ERP Change Management for Project Managers Training Course

Course overview

ERP programmes fail to deliver value when technically sound deployments are treated as technology projects rather than changes to roles, controls, decisions and daily work. Project managers must coordinate process owners, functional leads, IT teams, data specialists, super users, vendors and executives while managing resistance, training readiness, cutover pressure and business disruption. This course equips them to make change management a managed workstream with clear owners, measurable adoption criteria and decision-ready reporting.

Participants learn to build an ERP change strategy aligned to programme phases and business outcomes. They apply stakeholder mapping, impact assessment, Prosci ADKAR analysis, change network design, communications planning, role-based learning design and readiness measurement. The course addresses the difficult project-management interfaces: integrating change actions into the integrated master schedule, defining adoption risks in RAID logs, governing scope changes, preparing business readiness gates, and coordinating training, cutover and hypercare activities across multiple sites or functions.

Teaching combines instructor-led briefings with an end-to-end ERP implementation case involving finance, procurement and warehouse process changes. Participants work with practical templates, including a change impact assessment, stakeholder register, communications calendar, training matrix, readiness dashboard and adoption risk log. By the end of the week, each participant produces a tailored ERP Change Management Plan and 90-day implementation roadmap that can be adapted for an active programme or upcoming deployment.

The course is designed for experienced project professionals leading or supporting ERP implementation, upgrade, consolidation or rollout programmes. It is particularly valuable where a programme must move from technical configuration and testing into business mobilisation, deployment and sustained adoption.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Construct an ERP change management strategy linked to programme milestones, business outcomes and deployment waves
• Map ERP stakeholder groups using influence-impact analysis and define engagement actions for each group
• Conduct a role-based change impact assessment across processes, controls, data, systems and ways of working
• Apply the Prosci ADKAR model to diagnose adoption barriers and design targeted reinforcement actions
• Integrate change-management activities, dependencies and owners into an integrated master schedule and RAID log
• Design a role-based communications and learning plan using audience segmentation, message architecture and training matrices
• Establish business readiness criteria, adoption KPIs and dashboard reporting for go-live and hypercare decisions
• Produce an actionable ERP Change Management Plan with governance, risks, deliverables and a 90-day roadmap

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• ERP Project Managers — who must coordinate business adoption alongside configuration, testing and deployment
• Programme Managers — who govern multi-workstream ERP transformations and need reliable readiness evidence
• PMO Managers — who standardise reporting, stage gates, RAID management and delivery assurance across ERP initiatives
• Business Transformation Managers — who lead process, role and operating-model changes created by ERP programmes
• Functional Workstream Leads — who own finance, supply chain, procurement or HR adoption within an ERP rollout
• Change Managers — who need to connect organisational change deliverables to ERP programme controls and cutover plans

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience on a project, programme or business transformation initiative and understand core project controls such as work breakdown structures, milestones, dependencies, risks, issues and stakeholder reporting. Familiarity with the basic lifecycle of an ERP implementation—design, build, test, deploy and hypercare—is expected; experience with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics or another ERP platform is useful but not mandatory. Participants should be comfortable reviewing Excel-based registers and project plans. No programming, system configuration, data migration or formal Prosci certification is required.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led sessions to introduce methods, followed by facilitated application to a realistic multi-site ERP rollout case. Participants build working artefacts in groups: stakeholder maps, impact assessments, ADKAR interventions, communications plans, training matrices, readiness dashboards and cutover actions. The instructor reviews decisions against programme constraints such as fixed go-live dates, limited super-user capacity and conflicting process ownership. Individual end-of-course planning converts the case methods into a practical change-management roadmap for each participant’s own ERP initiative.

Course outline

Day 1: Positioning change management within ERP delivery

• ERP programme lifecycle from discovery through hypercare
• Business value cases and adoption-dependent benefits
• ERP change workstream scope, deliverables and accountabilities
• Governance models for sponsors, process owners and super users
• Integration of change activities with SAP Activate programme phases
• Change-related RAID categories and escalation thresholds
• Baseline assessment of organisational change maturity

Workshop: Participants analyse an ERP rollout scenario and create a change-workstream charter with objectives, boundaries, governance roles and initial risks.

Day 2: Assessing stakeholders and business impacts

• Stakeholder segmentation by influence, impact and readiness
• Process-to-role impact assessment techniques
• Impact categories for data, controls, decisions and workflows
• Persona development for affected ERP user populations
• Prosci ADKAR diagnostics for adoption barriers
• Change network design for champions and super users
• Prioritisation scoring for high-risk business impacts

Workshop: Using the case process maps, participants build a stakeholder register and role-based change impact assessment for finance, procurement and warehouse teams.

Day 3: Designing communications, learning and engagement

• Audience-specific message architecture for ERP change
• Communications calendars aligned to design, test and deploy milestones
• Sponsor activation and visible leadership actions
• Role-based learning needs analysis and training matrices
• Training environment, sandbox and job-aid planning
• Super-user enablement and floor-walking models
• Resistance management conversations and escalation paths

Workshop: Participants develop a communications calendar and role-based learning plan for a phased ERP deployment, including sponsor messages and super-user coverage.

Day 4: Managing readiness, cutover and adoption risk

• Business readiness dimensions and entry-exit criteria
• Readiness surveys, pulse checks and evidence collection
• Adoption KPIs for transaction quality, usage and process compliance
• Dashboard design for steering committee decisions
• Cutover communications and business mobilisation checklists
• Hypercare support models and issue triage routes
• Change control for late process and role decisions

Workshop: Participants define readiness gates and build a dashboard that recommends proceed, proceed with conditions or delay for the case-study go-live.

Day 5: Leading the integrated ERP change workstream

• Integrated master schedule dependencies for change deliverables
• Resource planning for change leads, trainers and super users
• Vendor, system integrator and client responsibility alignment
• Steering committee reporting and decision papers
• Benefits realisation and post-go-live reinforcement planning
• Multi-wave rollout lessons learned and template reuse
• Ninety-day change-management roadmap development

Workshop: Participants assemble and present an ERP Change Management Plan and 90-day roadmap, receiving instructor and peer challenge on risks, sequencing and governance.

Tools & standards covered

SAP Activate, Prosci ADKAR Model, Microsoft Project, Jira

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions