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Collaboration is one of those values that most companies strive for as part of their culture and their ERP projects, but many fall short of in terms of achievement. Here are three things that will foster the right environment for collaboration on ERP projects:

1.    Strong leadership from willing implementation partners
2.    Open lines of clearly defined communication channels between partners
3.    Defined roles and responsibilities for implementation partners

There was a time when it was enough to say that a project had an executive sponsor. Every project was assigned a “sponsor” but some were sponsors in name only. If the sponsor on your ERP project approves the budget and then only appears for steering committee meetings, they are not a true sponsor. An engaged sponsor will:

1. Set the tone and vision for project success
2. Develop realistic scope and expectations
3. Communicate with and empower the team
4. Be accountable for the project and team success

For nearly 30 years, PeopleSoft applications have been an integral part of running and managing the administrative functions of the world’s largest companies, governments, and universities.  It was a market leader based on its powerful framework and simplistic user-interface.  The introduction of software-as-a-service (SAAS) and cloud-based applications brought fresh competition to the table that established a new baseline for flexible user experiences and simplistic views of updating and managing enhancements to applications.  PeopleSoft fell behind and was overshadowed by this new “Cloud”.  

Collaboration is a key success factor for any business system implementation or initiative. This is particularly true when an organization is looking to gain more value from their data through a business intelligence (BI) program.  Establishing a value-added partnership between IT and groups within the business plays a critical role in not only gaining the most value from the program but ultimately what the solution looks like.