Business Analysis Project Management

Business Readiness

However beneficial your project may appear, you should always consider the state and commitment of the business regarding change.

There are many reasons why projects falter and one recurring theme is that senior management did not really understanding what was being proposed at the start. This leads to an increasing disenchantment with the project and negative or even hostile reactions at the first significant hurdle.

While part of the process of promoting a project is to paint the most attractive picture possible by highlighting the positive outcomes, you must step back and assess the reality of what this change means and the effects it will have.

Ask any group of business managers if they want to increase profits with no extra investment and they will naturally say yes; point out that they need only trim their bonuses to achieve this and see how long you keep your job.

So it is with business change, the issues of integration, staff impact and process change will be fundamental to the success of any project. What may seem like a wonderful idea in isolation may be unworkable in practice.

Operational Readiness

Many modern systems have very different operational requirements than the applications that they replace. In an age when many skills and functions no longer reside in-house, the knock-on effects of system change cannot be underestimated.

Try to speak to owners and administrators of satellite and feeder systems to get a real feel for their capabilities and commitment. It is your career and reputation that is at stake and you will do well to check that somewhere someone is not shouting 'this will not work' but nobody is listening.

When assessing the readiness of your organization to implement the change consider these points as a minimum:

Awareness - your project will, by definition, change the business. Be clear about the reasons for the change and what the 'new' business will look like.

People - be sure that affected staff can adapt to and enjoy benefit from your change. If proper training and support are not available then even a 'successful' project may fail to deliver.

Processes and procedures - some changes will have wide ranging knock-on effects, don't underestimate these under any circumstances. In today's highly regulated environment even minor changes need to be fully documented and validated.

Logistics - what else is going on that might compete for resources. Your project is important to you but other's may not see it so favourably and if you're going to struggle to maintain business support then the business may not be ready for your change. Better to defer the start than to be left wallowing, watching deadlines slip and milestones missed. In the end it will reflect on you, not on those who pulled your team apart or withheld vital funds at crucial times.

Culture - is this change about to challenge what the business has always done? This may be one of your project's strongest features but if the business doesn't know what to expect then you're in for a rough ride.