|
|
Preparation
pays off
The
first key step in planning your project is to research your needs
and determine the key requirements of your project. Those companies
that conducted extensive research before launching into the implementation
phase said they were pleased with their homework. The Irish Chocolate
Company, one of Ireland’s leading manufacturers of chocolate,
said the importance of writing a comprehensive initial specification
cannot be over-emphasised. It took a consultant one month of investigation
and discussions to complete a 50-page document describing the company’s
requirements.
The exercise of building the specification forced the company to explore
every avenue of the site’s capabilities and drill down to the
nth degree on every detail. No stone was left unturned. This diligence
paid off by resulting in a clear and comprehensive guide for everyone
to follow, with only a handful of new additions springing up during
the project. “It’s fair to everyone to detail your requirements,”
recommends Michelle McBride, Retail Sales Manager with the Irish Chocolate
Company. “Quoting is more accurate along with a lack of grey
areas appearing during the implementation stage. We were very focused
on our goals and had a comprehensive document to work from.”
Dubarry, the Irish footwear manufacturer, also benefited from good
preparation. According to Michael Walsh, their Marketing Director,
the company did flow charts for everything, “...say the woman
in the UK looking for comfort shoes or the yachtsman in Argentina
looking for specialist footwear... All of that was what set us on
the right road.”
Those whose research was not as extensive reported that they regretted
being less thorough in their preparation. Combilift, the Irish forklift
manufacturer, whose delay in going live with its website was described
earlier, said it has learned “through painful experience”
the importance of planning a timely rollout. The experience of the
Combilift project team has led them to start the planning process
early for their next phase of implementation, working out what tasks
need to be carried out and what slack must be placed in the plan in
order to cope with unforeseen problems.
This can be a time consuming process, but it is essential to know
at the outset exactly what is required of your plan. First of all,
you will need to analyse your existing IT systems, business processes
and information flows. This sort of analysis is hard work but will
be worthwhile in the end.
Lotus Automation, one of our in-depth case study companies, had grown
radically during the 1990s. As a result the infrastructure became
increasingly out-ofdate.The company set an objective to build and
establish MIS that supported the size and market position of Lotus
Automation going forward. They designed a process to drive out the
business and technical requirements:
|
How
Lotus Planned its Project
|
| 1.
|
They
identified their customers’ ‘wish list’
for how they would like to do business with Lotus |
| 2.
|
They
ran a reality check to determine the feasibility of the
‘wish list’ |
| 3.
|
They
specified the infrastructure required to deliver feasible
customer requirements |
| 4.
|
They
determined their own ‘wish list’ for how they
wanted to administer and run their business |
| 5. |
They
ran a reality check to determine the feasibility of that
‘wish list’ |
| 6. |
They
specified the infrastructure required to deliver feasible
requirements for Lotus |
| 7.
|
They
combined the two lists to isolate the infrastructure that
the eBusiness implementation had to deliver. |
|
One
of the lessons learned by Lotus was that clear objective setting
and planning are key. It is critical to invest time at the earliest
stage of the project in agreeing the objectives and putting a well-structured
plan together. The management team considered “gap analysis”
as key at this stage, that is, working out where you are today,
working out where you want to get to and isolating what you need
to do to get there.
Before deciding to invest in a new system designed to give you additional
features, make sure that they don’t already exist or could
not be easily incorporated into your existing system. One consultant
was asked by a customer to add a new function to their system. When
he explained that this functionality was already available, he was
asked by the IT Manager not to reveal this fact as the IT Manager
could not admit that he didn’t know of its existence. The consultant
was asked to confirm by email that this would be delivered within
a week! Only for the honesty of the consultant, the company could
easily have been double-charged for this work.
The other point made in relation to this was not to over worry if
you slip on timescales. The key is to possess knowledge of where
you are and where you want to be.
It’s also critical to prioritise effectively since most small
businesses cannot afford all the features they would like. Fergal
Cassidy, Managing Director of Measuresoft, an Irish software supplier,
said this was one of the major lessons he learned. It is vital to
ask yourself the question, “In the worst case scenario, what
could I live with?” Around 20-50% of the original business
requirements would be typical and anything beyond that should be
seen as a bonus, according to Measuresoft.
|
