ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning ,the much touted integration software package hardly warrants success without a lot of factors intertwined to work together and in proper synchronization .These factors which are normally called Critical Success Factors at different phases of implementation and are very much inter connected with each other in a dynamic way(one gets changed with others). While in beginning selection of best people as project leaders or project champions are as important as to select the right software vendor or knowledge partner as well as system integrator for successful roll out. Top management ‘s support with committed time and attention (qualitatively and quantitatively )are as important as the organized and pure and clean data while migrating to such a monolithic environment at one go or in staggered phases. Change Management just prevails at the core of any such all pervasive software suits which plays the most important role to resolve the conflict or remit the opposition which will be followed as a natural phenomenon with such total transforming technology. But amongst all those factors the most critical one which just spins the cobweb to sensitize every end of the PAN Organisation implementation of such integration is the designing and developing robust training infrastructure with customized delivery of knowledge bites of ERP at different layers and levels of the organization. May be it on appraisal or appreciation by the top management , may be it is adoption and adaptation at users, process owners or module owners , may be it is on coordination and supervision at the level of project leaders , laying infrastructures , networking , making a full scape training or learning layout at different phases and stages of implementation is of foremost importance. Amongst all those data, people and leadership , the people issue simply is the most predominant as the whole ERP deals more on integration of mindset rather than integration of some servers or applications where the departments , desks or the divisions will be ready to share the platform, share the information and that also in real time for faster and better decision making. Training in ERP is not just about acceptance of the new technology or system , it is about acclimatization with it , growing deep association with it and ultimately proper appreciation of its benefits , tangible intangible both. In general training must precede even conceptualization of any new initiative for first information report or first appraisal , best awareness to comprehend the investment as well as impact in its best possible views. So is in the case of ERP implementation also where training plays much more critical role considering its complexity and all pervasive effect on the industry. As it is called a big beast which keep scratching scraping and then scrubbing every entity whether its process, project or people to get the dirt off, to shed the flab off otherwise age old obese and outdated system to make it a smart , sleek ,svelte and sophisticated one, the preparing of mind , apatite both, honing the aptitude and attitude both all these are very much necessary for ERP implementation.
In the organization like ours where the age old activities have been quarantined for decades in its own territorial boundaries or departmental diktats and which never ever got tried or tested in its new avatar being process centric the much aspired change which will set fast at the core of the design of the integration software will be surely looked as a paradigm shift supposed to be occurred more in mind rather than the mechanism.
The business processes will be suddenly viewed as assets of the organisation . The treasure trove of these reinvented and to a great extent reengineered functional processes will be ready for further expedition and exploitation to its full potentials . This concept of building up process vault with its automating software simply cannot come out of blue rather than very well structured , sincere organizational learning exercise to further percolate it , permeate it across the industry demanding more and more intense training of the people associated with the system.
As the complexities of the system multiplies with process configured , customized or reengineered as the case demands , the stakeholders of it like user , process owners even technical staff needs complete clarity of transition , confidence in use and the concrete rationale behind the whole transformation. So a training needs much more about whys , wheres , whosabout the business processes not only howsof the system. While taking cognizance of the fact that ERP implementation is much more managerial and people issue rather than the technical or application architecture , the right training with right resource people equipped with both right style and substance can only warrant better implementation. There is every chance that being in the industry for quarter a century , some ERP implementer(third party or system developer themselves) normally goes in automode with a standardized version of the training and push it down the organization pipeline even before understanding the psyche of the company which got a huge vulnerability of repulsion and rejection by the users. So customization of training according to the level of information or technical literacy is precursor of any effective training. Just paying a lip service will certainly defeat the whole purpose of the training which is at the core of success of implementation any such complex modular software suite.
So what a training must aim for in ERP implementation ?
While introduction to acronyms or taxonomies are the foundation course of any enterprise software training , appraisal of the underlying architecture (three tier ), the level of integration and depiction of post implemented process flow as well as system with changed impact (enhanced efficiency , faster business cycle , global visibility , deeper understanding of customers etc) are the primary motif of such intense training.
The next mission of ERP training is certainly to understand the relationship between the data, people and the application /system the main three vertices of such solution. So at every point the readiness is basic prerequisite of flagging off ERP implementation. Missing any timeline to prime or prepare the incumbent(data, people or system) will just end up in nothing a recipe of failure or disaster. The comprehension of this bondage which is any case is very much mission critical and which is only possible by well scripted training programme.
The erp system which fast becomes the digital nervous system of the whole company (with suppliers and customers aligned on common platform) needs a robust support system , which hardly be outsourced once the go live or and ultimate sign off occurs by the consultants. Whether its about the maintaining server , running application or occasional trouble shooting for users , the knowledge osmosis is just indispensible.
Training enlightens mind , it smoothens the rough edges of any machine or mechanism, system or solution. The change management which writes preamble of any enterprise system omnibus hugely owes its vocabulary from training manual designed distinctively for different layers/stakeholders of the system . The otherwise die hard resistances deeply entrenched in any organization culture gets its first upheaval by meticulously designed , deftly delivered knowledge bites in a slow but steady inception of psyche individual as well as organizational.
