Maximize Your Investment: 10 Key Strategies for Effective Packaged Software Implementations
()
About this ebook
Related to Maximize Your Investment
Related ebooks
Integrated Business Planning A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCIO Secrets For Growing Innovation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManaging Your CIO Career: Steps That CIOs Have To Take In Order To Have A Long And Successful Career Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemystifying Program Management: The ABCs of Program Management Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwenty-Five Strategies for Organizational Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIT Operating Model A Complete Guide - 2021 Edition Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Successful Project Management in the Digital Age: Learn simple steps to succeed within a day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ultimate Guide to Unlocking the Full Potential of Cloud Services: Tips, Recommendations, and Strategies for Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSolving the Technology Challenge for IT Managers: Technologies That IT Managers Can Use In Order to Make Their Teams More Productive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value With Information Technology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Business Process Outsourcing: Process, Strategies, and Contracts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApplication Performance Monitoring (APM) Standard Requirements Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProject management by numbers: simple- clear-short-fast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsService Providers: ASPs, ISPs, MSPs, and WSPs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInfrastructure And Operations Automation A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Agile Architecture Revolution: How Cloud Computing, REST-Based SOA, and Mobile Computing Are Changing Enterprise IT Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoogle Cloud Dataproc The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIT Operating Model Complete Self-Assessment Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCIO Survival Guide: The Roles and Responsibilities of the Chief Information Officer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat CIOs Need To Know In Order To Successfully Manage An IT Department Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnterprise Architecture Metrics A Clear and Concise Reference Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Business Of Being A CIO: How CIOs Can Use Their Technical Skills To Help Their Company Solve Real-World Business Problems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShared services Standard Requirements Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnterprise Architecture EA A Complete Guide - 2019 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgile Release Management Unlocking Value For Scrum & Kanban Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Top of the Cloud: How CIOs Leverage New Technologies to Drive Change and Build Value Across the Enterprise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRethinking IT Outsourcing: The New IT Offshoring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStrategic Business Unit A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManaging IT as a Business: A Survival Guide for CEOs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Information Technology For You
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise Through Dramatic Change Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Super-Intelligence From Nick Bostrom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Data Analytics for Beginners: Introduction to Data Analytics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Ultimate Guide to Kali Linux for Beginners Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Creating Online Courses with ChatGPT | A Step-by-Step Guide with Prompt Templates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write Effective Emails at Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5CompTia Security 701: Fundamentals of Security Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompTIA A+ CertMike: Prepare. Practice. Pass the Test! Get Certified!: Core 1 Exam 220-1101 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSupercommunicator: Explaining the Complicated So Anyone Can Understand Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Practical Ethical Hacking from Scratch Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Find a Wolf in Siberia (or, How to Troubleshoot Almost Anything) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCybersecurity for Beginners : Learn the Fundamentals of Cybersecurity in an Easy, Step-by-Step Guide: 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHealth Informatics: Practical Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLinux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/520 Windows Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Raspberry Pi :Raspberry Pi Guide On Python & Projects Programming In Easy Steps Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Microsoft Access for Beginners and Intermediates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: Study Guide with Practice Questions and Labs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Getting started with Audacity 1.3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5ChatGPT: The Future of Intelligent Conversation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5WordPress Plugin Development: Beginner's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompTIA Network+ CertMike: Prepare. Practice. Pass the Test! Get Certified!: Exam N10-008 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsData Governance For Dummies Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5CompTIA ITF+ CertMike: Prepare. Practice. Pass the Test! Get Certified!: Exam FC0-U61 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoogle SketchUp for Game Design: Beginner's Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Maximize Your Investment
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Maximize Your Investment - Grady Brett Beaubouef
Table of Contents
Maximize Your Investment: 10 Key Strategies for Effective Packaged Software Implementations
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
Preface
Vision of the future
Purpose of this book
Out of scope for this book
What this book covers
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. The Silo Approach is Alive and Well
Why do we need to change?
Robbins-Gioia Survey
Conference Board Survey
Business solution defined
What is the most important component of a business solution?
What is wrong with existing packaged software implementations?
IT does not matter? Think again!
Is technology changing Business?
Ten principles for implementing a business solution
Principle #1 for implementing a business solution
Principle #2 for implementing a business solution
Principle #3 for implementing a business solution
Principle #4 for implementing a business solution
Principle #5 for implementing a business solution
Battle of camps
Soap box — Bashing methodologies
Customer-specific implementation
Principle #6 for implementing a business solution
Principle #7 for implementing a business solution
Principle #8 for implementing a business solution
Principle #9 for implementing a business solution
Observations
Principle #10 for implementing a business solution
Summary
References
2. Focus on Business Results
Challenging today's mindset
We focus only on what we measure
Project scope fixates on software features
Focus on key drivers for business results
What results generate business value?
