Congratulations! Your new ERP system has officially gone-live. But, now what? Your road map isn’t finished just yet.
We’ve seen many clients who believe their ERP project is FINALLY completed after implementation. But, that’s far from true! Your team will want to see a return on the substantial investment of time, money, and resources that went into the ERP implementation project. A post-implementation audit is a critical way to ensure benefits recognition.
These audits will help your organization measure success, determine “benefit leakage”, and identify the next steps to increase ROI. Typically, a post-implementation audit should be performed a few months after go-live. If you attempt to audit too soon you won’t have enough data to see significant change, while waiting too long could delay corrective measures. Your post-implementation audit should include the KPIs, and Expected Benefits laid out in the early stages if your ERP project, discussed in How to Plan and ERP Implementation from Start to Finish (and beyond!)
When performing your ERP Post-Implementation Audit, consider these 4 Tips:
- Assess adoption and business impact: Monitor new process adoption and impact on business performance. Assess baseline and post-implementation performance measures. It’s also important to consider employee transition to the new system. As you examine whether new processes are being followed, you will identify areas in which employees could benefit from additional or ongoing training.
- Consider satisfaction of stakeholders: Talk to your stakeholders, including executives, employees, managers, the IT department, customers, and vendors. Are they satisfied with the new system and results of the project? How has the system impacted your customers’ and vendors’ interactions with your business? Look for specific comments that can guide future direction as well as an overall assessment.
- Identify opportunities for further improvement: What requests have been made by your team after go-live? Also, consider how your system will facilitate your company’s long-term vision and any potential competitive advantages.
- Review costs versus benefits: Perhaps the most important yet most difficult aspect of the post-implementation audit, this section aims to determine if the new system delivered the initial business case and anticipated ROI. The benefits from these systems may initially be hard to quantify but a few areas to look at are process improvements, customer experience, compliance, production, planning and control, procurement, reduced shortages and interruptions, better labor allocation, resource commitment and supervisory oversight and more.
ACC Software Solutions specializes in successful ERP implantations from start to finish (and beyond!). To begin your ERP project, please contact one of our representatives today!
This post is an excerpt from our new ERP Buyer’s Guide. Download it now and discover the Roadmap to a Successful ERP Journey!
