Technical
Initial installation and setting up of the new system is mainly the work of the IT Department or a senior member of the Finance Dept. These are technical tasks rarely involving other staff.
Take On
An important element of the implementation is the setting up of customers, delivery addresses, suppliers, products, stock locations, chart of accounts, pricing tables, units of measure and other relationships.
Following this the open balances and transactions can be added, ie. customer balances, supplier balances, general ledger balances, stock count, open sales orders and open purchase orders.
Consideration should also be given to transaction history – especially sales.
Sometimes it is possible to directly transfer data from the old to the new systems, but this is not necessarily the better option. For example, some customers and suppliers in the old system may not be current contacts. Unused stock numbers may not be needed unless a sales history is being transferred. Also the old standing data may be untidy, eg. misspelt addresses, missing postcodes. A system change over is the perfect time to tidy up – but it is one more large task to do.
A common mistake is not to eliminate non-alphanumeric characters, eg ,/*: from the lists. If these are included, there could be problems with the Take On Phase – some data could end up in the wrong fields – check with the new software supplier. Even if the new software allows such characters, there could be further problems with EDI protocols if you move into electronic trading. If in doubt, leave them out (if you can).
Refer to the notes on numbering conventions in the Design section webpage.
A list and data transfer method frequently used is to use Microsoft Excel as a half way house. Almost all systems will transfer to and from Excel. For those that don’t, there is still probably a way. In Excel, all the data can be checked and updated using simple formulas and find/replace routines. This can save a massive amount of valuable time during the implementation phase and is well worth doing.
Stationery
Stationery takes an inordinate amount of time to design and implement. Start early, and respond immediately to any matters arising. You have been warned.
Consider all stationery, whether the new invoice and other documentation layouts are transferable. If you wish to keep existing stationery, you may need to custom design your documents in the new system. You may choose to design new stationery – make sure you have enough time.
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Settings
Every business system has settings. These are choices (ie. flags to be set) made from the design process, eg. “Allow customer discounts: Yes or No”, and “Allow sales when stock in negative: Yes, No or Warn”.
Be careful to note any settings which are permanent – ie. are irreversible.
Ensure that the staff assigned to settings have full understanding of what they mean and full access to the design process.
Testing
Testing is a critical phase of implementation. Take every step to ensure that everything is tested and problems eliminated well in advance of Go-Live. Test all the Take-On, and all transaction types. Test reports, stationery, reconciliations and resulting balance. Test that the staff have been trained.
