Step 12:

Implement Solution and Conduct Change Management Tasks

Version 1.0, February 2005

Step 12 is intended to bring the designed and approved solution into production and to coordinate the change management Tasks that are essential to a smooth implementation.  This Step relies heavily on the implementation specialists that are either supplied through professional services relationships, or have been trained and are working internally.  The implementation specialists will provide technology and change management expertise in this final Step of implementing the business transformation.

Step 12 is performed for the following purposes:

·         To acquire the physical materials necessary to configure and implement the solution as designed and approved

·         To communicate the intent and impact of the solution to a wide community of business owners, business staff, and administrators

·         To construct and implement new policies to smoothe the transition to the new solution

·         To train business owners and business staff on the new solution and on any new skills that they must possess

 

Impact of Not Performing this Step

Step 12 is the culmination of all of the prior planning and investment Steps.  This Step is where the experts implement a new solution and work with the business community to transform the business around its new processes and solution.  If Step 12 is not performed:

• No solution will be implemented
• The business will not be transformed to the target state
• Existing analysis work will become “shelf-ware”

Step 12 starts with the following inputs:

Inputs:

• Final OMB 300
• Detailed Solution Architecture
• Interior Data Reference Model
• Business Rules Document
• IDEF0 Activity Models
• Existing solutions documentation
• Integrated Target Services and Systems Model

Detail:

Within this Step, there are seven major Tasks, each with associated sub-activities:

 

 

 

Task 1: Solicit hardware/software/professional services as needed. The investments steps (Steps 10A and 10B) have provided the financial authority to move forward with acquiring the resources necessary to implement the solution.  The Solution Architecture Step (Step 11) gave the team the details necessary to make smart acquisition decisions.  This Task focuses on moving the solution implementation forward by soliciting the necessary resources.  This Task is largely completed in conjunction between the Core Team, and the Procurement/Acquisition organization.

 

Activities:

1. Work with the Core Team and the Procurement/Acquisition organization to develop a strategy for acquisition.
1. Determine whether all products and services will be acquired together (in a package)
2. Determine whether a Request for Information is necessary
3. Determine whether the acquisition will be a designated for small business, 8A, or made widely available
2. Work with the Core Team and the Procurement/Acquisition organization to develop and issue the Request for Proposal (RFP)
1. Include specifics from the Detailed Solution Architecture and from the Modernization Blueprint.  This will ensure that bids are compatible with the enterprise architecture
3. Evaluate proposals from vendors
1. Evaluation criteria will need to contain items from the Detailed Solution Architecture as well as from the Modernization Blueprint
4. Make an acquisition decision based on the evaluation of the proposals

 

Task Outputs:

• Request for Proposal (RFP)
• Proposal Evaluation Criteria

 

Task 2: Acquire hardware/software/professional services as needed. Once the necessary resources have been solicited in the previous Task, the team is ready to acquire those resources and move forward.

 

Activities:

1. Evaluate proposals from vendors

1. Evaluation criteria will need to contain items from the Detailed Solution Architecture as well as from the Modernization Blueprint

2. Make an acquisition decision based on the evaluation of the proposals

 

Task Outputs:

• Evaluated Proposals
• Selected Proposal

 

Task 3: Implement solution and conduct outreach briefings to management / staff. Once the products and services have been acquired, it is time to implement the solution.  This Task is very much determined by the professional services team and the nature of the solution.  The outcome of this Task is a solution that is in production and ready to be used by the business area.  The specifics around how to implement that solution should be the first order of business for the professional services group once their services have been acquired. This Task also focuses on communicating the impacts and benefits of the solution to the affected management and staff.

 

Activities (specifics are dependent on the professional services team and the nature of the solution itself):

1. Install hardware and software in development environment
2. Interview users and leverage the architecture to determine configuration and interface requirements
3. Obtain sign-off on solution requirements
4. Configure solution and construct interfaces (leveraging Detailed Solution Architecture)
5. Move the solution into the test environment
6. Perform stress and integration testing
7. Perform user acceptance testing
8. Move the solution into production environment
9. Perform release testing
10. Announce solution release

 

Specific Outreach Activities:

1. Work with the Core Implementation Team to develop a list of impacted organizations.  Determine a schedule for meeting with each of the organizations or components of those organizations
2. Develop a series of briefings to discuss the impacts of the solution, the benefits of the solution, the expected changes due to the solution, and the resources available for training and troubleshooting
3. Brief management teams first and collect their feedback.  Incorporate feedback into the briefing.
4. Brief impacted staff, with management voicing support.  Having the management vouch for your briefing is a good way to leverage leadership to gain traction.

 

Task Outputs:

• Final Solution Requirements Document
• Implemented Solution
• Enterprise Level Solution Presentations

 

Task 4: Formulate and issue new policy resulting from solution implementation. This Task overlaps slightly with the solution implementation.  The focus of this Task is to leverage the authority of executive leadership to author new policy that would ease the transition to the new solution.  The key to this Task is identifying the new policy items that are critical to the solution’s success in the organization. Once the new policy items have been identified, timing the release of the policy statements is also important so as not to add to the confusion of the implementation.

