Contents

CHAPTER 8

ERP GOING LIVE AND POST

IMPLEMENTATION

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
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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 systems

2. 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 maintenance

2. Estimate resource requirement
3. Establish vendor-based maintenance support
4. Establish the maintenance organization
5. Define maintenance policy
6. 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.