Navigating Day 2: The Continuous Improvement ERP Journey

By: RPI Tech Connect   May 21, 2024

So, your organization has gone live on the cloud. Congrats! Welcome to the critical phase post-cloud ERP implementation, known as “Day 2.” While going live on the cloud definitely requires celebration, it’s also a time to reassess your systems and identify opportunities for improvement.

In this episode of RPI Tech Connect, we’re joined by Program Manager Brian Luttrell. Brian sheds light on the significance of this phase, emphasizing the need for ongoing optimization and continuous improvement. Join us as we discuss the establishment and role of a continuous improvement team, methods for prioritizing feedback, and resources available to aid organizations in maximizing their CloudSuite experience.

Through Brian’s insights and expertise, you’ll gain valuable advice on navigating the post go-live phase. If you’re looking to maximize use with Infor CloudSuite, then developing a continuous improvement program is a must. Join us as we discuss strategies for success in the post-go-live phase.

Interested in listening to this episode on another streaming platform? Check out our directories.

Meet Today’s Guest, Brian Luttrell

Brian Luttrell is an Infor CloudSuite Program Manager who, for the last three decades, has successfully implemented Lawson and Infor products. He worked for 13 years at Lawson Software (prior to its acquisition by Infor Global Solutions) and was one of the first consultants in their Healthcare practice. Since then, Brian has mastered the art of leading complex Infor implementations, including for some of the largest clients in the Infor ecosystem.

Since joining RPI in 2021, he has led multiple Infor CloudSuite implementations for public sector clients, including Atlanta Public Schools, Great River Energy, Rancho California Water District, and San Gabriel Valley Water. Brian has a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, demonstrating his proficiency and expertise in the field of project management.

Brian enjoys the challenge of complicated projects and has experience across all sectors, including the public sector. He prides himself on growing excellent relations with his customers at all levels of the organization. He brings a reputation for building strong project teams and delivering on time and on budget to every project.

Meet Your Host, Chris Arey

Chris Arey is an experienced B2B marketing professional with nearly a decade of working in content creation, copywriting, SEO, website architecture, corporate branding, and social media. Beginning his career as an analyst before making a lateral move into marketing, he combines analytical thinking with creative flair—two fundamental principles required in marketing.

With a Bachelor’s degree in English and certifications from the Digital Marketing Institute and HubSpot, Chris has spearheaded impactful content marketing initiatives, participated in corporate re-branding efforts, and collaborated with celebrity influencers. He has also worked with award-winning PR professionals to create unique, compelling campaigns that drove brand recognition and revenue growth for his previous employers.

Chris’ versatility is highlighted by his experience working across different industries, including HR, Tech, SaaS, and Consulting.

About RPI Tech Connect

RPI Tech Connect is the go-to podcast for catching up on the dynamic world of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Join us as we discuss the future of ERPs, covering everything from best practices and organizational change to seamless cloud migration and optimizing applications. Plus, we’ll share predictions and insights of what to expect in the future world of ERPs.

RPI Tech Connect delivers relevant, valuable information in a digestible format. Through candid, genuine conversations and stories from the world of consulting, we aim to provide actionable steps to help you elevate your organization’s ERP. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the ERP scene, our podcast ensures you’re well-equipped for success.

Tune in as we explore tips and tricks in the field of ERP consulting each week and subscribe to RPI Tech Connect below.

Transcript

Chris (00:00)
So, your organization has gone live on the cloud. Congrats, now what? Welcome to the critical post -go live phase known as day two. Stick around as we explore the significance of this phase and the need for ongoing optimization and continuous improvement.

Chris (00:03)
Hello again, this is RPI Tech Connect and I’m your host, Chris Arey. We’re back at it this week to discuss what comes after going live on the cloud. ERP implementations are heroic projects that often span a year’s time and require a coordinated effort from teams across the organization. It’s a major milestone and definitely one worth celebrating. But getting to the cloud is not the ultimate goal. It’s the end of one phase and the beginning of another. Welcome to day two.

