Perform proper requirements gathering before an ERP implementation

2/14/2012 at 11:57 am by The Sage ERP Team

The process of implementing an ERP system doesn't have to be long and drawn out. In fact, companies that are able to plan accordingly and develop visions of their future programs can get through the process of installing a suite of applications very painlessly. It's important to know how to lay the groundwork for a successful implementation, so be sure to understand the series of actions that are collectively known as requirements gathering.

Businesses that engage in requirements gathering are basically developing hard and fast rules that will govern the process of enterprise resource planning implementation. While they are somewhat flexible in practice, they're essentially the last rules or needs that should ever be broken. Requirements gathering should be done with many different departments and quite a few managers and supervisors so that planners can come to conclusions about what a company looks like and how it will ideally be organized after an ERP system is in place. Here are some guidelines for engaging in successful requirements gathering.

Departmental priorities
Large enterprises that have found a need for resource and material tracking are rarely evenly divided and supported. For example, a chemical company that creates and distributes unique blends will necessarily have a large and well-funded safety department because of the nature of that organization's work. Such a business might decide that one of it's primary priorities is to cut down on the staff or money expended on a safety department that's become prohibitively expensive. A properly gathered requirement at the outset of an implementation might be that the safety department is the focus of an implementation and will be the foremost beneficiary of improved processes and efficiency.

Business planning
An enterprise resource planning system is helpful to companies in almost any situation, but it isn't truly optimized until its processes have been integrated with an organization's business plan. This means that companies need to explore the documents and blueprints that govern how a company does business, determining which nodes will survive an ERP implementation and which need to be completely altered to make way for automation and efficiency. Take a long, hard look at the operating procedures for an enterprise and decide what should remain untouched.

Firm ROI
The ultimate measure of an ERP system's failure or success is whether or not a return on investment was achieved. This can take some time, be judged victorious or not, so be sure to set some firm timetables. Decide both what figure represents a successful return on investment and at what point in the future it is fair to say whether an ERP system has succeeded. This will help companies to know whether they need to add some resources to help a struggling piece of business software or whether additional programs can be added to improve an organization's overall functionality.