Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
Your implementation doesn’t start with technology, but with an effective plan that the team can align on.
- Given the increasing complexity of software implementations, you are continually challenged with staying above water with your current team.
- In addition, rapid changes in the business make maintaining project sponsors’ engagement challenging.
- Project sprawl across the organization has created a situation where each project lead tracks progress in their own way. This makes it difficult for leadership to identify what was successful – and what wasn’t.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
An effective enterprise application implementation playbook is not just a list of steps, but a comprehensive view of what is necessary to support your implementation. This starts with a people-first approach. Start by asking about sponsors, stakeholders, and goals. Without asking these questions first, the implementation will be set up for failure, regardless of the technology, processes, and tools available.
Impact and Result
Follow these steps to build your enterprise application playbook:
- Define your sponsor, map out your stakeholders, and lay out the vision, goals and objectives for your project.
- Detail the scope, metrics, and the team that will make it happen.
- Outline the steps and processes that will carry you through the implementation.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
10.0/10
Overall Impact
$32,499
Average $ Saved
10
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Guided Implementation
10/10
$32,499
10
The playbook was pretty extensive so the best part is the willingness to reconnect again as questions arise. The worst part is that the playbook is... Read More
Workshop: Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Understand the Project
The Purpose
Lay out the overall objectives, stakeholders, and governance structure for the project.
Key Benefits Achieved
Align everyone on the sponsor, key stakeholders, vision, and goals for your project
Activities
Outputs
Select the project sponsor.
- Project sponsor has been selected.
Identify your stakeholders.
- Project stakeholders have been identified and mapped with their roles and responsibilities.
Align on a project vision.
- Vision has been defined.
List your guiding principles.
- Guiding principles have been defined.
Confirm your goals and objectives for the implementation project.
- Articulated goals and objectives.
Define the project governance structure.
- Detailed governance structure.
Module 2: Set up for Success
The Purpose
Define the elements of the playbook that provide scope and boundaries for the implementation.
Key Benefits Achieved
Align the implementation team on the scope for the project and how the team should operate during the implementation.
Activities
Outputs
Gather and review requirements, with an agreed to scope.
- Requirements for enterprise application implementation with an agreed-to scope.
Define metrics for your project.
- Metrics to help measure what success looks like for the implementation.
Define and document the risks that can impact the project.
- Articulated list of possible risks during the implementation.
Establish team composition and identify the team.
- The team responsible and accountable for implementation is identified.
Detail your OCM structure, resources, roles, and responsibilities.
- Details of your organization’s change management process.
Define requirements for training.
- Outline of training required.
Create a communications plan for stakeholder groups and delivery teams.
- An agreed-to plan for communication of project status.
Module 3: Document Your Plan
The Purpose
With the structure and boundaries in place, we can now lay out the details on the implementation plan.
Key Benefits Achieved
A high-level plan is in place, including next steps and a process on running retrospectives.
Activities
Outputs
Define your implementation steps.
- An agreed to high-level implementation plan.
Create templates to enable follow-up throughout the project.
- Follow-up templates to enable more effective follow-ups.
Decide on the tracking tools to help during your implementation.
- Shortlist of tracking tools to leverage during the implementation.
Define the follow-up processes.
- Defined processes to enable follow-up.
Define project progress communication.
- Defined project progress communication.
Create a Change request process.
- A process for managing change requests.
Define your retrospective process for continuous improvement.
- A process and template for running retrospectives.
Prepare a closure document for sign-off.
- A technique and template for closure and sign-off.
Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
Your implementation doesn’t start with technology, but with an effective plan that the team can align on.
Analyst Perspective
Your implementation is not just about technology, but about careful planning, collaboration, and control.
A successful enterprise application implementation requires more than great software; it requires a clear line of sight to the people, processes, metrics, and tools that can help make this happen.
Additionally, every implementation is unique with its own set of challenges. Working through these challenges requires a tailored approach taking many factors into account. Building out your playbook for your implementation is an important initial step before diving head-first into technology.
Regardless of whether you use an implementation partner, a playbook ensures that you don’t lose your enterprise application investment before you even get started!
Ricardo de Oliveira
Research Director,
Application Delivery and Management
Info-Tech Research Group
Executive Summary
Your Challenge
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Common Obstacles
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Info-Tech's Approach
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Info-Tech Insight
An effective enterprise application implementation playbook is not just a list of steps; it is a comprehensive view of what is necessary to support your implementation. This starts with a people-first approach. Start by asking about sponsors, stakeholders, and goals. Without asking these questions first, the implementation will be set up for failure, regardless of the technology, processes, and tools available.
Insight summary
Building an effective playbook starts with asking the right questions, not jumping straight into the technical details.
