THE RACE AGAINST TIME.

Why time to ‘Go-Live’ matters in an ERP Deployment.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 DID YOU KNOW THAT UP TO
75% OF ERP DEPLOYMENTS
ARE DOOMED?

ERP deployments often take a long time and are fraught with risk. According to analyst
firm Gartner, between 55% and 75% of ERP projects fail. But this high failure rate isn’t
just ERP deployments that die. It also includes those that go over budget. And those that
are late. That’s because the time to ‘Go-Live’ affects whether management and the user
community consider a project a success. Want to survive your ERP deployment? This
whitepaper discusses one of the most significant factors determining your deployment’s
success or failure: Time to ‘Go-Live.’

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 SUCCESS, LIKE TIME,
IS RELATIVE.
It takes time to install, configure, load data, train, test, and go live with an ERP system.
How much time depends on many factors, including your industry and the complexity
of your company. In other words, for each business, there is a minimum time to Go-
Live. But, there is no maximum time that it could take to go live! The success of your
deployment will be measured by how close you come to the minimum time. At Central
Nervous Systems, we get our consulting engineering clients live in 70 business days.
Want to save time on your ERP deployment? Watch out for these three common hurdles.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 THE TOP 3 HURDLES
TO OVERCOME.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 1. LOSS OF TRAINING RETENTION
Most ERP deployments follow a ‘train everyone on everything before Go-Live’ strategy.
But it can take weeks or even months to go live after training. When issues arise, users
get asked, ‘We trained you; why are you having problems?’ But how can you expect users
to be fluent in a system they haven’t touched for months? Delays between training and
Go-Live lead to a frustrated user community and loss of confidence in the new system.
The longer the interval, the greater the likelihood of problems that will disrupt your business.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 2. PROJECT FATIGUE
An ERP deployment will touch all or most parts of your business, and you want your
top people on the task. The experts and troubleshooters that make your company run.
But even the most competent people lose motivation if a project drags on for too long.
Other company priorities, concerns, and activities pile up, compete for their attention,
and intrude on their time for the project. Initiatives that were supposed to be on the
backburner may have to start. And, even if your project team stays focussed, you may
find user representatives and testers tire of putting in the extra effort needed to move the
initiative forward. The longer a project goes on, the more these problems compound.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 3. COST OVERRUNS
Projects can go over budget for many reasons. But, three reasons related to time to deployment
are among the most common. Those include:

Added Project Management Hours

Project Management Hours are calculated based on a set number of hours per week for the
project’s expected duration. Suppose the assignment is late by several weeks. In that case, you
can expect several more weeks of PM and Consulting hours than initially budgeted.

Additional User Training

When projects go on for too long, the new system users can forget their training and require more
training sessions. Training time that was not in the budget.

Scope Creep
When projects drag on and on, it creates chances for system users to add to the project’s scope.
Greater scope equals more consulting time. And consulting time is money. The lesson? The
longer a project takes, the more it costs! The best way to save money is to save time.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 According to Panorama
Consulting’s 2008 ERP
Report, “93% of ERP
projects take longer
than planned.”

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 3 STRATEGIES FOR
GOING LIVE FASTER.
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Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
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 1. SPLIT TRAINING
Transitioning to a new ERP system means making enormous changes to your day-to-day
business activities and learning complex new software. Traditional ERP deployments try to
train users on all aspects of the new ERP system before going live. But nobody can eat an
elephant in just one sitting. One strategy to Go-Live faster is to split user training into three
smaller blocks: Pre Go-Live Training, Post Go-Live Training, and Maintenance Training.
With split training, users can digest what they’ve learned and practice the skills at each
deployment phase. Timely training makes it easier for users to retain new information.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 2. CHOOSE A
PRE-CONFIGURED SOLUTION.
The days of buying a generalist ERP System and spending a lot of time and a small
fortune configuring it to your specifications are ending. Today, most top ERP Systems
are either purpose-built for your industry or have Pre-Configured Solutions built-in by
VARs (Value Added Resellers). Want to go live as quickly as possible? Choose an ERP
System that is already pre-configured for your industry. You’ll get faster deployment
of standard industry-specific processes and still be able to fine-tune the software to
accommodate the “quirks” that are specific to your business. For example, Central
Nervous Systems deploys a configuration of Acumatica Cloud ERP that is ideally suited
to the needs of consulting engineering firms.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 3. WORK WITH AN ERP
PARTNER WHO HAS DEPLOYED
IN YOUR INDUSTRY.
A partner with experience deploying ERP in your industry will provide many benefits.
You won’t have to explain your requirements. They will know your acronyms, industry
language, and typical processes. They will understand the “best practices” and the
pitfalls of trying to do it “the way we’ve always done it.” And they will have learned from
their time in the ‘trenches’ why some things work and some don’t. In other words, they
can suggest tips and tricks that work only in your industry with their specific solution.
Best of all, an implementor specializing in your industry can make configuration
suggestions that wouldn’t occur to you.

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1
 HOW TO WIN THE
RACE AGAINST TIME.
Completing a deployment quickly while maintaining quality is hard, but it has many
advantages. These include:

• Better chance of being brought in on budget.

• Less turnover and burnout in the project team.
• Shorter time to value
(getting the value of the money you’ve spent on your new software.)
• A better relationship with the ERP vendor.
• Quicker acceptance by the user community.

If you are contemplating a new ERP System, remember that the faster you can get your
new system up and running, the better. That means you should train as you go, use pre-
configured industry-specific software and find an experienced partner that knows your
industry. Keep your eye on the time to Go-Live, and you can significantly reduce the risks
usually associated with an ERP deployment.

Paul MacKenzie, MBA

President, Central Nervous Systems
Engineering ERP powered by Acumatica

Central Nervous Systems  |  604.602.4375  |  centralnervoussystems.com  |  #301—780 Beatty Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 2M1