our mission e⁴

Developing an Industry Standard

Client Situation: The client wanted to make some big changes to reach the corporate goals of improving operations, increasing revenue and improving cash flow.  They wanted to streamline operations and develop an industry standard system for financials. They also wanted assistance with transitioning a home-grown location-specific industry application to a large scale commercial off-the-shelf application. The objective was to transition the proprietary stand-alone system to a scalable system that could become the standard in the industry.

The client needed a specialist in organizational transformations and our consultants brought expertise in change management, project management and business process. We had previously worked with the client on various process improvement and systems projects over the years in the areas of trust management, sales, accounting, operations, construction and marketing. The processes and systems within the industry were developed ad hoc in response to rapid growth and were often inconsistent across locations. The industry was using a variety of systems (some custom developed, some off-the-shelf) that do not contribute to the corporate goals, are expensive and time consuming to maintain. 

The client needed to implement a new system that was developed in client server but not yet developed and scaled up as web application. Implementation of the new system would only be successful after developing new processes in sales, trust management, accounting, and human resources, which touch virtually every part of the business and interface with multiple legacy systems on an accelerated schedule. This project needed to be accomplished with a relatively small team of employees with significant industry knowledge but limited experience in project management, process redesign or big systems implementations (ERPs). The implementation was required to ensure that thousands of users across North America, at 2,000 fairly disparate field locations (in terms of culture, operations standards, skill levels, and technical infrastructure) would adopt new processes and use the new system in a way that would reduce operating cost and increase profits for the company.

Endeavor Management Solution:
Our approach was to leverage our experienced consulting staff with our methodology for large-scale transformation using the client's business insight. Applying our deep experience with large scale ERP systems development, we collaborated with senior leadership to set the strategy and then worked with the project team to develop the action plans. Utilizing our program management experience, we made sure that the client team and all contracted third parties were involved in all of the hands-on work, while our role included coaching and facilitating the team throughout the planning and implementation. Using this participative approach, we helped the client own the change, and trained the client team with new expertise and techniques that are applicable on additional change projects. We know from experience that this approach yields a better return on full-implementation investment than many other consulting approaches and leaves clients with the knowledge and proficiency to drive future initiatives.

We contributed on multiple fronts to get the business ready to receive the new system including:
1.    Technology selection
2.    Process design
3.    Organizational design
4.    Program management
5.    Change management

1. Technology
We performed analysis of customer retail processes and conducted an extensive  gap analysis to determine process and current operational gaps between the client server version and the .net version of the software under development. Data cleansing process, tools, and standardizations were developed so cleansed data could be imported with minimal errors. We managed verification/validation of data conversion and tested converted data. Data cleansing at the field level was facilitated through our custom development of a software tool to assist in data collection and standardization so the import into the software could be completed. We provided the system architect who played a major role in the proof of concept tests and then provided integrated design to build the software, which was converted from client-server to a web-based application, then integrated with the legacy systems. We developed hardware design and performance criteria as well as the software use-cases for testing. We also provided third party technical oversight of the software development and enterprise installation.

Our team provided master table build maintenance in a supporting role as the client completed their definition of case types, kit builds, service types, inclusion/exclusion, location, and product location groups. We provided diagnosis and data fixes for all live/production sites that entered data in error or imported legacy data that was converted into poor data.

2. Process Design
Our team mapped current "as-is" process maps around critical value added processes. Then the current performance levels were compared with desired performance levels to determine the gaps. Finally, through innovation and best practice guidance, the future-state process model was developed to integrate client business processes with the ERP system requirements.

3. Organizational Design
We evaluated staff competencies, documented job descriptions, identified redundancies, and recommended staffing changes. We established a compensation team staffed by subject matter experts to standardize the sales commission model consistent with the ERP capabilities. We developed training content and delivery mechanisms for a geographically dispersed user community that had limited computer skills.

4. Program Management
We established a separate project team to do site readiness assessments which included computer hardware, software, network hook-up, and ISP connectivity for hundreds of geographically dispersed sites. Once the gaps were identified, a roll-out plan for upgrading the sites was developed, scheduled, and deployed in advance of the system implementation.

We selected "as is" processes which assigned process owners in the organization to oversee the transformation to the new future-state processes and pilot tests of these processes were scheduled for validation and remediation in advance of the application development.

We established process teams and divided them by business function like trust, management reporting, and compensation and worked on their respective process integration on parallel paths.

5. Change Management
We created and translated changes into business process analysis, design, and integration which required that we first facilitate the formal development of the client's vision for change which established urgency within their organization and a commitment for the defined changes. We completed development of the vision and delivered on-boarding and orientation to the project team members from diverse areas of the company. This included extensive training in change management, project management, and business process reengineering.

We developed much of the business case for change with defined risk actions for managing any resistance to change. We prepared a communications plan for the project which started immediately to communicate to all levels of the organization regarding the changes that would take place as a result of this new system implementation and continued to work with the team to prepare management and users and the system rolls out.