8.1 Preparing to Go Live

8.2 Strategies for Migration to New ERP Systems

8.3 Go-Live Performance Surprises

8.4 Managing ERP after Go Live

8.5 Maintenance of ERP System

CHAPTER 8

ERP GOING LIVE AND POST IMPLEMENTATION

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this chapter the student should be able to

understand the concept of going live with ERP understand the migration strategies to a new ERP system anticipate go-live performance surprises understand fully the process of managing ERP after going live comprehend the process of maintaining ERP systems

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8.1 PREPARING TO GO LIVE

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Check support readiness in terms of:

Help-desk process Tri-level workflow model

Check production operations’ readiness for:

Coverage during standard and non-standard hours Ensure sufficient operations depth

Check infrastructure readiness for:

Performance demands Capacity evaluation Upgrade, wherever necessary

Prepare implementation schedule, indicating:

Timeline for production usage of each functional module going live

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Plan contingency for:

Performance and capacity failures in infrastructure Inability to move to production at right time Production disaster’s recovery

Consider communication for:

Ongoing documentation and communicating implementation actions and their rationale

Consult support by:

Creating insurance policy by requesting on-site support from all vendors

The most important issue among the above is to develop a cutover checklist.

Given below are some elements that are an essential part of the checklist:

1. Draft a contingency plan, in case the new system does not work.2. Create master data in the database of the ERP systems.3. Define various user profiles with their respective roles in the new ERP systems.

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4. Configure the ERP support team and convey their contact details (mobile number, e-mail, etc.) to the ERP coordinator and users so that the users know whom to contact in case of a problem.

5. Every task needs to be repeated in ERP and the legacy system.

6. Have the implementation process thoroughly audited by steering committee for a comprehensive quality check.

7. Train the executives and end users for their roles and responsibilities in the new system.

8. Test and document different modifications in an ERP package.

9. Check the availability of vendor for the go-live day.

10. Ensure transactional assistance to end users for a few days after going live.

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8.2 STRATEGIES FOR MIGRATION TO NEW ERP SYSTEMS

Migrating to new enterprise software applications is a very complicated job for the information technology (IT) manager.

But following these best practices can facilitate in safe migration.

Taking a slow, incremental approach towards ERP migration is the best way to guard against failure.

Focusing on the needs of the organization is a major requirement, and any customization could drive up the cost, the complexity, and the risks involved in the implementation process.

Getting a vendor’s accountability in writing is crucial. Understanding an organization’s environment before migration is an important task

for the implementation team. Adopting structured and standard data models in order to save time and avoid

industry-related inter-operability issues is another must-do.

Still, the most important thing is to acknowledge and address user concerns.

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8.3 GO-LIVE PERFORMANCE SURPRISES

Benchmarking Partners conducted a study of 164 decision-makers at 62 manufacturing companies who were live with at least one ERP installation. According to this report, the 10 major surprises experienced by adopting organizations after going live with their ERP solutions are the following:

1. Resistance to the shift from legacy to ERP systems2. Discontinuity in planned functionality that does not materialize after configuring ERP

and going live.3. A temporary dip in the organization’s performance.4. Development of specific skills and roles of users when changes occur in the systems.5. Imposition of constraints on the capabilities and options developed by new ERP

systems.6. Disruption in the equilibrium of the organization after implementing ERP packages.7. Termination of training given to users once the ERP systems have been implemented

and gone live.8. Necessity of a number of changes in processes and greater discipline to input accurate

information from the start.9. Conclusion of the process of implementing ERP systems is not the end of the project

neither is the go-live date.

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8.4 MANAGING ERP AFTER GO LIVE

The initial success of post-go-live phase depends upon three critical steps.

1. The first step involves housekeeping. It includes stabilizing the new ERP system and its auditing to identify major breakdowns, inconsistencies, and deficiencies.

2. The second step is to add functionality and to reengineer the necessary processes.3. The third step is to extend and integrate ERP systems.

After going live with the new ERP system, organization must transit from the project mode of operation to ongoing maintenance and support departments.

Barriers to ERP success

Even after the successful implementation of ERP package, many barriers in its success remain.

In fact, during a typical three-year ERP application life cycle, the implementation stage could represent as little as 10% of the total period.

The remaining 90% is taken up with the ‘post-go-live’ activities and ongoing management.

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Some of the key activities identified under this category are as follows:

Troubleshooting Processes Struggling with New Reports Managing Interfaces Dealing with Scale Assisting Users Maintaining Performance Securing Information

These on-going management activities greedily consume the IT resources charged with supporting ERP applications.

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8.5 MAINTENANCE OF ERP SYSTEMS

ERP maintenance is defined as the post-implementation activities undertaken from the time the system goes live until it is retired from the production.

According to Celestee (2002), the annual maintenance costs approximate 25% of the initial ERP implementation costs, and upgrade costs account for as much as 25–33% of the initial ERP implementation.

Celestee (2002) proposed an ERP maintenance model by adopting the definitions of software maintenance given by ISO/IEC.

The maintenance model covers issues related to

1. ERP maintenance planning, 2. software maintenance execution, and 3. ERP upgrades.

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ERP Maintenance Planning

This phase involves planning for the maintenance of ERP and its application software. The sequences of steps involved in this stage, with their respective tasks, are as follows:

1. Define ERP maintenance2. Estimate resource requirement3. Establish vendor-based maintenance support4. Establish the maintenance organization5. Define maintenance policy6. Develop maintenance procedure

Software Maintenance Execution

This phase includes a sequence of activities and tasks adopted by an organization in organizing, managing, handling, controlling, and executing the software maintenance request.

The sequence of steps involved in this stage is:

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Classify maintenance request in terms of its types, for example, software change, user-support, and request.

Classify, approve, maintain, and prioritize the maintenance request. Determine a vendor’s ability of providing maintenance support like bug fixing and

modification. Analyze service request and develop alternative solutions. Also, identify the

number of modules affected by it, and cost and time for the maintenance. Identify the affected modules and functional areas, the documentation to be

modified, and the design implementation strategies, and devise test strategies. Implement the solution by developing code, customizing the code, and performing

unit testing. Perform quality assurance by conducting quality test, performance regression test,

business process verification, perform integration test, and updating all related documents.

Transfer information into production system by notifying the users of maintenance delivery, and making an archival copy of the old version of the module/component.

ERP Upgrade Stage

This phase comprises the activities and factors that should be considered while upgrading an existing software system with a new version.

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The sequence of steps and the tasks involved in this phase are:

1. Design the ERP software upgrade method, and tailor it for internal use.2. Identify benefits and challenges of each upgrade option, and its support option. 3. Develop actual situation/case to test and perform the upgrade and justify of the

decision. 4. Make full assessment of the modifications in the current version and technical

environment by identifying the number of business modifications and linking them to business reasons.

5. Assess the new functionality and its technical requirements by evaluating its benefits, technical requirements, and drafting a plan for benefit realization. Also, conduct an impact analysis of the new upgraded version and the existing version.

6. Install the new version with the required modification on the live ERP system, and conduct a thorough testing of the upgraded system before going live with the new version.

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