Implementing an ERP system isn't just work for the implementation team. It's also many hours spent by your employees. Planning employee time needs to be understood and accounted for before you start an implementation or a major change to the system.
ERP Implementation and Employee Time
If you're planning to implement any ERP system (or, more broadly, any system at all), but you don't have the time for your employees to actively take part in it - don't start the implementation. You'll be wasting money. Why?
As the implementer, I'll come in, see how the process works, understand what happens in your company in terms of workflow - but that will never be as deep as your employees' own understanding. And that knowledge is often held by individual employees - and they're essential during certain meetings. Or for validating the system, at certain critical moments.
Where's the problem, and why is this time needed?
The devil is in the details. Sometimes seemingly minor details of a process can decide which implementation you should go with. Other times, full clarity about what we actually want to achieve by introducing a solution into the system only comes after a few rounds of verification, and a few "failed" solutions - precisely because new requirements surface that we hadn't thought of earlier (I'm not pointing fingers - that's just how it goes). But that's exactly what takes time - the time of the people who will later use the system. Checking things and getting quick feedback on the system early on. Those aren't wasted hours - I've seen this time pay off later, in a deeper understanding of the system.
It plays out one of two ways:
- Employees are engaged, the solution gets challenged by them, and they see the "heart" of the system
- Employees don't spend a moment on the implementation, they get something to click through that doesn't really help them in their work
Without engagement and time, there's no chance the software will actually help solve the company's problems.
What this often looks like in practice
A new business need comes up. It could be anything - say, a new product configurator on the company website. I know the project's assumptions, because management presented them. I can see what's happening in the system. I can move on to implementation. But can I really?
In practice, nothing is ever perfect. A new product configurator is just one (the first) step in the business process (after that comes billing, production, shipping). Usually, all kinds of things can happen on the production floor - and while production is handling the system fine right now, after a seemingly minor change gets deployed, everything can fall apart. That's why you need to involve someone from production right away, and ask how this change will affect what they do every day. It might end with an hour-long conversation, or it might turn into dozens of hours and a change in assumptions. Either way, it'll always be less than implementing without consulting them.
Planning time for an ERP implementation
When you're planning an implementation, plan your employees' time too - just as realistically as the budget and the timeline. Planning employee time isn't an add-on to the project, it's part of it. The hours you save now will come back later as rework, a system that doesn't fit, and frustration from the people who were supposed to work in it.
If you're wondering where to even start - I wrote more about that in ERP System - Where to Start the Implementation?.