“Grant Thornton has identified… a range of deficiencies in [Birmingham City Council] implementing the ERP. These include the business case and governance programme being inadequately designed, a lack of the necessary in-house skills, a failure to identify risks and issues at various stages in the programme, and weaknesses in the design and testing of the system.”
Source: UK Authority
Digital Supply Chain – why is change important?
The advantages and opportunities to be gained from implementing digitally transformative systems are many and varied. Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) Supply Chain solutions are one such area where organisations can gain massively improved visibility of operations and undertake sophisticated scenario trialing to model alternative strategies and determine outcomes. So, what exactly has this to do with the very public tribulations of Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) troubled implementation of an ORACLE ERP system?
The quote above highlights a number of reasons why the council has fallen foul of delays and a frighteningly massive increase in costs. At the time of writing, it is estimated that the original budget of £19M could now spiral to upwards of £109M and still not be operational until well into 2026. Whilst we’re talking about ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning – transactional process automation, specifically around Finance in BCC’s case), the same fundamental tenets apply to APS and indeed, any other digital imperative for that matter. APS implementation is therefore no different and, when choosing to move to a digital solution from currently manual processes and tools, it is imperative that an organisation considers the same change management elements as highlighted in the Grant Thornton quote as an absolute minimum. Let’s look at each of these more closely.
Digital Supply Chain | Business case and governance
Adoption of APS is A Great Idea – no question about it. However, without a sound, upfront understanding of a watertight business case which supports its deployment a business is entirely likely to fall at the first hurdle. The business case must articulate the proposed project’s investment by presenting a clear analysis of its potential benefits, costs and associated risks. It must be essentially a business-persuasive argument for why an APS initiative should be undertaken, helping decision-makers to understand strategic alignment, financial feasibility and potential operational and financial impact(s). Once in place, a strong governance structure must be established, its goals being to establish clear vision and strategy for the project, defining roles and responsibilities (with accountability recorded), outlining project decision-making processes and implementing and monitoring necessary project controls.
All of these things may sound like ‘bread and butter’ fundamentals (and they are…), but it’s amazing the number of times they get overlooked or even ignored.
Digital Supply Chain | The lack of in-house skills and resource availability
Organisations looking to deploy APS often have highly skilled Supply Chain assets, staff members with vast operational experience, much of it gained within a specific industry domain and hence excellent at what they do day-to-day. These people have honed internal manual processes and are often the backbone of Supply Chain protocols – and typically, they are the same people to whom many organisations immediately turn to play an active role in implementing the new APS solution. That’s understandable, right?
Yes and no. Smaller businesses evaluating APS for the first time having established a solid business case and with it, a strong governance structure, rely on these staff members to maintain operational efficiency, run business as usual (BAU) and basically keep the lights on. Expecting them to be an intrinsic and imperative element of a months-long solution implementation procedure dilutes their focus and their contribution to their ‘day jobs’ – be prepared for an underlying and often uncomfortable reality for these people and, at the same time, factor in outside assistance and insight from third parties and/or consultants who can perform much of the project heavy lifting, thus reducing the burden on precious assets.
APS will likely be new ground – seek help and advice from others who have done it before.
Digital Supply Chain | Identifying project risks and issues during deployment
Once again, a fundamental. Or so you might think. ‘Project Management 101’.
But many organisations, especially smaller ones, simply aren’t used to Project Management or don’t have the need for a regular, full-time PM who can undertake the role of monitoring and managing project risks. Hence, this is another area where external assistance and advice often pays dividends.
Prior to starting the task of deploying APS, work with the implementation partner to identify project risks, clearly list basic assumptions and define mitigating strategies to circumvent and/or attenuate identified issues. Record these in the project Statement of Work (SoW) and ensure that this is agreed and signed off prior to project Kick Off. Thereafter, monitor project progress and feel confident that you have mitigation strategies to address issues which may arise. Some risks and issues will remain hidden and unforeseen, of course – but by clearly and carefully planning as many ahead of project commencement, you minimise the risk of hitting perceived ‘blocker’ problems which my contribute to time delays and cost increases in project controls.
Digital Supply Chain | The importance of design and testing
There are various fundamental phases of APS project implementation – Design (sometimes coupled with the Discovery phase) and Testing effectively bookend the process. Without the basic tenets of process in place, achieved through a deep understanding of both As Is operational analysis conjoined with the desired business outcomes of the To Be digital model, it is impossible to create a meaningful design. You know your business better than anyone, but once again, be prepared to seek out an objective view and opinion from a third party as to precisely what the business goals and moreover, business outcomes and value can be delivered via APS. Work with the implementation partner to embed these objectives into the project plan, so that all parties a). agree on the course(s) of action and b). strive for common project results.
Once defined, modelled and implemented, it is then critical that thorough testing be undertaken. The processes you have carefully designed and signed off need to be tested from multiple angles to ensure that the solution meets – maybe exceeds – operational expectations. In project terms, this is called User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and the various tests need to be jointly agreed internally and also with your implementation partner, documented and the results recorded. A good Project Manager will track UAT progress and constantly report tests undertaken, those passed and others yet to make the agreed acceptance criteria, guaranteeing that you have running commentary on project phases and progress. These steps, and more, make up a professional implementation methodology which will provide the best chance of project success – make certain that your chosen partner has such a methodology and can clearly articulate it for you.
Birmingham City Council’s problems with implementing its chosen ERP solution caused it to effectively declare itself bankrupt in 2023. What should have been a path towards digital efficiency and, in the case of a Public Authority, wise use of taxpayers’ money, has turned out to be a national humiliation for a body which simply wasn’t prepared for the project. Implementing an APS solution isn’t on the same scale but for many businesses will reflect a substantial investment – make sure that you don’t fall into the same traps by understanding the basics and working with partners which can guide you to a successful digital Supply Chain future.
