7 Steps to Successfully Implementing New ERP Software

That way, your organisation is en route to better data manipulation, heightened financial control, and real-time data insights that streamline business functions.

Key qualities, like preparation, determination, and flexibility help accounting teams and finance leaders navigate the pitfalls of implementing a modern ERP. Choosing a provider with over 20 years of true-cloud software implementation experience, you can rest assured that the leap towards increased efficiency and streamlined workflow is worth it.

Want to discuss how Xledger can guide your finance team through a successful ERP software implementation? Click here to begin your journey.

To get you started, here are seven steps that cover the breadth of an implementation project, including preparing for implementation, during integration, and post go-live. 

Preparation phase

Prepping your business to implement a new ERP system will look different depending on business priorities. However, as with almost all projects, a good foundation leads to a great outcome. Implementation is no different.

Consider outlining some quantifiable questions that will help keep the implementation project on track. These could be as simple as “What will the business gain?” or “Who will benefit from the change?”

Here are four questions to use as a springboard into your discussion:

1. Will your accounts be more compliant after implementing a new ERP system? How much more?
2. How long does it currently take to complete year-end reporting, and what tasks make this a lengthy process?
3. How often does your finance team shift from being solely concerned with transactional data to outwardly making real-time insights?
4. What are the qualifications of the finance team and how are they being utilised/under-utilised?

Tailor these questions to suit your organisation’s needs, and then dive into creating your documentation.

Regardless of an organisation’s goal, resource planning, appropriate timeframes, and an overarching focus on data are three crucial steps to implementing an ERP solution.

Step one: Plan your resources properly to avoid disruption

Proper resource planning is key to success. It ensures all employees involved are accountable and informed about their job roles and project responsibilities. With this clarity, your business functions with as minimal disruption to daily operations as possible.

Outlining your current business processes is the best way to understand how daily tasks are performed, the failures of the processes, and how processes need to change. Typically, processes performed on legacy systems, or through Excel spreadsheets, do not offer the detailed real-time insights needed to drive organisational change.

The key to accessing real-time insights when implementing an ERP system is through the proper allocation of time and resources.

“Engage with the correct teams at the correct points in the process. This includes asking who wants the system to work a certain way, who needs adequate training, and who can be trained post go-live. This can help you to continue business as usual and stay on track with predicted timescales. It will help drive where you want the system to go.”

Deborah Morton, Xledger Implementation Consultant

Documentation of changing financial processes and implementing new accounting software processes are paramount to successful implementation projects, and we encourage businesses to be as detailed as possible as these are invaluable resources that help keep implementation projects on schedule and within budget.

Talking to experts is equally important, as they can help to inform the documentation of financial processes. Financial advisors and integration experts working within the same sector as your organisation allow you to get a feel for the journey ahead, the various pitfalls and wins you may experience, and any essential focal points you should consider.

Step two: Choose the right time to implement and go-live

Choosing the right time to implement a new finance software is largely dependent on resources—accountants and finance professionals are some of the most valuable resources that an organisation can allocate to an implementation project.

Accountants and finance professionals operate on strict schedules, and month-end or year-end financial statements take precedence over all other business operations for finance teams. For this reason, it’s wise to choose a go-live date that creates the least interference with reporting requirements or industry-specific demands.

When implementing a true-cloud ERP system with Xledger, the charity Comic Relief chose go-live at November’s month-end which caused disruption to accounting practices. As a larger charity, Comic Relief had resources on hand to bolster business as usual and, subsequently, went live on schedule. However, organisations that lack internal resources or that face restructuring should carefully consult their accounting calendar to choose an appropriate date for go-live.

Step three: Be driven by data

A significant step to a successful implementation project is to decide on how you want your data to look, not by how you think processes should happen. Data is king for a reason, and you should outline the purpose of the data, after which the processes will naturally form. 

A common pitfall to avoid is failing to determine future processes in enough detail. You may retrofit old processes into your new system, leading to persistent inefficiencies after implementation.

Data is also a particularly good focal point for employees who are reluctant or frightened of change. Consider outlining individual reasons for change with real-time data insights in mind. Then expand this to departmental and wider business goals. By breaking the granular benefits of migrating to a cloud-based ERP system, finance leaders can offer their team clarity of decisions and tangible reasons for change. 

Ultimately, data-driven projects prioritise increased efficiencies across a business, heightened data manipulation, and better access to business intelligence reporting tools, such as Power BI and configured dashboards.

Keeping access to real-time data at the forefront of all decision-making processes will ensure you create meaningful figures that support your organisation’s goals. Whatever the reason, understanding the overall agenda of your data, and how it drives your organisation’s operations, is vital when choosing the most appropriate accounting system for your business.

Integration phase

The integration phase can also be included in the preparation phase, to some extent, because integration helps to prepare finance teams for testing, and go-live. However, as a major pillar of implementation, we’ve chosen to outline this phase in three steps.