How to focus on business results during an implementation
Conduct business training
Implementation documentation should be Business-oriented
Use value-added Business results to filter requirements
Project objectives should address business results
Summary
References
3. Invest in Your Implementation Partners
Making the investment
Document existing business processes
Enterprise modeling approach
Build trust in the implementation partner
Educate the implementation partner on the existing business solution
Complete packaged software implementation questionnaires
Conduct project orientation with the implementation partner
Complete packaged software training before the implementation partner's arrival
What to expect from your implementation partner
Predefined business process models
Detailed Business process maps
Packaged software implementation questionnaires
Certified business solution experts
Summary
References
4. Enable the Customer to Lead During the Implementation
Enabling the customer to lead is a process
Educate
Best Practice: Knowledge transfer plan
Enable
Empower
Celebrate
Enablement requires different leadership styles
Implications for implementation partners
Summary
References
5. Perform Business Solution Modeling
Defining prototyping and business solution modeling
Prototyping
Business solution modeling
Conducting Business solution modeling
Recommendations for conducting Business solution modeling
Customer's knowledge of existing business activities
Use real customer data during modeling
Best practice: Number of iterations for business solution modelling
Core Business practices — consistency
Have multiple disciplines represented
Value proposition for Business solution modeling
Provides a working proof of concept
Validates software configuration
Creates a baseline model for impact analysis
Enables business solution training
Identifies challenges early
Facilitates and promotes customer interaction and quick decision-making
Challenges with business solution modeling
Won't Business solution modelling slow me down? Is it worth the cost?
Summary
Reference
6. Determining the Correct Implementation Approach
Who is the leader — Business or IT?
Solution-based approach
Business solution component: People
Business solution component: Business processes
Business solution component: Technology
Disciplines used in a Business solution implementation
Project management
Software development
Hybrid implementation approach
Organizational change management
Business process management and Quality management
Selecting the correct methodology
Factor: Size of the implementation
Factor: Personnel capabilities
Factor: Risk
Factor: Business-IT relationship and culture
Business model dynamics
Factor: Guiding principles for a methodology
Applying methodologies for COTS implementations
Integrating methodologies
Project management
Silo versus holistic focus
Project control
Risk versus reward
Balanced project leadership between Business and IT
Software development
Sequential development versus business process development
Tailoring software development for COTS
Organizational change management
Defining the current business model the and future business model
Organizational requirements
Field readiness plan
Deployment strategy
Advantages and disadvantages of COTS deployment strategies
Global considerations
Summary
References
7. Implement to the Current Business Maturity Level
Features and capabilities
Software design tools
To customize or not to customize
Challenge with technology-driven change
Understanding Business solution maturity
Business process performance within a maturity level
Illustration for a Professional Services Organization
Defining the evolutionary path of a business solution
Three broad categories of business processes
Revenue generating
Revenue supporting
Regulatory and compliance
Best Practice — Implement to the current maturity level
Minimize evolving business requirements
Minimize organizational change
Maximize opportunity for rapid delivery
Summary
Reference
8. Minimizing Customizations and Maximizing Enhancements
Requirements-driven strategy
Solution-driven strategy
Configuration-driven strategy
Requirements management revisited
Gathering requirements
Analyzing requirements
Validating requirements
Selecting requirements
Value-added requirements management
Iteration #1 — listen to the customer
Iteration #2 — Lead the customer
Iteration #3 — Confirm with the customer
Challenging business requirements
Customizations versus enhancements
What are customizations?
What are enhancements?
Challenges and risks with valued-added requirements management
Summary
9. Negotiate for Success
Trickle down acceptance falls short
Developing an effective negotiation strategy
Paradigm shift in business software expectations
Paradigm shift in organizational acceptance
Understand when and where to negotiate
Utilize your packaged software provider
Ensuring successful negotiations
Building momentum
Marketing your solution
Summary
References
10. Have a Business Solution Architect
Perspectives of a Business solution
Who is covering business processes?
