12 Tips for Project SuccessSuccessful ERP implementation requires the right support and the right approach. And it starts with organized project management, acceptance and support from users at every level of the organization, and team member accountability. The way you begin an ERP project with JD Edwards World will set the stage for the entire undertaking. Whether it’s an implementation, an upgrade, or a Business Process Review, starting on the right foot can help ensure the success of the project. So, where do you begin?
First things first, you should bring on a team who can help you navigate this project. You typically hire a team based on their experience and expertise, but who are the individuals involved, and where does your team fit in? Let’s meet your project team.
The Steering Committee is made up of executives and senior managers from key business units and departments involved in the project. The Committee initially builds consensus throughout the organization and then, once the project is underway, ensures that the project continues to meet the set vision, goals, and objectives.
This is an executive-level team member who has the ultimate authority over the project. They allocate funding, fulfill client-side project resources, and provide executive-level direction when needed. The Executive Sponsor is the vocal and visible champion of the project both within the organization and for the consulting team.
The Project Sponsor is ultimately responsible for the success of the project. They have knowledge of the internal business case and key objectives of the project. They will receive regular project updates, provide clarity to the project vision, offer leadership, and remove business-related barriers to the progress of the project. Depending on the size of the project, the Project Sponsor and the Executive Sponsor roles can be filled by the same person.
Depending on the size of the project and the client’s project team, there may be a Project Manager on the client side as well as on the consulting side. The Project Manager acts as the main point of contact for managing the project deliverables, budget, and timeline. They are responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the project and are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the project is delivered on budget, on schedule, and within scope.
As with any business endeavor, these are the people that have an interest in the outcome of the project. While they are typically client team members, some projects can include Stakeholders who are external to the company, including investors, customers, and suppliers.
SMEs are client team members who participate in defining requirements for the project. They usually have expert knowledge of a specific function, technology, or business process. Typically, the needed Subject Matter Experts include the System Manager, functional leads and users in Accounting, Customer Service, and Procurement, and internal IT Business Analysts.
This executive-level person on the consultant side is responsible for managing the customer relationship as a whole across the entire project. They work directly with the client’s executive team to ensure that all of the commitments made by both the Consultant Team and the Client Team are completed.
The Project Manager acts as the main point of contact for managing the project deliverables, budget, and timeline. The Project Manager also helps to mitigate risk and ensure that the client’s requirements are met by managing the project deliverables, budget, and timeline.
The Project Team is made up of those individuals who are responsible for planning and executing the project. They can be full- or part-time, technical or functional. The size of the Project Team varies with the complexity or size of a project. Project Team Members are responsible for completing tasks related to their expertise as well as completing deliverables according to the project timeline.
Generally, the Functional team is comprised of team leads that closely align with the Client’s Subject Matter experts, including:
We have the major players identified, so what’s next? Although everyone involved may be chomping at the bit to dig into the dirty work, the first step of any project this complicated should be creating a project charter.
A project charter serves as an internal document and contract for the project team. It lays out the scope, objectives and deliverables of the project, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the project team members. Going through the process of creating the project charter can often be the most important part of a successful project management process.
Briteskies project charters are generally comprised of the following sections:
The primary purpose of the charter is to get agreement on all of these aspects of the project before the project begins. The process of creating a charter is the mechanism that facilitates this agreement. Through the project lifecycle, the charter becomes the reference document for the project manager, stakeholders, and everyone else impacted by the project as it states what was agreed upon and how it will be accomplished.
Here are some high-level details about each section of a Project Charter.
The project charter begins with a Statement of Need. This brief section highlights the general goals of the project and, most importantly, why the project is happening. Whether it is a software upgrade or complete re-platform, the Statement of Need gives the “what” and “why” of the project.
This section of the project charter furthers the explanation of the “why” of the project. What will happen, and how will it improve the company? It is a statement of the business benefits that directly correlate to the original business case that supported the approval of the project in the first place. Identifying benefits works to offer a more concrete analysis of potential project results and the advances that will be gained.
As the name suggests, this section outlines criteria crucial for the project's success. If these identified factors are not achieved, the project timeline or budget will surely suffer.
The metrics included in this section are those that will determine whether or not the project is successful, and should be directly impacted by the aforementioned Critical Success Factors. These are the specific measures by which the project team and the project itself will be evaluated.
In this section of the project charter, we start getting into the “how” of the project. How is the project going to be implemented to address the Statement of Need, Critical Success Factors and Measures of Success? This section is one of the most important to discuss with all parties involved so as to ensure everyone is on the same page with the project implementation strategy and methodology.
This lists those outside of the consulting team who are involved and impacted by the project. It serves as the list of those to whom the project team is accountable. If the project consists of multiple phases, it is important to indicate who is affected by which phase.
Project Scope is a more detailed section of the charter. It is often broken into three subsections: Scope, Deliverables and Out of Scope. The Project Scope provides boundaries for the work, which helps maintain focus and avoid scope creep. This is another aspect that helps to meet timeframe goals. The scope statement in the charter is the reference point used by the project manager to say "yes" or "no" to various requests throughout the process.
This section outlines a few crucial parts of the project. The first, Assumptions, lists which responsibilities each party will oversee; such as who is paying for what and which members of the customer’s staff will be available. The Constraints and Dependencies section lays out things that may negatively affect the project and that need to be taken into consideration. This section also includes a list of Risks, which are another important list for all parties to be aware of as the project begins so that proper mitigation strategies can be discussed ahead of time.
In this section of the charter, the roles of each member of the project team are assigned and explained -- occasionally categorized by customer or development team. The team structure defines each project role, assigns team members to each role, and outlines the responsibilities of that role. This eliminates any confusion as to who is responsible for which aspect of the project, and helps ease communication when questions arise.
The Communication Plan outlines when and how of the project. The Customer and the development team will establish a working communication plan -- with each other, as well as with the larger customer community. Whether check-ins involve weekly, optional meetings, mandatory daily status updates, or anything in between, depends on the project itself and the team members involved. The Communication Plan should come from the larger change management process to ensure that everyone impacted by the project receives regular updates.
This is usually just a link out to a collaborative website -- a hub where the team posts assigned project responsibilities and deadlines, schedules meetings, uploads and downloads relevant documents.
After all of the aforementioned regulations and specifics have been determined and agreed upon, we come to the Approval for a successful implementation. This section includes a contract to be signed by all involved parties agree with the overall Project Charter and is signed by the necessary parties, just like any other binding agreement.
With all of the roles and project details agreed upon, your team can get to work on your ERP project -- supported by the best JD Edwards World solution!
While it may seem simple seeing it all laid out like this, we can’t stress enough how important it is to assess your team, review your resources and be sure to bring on a qualified partner. Now may be an ideal time update technical support to help you through an ERP project. Know when it makes sense to upgrade. Are you ready to get started? Contact our team.
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