Managing a System Implementation
This component of the infoKit looks at key approaches to managing, monitoring and communicating the activities involved in a system implementation.
Managing the Project
On a day-to-day basis, the Project Manager normally has overall responsibility to bring the implementation project in on time and on budget.
In an ideal world, the person appointed as the Project Manager would come from the organisation and would have a wide range of attributes, examples of which are shown in the diagram below.
In addition to the core requisite of project management methods and techniques, and the variety of other useful attributes, many organisations find it desirable for the person filling this role to have some knowledge of the education sector and/or its processes and systems. However the requirement for this may vary depending on the type of implementation you are undertaking.
Clearly, it is extremely difficult to find all of those traits in one individual, let alone at a high level of competence, and one who demands payment only on education pay scales. Many organisations recognise that they do not possess the necessary skills in-house and instead appoint externally on a fixed-term basis for the duration of the project.
In any event, the software supplier or implementation partner is likely to appoint a qualified Project Manager of their own to act as the liaison between the two organisations. Using that person as the overall Project Manager offers a less expensive alternative to appointing an independent contractor, but also threatens to take away its control of the implementation and may lead to its needs not being properly represented.
Whoever is appointed as the Project Manager will need an extraordinary level of support from many directions. Understanding this goes a long way to having the right expectations of project management.
Our Project Management infoKit provides more detail on an approach to starting, defining, planning, managing, controlling and closing a project.
It is usual to nominate a System Owner to whom the ultimate responsibility can be given to make the day-to-day decisions relating to the system during its implementation and for its future operation.
In many cases this nomination is clear-cut - for example, the person ideally placed to 'own' a new Finance system may be the Director of Finance, or the 'owner' of a VLE may be the Head of Learning and Teaching. However, the system owner, whilst being a specialist within their field, is unlikely to be sufficiently experienced and skilled in system implementation and project management. The System Owner therefore should work in tandem with the Project Manager and other project staff by providing the knowledge and experience on the regulations, policies, procedures and business processes to be supported.
Working in Partnership
The implementation of an IT system clearly affects both the business side of an organisation and IT staff. Increasingly implementation of learning management tools and systems also include learning and teaching staff. A key function of the Project Manager is to ensure that staff from the business and academic sides of the organisation, usually under the 'system owner', work had-in-hand with the essential IT staff component. Surprisingly this is often not the case. A partnership between business, learning and teaching and IT functions is vital to success. Business managers must understand more about the disciplines of implementing IT systems - this does not mean complex technology sessions, but an improved understanding of project processes and risks, and the system/technology trade-offs that can be made to achieve their business goals. IT staff need to understand the business pressures and changing environment and learn to translate their jargon into understandable terms. Learning to understand each other's problems and views will improve knowledge and facilitate decision-making.
You can return to the planning section of this infoKit for a recap of the other project roles examined earlier.
