ERP implementation steps that are to be followed (Actual Experiences)

(Please note this blog was written when i was new in the field of ERP implementation. This may seem worthless now, but still i am keeping it on the blog so that i can have the notes that i made when i started this journey)

Hi Folks,

These are some of the points that i noted when i was involved in the AX ERP implementation. This list could be endless and i am going to add more points to it as when i will have new learning or a new thing to share. I am going to publis this list many times in future also, so that my blog will always have the latest version of the list on it. This list is not in the chronological order and is in the most raw and crude form. The list that is presented is not edited. It is the same list which i have been creating since long.

While implementing the system please keep in mind the below mentioned details :

1. Create a business flow of the their current business.
2. Generally people hate changes and hence do not like to change the existing system or the flow of operation.
3. Take a copy of their Chart of Account and try to understand each and every account and its use..
4. Take a note of all the accounts which are to be defined in the:
a. Posting Profile (AR and AP)
b. Item Groups (Sales Orders , Purchase Orders and Inventory)
c. Discounts
d. Cash Discounts
e. Commissions
f. Miscellaneous Charges
5. Take a sample of their Customers, Vendors and Items.
6. Make sure that the Customer Groups and the Vendor Groups are created prior to create or import any customer or vendor.
7. Contacts for either Customers / Vendors are imported separately. Take a note of it.
8. Import Address Country Region, Address Format and Zip codes. Also import the State information.(AddressState)
9. Make sure that the Currency is set in the exchange rate form.
10. Make sure that the Fiscal Period is set in the system.
11. Create Item Group, Item Dimension Group and Item Model Group.
12. Import the Number Sequences from the standard company. Make sure you do it the first before starting the configuration.
13. When item sheet is takes also ask for the following things:
a. Units
b. Unit of Conversion
c. In what unit is the item purchased and in what unit is it sold.
d. Pricing details
e. PO prices and SO prices
f. Is there a layered pricing?
g. Is there a discount ?
h. Are some items given free of cost?
i. Are there any BOM item in there?
j. How often are the prices changed?
k. Do they require to maintain the history of the Item pricing?
l. Try to find out which all dimensions can be used to best fit the items in the application.
m. Based on this information decide whether to use the Trade Agreements to enter the prices or to use the Item form to enter the prices.
14. Ask for the Bank details and also discuss their check format. But prior to that create a Bank Group for the same.
15. Also define the Bank transaction type in the Bank section. This is important while doing the Bank Reconciliation.
16. Ask for the Terms of payment (Net 30, Net 60 etc)
17. Ask for the Mode of Delivery (FedEx, UPS, etc)
18. Ask then about the Warehouses and how many of them are there. Also enquire about the default (Fallback) warehouse, which is required while entering the company information.
19. Enter the data for the Journal that will be used in the application. Generally all the Inventory and Other journals are imported from the standard system.
20. Ask for some open balances of one month say(for testing purposes in the test company)
a. Chart of accounts balances
b. AR balances (Open Invoices, Open Payments and Open Credit Memos)
c. AP balances (Open Invoices, Open Payments and Open Credit Memos)
d. Open Inventory Balance
21. Write the procedure every time you do some new process to import the data into the system. This is the best habit, because you will forget what you did in the past.
22. Open balances can be entered in the system by using a temporary offset account as Error Account 999999, which should have 0 balance when all the things from the balance sheet are transferred in the new system taking this error account as offset. (Debit = Credit)
23. For entering the Open Invoices, Payments and Credit Notes, use the General Journal and use the error account as the default offset. Note that while entering the Open Invoice and Payments:
a. The Amount must be specified
b. Original Invoice Number must be specified
c. Original Transaction Date must be specified.
24. For entering the Open Inventory, use the movement journal and the offset account as the error account. Note that while importing the Inventory:
a. The Warehouse must be specified
b. Site must be specified
c. Any other mandatory inventory dimension should be specified.
d. Cost must be specified. (Purchase Price in the cost field, if the company is the reseller)
25. Make sure all the reports which the client wants, they give the copy of it to you.
26. Try to compare those reports with the standard reports that are there in the system and try to write the customization if there is any.
27. Finally setup the format of the Financial Statements in the application. Prior to this take a copy of the current financial statement from the client.
28. While doing all this take time to prepare the Test Cases for the same and the data that you are going to use for testing this in future. Also document some of the important scenarios with detailed steps.
29. Try placing the sales orders, purchase order and see whether the correct account are getting hit when the transactions are completed.
30. Pay most attention to the Parameters section of all the modules. For AR and AP, make the default order as Sales Order and Purchase Order respectively, as generally it is Journal.
31. Also define the default posting profile in the Parameters form under the “Ledger and Sales Tax” tab or else the order will not get invoiced.
32. Document each and every word which client utters regarding the business process.
33. Make sure you have entered the Employee Details in the system.
34. While importing the BOM items, enter "all blank" in the dimension columns in both the sheets namely "BOM" and "BOM Version.
35. Do not forget to enter the value in the "Per Series" column in the "BOM" excel sheet. It is generally 1. But please do not forget that.
36. Define the Aging Buckets before importing the Open A/R or A/P balances.
37. The Aging Buckets can be setup at A/R and A/P --> Setup --> Statistics --> Aging Buckets
38. While configuring the balance sheet in AX, we generally use Group and Element. Also Calculation is used sometimes.
39. When the Calculation entity is used, just drag the elements in the Argument section and then click the sum up button.
40. In the Column section, on the formatting tab, for the first column enter 60. This way the balance sheet will look nice.
41. Similarly in the Row Definition, use Line Break and define it as "Both".
42. In the Balance sheet, in the Stockholder's equity and Libility, define a separate element called "Net Income" and then define the range of the P and L accounts in to it. The range can be given by using the 2 dots in between. For e.g. : 33333..88888 (this means acounts from 33333 to 88888).
43. Keep on taking print of the Balance sheet on the screenand unless you are satisfied with the look.
44. For all the major entities in the Balance sheet use Heading and Bold checkboxes.
45. Also keep in mind the Print Name field. That should be filled in order for that name to appear in the balance sheet.
46. While importing the open balances for AR as well as for AP, there are two sheets which are to be imported for the General Journal. Create only one journal number, which should be in synch with the number sequence of the journal as defined in the application.
47.Similarly while defining the lines in the other sheet, use the voucher series as defined in the system. Each and every line will have different voucher numbers. Generate those vouchers numbers separately and then paste in that column.
48. enter all the information in the sheets and import the same. The General Journal will be in the unposted format.
49. Validate the same. If the fiscal perios for the some of the previous dates is closed, then create that fiscal period from the periods section.
50. After posting, just update the number sequence for the Journal Number and the Voucher series.
51. Journal number, number sequence is defined in the Parameters section of the General Ledger.
52. While importing the Contacts remember to import the DirPartyTable and DirPartyRelationshipTable. These two tables are exstremely important, for the contacts to be viewed in the Global address book and also for the relationship to be established between the customers / vendors and the contacts.