Building a High-Performing ERP Project Team: Roles and Skills That Help Drive Success

Article

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations or upgrades are among the most complex and resource-intensive initiatives a business can undertake. They require meticulous planning, substantial investment and, most importantly, the right team to guide the project to success.

An ERP team should include a mix of professionals with technical and business expertise and clearly defined roles and responsibilities. In many cases, it will include in-house talent and external specialists.

Let’s explore how to create a well-rounded, cohesive ERP project team, including key positions you may need or want on your bench, and a few roles you might not have considered before.

How to Build a Winning ERP Project Team: Essential Roles & Skills

Essential players for an ERP project team
Additional specialists to help support ERP project success
The importance of fostering cross-functional collaboration on an ERP project
A flexible staffing approach can also contribute to ERP success
How Robert Half can help support your ERP project

Essential players for an ERP project team

Motivators for an ERP modernization project can include a desire to shift to the cloud, drive greater process efficiency, enable real-time, data-driven decision making, and support scalable growth. Whatever your goals are, realizing them requires strong leadership, access to specialized skills and effective cross-functional collaboration.

When assembling your ERP project team, consider aligning these roles as a starting point:

Project sponsor

Look to your current leadership team to identify a sponsor for the project. It should be someone with a strong understanding of the organization’s strategic objectives and the authority to allocate financial and human resources to help support the initiative. The CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), chief operating officer (COO), or chief information officer (CIO) might be candidates for this leadership and oversight role.

The project sponsor is not usually involved in day-to-day management of the ERP project. However, they will participate as needed in high-level decision making, including team selection, and in areas like risk management and change management.

If a project is large or complex, you might want multiple sponsors guiding it. For example, designating the CFO and CIO as dual sponsors can help ensure a balanced focus is given to business and technical needs. However, there should still be one primary sponsor who has the final word on key decisions.

ERP project manager

The project manager steers the ERP effort from inception to completion. They orchestrate the timeline and budget for the initiative and coordinate and communicate with all the various stakeholders and contributors. They are typically proficient in ERP implementation methodologies (e.g., Agile, waterfall).

The ERP project manager’s ability to manage risks, resolve conflicts and keep the team aligned throughout the project—which can last many months or even years, depending on its scope—is indispensable.

ERP integration manager

The ERP integration manager works closely with the ERP project manager during implementation to help ensure the ERP system integrates seamlessly with existing technology, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, processes and data across the organization.

In smaller businesses, one person might serve in both roles overseeing the broader initiative while also focusing on system compatibility and data integration. The ERP integration manager may also play a role in the post-implementation phase of an ERP project, refining data flows and connections and supporting system upgrades and expansions.

Business analyst

Business analysts on ERP projects act as a bridge between technical teams and business stakeholders. They gather and interpret project requirements, map business processes, and help ensure the ERP system’s design aligns with business objectives and meets relevant regulatory requirements. As such, business analysts must have a deep understanding of the company’s operations and the nuances of the selected ERP platform. They also need strong interpersonal skills for communicating and managing project expectations.

For a small and straightforward ERP project, you might only need one or two business analysts on your team. For larger and more complex undertakings, especially multiphase projects or those that span several business functions, you might need five to 10 business analysts—or more.

A business analyst on an ERP initiative is typically a project-based role tied to system implementation. It is not the same as an ERP business analyst, which is a position dedicated to maintaining and optimizing the ERP system over time.

ERP systems analyst

While an ERP business analyst focuses on aligning the ERP system with business needs, an ERP systems analyst concentrates on the technical functionality and maintenance of the system. These professionals collaborate with IT teams during the ERP project and play a critical role in system analysis and design, implementation support, and integration management.

ERP systems analysts are also tasked with identifying, diagnosing and resolving technical problems with the ERP system, and work closely with help desk teams to resolve end-user issues. They also focus on compliance and security, making sure the ERP system meets data privacy regulations and company policies, and implementing measures to safeguard sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access.

Technical consultant

Technical consultants are the specialists who will design, customize and configure your ERP system and help ensure the ERP software functions as intended. Their extensive knowledge of the ERP platform your business is upgrading or implementing helps them swiftly identify and resolve technical challenges. They can handle complex configurations that require coding or custom development. They might also be called on to handle data migration responsibilities for smaller-scale and “out of the box” ERP projects.

As with business analysts, the number of technical consultants required to support your ERP initiative can vary based on its size and complexity. For large-scale and highly customized projects, you might need an entire team of technical consultants to assist with everything from setting up infrastructure to addressing security requirements. On larger projects, technical consultants work closely with ERP technical developers, who take the lead on coding, building integrations and customizing the system based on the specifications outlined by the consultants.

