ERP Pre-Implementation Readiness Planning
Comprehensive Preparation for Implementation Success
Implementing ERP systems is a complex endeavor, fraught with visible and hidden risks that can compound over time, leading to project drift and inefficiencies. These challenges contribute to what we call the "ERP implementation malaise" paradigm: chaos, cost overruns, delays, and disappointment.
So how can companies break free and rise above this common scenario? Companies must lead and control every aspect of their project. In the proper form, the implementer fills the role of a subject matter expert, but otherwise is not leading the project or specifying any project execution standards, tools, or timing.
Typical buyer approach: Hire implementer, conduct optimistic planning sessions, lose control of project, pay overruns, endure delays, and accept reduced scope and results.
Our Approach
Step 1: Deepened Business Process Discovery
Building on prior strategic and selection work, we now go deeper. Earlier phases focused on the critical 20% that drives decisions. Now we flesh out those priorities in greater detail and comprehensively catalog existing process support tools—preparing your team and the Enterprise Discovery for implementation realities.
Process Support Tools Inventory:
Locate and catalog existing tools currently supporting your business processes—which normally involves hundreds (sometimes 1,000+) of tools in use:
Standalone spreadsheets
Checklists and templates
Point applications
Email workflows
Custom reports
All cataloged in your Enterprise Discovery repository with smart attribution for recall during implementation design phases.
Client involvement: Extended discovery sessions with process owners. AI dramatically reduces time burden—organizing findings as they're collected.
Step 2: Implementation Control Approach
We establish comprehensive buyer-led project control structure before implementation begins:
Implementation Control Education: Your team learns the ten project success factors, common dilution patterns, and how to maintain firm control throughout implementation.
Project Management Controls: Agile framework appropriate for ERP projects—buyer-led, not implementer-driven. Fast-moving with protected momentum.
Enterprise Discovery Repository Finalization: Complete organization of all prior discovery, familiarization training, access controls established, ready for heavy use during implementation.
Project Team Structure: Define internal and external team requirements. We help you identify and secure the right people with behind-the-scenes EAI support during implementation.
Project Rules: Establish explicit rules protecting momentum, controlling scope creep, managing ERP adaptation decisions, and maintaining discipline.
Realistic Timeline: Calendar plan balancing thoroughness with momentum protection—avoiding the "ERP implementation malaise" of endless delays.
Client involvement: Core team workshops to establish control framework. 2-6 planning sessions typically.
Step 3: Implementer Alignment
The implementer was selected partly based on their acknowledgment of buyer-led control. Now we align their approach to your control approach, which is primary:
Methodology Alignment: Adjusting their standard implementation approach to align with your controlling method structure. Many elements of implementer methods will be preserved.
Project Management Alignment: Their PM tools and reporting integrate with your buyer-led agile framework.
Personnel & Capacity Alignment: Right people assigned with adequate capacity for fast-moving, disciplined project. EAI validates implementer personnel commitments and capacity.
This isn't negotiation—it's alignment. The implementer committed to respecting buyer control. This step makes expectations explicit and operational.
Client involvement: Leadership presence in alignment sessions to signal commitment. Client internal project management involved in implementer meetings.
Step 4: The Implementer Immersion
Estimate: 5x more efficient than traditional implementer initial discovery
Instead of the implementer conducting 2+ weeks of billable discovery interviews, we immerse their key personnel in your business through your Enterprise Discovery:
Immersion Content (AI-Generated):
AI scans complete Enterprise Discovery repository
Generates targeted briefing agenda based on strategic and business process priorities
Identifies critical context implementer needs to understand
Creates discussion framework for efficient knowledge transfer
Immersion Sessions:
Strategic and business process priorities presentation
Enterprise Discovery repository training and navigation
Project control structure familiarization
Q&A focused on implementer strategic analysts
Result: Implementer starts informed, not conducting expensive discovery from scratch. Your team spends hours, not weeks. Implementer understands they're working with a prepared, control-focused buyer.
Client involvement: Immersion presentation sessions. Dramatically less time than traditional implementer discovery.
Step 5: Implementation Kickoff Preparation
Final preparation activities before formal implementation launch:
Internal team readiness verification
Control structure walkthrough
Enterprise Discovery access validation
Implementer personnel confirmed and briefed
Project kickoff agenda finalized
Success metrics established
EAI implementation support protocols established
What You Achieve
Implementation Readiness: Your team prepared, control framework established, not scrambling to catch up
Implementer Properly Oriented: They start informed and aligned to buyer-led approach
Enterprise Discovery Ready: Complete repository organized for heavy use during design phases
80% Reduction in Client Time: Compared to traditional implementer-led discovery
Momentum Protection Built In: Project rules and timeline designed to avoid typical delays
EAI Support Throughout Implementation: Behind-the-scenes coaching and guidance maintaining project discipline
Better Results, Lower Cost: Controlled scope, reduced overruns, focused execution from day one
AI Acceleration Points
1. Critical Strategic and Business Process Topics (Building Forward)
Traditional approach: Time-consuming and costly interviews potentially using lists of candidate topics to discuss. Final results often miss critical items and include irrelevant ones.
