5 Pitfalls to Avoid in the Design Phase of the ERP Software Implementation Process

• Ignoring Users or Employees

• Ignoring Process Study and Design

• Going to the moon in terms of features

• Ignoring UX/UI and Visual References

• Too much or too little investment in the project 

ERP implementation is one of the most difficult things to pull off, even for an experienced entrepreneur. There cannot be a better parallel to love in the business domain than implementing an ERP system. Yes, 90% fail in their first attempt. The core reason is that ERP Software implementation is an intersection of several variables, including business process, technology, user experience, user involvement, trust, user education, etc.

Based on my experience in ERP Softwares, I have elaborated on the 5 pitfalls an entrepreneur should avoid in the design phase of ERP implementation.

Ignoring Users or Employees:

This is one of the foundational mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to ERP implementation. The purpose of an ERP software is to add value to each user and make their life simple. If you do not involve them in the process study, design, and testing phases, it is quite possible that you will not solve their problems but rather add to them. Involving them in each stage gives an enormous amount of clarity in terms of what is required and what is not. It tells how things are to be presented on a screen. Most importantly, the employees are on your side as you are making a genuine attempt to simplify things for them. So, when designing an ERP software, never forget about the end users.

Ignoring Process Study or Design:

Before designing an ERP Software, it is extremely important to fix the features and processes. It can be done in three ways. One: design for the current process as it is. In this approach, you might ignore technology-related efficiencies.Two: design for the ideal case—what is the best practice in the market? How can I design a system around that? Three: Taking the middle path by asking, "What is practical in my organization?" What will be used? In what areas do I need to design for the current process? In what areas do I need to tweak my process based on technology? In my experience, the third approach works. 

Going for the moon in terms of features:

This is one of the major mistakes that most entrepreneurs make. They want everything at once. This fails in most cases. The main reason is that, when you go for the most advanced features on the market, you ignore your organization’s context. Your ability to think of great features doesn’t guarantee success. For an ERP software to be successful, your developer should be able to develop it, your employee should be able to use it, and finally, you should actually use it for it to be successful. Going for the moon usually fails. The result is frustrating! However, most entrepreneurs get a taste of their ERP Implementation 101 in this manner. The best way to do it is to use an Importance vs Feasibility 2-by-2 Matrix. Rate every feature on both these parameters. Choose the top features that score well on both the parameters. 

Ignoring UX/UI design:

When it comes to ERP implementation, what the user does is important, but the main question is how easily he or she is able to do it. This is where the UX and UI layer come into play.Here, the idea is to design the system in such a way that it is extremely simple and has a very low amount of cognitive load so that the user can adopt it easily. Design based on System 1—User Intuition—helps achieve it. Design based on System 2 is perceived as complicated, resulting in low adoption. So cut the clutter in the design. Keep things simple.

Ignoring a detailed scope document

It is important to ensure that the end user, the business owner, the UX/UI designer, the project manager, and the developer have the same understanding in terms of the objective of the project, the priority of various features, the process flow, the UX/UI design, etc. A scope document helps in achieving the same. In ERP Software design, a  scope document can be a simple word or excel document with clearly defined features, masters, visual reference descriptions, etc., or you can go for a Figma design with feature explanations so that the visual layer is also covered in detail. If a project development team sends a scope document to an entrepreneur, it is quite possible that he or she skims through it and approves it. But, in most cases, there are lapses in understanding. Hence, it is better to present each page and help them flush out their assumptions upfront. Believe me, it usually reduces the downstream changes and hence time by at least 30%. Yes - your ERP Implementation cost can come down by 30% with a proper scope document.

If you are able to avoid these mistakes, you will end up succeeding in designing your ERP system successfully more often than not.Remember, the best ERP system is the ONE THAT WORKS FOR YOU.

About the Author

SN PALANIAPPAN

Alumni, IIM, Bangalore; Co-Founder, StratWorks Consulting LLP; Zoho Implementation Partner.

His consulting firm, StratWorks Consulting LLP, specialises in SME consulting and has been involved in the design and implementation of multiple ERP systems across several industries, including trading, manufacturing, FMCG, food retail, IT, etc. The author can be reached at can be reached at palani@strat-works.com