ERP Best Practices That Need More Nuance: Why Dogma Doesn’t Deliver Results
Best practices exist for a reason — they provide structure, reduce risk, and offer a starting point for complex ERP programs.
But when they’re treated as absolute rules, they stop helping and start hurting.
Real implementations — especially on Dynamics 365 Finance — are messy, human, iterative, and full of trade-offs.
And the only way to navigate them successfully is with one essential ingredient:
Nuance.
Dogmatic phrases like “no customizations,” “stick to scope,” “fit to standard,” or “focus on MVP” are thrown around constantly.
But in real life, they only work if the team understands the context, business value, and purpose behind them.
Because the most important question in any ERP project is still:
“Why are we doing this project?”
Every decision — functional, technical, or organizational — should be evaluated against business value, both monetary and non-monetary.
Let’s break down the “best practices” that deserve more nuance.
1. “Start with an MVP” — But Only If You Define MVP Properly
The textbook advice:
“Keep it minimal, go live fast, focus on MVP.”
The reality:
- MVP means different things to different people.
- A vague MVP becomes an excuse to cut corners.
- Finance cannot compromise on reconciliation, tax, period-end, or controls.
- A weak MVP destroys trust early and forces teams into Excel workarounds.
MVP only works when non-negotiables are defined early, not discovered during testing.
Business value lens:
→ A faster go-live is useless if financial accuracy or auditability suffers.
Recommended reading:
2. “Document Requirements Properly” — But Documentation ≠ Alignment
We’ve all heard:
“Make sure requirements are properly documented.”
Yes…but documentation alone doesn’t create understanding.
The reality:
- Requirements evolve as users discover new functionalities through prototypes and iterations.
- Early requirements are built on assumptions.
- You can have 200 pages of documentation and still be misaligned.
- Some of the biggest clarifications only emerge during testing.
Business value lens:
→ Documentation is support, not truth. Alignment is built through workshops, demos, examples, and continuous interaction.
Recommended reading:
3. “Stick to Initial Scope” — But Scope Will Evolve
Classic advice:
“Avoid scope creep at all costs.”
The reality:
- Initial scope is defined when knowledge is at its lowest.
- As teams see Dynamics 365 Finance in action, legitimate gaps and improvements emerge.
- Freezing scope too early locks the business into inefficiencies for years.
This doesn’t mean we say yes to everything — it means:
Implement a structured Change Request (CR) process.
- It creates transparency.
- It helps justify changes with value.
- It ensures traceability.
- It protects the project from losing control.
The real mistake is believing scope won’t evolve. It always does.
Business value lens:
→ CRs allow teams to assess cost/benefit properly — including non-monetary factors like risk, compliance, controls, and manual work reduction.
Recommended reading:
4. “No Customizations” — But Standard Isn’t Always Best Practice
The popular mantra:
“Stay standard. No customizations.”
The reality:
- Standard processes are generic, not optimized.
- Forcing users into inefficient flows leads to Excel workarounds, errors, and audit issues.
- A small, justified customization can eliminate thousands of hours of manual effort.
Customization is not the problem.
Uncontrolled customization is.
The right rule is:
Customize only when the value clearly outweighs the cost.
Value includes:
- reduced manual work
- fewer reconciliations
- better controls
- compliance
- scalability
- reduced risk
These benefits matter just as much as pure cost savings.
Recommended reading:
5. “Follow Best Practices” — But Best Practices Depend on Context
Consultants often say:
“This is industry best practice.”
But whose industry?
Whose size?
Whose risk tolerance?
Whose regulatory environment?
Best practices are not universal. They’re contextual.
What’s “best” for a global manufacturing firm may be overkill for a mid-sized finance team.
What’s “best” for audit-heavy organizations might be too slow for high-growth companies.
Business value lens:
→ A best practice that adds no value isn’t a best practice — it’s overhead.
Recommended reading:
6. “Training = Adoption” — But Adoption Starts Months Earlier
Another oversimplification:
“We’ll train users at the end. Train-the-trainer will handle it.”
The reality:
- ERP adoption is emotional, not technical.
- Fear of losing control is the biggest blocker.
- Train-the-trainer often fails because users were never involved early enough.
- End users often see the system for the first time right before go-live.
This creates anxiety, resistance, and mistakes.
True adoption requires early participation.
- involvement in workshops
- participation in demos
- exposure to prototypes
- iterative feedback
- clear communication
- visibility on what’s changing and why
Business value lens:
→ Early involvement builds ownership, confidence, and smoother post-go-live performance — all critical non-monetary value drivers.
Recommended reading:
The Unifying Thread: Nuance, Openness, and Business Value
ERP projects fail when teams follow slogans instead of purpose.
They succeed when every decision — MVP scope, documentation level, CRs, customizations, best practices, training — is evaluated through:
1. Business value
(monetary + non-monetary)
2. Organizational context
(maturity, objectives, constraints)
3. The project’s core purpose
“Why are we doing this project?”
Because in the end, the goal is not to follow best practices.
The goal is to deliver value.
Nuance is not optional — it’s the only way to deliver an ERP that truly works.
🔗 French version:
www.fitgapfinance.com/meilleures-pratiques-erp-nuance-d365-finance
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