I have been involved with ERP projects, most
specifically with SAP as Documentation
Project Manager but also with other projects such as helping out with a J.D.Edwards
implementation where I was assisting with the leg work of tidying and cleansing
data. I am a Technical Author (on the SAP Approved Suppliers List) rather than
a technical ERP consultant.
Points to consider
- Consultants don’t like doing documentation.
- The volume of documentation on a project can be vast
and with the modular nature of ERP systems no single consultant will have
a handle on the whole documentation project.
- Project managers often have their hands full dealing
with day to day decisions.
- Documentation is often thought of as an afterthought
and this approach can lead to disastrous consequences.
- Employing qualified ERP consultants or project managers
to perform what is often an administrative function is wasteful of valuable
and expensive ERP resources.
- ERP implementation is often as much a process of change
management within an organisation as it is software configuration and installation.
Taking a communicative approach, with appropriate documentation support, can
be of great value when helping the culture develop to the point where employees
see the change as a career development rather than a threat.
- Documentation is understood by Technical Authors who
are capable of taking on these responsibilities.
Three levels of documentation
- Low level configuration specific to the project – only
qualified consultants have the knowledge or information to do this.
- User manuals – often developed from standard vendor manuals with amendments
specific to your implementation.
- Training materials – developed from vendor training materials,
possibly amended by your consultants.
- Amendments to types 2 and 3 can be made by your consultants
or by me with their support.
What I will do for you
- Assess your requirements at the beginning working with
overall project managers, team leaders and consultants.
- Take ownership of the whole documentation set.
- Work along side project managers and team leaders to
reduce work load by taking on documentation related tasks.
- Where appropriate ensure that each consultant is aware
of their responsibilities to produce documentation for their own part of the
project and within the appropriate time scales. This might mean representing
the requirements of consultants for the resources to perform documentation
related tasks rather than simply nagging consultants to get on with work they
are seen as reluctant to do.
- Advise on and manage documentation production and tracking
where documents are being produced by consultants. This ensures that multiple
copies of the same document are not produced and allows me to have final approval
on documents before they are released to their readership.
- Look after issues of consistency and presentation for
the whole documentation set. This might include naming conventions, release
numbering and - where appropriate - corporate identity issues and copyright,
etc.
- Advise on the best way to present different aspects of
your documentation set, including formatting, publishing options and distribution.
- Publish your documentation in an agreed form and to an
agreed time scale.
What I won’t do
- Become involved in the creation of the individual documents
produced by your consultants except where this is appropriate. This means
that I am only able to create documents of a high (non technical) level unless
heavily assisted by your ERP implementors.
- Bring vendor specific experience/prejudice to the project.
My knowledge is as a Technical Author and general Documentation Consultant
with ERP experience as part of my background. As a Technical Author I am able
to take a neutral position on information and present it in a way that is
appropriate for various audiences. This ensures that non-technical users are
not flooded with unfathomable jargon or that technical users receive lengthy
explanations that they do not need. This balance is struck by a combination
of my documentation experience and the specific experience of your project
team.
How long will it take?
- Depending on the size of your implementation this might
be a short project where I am involved in the final stages of your overall
implementation cycle.
- Alternatively, on larger implementations, I might need
to be there from an early stage to help develop the documentation strategy,
oversee the production of the documentation set as the implementation progresses,
and manage the documentation project throughout.
- For very long implementations it may be appropriate for
me to be in place at the start, followed by a gap or perhaps a period of part
time attendance, with a full time production stage at the end.
- All these issues can be discussed according to the unique
circumstances of your ERP implementation, its time scales and your business
needs.
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