Key ERP implementation learnings for local government
Written by Civiteq’s Sandwell Programme Lead, Laura Maitland
Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in local government can be complex and challenging. Sandwell Council, however, has demonstrated how a well-executed strategy can turn an ERP implementation into a resounding success.
By learning from past projects, establishing strong governance, ensuring effective resourcing, and prioritising change management, Sandwell has set a benchmark for other councils. As the Programme Delivery Lead for Sandwell Council, our ERP specialist, Laura Maitland shares her view on the key factors that contributed to Sandwell’s success and what other local authorities can take away from their journey.
1. Learning from the past: The power of a health check
Before launching its ERP programme, Sandwell Council conducted a comprehensive health check to ensure its transformation to the Cloud was a success. The recommendations helped ensure a positive start to the programme, these included:
- Setting the strategic priorities, building the programme vision and agreeing design principles to ensure the correct strategic direction at the outset
- Gaining ‘buy in’ from stakeholders & building trust
- Ensuring a balanced resource model with the correct levels of capacity in place
- Designing and implementing robust governance with the right level of stakeholders and support across the business
- Providing a focus on change management – to ensure the organisation is brought on the journey
- From the outset, agreeing clear strategies with senior stakeholder ownership that set out how key activities will be delivered through the Implementation
2. Strong and balanced governance
Governance was a cornerstone of the programme’s success. Sandwell ensured:
- A well-structured programme board with representation from senior leaders across functional areas
- A balanced design authority, incorporating both business and technical decision-making
- Regular programme meetings, ensuring transparency and alignment between all stakeholders
- A clear reporting structure, allowing visibility and transparency of risks and progress at the board level.
- The programme’s design principles were adhered to throughout delivery, and that all decisions were made inline with these principles – for example: A key principle Sandwell heeded was “adopt, not adapt” – embracing the new ERP system’s capabilities rather than modifying it to fit legacy processes, which can cause complications.
This strong programme governance framework facilitated effective decision-making and kept the programme on track.
3. Effective resource allocation and ‘one-team’ culture
One of the major pitfalls we see in ERP implementations is inadequate resourcing to balance a transformative programme along side Business-as-usual (BAU) work. At Sandwell, they ensured a well-balanced team that combined:
- Internal experts who understood the council’s unique needs
- External consultants with specialised ERP experience within local government
- A systems integrator (SI) partner with deep public sector knowledge.
A crucial success factor was fostering a ‘one-team’ culture. At the end of the programme, senior leaders at the Council reflected that it was impossible to tell who worked for whom – a testament to the seamless collaboration that was cultivated.
4. Prioritising business change and readiness
Many ERP projects fail due to insufficient focus on business change. Sandwell took a proactive approach by:
- Establishing a Business Readiness Group and Business Change Champions to assess preparedness at every stage
- Conducting thorough change impact assessments and ensuring business involvement
- Consistent senior leadership engagement, even through personnel changes
- Providing many opportunities for end users to see demonstrations on the run up to go-live which helped build interest and excitement in the new system
5. Data migration: A critical factor for ERP success
Data migration can make or break an ERP implementation. Sandwell recognised this and brought in an experienced data migration lead who:
- Introduced detailed planning and governance for data migration cycles
- Established clear success criteria and monitoring processes for each cycle
- Ensured business users were resourced and engaged in data migration activities
By getting data migration right, Sandwell avoided any significant post go-live data issues.
6. Flexible but disciplined decision-making
Recognising the importance of readiness, Sandwell took a measured approach to go-live decisions. Despite initial timelines, the council delayed implementation by three months based on user acceptance testing results. Although this meant a delay, it was a good decision. This decision ensured:
- A smoother transition
- Fewer issues during hyper care
- Greater business confidence in the new system
7. Change management and learning & development (L&D)
A robust change management strategy was vital in supporting adoption. The L&D team played a pivotal role by:
- Delivering high-quality training content, including video tutorials and interactive sessions
- Offering ongoing drop-in sessions and demonstrations
- Enhancing user engagement leading up to go-live
This investment in training resulted in high engagement and positive feedback from council employees.
8. Leadership engagement and accountability
Leadership engagement evolved over time, with a shift from a directive approach to a more balanced, collaborative leadership style. The key leadership actions that drove the programme’s success included:
- Making the programme a priority, especially after early leadership changes
- Increasing senior leadership engagement and visibility with the Programme
- Holding frequent senior management stand-ups to resolve roadblocks
- Maintaining board-level transparency and collective ownership of decision-making
- Removing functional silo’s and encouraging more joined up working at all levels
9. Celebrating success to maintain momentum
Recognising achievements along the way helped sustain motivation. This was particularly important given the previous paused programme. To achieve this Sandwell:
- Hosted regular milestone celebrations to acknowledge progress
- Organised a go-live celebration event, reinforcing the sense of one-team unity
- Gathered feedback to continuously improve future projects.
- Frequently shared lessons from other Implementations and demonstrated how Sandwell is different
Final takeaways for other councils
Sandwell Council’s ERP success provides valuable lessons for local authorities embarking on similar journeys.
The key takeaways include:
- Conduct a thorough pre-implementation health check to assess your readiness, identify risks and any lessons learnt from previous organisation-wide projects
- Establish strong governance and decision-making frameworks from day one
- Build a balanced and well-resourced team that fosters a one-team culture
- Prioritise change management and business readiness to drive adoption
- Get data migration right through careful planning and execution
- Maintain flexibility in go-live decisions to ensure a smooth transition
- Engage leadership and maintain transparency throughout
- Invest in learning and development to support end-user adoption
- Celebrate success to keep teams engaged and motivated
By following these principles, other councils can increase their chances of delivering a successful ERP programme that meets organisational and community needs.
Read about our work with Sandwell in our recent case study.
Get in touch or book a meeting with our Account Director, Chris Batt, to discuss your ERP challenges with us.