Managing ERP Users

Resistance to change is human nature. In the 21st century, the one thing that will remain constant in our work lives is the need to adapt to change.

Employees without previous exposure to ERP systems will naturally compare the new system with the outgoing legacy one and perceive that there is more work to be done and that their comfortable systems with which they have developed speed will be taken away. This is not a good feeling, and if it is not acknowledged, these employees may resist adopting all the features of the new system.

It's important to add business process orientation training to initial end-user training, so that employees can begin to appreciate how the new system will be better in the end, even if it is a challenge in the beginning. They will do more work in some areas and less work in others.  The goal is to get a better outcome with less overall human effort. Some juggling of individual responsibilities may be needed to balance each person's workload.


Addressing concerns about the change in business processes should eliminate the often unspoken question, "why are we doing this?" If end-users are not involved in change management planning, they will be ill-prepared to adapt. End users also need to know what is available to them in terms of help desk support.  How will the help desk help?

Moving forward from initial training, user groups, internal wikis and email lists can help to answer on-the-fly "how do I do this?" questions.  As the organization as a whole gains more experience, users skill level should be assessed. It's important to identify both the strongest and weakest users, as they need to be handled in different ways. "Garden variety" and "medium rent" users should get mentoring or both mentoring and training, respectively. "High rent" users, those unable to fulfill anything beyond basic tasks, should receive more training.  "Experts, those users capable of fulfilling all business tasks as well as well as performing crucial trouble shooting, and superusers, advanced experts who can guide other users, and who make useful recommendations for business process improvements should receive recognition (and maybe even a raise) for their valuable contributions to the organization.

Adapted from: SAP ROI Through the Care and Nurturing of SAP End-Users, by Michael Doane. http://bit.ly/djR3sw