This post go-live phase is marked by system stability, optimization, and continuous improvement. On today’s segment, we’ve got a master on the subject, RPI’s program manager, Mr. Brian Luttrell. Brian has helped dozens of businesses transition to the cloud and instituted processes for ensuring they get the most return on their cloud systems. Brian, welcome to the show, man.

Anything else you want to share before we get into it?

Brian Luttrell (01:04)
Hey, thanks, Chris. Thanks for having me on. Just some quick background on me before we jump in. I’ve been around the loss and in -four world since the mid -90s and have done literally hundreds of implementations, more than I’d like to talk about sometimes. I’ve seen the product grow and develop, been very involved with cloud suite implementations for the last several years now.

Chris (01:23)
Awesome, so happy to have you on the show. I think, you know, without further ado, let’s get into it. I’ve got some questions that I’m hoping you can clear up for me. And so this first thing here, so you lie on the cloud. What is the absolute first thing an organization should do after reaching that milestone?

Brian Luttrell (01:42)
I think really the first thing you need to do is take a deep breath and celebrate for a minute. You just completed probably a 12 to 18 month long implementation and you need to let your project team recover for a bit. A lot of them are probably doing double duty, holding down their regular jobs while also participating in the implementation. Let them get over that project fatigue piece before you push forward.

Chris (02:04)
Yeah, that makes sense. Once you’ve given your folks time to recover though, where should they look next?

Brian Luttrell (02:15)
I think there’s really three areas you need to take a look at. I’ll cover them here. One is the technical care and feeding of your Cloud Suite system. You’re in a cloud environment now, you’re not on -prem, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have responsibilities just because you don’t have the hardware on site. You have different responsibilities and an organization needs to understand what those are to make sure, if they haven’t already, that the right T people have the appropriate training and skills to maintain the new system. It’s a different animal. It’s not the same old thing.

Then secondly, I think you need to observe. And by that, I mean, take a look at how well the system is doing since it actually went live and as people are getting used to the new day -to -day responsibilities. Allow them to go through a few cycles before you start changing things up. What I think you’re going to find is some hits and misses that are going to need to be addressed. A lot of times we’ll see reports and process flows. Those are two very common areas that we see revisited following a goal line.

And thirdly, is set your longer term program up to keep your system aligned with your business. I like to call it a continuous improvement team. This allows your organization to take full advantage of your investment and keep it current and relative to your business needs.

Chris (03:26)
Okay, got it. Yeah. So, so that last item there, I think is the heart of today’s segment. And I’m hoping we can talk more about this continuous improvement team. You know, what does it look like? How does it operate? And what kind of, you know, benefits can an organization see from instituting a process like that or team wrap?

Brian Luttrell (03:46)
Sure. What I’ve seen to be very effective is when a company sets up a process where users can identify the gaps or issues in their everyday work processes, have them reviewed and addressed on a regular basis. This can be as formal as a full blown Six Sigma CI team, but I’ve also seen it work well at more of a grassroots level, where a company identifies a person to head the initiative, also identifies super users in each work stream that become change leads for that group and become the standard barriers for the software in that area.

Chris (04:16)
Got it, yeah. So for the non -technically savvy folks like myself, what’s a Six Sigma CIT?

Brian Luttrell (04:25)
Six Sigma is a program where CI is for continuous improvement. It’s a program where there’s different levels of education involved in Six Sigma. You start like at a white belt and work your way up to a black belt in Six Sigma. So it’s an entire process of how to deal with implementations and how to deal with processes. In a Six Sigma CI team, there’s typically a whole separate team outside of the implementation team or what have you. So that’s like a completely different…

Chris (04:46)
Okay, got it.

Brian Luttrell (04:55)
Organization within the organization.

Chris (04:58)
Oh, so in this continuous improvement team can be as, I guess, full blown as you said, or maybe a little more grassroot.

