Step 1: Analysing and Planning

It is the initial step of ERP implementation, where businesses, organizations and companies evaluate their company processes, workflows, goals, needs and requirements. This stage defines the role and scope of the ERP system. Most companies hire an expert ERP consultant to evaluate all the complex processes and plan and design the ERP system accordingly.

This process identifies all the issues and challenges that the company is experiencing in its business operations, and ERP experts resolve all of these by developing customized ERP management systems with integrated tools, databases, applications, dashboards and more. Only with detailed assessment, planning and designing can companies acquire a fully integrated ERP system that automates all business operations and enhances productivity across departments.

Step 2: Project Introduction Stage

This initial phase is the foundational step in enterprise resource planning system implementation. This phase sets a clear roadmap by defining the project objectives, such as identifying stakeholders, forming the ERP project teams, gathering initial requirements, setting budget and timeline for the project and more.

Step 3: Current VS Desired State Analysis

This step, also called gap analysis, compares the gaps between the current state of the company operations and the desired state with the ERP system implementation. This process provides a complete overview of business operations, helps in finding the best options to improve workflow and helps in creating the best ERP system that brings value to the business processes.

Step 4: System Configuration & Customization

In this critical phase, developers configure the ERP system according to the organization’s finalized workflows, data structures, and user interface design. They customize the modules and add new features to the system to support industry-specific operations. After the complete customization, the experts will then integrate the developed system with the existing software of the company.

Step 5: Testing

Once the system is fully developed and installed, the testing phase begins. It is one of the most crucial steps in ERP implementation. This step ensures that all the tools, modules, applications, features, customizations and workflows are secure, responsive and work accurately before the system goes live. System developers, engineers and project team members test all the connections, verify data migrations, make required improvements and make sure that the system is error-free and performs all the operations smoothly.

Step 6: Secure Data Migration

This step includes transferring all the data from the existing system, spreadsheets, old databases, or previous ERPs to the new centralized ERP system. The implementation team sets clear rules and instructions to handle any missing or incomplete data. They also make sure that any incorrect data is fixed or removed before moving it to the new system. By following these steps, a successful migration of the data process is completed.

Step 7: Functional Approval Testing

During FAT testing, QA teams, functional analysts and ERP consultants verify that each ERP function or module works according to the system’s design specifications. This test confirms that there is no technical or functional error in the system. In FAT testing, many testing users are asked to use the system and perform various operations such as product searches, adding items to their carts, and checking out and giving feedback on how user-friendly and responsive the system is. Then, the ERP developers make certain changes in the system based on the testing results.

Step 8: User Training

Implementation partners conduct user training sessions to train the employees on how to use the new system to perform their assigned tasks. Trainers create manuals, cheat sheets, how-to guides, video tutorials, and FAQ sessions to make sure that every employee understands how to use the new system effectively.

Step 9: Live Implementation Phase

In the GO-Live phase, the newly developed system is officially active and available for all the users in the organization. The implementation team provides live support and ensures that everyone in your team fully understands the workflow of the system. This phase usually includes final data migration, system activation, user log-in, role testing, process verification, user support and monitoring and status checks.