Planning a System Implementation

This section considers the factors that will play a part in the process of implementing a system. Sound planning of the implementation is crucial to its success - poor planning and inadequate resourcing are often primary causes of System Implementation failures.

Controlling Scope

The scope of many system implementations, such as an institution-wide VLE, can be huge. Clearly, it includes the installation of software and the hardware it is to run on, but it conceals a plethora of contentious and inescapable people-related issues. Understanding the difficulties that may arise will enable you to understand potential trouble spots and to control the scope of the implementation.

The skill is to accept that the new system by itself is not the answer. The complete implementation encompasses the entire business process and/or pedagogic practice, customer service, interaction with suppliers and a bond with everyone in the organisation. Many less tangible activities are crucial and those involved must:

• understand the organisation, in terms of culture and values - the business case for any system implementation should consider how the system helps provide a better service to its learners;

• undertake a thorough review of processes and where necessary, pedagogic practice, and establish new policies and procedures before tuning the system to meet the agreed requirements;

• appreciate the complexity and flexibility of the system;

• ensure that solutions are defined for the gaps between the organisation's needs and the software's functionality;

• recognise the dangers of customisation and make the difficult recommendations and decisions about the system configuration options;

• conduct thorough system testing, but accept the realities of coping with software 'bug fixes' and upgrades;

• budget for the real costs of internal staff time and their training and development;

• train all users;

• acknowledge the critical nature of system documentation;

• communicate with all stakeholders; and

• build and maintain a relationship with all suppliers.

Careful planning and efficient management of the implementation are vital to success and to negate the threats of spiralling costs, extended timescales, losing key personnel and general dissatisfaction with the outcome.