How to Secure a Successful Implementation of Your SAP Software – Quality in the Early Stages

As you embark on implementing a new SAP Business One solution, it’s important to recognize that delivering software solutions that bring significant benefits to the business does not just happen. There are specific criteria to take into consideration as planning and execution go into effect. You are probably asking how you can approach the planning process methodically and as effectively as possible. You want to make sure that you will get buy-in and adoption organization-wide, meet expectations, and achieve a return on investment. You want to focus on quality – quality of the software, quality of the implementation, and quality of individuals associated with it.

How do you measure quality? One way is by checking for adherence to ensure that a project is delivered to specification, within budget, and on time. This is often where quality assurance breaks down in software implementations. Typically, each party involved in an implementation guarantees the quality assurance of their contribution. One example of this could be making sure suppliers deliver what they have agreed to in their contract. It’s important that individual suppliers focus on the results of not only their own project area, but to their role in delivering quality for the overall program/implementation.

In order to ensure that the final delivery of a program successfully fulfills your organization’s business objectives, there is another way to measure quality – by advancing continuous improvement and striving to constantly do things better. You can do this by looking at past examples, learning from them, and involving the right experts to deliver the best possible outcome.

Some problems can arise, however. Often, employees charged internally with program delivery are sometimes new to such challenges and will have a difficult time reacting and deciding how to tackle them. They may have limited time to learn new skills, and, as a result, cannot match the years of experience most suppliers bring to the table.

You need an effective knowledge-sharing forum that will allow the internal project or program owner to make informed decisions against business requirements, while avoiding challenges. A collaborative quality approach creates an engagement framework that involves setting targets to which all stakeholders can commit. These targets can help stakeholders agree on how best to manage all parties involved in an implementation. You want to make sure that both the project team and management maintain program ownership and control of suppliers and internal parties.

You don’t want to put your organization or career at risk over what should be a pretty seamless technology rollout. Contact Third Wave today to discuss how to secure a successful implementation. Stay tuned for next week’s post on why collaboration is important during the implementation process.