Pushing an ERP implementation to the right isn’t automatically failure.
Sometimes, it’s the most responsible decision you can make.
Every ERP implementation is different: different organizations, complexity, integrations, data, and levels of change. There is no cookie-cutter formula that says, “If you aren’t here by this date, move go-live.”
But there are some pretty obvious warning signs that you may not be ready.
Watch what begins to stack up.
- 01
Business processes are still being designed during UAT.
- 02
Major decisions are still unresolved.
- 03
Data conversion hasn’t been reconciled end-to-end.
- 04
Interfaces work individually, but the complete business process hasn’t been proven.
- 05
Reporting is being treated as something that can be finished after go-live.
- 06
Training is based on what the system should do rather than what production will do.
- 07
UAT testers are discovering requirements instead of validating them.
- 08
Critical defects are being reclassified instead of resolved.
- 09
Workarounds are multiplying faster than issues are closing.
- 10
Operations—the people who have to run the business on Day 1—aren’t confident they can operate.
One of these does not necessarily mean you delay. But when several start stacking up, the conversation needs to change.
“How do we protect the date?”
“What evidence tells us we are ready?”
A date on a project plan is a target.
Readiness is evidence.
And sometimes the best project decision is accepting that the responsible direction is to the right.
Moving a date can be expensive.
Going live before the organization is ready can be far more expensive.