Brian Luttrell (05:08)
Right. Right.

Chris (05:10)
So it sounds like the continuous improvement team can play a big part in how things go after implementing your cloud -based solution. And I think that’s mostly because they’re going to be overseeing issues and recommendations that are being submitted. Is that?

Brian Luttrell (05:29)
That’s correct, yeah. And by receiving and reviewing information directly from the trenches, they can truly impact the changes needed to improve the processes.

Chris (05:37)
Okay, so my next question for you, Dan, is that how would you go about forming a team like this? Does it happen during the implementation? Is it beforehand? Is it after?

Brian Luttrell (05:50)
Great question. There are a lot of different approaches you can use when forming your team. And if you can get it done before go live, all the better. But during the course of implementation, I think several people will self -identify themselves as the person you want hitting up that initiative in that area. Through their actions and their involvement on the project, they just stand out. I want that one. You can also hold it. Yeah, you love those people.

Chris (06:12)
Gotta love those people, right?

Brian Luttrell (06:18)
But then yeah, you also can hold a departmental meeting, discuss the initiative and say, ask for a volunteer who wants to lead this up in our area. And in some areas, you need to take a look at all the resources in that area, have a discussion with the director or manager over that area and to find a change lead in that manner. More of a well -told than volunteer, but it still works.

Chris (06:39)
Hehehe.

Brian Luttrell (06:40)
And another part of that though is, I mean, take a look at that, not every change lead is gonna work out or some will wear out over time. You have to keep an eye on that and make sure you monitor it and that you’re making the changes as necessary. And then on top of that, you’re getting more than just people identified. You’re gonna need backing by your executives to give you the funding and give you the ability to execute on the changes that are being requested.

And you’re also going to need a way for end users to easily submit a change request. In that change request, they should outline what the issue is, what the proposed solution is, and the expected benefit. You’ll want them to set up a recurring meeting schedule that allows this team to address those new requests, review progress from previous existing requests, and then prioritize each one as they come through. You’re also going to need to identify one person who’s going to be that committee chairperson in charge of the whole thing, if you will.

The person could also be one of the change leads, but will also have the additional responsibilities, setting up the meetings, reviewing the prioritized logs, et cetera, sort of the admin side of it.

Chris (07:45)
Yeah, okay, so I want to revisit something you mentioned there about the change lead. You said not every change lead is going to work out. You need to monitor that. So what kind of signals can folks look for to tell if this person isn’t working or things aren’t getting addressed?

Brian Luttrell (08:05)
I’m, I, there’s, I guess a couple of things I would look at. One is the requests that are coming to them are backing up. They’re not getting addressed. You know, they’re not getting forwarded or getting championed. That’d be the big one. Or, or not attending the regular meetings, you know, not, you know, not making the time on their calendar to actually participate. You start seeing people go, you know, I’m fading out here. So, I mean, there’s, there’s ways, you know, it’ll become clear that things are just aren’t getting done. Yeah. Just not getting done in that area. So you need to address it. Yeah.

Chris (08:19)
Okay. Pretty obvious singles. Yeah? Yeah.

Got it, okay, and the super users then, they sound like they’d be great candidates for the continuous improvement community. And I imagine it’s because they’re so close to the day-to-day operations.

Brian Luttrell (08:45)
Oh, absolutely. They’re like to me, the perfect candidate. You really want to leverage the feedback from the people who are living it day to day, right? Using those processes and procedures every day, rather than a manager or director who’s looking at things at a higher level and have different priorities. These are typically your super users like you described. And these are the ones that other people in that area go to with their questions. Those are the people that trust that person’s opinion and their understanding of the system. And they make excellent candidates for your change.

Chris (09:16)
Okay. And so this all sounds like a great, you know, method for performing your team here, but you’ve got to wonder, it’s one thing to build a process and the team who’s going to collect feedback and implement recommendations for improvement. But it’s another thing to actually do these things. So, so I’m curious, how do you prevent organizations from kind of backsliding on these requests and taking action on the improvements that are coming?

