Once the Human Resources Capital Management software has been selected, there are numerous stages the project has to pass through before going live with the software.
Depending on the size and duration of the project, it is recommended that a leader from a functional side and a technical side of the organization be selected. The role of these individuals is to plan, organize and assign work, develop a project team, estimate numbers of hours for task completion, track status, manage project funds, and more. By selecting a leader from both the functional and technical side, the two individuals are better equipped to effectively work together to cover all areas which may have an impact on the project.
Project managers also serve a more proactive role for the entire project team. They can help disseminate information to all who will be impacted by the new system, as well as engaging management in helping remove obstacles, put closure to outstanding decisions and support change.
Who will be selected to be the decision-makers for your project? There will be plenty of decisions that will need to be made, and often, these decisions may have to be made within a 24 to 48 hour period. Will Project Managers be empowered with the authority to make all decisions? This is probably unlikely, particularly if it involves changing company policies. Typically, a Steering Committee that is comprised of key stakeholders will meet with Project Leaders on a regular basis to assist in removing obstacles and make decisions which may have an impact not only on implementation schedules and deliverables, but the entire organization.
Putting together a quality team is essential. During the selection process, it is important to try and obtain the appropriate resources from both the functional and technical areas. The functional team members will know the organizations processes and procedures by job function and can determine whether or not policy or procedural changes need to take place. The Project Team members will work directly with sub-team members as well as others to help define system requirements; review proposed designs; and help build tables which will drive the system.
Technical team members will be key in working with the functional members to pull together any program system requirements. They will serve as valuable resources in knowledge of the legacy system’s programs and functions. They will also be involved in overall infrastructures such as networking between locations, setting up workstations, etc.
Before embarking on a new system implementation, it should be established whether or not the organization will require the assistance of outside consultants. If the organization has never gone (or has not done so recently) through a major software implementation, then strong consideration should be given to obtaining outside help. If the skill sets necessary are not available in-house, then outside consultants should be used to complement your current team’s skill sets. Again, this decision should be made prior to commencing the implementation process, since costs associated with utilizing outside consultants need to be included in the project budget.
If the decision is made to hire an outside consultant, then the company should spend the time needed with them to ensure they have an understanding of how the organization operates, makes decisions, handles changes, etc. It is also important for the consultant to understand the culture of the organization. This will help them gain a better understanding of what the expectations are, how they should approach the project and how flexible they will need to be.
There are many things to consider when determining the skill sets of the team for your implementation and the decision of who should be on the team needs to be carefully considered.