Traditional ERP rollouts use Waterfall, but my leadership wants us to use Agile to show quicker "wins." I’m struggling to see how we can do Sprints for something as interconnected as Finance, HR, and Supply Chain. Has anyone successfully used Scrum for a full-scale ERP?
3 answers
Pure Agile is very difficult for ERP because of the deep dependencies—you can't really do "Agile" Finance without the underlying Chart of Accounts being set in stone. However, a Hybrid approach works wonders. Use Waterfall for the core architecture and global design phase to ensure the foundation is solid. Then, switch to Agile Sprints for specific module configurations, report building, and dashboarding. This gives you the "quick wins" through iterative releases of specific features while maintaining the structural integrity required for ERP.
Heather, in that Hybrid model, how do you handle the integration testing? If the Warehouse module is built in Sprint 3 but the Finance module isn't ready until Sprint 8, don't you end up with massive bottlenecks and a "Big Bang" testing nightmare at the very end anyway?
We used Agile for our ERP's reporting layer. We delivered a new set of PowerBI dashboards every two weeks, which kept the stakeholders happy while the back-end was still being built.
That’s a great way to show value early, Angela. Stakeholders love seeing data visualization even if the full system isn't live yet.
Charles, the trick is to use "Stubs" or mock data for the missing modules. You test the Warehouse logic against what the Finance API will be. Then, you perform "Continuous Integration" tests as each new module is finished. It’s not a "Big Bang" if you are validating the touchpoints every two weeks. It requires a very disciplined DevOps mindset from the technical team.