One of the most consistent factors separating smooth ERP implementations from difficult ones is data readiness. The system cannot be configured well if the data going into it is not in good shape. The good news is that most of the preparation work is straightforward. It just needs to happen before implementation begins, not during it.

Here is what to focus on.

Clean Up Your Customer and Vendor Records

Your accounting software likely has years of customer and vendor records in it, some current and some not. Before migrating to DELMIAWorks, run a full audit of both lists.

Remove or archive customers you have not done business with in the past two to three years. Consolidate duplicate records. Verify that contact information, payment terms, and shipping addresses are current. For your most active customers, confirm that any special pricing arrangements, quality requirements, or documentation obligations are documented somewhere so they can be properly configured in DELMIAWorks.

The same process applies to vendor records. Verify current lead times, minimum order quantities, and preferred contacts. Flag any vendors with quality holds or performance issues so that history carries forward.

Starting with clean, current master data means your team is not spending the first months on DELMIAWorks untangling record problems that came over in the migration.

Reconcile Your Inventory Before Migration Day

Inventory data that is inaccurate in your accounting system will be inaccurate in DELMIAWorks. Migration does not clean it up.

Schedule a physical inventory count as close to your migration date as practical. This is not the time for a cycle count sample. You want a full count that you can reconcile against your system records before the migration happens. Any discrepancies need to be resolved in your current system first.

For each item, confirm the unit of measure is consistent and correct. Confirm that the item description is clean and recognizable to your team. Confirm that cost data reflects current actual costs rather than outdated standard costs that have not been updated in years.

Clean inventory at go-live means your production team, purchasing team, and finance team are all working from numbers they can trust from day one.

Document Your Bills of Materials and Routings

If your manufacturing process lives largely in the knowledge of experienced operators and supervisors rather than in documented bills of materials and routings, address this before implementation begins. DELMIAWorks is configured around your BOM and routing structure. If that structure is incomplete or undocumented, the configuration work gets harder and the system will not reflect how your operation actually runs.

Work through your active product lines and document the following for each:

Bill of Materials: Every component, the quantity required per finished unit, and the unit of measure. Flag any substitutions your team uses when primary materials are unavailable.

Routing: Each operation in sequence, the work center where it runs, the standard setup time, and the standard run time per piece. If cycle times vary by operator or machine condition, document the range.

Scrap and yield factors: If your process consistently generates scrap at specific operations, document the expected rate. DELMIAWorks uses this data for accurate material planning and job costing.

This documentation work is valuable regardless of whether you are implementing DELMIAWorks. It makes your operation less dependent on individual knowledge and more resilient when team members change. Implementation just creates the deadline that gets it done.

Establish a Clean Chart of Accounts

Your chart of accounts will migrate into DELMIAWorks’s financial management module. Before migration, review it with your accountant or controller and simplify where possible.

Remove accounts that have not had activity in several years. Consolidate accounts that were created for one-off situations and no longer reflect your operating structure. Make sure your cost center and department structure reflects how you actually want to report manufacturing costs going forward, not how your accounting system was set up five years ago.

DELMIAWorks connects financial data directly to production. This is the right moment to ensure your chart of accounts is structured to give you the job cost visibility and departmental reporting your operation actually needs.

Define Your Opening Balances and Open Transactions

Before go-live, your implementation team will need a clear picture of open transactions in your current system: open customer orders, open purchase orders, open work orders, and accounts receivable and payable balances.

Document these carefully and establish a cutover date. Transactions that are still open on that date need to be entered into DELMIAWorks as part of the go-live process. The cleaner your documentation of what is open and what the balances are, the smoother that process goes.

Start the Work Before Implementation Begins

The single most effective thing a manufacturer can do to improve their implementation outcome is to start this preparation work before the implementation project kicks off rather than during it. When data cleanup and documentation happen in parallel with system configuration, both efforts suffer. When they happen in sequence, each one gets the attention it deserves.

DR Software Services works with manufacturers to assess data readiness as part of our pre-implementation process. If you are planning a transition to DELMIAWorks and want to understand exactly what preparation your data needs, reach out at info@drsoftwareservices.com or visit drsoftwareservices.com/our-services.