ERP Implementation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which ERP implementation strategy involves running the old and new systems simultaneously for a period of time?
- Big bang
- Phased rollout
- Parallel adoption (Correct answer)
- Pilot implementation
Correct answer: Parallel adoption
Parallel adoption runs both legacy and new ERP systems concurrently to allow validation and fallback before full cutover.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a business process reengineering (BPR) exercise during ERP implementation?
- Reduce software licensing costs
- Align business processes with ERP best practices (Correct answer)
- Train end users on the new system
- Migrate legacy data to the new system
Correct answer: Align business processes with ERP best practices
BPR during ERP implementation redesigns workflows to align with the system's built-in best practices rather than customizing the software to fit broken processes.
Question 3: Which document formally defines the boundaries of an ERP implementation project, including what is in and out of scope?
- Project charter
- Scope statement (Correct answer)
- Statement of work
- Requirements traceability matrix
Correct answer: Scope statement
The scope statement explicitly lists deliverables, boundaries, and exclusions, preventing scope creep during implementation.
Question 4: A company discovers mid-implementation that a critical business process cannot be supported without heavy ERP customization. What is the recommended first response?
- Immediately begin customization to avoid delays
- Halt the project until a solution is found
- Evaluate whether the business process should be changed to fit the ERP (Correct answer)
- Switch to a different ERP vendor
Correct answer: Evaluate whether the business process should be changed to fit the ERP
Best practice recommends first questioning whether the business process itself can be adapted to the ERP standard before pursuing costly customization.
Question 5: What is the role of a System Integrator (SI) in an ERP implementation?
- Owns the ERP software license
- Provides technical infrastructure like servers and networks
- Manages the end-to-end implementation including configuration and go-live (Correct answer)
- Handles ongoing software updates after go-live
Correct answer: Manages the end-to-end implementation including configuration and go-live
A System Integrator leads the full implementation lifecycle—from design and configuration to testing, training, and go-live support.
Question 6: Which ERP implementation phase focuses on validating that the configured system meets documented business requirements?
- Blueprint
- Realization
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT) (Correct answer)
- Go-live
Correct answer: User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
UAT is performed by business users to confirm the configured ERP fulfills the agreed-upon functional requirements before production cutover.
Question 7: What is 'gold client' in the context of an SAP ERP implementation?
- The highest-paying customer in the business
- A fully configured reference client used to copy settings to other clients (Correct answer)
- The production system after go-live
- The client used exclusively for integration testing
Correct answer: A fully configured reference client used to copy settings to other clients
The gold client is a pristine, fully configured SAP client that serves as the master template from which development or production clients are copied.
ERP Implementation 2
Which ERP implementation strategy involves running the old and new systems simultaneously for a period of time?