Responsibility for this role should be given to an individual or a team of ERP implementation experts who have a strong track record of downtime-free upgrade implementations. Their knowledge should include the hundreds of INI settings, thousands of conversions, multiple OS/network settings, protocols, load balancers and more like the back of their hand.

Upgrades don't happen that frequently but their impact on an organization are significant; make sure your upgrade is on-time and on-budget rather than a perpetual money pit. Addressing the action items we have identified will prevent the most common mistakes found in most ERP software upgrades. Most importantly, despite the extra upfront work, addressing these issues proactively will pay off dramatically throughout the whole implementation process with reduced cost, optimal system performance during the upgrade and a greater overall end user experience for years to come.

is a customer-service focused ERP software integration specialist with a primary focus on Oracle's JD Edwards (JDE) products. The company has more than 300 years of JDE experience and offers a comprehensive suite of project services, support services and staffing solutions -- all backed by a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.

in Network World's Software section.