Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is one of the most high-stakes projects an organization can undertake. It sets the stage for future business capabilities, including the ability to scale and adapt as your business grows.

The benefits are clear: streamlined processes, sharper decision-making, and more competitive business operations. But it’s also a demanding task. Considering that business operations must continue as usual during extensive system planning and execution phases, the path to success can be riddled with challenges. While shortcuts can be tempting, they can also lead to costly setbacks for years to come.

One of the biggest hurdles is the sheer breadth of ERP systems, which can connect finance, HR, operations, marketing and business development, and every other business function into one system. Strategies around change management, data migration, and potential customizations all present unique challenges. Even the best-designed ERP systems won’t deliver value without careful planning, execution and employee buy-in.

Success hinges on assembling the right internal team and choosing experienced external partners. With strategic planning, proactive training, and the right cross-functional support network, organizations can unlock the full potential and power of a modern ERP system.

In this whitepaper, we discuss lessons learned by our team at KCI, an employee-owned engineering and construction firm, as we underwent the process of implementation of aec360, an AEC industry-specific ERP and CRM solution.

For over 20 years, KCI relied on an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that had once served our needs well but had grown increasingly inadequate as our business grew and evolved. As a rapidly scaling multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm, leadership realized that revenue growth, headcount expansion, and operational complexities would soon stretch the existing system beyond its capacity.

Acutely aware of the risks of outgrowing a key foundational technology platform, KCI proactively initiated the search for a new ERP system. The new solution would need to serve all facets of business operations with a concrete plan in place to support a smooth transition without disrupting our business, including more than 60,000 active projects. We recognized that appropriate planning, implementation practices, and consulting partners could help us capitalize on the investment in a new ERP system.

The decision to implement a new ERP platform was driven by two critical factors:

1. The need to support future growth with scalable technology, deeper integration across systems, and automation.
2. An awareness that the existing system’s limitations were creating inefficiencies and barriers to innovation.

While KCI's leadership had long been aware of operational pain points, it was only through structured analysis and stakeholder engagement that these challenges were fully articulated. This clarity allowed the organization to unite behind the goal of business transformation and secure buy-in from key stakeholders, a foundational step that many organizations overlook.  

KCI undertook a comprehensive scoping process to evaluate our current state, define future goals, and identify key priorities for the ERP implementation. This effort allowed the organization to gather input across all departments and build a unified vision for the project.

Key Activities Undertaken:

• Stakeholder Engagement: Involving representatives from all functional groups to analyze the existing ERP and current state business processes to identify barriers to efficiency and pain points with the current system and processes.
• Current vs. Future State Analysis: Visioning future state business processes to increase integration, improve automation, streamline workflows, and improve efficiency.
• Developing Guiding Principles: Establishing core principles to shape the project scope.

During this five-month phase, a powerful understanding emerged within KCI: The scoping process wasn’t just about uncovering inefficiencies, but also about shifting perspectives—from the limitations of the existing system to the improvements that new technology can now provide. After decades of working with what was available, imagining what was possible became an invisible roadblock. This insight underscored the importance of engaging a wide range of voices early in the process to unlock creativity and innovation.

While many organizations face pressure to rush toward a go-live date, KCI stayed firm on a commitment to a robust planning phase, gaining support from C-suite leadership from the very beginning.

As a result of engaging an outside business consultant, KCI developed a systematic approach to building out the project’s scope. Stakeholders from every functional group in the organization were engaged to contribute to the consultant’s understanding of KCI’s needs. After interviewing employees deeply connected to day-to-day business practices, the discovery team identified more than 600 pain points within the current system. That provided an invaluable framework for mapping out what the new system would need to address. 

KCI identified seven guiding principles for our ERP project, which emphasized scalability, integration, and usability. These principles ensured the ERP system would not only address current challenges but also accommodate future growth. The key principles included:

• Scalability: Supporting growth for the next 20 years.
• Integration: Reducing silos and minimizing offline applications.
• Automation: Streamlining repetitive tasks to enhance productivity.
• Usability: Offering an intuitive interface that requires minimal training.
• Configurability: Enabling flexibility with updates and configurations.
• Data Management: Centralizing data for better auditability and efficiency.
• Reporting: Gaining the ability to analyze data and improve insights into business operations.

