ERP Implementation & Methodology

In my previous post I’ve (what, again?) shared some statistics about success and failure rates of software projects in general and ERP projects specifically. It seems that ERP projects fare somewhat worse than generic software projects, which I stated might have a lot to do with how requirements are handled.

Agile has been gaining momentum among software development methodologies for past decade or so. Various researches and surveys consistently show that software developed under an agile approach is generally better than the software developed under waterfall approaches.

Prescriptive methodologies, such as Sure Step, are double-edged swords. They are aimed at increasing repeatability, consistency, traceability, manageability and more of your projects, yet they seemingly increase overhead and contribute to an inflated project price tag.

Yesterday I delivered a presentation about benefits of Sure Step methodology, as a part of an internal partner academy program. The audience was fantastically interactive, and if anyone of you who participated in the event is reading this—thank you!

According to Standish Group , top causes of failed IT project are these: lack of end-user engagement, unclear specification, changes in scope, lack of management support, lack of planning, unrealistic and unclear goals.

Implementation is like marriage. For better or worse, you choose a piece of software, take it under your roof and commit to it for a long term, so help you God. And as in marriage, if you want to live happily ever after with your new software, the my way or the highway attitude doesn’t help much—you must be open to compromise.

To customize or not to customize, that is the question. When you see a complex business process far from the standard ERP system, a knee-jerk reaction is to reach for customization tools and do the development. Many ERP theorists say that ERP is only as good as it is an exact match for your processes.

Last week I participated in a discussion about budgets and whether you should ask your potential customers their budget. It made me think: how often do customers reveal their project budgets before the consultants bid? From my personal experience—not too often. What a waste! Of time, money, and opportunity.

Implementing a new Microsoft Dynamics solution doesn’t merely introduce a new piece of software into your environment. Yes, the software is an important part, you need to deploy it successfully, configure it as necessary, probably even customize it and change the business logic under the hood.

(A short, almost pointless rant about PMBOK vs. Sure Step nonsense) Once, while preparing an important RFP response, a partner told me they don’t use Sure Step because they use PMI methodology . This made my toenails curl up—when people tell me they are using PMI methodology , they in fact tell me they are using no methodology at all.