Faster System Implementations Mean Faster Benefits
"If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that! "
The Red Queen.
In Through the Looking Glass, Alice gets schooled by the Red Queen in an important life lesson that many of us fail to heed. Alice finds herself running faster and faster but staying in the same place. Alice comments that in her country “you’d generally get to somewhere else — if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.” To which the Queen says: “A slow sort of country! Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”
Rapid Deployment and Lean Methodologies in application development are not new. These methodologies employ iterative cycles of designing, building and testing activities to quickly validate requirements and address solution development issues. In this way, defects are quickly fixed and rework is reduced. These methodologies also reduce solution cost by avoiding scope creep that invariably comes from long development cycles. By involving users during solution reviews and testing, end user training and organizational change management goes smoother after solution deployment. Even though these methodologies are not new, using them in large ERP system implementations is not widespread for several reasons. These methodologies are more common with Agile software development, whereas the traditional ‘waterfall’ approaches are more common with systems implementations.
Rapid Deployment methodologies rely on a strong partnership between project sponsors, business process owners and the project team (generally a combination of IT and contract resources). This makes planning and preparation critical to the success of such projects. Rapid deployment/ lean approaches depend on breaking down the work into pieces that can be designed, built and tested in parallel. This requires a thorough understanding of business processes, business requirements, as well as deep functional understanding of the ERP application during the planning phase of the project. These pieces of the project can be defined as Work Packages or Work Breakdown Structures (WBS). Applying Agile project management principles to large projects, these Work Packages can be planned around Rapid Learning Cycles. These emphasize the fact that the business needs to be involved through solution design, development and testing to ensure the highest quality of the end product. Most importantly for the business, these deployment cycles will bring solution benefits sooner than with traditional project implementations.
The project planning and preparation phase of these projects is therefore crucial in getting a rapid deployment project executed correctly. This approach also requires early availability of system infrastructure for development and for testing and quality assurance; and so the system technical requirements need to be defined before solution development begins. Each of the Work Packages will then be developed and technically tested fairly quickly, allowing users to ‘kick the tires’ during User Acceptance Testing before deployment. Most issues should be caught before the solution is deployed, allowing the business to achieve projected benefits quicker. This also supports early knowledge transfer and therefore reduces training efforts around solution go-live.
Key benefits of faster solution implementations using Rapid Learning Cycles:
Building on what you know to drive benefits from existing investments. “Sweat your existing assets” as you enhance and possibly replace them with newer technologies.
Stay focused on meeting critical business requirements throughout the development, testing and deployment phases will result in less scope creep and more cost-effective implementations.
Reduced rework through quick design-to-test cycles.
Learning cycles built into development means faster knowledge transfer to users empowering the business to more quickly drive value in how they use new solutions.
Controlled scope means simpler project plans and lower overhead. Project performance is driven by clearly articulated solution milestones that are tied to meeting business requirements.
Selecting the right partner for these types of implementations is critical to driving success. We have a track record of working with companies to drive real business benefit from systems implementations. We bring an approach that is focused on driving business value using technology and have the tools and people to help you from project initiation to project close.
Ready to get started or need help with an ongoing implementation project? We can help.