Managing the Total Cost of Ownership for ERP
Know how the business conducts and performs transactions on a daily basis. Learn how the exceptions are managed in the current environment. It's much easier to help the business team understand the impact of the changes when those changes are clearly identified. This effort will be most successful if it is completed by the subject mattar experts. Not only will this information be helpful as ERP vendors and products are evaluated, this step is essential to building the transition plan for the entire organization.
What events drove the decision to implement a new ERP solution? Will this ERP replace an existing ERP or is this a first time implementation? Were the drivers internal or external?What were the expectations of the business and IT leadership of the ERP solution? And how will the metrics be captured and communicated? These questions need to be incorporated into the planning for the ERP implementation.
Before the current state analysis is completed, engage the IT leadership and plan for the maintenance and support of the ERP applications. Staff training on the new ERP applications will be needed. And some new hires may be required to provide support. The support model for the ERP solution needs to be completed considering factors such as company locations, time zones, languages. Developing the support model early will ease many of the decisions needed during the ERP implementation.
