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Chapter 4 • Development Life Cycle 97

need to be defined at the planning stage. How large will the ERP system scope be in
terms of departmental or functional coverage? Develop a long-term vision for the new
system and a short-term implementation plan and top management’s commitment for
both the vision and implementation plan. The composition and the structure of the
implementation team, the role of external consultants both in terms of time and scope,
and the role of internal employees, including the subject matter experts (SMEs) who
will provide the knowledge to embed business rules and input for interface and report
design, are other key factors to be considered at this stage. Vendor selection is another
key activity toward the end of this stage. Although no decisions should be made on the
ERP software, vendor information must be reviewed and choices could be narrowed
by testing alternative software and developing a business case for the project. A num-
ber of items need to be assessed and established to create the boundaries and scope.
Table 4-2 lists the key decisions to be made for each type of scope.
Stage 2. Analysis and design stage. In addition to analysis of user requirements, the ERP team
has first to make a decision on the software and decide on consultants and SMEs.
Another key activity is to map the differences between the current business process and
the embedded process in the ERP software or gap analysis and to develop a long-term
plan on whether to change the business processes of the organization or to customize
the ERP software to support existing processes. Using the gap analysis, the team must
develop a design that among other things includes a change management plan, a list of
embedded processes, user interface screens, and reports in the ERP software that will
need customization, design of these changes, and a process of involving subject matter
experts in the design. Other activities include creating plans for data conversion, system
conversion, and training. For a system to be successful, the team must develop a
detailed change management strategy and plan for the release of the new system. By
the end of this stage, the team usually has a sandbox or prototype of the ERP software
installed that is accessible to the entire implementation team, consultants, and SMEs.
Stage 3. Acquisition and development stage. This stage is similar to the acquisition and testing
stage of traditional SDLC. The organization has to purchase the license for the pro-
duction version of the software and build the production version of the system, which

TABLE 4-2 List of Scopes and Commitments

Scope Type Description/Key Decision Points
Gap Analysis Gap analysis is the evaluation of the functions provided by the ERP system
compared with the operational processes necessary to run your business
Physical Scope Establishes which sites will be addressed, the geographical locations of the sites,
and the number of users.
BPR Scope Will the current processes be refined, replaced, or eliminated. What users,
departments, sites will be affected?
Technical Scope How much modification will be done to the ERP software? What processes will
be utilized as is and which will be customized?
Resource Scope How much time and budget is allocated for the project?
Implementation Which modules should be implemented? How should the modules be connected
Scope to the existing system?