- This blueprint provides the steps required to lay out an implementation playbook to align the team on what is necessary to support the implementation.
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Build your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook by:
- Aligning and confirming project’s goals, stakeholders, governance and team.
- Clearly defining what is in and out of scope for the project and the risks involved.
- Building up a strong change management process.
- Providing the tools and processes to keep track of the project.
- Pulling it all together into an actionable playbook.
Lack of planning is the reason that 39% of projects fail. Poor project planning can be disastrous: The consequences are usually high costs and time overruns.
Almost 20% of IT projects can fail so badly that they can become a threat to a company’s existence. Lack of proper planning, poor communication, and poorly defined goals all contribute to the failure of projects.
A PwC study of over 10,640 projects found that a tiny portion of companies – 2.5% – completed 100% of their projects successfully. These failures extract a heavy cost – failed IT projects alone cost the United States $50-$150B in lost revenue and productivity.
Source: Forbes, 2020
Planning and control are key to enterprise project success
An estimated 70% of large-scale corporate projects fail largely due to a lack of change management infrastructure, proper oversight, and regular performance check-ins to track progress (McKinsey, 2015).
“A survey published in HBR found that the average IT project overran its budget by 27%. Moreover, at least one in six IT projects turns into a ‘black swan’ with a cost overrun of 200% and a schedule overrun of 70%. Kmart’s massive $1.2B failed IT modernization project, for instance, was a big contributor to its bankruptcy.”
Source: Forbes, 2020
Sponsor commitment directly improves project success.
Having the right sponsor significantly improves your chances of success across many different dimensions:
- On-time delivery
- Delivering within budget
- Delivered within an agreed-to scope
- Delivered with sufficient quality.
Source: Info-Tech, PPM Current State Scorecard Diagnostic
Executive Brief Case Study
Chocolate manufacturer implementing a new ERP
INDUSTRY
Consumer ProductsSOURCE
Carlton, 2021
ChallengeNot every ERP ends in success. This case study reviews the failure of Hershey, a 147-year-old confectioner, headquartered in Hershey Pennsylvania. The enterprise saw the implementation of an ERP platform as being central to its future growth. |
SolutionConsequently, rather than approaching its business challenge on the basis of an iterative approach, it decided to execute a holistic plan, involving every operating center in the company. Subsequently, SAP was engaged to implement a $10 million systems upgrade; however, management problems emerged immediately. |
ResultsThe impact of this decision was significant, and the company was unable to conduct business because virtually every process, policy, and operating mechanism was in flux simultaneously. The consequence was the loss of $150 million in revenue, a 19% reduction in share price, and the loss of 12% in international market share. Remember: Poor management can scupper implementation, even when you have selected the perfect system. |
A successful software implementation provides more than simply immediate business value…
It can build competitive advantage.
- When software projects fail, it can jeopardize an organization’s financial standing and reputation, and in some severe cases, it can bring the company down altogether.
- Rarely do projects fail for a single reason, but by understanding the pitfalls, developing a risk mitigation plan, closely monitoring risks, and self-evaluating during critical milestones, you can increase the probability of delivering on time, on budget, and with the intended benefits.
Benefits are not limited to just delivering on time. Some others include:
- Building organizational delivery competence and overall agility.
- The opportunity to start an inventory of best practices, eventually building them into a center of excellence.
- Developing a competitive advantage by maximizing software value and continuously transforming the business.
- An opportunity to develop a competent pool of staff capable of executing on projects and managing organizational change.
Blueprint deliverables
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook – Timeline Tool
Supporting template that captures the project timeline information, issue log, and follow-up dashboard.
Light Project Change Request Form Template
This tool will help you record the requested change, and allow you to assess the impact of the change and proceed with the approval process.
Key deliverable:
Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
Record the results from the exercises to define the steps for a successful implementation.
Info-Tech’s methodology for Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
| Phase Steps |
1. Understand the Project
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2. Set up for success
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3. Document your plan
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| Phase Outcomes |
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Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs
DIY Toolkit
"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."
Guided Implementation
"Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."
Workshop
"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."
Consulting
"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."
Diagnostic and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.
Guided Implementation
What does a typical GI on this topic look like?
A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.
Workshop Overview
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 8 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Understand the project
- Call 1: Sponsor, stakeholders, vision, and guiding principles.
- Call 2: Review goals and objectives.
- Call 3: Establish project governance.
Guided Implementation 2: Set up for success
- Call 1: Review project scope and define tracking metrics.
- Call 2: Prepare for project risks.
Guided Implementation 3: Document your plan
- Call 1: Build the project team and change management process.
- Call 2: Project plan and progress-tracking process.
- Call 3: Lessons learned and optimization opportunities. Project closure procedures.
Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
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