Any software development project is associated with multiple risks, and those related to ERP development are no exception. Scope creep, representing an uncontrolled expansion of initial software requirements, can be the most dangerous ERP implementation risk from the project management perspective.
Key Takeaways
- Scope creep in ERP projects occurs when stakeholders add requirements beyond the initial plan, often resulting from unclear requirements definition and inefficient change management processes.
- Experienced ERP consultants play a crucial role in preventing scope creep by accurately defining project requirements, coordinating multiple stakeholder groups, and maintaining unbiased analysis.
- A comprehensive change management plan with standardized change order forms and clear approval processes is essential for controlling scope modifications.
- ERP consultants can conduct project audits to identify and address existing scope creep issues, helping realign projects with budget and time constraints.
- Proper scope management is critical for maintaining ERP implementation ROI and ensuring project delivery within planned timelines and budgets.
If a company’s ERP project suffers from scope creep, it can require more resources and time to complete than initially estimated, which in turn can negatively affect overall ERP implementation ROI. Luckily, experienced ERP consultants can help a company prevent scope creep and ensure that ERP is delivered within the planned time and budget.
This article explores the notion of scope creep in ERP projects and highlights how it can be addressed with the help of third-party consultants.
How can scope creep occur in an ERP project?
Scope creep in an ERP project occurs when stakeholders add new requirements beyond those agreed upon at the project planning stage, which can happen due to various reasons. One of the possible ones is unclearly defined initial ERP software requirements.
If a project team fails to determine the requirements of all stakeholder parties, there is a high risk that a delivered ERP product won’t meet their expectations. In such a case, stakeholders that are not satisfied with a product can require functional or design reworks. This can lead to extending the project and therefore cost overruns.
Non-existent or inefficient change management process is another possible reason behind ERP project scope creep. If stakeholders can request any changes they want without any rules and restrictions (for example, ask to add some extra features), the project scope can extend endlessly, which can also cause software delivery delays and significant budget overruns.
How can ERP consultants prevent scope creep?
ERP consultants can implement suitable measures to help a company minimize the risk of scope creep and ensure it will not affect ERP project outcomes, such as:
- Accurately define ERP project requirements and scope
As said earlier, poorly defined software requirements is one of the common reasons behind scope creep. Unfortunately, efficient gathering and documenting of stakeholder requirements can be challenging for a company without outside help.
Bringing in consultants can also strengthen processes like employee rewards and recognition, which can boost team engagement and ensure everyone remains committed to meeting well-defined project goals.
One of the reasons is that ERP systems are typically very complex by nature covering a broad range of business functions and serving a large number of users working in different departments of a company. Inventory management, human resources, accounting, logistics, and other teams can use ERP in their day-to-day operations.
Each of these teams represents a different stakeholder party with its unique interests. And since there are other interested parties (e.g., business owners and partners), an ERP project can involve dozens of stakeholder groups. To successfully plan out an ERP project, business analysts need to identify key stakeholders in all these groups, collect their ERP requirements, and prioritize and document them accurately.
Only experienced business analysts that have previously worked in large projects and are capable of coordinating multiple stakeholder groups can fully and properly define ERP project requirements. Moreover, business analysts should be unbiased, as different stakeholders’ interests often conflict with each other. In this context, delegating business analysis to professional ERP consultants that have coordinated lots of implementation projects can be a more reasonable option compared to in-house analysis.
ERP consultants can gather and formalize ERP project requirements, as well as gain stakeholder approval to guarantee that the expectations of all parties regarding future ERP solutions are taken into account and understood correctly. Then, consultants can use the gathered requirements to create a comprehensive project scope document and deliver it to stakeholders. By ensuring that each party knows the project scope right from the start, consultants can minimize the risk of it increasing later.
- Creating a change management plan and implementing a change control process
Nonetheless, even well-defined ERP software requirements do not guarantee that there will be no reasonable scope change requests later in the development process. To prevent scope creep, it is critical to manage and control these requests, and this is where a change management plan can come in handy. A change management plan that describes how to implement and monitor changes in an ERP project.
For example, such a plan might require stakeholders who want to change the project scope to use a standardized change order form instead of making informal change requests. These forms capture critical details about the requested change, including its description, the reasons behind the change, and possible alterations it can require regarding project schedule or budget. Generally, change order forms help streamline processes of documenting and evaluating stakeholder requests, which in turn enables project teams to manage project scope more efficiently.
Additionally, a change management plan should also define who can propose change requests, who can approve or reject them, and how these changes should be taken into account in the project schedule. The plan can also introduce the necessary use of a change log to make scope changes transparent and traceable.
- Running an ERP project review
Companies can hire ERP consultants for a project to help fix an already existing scope creep problem. To be more precise, consultants can run an audit to check a project’s financial performance and identify budget overruns. After the audit, consultants can help a company refine its ERP implementation plan to ensure it adheres to budgetary and time constraints.
Final thoughts
ERP development projects come with risks, and scope creep is one of the common ones. A company must anticipate and prevent this critical project management issue to avoid extending the project’s timeline and budget, which can reduce overall ERP implementation ROI. One of the surest ways to prevent scope creep is to involve experienced software consultants and the expert software development company with expertise in ERP projects right from the start.
Third-party experts can help a company accurately determine its ERP project requirements and implement an efficient change management process since these steps can greatly help minimize the risk. If scope creep has already affected an ERP project, consultants can also run a project audit to help a company identify its root causes and fix them.
