There are the obvious ones:

– Strong Executive level support
– Have a realistic budget and timeline
– Choose the right people for the project team, not just those that have time
– Backfill your project team members as much as possible
– Keep it Simple! Simplify your processes wherever possible!
– Recognize that any ERP implementation is a huge project and will require a large amount of time and effort. Set realistic expectations of the workload ahead.
– Manage your project scope
– Have a strong (internal) project manager

Then there are some less obvious ones

– Recognize that you can’t implement every function in Workday in your first phase. You just won’t have time. It is more important to get it up and running first. Then roll out additional functionality in additional phases.
– Set user expectations that you can’t roll all the functionality in the first phase
– Don’t configure your new system with the limitations of your current system. As humans, we often want to do things the same way we did them before. Try to break out of that box to be creative and figure out what would actually work better / best for your staff.
– Be careful how many approval steps you add in business processes in Workday. Every additional approval extends the amount of time it takes for the BP to complete. It could add an additional 2 days per approval!

This list is just some examples to get you started thinking. I have many more, but I’d love to hear what you think!

How about you? What recommendations do you tell people?