Step 1 in Selecting Enterprise Software that wil Optimize your Business

In my last post I outlined a series of nine steps for selecting enterprise software that will help optimize your business.  In today’s post I am going to dig a little deeper into the first step which is “Defining the Project Vision.”

Before embarking on this process your organization needs to understand what major problems exist and require solving.  The art of defining your organization's problem is accomplished by communicating it via a Project Charter document; it’s the main vehicle for selling the proposed change to your various key stakeholders.  Complete this document with care and communicate it with clarity. If you don’t complete this step your project may hit a brick wall and get sent to the “someday/maybe task list”. 

So let’s get started!

1. Organize your team with individuals that have influence - In order to get buy in from your entire organization you should identify individuals that have influence or can influence key stake holders.  Encouraging input from those that are likely to be affected by the project you are defining will improve the chances your project will be approved, as they will already have some ownership of it.
2. Create the Project Charter
   1. State the Project Objective – List the major objectives of the project, which should include desired business results (As an example - Improve customer response time by 1 day or improve the DSO (Day’s Sales Outstanding) metric by 10 day’s).
   2. Outline the Project Scope – What are the boundaries of the business function or project phase?  What is not to be included in the project?
   3. List Key Deliverables – What must be produced in order for the project to be a success
   4. Identify Major Milestones – How long will the project take and when will each step of the project be complete.
   5. List Key Strategies – What best practices or approaches can be used to complete the project?
   6. Identify Key Dependencies and Constraints – In order for the project to be successful what potential barriers are going to get in the way?  (Resourcing, Capital, System Down Time)
   7. List Project Risks – Describe all the potential risks associated with completing the project.
3. Present the Project Charter to the Stakeholders – After creating your project charter ensure to clearly state your findings in a meeting with all stakeholders that you identified in step 1.  This meeting is critical!  Without buy-in from every party involved, your proposed project will fail.  Without buy-in you will have no resources, no capital and no corporate alignment.  All ingredients for a failed recipe.  So get it right!

Once the project charter is approved by your stakeholders  you can begin the process of evaluating all the existing business processes.  This is the second step in our series of selecting an enterprise application that will help optimize your business.