A Guide to a Successful Implementation

Successful Software Implementation

Step 1: Assign a project champion

  • To implement a successful project, it needs to be supported by the full organization.
  • The best way to manage this is to assign a project champion that knows your organization, understands your business processes and is capable of getting and keeping the various people and disciplines on board.
  • Your project champion will be the engine for your project and will see to it that your project keeps momentum.

Step 2: Get management support

  • Next to having a project champion, it is very important to have your management supporting the project.
  • People and disciplines need to team up, which requires the support of your (senior) management.            

Step 3: Preparation

  • It is important to properly define scope, objectives and time frame.
  • Define the success of your project and create a business case that secures your budget and determines your potential cost savings.

Step 4: Take a step by step approach

  • Many implementations have failed or largely exceeded budget because companies wanted to do too much too soon.
  • By defining small steps with clear milestones, you oversee what you are doing, are able to control and manage the process, and give your users time to adjust to the new situation.
  • With a step by step approach you manage and control your implementation process and achieve the right results.

Step 5: Define your requirements

  • Describe your requirements from a business perspective, without being influenced by technical possibilities.
  • Create process flowcharts most people are visually oriented, a process flowchart can be very illustrative.

Step 6: Start a pilot

  • The advantage of a pilot project is that you gain experience, understand the impact of your implementation, and better understand your requirements.
  • A pilot project should comprise only a defined part of your company and business, for instance a defined project or department.

Step 7: Evaluate your pilot

  • A good evaluation of your pilot is critical to continue a successful implementation.
  • Do a proper evaluation with the users, your project team and your vendor or implementation partner, and see what needs to be done to come to the right configuration and implementation that supports your document management needs and business processes.

Step 8: Scale up

  • After a successful first step you can scale up.
  • You can scale up to more users, more departments, more projects, more documents or document types, etc.
  • Continue to take small steps to ensure a successful rollout.