Our franchising company recently rolled out a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software system. The software is used within the retail businesses to streamline processes that are essential to run their franchise. The old system was not keeping up with the requirements and was not being supported from an IT perspective any longer. Thus, a move to a newer more efficient system was required. Over a period of time, the goals of the system were communicated. Basically, head office was going to be converting all the stores to this new system within a specified time period, and training would be rolled out to support this new change. Upper management were part of the stakeholders as well as the franchisees. Since this new system would be running their businesses it was crucial that they were involved in this project. However, this was a missed opportunity as only a small group were selected to participate in meetings with regards to the software build.
I joined the company in the middle of this project. I was required to learn the new system and create training for the franchisees. I had put together an initial project plan using excel and then moved to Microsoft Project. However, this soon was pushed aside as it was more difficult to manage all of the deliverables that I already had on my plate along with managing the project. Project planning was handed over to the IT group but without a proper project manager and scheduled team meetings with a weekly agenda to manage the project; many things were missed from an implementation perspective. No real project plan was in place. “The missing component is the mid-level organizational capacity required to prepare faculty, develop courses, manage the infrastructure, support online students and teachers, and carry out the myriad other functions that are needed to attain success” (Moskal, Dziuban, & Hartman, 2013, p. 17). Although this quote refers to higher education, I do think in an organizational context that planning for these functions is important in any project. With a very small team of individuals to handle these functions; it was easy to see that the project was not going to be on time or on budget.
The project plan that I had put in place originally was based on task management and roles and responsibilities for the groups involved. As mentioned, following this plan became less and less important as time went on as putting out fires became more of a priority as stores were converted to the new system. Support for the franchisees was critical on a daily basis. Better planning and organization would have helped with these challenges including more resources to implement the new software. Considering a range of possible solutions to the inherent challenges of implementing a change as large as this one should have been critical. “When a problem is considered using a range of methodologies and from multiple perspectives – including user perspectives – this can open up new ways of understanding the problem and new approaches to solutions” (Conway, Masters, & Thorold, 2017, p.23).
Including the end users on a regular basis would have certainly helped the implementation of this software. As the conversion to the new software was occurring; we were also enhancing the software and making updates and changes based on user feedback. Had proper planning for the software taken place prior to the conversions, many errors and dissatisfied user feedback may have been avoided. The general consensus was that the software was not ready to be used by the franchisees to run their business. They were very resistant to change. A well developed change management strategy could have also made this project more successful. I cannot say whether a specific method for planning was used however, in all the meetings that I was a part of; this did not seem to be the case.
Moving forward, I really thought the framework used by the University of Calgary would be very useful in planning and organizing a project. Outlining the scope and overall goals of the project as well as proper timelines and support for the implementation would be very useful. I personally think for my next project this is something that I would use in order to manage a large-scale project.
References
Conway, R., Masters, J., & Thorold, J., (2017). From design thinking to systems change: How to invest in innovation for social impact. Royal Society of Arts, Action and Research Centre.
Moskal, P., Dziuban, C., & Hartman, J. (2013). Blended learning: A dangerous idea? The Internet and Higher Education, 18, 15–23.
University of Calgary, Learning Technologies Task Force. (2014). Strategic framework for Learning Technologies.
March 5, 2018 at 6:03 pm
Hi Andrea,
I was also using a past example that exposed some strategy gaps, after the implementation. There are always extra layers to consider when dealing with both internal and external stakeholders. It is also interesting that you mention not enough groups were represented at the meetings. Did you feel the project gauged their scope properly? You also mention that a well developed project plan could have helped influence the franchise owners to adapt the systems change. Is there a particular step in the frameworks that you feel could have changed this result?
Great share!
March 5, 2018 at 6:36 pm
Laura, thank you for your response. I don’t actually think the scope of this project was well thought out. Over 80 retail stores were to convert to this new software (which they have now); however, we were all completely over-worked and had to put on various “hats” to think critically about what a project of this nature would entail. As mentioned, it was mostly about putting out fires instead of scoping the project accurately and providing the appropriate training avenues and support mechanisms for the various different learning styles of the end users. I think defining the objectives and what success would look like for this project would have helped immensely. Communicating a clear vision and defining roles would have been one of the steps that could have changed the result.
March 6, 2018 at 8:41 am
Hi Andrea,
You write ” this soon was pushed aside as it was more difficult to manage all of the deliverables that I already had on my plate along with managing the project”…I feel your pain!
In my experience upper mgmt wants to follow the project plan, until they don’t. That sounds funny to write, but I have had many experiences where they keep piling more work on and in the end nothing gets done properly.
Steve
March 8, 2018 at 1:41 pm
Completely agree, full project management principles are not always followed. I think depending on the nature of the project, that is okay. Smaller projects may not require a full project plan but maybe something else. I think at least something should be followed throughout the project.. keep people and the project on task.
Thanks for your comment
March 8, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Steve, you said, “In my experience upper mgmt wants to follow the project plan, until they don’t”. Jason has had a similar experience that he relates on his blog post. We discussed whether risk management can plan for this eventuality at all. I think we can, if we know our upper management has a tendency to derail or push ahead on projects. One way is to keep informally checking in with them during the project to get an idea of the political climate.
March 8, 2018 at 3:46 pm
Hi Carrie.
I agree, keeping an eye on the political climate is a good way to ensure that things stay on track. I have, however, been involved in a work situation where it seemed that every project that was coming to us was a “flavour of the month” and mgmt seemed to have trouble seeing the projects through to completion before moving to the next. Have you had any experiences like this?