included mainly the monthly close for each involved business unit.
Thank you for your valuable feedback, Sergio. Saving Changes...
Hi Maria, here is my two cents
The ideal time should be at the beginning of an accounting period/fiscal year to avoid passing many adjustment entries .... But some situations may mandate you to launch an ERP in the middle of such a year
Good points, KWIYUH. Thank you. Saving Changes...
Adela TataruSenior Project Manager| Self EmployedVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
In general I would always consider the periods where users would be less impacted by an issue related to the new rollout to minimize risk.
I do not have a lot of experience with a lot of ERP systems, but maybe consider a dry run for a certain period where you would limit the usage and test in real life conditions the tool while restricting maybe some key integrations or users.
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1 reply by Maria Hrabikova
Jan 14, 2021 7:06 PM
Maria Hrabikova
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Good idea, Adela - for example, to perform a dry run of data extraction. Thank you.
In general I would always consider the periods where users would be less impacted by an issue related to the new rollout to minimize risk.
I do not have a lot of experience with a lot of ERP systems, but maybe consider a dry run for a certain period where you would limit the usage and test in real life conditions the tool while restricting maybe some key integrations or users.
Good idea, Adela - for example, to perform a dry run of data extraction. Thank you. Saving Changes...
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