• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ultra Consultants

OUR INDEPENDENT ERP CONSULTANTS DELIVER 100% CLIENT SATISFACTION

  • Services
    • Back
      • Business Process Improvement
        • Business Process Reengineering
        • Business Process Analysis
        • Business Process Documentation
        • Business Process Mapping
        • Business Process Review
      • Enterprise Software Selection
        • ERP Selection
        • ERP RFP (Request for Proposal)
        • ERP RFP Preparation
        • ERP Readiness Assessment
        • ERP Selection Criteria
        • ERP Requirements Definition
      • Enterprise Software Implementation
        • ERP Implementation Plan Creation
        • ERP Data Conversion
        • ERP Reports
        • ERP Implementation
      • Industry Compliance Services
      • Business Process Transformation
      • Organizational Change Management
      • Enterprise Project Management
      • Get your roadmap for business process improvement
  • Industries & Clients
    • Back
      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Automotive
      • Chemical
      • Consumer Goods
      • Distribution
      • Electronic & Equipment
      • Food & Beverage
      • Industrial Equipment
      • Medical Devices & Products
      • Metal Fabrication
      • Pharmaceutical
      • Plastics
      • Read about driving ROI in your ERP project
  • Software & Vendors
    • Back
      • ERP
        • Discrete Manufacturing ERP Software
        • Process Manufacturing ERP Software
        • Distribution ERP Software
      • ERP Software for Sales and Marketing
        • CRM Software
        • Marketing Automation Software
        • eCommerce Solutions
      • Supply Chain Management Software
        • Demand Management Software
        • Transportation Management Software
        • Advanced Planning & DRP Software
        • Finite Scheduling Software
      • Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
      • Warehouse Management Software
      • Manufacturing Execution System Software Vendors
      • Field Service Management Software Vendors
      • Learn about software selection decision drivers
  • Education
    • Back
      • Resources
        • Events & Webinars
        • White Papers
        • ERP Case Studies
      • Media
        • On-Demand Webinars
        • ERP Podcast
        • ERP Videos
      • Take Your Free ERP Health Check
  • Company
    • Back
      • About Ultra
        • Our Team
        • History
        • Awards
        • Careers
        • Independent ERP Consultants
      • News
        • ERP Media Coverage
        • Press Releases
        • ERP Newsletter
      • Read about choosing an independent consultant.
  • ERP Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Back
Home / ERP Blog 06.25.19 / ERP Best Practices / Resources to Help Manage Risk During an ERP Project
06.25.19

Resources to Help Manage Risk During an ERP Project

ERP Risk FactorsIt’s a challenge for project teams to manage risk during an ERP project. We know as an independent ERP consulting firm with extensive experience in ERP selection and implementation projects that no enterprise software implementation project comes without some risk. To gain the desired success, it is essential to identify and manage risk during an ERP project.

Most manufacturers and distributors don’t have the expertise to pinpoint what causes risk and how to create an ERP risk management plan. The manufacturing and distribution teams we work with have relayed that managing risk is one of the strongest reasons to work with an independent consultant team.

ERP Implementation Risk

In our context, risk in an enterprise software implementation is defined as a chance of exposure to adverse consequences of future events. Risk might come masked as changes in leadership and project team priorities, lack of proper budgeting and unanticipated financial forecast changes, scope creep as the project requirements change, a lack of details that alters the project timeline and budget, lack of skills in managing organizational and culture change, and more.

In our 25 years of hundreds of engagements, the business improvement consultants at Ultra have identified four general areas of risk that can sabotage an enterprise project:

  1. Lack of proper team resources and executive leadership/buy-in. ERP project teams are successful when they can properly devote their time to the project and have executive support.
  2. Lack of team resources with extensive experience in various disciplines who will document the current and desired future state of operations. The role of an ERP consultant can fill this gap, bringing industry experience to propose suggested business process re-engineering directives.
  3. Settling for out-of-the-box solutions rather than focusing on the appropriate fit between ERP features and the desired future state of business processes.
  4. Assuming an ERP project is “just” an IT project. In fact, implementing a new enterprise technology solution is the perfect time to review and revise business processes to maximize the technology investment.

