When an unstructured way of working no longer suffices

Client case

When an unstructured way of working no longer suffices

Problem

Our customer managed his production department through a mix of legacy software, Excel sheets, Access databases, email and shared network drives. In the past 8 years, several attempts have been made to replace parts of this software landscape. All these efforts were unsuccessful. The assignment was to lead a project with the aim to select and implement one system that supports both the planning and registration processes of the production department. The goal the production department had in mind, was a user-friendly solution for the work floor and one “single source of truth” for the production department and all other departments who are dependent on the results of the production process (e.g., packaging and supply chain).

Maarten was the project leader for this project. Maarten creates trust. With energy and enthusiasm Maarten knows how to inspire project members and with his decisiveness he can turn a failed project into a successful one.

Approach

If several attempts have been made to successfully complete a project and it has not happened still, the system or the implementation partner are often not the cause. Other factors are at play. Think of ineffective leadership, an incomplete overview of all project stakeholders and their visions, lack of involvement of the stakeholders, wrong (financial) incentives, changing project goals, unclear functional requirements, lack of direction, insufficient planning and / or procrastinating decisions.

At the start of this project, we therefore spent a relatively long time thinking about what we had to do differently in order to realize a successful project this time. We have formed a new ‘leading coalition’. This team, consisting of a mix of external parties, new employees and department heads, showed a working solution to the end users in a short time. This prevented project fatigue. In addition, a lot of effort was put into the area of change management before, during and after implementation. The users were trained and supported on the work floor. The new managers were coached in their role as change managers and in demonstrating good example behaviour. Senior management showed themselves as a sponsor of this project and emphasized its importance.

Results

The production process has been standardized, which has radically changed the way of working for many production workers. As a result of this project, all departments dealing with the production process now have real-time insight into the expected and available production quantities by means of interfaces and reports (PowerBI in this case). By using scanners (supported via PowerApps), the system is directly fed with real-time data from the production floor and administration on paper, via Excel, email etc. is unnecessary.

Decisive factors during this project

The customer expressed it as follows in the evaluation: “The preconditions of the project were not ideal. It takes tactics and decisiveness to operate in this environment successfully. The difference that Next Ready Partners makes, is that they also tackle issues that are not directly related to the project but are necessary for results.”

Cooperation and thinking small

Client case

Cooperation and thinking small

Problem

An innovative digital transformation project is at risk of failing. The aim of the project is to develop a generic case management system for the government, within a new dedicated cloud environment. The promise is quite substantial: a generic business solution to model primary processes, which makes it easy to implement a case-oriented system for the government. The Dutch Radiocommunications Agency, part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, wants to digitalise their operations and is one of the first clients. DICTU, an ICT service provider for the Dutch government, is the supplier. After two years of work, limited progress has been made and the parties are opposed. A breakthrough is necessary.

Arie is the program manager of this project. He exudes an air of calm and confidence. He works together with the stakeholders to achieve results. He wants both client and supplier to be winners. To realise this, everyone in the organisation needs to join in and understand what interests are at play. Only then, a project team can function optimally and achieve results. Arie is also able to coach and guide a management team working on a complex business project.

Approach

Next Ready Partner Arie was hired as a program manager. Together with both the client and the supplier, it was decided that redesigning the project was necessary. This included the replacement of a number of team members on both sides. The project was divided into a program portfolio of small sub-projects, with their own business cases and an overall benefit review plan. Instead of using a waterfall approach, it was decided to introduce Lean thinking in the redesign phase and an Agile Scrum methodology with deliveries every two weeks, and Prince II components in governance. The supplier’s team was relocated to the client on site.

Besides the focus on process redesign and technical realisation, specific attention was given to a change program to meet the objectives of a customer-oriented, result-focused and transparent organisation. After all, a new way of working was introduced, impacting the various departments and reducing the number of employees.

Results

This new method yielded tangible, workable components and an external portal for 60,000 customers going live after seven months. With this as a starting point, more and more functionality has been added for external clients and for internal employees. The number of employees has been reduced and the total cost of ownership has been reduced for the application landscape.

In order to get a grip on all initiatives for new IT projects, the project portfolio approach was set up for the entire organisation. For the majority of the initiatives, business value was deemed insufficient and unnecessary costs were avoided.

Decisive factors during this project

When a project or program runs poorly, it can be helpful to re-evaluate and bring in new people to get back on track. Timely intervention can have a great positive effect. Working together as a team, with both the supplier and the buyer, is necessary for success. During this project, we switched from thinking big in technical requests and demands, to thinking small; working in sub-projects and directly delivering business value by implementing developed software as soon as possible. Next Ready Partners has played a decisive role by taking the lead in the transition from a technical software development IT project to a strategic, business value-creating program for the long term.