ERP re-platforming under independent oversight
Cutover readiness and post-stabilisation outcomes verified under the Markham Verification Standard at month 14.
The situation
An industrial manufacturer was running its third attempt at retiring a 19-year-old ERP. The first attempt had been abandoned at selection. The second reached month 16, consumed $6M, and was stopped by the board. By the time we arrived the system constrained almost everything the operating model wanted to do, and the organisation had learned to distrust any plan that said otherwise, which meant the third attempt had to be credible to people who had twice been told the previous one was going well.
The board’s condition for a third attempt was structural: whoever built the system would not be the party telling the board how the build was going.
Impact in detail
Readiness criteria written and agreed before build began; outcomes verified under MKM-F-003 after stabilisation.