Implementation and onboarding
How an implementation runs, start to finish
Eight stages, from the first discovery meeting to the week after go live. This page also says which stage goes wrong most often, and what makes it go wrong.
Timelines here are ranges tied to complexity. Yours is agreed in the proposal, not on a web page.
The shape of a project
- 8
- Stages, from the first call to the week after go live
- 1 to 6+
- Months, from a small organisation to a large and complex one
- Phased
- Core functions can go live before the rest
- 1 week
- Heightened support and active monitoring after go live
01The process
Eight stages, in order
Discovery
Meetings and questionnaires to work out what you need, how you work today, and which modules that points to.
Proposal
We put together an implementation plan, a timeline and a quote for what we found.
Contract and configuration
Once the contract is signed we finalise the module list, prepare the integration plan and start configuring the system.
Data migration
Your data comes out of the old ERP or accounting system and into Alibera. An NDA is signed before we work with it.
Staging and validation
Everything is tested in a staging environment, and you validate it against the way you actually work.
Training
Workshops per module, online or on site, phased from the basic features to the advanced ones.
Go live
Alibera becomes the system your people work in.
The first week after
Heightened support and active monitoring, issues resolved as they surface, and more training wherever it turns out to be needed.
02The stage that decides your timeline
Data migration is the hardest part
It is the stage that most often takes longer than anyone expected. An old system holds years of records entered by people under time pressure, and every one of them has to land somewhere sensible in the new system.
- You export from your current system, ideally as CSV or Excel
- An NDA is signed before we work with your data
- Field mapping is done with you, then tested and adjusted before anything goes live
What makes it go faster
- Exports that are complete and consistent
- Someone on your side who knows what the old fields mean
- An early decision about how much history has to come across
03Timelines
How long it takes
- Smaller organisationA smaller organisation can be done in about a month
- That assumes a limited module list, data that exports cleanly, and people who are available when the project needs them.
- Large or complexSix months or more for a large or complex one
- More modules, more integrations and more people to train, all stretching the same eight stages.
- Phased rolloutOr start with the core and add the rest later
- Onboarding can be phased so core functions go live first and everything else follows. It reduces the disruption and gives people less to learn at once.
These are ranges tied to complexity, not a promise. Your dates are agreed in the proposal.
04Your side of it
What we need from you
None of this is unusual, but a project stalls when it is not ready. Work through it before the discovery call if you can.
- Exports of your existing data, from the old ERP or accounting system
- Documentation of your internal processes, even if it is rough
- Named people on the project, rather than a department in general
- Access to any system that has to be integrated
- Leadership and key staff from the departments that will use it
- One internal project coordinator, whose job this actually is
05Before you plan around a date
What makes projects run late
These are the usual causes. None of them look dramatic on the day they start, which is exactly why they are easy to miss.
- Complex data migrations
- The more history you carry across, the more exceptions there are, and the more decisions someone has to make about them.
- Not enough people on your side
- The project needs time from people who already have a full job. If nobody is freed up for it, it waits.
- Exports that are not ready
- Partial or inconsistent exports get sent back, and the migration stage starts again from the beginning.
- Customisations that surface mid project
- A requirement nobody mentioned in discovery has to be scoped, quoted and built, and that moves the date.
06Training and after go live
Training, documentation and what happens next
Training is delivered as live workshops per module, online or on site, phased from the basics to the advanced features. Documentation and guides are built into the system.
- Live workshops per module, online or on site
- Documentation and guides inside the system
- Continued access to the training materials after go live
On case studies
There is no published customer case study on this site yet. Client names are covered by NDA and references are released only on request, so if you want to speak to someone who has been through an implementation, ask on the call and we will see what we can arrange.
Talk to usStart with a discovery call
Bring your processes, your current system and your deadline. We will tell you which of the eight stages is going to be hard for you.