4 Keys to Successful Change Management Planning for Your New D365 Cloud ERP

As you consider upgrading your ERP to Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365), a cloud solution, you’ll want to prepare your organization for the change. You should give some though to how you prepare your people for the impact the new D365 ERP implementation will have on them. To get the ball rolling, you need to assess the readiness of the people most directly affected by the project. This will allow you to build the right change management plan for your project. Align this with the process transformation workshops you hold, and your organization will be prepared to more effectively leverage your new ERP solution. 

The services outlined in greater detail below, will provide project leadership and delivery oversight. Ensuring your project resources can manage both planning a transition to the new D365, while maintaining the demands of their current workload. As a result, this will help the project team members to orient themselves on each planning phase, so the needs of the business are met. Proper people planning and early decision-making will streamline the implementation of your new ERP solution. 

Organizational Readiness

One of the areas you’ll want to focus on is organizational readiness. Specifically, you should identify the project team members and verify the hierarchy of your organization to assess the span of control issues. Think about how dynamic the organization is and how that will impact the project. Additionally, you will need to understand  the cultural readiness. A key way to address this is by educating the project stakeholders on the current and future state ERP models. As an example, are managers ready to be responsible for all ERP transactions?

Moreover, you will need to make sure that specific change management resources exist for the project. Your project team will define the technical training and the overall training strategy. This will help all stakeholders understand how this change positively affects the way they do their jobs. As part of the training strategy, you will also identify the correct training resource requirements and the skills required for change management training development.

TOP 4 PRE-IMPLEMENTATION PEOPLE READINESS ACTIVITIES

1. IDENTIFY THE PEOPLE MOST IMPORTANT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE PROJECT & IDENTIFY POTENTIAL CYNICS

1. Champions: Believes in (or accepts) the change and approves broad-level resources to support the change.
2. Sponsors: Authorize, reinforce and demonstrate the ownership for the change (i.e. “Walk the Talk”). Also, likely to provide resources at a more specific level.
3. Change Agents: Have implementation responsibilities. Their performance is evaluated on the success of the change implementation.
4. Stakeholders: The goal is to change their behaviors, emotions, knowledge and perceptions. They have a vested interest in the change, and must be kept informed and involved. 

2. ENGAGE APPROPRIATE TEAM MEMBERS TO ENSURE THEIR INVOLVEMENT AND INPUT

1. Summarize the project and its business goals
2. Identify the possible processes effecting the group you are speaking with
3. Engage with all the Stakeholders
4. Use active listening skills to judge project understanding and gain buy-in
5. Develop a set of questions to elicit feedback to uncover things like business unit differences, cultural concerns, time concerns, responsibility issues, etc.
6. Provide feedback to confirm their thoughts and ideas but defer judgment
7. Set a realistic timeline for response – stick to it or give a reason why if you miss

3. DISCUSS THE RESULTS OF THE INTERVIEWS TO INCLUDE AN OVERVIEW OF:

1. The interview findings and the change impact assessment
2. Organizational and operational readiness
3. The suggested change, training and communication activities   

4. START TO IDENTIFY A PROJECT COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

1. Categorize audiences
2. Agree on communication cadence
3. Decide on push or pull strategies
4. Identify tools such as portals, videos, newsletters, notices and emails

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Make an honest assessment of your ability to handle change and identify the risks.
• Put people at the center of your change management efforts. How people are managed through the process will be a significant success factor.
• Effective change requires effective strategies.
• Appoint change management team roles.

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