One "aha moment" for KCI came when we realized how important flexibility was and how integral the ability to re-configure the software was to long-term success. Internal teams would need to be able to understand, manage, and alter the software they use daily to keep up with evolving needs. In our previous system, even minor adjustments required external support. By prioritizing configurability, we empowered our team members to own and adapt the system themselves.

KCI’s vendor selection process was rigorous and involved issuing an RFP, starting with more than 15 vendors and narrowing down to the three most promising candidates, and using an iterative approach to identify which were the best fit for our industry and business requirements. After conducting in-depth interviews, those three firms were invited to present to the KCI selection team. Ultimately, the KCI evaluation team selected the Microsoft platform — Microsoft Dynamics 365 with aec360 — with HSO as the implementation partner.

Ideally, the vendor selection phase includes interviewing not only vendors, but also their past clients, which can help identify risks that have not been considered. These conversations can also clarify which vendor truly aligns with an organization’s goals and culture, and which vendor would be committed to providing leadership, insight, and support through go-live.

As a purpose-built solution for the AEC industry, KCI decided the aec360 platform would provide the best integration and smoothest path for training and implementation. Because HSO had extensive experience with AEC clients of a similar scale and business model, HSO brought knowledge and best practices to create the most viable partnership and the clearest path to success for KCI.

Early decisions that KCI made also helped set the stage for a successful project. KCI faced important choices, including:

• Deciding on a phased vs. "big bang" go-live approach
• Choosing virtual vs. onsite execution and training activities
• Assembling a skilled internal project team with defined responsibilities and dedicated time to devote to the project.
• Employing a robust tracking system for decisions, tasks, and outcomes

A number of deciding factors come into play when choosing between whether to execute changes in phased steps or with a more all-in-one approach. A phased rollout can offer more immediately visible ROI, but it also increases the possibility that operations will need to be reworked or realigned with each new phase. And while a “big bang” cutover provides better integration, it presents more of a marathon than a series of sprints, and comes with the risk of project fatigue which can test employee morale. Either way, it's critical to think of the first phase as a minimum viable product (MVP) and not the perfect long-term solution.

Defining an MVP requires drilling down to the most critical processes for business operations. Deliverables included in the MVP should be limited to essential operations needs. After narrowing down the initial scope to those core needs and launching the first phase, the next step is to optimize and build on what was deployed in the MVP. KCI decided to implement many system enhancements post Go-Live once the system was implemented and stabilized.

When it comes to deciding between virtual workshops or onsite meetings, company culture and best practices should be considered. While virtual workshops and meetings can be more cost efficient, we also found great value in bring the KCI and HSO team together on-site for working sessions.  These sessions allowed increased collaboration and focus in tackling complex challenges while also strengthening the team’s working relationship. The key is to have opportunities to build trusting relationships and ensure focused time together.

Based on recommendations from industry partners, KCI recognized the necessity of assembling a dedicated internal team. This includes pulling top talent from their day jobs, backfilling their roles, and giving them 100 percent focus on the ERP. This level of commitment ensured the team’s undivided attention and ultimately accelerated problem-solving and implementation. 

Involving project managers directly in the project is another key area to consider, because they are directly involved in the day-to-day execution of operations within the new system.

Finally, KCI benefited from utilizing DevOps as a project management, tracking and collaboration tool throughout the project.  This tool provided KCI with an invaluable opportunity to capture end-to-end processes that are central to ongoing business operations. This allowed for greater efficiency in project deployment and ensured decisions were fully tracked and documented before, during, and after go-live. 

A successful ERP implementation is not just about technology—it requires planning, collaboration, and trusting personal relationships. Starting with a well-defined MVP helps to minimize scope creep, and clear documentation and well-tracked decisions ensure that teams stay aligned and avoid costly missteps. If possible, ensure that project partners are on board with a tracking system to make sure documentation is aligned throughout the project. HSO relies on the DevOps approach. Early engagement between teams creates a foundation for problem-solving, making it easier to navigate inevitable challenges. Managing resources effectively, building in redundancy, and planning ahead will help the project stay on track even when unexpected obstacles arise. The biggest takeaway is this: Teamwork, established through trust, brings all the pieces together.

