Deploying an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is challenging, and identifying gaps that could lead to risk is one of the most important aspects of stabilization. In my recent ISACA Journal article, I discuss how we can optimize incident management and use it to identify such gaps and risk factors at an early stage to take corrective action.
Here are some key points that any enterprise should consider during the stabilization period:
- Channel for end users to report issues—A robust process for end users to log issues would generate comfort and provide confidence that issues are routed to the right contacts for timely resolution.
- Structure of incident management—Ease of logging issues, timely triaging the incidents to the right teams and assigning a level of priority are the fundamentals of a good incident management process.
- Grading of incidents—The number of incidents that may be encountered could be high, hence, a mechanism to grade and accord priority would optimize resources that are assigned to deliver resolution.
- Review of incidents—Monitoring of number of incidents and the analysis of such incidents could reveal critical design gaps that could have a long-term impact on an organization’s process, and it could reveal governance issues.
In many of the deployment projects that I have been part of, incident management has not only aided in identifying gaps for early resolution, but also provided a mechanism to avoid a potential control and governance issue at a later date.
Read Rajul Kambli’s recent Journal article:
“Incident Management for ERP Projects,” ISACA Journal, volume 3, 2019.