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dIGITal ENTErPrISE | ERP

holders of the project why the old system is not efficient
anymore, and what they will get from the new system.
The main idea behind communication is to avoid the cre-
ation of a group of resistant’s to the ERP project, in order
to mitigate the risk. Two main risks perceived by end us-
ers need to be erased: first the risk the ERP will do the
work done by the end user. You need to be clear that the
ERP is not integrated to do the job of employees but to
help them to be more productive by simplifying the proc-
esses. Secondly, some employees can be afraid to not
have the abilities to work on this new system because of
their limited computer literacy. Hence, need to explain to
them that trainings will be done to help them to under-
stand the new ERP system. Building confidence among
the all stake-holders through communication channel all
along the project, to be sure people will be familiarized
ChallaNGES: USEr aCCEPTaNCE with the solution, and will support its integration.
Many companies have realized impressive benefits by Setting realistic expectations requires an investment of
implementing ERP systems; however, the success of an time, resources and money, but the payoff occurs when
ERP implementation is influenced by a great many fac- your organization achieves all its expected benefits and
tors. User involvement is one of the most cited, critical experiences ERP success. ERP solutions are often seen
success factors in ERP implementation projects. Gen- as the magic stick which will solve all the problems of
erally, when users are involved in the implementation, a company, and will enhance all processes instantly. But
the end result will deliver a better fit in relation to busi- the reality is a bit different; a high percentage of ERP im-
ness processes and acceptance between the end users plementation project fails because they have not been
and the ERP System. In technical terms, the preparation carefully thought upstream in terms of organisational
comes in the form of user acceptance testing (UAT). User benefits, budget, and timelines of the project. However,
acceptance testing is often used as a project milestone one of the most important aspect to ensure the success
for contractual reasons; completing UAT signifies that of an ERP deployment project is the ability to set realis-
the solution has reached an acceptable level of stability tic expectations. Having realistic expectations will allow
and this in turn can be linked with the issue of who is the company of any size, an ERP is achievable project,
going to pay for fixing defects. UAT is actually far more which respects the business objectives in the short time
important than that — it is your key to project success. to long-time.
It’s important to iron out the issues in a safe environment
first, and for an ERP implementation the safe environ- SUMMING UP
ment is UAT. Every issue that is found during UAT is one Though the adoption of ERP are gradually gaining mo-
less issue that will need to be solved after go live, and mentum, the failure rate seems to be equally comparable
the thing about go live issues is they can be really dan- to the challenges stated in this article. Hence organiza-
gerous. When an issue occurs in a production system in tion which is looking for adoption of ERP for achieving
a go live environment, it needs to be fixed quickly, and organization level benefits, need to evaluate all the chal-
there is typically a great deal of stress associated with lenges before going for selection and finalization of ERP
the issue. Being hurried in a stressful environment does for the implementation. Today there are no ERP product
not make for good programming and it certainly doesn’t limitations or technological limitations, but fitment of the
allow for well thought out design. product, users acceptability and communication to all
stake-holders in the project are to be addressed by the
ChallENGES: COMMUNICaTION senior management for effective ERP roll-out irrespec-
Effective implementation of ERP solutions requires good tive of the organization size / industry vertical.
communication, which is essential across the organiza-
tion. This need to be explained to the different stake- (The author is Project Director CMS Computers)

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