ERP Roadmap: From Fit-Gap to Hypercare in 180 Days
Retail & Consumer • ~7–9 min read • Published Sep 1, 2024
Most ERP programs fail from bloat and indecision—not technology. A six-month roadmap forces ruthless focus: ship critical value streams first, protect cutover with evidence-gated readiness, and stand up a day-1 run-state that won’t collapse under load.
Why this matters now
Retail & Consumer businesses face margin pressure, supply shocks, and demand variability. ERP can enable real-time inventory, accurate order promise, and faster close—but only if scope is disciplined and operational ownership is clear on day 1.
Traditional “big bang” designs over-optimize fit-gap documents and under-invest in data, testing at scale, and run-state. The result: delayed go-lives, manual fallbacks, and value leakage.
Our point of view
We run ERP like a product, not a project. That means prioritized value streams, quarterly gates, and evergreen ownership. The 180-day plan below ships a viable core and creates the runway for continuous improvement.
The 180-day plan
Days 0–30: Frame & Focus
- Carve-outs first: Identify non-negotiable value streams (e.g., Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay) and defer nice-to-have variants.
- Heatmap: Score processes by business impact × change complexity; lock scope to top-right quadrant.
- Data posture: Establish golden sources, ownership, and quality thresholds.
- Cutover charter: Name a cutover DRI; define dress-rehearsal dates now.
Days 31–90: Configure & Prove
- Fit-to-standard: Default to vanilla; elevate customizations only with quantified ROI/risk rationale.
- Prototyping sprints: Demo weekly using real data subsets; capture decisions in a change log.
- Interfaces & reports: Prioritize only those needed for cutover + day-1 operations.
- Non-functional baseline: Performance, security roles, and audit trails wired early.
Days 91–150: Data, Dress Rehearsal & Readiness
- Data migration waves: Trial loads → reconciliation → defect burn-down. Lock a no-touch window.
- End-to-end testing at scale: Peak-day volumes, negative scenarios, and user rotations.
- Cutover plan v3: Resource roster, command center, runbooks, and rollback triggers.
- Training: Role-based, hands-on scenarios with job aids; certify critical users.
Days 151–180: Go-Live & Hypercare
- Go/no-go by evidence: Data quality, defect escape rate, and business sign-offs.
- Command center live: SLAs, war-room rotations, and real-time dashboards.
- Hypercare exit criteria: Stabilization KPIs (e.g., invoice match rate, OTIF), knowledge transfer to run-state owners.
Risks & controls
- Scope creep: Guard with a weekly change control tied to value and capacity.
- Data defects: Automate reconciliations; block go-live under threshold breaches.
- Access & segregation: Pre-bake SoD analysis; test “least privilege” in UAT.
- Vendor theater: Demand proofs, not promises; document measurable acceptance.
Day-1 run-state
- Ownership: RACI for incident classes, change requests, master data stewardship.
- SLAs: Time-to-ack, time-to-resolve, escalation ladders, and comms cadence.
- Backlog: Track post-go-live enhancements with weekly burn-down.
Closing
In six months, you can ship a reliable ERP core and stabilize it—if scope, data, and cutover readiness are treated as first-class citizens. Run ERP like a product with clear ownership, guardrails, and a cadence that compounds value.