SAP Business One implementation success – eight steps to help you achieve your implementation goals:

  1. Choose an SAP Business One partner who has experience in your industry. One of the great things about SAP Business One is that the solution is widely used and supported. When selecting an SAP Business One partner for your SAP Business One implementation and support make sure that they understand your industry. Previous implementation experience in your industry is a huge advantage. SAP Business One is a highly configurable solution which has been successfully implemented in a range of different industries. Implementing SAP Business One in a project-based business is very different to implementing it for a distribution business. Previous experience counts.
  2. Scope of works – make sure that you complete a comprehensive scope of works before the configuration begins. “Measure twice – cut once”. The highly configurable nature of SAP Business One is one of the product’s great strengths. Make sure that you know what you want from your implementation, what the functional requirements are and any reporting requirements BEFORE the configuration begins.
  3. Ensure comprehensive end-user training – this might appear obvious but is sadly often overlooked during implementation.
  4. Board room pilot –the board room pilot and user acceptance testing give users, management and your implementation partner a chance to use SAP Business One in a test environment prior to going live. What is critical but often overlooked is a test plan…..what needs to be tested and by whom. Business critical functional requirements – printing invoices, receiving stock, placing purchase orders – must all be tested as part of the plan.
  5. Adequate testing of data – this is absolutely critical and a major trap for inexperienced implementers of software. SAP Business One offers some great implementation tools to assist with data conversion – the Data Transfer Workbench is one such example. But at the end of the day your SAP Business One implementation partner can only import the data that you supply…….so make sure that you export the data that you want from your old system, clean the data, test that you have exported the right data in the right formats and then test the data upgrade into SAP Business One. Checks and reconciliations are required.
  6. Realistic go-live date – from the time you place your order for SAP Business One until the go-live date there is a lot of exciting work to be done – both by your internal team and your SAP Business One implementation partner. Your internal team will have to dedicate time to workshops/discussions re. required functionality, user acceptance testing and data conversation assistance. Make sure that you give users enough time to be involved in the implementation and at the same time have time to do their day-to-day job.
  7. Integration and development work – no two companies are the same so using the SAP Business One SDK (Software Development Kit) offers great flexibility – you can develop your own applications, integrate with third-party applications and choose from several hundred SAP complimentary solutions. Make sure that any development and or integration work is thoroughly tested.
  8. Manage change – even small SAP Business One projects require some level of change management. SAP Business One offers a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of market-leading functionality, dashboards, reporting, analytics and mobility. Ask users to explore this new functionality. Take advantage of the full breadth of functionality available in SAP Business One by encouraging users to change the information that they request and get out of your new business management software – challenge the way you previously did things – manage the change with users.

[Featured Article: SAP Business One Implementation Success – what resource is required?]