This document lists 318 stages covering the complete ERP journey, from the initial system review and supplier selection to implementation, go live and ongoing management.
Organisations may combine, rename or omit stages according to their size, sector, risk level and delivery method.
Phase 1 ERP review preparation
1. Appoint an executive sponsor.
2. Form an ERP steering group.
3. Appoint an internal project manager.
4. Identify departmental representatives.
5. Define decision-making authority.
6. Set reporting and approval procedures.
7. Agree the purpose of the review.
8. Define the organisations, sites and departments included.
9. Create an initial project timetable.
10. Establish an initial budget range.
Phase 2 Current ERP review
11. Document the existing ERP system.
12. Record all connected software and databases.
13. Identify spreadsheets used outside the ERP.
14. Review current licence use and costs.
15. Review support and maintenance contracts.
16. Assess system performance and reliability.
17. Review cybersecurity controls.
18. Examine user access and permissions.
19. Review audit trails and compliance controls.
20. Identify unsupported modules or technology.
21. Assess the quality of current reporting.
22. Review the availability of system documentation.
23. Measure current support demand.
24. Identify operational risks created by the existing system.
25. Decide whether an upgrade could solve the problems.
26. Decide whether full replacement should be considered.
Phase 3 Business and process review
27. Interview senior managers.
28. Interview departmental users.
29. Observe how employees complete key tasks.
30. Map finance processes.
31. Map purchasing and supplier processes.
32. Map sales and customer processes.
33. Map inventory and warehouse processes.
34. Map manufacturing or service-delivery processes.
35. Map project-management processes.
36. Map human resources and payroll processes.
37. Identify duplicated data entry.
38. Identify manual workarounds.
39. Record delays, errors and control weaknesses.
40. Identify processes that vary between sites.
41. Measure current process performance.
42. Agree which processes should be redesigned.
43. Define the future operating model.
Phase 4 Data and technology review
44. List all data sources.
45. Identify data owners.
46. Measure data volumes.
47. Assess missing, duplicated and inaccurate records.
48. Identify historical data that must be retained.
49. Review data-retention requirements.
50. Map existing system integrations.
51. Review application programming interfaces.
52. Assess cloud and on-premise infrastructure.
53. Review network capacity.
54. Review backup and disaster-recovery arrangements.
55. Identify mobile and remote-access needs.
56. Review UK GDPR and sector requirements.
57. Record technical and data risks.
Phase 5 Business case development
58. Define the intended business outcomes.
59. Set measurable performance targets.
60. Estimate productivity savings.
61. Estimate process and stock improvements.
62. Estimate implementation costs.
63. Estimate software subscription or licence costs.
64. Estimate integration and migration costs.
65. Estimate internal staff costs.
66. Estimate training and change-management costs.
67. Estimate support and upgrade costs.
68. Calculate the expected total cost of ownership.
69. Assess financial and operational risks.
70. Compare upgrading, replacing and retaining the current ERP.
71. Prepare the initial business case.
72. Obtain approval to begin supplier selection.
Phase 6 Requirements definition
73. Confirm the final project scope.
74. Define functional requirements.
75. Define technical requirements.
76. Define integration requirements.
77. Define data requirements.
78. Define reporting requirements.
79. Define security requirements.
80. Define compliance requirements.
81. Define availability and performance requirements.
82. Define mobile-access requirements.
83. Define localisation, tax and currency requirements.
84. Calculate user and licence numbers.
85. Separate mandatory requirements from preferred features.
86. Assign a business owner to each requirement.
87. Create supplier-scoring criteria.
88. Obtain formal approval of the requirements.
Phase 7 ERP market review
89. Research suitable ERP categories.
90. Identify products used in the organisation’s sector.
91. Identify suitable software vendors.
92. Identify suitable implementation partners.
93. Check whether each product supports the required countries and regulations.
94. Review product development plans.
