- According to Gartner, by 2027 more than 70% of recently implemented ERP initiatives will fail to fully meet their original business case goals, and as many as 25% will fail catastrophically.
- According to Panorama Consulting's 2025 ERP Report, less than a third of organizations reported an intense focus on organizational change management.
- According to Prosci, organizations with excellent change management are seven times more likely to achieve their objectives.
- PlanAxion recommends starting project team training immediately after the kickoff meeting, with encyclopedic training delivered by training experts.
The ERP project kickoff meeting took place on Monday. By Wednesday, the project team opens the software for the first time and attempts to map procurement processes on screens they don't yet understand. Six weeks later, half of the configuration choices will need to be redone. Project team training exists to avoid exactly those six weeks.
The statistics cited are from public reports by Gartner, Panorama Consulting, and Prosci; training durations are benchmarks based on PlanAxion’s practice.
Gartner predicts that by 2027, more than 70% of recent ERP initiatives will not fully achieve their initial business objectives, and up to 25% will fail resoundingly.
Why is project team training crucial when implementing software?
Project team training is crucial because this team will make hundreds of configuration and strategic decisions over several months, and you cannot make good decisions with a tool you don't know. Implementing software changes how people work. The team leading this change must be the first to understand the tool.
Training can take many forms: productivity tools, methodology, project-mode operations, and the software to be implemented. This article focuses on software training, which has the most direct impact on the quality of decisions.
The context justifies it. According to the 2025 ERP Report from Panorama Consulting, less than a third of organizations pay intense attention to organizational change management. Gartner identifies low user adoption and a lack of understanding of organizational change as among the most frequent causes of ERP implementation failure.
When should project team training on the software begin?
Training should begin immediately after the project kickoff meeting because it builds momentum and facilitates the alignment between business needs and available features. Every week of delay is a week of workshops conducted in the dark.
Starting early is beneficial in several ways. Team members become familiar with the technology before they have to make decisions. They then recognize the functions being discussed during workshops. And they spot gaps between what the software does and what the organization needs much faster.
This is one of the concrete deliverables of a successful project kickoff meeting: a training schedule that starts the following week.
Participants often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information received. This is normal, and there is no need to remember everything. The essential thing at the start of a project is to be exposed to the possibilities of the toolkit, not to master every tool.
What type of training does the project team receive, and how does it differ from user training?
The project team receives encyclopedic training that covers all available features, whereas users will receive training targeted to their specific tasks just before go-live. The two training programs have different objectives, timing, and audiences.
User training meets individual needs. Its goal is for each person to maximize the potential of their key role in the processes that concern them. Project team training, however, aims for the big picture: understanding what the software can do in order to decide what it will do.
During these sessions, participants alternate between theory and hands-on exercises in the software. They ask very relevant questions that often go beyond the scope of the features. They actually concern strategic choices that the team will have to decide on during implementation. The best practice is to note them down and answer them back at the project office, not in the training room.
Here are the numerical benchmarks we keep in mind when building a training plan:
- More than 70% of recent ERP initiatives will not fully achieve their objectives by 2027, and up to 25% will fail resoundingly (Gartner).
- Less than a third of organizations pay intense attention to organizational change management (Panorama Consulting, 2025 ERP Report).
- 7 times more likely to achieve objectives for organizations with excellent change management (Prosci).
- 79% vs 27%: the probability of meeting objectives with a highly effective sponsor versus a very ineffective one (Prosci, Best Practices in Change Management, 12th Edition).
- 3 to 5 days of comprehensive training per major functional module for the project team, starting within two weeks of the kickoff (PlanAxion benchmarks).
- 2 to 4 hours of role-based targeted training for users, within the four weeks prior to go-live (PlanAxion benchmarks).
Who should provide project team training?
Training is usually provided by the software vendor or one of their partners, and sometimes by implementation specialists, but experience shows it is best to use professional trainers. Teaching a software package is a distinct skill from configuring one.
The cost of this training is high, but it is worth it. These sessions are powerful accelerators: they provide the team with the knowledge needed to make decisions throughout the project. No one becomes an implementation expert overnight. This mastery is acquired over years and across multiple projects.
Training does not replace this experience; it allows you to work intelligently with those who have it.
This choice aligns with Prosci research, which shows that organizations with excellent change management are seven times more likely to meet their objectives. Training the project team is the first change management action of an implementation, long before user communications.
An untrained project team doesn't make fewer decisions: they make the same ones without understanding them, and then have to redo them six weeks later.
How do you prepare a training plan that fits within the budget and schedule?
A good training plan covers all relevant topics within the project scope, excludes sections of material that are not applicable, and accounts for logistical and budgetary constraints from the start. It should be prepared before the kickoff meeting, not after.
Do not hesitate to cut out modules that are out of scope: training a Canadian team on US payroll because the module is part of the standard catalog is a two-day waste. Also, plan for training environments, practice data, and the actual availability of participants, who are often still juggling half of their regular duties.
Project team training is only one piece of the puzzle. The rest depends on change management that goes beyond a communication plan: a visible sponsor, equipped middle managers, and reinforcement after go-live.
What is the real cost of an untrained project team?
An untrained team costs you weeks of configuration decisions that have to be redone, workshops led without knowing the tool, and ultimately, a solution that just replicates the old system in the new one. Compared to that price, a few days of training per module is the most cost-effective investment in the project.
Frequently asked questions
When should the project team be trained during a software implementation?
Immediately after the kickoff meeting, ideally within the following two weeks. Early training engages the team, familiarizes them with the technology before design workshops, and facilitates the alignment between business needs and software functionality. Waiting until the end of the design phase to train the team is like designing in the dark.
What is the difference between project team training and user training?
Project team training is comprehensive: it covers all functionality to enable informed decisions during implementation. User training is targeted to the tasks of each specific role and is delivered just before go-live. Both are essential, but they have different audiences and different timing.
Who should provide the software training?
L’éditeur ou l’un de ses partenaires donne habituellement la formation, et des spécialistes en implantation le font parfois. L’expérience de PlanAxion montre qu’il est préférable de recourir à des experts en formation, dont c’est le métier. Configurer un progiciel et l’enseigner sont deux compétences différentes, et la seconde est plus rare qu’on le croit.
Pourquoi la gestion du changement compte-t-elle autant dans une implantation ERP ?
Parce que les échecs viennent rarement de la technologie. Gartner prévoit que plus de 70 % des initiatives ERP récentes n’atteindront pas pleinement leurs objectifs d’ici 2027, et cite la faible adoption comme cause fréquente. Panorama Consulting note que moins du tiers des organisations y consacrent une attention intense. Former l’équipe en est la première étape.
- Gartner, Enterprise Resource Planning Insights: prediction that more than 70% of recently implemented ERP initiatives will fail to fully meet their goals by 2027, as many as 25% failing catastrophically, low end-user adoption as a failure cause.
- Panorama Consulting Group, The 2025 ERP Report: less than a third of organizations report an intense focus on organizational change management.
- Prosci, Compare Change Management Methodologies: organizations with excellent change management are seven times more likely to achieve their objectives.
- Prosci, Best Practices in Change Management (12th edition): 79% likelihood of meeting objectives with an extremely effective sponsor versus 27% with an extremely ineffective one.