by: Danielle Gardner
Effective system implementations are critical for ensuring that new software, technology solutions, and processes are successfully integrated into an organisation. As Universities move deeper into the digital space to manage key processes, it is important that institutions carefully plan and execute the implementation of a new system to ensure that the rollout is seamless, and the experience is positive for both staff and students. To achieve this, the following principles and practices should be adopted as a best practice framework.
- Planning and Requirements Gathering
- Identify and define the objectives of the system implementation, ensuring that this is understood by key stakeholders across the organisation.
- Engage relevant stakeholders early in the process to understand their needs, requirements and concerns.
- Create a detailed set of system requirements that documents the required functionality and performance criteria.
- Assess the feasibility of the system implementation from a technical, financial and operational perspective.
- Project Management
- Confirm the scope, timeline, budget, key milestones and deliverable, and resources for the implementation and capture this in a project plan.
- Determine the key stakeholders, governance structure, reporting, touchpoints and cadence of meetings.
- Identify potential risks and issues and consider the mitigation strategies for each.
- Determine whether an agile or waterfall methodology approach will be adopted.
- System Design and Architecture
- Ensure business processes are defined and agreed to by the business prior to designing the system. The system should always be designed and built to support the processes of the university.
- Future proof the design of the system to ensure that it can scale as the organisation grows or as demand increases.
- Define the integration requirements and confirm if the system is compatible downstream or upstream systems that need to consume data.
- Focus on making the system user-friendly, intuitive, and accessible to all users.
- Customisation and Configuration
- Determine if a level of customisation is required and if the product can accommodate bespoke requirements.
- Configure the system to align with the business processes and to utilise workflows, that reduce the need for manual intervention and to streamline operations.
- Ensure that an experienced Business Analyst is assigned to the project.
- Testing and Quality Assurance
- Conduct thorough testing, including unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing (UAT). Ensure that test cases have been created, and appropriate resources are assigned for testing activities.
- Utilise non-production environments for testing and bug fixing, prior to moving configuration into the production environment.
- Record bugs and issues found in the system and ensure that critical and high items are resolved prior to Go Live.
- Training and Knowledge Transfer
- Complete a training needs analysis to identify the training requirements for end-users, administrators and support staff. This will ensure a smoother adoption process and will reduce user resistance in using the system.
- Provide comprehensive training to system users.
- Create user manuals, system guides, and FAQs to support users during and after the implementation.
- Ensure that system knowledge is kept up to date so that relevant team members can maintain and support the system once it is live.
- Deployment and Go-Live
- Determine whether a phased or gradual rollout approach is most appropriate. Consider whether to start with a smaller group or region before a full deployment.
- Complete comprehensive planning for each deployment and go live milestone, engaging technical resources for the activities that need to occur and to ensure that all steps are determined.
- Ensure backups are taken and rollback strategies are in place before transitioning to the new system.
- Assign resources to support with testing and troubleshooting after go live.
- Post-Implementation Review and Support
- Continuously monitor the system’s performance to identify any issues that arise post-implementation.
- Complete a Post-Implementation Review (PIR) with the project team to determine what went well and what could be improved next time.
- Gather feedback from users to understand their experience with the system thus far and to determine any areas for improvement.
- Plan for regular updates, upgrades and patches to ensure longevity of the system.
- Change Management
- Create a change plan to implement strategies to manage resistance to change, such as clear communication, benefits of the new system, and stakeholder involvement.
- After implementation of the system, implement a continuous improvement approach that regularly assesses how the system is performing and adjustments required to continue to meet the needs of the organisation.
- Documentation and Reporting
- Ensure all decisions, configurations, and customisations are documented well so that they can be referred to down the track and to assist with future troubleshooting or updates.
- Provide regular reporting to key and senior stakeholders to inform the progress of the project, key risks/issues, and to facilitate key decisions.
- Consider the use of KPIs and other metrics to evaluate the systems success. This can include uptime, user satisfaction, and overall business impact.
By adhering to these best practices and principles, organisations can significantly increase the likelihood of a successful system implementation, which leads to enhanced performance and efficiencies, user satisfaction, business outcomes and an improved student experience.
DVE has extensive experience in the management of system implementations, working with both universities and vendors. If you would like to chat to our team about how DVE can support you, please contact us at info@dvesolutions.com.au.