Changing ERP: how does it work?

In order to successfully complete your ERP changeover, it is recommended to define a change management strategy beforehand. The aim of change management is to support internal transformation projects. A well-defined change management methodology will facilitate the acceptance of the upcoming changes by the employees.

Carry out an audit of the existing system

There are several reasons why a company may want to change its ERP system. Indeed, it is necessary to make an inventory of the existing system. It will enable you to have an overview of the positive and negative points of your current ERP.

As we know, an ERP system such as Sage X3 manages a large part of a company’s services: from finance to human resources to the sales department. All of your employees will be affected by this new organization.

The goal is to involve people from each of the department concerned to let them share their day-to-day difficulties as well as the the limitations of the current software package. Be attentive to your employees is the key to successful change management. It will give you all the keys to choose a management software that will answer their problems.

During this phase, Absys Cyborg will share its expertise with you by accompanying you in the drafting of the specifications of your project. For more than 30 years, Absys Cyborg has been supporting you throughout your digital transformation. Our experts will help you to find the ideal solution.

Build an ERP changeover project team

Changing ERP is an important project. To carry out this project, it would be recommended to set up a dedicated team. You will need to choose the team members carefully to ensure that they have all the skills needed to succeed in this project.

This team will be in charge of steering this project and ensuring that the ERP implementation goes smoothly. An ERP team is generally composed of:

• A project director: member of the management team, he also acts as supervisor and defines the scope of the project
• A project manager: he coordinates every activity related to the project. He ensures the success of the project within the budget and on time
• The key users: they are the project’s internal ambassadors. They ensure that the software package is correctly configured and that it is consistent with the needs
• The users team: it is composed of ERP final users. Their roles is to test the software and evaluate its performance
• The IT team: it manages all the technical aspect

The integrator choice is important in an ERP change project. Absys Cyborg experts will advise you throughout the integration process.

Communicate with your staff

When the team has been set up, you will need to communicate with all the people who will have to use this new tool. If several departments are involved, you will need to communicate individually with each of them.

Communicating individually with each department will limit resistance to change and encourage approval of the new practices.

Choose the most appropriate method of communication: in-person meeting, newsletter, coffee-talks etc. As your employees are the key to success of your project, you should support them throughout the process by answering their questions. Keep them informed of the objectives, the progress of the project and the benefits of the ERP in their daily tasks. In other words, your employees must have a clear view of the project’s progress.

Setting up training plan

Training is the key to change management. You need to help your employees being more familiar with the new ERP by providing them appropriate training plans.

Face-to-face or remote, online, or paper-based… You must also choose the type of training and the appropriate materials. You have to do everything possible to ensure that your employees become familiar with the new processes.

As with communication, it would be better to provide personalized training materials for each user rather than a global support for the whole company.

Our project teams apply a 4-phase deployment methodology including a training and a validation phase.

As a certified training organisation, Absys Cyborg has several training courses for Sage, Microsoft and Kyriba software. During this stage, our experts will be able to train you and guide you in the choice and customization of your training material.

Follow-up when the ERP has been deployed

The change management strategy does not stop when the coworkers have taken over the tool. You have to continue the follow-up and analyse the implementation feedback of this new tool.

Indeed, you need to define KPIs for each department concerned in order to measure the success of the ERP change project. The collected data will allow you to adjust the process for optimal use of the ERP. You will have to implement a continuous improvement strategy in order to optimise your company’s performances in long term.