Brian Luttrell (09:48)
Yeah, another great question. I think one of the things I’ve seen that makes the continuous improvement team concept work more efficiently is when companies tie the participation of a change lead into that person’s comp plan. That takes it from a do this when you have time event to a, hey, you’re getting paid based on your performance on this position. It tends to get prioritized on a person’s to -do list that way. It makes a ton of difference in the participation level. Also, like you mentioned, you have to inspect what you expect.

Meaning if a workstream brings a request to the team, it receives approval and funding, then they need to be held accountable for the results of that. They need to execute that change and provide the actual results. So holding people responsible is a key part of that, keeping folks on track. Additionally, you wanna keep an eye on the overall picture. You’re talking about backsliding. I’ve seen this happen a lot of times on ERP systems where the new process is harder to learn or maybe a bit cumbersome.

So people fall back to a spreadsheet or a third party piece of software rather than using the proposed solution on Infor. Those are instant red flag items that you got to address right away. You got to get them done immediately. You want to sit those folks down and say, why aren’t you using the provided process? Why are you using that third party piece? What’s it providing that the system isn’t? What changes would you suggest we can make so you can use Infor instead of going outside the system? I think one.

then you have to really keep in mind is every time you use a third party product or something offline, outside of your base system, you’re eroding your investment in your ERP system and causing considerable additional costs just to support the system as you move forward.

Chris (11:30)
Yeah, so it sounds like there’s two things that I really love. One, this idea of tying these, making sure that the requests are tied to the person who’s responsible for overseeing them to their cop plan. It’s a great motivator, it’s a great incentive, and it also gets, it’s in line with like, you’re taking on more responsibility, and as a result, there’s compensation adjustment involved as well. But it sounds like the second thing you’re talking about here is that, is it not encouraged to bring in third party solutions?

So like solve problems, is that kind of the, or what’s your take there?

Brian Luttrell (12:03)
Yeah, you try to minimize that. I mean, ERP systems got started back in the nineties, before you were born. There used to be a best of breed type setup, because not one piece of software can handle all the pieces. But then you get into a position where every time one piece of the software has an update, it has a ripple effect across the entire board.

Chris (12:11)
I was more 89 than you.

Brian Luttrell (12:30)
So you really try to minimize the number of systems you’re trying to support and keep connected and talking to each other. So going to third party system is last resort. It’s only if the functionality is not in your ERP system. I’ve had companies say, if it’s 85 % of what you want, we’re using the system. There’s a line they draw so that you don’t get into third party systems that you have to support all over the place.

Chris (12:55)
Nice, that sounds like a good rule of thumb too. 85 %? That’s pretty good, that’s pretty close.

Brian Luttrell (13:02)
You’re going to live with the rest. So that’s the way it goes.

Chris (13:04)
Okay, so back to continuous improvement plan. So the team is established, we’ve got a process for making sure people are accountable for making, you know, those processes are getting handled, recommendations are being implemented, but how does that team kind of prioritize those requests? I imagine after Go Live, there could be, you know, if they’re a lot or a little, or, you know, managing all those is, you know, what’s the best way to do that?

Brian Luttrell (13:32)
I think it really comes down to bang for your buck. There’s going to be some emergent ones, right? That, hey, this is really broken. We need to fix this right now. That could happen. We’re just flat out miss the mark in designing and testing. But once you get through those, I think it really comes down to what’s the return on investment for making this change. And each request should include a mini return on investment statement that quantifies and justifies that request to change. I’ve been involved with clients that have each requester come to the review meeting.

And state their case. That to present their request, go over the reasoning and provide the anticipated ROI. This is work to read out the frivolous request, the ones that are just, I want a green screen, you still have a blue one kind of thing, and really puts the onus on the requester to defend their numbers, make sure that it makes sense. Once the team has heard all those requests and understands them, then they can sit and have the discussion about what order should we put things in.

