A 10 step approach to designing & delivering an integrated solution

When talking about integrating an ERP solution with internal or external systems, it’s easy to get carried away with the details to the extent that a high-level streamlined plan is often overlooked.


Given my experience in the industry, I thought I’ll put down a simple 10 step plan that if followed at
a high-level will at least guarantee an effective integrated system being delivered.

1.Firstly, list down the key processes, those that at a high-level cover the many facets of the business, these are processes such as Procure-to-pay, Make-to-stock, make-to-order etc.

2.Next draw up some process flow diagrams of these business processes. Given that these are existing process there is likely to already be process flows when the initial implementation was done (if you don’t have them, contact the hiring managers and inform them that these documents are the lost intellectual property for the company because of the few $100 that was saved employing an amateur)

3.Identify each process by its system components, e.g. Finance & Controlling, Sales & Distribution, Material Management etc.

4.Identify the relevant business process owners and departments handling each of the above business processes identified, these names are important for actual integration testing.

5.Draw up different scenarios for each of these processes and perform integration testing for each of these scenarios, these should follow the same sequence as the process flow diagrams.

6.Pass onto the business owner’s the ownership of their business processes, they need to feel the ownership and take responsibility for their process when the system goes live.

7.Always records all test results, issues, errors or problems.

8.Perform the routine processes of addressing the issue. Make sure any missed processes are recorded, validated and implemented.

9.Setup workshops/ training session where the business owners run them for all the internal users, try and keep this session very interactive and interesting, otherwise the end-users will see these are extra work rather than taking ownership. Refer to my post  - 13. Training vs Educating (Just Sayin>

10. The key now before GO LIVE, is to make sure all the  concerned parties have a clear idea of the areas integrated and the importance of doing their tasks correctly, no matter how good the integrated solution is if the users don’t know how to use it then this solution might not fly, so make sure the users know how to use the tools to make the delivery a success.

There you go , a high-level simple check-list of the 10 steps to help design& manage & deliver an integrated solution, all the best.

Skills that matter !!

I strongly believe it’s the mix and match of technical and personal skills that makes a consultant tick, keeping this in mind I have listed out some important personal skills that every consultant needs to be aware of, and most importantly practice!!

Interpersonal & Communication skills

• Remember consulting is 70% listening and 30 % talking. So listen more until you know exactly what the client wants and rephrase the same requirement to  get it confirmed from the clients before beginning to work on it, most importantly always have it in black and white.

• In any meeting give the customer the first 10 minutes of it, and if possible get others from the clients side involved in the initial discussions too, this gives you time to assess the situations your clients are in and identify the key players in the meeting, then you can begin to discuss your points with these key players.

• Keep it simple, simple and simple. Use jargon with your colleagues who understand and would praise the fact you know these, but avoid doing this with a customer who isn’t familiar with these jargons, speak the customer’s language.

• After your first interaction with a potential client on what your services or product is about, make sure to draft a document with most of the exact same words you used during the discussion and circulate it with him. This way there is a record of it and he could get back to it anytime he would like to. Always inform your clients to let you know if someone else is interested in your service so you could approach them directly, referrals most often than not, work well.

• Be truthful, period. If there is something you are not sure of, it's always fine to let the customer know that you will research on the matter and get back to him, and make 100% sure you do in the next 48 hours.

Keeping customers in mind

• A general rule that all consultants have to play with is that “Customers are king”, that’s fine cause they pay for the service or product, but a consultant should be able to question a clients assumption, ask "why not” questions if the clients assumption are vague!!

• Always rehearse the question in your mind before putting it across, it’s a combination of good questions and good confident answers that’s shows the consultants ability to understand the issue at hand.

• You must have the ability to say “No” sometimes in the best interest of the projects, however before making this call its always better to get another perspective on it and always be nice about it.

• Do something the customer would appreciate but didn’t ask for. There is fine line between doing this and doing too much, so make a realistic delivery plan before doing so and keep the client informed of the plan.

• Always consider the impact a decision in the project can have on the project environment, best way to do this is to keep other relevant parties informed as well when an important decision is made. No one likes to feel left out!!

Brand Image & Attitude

• As a consultant you are selling yourself together with the service and product. You are your own BRAND ambassador. Make sure you have everything set to make a good first impression, because like the saying goes 'there is never a second chance to make a good first impression'.

• Don’t make Promises you can’t keep, and if you can’t keep your promises…. don’t make excuses!!!

• If you have promised your customer you will deliver something against a deadline, make sure to send a reminder that you are working on it!! Clients like to know that someone is working on it rather than being left in the dark.

• As a consultant you’ll have a lot of challenges, just enjoy it and keep moving forward. Remember Murphy’s Law "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”, but remember it’s your reaction in the end that could determine the outcome of such a situation.

All the best.  Hope you liked that. Your comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome at ssurenlk@msn.com

13. Training vs educating (Just Saying…)

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that training a user is different to educating a user. Most often in an ERP implementation, a training on how to do stuff in the new system takes precedence over educating the user on why they’ve got to do that, this, in turn, leads to (in most cases) the users not understanding the overall process and they’ll not bother about what happens elsewhere, its human mentality after all. So, when training make sure you educate the users on the entire process rather than just showing them what to do in their area, give them a sense of ownership of the entire process, however there will always be those users who don’t want to do more, well that’s where a good consultant can make a world of difference. Remember, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link, if its weakest link breaks the whole purpose of the chain is lost, just saying….