CHAPTER 10: NEXT STEPS

You are finally there. The selection is made, the contract is signed and you are ready to start – so what now? For a system selection, you are only at the end of the beginning – you will still need to develop/configure and implement the application. For a service supplier, you may be ready to start.

This chapter covers:

• guidance on the likely next steps for:
  • a package system implementation
  • a bespoke system implementation
  • a new supplier starting to provide their service
• learning lessons from the selection process.

Guidance on next steps

Package systems

The likely steps are:

• The supplier may want to run a kick-off meeting, to talk through the plan, agree communication channels, and so on.
• The supplier may want to provide an in-depth demonstration of the ‘vanilla’ product to your key stakeholders, or even run initial training sessions. This can make the workshops and meetings mentioned in the next step easier, as your staff will have a better understanding of the standard capabilities of the product.
• The supplier will configure the package to your needs (they will probably need additional workshops/meetings to agree the details).
• Data migration, if you are moving from an existing electronic application(s). This will involve mapping the data across to the new package, then probably a few attempts at migration to enable any tweaking to be done.
• User acceptance testing. You should expect this to involve a number of people at your organisation. Preferably you will develop test scripts beforehand, to ensure that an adequate amount of testing is done (and so you can repeat tests more easily to make sure problems have been fixed).
• Training, for end users and system administrators.
• Final sign-off before the application goes live.

Bespoke systems

This will be similar to the package system, except that the ‘configure the package’ bullet will be replaced by some kind of ‘design and development’. The actual process for this depends on the development approach used by the supplier.

In a more traditional approach (often called ‘waterfall’), they will design the application, then develop it, then pass it over to you for user acceptance testing. There will probably be an approval point after design to make sure you’re happy before the development starts.

A different approach commonly used these days involves you much more in the whole process (this is usually called ‘Agile’). Design and development will still take place, but in smaller ‘chunks’ which are likely to be a set duration (e.g. three weeks each). You will be much more involved throughout the development; you may be asked to look at prototypes, or do a test cycle each time a development chunk is completed. Even though you will have had more chance to see this application during development, you should still do full user acceptance testing on the whole system once it’s complete.

Service provider

For a service, the next step is likely to be them simply starting to provide it. There may need to be a handover period, if they are taking over from a previous supplier. You may also need to agree procedures around your use of the service.

Learning lessons

Take some time after the selection is complete to think about any lessons you’ve learned that could help you with the next selection. A team workshop can be useful to get everyone’s input.

The following questions should help to kick off a discussion:

• What worked well for you? (So you can do that again next time!)
• What didn’t work so well? And why? Was it something specific to this particular selection or would you do it differently next time?
• How long did it take? (This will help your planning next time.)
• How much internal resource time did it take? (ditto)
• Have the team got any ideas that you could use to tailor the process next time?

Hopefully this book has been of help to you during your selection. With your own input from your lessons learned session, you will be in a great place to run your next selection with even more confidence.