Four questions you must answer before purchasing large software systems

Read this if your organization is planning on upgrading or replacing an enterprise technology system.

It can be challenging and stressful to plan for technology initiatives, especially those that involve and impact every area of your organization. Common initiatives include software upgrades or replacements for:

• Financial management, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
• Asset management systems
• Electronic health records (EHR) systems
• Permitting and inspections systems

Though the number of considerations when planning enterprise technology projects can be daunting, the greatest mistake you can make is not planning at all. By addressing just a few key areas, you can avoid some of the most common pitfalls, such as exceeding budget and schedule targets, experiencing scope creep, and losing buy-in among stakeholders. Here are some tips to help you navigate your next project:

Identify your IT project roles and resources

While most organizations understand the importance of identifying project stakeholder groups, it is often an afterthought. Defining these roles at the outset of your project helps you accurately estimate the work effort.

Your stakeholder groups may include:

• An executive sponsor
• A steering committee
• A project manager
• Functional leads
• A technical team

Once you’ve established the necessary roles, you can begin reviewing your organization’s resources to determine the people who will be available to fill them. Planning for resource availability will help you avoid delays, minimize impact to regular business processes, and reduce the likelihood of burnout. But this plan won’t remain static—you can expect to make updates throughout the project.

Establish clear goals and objectives to keep your technology project on track

It’s important that an enterprise technology project has established goals and objectives statements. These statements will help inform decision-making, provide benchmarks for progress, and measure your project’s success. They can then be referenced when key stakeholders have differing perspectives on the direction to take with a pending decision. For example, if the objective of your project is to reduce paper-based processes, you may plan for additional computer workstations and focus technical resources on provisioning them. You’ll also be able to measure your success in the reduction of paper-based tasks.

Estimate your IT project budget accurately

Project funding is hardly ever overlooked, but can be complex with project budgets that are either underestimated or estimated without sufficient rationale to withstand approval processes and subsequent budget analysis. You may find that breaking down estimates to a lower level of detail helps address these challenges. Most technology projects incur costs in three key areas:

• Vendor cost: This could include both one-time software implementation costs as well as recurring costs for maintenance and ongoing support.
• Infrastructure cost: Consider the cost of any investments needed to support your project, such as data center hardware, networking components, or computing devices.
• Supplemental resource cost: Don’t forget to include the cost of any additional resources needed for their specialized knowledge or to simply backfill project staff. This could include contracted resources or the additional cost of existing resources (i.e., overtime).

A good technology project budget also includes a contingency amount. This amount will depend on your organization’s standards, the relative level of confidence in your estimates, and the relative risk.

Anticipate the need for change management

Depending on the project, staff in many areas of your organization will be impacted by some level of change during a technology implementation. External stakeholders, such as vendors and the public, may also be affected. You can effectively manage this change by proactively identifying areas of likely change resistance and creating strategies to address them.

In any technology implementation, you will encounter change resistance you did not predict. Having strategies in place will help you react quickly and effectively. Some proven change management strategies include communicating throughout your project, involving stakeholders to get their buy-in, and helping ensure management has the right amount of information to share with their employees.

Maintain focus and stay flexible as you manage your IT project

Even with the most thought-out planning, unforeseen events and external factors may impact your technology project. Establish mechanisms to regularly and proactively monitor project status so that you can address material risks and issues before their impact to the project grows. Reacting to these items as they arise requires key project stakeholders to be flexible. Key stakeholders must recognize that new information does not necessarily mean previous decisions were made in error, and that it is better to adapt than to stick to the initial direction.

Whether you’re implementing an ERP, an EHR, or enterprise human resources or asset management systems, any enterprise technology project is a massive undertaking, involving significant investment and a coordinated effort with individuals across multiple areas of an organization. Common mistakes can be costly, but having a structured approach to your planning can help avoid pitfalls. Our experienced, objective advisors have worked with public and private organizations across the country to oversee large enterprise projects from inception to successful completion.

Contact our software consulting team with any questions.

On the first episode of the Let’s Talk Parks with BerryDunn podcast, we spoke with Shane Mize, the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Pflugerville, Texas, and members of the BerryDunn Parks, Recreation, Libraries team about innovative ways to plan, engage, and serve their communities.

For those not familiar with Pflugerville, the city is situated between Austin and Round Rock, Texas. It has been listed as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. They have a population of roughly 80,000 and their parks and recreation system is made up of over 55 miles of trails, with over 900,000 visits to their park system annually.

On the podcast, Shane talks about the challenges and opportunities of being surrounded by cities that have great parks and recreation departments. Never one to be upstaged, Shane uses innovation in his program, to increase community engagement and ensure the highest level of service to Pflugerville. The end goal: Being the best parks and recreation department in the country.

So let’s take a look at five innovative things the department is doing:

1. Rethinking the master plan

Shane told us that he's not a huge fan of how typical master plans are done. When he realized that he needed one to qualify for grants, he agreed, but on his own terms.

Shane shared his experience in seeking a consulting firm to help with the process, “I just decided that we were going to do things differently and was fortunate to find a firm [in BerryDunn] that … had enough park and rec professionals on it …and was young enough in some of their philosophies.”

He continued, “I think I was in the right place at the right time to push my agenda, which was to have a master plan that looked 100% different than any of the master plans I'd ever seen, and to feel confident and comfortable, not only standing before council, but standing before anybody in my industry.”

BerryDunn’s Jason Genck, the project manager on the master plan project, said, “They expect a high level of service, and they want us to push the envelope quite a bit, and I'm particularly excited about this project because I tend to be attracted to projects that are really creative, certainly innovative, and pushing the envelope.”

