What are the signs your council’s ERP programme is in trouble?
The key to rescuing an ERP implementation that’s veering off track is to spot the early warning signs.
Red flags to look out for include:
- There’s an increase in sickness absence
- The timeline has slipped
- The scope has changed
- Your internal stakeholders aren’t aligned
- Programme tasks aren’t being completed
- Your relationship with your supplier/s has become strained or fractured
- Costs are escalating
- Team members are under stress
The challenge of balancing the project with BAU
Another reason your ERP implementation might run into trouble is the difficulty of balancing the programme alongside business as usual (BAU). It’s common for councils to underestimate the challenge of managing a large-scale project with a team who also have some or all of their day-to-day work to do.
Indicators that this is an issue include your internal team being unclear about their roles and responsibilities, feeling overloaded and, unsure how to carry out key tasks in the programme and tasks taking longer than planned.
How to get your ERP programme back on track
If you spot the signs your project is in trouble, it’s important to identify the problems and their root cause.
You can then engage an independent partner to support you to take action to steer the implementation in the right direction, such as:
- Ensuring there is an integrated programme bought into by all parties, and it is adequately resourced with sufficient in-house resource and outside specialists
- Putting clear roles and responsibilities in place
- Ensuring the programme tasks are clearly understood and followed by the project team
- Making sure any risks that emerge are reviewed quickly and mitigation is agreed and actioned
- Ensuring clear escalation routes are in place and communicated effectively
Read our blog about key considerations for a successful ERP implementation.
The benefits of bringing in the right partner
At Civiteq, we use our unrivalled experience of ERP programmes in local government to act as a ‘critical friend’ for councils across the UK.
If you’re concerned your programme is in trouble, we can step in to carry out a Programme Health Check that will identity any issues and their root cause.
We can then provide assurance reviews throughout your project, so your software implementation has the best chance of success.
Read our case study to discover how we helped Sandwell Council get their ERP programme back on track.
Get in touch or book a meeting with our Account Director, Chris Batt, to discuss your ERP challenges with us.