As KCI’s project progressed, it became clear that a successful ERP implementation required a structured approach to guiding employees through change during the transition. Without a clear strategy for training and change communication, confusion and frustration threatened to derail progress. This realization underscored the need for specialized expertise in change management to ensure a smooth rollout and ongoing adoption.

Data migration proved to be one of the most complex aspects of KCI’s ERP journey. With over 60,000 active projects to transfer from the legacy system to Dynamics 365, the process required extensive planning, rigorous testing, and continuous adjustments to ensure accuracy and minimize disruption. No data migration is ever flawless, and KCI quickly realized that success wasn’t about achieving perfection—it was about anticipating imperfections and building a strategy to manage them.

It’s important to understand that evolving scope and data migration complexities can lead to budgetary and schedule changes in ERP deployments, so any organization’s chosen vendors should be straightforward and transparent in how they approach these obstacles. 

Testing can be an afterthought in ERP implementations for some organizations, but KCI learned firsthand that it should be treated as a core strategy for success. Many organizations believe their system is ready once development is complete, only to skip or minimize the testing phase — a mistake that can have serious consequences after go-live. KCI took the opposite approach, committing significant time and resources to testing, yet still discovered issues post-launch. This reinforced a hard-earned truth: No matter how much testing is done, there will always be surprises. The key is to catch as many of them as possible before go-live, rather than scrambling to fix them afterward when relying on a new system to run your business.

Conference Room Pilot (CRP) testing was a critical component in ensuring the ERP system would function as expected in a real-world setting. KCI conducted multiple CRP sessions, each revealing gaps that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. These sessions not only identified technical issues but also highlighted workflow challenges, training gaps, and areas where business processes needed refinement.

But testing didn’t stop there. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) became another vital checkpoint for KCI. Despite extensive planning, UAT exposed significant gaps, particularly in edge cases that hadn’t been fully considered. This reinforced the need to stress-test workflows extensively, especially with team members who will be working with the new system daily.  

Testing didn’t just improve the system — it also continually reshaped how KCI approached training. One of the company’s biggest post-go-live challenges stemmed from delays in completing the development of their training content. Without well-prepared training materials, users can struggle with new processes, slowing adoption and causing unnecessary frustration.

KCI’s go-live wasn’t just a date on the calendar — it was the culmination of years of planning, decision-making, and problem-solving. When the moment arrived, success wasn’t about perfection, it was about preparation. The team had spent months refining processes and workflows, stress-testing the system, and ensuring employees had the right resources at their fingertips. Still, no amount of planning could remove every challenge. Instead, what made the difference was a structured, adaptable approach that accounted for the inevitable bumps in the road.

One of the most important strategies was having a clear, detailed go-live checklist — not just for IT, but for every department impacted by the transition. This checklist included contingency plans to address unexpected issues in real-time. Equally vital was constant communication. During our two-week cutover period, our staff worked hand-in-hand with HSO around the clock to implement the system, migrate the data, and incrementally bring users online.

We also recognized that our employees needed more than just technical updates — they needed reassurance, clarity, and easy access to help when they encountered challenges. KCI leaned on its champion network to provide just that. Champions weren’t just problem-solvers; they were trusted guides, providing real-time support in offices, through chat channels, and via live office hours. This champion network can also be carried forward to support staff well past GoLive and stabilization.

Recognizing that employees absorb information differently, KCI also prioritized on-demand learning resources that people could access as needed. From step-by-step video guides to quick-reference job aids, these materials ensured that support was always within reach.

KCI’s ERP implementation journey underscores the importance of thorough planning, disciplined execution, and ongoing collaboration throughout the project and beyond. By investing in the right people, processes, and partnerships, including their work with HSO, KCI transformed its operations and positioned itself for sustainable growth.

The lessons shared here provide a roadmap for other organizations embarking on similar transformations. Success is not just about technology but about the people who bring it to life.

With experience supporting similar organizations, HSO provided valuable industry knowledge and proven best practices from the outset, which helped to ensure long-term success.