ASAP HR 4.6cImplementation Red Flags

PGT Industries

Company Overview: Founded in 1980 Leading manufacturer of custom windows, doors & patio rooms Originally focused on aluminum vinyl-glazed windows for porch enclosures 1992 – after Hurricane Andrew, PGT did aggressive R&D to create a

product line to meet Miami-Dade CountyCode Regulations

1996 – PGT’s efforts to provide safetyand security resulted in the premierWinGuard Impact-Resistant product line

Over 1500 employees Outputting an average of 17,000

windows per week 420,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility

PGT Industries

Double-digit growth over past 4 years

Two locations: Florida & NCBaseline Implementation:

HR & Payroll w/Master Data Org Mgmt Recruitment Personnel Development ESS / MSS

PGT Industries

Overview

What and who are the drivers for your implementation project?

Have you compared your software options? What makes a good HR implementation provider? How do you intelligently select an implementation

scope, timetable & budget? How & when do you educate internal project

resources? What are realistic expectations for an implementation? Steps along the way that can make or break an

implementation project The Recovery Process

Lack of customer education Failure to follow proven guidelines Failure to form a well balanced project team early in the RFP process Representatives from a cross section of the affected departments

and a project team leader should be designated as a central point of contact for the company and potential vendors

Start with an estimated budget and scope. If you do not have these clearly stated guidelines for time, function & budget during the RFP process then you will get caught up in the sales hype.

RFP should not only concentrate on functional requirements but also seek information about how a vendor will manage an implementation project.

Lack of understanding of one’s own business systems and business processes is another key factor in project failure.

Why do IT projects fail?

What and who are the drivers for your implementation project?

PGT Industries drivers were:− Create an electronic workflow for HR/Payroll/Time &

Attendance information

− Full integration of Human Resources & Payroll business processes & data

− The VP’s of HR & Administration constituted the executive level support with total buy in

If you don’t limit yourself to these drivers your scope will creep as a result of seeing all of the “bells and whistles.”

A well informed project team can actually be even more susceptible to scope creep or selecting an unrealistic implementation scope because they know what is out there and they want it right away

Have you compared your software options?

Have you compared your software options?−Subscribe to Spex Research; www.checkspex.com− It’s a great way to kick start your selection process without

engaging a selection vendor.

What makes a good HR implementation provider?

RFP’s should cover both licensing purchase & Implementation vendor search

RFP for an implementation partner should contain specs & an implementation questionnaire

Check references that had similar scope of implementation

−Utilize ASUG’s knowledge base to find other members who have done or are doing a similar implementation

Contact enough vendors so that after the sifting you will have 2 or 3 from which to choose

What makes a good HR implementation provider?

Interview candidate vendors to the project team level- Does this vendor have a track record of successful

implementations with this ERP package?- Are the consultants that they are proposing certified in the

technology & experienced implementers- Are the proposed consultants strictly technical or do they also

understand the business processes involved in the implementation?

- Is the consulting firm financially sound?- Is their solution maintainable by your company and scalable?- Do they provide post implementation support?

Make sure your functional and technical people have opportunity to interact with partner’s proposed project team members before selecting a partner. Check for individuals that are being proposed as consulting resources. A company could have great references and you could get green consultants.

Selecting Scope, timetable & budget

How do you intelligently select an implementation scope, timetable & budget?

−Scope may be partially determined by current business process. E.g. if you are doing payroll internally your scope will most likely be very broad. This will extend the necessary resources/budget.

How & when to educate internal resources

If you have internal project management resources you should manage the project according to your internal system. ASAP methodology would be recommended if you have access to an ASAP certified project manager. Regardless use ASAP to derive the information necessary to implement SAP. Your PM should be experienced in all phases of project management.

All internal project members need to attend HR050 at a minimum prior to blue printing. Your PM and project leaders should attend the appropriate courses.

Managing Expectations

• What are realistic expectations for an SAP implementation?

– Expect bumps in the road– Expect the unexpected– Expect it to be extremely time consuming– Expect high frustration levels

• Multiple attempts data conversion• Extensive debugging• Large issues lists

Things that make or break a project

Key factors that can make or break an implementation project:− Clearly define who is responsible for what and review it.− Clearly define the key deliverables for each phase. Track their

progress and evaluate them upon delivery. Make sure to relate these deliverables to the responsible parties.

− Put in place milestones that must be met before going forward with project phases. E.g., Number of good parallel runs that must be completed before going forward with Go Live.

− Taking the bad along with the good (dealing with project/implementation partner negatives and positives).

− Your project manager(s) must thoroughly understand SAP and the implementation project or the project is doomed from the start.

− Don’t under estimate the impact of “issues” and the number of issues building up prior to go-live.

− Get basic SAP training for project team prior to start of blueprint for better understanding of the system from a user perspective and also the ability to assist and facilitate configuration and knowledge transfer.

Examples of Red Flags Inexperienced project manager working without seasoned

support/mentor Consultants’ failure to be proactive with a growing issues list Redefinition of milestones, e.g., parallel run expected

outcomes altered during run Excessive number of hours worked on a daily and weekly

basis by project team members (are people living on site?) Emphasis on configuration with little or no attention to

documentation Inadequate consulting resources available for entire project Lack of concise documentation from consultants concerning

configuration changes Lack of follow-through by consulting firm

The Recovery Process

QA Review of systems both internally and by a third party

Develop a plan & work it Education, Education, Education

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Session Code: 2805