Arun Kakru spoke about his experience of implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project, Project Kiran, across all the projects sites of the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) that constructs and operates large hydel power projects.

Kakru spoke about the challenges his team faced in managing a project that involved 53 different locations, many of which are in remote locations. “Sticking to the project schedule and cost proved to be a challenge due to the geographical locations of the project sites,” said Kakru. Some of the sites are in mountainous areas, at high altitudes, or on river banks. The other big challenge was to manage a team of around 12,000 people.

IFS planned and executed the project by following PMI’s project management principles. Instead of a single deployment, the company conducted several roll-outs. It was able to replicate a roll-out for other locations, thus minimizing time and effort. The company adopted a centralized approach and change management for the successful delivery of the mega project.

ARUN KAKRU,
senior program manager, IFS India