With so many MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning) and manufacturing-focused ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions on the market, narrowing your search to the best option for your business needs is no small ask. And even once you’ve decided on a system, implementation becomes the next big priority.

You decided Business Central Manufacturing was the right fit for your needs, made it through the implementation, and reached project go-live. But something—or several things—just aren’t working right. While frustrating, a few common situations could cause an implementation to go sideways. But luckily, there are always ways to get your implementation back on track!

Whether your previous Partner did not fully understand your business processes or things became too complicated too quickly, your project can veer off track and off budget before you know it. If your implementation hasn’t been meeting expectations, you can still work to keep things running smoothly and get your timeline and budget back in check.

Here is our advice to help you get your Business Central Manufacturing implementation back on track so you can get the most out of your new manufacturing solution, even long after your implementation go-live.

Get back to the basics with clear process mapping and goal setting

A new ERP is an exciting prospect! The opportunity for so many improvements, automation, and efficiencies can also present a problem—it’s easy to get ahead of yourself and idealize the finished product before you’ve fully laid out your current system(s) operations. By going back to the beginning and looking at the big picture of your current-state process operations, you have the ability to identify opportunities for automation, locate gaps in functionality, and understand the ways your users interact with each step of your process (which sometimes requires accessing multiple systems to do their jobs).

Your business goals and priorities should always remain at the center of the Business Central implementation process. Clear process documentation is one of the most effective ways to remain laser-focused on the design and setup of your implementation while still planning for improvements.

A lack of documentation creates gaps in knowledge that can lead to problems, like siloed teams and process bottlenecks, further down the line. These steps will help you understand where you’re at before wading into the more complicated aspects of your implementation:

·       Thorough process mapping

·       Building out process flow diagrams

·       Documenting the current state of your ERP

·       Outlining non-negotiables for go-live and “wish list” features

 Once you clearly outline your goals, you can better understand the processes needed to get there.

Review configurations and be open to process change

Ideally, you’d know your processes BEFORE you design the new system. But things don’t always go according to plan, so sometimes a process review and new system design are done simultaneously. Don’t let this discourage you, though. Even if it feels too late, there is plenty of merit to doing a process review (and potentially redirecting or redesigning certain operational flows) as soon as possible. By reviewing your existing setup across ALL your business systems, you have the opportunity to ensure that you still agree with your configurations.

Take a look at your posting group setup, your dimensions, and your system settings. Should anything be reconfigured? Or is a conversation with your system stakeholders warranted? Your Microsoft Partner should help you navigate these conversations and offer guidance to ensure that best practices are always being followed.

If you find that your current understanding of processes is inefficient, costly, or contrived, a process redesign might be in order. A new business system is an opportunity to hit the ground running with better internal processes. Sometimes, the smallest changes make the biggest differences!

Examine current add-ons and systems outside Business Central

Business Central is a full-featured ERP solution, and with Microsoft’s App Source marketplace, there are thousands of ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) offering add-on tools.

However, going all-in on too many “extras” before the base system is fully up and running can bog down your progress. We recommend reviewing any extensions and add-ons you may have purchased—are they being used? And are they being used effectively yet? If not, it may be best to keep them disabled until Business Central is running smoothly on its own.

Additionally, you should evaluate your use of certain systems and applications outside Business Central to determine the tools that can be retired, or how you can rethink your usage of them. For example, Business Central’s integration with Excel means you can access, use, edit, and make system changes using Excel all within your Business Central screen. You may be using Excel to calculate staff commissions, but now you can use Business Central for this!

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Evaluate and bolster your team buy-in

A new system implementation is a great opportunity to regroup with stakeholders and users at all levels to review and (re)design how the system should be used.  A few meetings with users to review how the system is used can give you a better understanding of any existing pain points, functionality gaps, or inefficiencies that arose during (or after) your implementation. These user-focused meetings can help you decide if adjustments should be made to Business Central to make the application work better for your processes, if any extensions are needed to provide additional functionality and flexibility, or if in-depth user training can suitably course-correct. Sometimes, reminding users of best practices is all it takes to get things running smoothly with a new business system. Simply asking for user input improves buy-in, too!

Break the implementation into phases

The central theme of an implementation revamp is to put your priorities first and focus on the absolute necessities to get Business Central up and running. Then, you can move on to the extra add-ons, integrations, and customizations.

You should identify the “must haves” and separate them from the “we wants” within Business Central. It can be exciting to consider the seemingly endless possibilities for warehousing, barcoding, shop floor management, or even things like integration or custom reports and documents. However, if it gets in the way of your go-live date or overloads users with too much change right at go-live, then it may be worth considering a phased approach. Your Partner should be working with you to design the ERP as you want it to be and then identify potential phases of your implementation and the priorities and goals of each phase. Your Partner is instrumental in the success of your implementation, go-live, and long-term usability of your new business solution.

Are you getting the results you need from your current Partner? Here are three signs that it might be time for a new Microsoft Partner → 

Could you use a hand to get your Business Central implementation back on track? Our consulting team is here to help. We’ll get to know your business needs and processes and work with you to give your implementation a second chance.