ERP – or enterprise resource planning – systems are crucial to the smooth operations of countless enterprises all over the world. Fantastic planning and attention are required in order to complete any major organizational changes and implement ERP. With that being said, if it is done correctly, there is no doubt that it can be well worth the hard work and care.

Here are the most important things that you should know about ERP.

ERP projects require a lot of planning

One of the best ways to make sure that your implementation of ERP software is successful is establishing well-defined goals and putting the plans in place that are necessary to achieving those goals. It is hugely important for you and your colleagues to take the time necessary up front in order to make sure that you know everything that goes into implementing an ERP system before you do it.

Figure out ways to establish oversight

Making sure that you have a team in place in order to keep tabs on what is going on with your ERP system implementation is all going according to plan is super important. Overall, this team should be in charge of things like help desks, training, database administration, documentation and more!

Make sure you know precisely why you’re implementing

One crucial thing to keep in mind is that you should know what the driving forces behind the project are. Understand what your key deliverables are and what the key objectives are as well. You should also make sure to understand what beliefs the leaders within your company have when it comes to both the project and software that you are using to implement it. Knowing these things, or at least learning as much as you can about them, will help you and your team understand what kinds of results you can expect. It will also encourage open and honest communication and maintain focus on the primary and most pressing aspects of the project.

Know what will change

Another really important thing to keep in mind is that it is important to identify the differences that will exist in how your business operates once the ERP system is implemented. For example, you might want to go from manually tracking your business’s returns and deliveries to integrating an automatic barcode scanner, so you know what is and what is not in your inventory. Your first job will be to identify what will be different and what will be the same. That way, you can let everyone who will be impacted by these changes, such as your vendors, customers, clients and more what to expect when it comes to these changes.

Define any risks (if there are any)

The truth is that there is a certain amount of risk whenever you are making changes to the way your business operates. The same goes for ERP system implementation even though there is no doubt that it will ultimately help your business. In order to be best prepared for any risks, make sure to identify and define them so that you can set up a plan on how to deal with them should any potential risks come to be.