Dewey Finn turns a class of rule-following prep-school kids into a band that believes in what it is doing. It is a film about music, and one of the best guides to change management you will find. Six lines from School of Rock, and what each one says about moving a business onto Business Central.
In School of Rock, Jack Black's Dewey Finn takes a class of buttoned-up prep-school kids and turns them into a band that believes in what it's doing. It's a film about music, but it's also one of the best guides to change management you'll find. Moving a business onto Business Central is exactly that kind of change, and Dewey's lines map onto it surprisingly well.
When Dewey walks into that classroom, the kids follow the rules, do what they're told and have never been asked what they think. By the end, they own the show. That's the same journey every ERP migration or implementation has to take people on.
A new ERP system isn't really a technology project. It's a change in how people work every day. The software can be configured perfectly and still fail if nobody wants to use it. What makes it succeed is the same thing that makes Dewey's band work: a common enemy to rally against, a role for everyone, real rehearsal before the big night and a shared commitment to the show.
In a migration, the Man is the old system and all its workarounds: the month-end spreadsheet only one person can run, the double-keying, the reports that take a day to pull together. People rarely rally behind a new system, but they will happily rally against the pain of the old one. Name the Man, and give people a reason to rebel against it.
A migration lives or dies on its key users. You need people who are committed to the project, not people who just turn up to meetings. Pick super users in each department, involve them early in design and testing, and let them shape the system. People defend what they helped build.
The way Dewey runs the class might be the best analogy of all. He doesn't just pick the musicians. He gives every kid a role, including band manager, security, roadies, lighting and costumes. Everyone owns a piece of the show.
That's exactly how you should staff a migration. You need a project lead to keep the band together, data owners responsible for their records, testers who run real scenarios, super users who champion the system and report champions who make sure the outputs people rely on are there on day one. When people feel they're part of the band and not just the audience, adoption follows.
Dewey gets this one wrong, and so do a lot of migrations. Training shouldn't come from people who've only read the manual. The best teachers are the super users who have rehearsed with real data and real scenarios. Let those who can do, teach, and schedule training close to go-live so it's still fresh.
Business Central should serve the business, not the other way round. Build role centres, reports and workflows around what each team actually does every day. If month-end depends on a report and it isn't there at go-live, expect a revolt.
One well-run go-live really can change how the whole business works: faster closes, numbers people trust and far fewer workarounds. So set the cutover date, make the old system read-only and give the band the stage.
Rock on.
The serious version: change management in Business Central implementations, super users, the right project team and the go-live weekend, hour by hour.
