Keeping People Prioritized

Existing State: A higher education institution implemented a new PMIS as part of a larger initiative to increase consistent standards and delivery compliance. They wanted an attention to specific stakeholder requirements and needs being addressed through the implementation; balancing business policies with project team roles and responsibilities.

Approach: Stakeholder groups were identified and analyzed for current roles and inconsistencies in delivery responsibilities. New groups were identified and classified using swimlane charts, stage gating requirements and RACI charts. Each group was engaged in process improvement conversations and super users were established. As software go live neared, an increase in town halls, sponsor presentations and communications helped users understand the impact to their jobs. During and after roll out, the teams transferred onto the new system. Workshops were held to help implement training learned into “real life” scenarios. Office hours allowed for ad hoc support one to one. As the project teams utilized the new systems, they entered feedback into an enhancement request log. The governance team reviewed the log and implemented new enhancements over a period of three years.

Result: Disruption to business of the transformation was minimized through education of managers and project teams. Consultants and Contractors received parallel training on their new roles. Listening to feedback from end users created trust and better end user adoption of the system. New reports requested and developed increased transparency into common project issues.