IT Best Practices for Financial Managers

Chapter 3. The Software Implementation Process

Karl Rupilius

The next step after the software selection process is the software implementation. Financial systems implementations can be either a stand-alone implementation (i.e., only the financial system is implemented) or they can be part of a larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation. This may include other areas, such as logistics, operations, and manufacturing. The scope of the implementation will depend on many factors, such as the size of the company, measured in annual revenue, number of employees, business areas, and geographic reach.

The long-term success of the financial system implemented is dependent on a successful implementation. In this context, success can be defined as follows:

• Implementation is on time.

• Implementation is within budget.

• Compliance with legal financial requirements is achieved.

• Key financial processes are standardized.

• The financial system can be rapidly audited.

• The system can scale.

If these key success criteria are met, the financial system will be well positioned to support ongoing business operations with a reasonable amount of support. Implementations that do not meet these success criteria can be hampered by ongoing expensive system enhancements and changes to key business procedures.

Independent of the scale of the implementation, there are typically at least three different parties involved in a financial systems implementation: the software vendor, the systems integrator, and the organization ...