10. Neglecting the end user

Symptoms: One of the most overstated attribute of an ERP system is the promise of real-time integrated data. However one of the biggest nightmares that end users find with an ERP system is integrated data. When closely examined we see that the promise of integrated data can deprive end users from making data adjustments or on the fly changes that were common with legacy applications.  

Other common problems that ERP end users face is finding data, producing the right reports, increased complexity, mis-configured workflow,  ill-defined processes for performing critical tasks, recording of data in different places, etc. 

ERP systems can drastically revamp the work of end users and adversely affect a company’s mission critical processes when the end user input is ignored.  

Symptoms: Involve the end user early on during the requirements gathering phases and confirm with end users that requirements have been correctly captured and understood. Elaborate understanding of requirement with flow process diagrams. Obtain end user sign off and approval on captured requirements before proceeding to design a solution.  

For complex business functionality to be replaced with the ERP solution hold prototype sessions to demonstrate the systems’ capability, ease of use, and conformance to business rules and requirements. Solicit feedback from end users during the prototype sessions and ensure that all end users concerns and questions are addressed in order to minimize impact of the proposed solution in production.  

Additionally provide pre-selected User Acceptance Testing (UAT) participants with integrated test scenarios which allow peer reviews. The objective is to include the UAT participants early during the design phase and not just turn over a system that will be blindly tested during UAT.