 

Activities:

1. Work with the Core Team to develop a list of needed new policies resulting from the solution implementation
2. Analyze the list of new policies and limit to the fewest necessary items
3. Draft new list of policies and send through the leadership ranks for review and re-authoring
4. Establish a timeline for the release of the new policies
5. Release the approved new policies according to the established timeline

 

Task Outputs:

• Policy Memo(s)

 

Task 5: Implement organizational change recommendations. This Task is focused on implementing the organizational elements of the change recommendations.  Within the Modernization Blueprint is a series of findings and recommendations.  Some of the recommendations are focused specifically on the organization and its people.  This Task implements those recommendations.  This Task should be coordinated with the solution implementation Task so that completion dates are in sync.

 

Activities:

1. Work with the Core Team using the established program plan to determine the key milestones for implementing these change recommendations
2. Establish an even closer working relationship with the executive management and business area leadership to discuss the organizational and Human Resources related elements of the solution
3. Leverage the authority of the executive management and business area leadership resources to communicate the organizational and Human Resources related changes.
4. Implement the changes based on the timetable in the program plan.  Implementation dates should be synchronized with the dates for the solution implementation release.

 

Task Outputs:

• None

 

Task 6: Construct and implement training strategy based on BPR and Solution Architecture. This Task focuses on the training of management and staff.  This Task should coincide with the release dates of the solution implementation and should also be complementary to Task 3: “Conduct outreach briefings for management / staff”.  The outreach sessions are designed to raise awareness and establish expectations for the solution.  The training within this Task is designed to establish a working understanding of the solution and the new processes once the solution is released.

 

Activities:

1. Work with the Core Team to identify the audiences that need training
2. Leverage the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) results, the Detailed Solution Architecture, and the Final Solution Requirements Document to develop a training strategy for the solution
3. Implement the training strategy by providing several focused training sessions.
1. Management overview sessions
2. Management sessions that address staff processes
3. Staff sessions that walk through new processes and the solution
4. Solicit feedback from the training sessions and provide additional sessions if necessary

 

Task Outputs:

• Training Strategy/Curriculum

 

Task 7: Evaluate solution against its intended purpose. The final Task of Step 12 is the evaluation of how well the solution has performed against its intended purpose.  The Modernization Blueprint detailed the need for the solution, and the specific requirements for the solution were documented later in the Methodology.  This Task is intended as a check point to ensure that the business has been transformed according to the approved will of the business community.

 

Activities:

1. Review the Modernization Blueprint recommendation intentions
2. Review the Detailed Solution Architecture and the Requirements documents
3. Review the solution in the context of the Requirement documents and mandates

 

Task Outputs:

• None

 

• Core Team Representatives: Person
• Professional Services Team: Org
• Executive Management: Person
• IEA Analyst:  Person
• Solution Owners:  Person
• Acquisition/Procurement Organization:  Org
• Business Owners:  Person
• Training Specialists:  Person

 

The Detailed Solution Architecture must be complete and the funding strategy for the solution must be in place.  Specifically for funding, the investment process must have approved the spending of funds or the O&M funds must be available.  Also, executive management and business area leadership must believe in the solution and be willing to assist in the sponsorship of the solution and its communications.

Request for Proposal: This work product is a description of the solution that is required from the vendors who are bidding to deliver the solution.  The requirements within the work product should be derived from the Detailed Solution Architecture and the Modernization Blueprint.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: MS Word)

 

Proposal Evaluation Criteria: This work product is a scoring mechanism for evaluating the vendor proposals. The criteria should be derived from the Request for Proposal which should be derived from the Detailed Solution Architecture and the Modernization Blueprint.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: MS Excel)

 

Final Solution Requirements Document: Based on the Detailed Solution Architecture, the Modernization Blueprint, and the Request for Proposal, this work product is created to articulate the design and configuration requirements to the Core Team.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: MS Word)

 

Implemented Solution: This work product is the installed hardware, the configured software, and the implemented interfaces that make up the solution itself.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: n/a)

 

Enterprise Level Solution Presentations: This work product is a presentation or series of presentations that are designed to communicate the impacts and benefits of the solution implementation. The intention of these presentations is not to train the audience, but to familiarize the audience with the solution and its benefits.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: MS PowerPoint)

 

Policy Memo(s): This work product is a memo or series of memos from executive management that detail the policy changes that are necessary based on the solution being implemented. These policy changes are essential, in some cases, to having a smooth transition from legacy processes and solutions to the target state processes and solutions.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: MS Word)

 

Training Strategy/Curriculum: This work product captures the strategy for the management and staff training sessions, and also documents the curriculum for what will be taught to each audience.

• TEMPLATE : Hyperlink to Template (Deliverable Type: MS Word)

 

Communication is a key component to this Step as there are Tasks that are designed for outreach and training.  In any implementation cycle, there is a fear of the unknown.  This fear can evolve into a lack of trust that the solution will be successful.  This risk can be combated by Tasks that are designed to maximize communication flow. The following Tasks involve key communication points:

• Conduct outreach briefings for management / staff
• Formulate and issue new policy resulting from solution implementation
• Implement organizational change recommendations
• Construct and implement training strategy based on Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and solution architecture