Our AI approach: Sophisticated multi-input analysis generates customized critical strategic and business functionality topics that only require client team review and potential tuning to be stable.
AI Engine Inputs:
~20 company-specific variables (size, industry, business model, strategic priorities, current systems, pain points, regulatory environment, timeline, constraints)
Your business process category (BPC) structure (customized for your company, not template)
1,500+ candidate functionality topics (our master library from 1,000+ projects)
Prior documentation if available (your strategic plans, process maps, improvement initiatives, prior consultant reports)
Industry factors (best practices frameworks, regulatory requirements, trade group standards, compliance certifications)
What AI Does: Analyzes all inputs together—scanning 1,500 candidate topics against your specific situation, industry patterns, regulatory requirements, and strategic priorities. Generates customized critical topics list organized by your business process categories, with context for "why this likely matters for YOUR company."
EAI Refinement: We review AI output, testing listed topics against our experience and validation checklist.
Client Validation: Client teams conduct a validation review of the AI results with a focus on tagging the more important topics. To reach this same result with classic consulting takes weeks of disruptive and costly workshops, with AI-driven results significantly more targeted and complete. 20x or better time savings.
If building on ERP Strategy Planning service or SoftSelect® ERP Selection: AI integrates prior strategic work, creating continuity from strategy through implementation.
Results: This AI-driven activity to generate, organize, and develop business process objectives and background greatly speeds onboarding of the implementer and discussion during the business process design of the implementation.
2. Enterprise Discovery Repository (Implementation-Ready)
Traditional approach: Discovery is captured in consultant formal report and general notes, filed away, hard to use, or just forgotten.
Our AI approach: All client discovery organized in client-controlled collaboration platform. Modern knowledge management system that becomes foundation for further enterprise business system improvement work. No digging through old emails or meeting notes. No lost institutional knowledge.
If building on prior EAI services: Repository contains complete strategic and selection project history. Implementation team receives organized, comprehensive business knowledge to build upon. Continuity from strategy → selection → implementation.
This is transformational: Typical implementations effectively start from scratch. Instead, your implementation starts with complete Enterprise Discovery already organized and accessible in a modern collaborative framework your company completely controls.
3. Implementer Onboarding: The Implementer Immersion
Estimate: ~80% reduction in demands on client team
Traditional Implementer approach:
Conducts 2+ weeks of foundation discovery (billable hours)
Questions significantly generated by the experience of the consultant—full of holes, even with experienced consultants
Ignores or resists buyer project control attempts
Discovery held by implementer in a form difficult to use—or you may never see it at all
Ownership of discovery in an ambiguous state
Our approach: The Implementer Immersion
Efficient exposure of your company to the implementer—what matters
Enterprise Discovery repository used to extract immersion content
Important strategic functional objectives clearly communicated
Project control expectations explicitly set — aggressive buyer control standards explained, must be understood and respected, consequences for ignoring buyer control made clear
Enterprise Discovery further built out during immersion: more background, more ideas, more potential obstacles documented
Result: Implementer key personnel start informed AND understand they're working with a prepared, control-focused buyer.
4. Enterprise Discovery Heavy Use During Implementation
During business process design and metrics design phases:
Enterprise Discovery provides organized, relevant information exactly when needed
Implementer team references strategic priorities, functional requirements, design decisions
No digging through old emails or meeting notes
No lost institutional knowledge
Continuity from strategy → selection → implementation
This is transformational over typical implementation approaches and ever-present chaos.
5. Ongoing Implementation Support (Behind the Scenes)
The EAI pre-implementation readiness service leads into implementation support:
We work behind the scenes to help you maintain project control structure
Coach you on enforcing control rules when implementer resists
Help navigate scope creep, timeline pressure, cost overrun attempts
Keep implementer focused on YOUR priorities, not their convenience
Safeguard that the preparation work translates into actual implementation discipline
6. AI-Managed PIR Process
The entire Pre-Implementation Readiness service follows AI-managed procedures that help:
Comprehensive preparation (focusing on what is important)
Client-specific configuration throughout
Implementation-ready deliverables (not just planning documents)
Smooth transition to implementation with control maintained
Investment
Contact us for a project proposal. Our AI-powered methodology enables comprehensive implementation preparation in significantly less time than traditional approaches. The Enterprise Discovery repository alone represents hundreds of hours of organized work that would otherwise be lost or somewhat recreated during implementation.
ERP Selection – Leupold & Stevens
Long term ERP license costs were initially very difficult to calculate. Working with EAI-SoftSelect we were able to insist on a predicable ERP license fee approach and achieve much lower initial and ongoing license fee costs.
ERP Selection – Cornell Pump
Negotiating ERP costs is complicated and the ERP software vendors take advantage of the buyer’s lack of experience. EAI-SoftSelect’s experience and influence helped us level the playing field. We clearly saved money and lowered our long term risk.
ERP Selection – Provo Craft
EAI-SoftSelect was a great partner throughout the process of choosing an ERP solution. They helped us control the terms throughout the ERP buying process, and we achieved impressive results in reduced ERP license fees.
Having an experienced partner like EAI-SoftSelect, helped us negotiate for the products we need and set our expectations for the process of implementing these solutions.
