The introduction of a new ERP system is often associated with enormous delays in many companies. But why? The reason is usually pages and pages of training documents that don't really help employees. The information they are looking for is far too difficult to find and, if it can be found, it is not up to date. This means that your employees cannot use the new ERP system in their daily work. This is frustrating! A central platform is needed where your staff can collect all information in a clear and structured way and update it at any time. An interactive management system offers such a platform and thus the ideal foundation for a successful introduction of a new ERP system - and for even more efficient and economical processes.
The employee as the focus of the management system
Wait a minute: Introducing two new systems at the same time only creates more chaos. Doesn't it? Exactly the opposite is actually the case! Perhaps you still remember the introduction of your current ERP system: It was certainly an extensive project and a major change for your employees. Something like that goes hand in hand with a lot of ambiguities and queries, costs time, money and the nerves of everyone involved. An Interactive Management System offers considerable advantages in this situation.
Generally speaking, such a system follows the approach of shifting process responsibilities from the QM department to the knowledge bearers themselves. The people who actually carry out the processes contribute their knowledge directly to the system and pass it on to others. For your specific use case, this means: In the Interactive Management System, you and your colleagues bundle all relevant information, clearly structure your company processes, and contribute feedback on the new ERP processes for everyone to see. The fact that all employees are actively involved in process design ensures both a continuous improvement process and greater acceptance of corporate guidelines. With this basis, you minimize time, costs and strained nerves.
So in this case, introducing two new systems ensures more success and less stress. The key is up-to-date process descriptions and work instructions that help your employees in their day-to-day work and ultimately increase the productivity of the entire company.
Interactive cheat sheet for the entire company
If you introduce an Interactive Management System first, your chances of a smooth implementation of the ERP system increase significantly. The two main reasons for this are:
Less reactive power
- Introducing a new ERP system is time-consuming because employees have to be trained. In the process, new (process) knowledge is created and new best practices emerge, which are usually not documented. In an interactive management system, however, this knowledge is recorded in a uniform and sustainable manner right from the start. In this way, subsequent employees can immediately access the knowledge of their colleagues, use it, supplement it, improve it and update it. This enables step-by-step optimization of process documentation at any point in the ERP project. In this way, you avoid blind performance, simplify the introduction of the ERP system and accelerate your processes.
Process-oriented documentation with real added value
- In the Interactive Management System, you document best practices continuously and across departments along the process chain. This breaks down silo thinking and automatically creates a process-oriented knowledge platform from which the entire company benefits. Instead of participating in one-off frontal training sessions, your employees create work instructions that support them acutely during the changeover of the affected processes and in the long term throughout their day-to-day work. In this way, the management system becomes a central knowledge platform with process descriptions, tips and tricks for your colleagues.
Reduced reactive power and process-oriented documentation eliminate two elementary hurdles that often cause postponement or cost explosion. The new ERP system is introduced faster, more efficiently and more sustainably, and at the same time you establish your Interactive Management System as a valuable tool in everyday work. This saves your company costs that would be incurred by interruptions, errors and repeated training.
8 tips for a successful ERP system
Here are our field-tested tips for the successful interaction between Interactive Management System and ERP system:
1. Gather all information consistently in the new management system.
Whether it's e-mails, training sessions, meetings or office gossip - bring it all together in one place, creating a single point of truth for everyone.
2. Get your colleagues on board early and actively involve them in the design of the processes.
This increases motivation to use the new system and thus to keep the documentation up to date. At the same time, identification with the documented (ERP) processes increases.
3. Document knowledge along your processes.
Because with cross-departmental documentation, you minimize interface losses.
4. Always keep your processes up to date.
This way, the added value is greatest for everyone! The collaborative approach reduces effort: All employees are actively involved in process management.
5. Design process descriptions and work instructions like a recipe.
That means: Describe all steps as concisely as possible and as detailed as necessary. Imagine that a new employee has to carry out the process on the basis of your documentation.
6. Use the management system as a training interface.
Use the documented processes and job aids in the test phase of the new ERP system. Let your colleagues write their own process documentation and supplement existing ones.
7. Answer open questions in the new management system.
If an employee asks you a question, record the answer in the appropriate process or work instruction. If the same question comes up again, refer your colleagues directly to the right place in the management system. In this way, you only have to answer questions once and you reduce consultation times enormously.
8. Link processes to each other: link templates, work instructions, job aids or other systems directly in the right process step.
This means that you always have all the information you need right at your fingertips.
Create the right basis for your ERP conversion!
With Q.wiki we have already helped many companies efficiently migrate to a new ERP system and at the same time created a knowledge platform that positions our customers more economically and future-proof.