Tougher competition is driving more companies to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to improve operations and customer response. There are typically six phases to a successful ERP implementation: 1) Discovery and Planning to identify issues and potential solutions, 2) Design of the new enterprise-wide system, 3) Development including customizations and user training, 4) Testing to ensure functionality meets requirements, 5) Deployment including go-live and final data loading, and 6) Ongoing Support as system use evolves over time.