Solution - Business Solution Architect
Responsibilities
Qualifications
Best practices for identifying conflicts
Identify functional boundaries
Identify packaged software dependencies and shared components
Perform a business process-oriented review of requirements and software configuration
Validate conflicts
Assign work in a process-oriented fashion
Summary
11. Accelerate Decisions by Generating More Knowledge and Less Information
Traditional information gathering approach
Information versus knowledge
Decision-oriented information gathering
Implementation scope defines the decisions
Best practices influence the decisions
Effective knowledge generation
Gather information
Review information (evaluate)
Refining information (enrich)
Relate information (context)
Enabling decision makers
Project on-boarding
Maximize interactions with the project team
Summary
12. Changing the Game
Traditional approaches fall short
Understanding packaged software advantages and challenges
Maximize the advantages of packaged software
Drive standardization
Greater focus on strategic activities
Potential for rapid deployment
Shared IT development costs
Simplify the IT footprint
Minimize challenges with packaged software
Organizational change impact
Perception of setbacks
Discipline to maximize COTS investment
Different implementation approach
Change the game by changing strategy
Summary
References
A. Summary of Challenges
Index
Maximize Your Investment: 10 Key Strategies for Effective Packaged Software Implementations
Grady Brett Beaubouef
Maximize Your Investment: 10 Key Strategies for Effective Packaged Software Implementations
Copyright © 2009 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: December 2009
Production Reference: 1091209
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. 32 Lincoln Road Olton Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.
ISBN 978-1-849680-02-8
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Tina Negus (<[email protected]> )
Credits
Author
Grady Brett Beaubouef, PMP
Reviewers
Bob Cutler, PMP
Charles J. Miller, PMP
Chris Papesh
Acquisition Editor
James Lumsden
Development Editor
Amey Kanse
Technical Editor
Ajay Shanker
Indexers
Hemangini Bari
Monica Ajmera
Editorial Team Leader
Akshara Aware
Project Team Leader
Priya Mukherji
Project Coordinator
Leena Purkait
Proofreader
Dirk Manuel
Graphics
Nilesh R. Mohite
Production Coordinator
Adline Swetha Jesuthas
Cover Work
Adline Swetha Jesuthas
About the Author
Grady Brett Beaubouef, PMP is a project manager and solution architect for enterprise packaged software solutions. Brett has over fifteen years of packaged software implementation experience across several implementation roles including Project Manager, Solution Architect, Functional Lead, Technical Lead, Business Analyst, Software Quality Analyst, and Trainer. Brett also worked in a thought leadership role for the #1 business software maker, focusing on implementation methodologies, project assessments, and accelerated implementation services. Brett has a B.S. in Computer Science from LSU and is both a Project Manager Professional (2004) and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (1995).
Acknowledgement
My Customers
I have been blessed to work with many outstanding customers on their packaged software implementations. A special thank you to those of you who made an investment in me to help me better understand your business, and who taught me how to be a better consultant/partner.
My Colleagues
I have had the great fortune to work with many outstanding people who have shared their experience with me, guided me, and supported me during my great adventure in writing this book. A special thanks to Bob Cutler, Charles Miller, and Chris Papesh for their expert insight and feedback. Thank you to Sheila Cepero for helping me find the right publisher.
My Publisher
I would like to say that I am a mature, polished author and it was easy to work with me — but that is not quite true. I would like to say thank you to Packt Publishing for their patience, understanding, and guidance as I took my first dive into publishing. Thank you James, Priya, Leena, Amey, and Ajay for your partnership!
My Family
My greatest achievement! To Lisa, my wife who loves me and is my best friend. To Samantha my daughter — never be afraid to lead with your heart!
My God
To God for giving me the ability, Jesus for giving me the passion and His Spirit for giving me the encouragement to continue with this book in spite of my limitations.
About the Reviewers
Bob Cutler, PMP has over twenty five years of project management experience in both the private and public sectors. He has lectured internationally on project management and is a contributor to the Project Management Body of Knowledge on the topics of time management and cost management. He has successfully managed multi-million dollar Information Technology projects in California for several large public agencies. All of those projects were completed on schedule and within budget.
One of Bob's specialties is project remediation. He has successfully turned around failing projects for multiple clients on two continents. His process involves focusing on the project's goals, instilling trust, and restoring morale. Client satisfaction ratings at the end of those projects have always been excellent.
Bob has been involved with national and global project management offices for two multinational corporations. On those engagements, he was responsible for identifying and/or developing tools and best practices for project managers across the organization. He has also delivered advanced training on scheduling, quality, and risk management, and was a key contributor to the development and modernization of his clients' project management methodologies.