Change management specialist

ERP implementations and upgrades usually result in significant shifts in workflows, roles and responsibilities. Change management professionals use targeted communication strategies and training programs to help prepare the business and its workforce for these shifts. Their work helps ease resistance to change, enabling a smoother transition to the new system.

Professionals handling this “human” side of an ERP project can come from inside your organization, such as your human resources (HR) department, or outside, such as a consulting firm. Often, companies will assemble a hybrid team for change management that includes inside and external resources.

Inside experts in change management can be valuable to tap because they have a deep understanding of your company’s culture and processes and often have the trust of other employees. External experts can bring specialized knowledge and proven methodologies for managing change. Importantly, they can also focus full time on this critical process. Your internal resources may not be able to do the same if they also manage other responsibilities for the business.

Additional specialists to help support ERP project success

The core positions outlined above will likely be the overall drivers of your ERP project. However, the scope and scale of your initiative might require you to staff other roles that can help you reduce risk and overcome gaps in knowledge or expertise. Common examples include:

Data analyst: Bringing a dedicated data analyst onto your ERP project team can be beneficial if your business needs to migrate large volumes of data from multiple legacy systems. Data analysts can help ensure data accuracy, consistency and quality during this crucial process. They can also evaluate historical data to help guide ERP system configurations, design and test the new ERP system’s reporting and analytics capabilities, and more.

Data migration specialist: If your ERP effort involves complex legacy systems with unstructured or fragmented data, high volumes of data, and industry-specific data integrity and regulatory requirements (e.g., healthcare, finance), you may want to add this specialist to your team, who will focus on the logistics of data migration.

Functional consultant: This is another “bridge” role between the technical team and business users. These specialists analyze business processes and requirements, map them to ERP system capabilities, and configure the system so it aligns with those elements. (Note: Unlike a technical consultant, a functional consultant does not typically write custom code.) Depending on the project, they might also be responsible for user training and support.

QA/testing specialist: Testing is essential to the success of any ERP project, especially in the pre-deployment phase. These professionals can provide invaluable support for high-stakes initiatives that are large, complex or have strict compliance requirements. QA/testing specialists can also design and manage user acceptance testing (UAT) processes to confirm the ERP system is performing as expected and meets business needs and user expectations.

Access the guide

For insight into average starting salaries for business analyst, data analyst and many other specialized roles that can help support an ERP initiative, consult Robert Half’s latest Salary Guide.

The importance of fostering cross-functional collaboration on an ERP project

ERP implementations can touch nearly every part of an organization, which is why cross-functional collaboration is essential to project success. Your extended ERP team can include representatives from IT, finance and accounting, internal audit, HR, operations, and other relevant departments.

These individuals can bring diverse perspectives and insights to the project and help grow everyone's understanding of organizational needs the ERP system should address. The result will be an ERP system that is both technically sound and aligned with your strategic goals.

Cross-functional collaboration can be especially critical for large-scale ERP projects where miscommunication or competing priorities can impede or even derail progress.

A flexible staffing approach can also contribute to ERP success

An ERP implementation is a marathon, not a sprint, and the team you assemble to support this transformative project is your greatest asset. By thoughtfully defining roles, emphasizing cross-functional collaboration and dedicating a strategic lineup of skilled talent to the effort, your business can mitigate risk and lay the foundation for success before, during and after your ERP project.

Assembling an ERP team often requires balancing permanent staff with external resources. Your employees bring institutional knowledge and an understanding of your organization’s processes and unique workplace dynamics. And experienced consultants and contract professionals can offer specialized skills and fresh perspectives—as well as the time to devote to advancing your project and quickly addressing any challenges along the way.

With a scalable staffing model, you can create a high-performing ERP project team and adjust its composition as the initiative evolves and priorities change. This approach allows you to optimize resources and maintain agility through every phase of your ERP initiative, no matter how complex.

How Robert Half can help support your ERP project

Robert Half offers businesses an alternative approach to working with traditional system integrators on ERP projects. We work closely with our subsidiary and global consulting firm, Protiviti, to provide organizations with the skilled resources and capabilities needed to support every stage of their ERP and other transformation initiatives.

We can help you increase overall project ROI with our flexible delivery model, helping to equip your business with world-class consulting experience throughout your initiative, and skilled contract talent to staff your needs related to the project—and beyond.

You can learn more about our solutions and resources here. And when you’re ready to move forward with your ERP initiative, contact us to tell us about your project needs.

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