Business automation usually starts with the realization of a problem or opportunity for development. Various participants can initiate changes, from owners to heads of individual departments. According to ToDo's experience, regardless of the field of activity or scale of the company, responsible persons are conditionally divided into three groups:
- Business owners (founders, board members) - looking for transparency and a complete picture in real time. They value summary reports, KPI monitoring, and operational management.
- Managers (CEO, CFO, commercial directors) are focused on profit, cost optimization, and efficiency growth. For them, automation is primarily a tool for achieving business results.
- Chief Accountant or Finance Officer - Controls reporting, settlements and compliance with the law. It is important that the document flow is accurate and does not take up too much time.
But if at the start the initiative belongs to one person, the implementation of automation is always a team effort.
Business automation project team: who is involved on the part of the customer and the integrator
Успішне впровадження ERP неможливе без чітко сформованої проєктної структури. У кожному проєкті ми працюємо за моделлю Waterfall і формуємо дві окремі команди: зі сторони замовника та інтегратора.
The ToDo (performer) team:
- project manager and administrator;
- Lead Analyst and, if necessary, additional analysts;
- system architect;
- developers;
- testers.
The customer's team:
- Project sponsor - A person who finances the implementation and makes key decisions, but does not manage the process on a daily basis.
- Project manager - the main coordinator, who ensures communication between teams, forms tasks and monitors their implementation.
- Functionality owners - are responsible for communicating correct information about current business processes and approving changes.
Strategic and operational level of business automation: committee and working group
Separating project management into two levels helps avoid confusion:
- Project committee defines strategic objectives, monitors deadlines, budgets and results.
- Working group - are specialists who work with processes on a daily basis and are responsible for detailing requirements and implementing solutions.
This distinction helps to avoid overloading management with details and at the same time not losing control over implementation.
Mistake #1: not involving end users
The most common mistake at the start of automation is to describe business processes exclusively from the point of view of managers. Often, managers give their vision, which does not coincide with how the system actually works. The result is that the implemented ERP does not "fit" employees.
In ToDo projects, we always stick to the same approach:
- information about the fact that how the company really works, collect in end users;
- the decision to what to do about it, decide feature owners.
This approach allows:
- take into account the real needs for business automation;
- reduce the risk of sabotage by employees;
- get better data quality for modeling.
"If an employee has been involved in the preparation of requirements, it will be difficult for them to say that the ERP is 'not suitable'."
Why it's important to listen to more than just the "bosses"
In project practice, there have been situations when, after a user survey, it turned out that the business does not work the way managers think it does. These "insights" make it possible to create a solution that really helps, not just imitates changes.
If you ignore this and build the system only according to the vision of the owners of the functionality, the project is likely to be implemented but not accepted by users. This leads to low engagement, efficiency losses, and the need for rework.
Conclusion.
Автоматизація бізнесу – це завжди командна гра. Для успішного впровадження ERP потрібна участь і стратегів, і виконавців, і користувачів. Чіткий розподіл ролей, правильна побудова комунікацій і уважність до реальних процесів дають змогу створити робочу, прийняту й ефективну систему.
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