TeamBlueSky's NetSuite Implementation Process (A Modern Approach to ERP Implementation)

Are you considering investing in NetSuite? Choosing the right implementation partner is pivotal to the success of your project. With so much to do before go-live it is important to ensure that your implementation team, including both your internal project stakeholders and your partners services team, have a clear understanding of the key timelines and milestones that will need to be completed in order to ensure a successful go-live.

At TeamBlueSky, we have spent over a decade continually reviewing and improving our implementation processes in order to help our customers go live with a feature rich solution in as little time as possible, as the quicker you get your business up and running on NetSuite, the sooner you will start to see a return on investment.

NetSuite Implementation: 7 Key Phases

Business Requirement Definition and Process Review

The first step in any successful NetSuite implementation is to ensure that the business requirements are well understood and documented. This involves working with your team to document and map out your existing processes, as well as understanding your specific business needs and requirements.

At TeamBlueSky, we understand it is near impossible to completely define the requirements of an ERP project, and often see priorities change, discover functionality requirements that were missed or identify the need for additional modules or customisations. 

We work with our clients to help them understand the impacts, from a timeline and cost perspective to ensure that the benefits of such changes align with the goals of the business.



Functionality Design

Once the requirements are understood, our team will work with you to design a solution that meets your needs, taking into account both NetSuite's leading practices and your own unique business idiosyncrasies.

We then create documentation to show how NetSuite will work once configured, including the flow of information and transactions, the data needing to be collected, the reporting and searches that will support your team members in being able to complete tasks, as well as other factors that need to be considered such as approvals and workflow automations.

Once we are confident that the solution is right for your business we can move into the configuration phase of the implementation.

Configuration/ Consultant Build

Following the design phase, we will work with you to configure NetSuite to meet your specific needs, including setting up custom fields, mapping data, and configuring workflow automation.

Our NetSuite experts are usually divided into a few key roles.

• Project Manager - Project Managers are there to oversee the project plan to ensure tasks are being completed on time, stakeholders understand their responsibilities in the process and are meeting commitments.

• Functional Consultants - Functional Consultants have a combination of NetSuite functionality expertise as well as a keen understanding of core business processes, such as accounting, project management, operations management, sales processes and manufacturing processes. Often a functional consultant will specialise in a specific discipline, such as accounting. As such, there can be multiple functional consultants on a project team, depending on the type of business and required outcomes.

• Technical Consultants - TC's are less involved with configuration and business process planning, and more geared towards technical projects such as customisations, script writing, workflow automations and integrations. Technical consultants are pivotal in the overall implementation as they are able to help the functional consultants align the solution even more closely to your business needs.

User Acceptance Testing

Next comes testing - our team will work with you to test the solution in a sandbox environment and correct any errors or process problems before going live. In order to do this thoroughly, TeamBlueSky provides comprehensive testing scripts for all key business processes and transaction types. We work with your end users to complete these tasks and transactions, and review the impact on the system, such as GL Impacts or Reports.

If and when we identify room for improvement, your consulting team will make the relevant changes to your configuration, and bring the new solution back for retesting. This is an iterative process that continues until your end users are happy and confident that the solution works.

Training

Depending on the individual needs of the business and users, we can either offer a "Train the Trainer" approach, or more formal classroom style group training. A train the trainer approach is a powerful way to quickly up skill some key internal champions across various departments and gives your business a resource that is able to help most other users with questions and learning outcomes.

Data Migration

Once everything is ready for go-live, we will work with you to transition your data over to the live environment. We usually advise against attempting to migrate years of old data. In our experience, the cost of data migration projects almost always outweighs the benefits. Most customers keep a single licence of their old software to be able to access data when needed, or export this data for future reference.

Go-live

Going live is always an exciting milestone, but it can also be nerve-wracking. That's why it's important to have a solid plan in place for post-launch support. TeamBlueSky offers a range of services to help you get up and running quickly and smoothly, including training, consulting, and support services.

Ongoing Support

After go-live we continue to support you, providing ongoing consulting and training as needed to help you get the most out of your new NetSuite system.

We work with our clients on an ongoing basis to review your processes, make recommendations for improvements, and help you implement those changes. This ensures that your NetSuite solution continues to meet your needs as your business grows and evolves.

The TeamBlueSky Difference

At TeamBlueSky, we have over a decade of experience implementing NetSuite for businesses of all sizes across a variety of industries. Our team is composed of experienced consultants who are certified in both NetSuite and leading project management methodologies. If you are interested in learning more about how we may be able to assist with your implementation, please feel free to reach out for an obligation free discussion.