Chris (14:27)
And so when they come to the meeting and prepare to make the case for this request, you say, provide the anticipated ROI. Is that like a quantifiable number? Like here’s a dollar amount or like here’s how it’s going to improve like this process, I think. Words above.

Brian Luttrell (14:43)
Yeah, it could be both. I mean, it could be typically in terms of production or a lot of times what you see is I can save our organization eight hours a day or eight hours a week in this thing, right? You can turn that into dollars, but when you start seeing, hey, this can make my life simpler because, or we’re not processing as many errors, it’s limiting X amount of errors that we have to address by doing this, or it speeds this process up by X, you can look at it that way.

Chris (14:55)
Cool. Yeah.

Brian Luttrell (15:11)
And it turns into dollars, but a lot of times it’s quantified in savings in hours or processing.

Chris (15:17)
Nice, okay. So I think you’ve made it clear now that this continuous improvement team plays a key role in shaping how organizations are gonna use Cloud Suite or another cloud -based ERP. In addition to that team though, are there any resources available for helping folks get better use out of these applications? Instead of waiting for a request to come in and be like, hey, this thing is broken, or we have a better way of doing it, can people be proactive in leveling up their skills and getting more use out of the application?

Brian Luttrell (15:55)
Oh yeah, most certainly. One really good avenue for clients to get involved in are the, or the Info User Groups, if they’re not already. There’s a number of these across the country that are regionally organized. These are run by the clients, not by Info. So you can get a wealth of information from people who just like you are using that software every single day to do their jobs. They tend to meet quarterly or biannually. A lot of them have online forums or blogs where you can ask a question and see how others are doing things. So you’re not waiting.

You can get out there and ask questions from folks right then. There’s also Infor Connect. It’s sponsored by Infor and held annually. During this event, there are a number of sessions held with specific areas of focus, as well as sessions where clients can talk about experiences and how they resolve their issues. Super informative, and it’s a great way to make contacts with organizations in your industry as well.

Chris (16:48)
Yeah, I love that you mentioned that those in four user groups are great. And like, not only for kind of learning from other organizations in a similar industry, like learning from their mistakes and the stories they share, it’s also a great networking opportunity. You don’t know what you don’t know and it’s good to have that resource to call upon later down the road.

In addition to those, I do want to make a shameless plug to our own boot camps that go a little bit deeper. But beyond the in -person events, are there any other resources that continuous improvement teams can take advantage of to better manage the system post -colonial?

Brian Luttrell (17:18)
Hahaha.

Yeah, I just want to back up one step too. I think when you’re talking about making the contacts with other folks across the board is super important. Having that network of people you can reach out to back and forth and sharing your experiences is incredibly important. As far as other resources, yeah, there definitely are. Infor has knowledge -based articles, they have videos, as well as see release notes that allow clients to look at what’s coming at them next. When you’re on -prem, you can make, when you were on -prem, you can make the determination, I’m not taking that release.

Or I’m going to wait a couple before I upgrade. When you’re Cloud Suite, that’s no longer the case. You have a monthly cadence of new stuff coming at you. So it’s important to stay on top of it. And those release notes are key. As you noted, RPA boot camps have specific targets for Cloud Suite implementations. We have a technical one that gets rave reviews. We’ve done a couple of HR payroll ones that are getting great reviews also, and also financial ones. So that’s a direction you can take too.

They can really help prepare your team for life in Cloud Suite or take it afterwards, prepare them for life after your Go live. Then when you take a look at that, when you look at the sum of user group forums and meetings, RPIs, boot camps and videos, and InforConnect, a client can really leverage other users’ experiences and tools.

Chris (18:50)
Yeah, it’s kind of like making use of the stuff that’s out there. But, you know, I feel like you say these things, it’s like, oh, of course I knew that was there. But I feel like a lot of times, you know, waste, I guess, accessing these resources maybe falls by the wayside, whether that be because of turnover or, you know, the new people come in and they’re unaware of these things. So like, how are, you know, what’s a good process for, I guess, making sure. People take advantage of these things.

