TxM 069 Section 7.13 Critical implementation considerations Created by James on 7/11/2013 3:55:28 PM
Following are some critical considerations in implementing SEPT and Precision Configuration:
1. Radical change
SEPT and Precision Configuration are a radical change compared to what your organization has today (else you would not consider the investment J ) – some staff will intuitively see the value and actively embrace the new way of working but many will be unsettled and some WILL resist.
2. Trash the old ways of working
A wide range of historical ways of working, protocols, policies, standards, procedures and processes will be trashed or radically changed and some staff will be offended and oppose the change.
3. Minds go blank
The mental reaction of most human beings when confronted with something new and unfamiliar is to "go blank" – for this reason there must be comprehensive communication with, and involvement of, staff during the design and implementation process. Use of a laboratory for testing and training is recommended – see the article "Defining an ERP implementation laboratory".
Staff must be facilitated through the difficult transformation and the services of a change facilitation advisor, preferably with a degree in psychology, is recommended on larger projects.
4. The Old reports
The default requirement with any new taxonomy is to produce "the same reports as we had before" – this is understandable but is NOT recommended. Remapping the new taxonomies onto the old reports can be a time consuming and painful process and is NOT recommended unless the old reports are really well designed.
It is better to design new reports from the ground up (blank sheet of paper) exploiting the design of the new taxonomies and then transform the historical data to the new mappings and run the new reports against the old data.
If it is decided that the old reports must be recreated then it is vital to understand that this is a time consuming and frustrating process which does NOT say anything negative about the new design.
Note that in producing the new design consideration should be given to standard reporting requirements although, given these were derived in an environment of badly structured data care is required in making such historical references.
The blank sheet of paper is the preferred route.
5. Blame the new
Inevitably it takes time to debug and define reports, ETL, etc and when problems are experienced it is all too easy to blame the new configuration and suggest that somehow it is fundamentally defective.
Provided the taxonomies have been developed in close consultation with management and staff and comprehensively reviewed it is extremely unlikely that there will be any significant structural defects in the code schemes – the reaction is simply a natural negative reaction to change and things which are not yet fully understood.
6. A system implementation
The implementation of new code schemes in an existing technology system, whether in an ERP, Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence environment or other system have all the characteristics of a full-blown system implementation. It can therefore be expected that all the problems and challenges associated with such an implementation will be encountered and must be managed effectively.
7. Lack of knowledge of what is possible
Most people are not familiar with advanced graphical, statistical and other analytical techniques and accordingly executive level advisory services to assist with the development of advanced reports, models, etc should continue for at least a year after commissioning of the new taxonomies.
8. Appoint an analyst
In medium to large client organizations we recommend the appointment of a senior or mid-level staff member or contractor with formal training in statistics and data analysis techniques, economics, etc and equipped with advanced analytical tools.
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