One of the first decisions your team will make when implementing a new software solution is identifying the core project team to facilitate the implementation. Depending on both industry and company experience, this decision can be a simple choice or a very complex choice that leaves the group exhausted and anxious before the implementation has even started.
If your team falls into the latter category, please consider a strategic group of stakeholders to include when building your project team. This team, and its ability to work together well, is the main part of a successful implementation.
Before even jumping into the key members of the project team, you must identify the number of project team members. Effective teams for an implementation are composed of no more than 6 team members. This amount ensures that project team meetings are focused with clear owners for the project. A larger team leads to external discussion or focus shifts that take away from the main goal to get your software solution live and into the hands of your end-users.
The members of the project team should be as follows:
- Project Sponsor: A project needs organizational support. The project sponsor serves to offer that support and aid when decisions, risks, and issues need to be mitigated. Additionally, a project sponsor leads the vision-setting of a project, so all members of the team have clear goals to measure the project success. While the project sponsor will likely not join every meeting, they should be included on project communication and have periodic and strategic updates to effectively lead the project.
- Project Manager: This is the main point of contact both for their company’s project team and for SafetyStratus. The project manager, or PM, makes crucial decisions to move the project forward and communicates project roadblocks to the necessary stakeholders.
- Department Representative: A department or end-user representative provides the direct insight into how the software solution will be applied by day-to-day users once post-live occurs. They will ask the questions regarding real scenarios they encounter to inform guidance from SafetyStratus. If your company is choosing to implement multiple modules, it’s likely that this project team member is swapped for a more relevant department representative once the implementation of a new module begins.
- Business Analyst: The Business Analyst provides the team a holistic view of the business needs and how SafetyStratus can fulfill those needs. This team member can also identify the areas where the business will need to change to adapt to implementing this new software solution. This team member could overlap with a department representative, especially as it relates to providing SafetyStratus requirements for a successful implementation of the module.
- IT Representative: This is an optional role for the project team and decided based on the complexity of integration requirements between SafetyStratus and other software solutions that your company utilizes. This team member’s role is to bridge the gap between the company’s project team’s requirements for integration and SafetyStratus’ technical capabilities.
- Department Representative: This is another optional role and serves as a backup to the original department representative. With complex implementations and the possibility of an implementation impacting multiple departments in an organization, it is helpful to have another representative to ensure project decisions do not negatively impact any end-user group.
Through the careful selection of a project team, you can create an efficient decision-making group to streamline the implementation and deliver a desired product to your end-users.
AUTHOR BIO:-
Madelaine Register joins the team with a decade of experience in the K-12 public education space. Madelaine started her career as a 7th-grade teacher in El Dorado, Arkansas as a Teach for America corps member. Madelaine moved into school operations post-teaching where she created new roles to better serve students and families.
Throughout her time in operations, she oversaw compliance in school safety, food service management, grant administration, student enrollment, and general operational standards. Madelaine brings this experience to her role as a Project Manager for SafetyStratus where she facilitates the implementation process for customers from a variety of industries. Madelaine is a proud “Double Gator,” having received both her Bachelor’s Degree in History and Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Florida. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and in her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and working out with her husband at CrossFit.
