Choose the first complete workflow
Start with a flow that crosses a real handover: purchase request, approval, goods received and reconciliation. List the people involved, the record each person needs and the exceptions they deal with. A dashboard is an output of this work, not a substitute for defining it. Keep accounting in place when it already works; assess the integration before proposing a replacement.
- Name one process owner who can resolve conflicting requirements.
- Write the start and finish of the workflow in ordinary language.
- Collect examples of cancellations, partial deliveries and corrections.
Prepare opening data before importing it
Assign an owner to customers, suppliers, products and opening stock. Remove duplicates, agree identifiers and separate inactive records. Trial the import with a representative subset. Reconcile quantities and balances to an approved source, then record who signed off. An import that completes without an error can still contain the wrong business data.
Turn the scope into acceptance tests
Ask staff to complete realistic tasks with the permissions they will have after launch. Define the expected result before the demo. A successful demonstration by the developer's administrator account does not verify the experience of a purchasing clerk or branch manager.
| Scenario | Expected result |
|---|---|
| Request exceeds an approval limit | It reaches the correct reviewer and cannot bypass approval. |
| Supplier delivers part of an order | Only received quantities become available stock. |
| Two users edit a record | The system handles the conflict without silently losing a change. |
| An integration is unavailable | The item remains traceable and can be recovered safely. |
Plan the cutover and a recovery route
Decide when existing records stop changing, who approves the final migration and how staff raise issues. Keep a reconciliation checklist for the first operating cycle. Where a rollback is possible, document the conditions and the data that must be recovered. Running two systems without a clear owner can create conflicting records, so keep any parallel period deliberate and bounded.
Measure adoption after launch
Review completion time, correction volume, outstanding approvals and staff questions. Compare these with the starting process. Use the results to prioritise the next module, rather than promising an arbitrary productivity increase. Your handover should include access ownership, export procedures, documentation and support responsibilities.
- Who owns urgent incidents?
- How are changes requested and approved?
- When was a backup last restored successfully?
- Can the business export its useful records?