ERP Project Plan: Getting Real Part 3

By |May 13th, 2010|

  Let's develop a project schedule people can believe and support. After all, people are the ones who must make any schedule a reality. When it comes to ERP project planning, an aggressive schedule is not a problem. In fact, it is encouraged. However, if you do not strategically consider this schedule, all you will have is a plan to toss out the window. We must deal with the ramifications of unrealistic expectations. Edicts Do Not Always Work First, many falsely believe that when senior ma [...]

ERP Project Plan: Getting Real (Part 2)

By |April 16th, 2010|

In many cases, the ERP project plan is not worth the paper on which it is printed. Worse yet, many project managers shoot themselves in the foot because they prematurely commit to a project schedule and budget that sets unrealistic management expectations. Once cast, expectations will not go away and only come back to haunt you later. Could this be one reason why many ERP projects fail? Even when the schedule and budget are formally published, many plans are quickly tossed out the window becaus [...]

Protecting the SAP Project’s Budget and Timeline

By |July 11th, 2009|

  For years I have heard stories about blown SAP budgets and blown SAP project timelines. Personally, I have experienced a few project overruns [FN1], and a few where we came in under budget. However, I can’t say any of the projects were ever early. While I believe that coming in under budget is often possible, reducing the time frame is much more difficult because of the planning and coordination processes. You need to adjust all of the parallel work streams and get the coordination and [...]

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 3

By |October 24th, 2008|

3. ERP or SAP Process issues Let me start with a caveat to this section. No matter how good, thorough, experienced, or conscientious a consultant or a core team member is, a project will always experience a few process gaps, and an occasional completely missing process discovered at go-live. Now that the caveat is out of the way, process problems can occur for many reasons: inexperienced consultants, company employees who miss some of the process exceptions, inadequate training, insufficient in [...]

Reduce SAP, ERP, or Technology Project Stress: Part 2

By |August 20th, 2008|

A good SAP project with solid performance requirements will often be a stressful experience. Anyone who has been through an ERP implementation has experienced this stress. And although this may sound counter-intuitive, if you’ve chosen the right people for the project during the course of the implementation, you will experience conflict. Why do tempers flare with the right people? They are usually the people who care the most about the business and are passionate about their responsibilities. I [...]

Effectively Scope Your SAP Project

By |May 17th, 2007|

Over the years, people have written hundreds of articles, documents, and warnings about scope setting, scope control, and scope management with ERP and IT projects. Project scope is one of the biggest ERP project risk factors. Yet, a project may lack practical insight on setting or managing scope. SAP provides all of the tools and resources to do the job correctly--even before an RFP is issued. Since the mid to late 90's, SAP has provided an extensive implementation toolset that many do not ful [...]