ERP Project Toolkit: The

Ultimate Checklist and Tools to

Start your ERP Project [Part 3]
With part three of our three part ERP Project Tool Kit series you will
learn how you can make the right ERP choice for your manufacturing
business the first time around.

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ERP Project Toolkit: The Ultimate
Checklist and Tools to Start your ERP
Project [Part 3]
With part three of our three part ERP Project Tool Kit series you will learn how you
can make the right ERP choice for your manufacturing business the first time around.

Here in part three of our ERP Project Toolkit series we will provide you with all the tools and a checklist for
starting your ERP Project.

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Installing the right Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system into your business will be a solid foundation
for future success. Improved business processes and cost saving efficiencies provide the capability
for outstanding customer service. It allows you to drive business forward, with greater productivity and
profitability.

Choosing and installing an ERP system is not without its risks. Selecting the wrong system or installing it
badly is painful, wasteful and ultimately, can seriously damage your business.

To help you make the right choices, we’ve put together this comprehensive checklist of the steps needed
to get your ERP project off the ground and on the road to success.

1. Acknowledge that you have a problem

Breakdowns, delays and errors in your manufacturing process will be visible to lots
of people across your organisation, but these issues may not always be flagged. This
means it can be a while before someone realises that the sum of all the problems is
making a significant dent in your productivity and profits.

2. Decide to find a solution

An answer to the problems you’ve identified is to live with them or try to find individual
solutions to each issue. But is the overall issue that your supporting systems are
increasingly unfit for purpose? If that doesn’t get fixed then the business risks
becoming increasingly uncompetitive.

So the alternative is to investigate the installation of a new ERP system, using the latest
technologies to optimise the value and results in your business.

3. Identify a project sponsor

The sponsor is a senior executive who champions the project across the business and
ensures it continues to align with the firm’s overall vision. The sponsor is not hands-on
with the project, but isn’t afraid to keep pushing it forward (and has the authority
to do so).

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 4. Appoint a project leader
Your leader gives day-to-day impetus to the wide range of tasks required for a
successful project completion. Diary management and people management skills are
essential, along with a strong understanding of the business.

5. Build a project team

The project leader will need to gather a team of doers, ideally drawn from across your
business. These are the people who will investigate, interview, review and recommend.
They are the key connectors between the project and the rest of the business.

6. Make time available for the project

Having built a team, you need to ensure they have the time and other resources
needed to do their job well. They need some time out from their normal roles within the
business, so be prepared for that.

7. Set a project timetable

Deadlines help maintain momentum and make planning easier. But don’t be slaves to
the timetable as it can be changed if needed

8. Identify processes that need improving

Get opinions about what doesn’t work from as many people as possible. Don’t assume
that team leaders know everything that goes on in their area of responsibility.

Where possible, put a financial value on inefficiency, indicating the cost to your
business. These numbers will help justify investment in a new ERP system.

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 9. Be prepared for resistance
Not everyone in your business will understand that change is needed. Some staff may
be actively resistant. This isn’t entirely negative as it balances those enthusiastic for
change and provides reality checks as to where change is really necessary.

10. Understand your costs

Take some time to understand all the costs in your business, not just those associated
with inefficiency or IT. Introducing an integrated ERP system will involve many aspects
of your business, so having a strong understanding of your current cost base is
essential to the decision-making process.

11. Be clear about what you want to achieve

As your project gathers momentum, it’s essential to set and maintain a clear vision
about what you want it to achieve. Having a vision with clear boundaries helps prevent
the project continually growing in scope. It also gives clear goals you can measure
progress towards.

12. Create a statement of requirements or

a vision guide
Your statement of requirements (SOR) is the benchmark against which to measure
potential solutions and the overall success of the project. It sets out what you want
and why you want it. Every project team member will have input to it and many outside
the team need the opportunity to see it, or at least the sections relating to their area of
operation.

The SOR is not a static document. You’ll update it as you learn more during the process
of choosing an ERP system, so version control is really important.

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 It’s helpful to think of the SOR document as your ‘vision guide’ outlining what you see
your future system doing.

BONUS TOOL #1:

Download a free template for
your vision guide (SOR -
Statement of Requirements)
here.
Download Now!

