For instance, an organization may have an HR department — that is, organizational planning. Implementation is when the HR department rolls out a new set of benefits or a new health care plan. Word PDF. Implementation planning largely determines project success because without it, your strategic goals remain unactionable. Therefore, implementation is the necessary step that transforms your strategic plans into action to achieve your goals.
There are many examples where implementation planning heightens project success. In fact, the Harvard Business Review reported that companies with an implementation and execution plan saw 70 percent greater returns. McKenzie says that implementation planning is critical to project success. Hancock agrees. Fiona Adler writes about entrepreneurship at DoTheThings.
With an MBA, multiple business successes, and a family living in a foreign country, she enjoys pushing the envelope to get the most out of life and loves helping others do the same. Adler explains that implementation is often more crucial than the strategy itself. After all, it doesn't matter if you have the best plan in the world. All that really matters is what you end up doing!
Most notably, implementation plays a part in the current shift from reactionary to strategic companies — in other words, organizations that plan for change and adaptation rather than react to it. Additionally, implementation supports the movement toward employee-oriented organizations, which it does by valuing communication, encouraging mutually-supported goals, and emphasizing accountability.
Implementation planning is necessarily a human and team endeavor and making it a part of your daily processes helps ensure collaboration, trust, and transparency among project team members all the way up to C-suite management. As mentioned, you can create an implementation plan for any organizational undertaking of any size or scope. Implementation is commonly used for discrete projects, technology deployment within a company, and inventory planning this is an example where differentiated planning is helpful.
You can even create an implementation plan for personal use i. A project implementation plan is the plan that you create to successfully move your project plan into action.
This document identifies your goals and objectives both short and long-term , lists the project tasks, defines roles and responsibilities, outlines the budget and necessary resources, and lists any assumptions.
A project implementation plan sometimes includes a rough schedule, but teams usually set the hard timeline in the execution plan. The following are the key components of and questions that drive a successful implementation plan:. The steps involved in writing an implementation plan are straightforward, but the process is not quick or easy. Each section should be detailed, combining the information from your strategic plan and incorporating the necessary research and data that makes your objectives actionable.
To make it easy, you can also use a template to write your implementation plan. Download the template for free, and edit the fields to fit the needs of your specific project — for example, for enterprise resource planning ERP. Software deployment is another common category of initiative that merits an implementation plan. Use the following template to create a software and systems implementation plan.
Although you should include all the detailed aspects listed above in your implementation plan, simply having all these components will not ensure success. Instead, you should focus on the process of implementation and foster the following behaviors within your team:.
Although the above hurdles can be time-consuming and tedious, they are investments that will help you create a culture of trust. So, communicate often and honestly, and prioritize teamwork when implementing your strategic plan.
Adler explains that another common mistake is taking on too much at once. Each initiative will take its team members away from their 'normal' work to some degree, and the business needs to be able to support this. While the implementation plan itself can be a relatively low-tech document, software tools can help you track and manage your progress. A Gantt chart is a graphical bar chart that you can use as a project timeline, and many software programs exist that allow you to create these online charts.
As you move from implementation to execution, a Gantt chart can help you track individual task progress, see relationships among tasks, and identify critical or at-risk tasks. Excel Smartsheet. You can use a PERT program evaluation and review technique chart to forecast project duration by creating a timeline for individual tasks and identifying dependent tasks.
PERT requires you to forecast three separate timetables — the shortest possible, the most likely, and the longest possible — which forces you to stay flexible in your planning, so you can adapt your schedule as factors inevitably change over the course of a project. Excel Word Smartsheet.
Advancements in information and communication technology ICT have led to the development of cloud-based software that allows for anytime, anywhere access and multiple users. This technological capability is especially helpful for group work, in which multiple team members need to access a certain file simultaneously while also avoiding version control issues.
This team should comprise of members from top management, functional experts and end-users. If you can find one, bring in a neutral consultant to help evaluate.
Business Assessment. Conduct an assessment of the current state of the business. Look at critical processes and note what is being done well and what benefits a new system can deliver for these processes. Software Criteria. Develop a selection criteria to evaluate the available solutions. Criteria can include features, price, platform, and anything else the evaluation team can think of. Group the criteria according to importance to your business, i. Assign a score such as to each to make the evaluation easier.
Ask for specific references. Instead, ask them to provide references of companies who are in the same industry as yours and faced similar business challenges. If desired, ask to visit these customer to see what they like and dislike about the software and whether or not it is working as expected. The first part of kicking off the project is to assemble the team.
This will take some time and is a crucial step in the implementation process. Governance structure. To ensure accountability and success of the project, a governance board or steering committee needs to be put in place.
This purpose of this committee is to help the project sustain its potential to deliver its promised value.
They should also allow management to refine the definition of success to maintain alignment with evolving business strategy. Typically this committee is comprised of the project manager, project sponsor, project management office PMO and most importantly senior business unit managers with a vested interest in the success of the project.
The last group is important because they will be representing the users within each function of the company. Executive sponsor. An executive sponsor is a C-level administrator who has a vested interest in seeing a project to completion.
Ideally, the executive sponsor should be the highest-ranking manger possible, relative to the size of the project. Successful sponsorship requires a deep understanding of organizational culture and awareness of how the project will help the organization achieve its goals.
In some organizations, the executive sponsor is the person who is responsible for financially authorizing a project and creating the project charter. The primary goal of a PMO is to achieve benefits from standardizing and following project management policies, processes and methods. For the software implementation project, they will be the source for guidance, documentation, and metrics. If necessary, they will get involved with project-related tasks and follow up on project activities through completion.
Project Manager. It is a huge role and filling this position should be a collaborative effort within the organization. Functional Leads. Choose the wrong resources for this role and risk not having the business requirements translated to technical requirements for the software.
Recruit people within the organization. Make sure they have at least the following: leadership, management, strong communication skills, charisma, knowledge of software systems, ability to write clear documentation, likes to help others and wants to see the project and company be successful. Technical Leads. To support the long-term implementation of your new system, start by prioritizing those capabilities that need to be mastered first.
This will help influence training and provide benchmarks for regular check-ins. Eventually, these collaborative tools will help implementation team members work together to maximize software adoption and usage for their respective team. The next critical step in your implementation journey is assembling the team s necessary for success.
The makeup of an implementation team will vary for every business, depending on the unique needs of your business and the scale of implementation. To determine your needs , identify how many business units will be using the new system and estimate the total number of users. Depending on the size of your business, this might be the extent of your implementation team. Larger businesses might need an extended team that can champion the new system for their unique business unit.
The extended team should include an IT lead to handle needs and concerns surrounding configuration and integration with other systems, along with a small sample of end users e.
Consider hosting workshops to ensure alignment and keep everyone informed on updates and changes to the software implement plan. You must put strategies in place to garner user acceptance and adoption of the new system.
Without positive engagement around the product, you risk the adoption falling flat. You could fall behind on your implementation timeline or see employees not using the software as planned. There are a few key steps that you can use time and time again to achieve successful organizational changes such as implementing new software:. Your company might already have a methodology in place to manage change. If not, a software implementation process is a great time to instill one.
This methodology provides the steps necessary to ensure sustained user adoption for the newly implemented system.
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