Image credit: Unsplash

In our previous articles, we have considered all the peculiarities of new enterprise software implementation from the point of view of the business: from potential problems to cost reduction. Today we will put ourselves in the shoes of the vendor-side project manager, and explain what such professionals should expect and be prepared for.

So, your company held a presentation of the software product, and the customer decided to go all-in and implement it. What kind of difficulties can you, as the project manager, face? Actually, there are a lot.

Problem #1. Adoption friction

Very often new software implementation means new business processes (or changes to existing ones), layoffs, or just the necessity to learn something new. Such situations lead to a clash of interests between project managers, on one side, and employees on the other.

We’ve seen a lot of such examples. In one of the most recent the company decided to switch from a custom-made legacy accounting software to a 1C-based solution. This type of automation should increase overall business-process efficiency and cut the payroll costs of the team responsible for the support of the old solution. Thus, the company planned to let some of its employees go.

As a result, there was a conflict between the new project team and the PM one side, and the company’s IT department, whose employees developed and maintained the previous solution, and employees affected by layoffs on the other

The solution

There was no way of avoiding implementation of the new software as the business really needed it. The only way of overcoming the conflict was to find a win-win solution for every party.

To do this, the project manager decided to form an implementation committee that included representatives of company management, as well as the IT department and its employees. As a result of the discussion, a decision was made to make training sessions part of the implementation project. Employees could learn the new product for free, pass the test, and then the best of them would then maintain the new solution.

Those who completed the course but were not that good at the test were offered other positions in the company, or positions in other companies (this was a large holding). After this training, some employees decided to find another job to develop their newly acquired skills.

The outline: you can mitigate the conflict by finding a win-win solution for every involved party.

Problem #2. Vague or missing acceptance criteria

The software implementation project is considered as completed only if the new tool solves the main task and employees have entirely migrated to it from the previous solution. It sounds simple, but when it comes to defining what the phrase “solves the main task” really means, there might be complications.

The solution

To avoid problems you have to prepare a Scope Statements document where you set the acceptance criteria, project boundaries, constraints, requirements, and deliverables of the project. For example, you should discuss and decide for certain what sub-systems and modules will be implemented, how e data from the old solution will be transferred to the new one, and who stakeholders are.

Another vital point to discuss is the exceptions from the project’s scope. For example, the client’s employee training and education program is a perfect example of such an exception. If you, as a project manager, don’t do this, you may end up being obliged to train not just a small group of users who will teach the rest of the staff, but hundreds of employees working in the company.

The outline: before implementation starts, define acceptance criteria, terms, and conditions. The best thing is to use S.M.A.R.T. objectives.

Problem #3. The full scope is not clear

This problem is a continuation of the previous one. However, even once you’ve set acceptance criteria, to achieve overall success you need to understand the full scope of the work.

Imagine a traveler who thinks only about how cool it will be to arrive at the final destination and therefore overlooks things like booking airline tickets, packing, analyzing different options in terms of airports, railroad stations, ride-sharing, etc. It will be tough for this person to get to their final point without a step-by-step plan regarding how to do this.

The solution

Enterprise software implementation is like travel: you need to understand what you will be doing and when you will be doing it, what the resources are that will you need, and whether will you be able to outsource some tasks or not.

To create a graphical implementation of a project flow with explicit dependencies and deadlines you can use the Work Breakdown Structure (from PMBOK) and Gantt charts.

The outline: after overall goals are set, you need to work out the whole scope of the work and break it down into phases. This will help you to detail each stage of the project when you start working on it, which is useful in progress tracking and analyzing the critical parts of the project as a whole.

Problem #4. Risks are not defined and not classified by severity and probability

A risk is an event which, although not planned for, can still can occur with a certain probability. The chances can be either positive (during implementation someone comes up with an innovative solution that significantly reduces the scope of work) or negative (several team members are hit with severe flu and deadlines are failed to be met).

The solution

You need to focus on adverse risks as they are critical for the project’s success. It is always a good idea to run brainstorming sessions to identify as many risks as you can and how to work on possible solutions if they ring true. Such meetings should be held once a week/fortnight.

Each risk should be classified by its severity and probability of occurrence. You should try to prevent and minimize the impact of those that are the more likely to occur, as well as those that can be considered the most severe.

The outline: you cannot totally avoid risks and you cannot maintain full control of everything. However, you still can mitigate the potential negative consequences and the probability of the problems.

Problem #5. Team motivation and chemistry

An enterprise implementation project may take as long as several months to complete and be full of unexpected problems and risks. All these things lead to conflicts and lower the motivation levels of the project’ team. This is especially noticeable when the team has to move to another city and country, and its members lose the connection with their families as well as their routine.

Here is a real-life example. During a year-long implementation project, a team had to move to the customer’s location, which was in another region and time zone. Every team member was highly motivated: some of them were eager to earn a bonus, while others wanted to get new experience and were fans of travel.

However, after three months of hard work in a small, unfamiliar city with a harsh climate and almost no options for entertainment, even bonuses were not seen as a considerable advantage anymore. Productivity and speed began to decrease.

The solution

The project manager did the only thing he could in this situation: he talked to every team member to find out the root of the decreased levels of motivation. This allowed him to understand the problems each project participant was facing, and develop a custom solution for each and every one of them.

Those who were missing families were allowed to have a short vacation, while some employees switched to remote work; more team building events were organized (it turned out playing football and basketball with colleagues was fun); some work duties were re-distributed and bonuses re-assigned. This sophisticated and complex solution allowed the finishing of the project and the meeting of deadlines.

The outline: as a PM you have to track your team members’ motivation levels and talk to them in order to spot problems before it is too late and before there is harm to the project.

Final thoughts

We have only covered the fundamental problems every project manager can face during enterprise software implementation projects. There are a lot of tasks we did not cover today like budget allocation and management, procurement, planning, etc.

These areas are described in PMI, PRINCE2, ISO, IPMA manuals and books. You should decide what methodology to use in a particular project based on your current tasks and preferences.