System automation has been a hot topic lately in the world of JD Edwards, and there were several sessions at INFOCUS that dove into how it can be done. Automation can set organizations apart and help them become more efficient while lowering their costs. However, a lot of organizations are stuck in a paper-based environment or are only semi-automated, but they’re looking to make the move to a fully automated system.

Check out this break down of the 10 steps to successfully deployed an automated Finance and Accounting system in your organization!

10 Steps to Deploying an Automated Finance and Accounting System

Diagnose your pain points.

It’s important for you to talk to your staff and stakeholders about where your organization is hurting. Identify where your processes are working and where they are breaking down. Once you’ve identified your pain points, you can start working toward fixing them.

Understand your workflows.

Mapping out your workflow will help you visualize and understand how your organization works. Once you’ve charted it out, you can start asking yourself and your stakeholders if what you’re doing makes sense. Essentially, you’re diving deeper into the pain points you’ve identified in Step 1.

Bad workflows can create problems like a backlog of past invoices or strained vendor relationships, but automated your system can give you more flexibility, reduction of costs and an accelerated workflow.

Establish a project team.

Gather a team that includes representatives from key stakeholders. You’ll want to involve people who will be directly impacted by your project. Your team will become your product champions that will help you make decisions and stay on track. Avoid the temptation of “bigger is better,” because it can be hard to get things done with large groups weighing in. It’s important to prepare yourself for potential objections, even with a small team, and know how you will address concerns that your team may bring up.

It’s also important to proactively involve your IT team. They can help you understand components like infrastructure, security, technology concerns, etc. and serve as a sounding board during vendor presentations. They don’t necessarily need to take the lead, but it’s important to work together.

Define your objectives.

The pain points that you identified in Step 1 will help guide the objectives and goals for your automation project. You need to define what you want to change or eliminate within your process, and then identify what you need to do to achieve that goal. Every organization has its own reasons behind wanting to automate, so you need to ask yourself what you want to achieve with your project.

Choose the right technology.

There are different levels to automation, ranging from paper-based to fully electronic. It’s important to decide what level of technology is the best fit for your organization. It’s also something to keep in mind when listening to vendor presentations because some may offer only a handful of automation features instead of the whole package, which might work out with what you’re looking for.

You just need to establish what you’re looking for and have a roadmap in mind for how you’re going to move away from a paper-based environment and toward an automated one. Make sure that the technology you choose has a roadmap that matches yours. You don’t want to get stuck with a system that can’t fulfill your objectives down the road.

Focus on key features.

It’s important to identify what key features you’re looking for in a system. When you’re listening to vendor presentations, pay close attention and keep a spreadsheet of what features each one offers. Then you can go back and compare different vendor offerings later on to help choose the system that best fits your needs.

Look beyond vendor brochures.

It’s easy to get excited about getting started on your new project, especially when vendors come in with flashy presentations and brochures. However, it’s important not to get too swept up in the presentations. You want to stay focused on the key features that you’re looking for in a new system.

Make a spreadsheet for the criteria you’re looking for in a vendor and compare each one, just like you did for the features in Step 6. Discuss options with your team and decide what criteria is most important among the group.

Build a solid business case.

In order to explore all possibilities, it’s helpful to build out three versions of your business case—the best case, the worst case, and the most likely case. Identify key benchmarks within your business case that are based on your pain points and objectives that you identified in Steps 1 and 4.

It’s important for you to be able to paint a picture for Senior Management about where you stand today and where you’re going in the future. Build a cover sheet that explains to them what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and what you expect the outcome to be.

Set realistic timelines.

One thing you want to avoid is being too aggressive with your roll out. You have to take your staff’s available time into account because you don’t want them to sacrifice their daily workload for the sake of a fast project. Work will just pile up!

Take a phased approach to the automation project and avoid the temptation of a “big bang.” Create a chart that outlines each step of your roll out and look for “easy wins” that you can tackle first. Then you can implement training over time and test yourself periodically throughout.

Win over your front-line staff.

Don’t leave your staff out until the end. Get them excited! Involve them in the testing and roll out so they feel invested in it. This will help adoption go over more smoothly and make sure you have a successful project.