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Copyright Dawn Willan 2005. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Using a Formal Lessons-Using a Formal Lessons-Learned Analysis to Improve Learned Analysis to Improve Future ERP ImplementationsFuture ERP Implementations

January 13, 2005

MARC 2005 Conference

Baltimore, Maryland

This presentation will describe how The This presentation will describe how The College of New Jersey identified some of College of New Jersey identified some of the experiences that worked well (or did the experiences that worked well (or did not) during our Financials and Human not) during our Financials and Human Resources implementations, and how we Resources implementations, and how we plan to ensure each item is addressed in plan to ensure each item is addressed in our upcoming implementation of the our upcoming implementation of the PeopleSoft Student Administration PeopleSoft Student Administration system.system.

OverviewOverview

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• State College, located in Ewing, NJ• Primarily undergraduate liberal arts• Students - 5,600 FT, 330 PT, 850 graduate• Faculty - 325 full-time, 350 adjunct• Staff - 675 full-time, 125 part-time• Student Employees/GA’s - 1,300

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The College of New Jersey

• PS Financials 7.52 (live in 2001, currently upgrading to 8.3)

• PS HRMS, Payroll, Benefits 8.3 (live in 2003)

• PS Portal (partial go-live in 2003)

• PS Student Administration 8.9 (implementation began Fall 2004)

• Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge (estimated go-live = February 2005)

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TCNJ Administrative SystemsTCNJ Administrative Systems

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Some thoughts…

• “A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in the experience” Elbert Hubbard

• “Life can be understood only backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” Soren Kierkegaard

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Financials Project

• First ERP project

• Team = 4 functional + 4 Technical

• Timeline = 21 months

• No backfill

• Consultants

• Part-time project management

• No formal lessons learned analysis

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HR Project

• Team = 2.5 functional + 4 technical

• Timeline = 2 years

• Backfill

• Consultants

• Part-time project management

• Formal lessons learned analysis

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HR Lessons Learned

• Purpose – analyze project & difficult post-go live shakedown period

• Goals– Identify & repeat project successes– Avoid future problems– Improve project management practices– Promote internal staff development through self

review and analysis

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HR Lessons Learned (cont’d)

• Participants– Project Team– System end users– Project Sponsors - CIO & Asst VP of Human

Resources

• Timeframe• Compilation of responses• Sharing results

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HR Survey Expectations

• Complete survey electronically

• Distribute results and recommendations to all survey participants

• Participants should consider what went well and what we can learn

• Feedback should be honest, but constructive

• Looking for positive outcomes

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HR Survey Instructions

• Consider all phases of project

• Provide at least one ‘success’ in each area

• Provide at least one item that could be improved upon

• Provide realistic recommendations

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HR Feedback Categories

• 6 areas of feedback– General staffing– Sponsorship– Communication– Project Management– Design/Development/Testing– User Readiness

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Question:How do we ensure that we address and benefit from both the informal and formal lessons learned exercises from previous projects?

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Strategy

• Identify items that did or did not work well

• Identify a set of guiding principles to consider on future projects

• Develop concrete action items in response to each item

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Process

• Reviewed & considered results of HR analysis

• Planning team brainstorm

• Combined and revised pertinent results

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Issue Resolution Process

• Issue: Full utilization of issue resolution process

• Response:– Develop formal strategy– Utilize steering committee to a greater extent– PM and Tech Lead to provide biweekly updates

to CIO

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Change of Business Processes

• Issue: Changing business processes where possible

• Response:– Identify a functional lead for each module

– Charge functional lead w/responsibility

– Steering Committee will review all recommendations for modifications & provide authorization

– Project manager & Steering will challenge existing business processes

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Campus Communication

• Issue: Continue to communicate with campus community throughout project

• Response:– Hire new position – Training & Communications

Coordinator

– T&C Coord will develop comprehensive communication plan

– Steering Committee will approve communications plan

– Steering Co & PM ensures plan is being followed

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Project Milestone Checkpoints

• Issue: Checking in throughout the project at key points

• Response:– Steering committee meetings at project

milestones on project plan– Steering committee to provide ‘sign-off’ before

moving forward

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Slippage in Early Stages

• Issue: Avoiding slippage in early stages of project

• Response:– Develop positive reinforcement strategies– Review project plan frequently, identify

slippages, address w/team leads, bring to Steering for senior management enforcement

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Social Gatherings

• Issue: Plan for social gatherings of project team

• Response:– Hold a kickoff party/meeting– At least 1 social gathering per quarter– Go-live celebrations for each module– Include events on project plan

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Functional vs. Technical

• Issue: Combating functional vs. technical mentality

• Response:– Internal communications directed to entire team

– Team building/communications workshop(s)

– Social gatherings

– Cross training

– PM role should be neutral

– CIO to assist

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Team Communication

• Issue: Timely communication between functional & technical teams

• Response:– Weekly team meetings– Respond to communications within 48 hours– Issues log– Distribute notes within 48 hours– Steering to address breakdowns

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Data Mapping

• Issue: Consultant participation during data mapping exercise

• Response:– Schedule data mapping sessions on project plan

and meeting calendar– Include consultants

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Reporting

• Issue: Required reports should be completed prior to go-live

• Response:– Identify all required reports early– Prioritize reports & identify required deadlines– PM & Steering to ensure reports are completed

by deadlines

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Testing

• Issue: Complete thorough testing on all processes• Response:

– Identify all populations & scenarios as early as possible

– Obtain input from team members when developing timeframes & deadlines

– Develop complete test plans

– Assign testing coordinator role

– Convert & test data as early as possible

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Consultant

• Issue: Retaining consultants throughout life of project

• Response:– Engage consultants part-time over a longer time

period– Retain consultants on-site through post go-live

activities

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End User Training

• Issue: Ensure adequate end user training• Response:

– Hire Training & Communications Coordinator– Survey users prior to go-live to assess readiness– Re-train where necessary– Involve end users during testing– Consider mandating supervised periods of time

for users to ‘play’ in system

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Load Testing

• Issue: Perform adequate load testing

• Response:– Purchase software– Perform load testing on all SA modules prior to

go-live– Perform load testing on all SA + other PS

modules prior to go-live

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Staffing Plans

• Issue: Ensure adequate backup & backup staffing plans

• Response:– Identify key staff back in admin offices

– Consider pending retirements

– Develop plans to replace both key staff or team members I special circumstances

– Continue to allow team to be 100%, with temporary backfill staff

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Scope Creep

• Issue: How to avoid scope creep• Response:

– Define initial scope as early as possible, and refine through fit/gap

– Steering to approve all modifications– Steering to approve all functional scope

changes– Manage expectations throughout the project

(sponsor, PM and T&C Coordinator)

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Where are we today?

• Early stages of SA project

• SA Team is reviewing this information

• Project plan is being built

• Training/Communications strategies are being developed

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Future Considerations

• Checkpoints against responses w/SA project

• Post SA project review

• Future projects

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‘Off the Record’

• Executive sponsor role

• People dynamics

• Risk assessment

• Consulting budget development

• Don’t always share

Nadine SternNadine SternChief Information OfficerChief Information OfficerThe College of New JerseyThe College of New JerseyE-mail: E-mail: stern@tcnj.edu

Dawn WillanDawn WillanData Resources AdministratorData Resources AdministratorThe College of New JerseyThe College of New JerseyE-mail: E-mail: willan@tcnj.eduwillan@tcnj.edu

ContactsContacts