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| Bring
Your Staff With You |
Ensure
involvement from all departments, not just IT
Don’t let the IT department run the project and then drop it
on the company. As the implementation is going to affect the whole
organisation, everyone should be aware of the objectives, the timescales
and the key milestones. This is vital because input is usually required
from various company departments for project management, system definition,
system testing, training, etc.
Terry
Carr, the Finance Director at C&DFoods, admits that omitting to
bring the whole company on board from the beginning was the single
biggest mistake made by his company. He said, “Because there
was a major product line installation ongoing at the time we tried
to run the project out of the admin office, in the mistaken view that
it would be easier to implement that way and then roll out to the
business. I put my hands up. I think that was a mistake.”
If the project team had been broadened to include representatives
from manufacturing, it would have been possible to capture some of
the business process improvements in the production and distribution
functions at an earlier stage. It would also have enabled Terry to
secure buy-in from the wider business to the project and its aims.
A broader and betterresourced project team would also have secured
a quicker implementation. A large project team may cost more in the
short run but may save money in the long run if the project is concluded
sooner. A project manager needs to be explicitly aware of this trade-off
between cost and time.
There is a risk that “people” issues arising from eBusiness
driven changes could fall between two stools. Line managers may assume
that the eBusiness project team will handle any such problems, as
they relate to the eBusiness project. On the other hand, the project
team might well feel that personnel issues are the responsibility
of the line manager to which the particular staff members report.
Decide beforehand how such issues should be handled and communicate
this to all concerned.
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