In this phase, our integration experts begin migrating data from your legacy system into Xledger. Once complete, your accounting and finance teams will have access to a demo software containing your various data sets.

After migration, our consultants begin the configuration process, where we ensure finance leaders and employees have the appropriate controls needed to complete their tasks and access data.

Step four: Test, test, then test again

Testing is the best way to iron out the inefficiencies before going live. It gives space for your accounting team to trial the ERP solution and flag any inevitable disruptions to daily finance tasks, such as supply chain management, balance sheets, and journal entries.

Ideally, your implementation project lead should allocate time in employees’ diaries to ensure they have enough scope to test, flag, feedback, and test again. After completing a successful implementation with Xledger, the U.K. charity Comic Relief gave a key piece of advice on the importance of testing.

“Try and break the system. If you don’t break the system, you should be worried. Think about all the weird and wonderful obstacles you’ve experienced in your current processes, and try to replicate these within the testing phase.”

Bex McGann, Head of Finance at Comic Relief

Having ample testing resources is key to successfully implementing an ERP system and, however scary “breaking the system” may sound, it is one of the most beneficial tests an organisation can do. To get you started, here are a few tasks to cover in your testing phase:

• Create test scripts to ensure that the people configuring the system do not mark their own work.
• Test each process at least three or four times to ensure it can cope within the live environment.
• Before testing, outline every single obstacle in your current processes, and try to replicate it into the system to break it.
• Don’t just test different processes. Tests should be performed by different people in different locations at different times.
• Make sure the people who will be performing the processes test how the system works.  Regular accounting tasks must work in the correct way for the end user.

Testing is crucial and should be seen as one of the primary tasks during the integration phase, highlighting where our integration experts should create additional controls and caveats to ensure your ERP solution runs smoothly post go-live.

Step five: Embrace change and practice empathy

Some employees inevitably resist change, but being patient, listening to their concerns, empathising, and acting as a voice for the end-user is fundamental to staff buy-in and project momentum. Without staff buy-in, you may lose resources and the project will be delayed. 

Likewise, be prepared to compromise. Different levels of reporting are often needed when strategy or target audiences change, and this change can be exclusive to certain departments. Treating each change or requirement with dedicated attention not only shows your team you care for their wellbeing, but it also means that small obstacles do not spiral into larger disruptions. 

Be flexible, be agile, and create enthusiasm for the evolutionary potential of the process.

Step six: Use your vendor as a strategic partner

ERPs have a broad range of functionality, including in-built material requirements planning (MRP), bank reconciliation, and easily scaled-up multi-entity capabilities. When discussing the requirements for your new ERP solution with your vendor, be as detailed as you can.  

Your vendor is your strategic partner for change. You can directly assess which vendor has appropriate knowledge of how finance systems work by engaging with vendors who have both broad and deep knowledge of industry pain points before you choose which software to implement.

Vendors with real accounting experience dealing with complex and conflicting issues within finance teams will find it easier, and more understandable, to prioritise the needs of your finance department. Vendors who can only provide technical IT support, however, cannot.

Therefore, viewing your vendor as a strategic partner, rather than a simple, one-time transaction, can improve your decision-making processes.

Post go-live phase

The post go-live phase of implementation shows how the transformation is working for employees. It’s easy to think that the project finishes after go-live. However, this is the time when re-evaluation is central to year one, year two, and year three success.

Here, lean on your provider, ask questions, and encourage feedback. It’s wise to create your integration and post go-live plans simultaneously. This way, de-prioritised objectives are still ticked off after going live.

Step seven: Be clear on your post go-live objectives

Outlining your clear desires for the post go-live phase of implementation helps to ensure that you stay on track within year one, year two, year three, and so on, of implementation.

You have to be clear about the post go-live process of implementation as this helps to manage expectations on all levels. For example, in your initial documentation of changing financial processes, collaborate with your finance team on what you want to achieve during year one of implementation. 

Detailed aims directly from stakeholders and leaders are essential, but make sure to listen and collaborate with the end-user. This helps to manage expectations and increase a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie for all staff throughout the organisation. 

Example of Year One desired achievements:

• Core accounting
• VAT

Beginning your implementation journey

Always keep in mind why you are implementing a new ERP system and how it will benefit business operations. 

We often find that implementing Xledger opens doors for organisations to begin a wider finance transformation by integrating with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, HR systems or Payroll platforms. Wherever your implementation journey takes you, Xledger acts as your guiding hand through the pitfalls and disruptions of integrating new accounting software.

“Don’t forget your users, and that includes everyone, not just the finance team. Be brave, and begin the journey with the future in mind.”

Nathan Baranowski, CEO & Senior Strategic Implementation Consultant at Digital Wonderlab

Want to discuss your business’s steps to a successful implementation? Get in touch with Tom Whewell, our Direct Sales Manager to begin your journey to success. 

tom.whewell@xledger.co.uk 

+44 (0)7442 911 588