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How to take the surprises out of ERP migration
A Q & A with Jordan Parker, Migration and Integration Consultant at GenetiQ( the new name for Intact), on protecting day to day trading, preparing teams and moving to a new ERP with confidence.
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Q: Can finding problems during testing actually be a good sign?
Absolutely. Testing gives you the chance to uncover problems while there’ s still time to understand them, fix them and run the process again.
I worked with a customer whose stock migration took five dummy runs because its costs, pack sizes and quantities weren’ t transferring correctly. By the fifth run, the figures matched and the stock moved across exactly as planned.
This was a good thing- it showed that the testing was doing its job. Each run gave the customer more confidence in the process and meant there were no stock discrepancies when the business went live.
Q: Once the data matches, how do you know the system can handle real trading?
That’ s where the awkward scenarios matter.
It’ s easy to check that a standard website order reaches the ERP and assume the integration is working. But I’ d also want to test what happens when that order includes a discount code, several different products, a service item and a payment.
Does everything flow correctly through stock, receipts and accounts? Can users see where the information has gone, and do they understand what happens further down the process?
I often tell customers to test until they find something that doesn’ t work. That’ s useful because we’ ve found it before go-live, while there’ s still time to fix it and run the process again.
We’ ll also give teams access to a sandbox environment so they can keep practising, try unusual scenarios and build familiarity without affecting the live system.
Q: What else can migration reveal that the system tests won’ t?
Sometimes it exposes how much knowledge sits with one person.
I worked on a project where one employee had taken ownership of the data imports and purchasing processes. When they unexpectedly left close to go-live, it became clear that too much of the process and knowledge sat with that one person. The wider team wasn’ t fully prepared to manage those tasks in the old system, let alone the new one.
That’ s why I recommend having two or three people who can handle essential activities such as product creation, data imports and replenishment rules.
A strong project lead is valuable, but the business still needs enough shared knowledge to keep moving if that person is unavailable. A good migration should leave the organisation more resilient, rather than simply transferring knowledge from the consultant to one internal expert.
Q: Finally, what’ s the clearest sign that a merchant is ready to go live?
For me, it’ s when the customer can show us the process rather than tell us they’ re comfortable with it.
Before go-live, we ask users to walk us through the tasks they’ ll rely on. Can they create and import data? Can they process an order? Do they understand what happens if something goes wrong and who they need to speak to?
We also carry out independent checks during the project, bringing in someone who isn’ t involved in every day-to-day detail to challenge the process and ask whether it really is the best approach.
If I don’ t hear much from the customer on go-live day, I’ m a happy man! It means the data is in place, the integrations are working and people know what they’ re doing.
That’ s what a well-prepared go-live should feel like. The business gets on with trading, the team knows where to turn if they need help, and the improvements that prompted the move can start to become clear.
About GenetiQ Cloud
GenetiQ Cloud provides browser-based ERP software for building materials suppliers and is designed to reduce manual work, improve visibility and support connected day to day operations.
See how it works at: genetiqsoftware. com