Financial Services
Financial Services ERP Implementation
Replaced a legacy core finance system with a modern ERP platform, pairing technical migration with structured change management to protect close-cycle accuracy throughout the transition.
Client
A mid-size financial services firm
Duration
16 months
Services Used
Technology Strategy & Roadmap, Program & Project Leadership
The Challenge
- A 20-year-old core finance system was no longer supported by the vendor, creating growing risk around financial reporting accuracy and audit readiness.
- Finance, procurement, and HR teams each had workarounds built around the legacy system's limitations, with no shared view of what a replacement needed to do.
- Leadership had tried to scope an ERP replacement twice before and stalled both times over disagreement on scope and sequencing.
The Approach
Mapped against the relevant dimensions of the ACTION™ framework.
Audited the legacy system's limitations, data quality, and the informal workarounds each department had built around it, establishing the real starting point behind the two stalled attempts.
Facilitated cross-functional workshops with finance, procurement, and HR to agree on a phased module scope and a quantified business case tied to close-cycle time and audit findings.
Established a steering committee with clear decision rights across finance, IT, and the vendor, and defined the operating model the new platform would run under post-go-live.
Led the data migration and phased module rollout, sequencing finance first, then procurement, then HR, with a dedicated cutover and rollback plan for each phase.
Built a training and change management plan for finance, procurement, and HR end users, with super-users embedded in each department ahead of go-live.
Established a post-go-live support model and adoption scorecard, using the first two close cycles on the new platform to identify and fix remaining process gaps.
The Solution
- Replaced the legacy core finance system with a modern ERP platform, migrating finance, procurement, and HR modules in three sequenced phases.
- Embedded department-level super-users as the first line of support, reducing dependence on the vendor's help desk.
- Put in place a steering committee and governance cadence that carried into the platform's ongoing operating model.
The Results
Faster close cycles
Month-end close time dropped meaningfully compared to the legacy system's manual reconciliation steps.
Clean audit findings
The first audit cycle after go-live closed without the recurring findings tied to the legacy system.
Successful third attempt
Unlike the two prior attempts, this implementation reached go-live on the agreed scope and timeline.
The first two attempts failed on alignment and change management, not technology. Agreeing scope and bringing departments along before migration began is what got this one to go-live.
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