Best Practices From 19 ERP Implementations

Best Practices from 19 ERP Implementations

Presented by,Tom Danford, CIO

T B d f RTennessee Board of Regents

Today’s GoalsToday s Goals

Present lessons learned ese t esso s ea edfrom the full suite ERP implementations of 19 TBR institutionsTBR institutions

Discuss how these Discuss how these lessons learned can apply on an ERP implementation at a single institution

The TBR ChallengeThe TBR Challenge

Implement several ERP modules1 across 19 institutions plus 19 institutions plus the system office in a forty-month period!

1Student and Financial Aid, Finance HR and Payroll Finance, HR and Payroll, Advancement, and a portal solution

Our ImperativeOur Imperative

Keep every institution on schedule Keep every institution on schedule and on budget. It is critical for us to have a quality implementation while controlling costs.

A guiding principle is to conserve the resources of the universities for academic and other goalsacademic and other goals.

Current StatusCurrent StatusWe are in our 27th month of the project

Implementations have been sequenced according to three waves of schools, or “cohorts”cohorts

34 implementations have been completed, and 64 i l i i 64 implementations are in progress

Except in three instances, all 100 completed and in-progress implementations to date have been on schedule and on-time

Eight ERP Best PracticesEight ERP Best Practices

Lessons We Have Lessons We Have Learned, Some Easily and

Some the Hard Wayy

Best Practice 1Best Practice 1

Establish guiding g gprinciples at the highest levels of h i i i d the institution and

then live by them.

Best Practice 2Best Practice 2

Form a governance structure that i l th involves the highest levels of executives as executives as possible….and get them involved frequently.

Our model for….Best Practices 3, 4, and 5

Our Project Management Model….j g

Best Practice 3Best Practice 3

Provide professional project Provide professional project management support in large doses.

AssumptionAssumptionPeople in higher education are in the business of educating students, not bus ess o educat g stude ts, otmanaging major ERP implementations

Therefore The system provided project

i hmanagement support in three significant ways

Project Management Support at the Campus Levelat the Campus Level

1. Provided detailed project schedules 1. Provided detailed project schedules in Microsoft Project to all the schools

2. Separated the role of project manager and project scheduler

3. Provided training in project tracking d i f hand reporting format to the system

Best Practice 4Best Practice 4

Develop a Develop a Metrics-Driven Reporting and Reporting and Feedback System

The Weekly Flash ReportThe Weekly Flash Report

PurposeP id h h k f h ll ll h Provide a snapshot each week of how well all the implementations are proceeding.

How the Report is ProducedHow the Report is ProducedSchedule updates are emailed to the independent program manager once a week

The program manager evaluates schedule progress according to several criteria and assigns a color code (red, yellow, green)

The program manager then produces and distributes the report system wide each week.

Link to a sample Flash Report

Monthly Executive Dashboardy

Best Practice 5Best Practice 5

Establish an independent independent program office at the system level

A Sampling of the Program Manager DutiesManager Duties….

Coordinate and oversee the various implementation projects system-widep j y

Provide early warnings to the system and the university presidents when project milestones are in jeopardyjeopardy

Design interventions, as needed, to help individual campuses get back on track

Develop project metrics and provide weekly flash reports and monthly executive dashboard reports on progress against budget and progress against p g g g p g gschedule

Train campus project managers and schedulers in the use of modern project management tools and use of modern project management tools and processes

Best Practice 6Best Practice 6

Do the best communication job you Do the best communication job you possibly can

Best Practice 7Best Practice 7

Deal directly and i kl as quickly as

possible with cultural and cultural and people issues

Best Practice 8Best Practice 8

Form a true partnership with your Form a true partnership with your ERP provider and implementer

Will These Practices Work for You?

Applying these lessons learned to the single

i tit tiinstitution

What AppliesWhat AppliesDeveloping guiding principles and sticking to them

Involving senior executives

Imposing professional project management processes and tools and training campus personnel in processes and tools and training campus personnel in how to use these tools

Separating the scheduler and manager roles

Weekly flash reports and monthly executive dashboards

d iVendor partnering

Communicating frequently

Using an experienced outside project management firm who has done it before

Thanks for Joining us Today!

For more information…

Pick up our complementary CD that contains this PowerPoint presentation as well as a this PowerPoint presentation as well as a copy of the TBR Guiding Principles that were adopted for their implementations.

Linger and talk with Tom Danford before you leave.leave.

Contact Tom at tom.danford@tbr.edu