Is your business at risk?

Get the white paper

Downoad Here

Resources to Help Manage Risk During an ERP Project

Ultra’s experts have written numerous posts about how to minimize and manage risk during an ERP project.

Developing a formal plan for an implementation project is a smart strategic step for the ERP project team. In an insightful post, Forming an ERP Risk Management Plan for Your Implementation Project, we identify varying types of risk, marking the distinction between project risks and business risks. ERP project risks fall into three categories: cost/money, timeline, and scope/quality.

To manage risk during an ERP project it pays to get educated. As a part of our toolkit of  ERP education resources, we have developed methodologies for dealing with risk, including prevention, reduction, transference, contingency, and risk acceptance. Our structured approach to risk analysis and risk action begins in the planning phase and continues throughout the project.

At Ultra, our experience gained from more than 300 successful ERP engagements has given us specific knowledge of the Types of ERP Risks You Simply Can’t Afford to Ignore. We guide teams to address serious project and business issues. The risks we encounter most frequently fall in the areas of:

  • Business priorities and leadership
  • Financial budget and value realization
  • Project scope and timeline
  • Resource staffing and competencies
  • Change and cultural adoption
  • Process capability and future state expectations

As part of ERP process improvement services, Ultra focuses on proactively identifying ERP risks and instituting risk management best practices. We apply methods throughout the implementation process to proactively identify, plan for, and mitigate risks.

Ultra’s recent article in Plant Engineering looks at Three Questions to Consider During ERP Software Selection. We understand that an ERP project will deliver success only when it is built on business process improvement rather than driven merely by ERP system features. Consider these questions when selecting ERP software:

  • Why is business process improvement the place to start, even before selecting ERP software?
  • What are the key categories of decision drivers?
  • How is setting strategic decision drivers different from the traditional RFP process?

Learn More to Manage Risk During an ERP Project

It is imperative to have the right resources to carefully plan for and manage risk during an ERP project.

Learn more about strategies to manage risk during an ERP project via the informative white paper entitled Best Practices for an Effective ERP Implementation.

Contact Ultra Consultants to see how these concepts apply to your project.

Tweet
Share
Share

Categories: ERP Best Practices Tags: ERP Risk, risk management

Related Articles

  • 09.25.17ERP Risk Factors

    Types of ERP Risks You Simply Can’t Afford to Ignore

    Posted in: ERP Best Practices
  • 10.24.17ERP Risk Factors

    Got Risk? Be Aware of These ERP Risk Categories

    Posted in: ERP Best Practices
  • 07.02.18

    Mounting an ERP Recovery Effort? Check Out These Resources

    Posted in: ERP Best Practices

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Let's talk about
improving your
processes >>

Read an ERP success story >>

View white
paper library >>

Subscribe to the Ultra ERP Blog

Insight right into your in-box! Enter your email address for email notifications of new posts and be "in the know."

By filling out this form, I acknowledge that I have read, consent to, and agree to be bound by, the terms of Ultra's Privacy Policy, and that I am subscribing to Ultra's ERP Newsletter.

As an independent consultancy, Ultra does not endorse vendors participating in educational content.

Categories

  • Careers
  • Continuous Improvement
  • ERP Best Practices
  • ERP Software Vendors
  • ERP Success Stories
  • News and Events
  • Project Management
  • Stories from the Field
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Technology Evaluation
  • The ERP Industry
  • Uncategorized

Stay Connected

Stay informed about ERP evaluation, selection and
implementation. Subscribe to Ultra's eNewsletter.

Social Media

FacebookTwitterYoutubeLinkedin

312-319-1411 | Copyright © 2020 Ultra Corporation | All Rights Reserved | Sitemap |

Website by Web Savvy Marketing