How does the Project Manager conduct research during ERP implementation

During the implementation of the ERP project, research is an indispensable link, but it is a required link for everyone.

First, is it an investigation of ERP implementation or an investigation of ERP product development? For product development research, the purpose is to fully explore customer needs and obtain the management value that can be brought about by customer needs. This management value is presented in the form of products, in this case, you don't have to worry about development costs, because this is an investment period. If it is an ERP implementation survey, it should be based on the "quota delivery" survey at this time, because the focus at this time is to launch the ERP project as soon as possible, running the customer's system is subject to restrictions such as scope and cost.

Further details, we can see that the research on ERP implementation is different from the research on development. Because ERP products have a fixed scope, we can dig deeper into the problems within this scope, fully understand the management value behind it, refine the customer's business, and summarize it into product functions, this requires the ERP project manager to have a strong "question-" Summary-"extract-" induction "ability to take the lead in the questioning process and ensure that the focus is not divergent, summarize the customer's reply, extract the management value based on the summary, and implement the management value to the software product functions, in this way, the matching process from requirement to product functions is formed, so as to ensure that the main focus is on the needs of customers with management value. If any customer needs have no support for management value, the priority of this requirement must be limited.

Product development research aims to mine problems, so we can define the ERP implementation requirement research as "verifying the answers to known questions ", therefore, in this survey process, we may use multiple choice questions rather than open Q & A questions, because only in this way can we unify the customer's ideas into our ERP system, only in this way can we reach a consensus with the customer as much as possible.

The investigation of ERP implementation is still a "knowledge transfer" process, because before this survey began, we actually had an informal "training" for our customers ", because in the Process of interacting with this customer, we need to publicize the management concepts that can be included in our ERP system, the management benefits that can be brought to our customers, and even the Implementation points of management values to our customers, in the pre-sales phase, revenue is introduced, management concepts are introduced in the project startup phase, management frameworks are discussed in the survey phase, management value is realized in the blueprint and solution phases, and Management Value and income evaluation are implemented in the launch phase. In this way, a closed loop of management value is formed, and the ERP project manager is upgraded from the technical level to the management level. Only in this way can the project implementation be promoted efficiently.

At the same time, is the project manager's research conducted from the middle level or from the top level? Some people think that starting from the middle layer, they can learn a lot of detailed information from the customer, and then give the customer high-level research, they will be more confident, but it is easy to grasp the key points, and the Implementation goals cannot be focused; therefore, at this time, we must conduct research from the customer's fear of high-level leadership, focus on the core needs of the customer's senior leadership (or even top leaders), and fully fulfill this core requirement, other detailed requirements form a secondary requirement.

We will talk about the demand research orientation of ERP project implementation and the starting point. Next we will talk about the specific methods of project implementation research. We have found a general article for your reference only:

 

Before launching a specific ERP project, you need to learn more about the actual situation of the project on the basis of the handover work such as the start of the preliminary project. Generally, You need to conduct project research. Project research is an effective way to understand enterprises. through research, you can have a deeper understanding of enterprises and minimize obstacles for future implementation. In the survey process, we will further contact the business layer and personnel relationship layer:

(1) have a deeper understanding of the overall situation of the enterprise. For example, the background, production characteristics, personnel quality, and personnel cooperation degree of an enterprise. An understanding of the company's basic situation can help the software project manager to formulate correct implementation strategies and instruct the project to follow the established objectives.

(2) a clearer understanding of the business of an enterprise. Pre-sales research in the early stage is not very detailed, generally a long time ago, and with the change of personnel and actual business conditions, we also need to learn more about the actual business situation of the enterprise.

(3) You can have an understanding of the personnel and responsibilities of each position in the enterprise. During the investigation, both parties continuously communicate with each other, and the implementers and enterprise personnel will further understand the situation. At the same time, you can understand the actual responsibilities of enterprise personnel through surveys, understand some potential cultures of the enterprise, and avoid creating too much resistance in the future work process.

(4) the survey process can also communicate with key users about the specific business processing mode. The requirements of business personnel are often different from those of the implementers. Some obvious differences can be found through communication during the survey. After analyzing and summarizing the differences between the requirements and the design scheme, if it is a problem with the design scheme, you can communicate with each other and adjust the design scheme as soon as possible. If it is a problem with the user's business model, or the process content to be optimized can be coordinated with the user to avoid excessive resistance during the launch process.

