Some of the biggest concerns with ERP Implementations are “will my people learn fast enough, will they retain what they need to know after the ERP Consultant has left, and will we lose core ERP knowledge if key people leave the company”.
If you are a multi-site manufacturing company and have implemented your ERP in at least one of your sites, but still have others on the implementation to-do list, one way to mitigate all of these concerns is to use an internal Mentor Program.
A Mentor Program is a concept of utilizing your previous investments (in the form of trained and knowledgeable people who already went through an ERP implementation) to assist in the implementation of other corporate ERP implementations.
Connecting “mentors” with “protégés” (people who are challenged with a new ERP implementation) has proven very successful for several recent Godlan projects.
It is an excellent way to:
1. Shorten the learning curve of the protégés; not only in how the new ERP works, but specifically “how WE use the ERP”
2. Expand the corporate knowledge-base to buffer against the “knowledge void” when the ERP Consultant leaves at the end of the project
3. Replicate and control corporate policy and processes
4. Lower ERP implementation costs
At a recent project, Godlan facilitated the connection between Mentors and Protégés in the following areas:
1. Finance (AR, AP, GL)
2. Costing (Job costs, inventory)
3. Planning/Scheduling
4. Shop-Trak
5. Estimating, Order Entry and RMAs
6. Cycle Counting
The Mentors all participated in Conference Room Pilots, refinement of Work Instructions and cut-over planning and execution. Good business relationships were formed and cemented between the Mentors and Protégés and over time Protégés can become new Mentors for the next rounds of ERP implementations. One of the keys to success was getting the Mentors management to buy into this approach and make this a key deliverable for all the Mentors.
To learn more about Godlan and our implementation approach, visit www.Godlan.com
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