A compilation of 6 major steps in building an ERP system. Building an ERP system is extremely complex, time consuming and requires a stable and experienced team. The steps suggested are high level and each of these steps can contain many sub-steps.

1. 6 steps I followed to build an
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
System
author : raju velayudhan
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2. Validate primary reasons for building ERPSTEP 1
Confirm basic preparednessSTEP 2
Define monitoring and control procedureSTEP 3
DesignSTEP 4
PrototypeSTEP 5
Iteratively buildSTEP 6

3. Validate primary reasons for building ERP
1: Evaluate all available ERP suites. Ensure that there is no
ERP suite in the market which is a good fit for your industry
2: Ensure that the option of ‘building and maintaining’
weighs over ‘buying, customizing and maintaining’ an ERP in
terms of cost and benefits
STEP 1

4. Confirm basic preparedness
1: Analyze As-Is business model / processes and define To-
Be business model / processes
2: A requirement spec is ready which shall outline the
project scope and department heads have signed off their
respective part
3: A set of realistic, clearly defined, measurable list of
objectives against which project success / failure can be
evaluated is ready and is approved by senior management
STEP 2

5. Confirm basic preparedness
4: A detailed project budget is prepared after detailed analysis
and the same is approved by senior management
5: A passionate, experienced, stable team with adequate senior
management representation is in place for managing the project
6: The development team has experience in designing and
developing enterprise solutions / workflow systems
7: The platform / tool used to build the system is cost effective
and there is adequate expertise available in the market
STEP 2 Contd…

6. Define monitoring and control procedure
1: Define responsibility and authority matrix, escalation
matrix
2: Define method and frequency of project progress
review, budget review, review of project objectives
3: Define regular / ad-hoc reporting structure
4: Define change management procedure
STEP 3

7. Design
1: Design user interface elements – page layout, menu structure,
navigation, toolbars, color themes, button styles, font type and size,
headers and footers. Focus on simplicity and usability
2: Design data base. Derive and follow some thumb rules as to when to
normalize and to what level to normalize
3: Identify and design reusable components - workflow manager, access
control module, message sending routines, document management,
outputs / reports, transaction audit trails, error logs etc
4: Workflow engine is the core of ERP system. It should support task
definition, task sequencing, rule based switching, role based access and
task intimating
STEP 4

8. Design
5: Tier the application into layers for easy maintenance
6: Design the underlying system as a Framework which can
be extended to implement functionalities
7: Consider availability, security, responsiveness and similar
non functional aspects
8: Build wireframes before starting each module and show it
to end users to take their initial feedback
STEP 4 Contd…

9. Prototype
1: Take one module (for eg. Purchase Module) initially and develop a
proto. Implement the design along with the functionalities in the proto
2: Then show it to end users of the department. Take feedback. Review
feedback and refine the system. Make them try it, use it for recording some
past transactions. Try parallel run with few live records. Review, refine,
break, re-build until it take good shape.
3: Show the final version to rest of the departments in order to take their
feedback at-least on UI elements, navigation, usability etc.
4: Collect maximum feedback, deliberate changes and implement approved
changes and refine the proto
STEP 5

10. Prototype
5: Update scope document to reflect changes, if any
6: Clean up code, optimize where ever required and
document code in detail. The first proto shall be clean and
complete before we get into the next modules
7: Conduct phase end review meeting and re-review scope,
schedule, budget. Measure and review achievement of
objectives, if any applicable at this stage. Take required
corrective steps as necessary
STEP 5 Contd…

11. Iteratively build
1: Build the next related module (For eg. Inventory), take it to
end users, take feedback and refine. Integrate it with the
previously build module. Try trial run, parallel run with end
users
2 : Update scope document to reflect changes, if any, clean
up, optimize and document code
3: Conduct detailed re-review of scope, schedule, budget at
the end of each phase. Measure and review achievement of
objectives, if any. Take corrective actions where required
STEP 6

12. Design
Build
Test
Try/Use
Scope Review
ProgressReview
BudgetReview
ReviewachievementofObjectives
Iterative building model

13. Thank You
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if i can be of any help, email me at rajuvelayudhan@yahoo.com