At a glance
A structured migration of the ERP system is essential: without precise planning and risk analysis, budget overruns and business failures can occur. Five key phases contribute to successful implementation. Process mining increases the transparency of real process flows, which can reduce effort, time and risks.
It is not uncommon for ERP systems to be in use for 10 to 15 years. Given the rapid pace of technological progress, some companies are now operating genuine ERP veterans. However, at the latest when the functionality can no longer keep up with current market requirements, it is time to switch to a new ERP solution.
However, starting the implementation unprepared without an ERP migration concept is not a good idea. Serious project errors can quickly blow the budget and have damaging consequences for the business.
In this article, we show you how to successfully master your ERP migration in 5 phases. You will also learn how process mining can significantly reduce the complexity of the project.
What does ERP migration mean?
ERP migration is the changeover from an existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a new solution. A migration is necessary, for example, if the provider has discontinued support for the system and there is therefore a high security risk. A change may also be necessary if the system is outdated or can no longer optimally support the company’s growth due to a lack of functions. If the ERP functionality does not meet current business requirements, this can have a negative impact on productivity and competitiveness.
Companies should be aware that switching to a new ERP system is an extremely complex project. is. Migration is therefore not something that can be managed on the side.
These challenges await you during ERP migration
1. error-free data migration
The error-free transfer of existing information to a new system is one of the most important and at the same time most delicate components of an ERP migration. Relevant data must not be lost or damaged during the migration under any circumstances.
2. seamless system integration
A successful migration requires efficient collaboration between the new ERP system and existing applications. Only if the system is seamlessly integrated into the existing IT landscape can it optimally support your business processes.
3. acceptance by employees
Switching to a new ERP system can trigger rejection or excessive demands from users. Targeted measures such as training and feedback mechanisms are required to ensure that all employees accept the new software.
4. avoidance of downtimes
If system failures occur during the migration, this can have far-reaching consequences. Business interruptions should be avoided as far as possible, as they can quickly lead to high financial losses and a breach of trust with partners and customers.
The 5 phases of a successful ERP migration
To minimize the risks associated with ERP migration, the project should follow a well thought-out migration concept. Dividing the project into several phases ensures that you reliably achieve your goal step by step.
1st phase: Preparation and planning
Before starting the implementation, you should take a close look at the old system and your current business processes. By identifying previous weaknesses, you will recognize potential for optimization and become aware of your requirements.
This is how you proceed:
- First, identify and analyze your current business processes.
- Question your previous ERP configurations.
- Carry out a technical and functional requirements analysis.
- Record your current and future requirements in a specification sheet.
- Put together your project team.
2nd phase: Selection of the new ERP system
When it comes to choosing the right ERP system, you are spoiled for choice. The relevant selection criteria include functionality, industry compatibility and price. It is important that you make your decision on the basis of mature considerations.
This is how you proceed:
- Research ERP systems that match your requirements.
- Send your specifications to suitable providers.
- Brief your favorite providers in a personal meeting.
- Let us present the ERP systems to you in individual workshops.
- Make your final choice.
3rd phase: Implementation
Once you have found your desired system, it’s time to implement the ERP migration. If you do not have sufficient internal resources for the technical implementation, your ERP provider will continue to support you as a specialist consultant and project partner.
This is how you proceed:
- First clean up your existing data.
- Make sure that your key users receive initial training.
- Set up the ERP system in cooperation with the provider.
- Have the system adapted to your individual processes and requirements.
- Migrate your data from the legacy system to the target system.
4th phase: Testing
Before the new ERP system goes live, extensive testing is on the agenda. By putting the solution through its paces in a test environment, you can
This is how you proceed:
- Check the software for correct functionality.
- Ensure smooth interaction with other applications.
- Let your end users test whether the system optimally supports all business processes.
- Check the software for security gaps.
- Evaluate the user-friendliness of the software.
5th phase: Change management
No matter how perfectly the ERP migration has gone so far, the success of the project ultimately depends on user acceptance and adoption. The system can only fully exploit its strengths if all employees use the new software optimally.
This is how you proceed:
- Inform your employees about the ERP migration at an early stage.
- Assign your key users to train their colleagues on how to use the new software.
- Get the opinion and feedback of the workforce.
- Reduce concerns and resistance through targeted communication.
- Support your employees with new work processes.
As you can see: Migrating to a new ERP system is a challenging project that involves numerous stumbling blocks and requires structured planning. How good that you can get technological support for some phases of the ERP migration – through process mining.
What is process mining?
Process mining is a method for the electronic analysis and visualization of business processes. Special tools evaluate log and event data from IT systems in real time and make the actual process flows visible. In this way, companies can track the digital footprints of hidden processes and identify deviations from target processes. As a result, process mining enables the rapid identification of process-related weaknesses and the targeted introduction of optimization measures.
How process mining can support you with ERP migration
Before and during implementation
As mentioned above, you should identify and analyze all business processes at the very beginning of the project. This is often still done manually: The key users in the individual departments identify, document and evaluate the most important processes by hand. Based on their specialist knowledge, they can then make suggestions for improvement, point out problems and define the ideal situation.
However, manual process identification is associated with a major disadvantage:
It is not uncommon for key users to only record the obvious processes – hidden processes, on the other hand, remain invisible. Purchasing, for example, is a central component of a company, but is usually handled by different people. These in turn carry out different work processes. As not everyone can normally be involved in documenting the processes, some procedures remain undetected. The larger a company is, the more processes can be overlooked.
With process mining, however, this problem does not exist:
companies can simply use the data from the current ERP system to find all processes automatically. Special tools make invisible routines transparent by reconstructing processes and presenting them graphically. This reveals bottlenecks as well as inefficient processes. In the end, process mining is not only more accurate than the manual approach, it is also faster and saves resources.
However, modern process mining solutions not only enable the representation of actual processes, but also the modeling and simulation of future processes. This allows you to see how certain process changes will affect profitability even before they are implemented. If you optimize your business processes during the ERP migration, you significantly reduce the risk of disruptions after the migration.
With the process mining tool, you can run through different process scenarios until you have found the ideal target model for your company. You can initially use this target model for the requirements analysis. Later, it serves as a template for configuring and adapting your new ERP system to the individual needs of your company.
After implementation
System optimization does not end with the ERP migration. In order to benefit from the new ERP system in the long term, you should continuously review and improve its performance. Process mining is also extremely helpful here: for example, you can continuously monitor the efficiency of the actual processes in the new ERP system and compare them with the defined target status. If there are any deviations, you can make the necessary adjustments.
If you compare the current and ideal process activities, you can also draw conclusions about possible weaknesses in the operation of the system. In turn, you can use these findings to provide your employees with targeted training.
Conclusion: Process mining reduces risks and costs
An ERP migration is a lengthy and complicated process. Without a migration concept and a detailed roadmap with many small interim goals, the project is usually doomed to failure.
Process mining is an important building block of the roadmap and can be enormously helpful in some phases of ERP migration. Special applications make hidden business processes transparent and help you to develop optimal process models. They also enable you to regularly monitor and optimize your processes after the migration. All in all, process mining can not only minimize risks, but also reduce costs, time and resources.
However, the impression should not be created that process mining could completely replace human process evaluation. Rather, it should be seen as a supplement and technological support for manual work.
Would you like to find out what a detailed process analysis can look like? In our ENGMATEC GmbH success story, we show how such an analysis led to optimized processes, smooth communication and comprehensive transparency.
