Change management is a term used broadly when discussing managing your people during an enterprise software project. The generic overuse of the term often leads to confusion and no cohesive plan for successfully confronting the process.
A well-thought-out change management plan includes clear communication protocols, workflow mapping, individualized user training, and much more. With so much to consider, it is important to start planning early and do your research when creating a change management plan.
7 Tips for Executing a Change Management Plan
1. Define the Organizational and User Benefits.
Expectation management is key to ensuring an enterprise software initiative has support, not only from the executive team but from the users who will work within the new system every day. A major part of the selection is to identify process improvements and build a business case for the new system, meaning the heavy lifting for this step has likely already begun earlier in the process.
At this point, it is essential to document the benefits within your change management plan and communicate them with all effected parties. If users are aware of how the system will improve their day-to-day work and how it will benefit them, they are more likely to buy into the project.
2. Staff a “Dream Team” for the Project.
Before executing on change management plans, you need leadership in place to oversee the efforts. Be sure to assemble your team early and assign responsibilities to ensure there is no confusion once the project begins.
This team should be compromised of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who will lead their individual teams through the process and Super Users who will play important roles in testing the system before training others. At point should be your implementation project manager and executive sponsor to oversee efforts and act as decision-makers.
Beyond their technical roles, these will also be first people to champion the new system to broader users. So, you’ll ideally want to choose people who are excited about the new system and whose energy will win other over, in addition to their technical expertise.
3. Map Your Workflows.
Mapping workflows is an ongoing process that will start early on in selection. Project leads should be documenting areas where improvements will take place and gaps need to be filled. Once you are in the system, this becomes an essential task for testing and user training.
Each documented workflow will be used as a roadmap when testing the system to ensure processes were correctly configured. Additionally, they will act as a guide for training documents to get end users up to speed.
4. Prioritize Clear Communication.
Communication is the key to successful change management. The communications must be clear and consistent, especially when moving from step to step or when the plan inevitably changes. Ineffectively managing this process all but guarantees important steps will be missed. Open communication also creates a dialogue for employees to bring questions and concerns to the leadership team.
5. Develop a Training Program (and ACTUALLY Execute It).
Training is essential to ensuring users can and want to use the system. By developing clear training documentation for users to reference and creating checklists for completing each step, you set employees up for success within the new system.
If you users are not trained, the project will result in failure because no one will be able to use the system! And while it is important to create the training program and documentation, it is just as important to make sure users are actually completing the program. You can provide all the resources in the world, but if no one is using them, your goals won’t be achieved.
Another factor to consider during this phase is the remote nature of your industry and users. It can be difficult to connect and keep everyone on the same page if they are not operating out of the same location. We recommend setting up regular cadences to keep everyone in the loop and provide digital ways for users to check in. Another option is to bring employees onsite to discuss the program and conduct training, although this can be difficult and potentially expensive if it would disrupt productivity.
6. Track User Successes (and Failures).
Set up a standard for documenting successes and failures throughout the process. Create a space for users to voice concerns (and wins) so your project leads can make proper adjustments to the plan.
Failures could signal a flaw in user training or a flaw in system configuration. It is important to use data to determine which one is impacting the user. The result could heavily impact implementation efforts and the sooner you identify these issues the better to help keep the project on track.
7. Celebrate the Wins.
Implementation is hard! And your people are putting in significant time and effort to ensure your project is a success. A key step in encouraging morale is celebrating the wins. You can do so in several ways from catering lunch to offering your most productive employees extra time off or even creative ideas we’ve seen like an onsite masseuse. These acknowledgements help keep your team productive and prevent burnout in your top performers.
Conclusion
Change management during an ERP project is the process for settling expectations, planning for system changes, and ensuring your users are prepared for system go live. It is also one of the most difficult aspects to get right. If you need help taking charge of your ERP project, schedule a consultation if one of our experts today!