95. Review supplier ownership and financial position.
96. Create a supplier longlist.
97. Issue a request for information.
98. Assess the responses.
99. Remove suppliers that fail mandatory conditions.
100. Create a shortlist.
Phase 8 Formal ERP selection
101. Prepare the request for proposal.
102. Issue the same requirements to every shortlisted supplier.
103. Require a standard pricing format.
104. Require a proposed implementation plan.
105. Require named implementation resources.
106. Score written proposals.
107. Clarify incomplete or unclear answers.
108. Prepare scripted demonstration scenarios.
109. Run supplier demonstrations using real business processes.
110. Score each demonstration.
111. Complete a fit-gap assessment.
112. Identify proposed custom development.
113. Assess the proposed technology architecture.
114. Review integration methods.
115. Review security and data-hosting arrangements.
116. Review implementation-partner experience.
117. Interview the proposed delivery team.
118. Contact customer references.
119. Visit a customer site where appropriate.
120. Conduct a proof of concept for high-risk requirements.
121. Compare total costs over five or ten years.
122. Assess supplier and product risks.
123. Select a preferred supplier.
124. Retain a reserve supplier until contracts are signed.
Phase 9 Commercial negotiation and contracting
125. Confirm the software licence or subscription model.
126. Confirm implementation fees.
127. Confirm payment milestones.
128. Agree how expenses will be charged.
129. Define what the agreed scope includes.
130. Define the change-request process.
131. Agree service levels.
132. Agree support arrangements.
133. Agree data ownership and access rights.
134. Agree security obligations.
135. Agree subcontractor controls.
136. Agree implementation acceptance criteria.
137. Agree delay and failure provisions.
138. Agree contract termination rights.
139. Agree data-export and exit arrangements.
140. Review automatic renewal and price-rise clauses.
141. Complete legal and commercial due diligence.
142. Update the business case.
143. Obtain final approval.
144. Sign the contracts.
Phase 10 Project mobilisation
145. Confirm the project sponsor and steering group.
146. Confirm customer and supplier project managers.
147. Confirm workstream leaders.
148. Confirm the implementation team.
149. Agree project governance.
150. Agree reporting frequency.
151. Create the detailed project plan.
152. Set project milestones.
153. Record project dependencies.
154. Allocate internal staff time.
155. Agree scope boundaries.
156. Establish the risk register.
157. Establish the issue log.
158. Establish the decision log.
159. Establish the change-control process.
160. Agree document-control procedures.
161. Hold the formal project launch meeting.
Phase 11 Detailed design
162. Run process-discovery workshops.
163. Confirm future business processes.
164. Decide which processes will use standard ERP functions.
165. Identify approved process exceptions.
166. Design the organisation and company structure.
167. Design the chart of accounts.
168. Design tax and financial-period rules.
169. Design product, customer and supplier structures.
170. Design warehouse and stock structures.
171. Design workflows and approvals.
172. Design user roles and permissions.
173. Design system integrations.
174. Design the data-migration approach.
175. Design reports and dashboards.
176. Design document templates.
177. Design testing scenarios.
178. Design training requirements.
179. Produce the solution blueprint.
180. Obtain formal design approval.
Phase 12 Configuration and development
181. Set up development, testing, training and production environments.
182. Configure company and organisational structures.
183. Configure finance functions.
184. Configure purchasing functions.
185. Configure sales functions.
186. Configure inventory and warehouse functions.
187. Configure manufacturing or service modules.
188. Configure project and resource functions.
189. Configure workflows and approvals.
190. Configure roles and permissions.
191. Build required reports and dashboards.
192. Develop system integrations.
193. Develop approved extensions.
194. Configure document templates.
195. Document configurations.
196. Conduct internal configuration reviews.
Phase 13 Data preparation and migration
197. Confirm data owners.
198. Extract data from current systems.
199. Profile data quality.
200. Remove duplicates.
201. Correct inaccurate records.
202. Complete missing records.
203. Archive data that will not be migrated.
