Proper implementation of financial software is necessary for a company to get ROI from the accounting software. There are mainly three phases of implementations.
Planning phase: In the initial stage, the plan of implementation is designed and the problems of implementation are also identified. The time period for implementation and scheduling is defined. In this phase, the vendor and buyer should make agreements to define the roles of client and the vendor in the implementation procedure. Project management team should also be defined in this phase. Resource scheduling and project implementation procedure should be defined.
Implementation phase: The software and hardware configuration and data conversion is done in the initial implementation phase. The system enhancement, creating parameters for loading the software and documentation, creating forms, training the client and testing is done in the implementation phase.
Post implementation phase: Reviewing the implementation procedure and analysis of business development is made in the post implementation phase.
Before starting implementation process, a team of internal and external employee should be formed by the vendor and role of each member should be defined. The team should be familiar with the functioning of the software and if the members are not aware of its functions, they should be given training. The team members should be given responsibilities and deadlines to complete their part of job.
1. Implementation carried out in phases helps the organization to prepare to use the software and change its working environment to adapt to the new technique.
2. The organization buying the software can set up a team for implementation that will be exclusively responsible for implementation related work.
3. The data of the company in excel and other sources should be restored first. A team of IT professional or a consultant can be hired for data collection and migration. The data should be tested in the new software, before using it for further calculations.
4. Each level of implementation should check for overloads and security. Check the workflow at each phase of implementation.
5. Testing is most important phase of implementation. A professional team can be set up to test the accounting software for each level of entry such as inventory stock entry, accounts payable, receivable and general ledger can be tested.
6. Training is also important for software implementation.
1. Buyer doesn't have skilled internal staffs to adapt to software provisions.
2. Software selection is not good to meet the needs of the buyer.
3. Selection of hardware is not appropriate.
4. Software not tested or configured properly.
5. Sometimes, the buyer finds it worthless to pay for testing and training because it increases the total cost of implementation. Buyers can agree to a fixed rate before buying software to avoid such clashes.
Software may not be able to meet all the requirement of the buyer. Communications at all level should be promoted to get clarification of all stages of implementations. Sometimes, proper communication helps in getting back a failed implementation.
