ERP Implementation Checklist: 60 Items From Kickoff to Hypercare

Checklists don't make projects succeed, but they stop obvious things from being forgotten under pressure. This one is organised by phase. Use it as a starting point and adapt it to your scope.

Before you start

• Business case written, with three to six measurable success criteria
• Executive sponsor named and committed
• Internal project owner with decision authority appointed
• Key users identified for each department, with time allocated
• Budget approved, including contingency and internal backfill
• Systems inventory: every application, spreadsheet and integration listed
• Rough data volumes known (customers, products, orders, transactions)
• Hard deadlines identified (fiscal year end, contract expiries, peak seasons)
• Partner selected after reference calls and scripted demos

Discovery

• Process walkthroughs completed for each department, on the floor
• Current pain points documented with examples
• All reports in use collected, with owners
• Data profiling completed for master data
• Requirements prioritised (must / should / later)
• Each requirement classified: configure, extend, integrate or defer
• Integration list with direction, volumes and ownership

Design

• Chart of accounts and analytic structure agreed with finance
• Costing method per product category agreed
• Warehouse locations, routes and operation types designed
• Product structure, variants and units of measure defined
• Pricing structure rationalised
• Approval rules and thresholds documented
• Security roles designed by job, with segregation of duties
• Customisations specified with acceptance criteria
• Solution design document signed off before build

Data migration

• Migration owner named
• Scope agreed: master data, open transactions, balances, history
• Field mapping documented
• Cleansing tasks assigned to data owners
• Migration scripts built and repeatable
• Mock migration 1 completed and reconciled
• Mock migration 2 completed and reconciled
• Reconciliation reports signed off by finance and operations
• Archive plan for history that does not migrate

Integrations

• Data ownership per entity documented
• Error handling and retry approach agreed
• Monitoring and alerting configured
• Failure scenarios tested (timeouts, duplicates, bad data, expired tokens)
• Volume tests at peak load
• Runbook written for common failures

Testing

• Test scenarios written by key users
• End-to-end tests: quote to cash, procure to pay, plan to produce
• Edge cases tested: returns, partial deliveries, credit notes, multi-currency
• Security roles tested with real user accounts
• Reports validated against old system numbers
• Performance tested on production-sized data
• Defects triaged and critical ones resolved

Training

• Role matrix completed
• Training environment with realistic data ready
• Role-based sessions scheduled close to go-live
• Quick-reference guides produced
• Super-users trained to support colleagues

Cutover

• Cutover runbook written, with timings and owners
• Cutover rehearsed
• Transaction freeze communicated to staff, customers and suppliers
• Final stock count planned
• Go/no-go criteria agreed in advance
• Rollback plan documented
• Hardware ready (scanners, printers, labels)

Hypercare

• Daily check-in schedule for the first two weeks
• Issue log and triage process in place
• Floor support during first days
• First period close supported
• Post-go-live review against success criteria at 30 and 90 days
• Handover to ongoing support

How to use this list

Treat unchecked items as risks, not failures. If the second mock migration hasn't happened, the go-live date is at risk — say so early. The ERP implementation guide explains the reasoning behind each phase, and the timeline article shows how long each typically takes.