ERP: Critical Elements for Success

1. ERP: Critical Elements for Success Janice Johnson Garry Sagert

2. Discussion Areas • Governance • Organization • Working Environment • Project Management • Vendor Management • Communication • Beyond the Tangibles

3. Governance • Decision making & issue escalation • Core Team • Leadership Team • Sponsorship Team • Issue socialization • Faculty Forum

4. Organization • Adjust throughout project to address challenges faced at different times • Need to be flexible • Select roles based on aptitudes • Clearly define roles and responsibilities

5. Working Environment • Co-locate core project teams • Joint forum for complex issues • Build strong teams • Share offices • Bring food • Provide slippers • Celebrate success

6. Working Environment (Con’t) • Encourage people to grow • Work outside comfort zone • Start with areas of strong aptitude • Role of Leadership • Take responsibility for decisions • Remove obstacles • Support team • Mistakes are learning opportunities

7. Project Management • Means to an end, not an end in itself • Adapt methodologies that make sense • Need to remain flexible, pragmatic • Articulate vision carefully • Iterative development • Waterfall doesn’t work • Impossible to define all requirements • Keep it simple

8. Vendor Management • Important partners, but still earning money • Put arguments in context of revenue • Deadline-driven billing • Clear escalation path for issues • Disengage if not working • Keep your lever ready • Never pre-pay for anything

9. Communication • Use consistent messaging • Use multiple forums • University governance structures • Departmental meetings • Staple to pay stubs • Campus newspapers • Email • Cannot communicate too much

10. Beyond the Tangibles • Trust your instincts • Vendors are not always right • Keep it simple • Complex methodologies are difficult to use effectively