A first live loop (receive, putaway, pick, ship) is often months, not a weekend cutover. Master data and device rollout sit on the critical path.
Bins must exist, labels must print, people must trust the scan. You can code screens faster than you can freeze location masters. Plan the data work as real work.
Model locations and items. Pilot receive and putaway on one zone. Add pick and ship. Count against the same ledger. Then open more zones. Big-bang Saturday cuts are how plants run two truths for a quarter.
PDA hardware, wireless coverage and a practice week belong on the plan. An engineer demo on office Wi-Fi is not a floor trial.
If finance issues a test book in three weeks, adding developers does not move that date. Write the interface wait into the timeline the same way we do on software projects.
A single building with a frozen location model and a willing ERP owner can be shorter. Multi-building networks with dirty codes take longer. We estimate after the walk, not from a slogan.
A short parallel is normal. An endless parallel is two warehouses. Set a date when the WMS becomes the aisle of record.
Master data, device coverage and the counterparty interface. Rarely the color of a button.
We will not promise a weekend cutover. Send layout and masters-readiness to /en/contact/.