In my last article Performing a Needs Assessment on Project Management, a discussion was presented to look at the effort and resources consumed throughout the project (including the budget). A comparison of these two variables to the project phases provided the following diagrams, using the same timelines…
At the end of the previous article, we posed the following questions…
In this article, we will discuss
These questions are for your consideration and are to get you thinking. The scope of these articles (3 in all, as listed at the end of this article) is to get us to rethink what it is we are doing and looking at project management from a different perspective, from outside the box. The ideas discussed here were born from more than 18 years of HRIS projects. The ability to transfer them to other projects is something that has been already undertaken by some with success. As we already know, there are some aspects of every project that are unique and what worked in one project may not work in another. Truth is the daughter of time and will provide what strengths and weaknesses are still present with the suggestions presented here.
Here, we will discuss the improvements that result in greater flexibility within the project and possibly even a lower project budget by shifting and honing a few priorities and making some budgetary changes…
Let’s start by taking a closer look at the first diagram…
As seen from comparing this diagram to the project life cycle, a LOT of activity is occurring during the definition and specifications phase. Given the complexity of the setup and implementation of an HRIS system, there is little breathing room from the very beginning – and assures an easy setup for a for a pressured project
The first phase is full of data collection, decisions and thinking. This will domino and magnify once the development phase starts – whether the data collection, decisions and / or thinking were good or bad. Add to this, if the approach to selecting the HRIS system has been made incorrectly, the unknown errors from a bad decision process usually will not become evident until the development and operations phases making it extremely costly to change. Even worse, it could create an environment that needs a higher level of maintenance during the life of the system (many times upgrades just will not do the trick)… it’s enough to ruin any good feelings, celebration or party.
Again, for the legend, the orange boxes in the first diagram above represent the project. The 5 main phases of the project are represented by the boxes within the budget (planning & definitions, specifications, development, validation, deployment). Relatively speaking, the effort and resources consumed for the planning, definitions and specifications is minimal while most is focused on the development, validation and deployment of the HRIS system. The higher the box with in the budget, the more effort and resources consumed. The red box is the critical aspect where development and testing consumes most of the effort and resources. This is typically where projects will lose control of the budget. As you can see from this diagram, there is usually little room for errors – ironically at the most crucial and critical time of the project. By the time the project lock down has occurred, there is an assumption that all the dominoes have been lined up properly, all the ducks have been lined up in a row, all the problem areas have been addressed by this point… Choose whatever metaphor works for you, but in reality there is a LOT of effort and resources consumed here and most of the time the budget and the actual costs of the project clash heavily here. And most will try to trim the remaining portion of the project to minimize the damage or try to arrive on-budget for the project.
Another source of the ideas presented here came from two of my passions. After taking both sailing and airplane pilot lessons, I noticed the two had similarities that could not be avoided. Though the mechanisms are different, the basics are the same…
Now let’s transfer these basics to project management…
For a complex system such as HRIS, reducing the pain of the project, reducing the risks of the unknowns and keeping the budget intact are a three-fold necessity. The morale of the project can be levied by these three points very quickly – as well as the degree of success and the relationships developed not only within the project but with those that have contact with the project as well.
In an earlier article, Systematic and Efficient Planning Your HRIS Project, a discussion was presented for the need for a systematic approach to obtaining a system BEFORE undertaking the implementation of such a system. By undertaking this – or any — project with a systematic approach with more questions about your own business processes and performing a more in-depth needs assessment, and doing all this before submitting RFI’s and RFP’s, you will gain the foundation and momentum needed for the later phases. This is the point where most failed – and successful – projects have been made. Knowledge is power but yet many companies try to navigate through a project with as many unquestioned assumptions as possible.
The following diagrams compares the approaches – the Before diagram provides the results of an approach without systematic and efficient planning while the After provides the systematic and efficient results…
Both diagrams are the result of projects without and then with the modified approaches used on two separate projects. They were multiple -provider, multi-line projects. The Before diagram represents the implementation of a PeopleSoft HRMS system with an ADP Payroll system and a Kronos timekeeping system for a client that elected to use traditional project methodologies (making this a multi-provider project). The After diagram represents the implementation of an Oracle ERP, PeopleSoft HR, ADP Payroll, ADP timekeeping, and a couple of organic systems (developed by the client’s IT department) for a client that decided to approach their changes using systematic and efficient approach on top of the traditional project methodologies (making this a multi-provider, multi-line project).
The differences…
The same…
Here’s the After diagram lined-up with a project life cycle diagram…
Some questions for the next article…
First article of this series…
Previous articles related to this topic…
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