Implementing Successful Business Systems
by Robert Bentley

Since the introduction of computer-based business systems half a century ago, technological advances have ensured that firms have updated their IT regularly in search of a competitive edge. When the competition follows suit, this edge is eroded and the new systems become a standard requirement. As the pace of technological change accelerates, the business systems change cycle shortens accordingly.

Throughout all these change cycles, there have been many successes and many failures in implementing what are ostensibly the same solutions. The cost of an unsuccessful IT project can be serious in terms of its direct financial impact and its effect on the whole company’s morale. Presuming that the technology works and can be implemented, the difference between success and failure lies in the processes adopted and the people engaged in the project.

There are 10 key ingredients that lead to successful implementations.

1. Sponsorship at senior level
An IT implantation needs an executive sponsor. The role is essential to ensure that the project can overcome problems when they occur. The sponsor must:

• Be a senior, respected and influential member of the executive management team.
• Understand the benefits of the project.
• Lead the project steering group and ensure that all areas of the business are represented on it.
• Support the project team with timely decisions when they are required.
• Visibly champion the project.

2. A clear definition and scope
On any project, people will differ on what its priorities should be. It is vital to clarify and unify their views with a detailed scope document. This must state what the project will deliver and, where necessary, specify what will be excluded from the scope as well as what will be included. All stakeholders should have a chance to review and sign off the document.

3. Risk assessment
All projects will have a degree of risk associated with them. The risks can be divided into the following categories:

• The project’s size
• The project’s scope
• The complexity of the solution
• The experience of the project team
• The schedule

It’s important to review each area in detail at the start to establish where the risks are and the level of each risk. A project with high risks in most areas will be a high-risk project overall. This does not mean that it will fail, but it means that mitigation actions are required and must be managed proactively.

4. Time management
The board will want the project to be completed as soon as possible so as to minimise disruption to the business. In principle this is fine, but the schedule must be planned from the bottom up. Unrealistic timescales imposed from above lead to compromises in quality or missed deadlines. If there are immovable deadlines, the project must be adjusted to achieve them. This may entail increasing its resources or narrowing its scope.

5. The control of change
Even in the best-defined projects unforeseen problems requiring a change of plan will arise. But the addition of bells and whistles without formal approval gives rise to “scope creep”, which leads to both late delivery and a failure to meet the project’s aims. All changes must, therefore, be controlled through a formal process. Many proposed changes will have alternative solutions. Some, when investigated thoroughly, will be unnecessary. Others, although essential, can be deferred.

6. Quality assurance
In terms of an IT project, quality assurance requires the following steps:

• A quality policy must be written for all parties involved.
• Detailed procedures must be written to meet the standards set in the policy.
• Comprehensive specifications, including performance criteria, must be created for the overall solution and each component of the solution.
• Each component must be tested thoroughly and, once integrated, the complete solution must also be trialled.

A quality assurance stage must be built into the implementation process. Inevitably, it is the first area to suffer when the pressure is on to meet a deadline.

7. Training and education
Paying proper attention to education early in the project will provide a stronger base for a successful implementation. There is a clear difference between education and training. Education is about understanding the solution – i.e., why the business needs it; how the technology works and what it can deliver; and what changes it will require. It must be provided to senior members of the project and the wider management team to ensure that they know enough to make informed decisions and facilitate changes in their own areas of responsibility.

Training must be more detailed, but it should be provided on a need-to-know basis to the whole organisation. Understanding helps, but the most important factor that the training has to address is consistency. It must, therefore, be planned early and formal training materials need to be developed.

8. Budgetary control
As well as setting the overall budget at the right level, it is important to allocate funds correctly to various phases of the implementation project. Regular spending reviews should provide an early warning system and thereby allow controlling actions to be taken in time.

9. Professional support
Organisations that implement business systems successfully recognise that they do not have all the necessary knowledge in-house. They conduct a skills gap analysis and hire in any expertise they are lacking for the duration of the project. Typically, the skills gaps lie in the following three areas:

• Technical knowledge of the new solution. It is important that this exists internally to ensure continuing IT support after the implementation, so part of the expert’s remit should be to transfer knowledge.
• Project management. On many projects, this is a full-time role requiring specialist skills. An internal project “owner” is a prerequisite but, unless an experienced internal resource can be committed, full-time external expertise should be brought in to support them.
• Programme management. Where an implementation is large and complex, it will usually need to be split into several sub-projects, particularly when the process and culture changes are running in parallel. It is inevitable in such cases that priorities will change and conflict. Programme managers require a blend of business and project skills to evaluate the situation and recommend changes in the context of the overall project and business objectives.

10. A clear vision of the future
This is probably the overriding factor for success. All projects have good and bad stages. The effort and commitment required even in the good times is considerable. Without a vision of the future the bad times become extremely difficult. The vision is created at the highest level in the organisation and shared with everyone involved in making the project a success. The shared vision prevails when the going gets tough.

Robert Bentley ACMA is an independent management consultant. This article is courtesy of CIMA, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, that offers the CIMA professional qualification in management accounting.