13. Research potential solutions

You may already have an idea about which ERP system you want. It’s still important
to look at the alternatives, from upgrading whatever you have now, to bringing in
something that will radically alter the way you work. Don’t rely on assumptions.

Create a list of potential suppliers. The best ways to do this are to search online, to ask
comparable businesses what they use and to be generally open minded at this stage. It
won’t hurt to have an initial chat with one or two suppliers.

14. Get approval to proceed

Now you know what you want from a new ERP system and you have some idea what
you might go for, it’s essential to get the necessary sign-off from the business to
proceed. An ERP system is a serious investment so budgetary and timetable approval
from the top is a must have.

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 15. Make a supplier shortlist
At this stage, weeding out the suppliers who aren’t really suitable should be relatively
easy. For each one on your list, consider the following:
• How much experience do they have of your industry?
• What’s their overall track record?
• Do their standard products fit well with your requirements?
• Do they provide a true 'one stop' service, within a long term partnership? Basic
questions around their support and services should reveal any gaps.

By the end of this step, you’ll have whittled down the long list to a short list of between
three and five potential suppliers.

16. Prepare demonstration scripts

A demonstration script is an example of one of your business processes. By giving it to
the supplier, along with examples of typical data you would use, it gives them a chance
to show how well their system matches your requirements.

17. Prepare requirements checklists

Checklists help you keep the evaluation of systems objective. Use scoring to weight
the importance of different functions and how well the supplier demonstrated their fit
with your requirements. Ensure the checklists are completed immediately after the
demonstration. See overleaf for a scorecard template.

18. See demonstrations of the potential solutions

Ideally, ERP demonstrations should occur close together, perhaps within a couple of
weeks. This makes it easier to make comparisons as the demonstrations are fresh in
your memory.

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 The best demonstrations use a ‘live’ system and follow operations scripts that you
provide. Ask lots of questions and try to get the feel for both the product and the
company that supplies it.

BONUS TOOL #2:

Download this free scorecard
template for scoring ERP
demonstrations against your
requirements.
Download Now!

19. Be clear about what you will pay for

As part of this demonstration process, find out as much detail as you can about what
will be covered by the price of the system, both on purchase and over the next five
years. Consider areas such as ongoing support, system modifications, conversion of
your existing data and training as these all add to the cost of ownership. Typically, you
should look for a five year lifecycle cost.

20. Assess the supplier as a potential

long-term partner
Buying an ERP system means committing to a long-term relationship with the supplier,
so it’s important that there’s a good personality match. You also want confidence that
they’ll be around during the years ahead and that your business will remain important
to them. Have you performed financial due diligence on this potential critical partner?

21. Choose preferred suppliers

One round of demonstrations is generally enough to cut down the shortlist to a couple
of preferred suppliers and perhaps some as a reserve.

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 22. Attend workshop demonstrations
Workshops are demonstrations that go into much more depth. This is an opportunity to
introduce other key members of your business to the system and to trial more complex
activities. These workshops will flag potential gaps in the system, where it won’t do
quite what you want.

23. Interview reference customers

These are existing users of the systems under consideration. Ideally, you want to visit
them without being accompanied by the supplier, making it easier to ask, and get
answers to, difficult questions.

24. Have your legal team check contracts

Reviewing the contract in detail helps prevent problems in the future. For all the warm
words exchanged up until now, it’s the contract that sets down the specific obligations
of both parties.

25. Sign the contract

Once the ink is on the paper, the agreement to move ahead with your ERP project is
formalised. While you’ll be keen to start the installation process, it’s unwise to rush too
far ahead without signed contracts.

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 Checklist summary
Here are the key points to remember when preparing for your ERP project:

Set clear goals and objectives.

Choose a strong project team.

Get approval to proceed.

Keep your assessment of suppliers objective.

Installing an ERP system is a substantial investment and doing it right will make a huge difference
to your business. Following this checklist will help you choose a system to improve productivity and
profitability, taking your business to the next level.

Next step?
Contact Sanderson to discuss our specialist
manufacturing ERP software:

Call: 0333 1231400

Email: info@sanderson.com
Visit: www.sanderson.com

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