Charles J. Miller, PMP is a Certified Project Management Professional with over ten years experience in managing high-performing teams in the computer manufacturing, software, and telecommunications industries. He has spent most of his career on large-scale Oracle ERP implementations, but has also been a leader of software and web development teams, financial process improvement initiatives, and general technology implementation projects. Charles lives in Denver, CO and currently works as a Professional Services Consultant for a Software-as-a-Service company that provides channel sales solutions to global technology manufacturers.
Chris Papesh serves as CEO of Open Healthcare Analytics, leading the design and implementation of open source data warehousing software for healthcare providers. He has over twenty years of experience in all phases of the design, development, implementation, and project management of computer business systems. Chris has been a leader in the Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Data Warehousing communities. Chris served as Technology Director for PeopleSoft Corporation and Oracle Corporation, and has led national Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing consulting practices. Chris served as an Assistant Vice President for Carnegie Mellon University and Director of Financial Services for the University of California, and has spent more than 10 years as a part-time university instructor.
I wish to thank Brett for his thoughtful analysis and case histories, and stories of real teams in action implementing complex enterprise software.
Preface
Starting back in the 1980s, Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) or packaged software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications were deemed to be the panacea to business pains caused by operational inefficiencies and disjointed applications. This resulted in an exponential growth in the ERP marketplace. To quickly meet this demand, ERP vendors and implementation partners used existing Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies like Waterfall as the de facto implementation approach for ERP. This quick-fix decision resulted in an approach that was not effective for packaged software implementations, and that caused several issues. These included:
Unnecessary requirements being captured (i.e., requirements gathered based upon limitations of existing systems).
Requirements validation happening late in the implementation cycle.
Highly-customized solutions that left customers with the same or even more challenges.
Unrealized business results and benefits because the implementation focused only on the software.
In my fifteen years of implementation experience, I have been fortunate to play the roles of Information Technology (IT) auditor, functional consultant, technical analyst, programmer, Data Base Administrator (DBA), business analyst, solution architect, and project manager. Through my experiences, I have formed the following observations:
Customers are more concerned with implementing successful business solutions, not just installing software products and technologies.
Leading implementation methodologies are not focused on all of the components of a business solution. These components must work in unison in order to generate business value.
Every business solution implementation is a point-in-time
solution.
Flexibility in a business solution starts with a flexible implementation approach.
Over the past two decades, the ERP industry has made incremental improvements in the implementation of enterprise business software — specifically, in the areas of implementation tools like industry-specific preconfigurations, online software product setup assistants, and data conversion tools. These improvements provided value from an efficiency perspective, however, there was little accomplished to address how to make ERP implementations more effective at delivering business value.
The strategic value of purchasing ERP — or any — packaged software is to reduce the customer's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for their existing business system, as well as allowing the customer to focus on more strategic objectives. The customer would pay some type of maintenance fee to the software vendor, who would then provide support and upgrades. In theory, this approach seems mutually beneficial to all players. However, the reality is that packaged software customers have not been able to experience the lower TCO due to the following:
Initial implementations are taking longer and cost more than originally planned.
Software upgrades are more costly because implementation approaches focus on turn-key, point-in-time business systems, and not on putting the customer in the best position to leverage future COTS software upgrades.
Customers were never given the complete holistic approach needed to optimize their new enterprise business solution.
If you think I'm only speaking of software, then I suspect that you are one of the many people who believe that ERP has been a tremendous disappointment.
Vision of the future
To get to a point where we can get customers to experience the full benefit of their ERP investment, we must EVOLVE our way of thinking on ERP implementations — or any packaged software implementation. The ideal COTS software implementation approach would focus on maximizing the out of the box
value that packaged software can provide to a customer. The implementation approach would naturally filter out requirements that did not provide quantifiable business value, and keep the focus on the customer's value-added strategic requirements. There would be no need for post-production support provided by implementation partners because the customer would be confident in supporting their business solution. Upgrades are done in weeks instead of months or even years. The project team would have a common language (technology, business, software) that they could speak, in order to collaborate effectively. Validation of business requirements would happen early and often. Organizational change would be manageable because it would be minimized. Business sponsors and end users would see and touch the business solution months before end user testing. Individual project team meetings would generate more decisions and less action items. Implementation costs associated with packaged software would be less than the normal — which is four to six times the cost of the software — because implementation partners would spend more time enabling customers to lead, versus performing staff augmentation. Customers would be left with an actionable roadmap to further leverage packaged software functionality as their business model evolves.
The implementation of packaged software is more than just installing and configuring software: it is the implementation of a business solution. A business solution is far more than