I am currently working as a Change Management Consultant on my 13th Business Transformation project where I am encouraging leadership to have new operational procedures and training materials developed to accompany the major upgrade of SAP to S/4HANA system.
In my experience I have seen one form of go-live where the policies and procedures were not developed, users went live on the new ERP system for operations and the IT staff, end users had weeks of go-live issues and users were frustrated as they had to get acclimated to the new system and learn how they do their jobs differently. In these kind of cases, most times, departmental productivity dropped for three to six months.
I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard the project management team say, “ERP systems are designed to be intuitive!” as an excuse for not writing procedures. As a change adviser, I have asked, if these systems are so intuitive, why do users have challenges using them? Maybe it’s intuitive for those under 30 that have far more PC and web browser skills than mature workers.
It might interest you to know that the new system’s table coding and structure isn’t intuitive at all. The system’s screens don’t tell the users how they are to use the system to do their jobs. And most importantly, company policies and procedures are not embedded in the system process, nor are they interpreted for the departmental users. To make matters worse, businesses with heavy peak sales that hire lots of seasonal employees run the risk of mistakes and errors. Worse still, they may have to accept lower productivity without good procedures and training materials.
To help alleviate these issues, here’s a checklist of 8 Action Steps to take that will help ensure a smooth ERP system upgrade.
Procedures are a Vital Part of the New Processes and Systems
Effective documentation supports the training and use of the new system. Without procedures, it may take six months or longer for the company to return to its former productivity levels or reach the new goals. Additionally, the customer would not be served uniformly if company policies and procedures are not developed and agreed upon.
Differences in types of procedures
- Software vendors provide documentationabout the system’s This can be extensive and not a resource you would ever turn over to the average hourly worker in order to understand how to use the system. However, it will be valuable for super-users and department managers. Education on the basics of systems capabilities in a formal classroom setting can take several weeks to understand. This type of documentation does not pass for what your company needs in terms of standard operating procedures and how the users are to utilize the new system.
- Develop standard operating procedures. Best example: Procedural development of policies for customer service – replacement products, return policies, free shipping, etc.
- Develop training user procedures. These are “how to” instructions you use to train new systems users by explaining field-by-field and table-level detail. It includes comparisons of the old system and new systems. Examples: How to enter various orders; how to increase credit limits; managing pick process; returns processing, etc.
Documentation and Help System
Most systems have strong help screen capabilities but it needs to be tailored to your documentation. As you’re selecting a system, consider these documentation objectives and determine how the documentation will reside online rather than hardcopy manuals.
Set up a Training System
Be sure as you select systems, you have the licenses for three instances (or copies) of the system as part of your license agreement; Production, Development and Training. This enables trainers and users to play arounfd with the system and not create production or development problems.
Plan Time to Develop Documentation
A high percentage of the time documentation is not planned early enough to get it accomplished. Build that time and the assignment into the plans.
Hands-on Training and Using Procedures
An excellent way to train key users in every department is to give them responsibility for full system tests in a conference room pilot setting. Get them to design all the different types of transactions with known data. This is the very best way to not only test the system, but to also train the best system users and test your training materials.
Who will Write the Documentation?
Few companies have people tasked with writing procedures. We think the only way to get this done is to assign it to department managers. I can hear you now, some of them are not the best trainers. Well it’s essential for them to be involved and help their people make the transition.
Training your Entire Company
How are you going to teach everyone to manage the business with the new system? It’s a total culture change, and the procedures help support the organization and mitigate some of the risk.
Post Implementation
Within a week or so of the go-live date, see who in the organization needs more training. Also evaluate where your procedures and training materials need improvement.
Procedures are a critical part of the process improvement and installation of a new ERP, OMS or WMS system. Without it you risk low initial use and lost productivity.
