2. Implementation Checklist
Project Mission
The project mission drives success. Transformational Implementation Projects
make up the lion’s share of success stories. The transformation of your
organization is an inside job.
Contract
Implementation begins before the contract is signed.
Implementation Team(s)
Both the vendor and the practitioner should have at least one Implementation
Team.
Management Involvement
Every successful Implementation Project has some level of management
support. It ranges from a passive reporting relationship to hands on day to day
involvement.
Implementation Project
This includes configuring, customizing, installing, testing, modifying, and updating
the software. When the project is Transformative it also includes other elements
of workflow modification and organization redesign.
3. Implementation Checklist, Cont.
Training
Once the software is in place, the primary interaction between the
Implementation Teams and the community of users (practitioners, their managers
and company employees) is instruction (to varying degrees) in the use and
maintenance of the system.
The Inevitable Disaster
Most successful Implementations go through a period when the project goes
awry. A significant subset, about 32%, don’t have major problems, but 68% do.
So, smart planning should include how to deal with likely delays and problems.
Acceptance (Sign Off)
In theory, Implementation is complete when the requirements of the vendor’s
contract have been met.
User Satisfaction
There is a bit of disconnect between software buyers and their management.
Both users and executives see User Satisfaction as a better indicator of project
completion. There is generally a lag between the Acceptance and optimal system
performance.