204. Map legacy fields to the new ERP.
205. Define transformation rules.
206. Prepare opening balances.
207. Prepare open orders and transactions.
208. Run an initial migration.
209. Validate record counts.
210. Reconcile financial totals.
211. Correct migration errors.
212. Run further migration rehearsals.
213. Measure migration time.
214. Approve the final migration plan.
Phase 14 Testing
215. Test individual configurations.
216. Test individual developments.
217. Test system integrations.
218. Test complete end-to-end processes.
219. Test migrated data.
220. Reconcile financial results.
221. Test user roles and permissions.
222. Test approval controls.
223. Test reports and dashboards.
224. Test system performance.
225. Test transaction volumes.
226. Test backups and recovery.
227. Test business-continuity arrangements.
228. Conduct user acceptance testing.
229. Record and prioritise defects.
230. Correct defects.
231. Retest corrected functions.
232. Complete regression testing.
233. Obtain formal test approval.
Phase 15 Change management and training
234. Assess how jobs and responsibilities will change.
235. Identify affected stakeholder groups.
236. Identify likely areas of resistance.
237. Prepare the communication plan.
238. Explain project progress to employees.
239. Prepare revised process documentation.
240. Identify training needs by role.
241. Create training materials.
242. Prepare the training environment.
243. Train super users.
244. Train managers and approvers.
245. Train end users.
246. Test user competency.
247. Provide additional training where needed.
248. Prepare support guides.
249. Set up the internal helpdesk.
250. Confirm post-launch support responsibilities.
Phase 16 Cutover preparation
251. Produce the detailed cutover plan.
252. Assign an owner to every cutover task.
253. Confirm the final data-freeze date.
254. Confirm transaction-handling arrangements during the freeze.
255. Prepare user accounts.
256. Confirm production permissions.
257. Confirm infrastructure readiness.
258. Confirm supplier support availability.
259. Complete the final migration rehearsal.
260. Test cutover communications.
261. Prepare the rollback plan.
262. Complete the operational-readiness review.
263. Hold the formal go or no-go meeting.
Phase 17 Go live
264. Freeze the legacy system where required.
265. Extract the final data.
266. Transform and load the final data.
267. Reconcile opening balances.
268. Reconcile open transactions.
269. Confirm integrations are running.
270. Activate production access.
271. Release the system to users.
272. Monitor transactions and interfaces.
273. Record launch issues.
274. Escalate serious problems.
275. Decide whether rollback is required.
276. Communicate launch status to employees and management.
Phase 18 Hypercare and stabilisation
277. Provide enhanced user support.
278. Hold daily issue-review meetings.
279. Prioritise business-critical defects.
280. Separate software faults from training problems.
281. Monitor system performance.
282. Monitor integrations.
283. Reconcile financial and operational data.
284. Correct remaining data problems.
285. Deliver extra user training.
286. Adjust approved configurations.
287. Track supplier response times.
288. Confirm that critical processes are stable.
289. Move from hypercare to normal support.
290. Complete the operational handover.
Phase 19 Project closure and benefits review
291. Confirm that contracted deliverables were accepted.
292. Resolve outstanding commercial matters.
293. Record final project costs.
294. Compare actual costs with the approved budget.
295. Compare results with the business case.
296. Measure agreed benefits.
297. Review supplier performance.
298. Record lessons from the project.
299. Close project risks and issues.
300. Archive project records.
301. Release project resources.
302. Obtain formal project-closure approval.
Phase 20 Ongoing ERP management
303. Review unused licences.
304. Review user access regularly.
305. Monitor support demand.
306. Monitor integrations and scheduled processes.
307. Track system performance.
308. Maintain data-quality controls.
309. Review security patches.
310. Plan product updates.
311. Test upgrades before release.
312. Manage the improvement backlog.
313. Review new module requests.
314. Measure benefits at agreed intervals.
315. Review supplier service levels.
316. Maintain disaster-recovery plans.
317. Review the ERP against changing business needs.
318. Begin the next formal ERP review when the system no longer supports the organisation’s plans.