ERP Charter With a Skeptical Operations VP
You are leading a $2.4M ERP implementation for a mid-sized distributor with three warehouses and 500 users. The CFO is the sponsor and insists on go-live in 10 months to align with the fiscal year. The operations VP publicly doubts the system can handle peak seasonal volume and has not assigned a backup for her key subject matter expert, who is also managing a warehouse relocation. The draft charter defines success only as 'on-time, on-budget implementation' and lacks measurable business outcomes. A regulatory auditor has asked for evidence that inventory controls will remain compliant during cutover. The kickoff meeting is in two weeks, and the stakeholder register currently lists only eight names, all from finance and IT. You have one business analyst available.
1. Identify three weaknesses in the draft charter and propose revised wording for each.
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Weakness 1: Success is defined only by schedule and budget. This allows the team to declare success even if the system is not adopted or does not improve operations. Revised wording: 'Success means go-live within 10 months and within $2.4M, with at least 80% active user adoption within 60 days, inventory record accuracy of 98% or better, and no material audit findings during cutover.'
Weakness 2: Scope boundaries are missing. The charter does not say which warehouses, modules, or data are included, so stakeholders can assume different outcomes. Revised wording: 'In scope: finance, procurement, and inventory modules for the three named warehouses; migration of two years of transactional history; cutover compliance controls. Out of scope: warehouse relocation activities, payroll, and custom reporting beyond the listed standard reports.'
Weakness 3: Governance and stakeholder roles are vague. The operations VP is not named as a business owner, and the auditor requirement is absent. Revised wording: 'The operations VP is business owner for inventory controls; the CFO is sponsor; the regulatory auditor receives cutover control evidence before go-live. A change control board chaired by the sponsor approves scope changes.'
These revisions make the charter testable and expose assumptions before kickoff.
2. Develop a stakeholder engagement approach for the operations VP and the regulatory auditor, including specific actions and timing.
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The operations VP is high-power, high-interest, and currently skeptical, so the goal is early involvement and visible influence-not one-way communication. Within the first week, I would hold a one-on-one to hear her seasonal-volume concerns and ask her to co-validate the peak-load test scenarios. I would name her as business owner for inventory controls in the charter and invite her to select the backup subject matter expert. Before kickoff, schedule a short demo of the inventory module using her warehouse data. This gives her concrete evidence rather than assurances.
The regulatory auditor is high-power but likely lower interest in day-to-day delivery; the engagement should be evidence-based and scheduled. Within two weeks, confirm the specific control evidence required for cutover, map it to test cases, and agree on a review date before go-live. Provide a single point of contact and a document register so the auditor can trace controls without disrupting the team.
Both stakeholders should appear in the stakeholder register with engagement level, influence, interest, and planned actions. Progress should be reviewed at each steering committee, and the business analyst should maintain a contact log so commitments are not lost.
3. How would you validate readiness before the kickoff meeting? Include at least three concrete steps.
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Readiness validation should test whether the project can start with shared understanding, not just whether a date is available.
- Conduct structured stakeholder interviews with the operations VP, warehouse supervisors, finance, IT, and the auditor. The goal is to surface unmet expectations, peak-volume concerns, compliance evidence needs, and resource constraints before they become kickoff surprises.
- Run a charter review workshop with the sponsor and business owners to confirm scope boundaries, measurable success criteria, governance, and the operations VP's role. Capture unresolved items in an action log with owners and dates.
- Validate the resource and risk baseline. Confirm named subject matter experts, backup coverage, the business analyst's capacity, and top risks such as seasonal volume and cutover controls. Update the risk register and stakeholder register with the results.
A fourth step would be to confirm the kickoff agenda and decision log format so that disagreements are resolved in the meeting rather than after it. If the operations VP still refuses to assign a backup, that should be escalated to the sponsor before kickoff, not carried into execution as an unmanaged risk.