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Project and Change Management

Running your ERP project on time and on budget, and making sure the people who have to use the system are ready when it arrives.

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Large IT projects fail for reasons that have little to do with software. Decisions are not made in time. Requirements change without anyone updating the plan. The internal team is asked to run a project on top of a full time job. By the time these problems are visible, the budget has already gone.

We run ERP projects as project managers, either for a system we are implementing or alongside another supplier. The role is to keep the scope stable, the decisions moving and the risks visible, and to prepare your organisation for the change so that the go live is an event your staff are ready for rather than one they dread.

What project and change management includes

  • A project plan with phases, milestones, dependencies and the hours your team needs to commit
  • A decision log and an issue register that are reviewed every week
  • Scope control: every change request is estimated, its impact on the plan is shown, and you decide
  • Supplier management when a third party is building part of the system
  • Steering meetings with a short written status: what was done, what is next, what is at risk
  • A change plan: who is affected, how their work changes, what they need to learn and when
  • Communication to the wider organisation, from the first announcement to the go live week
  • Training coordination and a readiness check before each go live

Why work with us on project management

  • We know what an Odoo project should cost and how long each phase should take, so we can tell when an estimate is optimistic.
  • We are independent of your other suppliers. Our job is to hold everyone, including ourselves, to the scope.
  • Every decision is written down the day it is made, with the reasoning, so nobody re opens it three months later.
  • Change management is planned from the first week, not added when adoption problems appear.

The usual problem and how we work instead

The usual problem

  • The internal project lead has a full time job and the project gets the hours left over
  • Scope grows in every workshop and nobody prices the additions
  • Staff hear about the new system when they are told to attend training
  • Go live is fixed by a date rather than by readiness

How we work instead

  • A dedicated project manager and a realistic estimate of internal hours, agreed with department heads
  • A change process that shows the cost and schedule impact before anything is added
  • A communication plan that starts with why the change is happening and what it means for each role
  • Readiness criteria per department, checked before the go live date is confirmed

How we run a project

  1. Mobilisation

    Governance, roles, plan, budget tracking and communication plan agreed with your sponsor.

  2. Delivery

    Weekly working sessions, a written status every week, steering meetings at each milestone, and active management of scope and risks.

  3. Readiness and go live

    Training completion, data validation, cut over rehearsal and a formal readiness decision.

  4. Close and lessons

    Outstanding items handed to support, a short review of what worked and what did not, and a recommendation for the next phase.

When this service stands alone

Some clients bring us in only for project management, for instance when an internal IT team or another Odoo partner is doing the build. That works well provided the roles are clear from the start, and we set them out in writing before the project begins.

Frequently asked questions

Do you provide project management when another company is doing the implementation?

Yes. We act as an independent project manager alongside another Odoo partner or an internal team. Roles and responsibilities are set out in writing at the start so that there is no ambiguity about who owns what.

What does change management mean in practice?

Deciding who is affected by the new system and how their work changes, telling them why the change is happening before telling them how, training them by role close to go live, and checking that each department is ready before the date is confirmed. It is planned from the first week of the project rather than added when adoption problems appear.

How do you control scope?

Every change request is estimated, its effect on the plan and budget is shown, and the sponsor decides. Nothing is added to the scope by agreement in a workshop alone. This is uncomfortable in the moment and saves the project later.

How do you report progress?

A short written status every week: what was done, what is next, what is at risk and what decisions are needed. Steering meetings at each milestone review the plan, the budget and the risk register.

What if the project is already in trouble?

We start with a short review of scope, plan, decisions, data and readiness, and give you a written view of what is wrong and what it would take to recover. Recovery usually means narrowing the first go live and rebuilding the plan around readiness rather than a date.

All Project and change management questions

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