Everyone loves the “big bang” go-live. But it’s also a recipe for a nervous breakdown. A tier-one auto parts supplier I know tried it and nearly went bankrupt. Their inventory went off by $1.2 million in the first week. They shut down the system and called ERP Consulting in panic mode.
The Pivot: From All-or-Nothing to One Process at a Time
The ERP Consulting team told them: stop trying to do everything at once. Pick the single most painful process—in their case, raw material receiving. They spent two weeks getting that one process perfect in the new system. Nothing else.
They even kept the old system running for everything else. That meant the warehouse could keep shipping orders while they got the receiving side right. This took the pressure off the team completely.
- They mapped out the “current state” of receiving on a single sheet of paper.
- They tested the new process for three days with real data, not dummy data.
- They only trained the receiving team, not the whole company.
Why a Slow Start Led to a Faster Finish
Once receiving was solid, they moved to shipping, then to inventory control, then to procurement. Each step took about two weeks. The whole rollout took 12 weeks instead of the planned 2 weeks. But here’s the thing: they never had a single day where they couldn’t ship a product.
The ERP Consulting team used a simple rule: no new process goes live until the previous one has run without an error for five consecutive days. That gave the team confidence. They weren’t afraid of breaking something because they knew the foundation was solid.
Your Takeaway: Stop Trying to Eat the Elephant in One Bite
If you’re afraid about your ERP project going sideways, try the phased approach. Pick your most painful process first. Get it perfect. Then move to the next one. ERP Consulting isn’t about the grand plan; it’s about the first, small, safe steps. It’s much better to take two months than to crash for six.