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The Compleat Food Group
Exploring the Benefits of Pilot and Client-Led Pilot Phases in ERP Implementation
Jon Green is an experienced Programme Director and Interim Senior Delivery Consultant with a background in business transformation and ERP implementation. Jon has worked with various companies in the FMCG industry, including The Compleat Food Group, UpClear, Bernard Matthews. Jon's expertise in project management, finance, and systems implementation has been crucial in driving successful business initiatives.
Through this article, Jon explains the critical benefits of implementing a demo or Pilot phase in an ERP system before full-scale testing.
Implementing a demo of an ERP system, or Pilot, before the testing phase in a project offers numerous significant benefits that ensure successful adoption and integration. Firstly, a demo helps mitigate risks by identifying potential problems early, thus reducing the likelihood of rework during testing. Often a system build moves straight into a testing phase which in a traditional methodology sits towards the second half of the lifecycle. In this way, any issues or gaps in the solution identified by users put significant pressure on the timeline and bring cost back into the project in the form of change requests post-configuration. Running one, or several, demo cycles, provides a preliminary assessment of how the ERP system will function in a real-world setting, allowing processes to be crystallised and outstanding decisions to be flushed out in a more controlled environment than UAT.
From a cost-efficiency perspective, early detection of system flaws or inefficiencies during the demo prevents costly errors that might occur during UAT, or worse, make their way into full-scale deployment. This process aids in better estimating the total cost of full implementation by providing insights into possible changes of scope, and facilitating more accurate budget management, being proactive rather than reactive during testing. It also reduces costs and risk by employing fewer resources at an earlier stage than full-scale UAT, which typically includes more vendor and client resources at a greater burndown rate if an issue is discovered that halts progress.
Performance validation is another crucial benefit. Demonstrating the ERP system in actual production-like conditions ensures it meets the required specifications and operational demands. It also assesses the system's capability to handle the specific data requirements of the process, ensuring accurate data collection and processing.
Whilst a system demo will never replicate the volumes of transactions of a live environment, it determines if the system can scale efficiently to meet the demands of full production, ensuring it can handle increased volumes without performance degradation. Understanding resource requirements during the demo phase aids in planning for sufficient capacity and resources for full deployment.
Ensuring regulatory compliance and maintaining quality assurance are critical in certain industries. The demo phase helps ensure that the ERP system meets all industry regulations and standards, preventing regulatory issues later. It also allows for monitoring the system's impact on product quality, helping to maintain high standards and avoid quality-related problems post-implementation. These are typically areas that can be easily overlooked when considering only process and efficiency gains from the technology when often the audibility and regulatory reporting of what happens within the system are important success criteria.
Through the simple inclusion and change of onus of demo ownership to the client team, rather than a vendor, several areas of value are created and embedded into the business long term which otherwise is traditionally harder to achieve.
Engaging key stakeholders in the demo phase fosters buy-in and generates valuable feedback, improving the likelihood of successful adoption. Additionally, demos provide an opportunity to train staff and enhance user acceptance and competency across key stakeholders who can then be harnessed as ambassadors, to return to the wider community and help champion your Organisational Change Management. As long as the demo is well prepped so it runs smoothly, this can be a very powerful tool to drive the business acceptance of the new solution which occurs naturally, and at an earlier point in the lifecycle, than a more manufactured process later on.
The demo phase aids in process optimization by allowing observation of how the ERP system integrates with existing processes. This enables necessary adjustments to optimise workflows and improve efficiency. Moreover, it reveals customisations needed to better align the system with the specific needs of the current system landscape of the organisation, which of course will differ from project to project.
All of the above areas represent real tangible benefits to the project and should be captured and utilised effectively as they create massive value and insight which otherwise may not come to light. These benefits are naturally generated through the process of a Pilot, however, there is a further vein to unlock which is rarely incorporated into the process and that is a client-led demo.
Client-led demos can be used to dramatically upskill and expedite knowledge transfer to the project team. By emphasising and including these important sessions in the lifecycle and plan, we can unlock even more benefits for the project and beyond. There will be a greater engagement by Workstream Leads through the design phase resulting in a stronger design of the solution, and knowledge is driven into the project team at an earlier point, meaning the client team can spot design flaws and issues more efficiently. Instead of trained super users, the project team becomes true system experts and accepts greater accountability for the solution as they are aware they will own a pilot demonstration post-design phase. During the process of familiarisation with system processes, the team also benefits the project passively through initial testing of the solution and generation of test scripts and scenarios which dramatically improves preparation of these phases later in the project. Through the simple inclusion and change of onus of demo ownership to the client team, rather than a vendor, several areas of value are created and embedded into the business long term which otherwise is traditionally harder to achieve.
By leveraging the benefits described by traditional Vendor demos and Client-side demos, a program manager can significantly enhance the chances of a smooth and successful ERP system implementation, leading to improved operational efficiency, cost savings, and better overall performance.
