This is another post in our series on Strategies for Successful Project Management Software Implementations. The following were previous posts in this series:
Tackling Project Management Skills
Project Management Skills and Project Management Software
Implementing Project Management Software: Common Strategies
Now let's talk about planning. That seems on the surface like an overly simple idea, but let's dig a little deeper.
There are a lot of organizations that do not plan, or do not properly plan their project management software implementations. A few posts back we talked about the "If we provide it, they will come" strategy and the "We can wing it" strategy. Project management software can be a strategic asset, but not if it is not properly planned and implemented.
How should an implementation be planned? For starters, you should implement basic project management principles. I suppose that would make sense, wouldn't it - using project management to implement project management software?
For example, start by properly initiating the project. Do you have proper buy-in? What are the expectations / success criteria? What are the goals and objectives? Why are you doing this and what do you need to accomplish strategically as an organization? Your objective could be reducing the amount of time that people in the organization spend on managing projects, tracking down information, or generating reports. It could be centralizing information so that decisions can be made more quickly and with up-to-date accurate information. It could be to stop projects and tasks from slipping through the cracks and thus improving service to customers. Or it could be a number of other things. Regardless, it's important that the objective is clear and the project is properly initiated.
Proper planning also means spending the time to determine the breakdown of the work that will need to be done, assign people to that work, and schedule it. Some of this will depend on the type of project management software you are implementing. If you are implementing a high-end tool, this could be quite involved. If you are implementing a low-end tool, not nearly as much (see Project Management Software Categories). At a minimum, here are some things to consider as part of your implementation plan and schedule:
- Initiation: this is the process of documenting organizational objectives and success criteria as described above.
- Technical Implementation: this is the process of getting the software installed or setup by the vendor so that it is available for use.
- Process Setup: this is the process of setting up the software to match your business needs and processes. This could include items such as setting up fields, forms, views, reports, and other settings.
- Initial Training: this is your foundational training, giving your users the initial foundation they need to begin using the software.
- Refresher Training: this is training that occurs after the foundational training, and after users have had a chance to use the system for a while. It does not have to be extensive, but it is a chance to solidify knowledge and obtain feedback.
- Review: this is the process of reviewing the implementation to date and determining what needs to change or be addressed to be sure that you are meeting your objectives.
That is basic sample. You may want to take it in phases: start with a pilot group, then implement with other groups. You may want to keep things real simple at first and phase in more advanced processes and capabilities.
Whatever your approach, the benefit is that you know where you are going, and you can always analyze your status from the perspective of your primary objectives.
That sounds simple but it often times is not done.
You need to sit down and properly plan your implementation out like you would with any other project. That is essential to make sure that you get real value out of the implementation. Otherwise, the software is just another tool that is underutilized and may eventually go away, not because it may not be good software but because it wasn't implemented correctly.
When planned out properly, the software becomes a strategic asset that fits nicely with your processes to give your organization a competitive edge.
So my question to you is...what stories do you have about project management software implementations planned well or perhaps not planned at all?