In part 2 of our blogs series, “Changing For the Right Reasons – Part 2”, we identified “what” needs to change through a Differentiation/Risk Matrix. By using the matrix, companies can determine whether enabling the change is worthwhile from a cost, risk, and reward perspective. We highlighted that by prioritizing capabilities for implementation, companies can better manage costs and risks associated with ERP implementation while focusing on making performance improvements that will have the biggest impact overall.
Step 3: The Capability Roadmap
FOCUS ON MINIMAL VIABLE SCOPE
Our Focused Simplicity approach is used to define a minimal viable scope (MVS) – the minimum solution needed to achieve a viable benefit. By focusing on the minimal viable scope, organizations can design a solution focused on achieving their desired outcomes quickly while reducing the risks associated with implementing a more complex solution.
The best way to define the minimal viable scope is to consider minimal benefits that would be “good enough” to make the first phase a success (i.e. what elements of the Pot of Gold and Alligators are needed to make phase one good enough). Then determine the required capabilities as well as respective pre-requisite capabilities. Without a thorough understanding of the minimum viable scope of the capabilities required to achieve your desired outcomes, you may spend a significant amount of your ERP transformation implementing functionality that isn’t actually needed to get you to where you want to go. By making more changes than you need, you only reduce your ability to achieve what you really want.
Laying out the roadmap
After defining the minimal viable scope, organizations should take the remaining elements of the Pot of Gold and Alligators and consider the absolute latest these can - and should be attained. Back those up with known or likely external events such as acquisitions, desire to enter new markets and potential new product launches. Each milestone on the timeline should identify the capabilities that will be needed and desired and the scope for that milestone on the capability roadmap
KNOWING WHAT NOT TO CHANGE
Making the tough decision of what not to implement right now may not be popular with those business stakeholders who are feeling some pain at present, but it is a critical step for ensuring that each phase of the transition is as simple and lean as possible yet provides the components necessary to deliver the desired outcomes of each phase.
DEFINE HOW TO CHANGE
The last major step organizations should take early-on in an ERP transformation is defining exactly how to make the changes required to achieve their desired outcomes.
The easiest part of this step is the technical implementation. We have already simplified the process by defining a clear and compelling benefits case or ‘true north’. We have a general capability scope needed to achieve the benefits case. We have also identified the elements that need to be innovated to support the organization’s differentiation priorities and which can be left to adopt standard, best practices. We also now have a clear capability roadmap. What we are still lacking is a plan on how we get the organization to change and adopt the new capabilities and thereby achieve the desired outcomes.
Conclusion:
ACHIEIVNG SUCCESSFUL CHANGE
ERP solutions can be incredibly transformative and lead to real, quantifiable, value, but only if you take the time up front to assess your change rationale, well-define what needs to change, focus on identifying the minimum viable scope for the change, and create a roadmap that can help you achieve change in a way that reduces risks and maximizes your value.
By using our Focused Simplicity ERP implementation planning approach, you can evaluate your ERP implementation from a holistic point of view to make sure you are creating the most stable path for conducting your transformation so that you can achieve the full benefits you desire.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Larry Perlov, President of Illumiti Corp, is a veteran of the high-tech and consulting sectors with over 24 years of international executive-level experience in SAP, ERP, and IT infrastructure solutions.
Larry has extensive experience leveraging people, processes and technology to drive business value for clients. Prior to Illumiti, Larry was a senior vice president at IMG responsible for the Global SAP Business One business unit.
Prior to that, he was vice president of Intuit Corporation Distribution Services and director of EMC Corporation Client Solutions of New England. As a senior director at PLAUT Consulting, Inc. he was responsible for international SAP implementations, which spanned business development and project and integration management. An expert in core SAP modules as well as process design and integration, Larry is a results-driven leader with a proven track record in business development, operations, and program management. He is noted for his ability to create and motivate high performance teams to drive SAP solutions excellence.
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