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Unit 8: ERP Implementation Lifecycle

It is typical for firms adopting ERP to go through an initial period where they realize few notes
improvements. Some firms even experience a decline in performance for a period. Major reasons
for such declines are failure to thoroughly re-engineer business processes, management errors in
system configuration, failure to map changes to the system deriving from changing business needs,
mistakes in estimating processing power and data storage requirements and insufficient training
of end users. In a perfect world, all of these factors would have been considered in planning and
taken care of before going live. In practice it is impossible to anticipate every factor.

8.1 erp implementation Lifecycle

Successful implementation is the obvious goal of any organization that has chosen to go in for
enterprise resource planning (ERP). ERP implementation is a special event since it involves
the entire organization over a period of time. It brings together different functionality, people,
procedures, and ideologies, and leads to sweeping changes throughout the organization.

Given this kind of complexity coupled with time constraints that are inherent in almost all such
projects, the risks involved are considerable. But what does it take to sail smoothly through the
apparent rough weather of an implementation? How does one sustain the enthusiasm of the
users? How do we reap the benefits of ERP in the shortest possible time?
Any company can have the best package, knowledgeable users, substantial resources, but
although these elements play a part, they are not enough to guarantee the success of ERP.
This unit discusses the roles of consultants, vendors and users, the process of customization,
the precautions, the key issues, the implementation methodology and the guidelines for ERP
implementation.
Successful implementation is the obvious goal of any organization that has chosen to go for
enterprise resource planning (ERP). Any ERP implementation is a special event since it involves
the entire organization over a period of time. It brings together different functionality, people
procedures and ideologies, and leads to sweeping changes throughout the organization.

Given this kind of complexity coupled with time constraints that are inherent in almost all such
projects, the risks involved are considerable.

But what does it take to sail smoothly through the apparent rough weather of an implementation?
How does one sustain the enthusiasm of the users? How do we reap the benefits of ERP in the
shortest possible time? Company can have the best package, knowledgeable users, substantial
resources, but although these things all play a part, they are not enough to guarantee the success
of ERP.
1. Need analysis for ERP solution

2. Feasibility analysis
3. ERP project life cycle
ERP project life cycle can be classified into the following three stages

stage 1: pre-implementation stage

This phase is the one in which companies must question the need for a new ERP system by the
development of the business case analysis is carried out to establish the need for ERP system.
Various methodologies are used to assess the critical processes and practices of that company
and also attempts are made to forecast the impact it can have both financially and business wise
this phase consist of selection of the product that best fits the requirements of the company thus
minimizing the need for customization. Factors such as price, training and maintenance services
are analysed and the contractual agreement is defined. In this phase it is also important to make
an analysis of the return on investment of the proposed solution.

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