We are in month 4 of implementing Epicor Kinetic Cloud to replace Epicor Manage 2000. We have struggled to work with our Epicor assigned first party Principal Consulting Services Project Manager.
Epicor has offered us forms to decline PM Services and Methodology.
We are a 75 person manufacturing company that makes to order and makes to stock our branded product line.
Thoughts on removing the Epicor PM who has so far caused us nothing but frustration?
If Epicor can drop in a new PM that brings the right knowledge to your company’s situation (MTO, MTS, etc), request the change and don’t think twice. Sometimes a project manager just doesn’t fit for whatever reason…or even an account manager.
Recent thread about requesting a new account manager is here…
Agree with @JMPCONJ You could request a different PM if you think that role is necessary with your project and the one you have isn’t a good fit. We had a couple on our project.
I would say the rest depends on your team’s ability to manage the project going forward. We reached a point in our implementation where there was little value being added by regular PM meetings and project tracking. We had worked out a good cadence and relationship with the consultants working on our project so managed the rest of it directly with them. I don’t love the idea of signing something “declining” the services. Sounds like CYA to me.
This. They should be able to offer you another PM to work with.
Agreed.
Just re Project Managers in general, one thing that I have often found quite surprising is how important the ‘fit’ often is.
Having been involved in dozens of projects, with many Project Managers, it has often amazed me how the same Project Managers can be viewed very differently by different customers/organizations. And how effective, or ineffective, the same Project Managers have been in different circumstances.
Therefore, I’d suggest that it might be worth considering and raising the issue more around the ‘fit’ of the Project Manager for the organization and project rather than about capabilities, capacity, or other factors unless there’s very clear evidence of issues in those areas. And also, being sure that it is an issue around fit, or similar, and not change management pushback, reasonability avoidance, or hard truth reasons. ERP projects are nearly always challenging, and generally the last thing you want is a Project Manager you like because they are ‘nice’. I’ve always liked the saying ‘Project Managers should aim to be respected for their results, not for being nice’.
100%…it’s a business initiative, not a popularity contest. We’ve had to change out PMs on various things over the years - IT or otherwise. The best fit usually comes with whoever’s got the best insight into YOUR company’s specific business issues and can recommend solutions that work within the company culture and/or budget.
From a consultant’s point of view…
DEFINITELY ask for a change. This is a relationship business, and if the relationship is not respectful and trustworthy, then you are not getting what you are paying for.
I have been asked not to return to some projects, I have been assigned to projects where the original consultant was asked not to return. It happens.
Even if it IS both of those…sometimes a change is needed anyway. Could be a particular asset that better suits the partner at that stage.
We are keeping our consultants such as OPS, Finance, Commerce, Grow,QuickShip, DocStar,Wireless Warehouse.
The actual Epicor experts have been amazing.
Our only issue is with the overall PM person not keeping up. We are managing everything ourselves, updating our PCC site, SmartSheets, and scheduling. Why would we need to replace the overall PM with a new one?
It seems the only change is we would now schedule the consultants ourselves in WayFinder.
I appreciate everyone’s thoughts!
