IT Project Management Archives - Page 14 of 15 - Innovate. Integrate. Transform. Run.

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 3
Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 3

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 3

By Bill Wood|October 24th, 2008|

3. ERP or SAP Process issues Let me start with a caveat to this section. No matter how good, thorough, experienced, or conscientious a consultant or a core team member is, a project will always experience a few process gaps, and an occasional completely missing process discovered at go-live. Now that the caveat is out of the way, process problems can occur for many reasons: inexperienced consultants, company employees who miss some of the process exceptions, inadequate training, insufficient in [...]

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 4
Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 4

Planning For a Smooth Go-Live: Part 4

By Bill Wood|October 12th, 2008|

4. SAP or ERP Software Modification - Custom Development Ultimately, every project needs some development work. And by development work, I mean custom-coded programs to address “FRICE” or “RICEF” objects (Forms, Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, and Enhancements). When you have the right developers, your project will greatly benefit, delivering on time and on budget. On the flip side, inexperienced developers bring significant hidden costs to a project that can cause slipped timelines, blown bu [...]

Reduce SAP Project Stress: Part 1
Reduce SAP Project Stress: Part 1

Reduce SAP Project Stress: Part 1

By Bill Wood|August 25th, 2008|

Expectation Setting As one of the most overlooked consulting and management skills, expectation setting can make the difference between a good job and a mess. Expectation setting is vital for both the person who is supposed to meet the expectation (the consultant or implementation vendor), as well as those setting expectations (the customer or project manager). During an SAP implementation, project-related expectation setting comes at many points and phases of the project. The team nee [...]

Reduce SAP, ERP, or Technology Project Stress: Part 2
Reduce SAP, ERP, or Technology Project Stress: Part 2

Reduce SAP, ERP, or Technology Project Stress: Part 2

By Bill Wood|August 20th, 2008|

A good SAP project with solid performance requirements will often be a stressful experience. Anyone who has been through an ERP implementation has experienced this stress. And although this may sound counter-intuitive, if you’ve chosen the right people for the project during the course of the implementation, you will experience conflict. Why do tempers flare with the right people? They are usually the people who care the most about the business and are passionate about their responsibilities. I [...]

The Agile SAP Enterprise and Regulatory Compliance
The Agile SAP Enterprise and Regulatory Compliance

The Agile SAP Enterprise and Regulatory Compliance

By Bill Wood|February 21st, 2008|

How can you be more nimble? Are you in an agile enterprise? The very nature of regulatory compliance makes creating an agile enterprise difficult. Often, regulatory compliance acts as a tax on the enterprise. Most businesses with highly regulatory environments struggle to process the improvements, streamlining, cost reductions, and simplifications that they need to stay competitive in a global environment. After doing several projects for U.S. companies subject to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance [...]

Effectively Scope Your SAP Project
Effectively Scope Your SAP Project

Effectively Scope Your SAP Project

By Bill Wood|May 17th, 2007|

Over the years, people have written hundreds of articles, documents, and warnings about scope setting, scope control, and scope management with ERP and IT projects. Project scope is one of the biggest ERP project risk factors. Yet, a project may lack practical insight on setting or managing scope. SAP provides all of the tools and resources to do the job correctly--even before an RFP is issued. Since the mid to late 90's, SAP has provided an extensive implementation toolset that many do not ful [...]