go live is just the start - managing ax improvement projects | carlo dipucchio

BDO SOLUTIONS

Going Live Is Just The Start!

Agenda1. Introduction2. Life After Go Live3. Have a Roadmap4. Post Implementation

Assessment5. Why an ERP Center of

Excellence?

6. Building a Thriving ERP Business Community

7. Rolling out Post Implementation Improvements

8. Bottom line9. Q & A

Carlo DiPucchio, Senior Manager Delivery

• Over twenty years of Management Consulting experience organizing and implementing Business Solutions with various applications including Dynamics Ax, Dynamics NAV, SAP, Dynamics GP, Sage, and Epicor.

• Planned and executed 80+ projects, of which many were multi-year projects and international, providing services in the following areas:

• Project Management• Technology selections• ERP solutions, upgrades,

ISV• Technology and integration

• Disaster recovery planning • Application training• Management reporting• Custom development

Life After Go Live…

Post Implementation Assessment

• Celebrate successes• Learn from mistakes• Do both as a team• Document findings• Review them before

starting next project

• Did we meet the goal?• Did we meet the budget?• Did we do it on time?• Are we better off today

than before the project?

Have a Roadmap

Busin

ess B

enefi

ts a

nd

Com

petit

ive

Adva

ntag

e

Time

Phase 0: Legacy System

•Broken Business Processes

•Misalignment with Business Requirements

•Technology Obsolete

Phase 1: Go Live ERP

•Core Functionality

•Embedded Best Practices

•Industry preconfigured

•Limited Alignment with Competitive Edge

Phase 3: Competitive Edge

•Advanced Modules and Competitive Edge

•Third-Party ISV’s

•Reporting and Analytics

•Business Process Improvements

•Customizations

Phase 4: Results and ROI

•Fine Tuned Business Processes

•Fulling Leverage Functionality

•Ability to Analyze and Execute

28% of ERP Implementations

Business process reengineering and Organizational change management

focus

72% of ERP Implementations

Software Focus

AS IS

TO BEGo Live

Continuous Business Improvement

ROI, Extended Applications, e-CommerceExtensions toward SCM and CRM

Core ERP Implementation

The “TO BE” vision established during core ERP implementation is limited to near and mid-term planning and is targeted for achievement at the point of Go Live.

At Go Live, a new “TO BE” must be established or business improvements will only be incremental relative to the initial To Be vision.

Clients need to simultaneously a) maintain and support existing ERP functionality and b) provide the engine to seize new benefits.

CoE? No

Yes

Performance

Beyond Day One

Incremental Improvement

Why an ERP Center of Excellence?• An optimization of business processes that drive business benefit

continually• An optimization of end user competency and employee fulfillment of

business processes• Continued coherence and integration of functionality and data through

all process chains.

Building a Thriving ERP (AX) Business Community

• Build a Center of Excellence around your ERP software• Plan and schedule incremental training sessions to continuously

improve your knowledge• Update your documentation as business changes• Establish your system of governance structure• Begin executing an on-going maintenance plan• System evolution planning• Keep up to date on your product versions including security patches• Communicate with your partners to keep abreast of new features and

competitive advantages in the marketplace

Create a Continuous Business System Process: Improvements Through Motivation

• Share information from start to finish• Share the good and bad• Seek employee insight and feedback• Make employees feel part of something important, exciting and new• Endorse change• Make them accountable• Allow creativity• Measure performance and adjust behavior accordingly• Thrive for improving processes

Rolling Out Post-Implementation Improvements

• Build a case for the new process or needs

• Set realistic expectations• Use upgrades as an opportunity to

reassess the functionality of the ERP Software

• Create a realistic project plan with checkpoints and milestone

• Rollout in phases where possible (Big Bang or Phased)

• Build sandbox test environments as needed to replicate the live environment

• Follow a methodology and best practices

• Try incremental updates initially until you have a process in place to manage mass changes

• Identify the ways that the change can help you realize measurable business benefits

• Measure the ISV solutions against a custom solution

• Don’t forget all that SOFT “people” stuff

Post Implementation Planning

• Hotfixes• Deferred Modifications• ISV Solutions• Upgrades• Data Mart or Business Intelligence

• New Functionality• Change Management• Turnover• Performance Optimizations

Learn How to Say “No”• Bug fix vs new functionality• Maintain system performance• Pros/Cons of customizations• Changes to core functionality• Reports, Queries, Data out• Unique business processes• Nice to have functionality

Build a Change Management Process

New Requests

Enter request in Change Management System and complete initial level of

effort estimate

Received via help Desk, email, phone,

etc.

Business Owner & IT IT

Business Owner

Approved

Review, Approve / Reject, & prioritize

Notify requestor

Rejected

IT

Complete Development & Unit

Testing

IT

Complete Test Plan and test

per planPass or Fail

Business Owner

Business Owner

Communicate, provide training,

& schedule deployment

Migrate to Production

Business Owner

Functional Requirements

Documentation

Approve Req Doc

Complete second level of effort

estimate

Release for development (based

on priority & workload)

Complete technical design documentation & final

workload est.

Faile

d –

Requ

irem

ents

Ch

ange

So Be Prepared!• Ask the right questions• Find out what the Best Practices are• What level of partnership does the reseller have

with the ISV or ERP software?• How long have they worked together and what

type of projects?• What type of support is offered?• Don’t be bullied into making rash decisions

ERP Implementation Doesn’t Stop at Go Live• Give business process ownership to business

• This includes responsibility, not simply the right to order up new code.

• Place IT or a governance group in a support role for business process • Retains integration controls & disciplines• Retains customization role

• Spread these roles and the urge for change• Continual refresh of “To Be” vision• All measured, all monitored

• Business Impact: ERP becomes an engine for benefit, not a cost center.

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Bottom Line• ROI should be measured from the beginning of the project

and carried through time• Cost is only half of the equation• ROI has no ceiling (nor does a To Be Vision)• Continuous business evolution is the goal, not just

implementation• Plan, plan, plan…

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