Brian Luttrell (19:22)
Yeah, I think it’s something you have to prepare for. People are going to change positions in the organization or leave the organization altogether. You’re going to have expansion, possibly. So I think one of the things that’s overlooked, one of the commonly overlooked tools is the test scripts that clients have developed during the course of the implementation. When you’re going through that implementation process, a client creates a large number of scripts and scenarios that they’re using to test out their setup and make sure they have all the bases covered.

Before they go live. As you move into post -go live, these scripts are incredibly useful when it comes time to test items that are impacted in an upcoming CU or when new functionality is released. As a client reviews the upcoming system changes that are part of a CU, they’ll need to form a game plan, make sure that they are able to test those changes and make sure they don’t cause a problem once they’re activated in the system. No need to reinvent the wheel. Just go back, make use of those scripts and help manage your changes.

Based on the review of the CE release notes, a client can identify which scripts and scenarios they’re going to need to run in order to validate those CE changes. Those same scripts can be leveraged to create new hire training. Let’s say you hire a new AP clerk. You can select the number of scripts related to their job position, set them up in a training tenant, and have them get real hands -on experience in a non -live environment. The key with the scripts, though, is really is to keep them updated as the software changes.

So that when you do use them for testing and training purposes, they’re accurate and effective.

Chris (20:52)
Okay, and these scripts, so these are like, is this like code? It’s not clear.

Brian Luttrell (20:57)
Oh no, they’re like Word docs. You know, that’s like, enter this, do that. Yeah, like an actual script. Go to this screen, enter these values, those types of things, just to make sure your processes are functioning. So it’s great for regression testing when it comes to CUs. Those types of things are wonderful.

Chris (20:59)
Oh, like an actual script.

Nice!

So it’s essentially just like documenting how to do something so that if there is a change in position, people can refer to that like, hey, here’s the last person to do it, here’s how they were doing it, here’s the document. Is that right? Nice.

Brian Luttrell (21:25)
Yep, exactly. Yeah, this is our procedure for doing a requisition. Follow this, get used to it, play with it in tests so you don’t screw up our data, and they will allow you on the Big Hit system. Yeah.

Chris (21:35)
Yeah, nice. Love it. That’s great. And you’re really showing your expertise here, right? Hundreds of implementations? Nice.

Brian Luttrell (21:45)
Yeah.

Chris (21:47)
Well, hey, so we’re getting close to time. And before we wrap up, I’d like to ask guests a final question. And it’s this. If you could offer today’s audience one takeaway regarding post -goal live and continuous improvement, what would it be? What’s the money statement here?

Brian Luttrell (22:09)
I really think it goes back to Cloud Suite is so much different than on -premise. So I think the biggest thing I would suggest is to make sure your team is really ready to handle all the elements of keeping your new Cloud Suite system running smoothly. That can be accomplished with training prior to go live. It could also be augmented by leveraging services from a group like RPI, where we provide managed services to clients that help bring the team up to speed. It avoids the potholes and makes the whole transition process as smooth as possible.

This can be everything from assisting with tenant management to see your reviews, to creating new reports or flows. And we do this for a number of clients and scale the efforts to the needs of the client. It’s a great insurance policy and successfully addresses an area of concern for a lot of our clients.

Chris (22:55)
Okay, nice, and the managed services like the plug there. Well, thank you so much for sharing that with us. For those of you listening in, thanks for stopping by and hanging out. If you have a question about today’s segment or about Post -Go Live, we invite you to contact us at podcast at rpic .com. Again, that’s podcast at rpic .com. This is RPI Tech Mag, and we’ll see you next time.

Brian Luttrell (23:24)
Thanks for having me, Chris. This is very enjoyable. Appreciate the invite.

Chris (23:27)
Alrighty, see you.