Healthcare is in crisis in many countries, and Finland is no exception. When resources are limited, and the demand keeps growing, difficult choices and prioritisations must be made. There is a clear need for modernising the mechanisms behind our healthcare systems. Easy to say, less so to solve. We often encounter similar crisis headlines about ERP transformations. ERP project health issues cause significant delays and budget overruns. If an ERP project fallen ill ends up going live, the business and operational consequences can be crushing. Easy to imagine, entirely possible to prevent.
The concern of failing an ERP renewal, not to mention a full-scale ERP transformation, is valid and understandable. We have heard too many stories of troubled or unsuccessful ERP projects. Concern is therefore a healthy reaction, that should make us think how to ensure good health for our ERP project throughout its lifecycle.
In human healthcare, there are three basic types of operations – preventive, basic, and specialised care. Interestingly, these same healthcare types are relevant and real for ERP projects. Let’s take a look.
Preventive healthcare involves everything we do to maintain a healthy lifestyle: nutrition, rest, physical and mental activities, and so on. It also includes more formal activities that help identify health problems earlier when they’re still most treatable. Tackling health issues early helps us stay on a healthy track and reduces the risk of developing serious health conditions. Preventive healthcare activities also lower healthcare costs.
Preventive health check activities at the beginning of an ERP project have a very similar impact. They help the project stay on track regarding scope and quality, proceed according to the planned schedule and frame, and lower the risk of cost overruns in the end.
For an ERP project or any other major transformation, preventive healthcare means establishing good project practices and culture from the very start (healthy lifestyle). Taking care of a project’s critical factors turns them into the cornerstones of success. And just like with human health, when critical health factors are neglected, the risk of falling sick and losing control over the results increases significantly.
I recommend agreeing in the preparation phase about regular health checks to be made throughout the ERP project execution, preferably by an impartial external party (more formal activity). Regular project health checks should be considered in project contracts between the involved parties. These formally agreed and executed health checks significantly lower the risks of the project failing due to scope creep, inadequate competencies and resources, insufficient or unrealistic plans, lack of leadership and commitment, or other issues that can be prevented.
Agreeing on regular health checks from the beginning creates internal discipline to the project, as everyone involved knows the achievements are followed up by an outsider, not only internally. The health checks also guarantee a mandate even for strong interventions, if larger issues and change needs e.g. in project scoping, practices, resourcing, or management, are discovered.
Even with regular health checks, we sometimes get sick, and injuries happen. In these cases, the availability and functionality of primary healthcare is important. Primary healthcare identifies and treats problems that have already produced symptoms or complications.
In addition to planning and managing an ERP project, identifying symptoms and complications is essential. Identifying symptoms that require attention and updating plans to keep the project on track. Understanding the complications that require corrective actions and swift decisions ensures the project stays both physically and socially healthy. Physical and social project health creates a clear sense of direction, control, and progress – and people involved are motivated and feel respected as team members.
The core functions of primary care are called the ‘4 Cs’: first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, and continuity. Similarly, during project execution, it is essential to have a governance structure with clear points of contact to identify risks and symptoms, a comprehensive approach to handling complications, and clear coordination and continuity in mitigating risks and solving issues.
Specialised medical services support people with rare or complex health conditions. In the ERP context, we can divide specialised care into two buckets—interventions made during the project's execution and rescue activities when the new ERP has gone live. Both situations and issues are complex, and there are no silver bullets. Strong experience and leadership are needed in both, but there is also a significant difference between these two activities.
When a health check has revealed the ongoing project is at serious risk of failure, an intervention is needed. Based on an intensive analysis of the situation, rapid actions are needed. The corrective actions may vary from establishing neglected project management practises and introducing missing project discipline to redefining the scope and timeline, to even stopping the project for a while or for good. In a seriously troubled project, we typically also see inflamed relationships and dysfunctional teams. This can mean re-arranging roles and responsibilities or even changing people in key roles. The ultimate purpose of the intervention is to set the project back on track soonest possible with clear direction and control.
When a new ERP has already gone live, the situation is different. The disruption and issues are not the project’s problems anymore – even though the project team has many problems on their desk. At this point, there are only business problems. They directly impact business operations and will easily start impacting customers and suppliers. In the worst case, they don’t just cause inconveniences – additional trouble, effort and delays – but serious financial and reputational damage to the company.
If the situation gets serious after going live and the stuff hits the fan, as said in layman’s terminology, a rescue operation is needed. A fast and precise analysis is needed to get the situation under control and create stability and trust for survival within the organisation.
Experience and expertise matter, both in specialised medical care and in ERP rescue operations. When people get ill, diagnostics are needed to decide on the correct treatment. Correct treatment often requires various specialists working together—a specialist doctor, surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses, for example.
The same applies to the ERP rescue team. After intake to emergency and analysing the situation, it becomes clear what kind of expertise combination is needed for the ERP patient. An experienced rescue team establishes clear governance and communication to ensure actions are targeted and prioritised correctly, and people are not occupied in non-value-adding activities. External rescue experts also bring unbiased characters to the stage. If the situation has become a deadlock, it can be easier to let an unbiased, external expert take the lead.
What is the key takeaway from healthcare to the ERP context? The better we take care of our health and utilise primary healthcare, the less need for specialised care. The better we prepare and take care of our ERP project’s health, the lower the likelihood of needing a rescue team later. It is never too late to change one’s lifestyle habits to healthier alternatives. It is never too late to make corrective actions concerning your ERP project.
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