Implementation Project: ERP | Summary 

Project Overview

Customer: General Contractor
Role: Customer Onboarding / Implementation Manager
Systems: Raken + ComputerEase
Project: High-ARR, high-risk implementation

The customer was implementing Raken for daily reporting, equipment tracking, timekeeping, and production tracking. Because they used ComputerEase for payroll, job costing, and customer billing, getting the integration right was critical.

There was also some history to account for. They had recently gone through a difficult integration with a competing platform where communication broke down and the implementation didn't live up to expectations.

So from the beginning, I knew execution and transparency were going to matter just as much as the technology.

The Challenge

During my initial discovery with the company's leadership and head-office executive, I learned that their ComputerEase environment had a fairly complex cost-code structure.

They didn't want every cost code flowing into Raken. They needed specific codes filtered and organized around how they tracked production.

I flagged this as a potential risk early and prioritized the integration so we could uncover any issues while there was still room in the implementation schedule to address them.

The initial setup went smoothly.

Then we hit the problem.

When I brought the customer's cost-code requirements to our integration and engineering teams, we discovered that the existing filtering behavior wasn't going to work the way the customer needed it to. It was also a use case we hadn't previously tested.

At that point, the integration became a potential threat to the customer's go-live timeline.

What I Did

I worked directly with our integration and engineering teams to understand what was happening, what the customer actually needed, and what would have to change.

I also advocated for the issue to be prioritized based on the customer's implementation timeline.

Engineering estimated that the permanent fix would take about a week.

Rather than putting the entire implementation on hold, I kept the other work moving. Employee and project setup, user invitations, and field and office training continued while the integration issue was being addressed.

I also built a temporary workaround.

I created an Excel macro that could take an exported Raken time card, translate the Raken cost codes into the corresponding ComputerEase codes, and give the customer a reference for the remaining exceptions.

That meant the customer could continue moving forward instead of waiting a week for the permanent fix.

Managing the Customer Relationship

I didn't want the customer to find out about the issue indirectly or at the last minute, especially given their previous experience.

I scheduled a Zoom call with their leadership team and explained exactly what we'd found, what Engineering was doing, how long we expected it to take, and what they could continue doing in the meantime.

I was transparent about the problem, but I also came to the conversation with a plan.

That distinction mattered.

The team was appreciative of the communication and the fact that we had a path forward rather than simply telling them there was a delay.

Outcome

About a week later, Engineering delivered the integration fix.

I completed the remaining configuration, validated the integration, and moved the customer directly into the adoption phase.

The customer went live on schedule and successfully adopted the new daily reporting, timekeeping, and production workflows.

The impact

50 Projects and over 200 Employees
Supported through the integration process

2+ weeks of potential Delay Mitigated
Processing turnaround. Avoided implementation delay. 

375 hours+
Manual work eliminated per pay cycle

On schedule
Customer go-live

What This Project Shows

This project required more than getting an integration configured.

I had to identify a technical risk early, keep a high-value customer informed, coordinate with Engineering around an unexpected product limitation, protect the implementation schedule, and create a practical workaround while the permanent solution was being built.

The biggest takeaway for me was simple: when a project hits a problem, people don't necessarily expect everything to go perfectly. They do expect you to know what's happening, communicate it clearly, and have a plan for what comes next.