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Step 1 to Success: Clients Learn to Curb Requirements

2015-09-09

If a good salesperson paints a grand blueprint pre-sale and expands requirements, a good implementation consultant’s first job is to cool the client’s fervor — that’s true responsibility. ERP is a management tool; once management is involved it gets complex, and the answer is to simplify: solve what can be solved and show results first, so optimization can continue. Implementation is not a phase — it’s continuous improvement with no finish line.

Requirement Triage & Communication

State at kickoff: there is never a “best” management solution — choose the most suitable.
During requirements research, don’t readily say “can/can’t solve”; ask the necessary questions and listen.
Triage requirements: solvable with key benefit first; solvable and leadership-focused second; solvable and user-focused third.
For hard requirements, clarify why, how it’s handled manually, consequences of not solving, whether it’s a critical blocker — then assess cost and risk.
Through respectful, principled communication, scope requirements to “implementable (directly or indirectly), leadership-focused, and quickly beneficial.”