(5) understand the problems that enterprises expect to solve in project implementation. The implementation of the project meets the established needs, and the problems that the enterprise expects to solve should be solved as key issues.

The project survey involves many contents and forms. Generally, the specific business process includes the issuance of survey materials, on-site Q & A, and detailed communication.

The project information can be issued during the project start-up process. This process can also be put before the project start-up. The project owner must communicate with the project owner.

The project survey materials cover all aspects of the enterprise operation and management process. In general, they mainly include the following aspects.

First, the overview of the enterprise. You need to make a thorough understanding of the company's situation through surveys, including the nature of the enterprise, the industry in which the enterprise is engaged, the products produced, the production process, the management status of the management department, the management status of the production department, and the enterprise management issues that are widely reflected, the enterprise of the entire project can be grasped from a macro perspective, so that different implementation strategies can be adopted for different types of enterprises. Some implementation companies have a complete set of implementation methods, but they still need to use them flexibly according to the actual situation.

Second, the specific business process status quo. The current business process of an enterprise needs to be understood through the project survey process, so as to further analyze the existing process and further integrate and optimize it. In the process optimization process at the end of the project, Comprehensive Optimization and integration should be carried out based on the actual situation of the enterprise to solve problems in the actual business processing process from the perspective of business flow.

Third, understand the project requirements of all levels of personnel. In general, projects serve the whole enterprise, but in the implementation process, we also need to take care of the needs of personnel at all levels of the enterprise and communicate with each other in a timely manner, it is difficult to evaluate a project that is truly successful to avoid a major difference between the requirements and expectations that affects the implementation effect. In addition, the customer needs to be carefully analyzed at all levels of personnel, some of which are intended to be contrary to the project implementation objectives, or unreasonable, need to coordinate the customer's project owner to seriously communicate.

How ERP software project managers conduct project research

For different implementation companies, the survey data style is also different. The survey data needs to be determined based on the specific situation, such as Q & A, open, and hybrid.

The first method is to list a series of questions for the business staff to answer. The advantage of this survey data is that you can design as detailed as possible for some business points of interest to you, sorting out various business points is relatively simple, but the disadvantage is that business personnel are prone to dislike, which is a bit similar to testing, and business personnel cannot systematically explain some problems;

The second method is open. In the first part, an instance is listed. Then, the business personnel fill in the current business status of the position by referring to the instance, the advantage of this method is that the business personnel can write according to the processes they are familiar with. The idea is relatively clear, and the disadvantage is that the content written by users is not controlled, I will not explain too much about some details;

The third method is hybrid, which is the combination of the above two methods. That is to say, part of the question-based approach is mainly to let the business personnel answer specific details one by one, open Writing of some processes for business personnel.

The three methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. They must be used for different projects, the main reference factors include the understanding of the project in the early stage, the quality and Cooperation Degree of the project personnel, the details of the project survey in the later stage, and the level and structure of the reference survey implementers. If you plan to learn more about specific business problems in the future, you can adopt open architecture, learn about the general process of the enterprise through survey materials, and have a preliminary understanding of some concerned businesses, during the investigation, I had a deep understanding that this method had little dislike for business personnel. Regardless of the method adopted, all business departments need to be able to respond to the needs of their respective departments on the spot, so that the implementation of the project can achieve the expected results and avoid errors in the implementation direction of the project, as a project manager, you need to focus on the requirements to avoid exceeding the contract content.

After the project survey is completed, the project team is responsible for drafting a project's overall business solution or requirement analysis report based on the project's needs, determine the implementation objectives and basic solutions required by both parties. The specific implementation will be supported by business-specific business solutions in the follow-up implementation process. If the project is small or does not need to be used, do not use it. In the process of drafting a solution, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirements of the original contract and related technical agreements to avoid manual expansion of the scope of implementation.

In the project research phase, the software project manager needs to manage the resources including: Implementation consultant, heads of various business departments of the enterprise, key users, enterprise executives, and enterprise project owners.

In the project research phase, the project manager mainly needs to achieve two objectives: first, understand the existing requirements of the enterprise, and use this as the guidance for the entire implementation; second, the validation of effective control requirements shall not exceed the scope of the original contract or technical agreement.