ERP Implementation Success – Guaranteed

By Keith Myers

Implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be a risky and expensive proposition. With new products entering the market and established platforms undergoing revolutionary changes, identifying the right solution is a high-stakes undertaking with little room for error. Add to that the necessary change management to ensure you are getting full value from your investment and a complex implementation process that impacts the entire community, and it’s no wonder so many colleges approach ERP projects with dread.

After nearly two decades of helping institutions reach unanimous selection decisions and overseeing countless complex implementations, the CampusWorks team has identified three principles necessary to ensure your ERP project’s success.

1. Eliminate uncertainty.

Purchasing an ERP system is one of the largest investments your college will make, yet many institutions enter the decision without the information and data necessary to identify a solution that meets their strategic objectives, understand the true financial implications, or set realistic expectations in terms of deliverables and outcomes. As a result, colleges are often blindsided by unexpected challenges, costs and delays.

Eliminating uncertainty begins with your stakeholders. Use this opportunity to bring your students, faculty and staff together and give them a voice in the process. Not only will you uncover the institution’s current challenges and identify what’s needed to be successful in the future, you’ll help your community members connect the project’s strategic objectives to their work and become invested in its success. This collaborative approach will also help your ERP Selection Committee gain a clearer understanding of the stakeholders’ needs, enabling them to evaluate solutions through this lens, rather than in a vacuum.

To ensure that you end up with the best-fit solution for your institution, it’s critical for your team to consider all available options before making a final decision. Since the ERP market is changing so quickly, it’s nearly impossible for any one person to be well versed in all the commercially available ERP solutions. Working with an independent ERP selection partner can be beneficial because it’s their job to stay up to date and knowledgeable of all marketplace offerings. The right partner will offer your team a 360˚ view of the ERP landscape from the industry, technology, and constituent perspectives, broadening your understanding of how each system aligns with your institution’s objectives and enabling you to make an informed decision.

2. Minimize disruption.

Transitioning to a new ERP system can be a vulnerable time for a community college. If not handled properly, it can negatively impact operations, costing you students, staff and valuable resources. Yet, many colleges fail to consider whether their people, processes and technology are ready for change before embarking on this transformative journey.

In order to minimize disruption and ensure a smooth transition, you must first consider your people. They are the number one factor that will determine the project’s success or failure. To position them for success, you must understand how your college’s organizational model and workflows need to evolve to adopt a new ERP system and the processes to support it. What roles need to be redefined? Where are new skillsets needed? How can training help you develop missing skills? By answering questions like these at the outset, you’ll create a solid foundation that will not only position your students, faculty, and staff for success, but also ease fears that naturally arise during these types of transitions.

Business processes are a make-it-or-break-it consideration. For your ERP implementation to be successful, the college’s processes and procedures must align with the ERP system’s features and functionality, so you can realize its true value right from the start – not a decade after the purchase. What manual processes are currently impeding productivity? Where are bottlenecks occurring? How can technology automate administrative tasks to free up your staff, so they can focus on student success? By addressing these types of issues up front, you’ll ensure that your new ERP solution improves operational efficiency rather than maintaining the status quo.

Of course, before you can migrate to a new system, you must ensure that your IT infrastructure can support it. Does your current network have the bandwidth to support the new system’s demands? Where is your IT environment vulnerable in terms of cybersecurity? Does your current governance structure support the responsible, strategic adoption of new technologies? These are just a few of the technical considerations that must be addressed before a new ERP system can be implemented.

3. Deliver transformative results.

It’s no secret that ERP migrations are difficult and rarely live up to expectations. Often, this is a result of poor project planning and oversight. To ensure your ERP system is not only deployed properly, but also transforms the way you serve your students, it’s essential to make sure you’ve got a qualified team guiding your institution through the implementation. ERP implementations should be led by a certified program, or project manager who has deep experience with higher education best practices, and it should be supported by a powerhouse team of technical and functional experts who can address the finance, human resources, financial aid, enrollment, registration and related student services components. Activating cross-functional expertise helps ensure that no stone is left unturned during the implementation process, so your entire community can fully leverage the new ERP system to optimize the way they work and learn.

Your implementation team will work in collaboration with the ERP vendor to create a project roadmap with realistic deadlines and successfully deploy the selected ERP system within the timeframe outlined. If you don’t have the necessary expertise in-house, you should work with an independent ERP implementation partner to fill the gaps, or you’ll risk impeding the very results you’re trying to deliver. An experienced implementation partner will act like an extension of your team – working collaboratively with your staff to provide the missing expertise, build trust, share knowledge, offer support and help ensure your institution is capable of standing alone when the project is complete.

ERP Success – Guaranteed  

Rooted in nearly two decades of experience, CampusWorks’ has a proven selection and implementation approach that helps institutions navigate the increasingly complex ERP market, leverage data to identify the best-fit solution, and achieve an on-time, on-scope and on-budget implementation.

We are so confident in our ERP selection and implementation methodology, we are willing to guarantee your project’s success. This means no surprise add-ons or upcharges. No unexpected delivery delays. If you follow our methodology from beginning to end, we guarantee we’ll deliver your ERP system on time, on scope, and on budget – or we’ll finish the job for free.

Want to take the risk and guesswork out of your ERP project? For a free, no-strings-attached consultation, email us at success@campusWorksinc.com or call 941-316-0308.

Author Bio

Keith Myers is the senior vice president of Client Development at CampusWorks, an independent ERP selection and implementation partner dedicated to providing community colleges with an unbiased perspective and creative solutions to improve operations, reduce costs, and position students for success.