When starting the process, Shane told Jason that he wanted the plan to be “the most creative and engaged master planning process the country has ever seen.” Jason and his team completely agreed with this philosophy for Pflugerville and could see applications for other cities and towns.

Jason said, “I think this planning process is disrupting the traditional way of planning because the entire project team is constantly adjusting and re-thinking approaches to maximize the benefits to the Pflugerville community. Yes, we have our standard practices, but, we are having a lot of fun while being inspired to really push innovation in everything we do. While the Pflugerville team and the consultant team are true partners and everyone has such great expertise, we are also learning together how to help create the most vibrant future possible for the community.”

2. Going beyond benchmarking

Shane’s vision for the plan included local feedback as well as feedback from around the country. Jason Genck explained how this is different from what is typically done, “It's not just doing benchmarking, for example. Benchmarking is very common in a planning process, to look at how one organization might be performing against other, similar size, similar scoped organizations—and of course, we do that, and it's always an interesting discussion to reflect on what that is—but in the case of Pflugerville, that wasn't enough.”

“It was, 'Hey, let's take that benchmarking, let's get a think tank together. And you know what? We don't want a think tank of just local leaders. We’d also like you to do a think tank of regional and state leaders. Oh, and by the way, let's actually do a think tank of the best minds of the nation.' And that's just one example of many instances throughout the team's planning processes that are really just taking the traditional services that you might expect to another level.”

3. Constantly evaluating satisfaction

As the team started the master planning process, at the top of the list was getting feedback from the community, which was nothing new to the Pflugerville team. Proactively seeking customer satisfaction is something they do regularly. Another creative example:

Shane shared, “I actually have a staff member that pulls Yelp, Google, and Wedding Wire [reviews] for our wedding event site, and they pull those numbers quarterly and we can see if we've dipped up or down in every single park in the last quarter and any new comments are captured.”

4. Bringing in celebrity voices

This one is for all the fans of the TV show Parks and Recreation. As a way to gain visibility for the master planning process and to get the attention of their constituents, the Pflugerville team had a creative idea. Using the social tool Cameo, they hired actor Jay Jackson, who played character Perd Hapley on the show, for a brief “in character” video message (which you can see on Pflugerville’s Facebook page here). Here’s the message:

Perd: And hello there everyone. Jay Jackson here, aka Perd Hapley. And welcome to, 'You Heard with Perd!' We have some breaking news right now. And that news that is breaking is this: Right now, Pflugerville wants to hear from you as they develop a 10-year parks and recreation master plan. Your participation is very important, so go to pflugervilletx.gov/parksplan to learn more about it. And now that you heard, get involved. I'm Perd Hapley.

The video was widely shared and gained nearly 10,000 views—getting the master planning message out to potentially new audience members.

5. Meeting people where they are – on the road or online

On the podcast, BerryDunn’s Jason Genck described one of his favorite outreach vehicles (literally) that Pflugerville is using to engage citizens all over the city. “Let's pull a 15-foot-wide chalkboard all over the community, which has logged over 120 miles to date, to get into every nook and cranny in the community to make sure everyone knows what's going on with the future parks and recreation and has the opportunity to provide input.” Community members were encouraged to finish the sentence, “Parks matter because…” on the mobile chalkboard as a way to gather feedback on what was important to park users.

The chalkboard is just one way that the team is gathering feedback. Their website has a master planning section, linked to an engagement platform hosted by BerryDunn, where community members can provide ideas and vote for ideas from others. Meeting constituents where they are is helping make this project one of the most engaged planning processes the BerryDunn team has seen.

What’s next? Robots?

Well, maybe! The Pflugerville team has been looking at robots for lining their sports fields, so it can save their staff time and their employees can get back to doing what they do best. Nothing is off the table!

Shane explained that to be successful at innovation, you have to take some risks. He said, “If you're waiting until it's somewhat successful in the public sector, you've missed the mark of innovation. You've missed the mark of doing anything new.”

Listen to the full podcast here:

Read this if you are a Police Executive, City/County Administrator, or elected government official responsible for a law enforcement agency. 

Are your officers overwhelmed with workload? Have you been asked to do more with less? Is your agency struggling with maintaining sworn staffing levels? Has your community been questioning why the police respond to things that might be more appropriately handled by others?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, your agency might benefit from a comprehensive analysis of your police call-for-service (CFS) response model. 

Increasing CFS workloads

Many police agencies in the US have been struggling with increasing CFS workloads, while simultaneously facing ever-tightening budgets and unprecedented attrition and vacancy rates. As a result of these challenges and national trends calling for police response reform, many police departments have started to ask a very simple question: “Is there a better way?”

Considering alternatives to police CFS response is not new. In fact, many agencies already use some form of CFS diversion, whether through a telephone response unit (TRU), online reporting, mobile apps, or the use of non-sworn personnel. What is different and new in the most recent discussion is the understanding that this conversation is not simply about providing these alternatives as possible options.

It is about considering fundamental changes to how police departments do business, including identifying collaboration opportunities with other organizations and in some cases outsourcing certain CFS types entirely.

Despite growing interest among police agencies in identifying alternatives to the traditional police CFS model, many have struggled to deliver an objective process that can produce meaningful results, and in some cases, suggested revisions have met with resistance from staff, elected officials, and community members.   

Best-practices approach to call for service response model

The best-practices approach to conducting an Essential CFS Evaluation should be one that is highly collaborative, but also expand beyond the walls of the police department. The 21st Century Policing Task Force final report explains:

Law enforcement agencies should work with community residents to identify problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the community… and do things with residents in the co-production of public safety rather than doing things to or for them. 

Determining possible alternatives to traditional CFS police response requires substantial data collection and analysis to inform and guide outcomes and recommendations. It also requires a thorough and comprehensive process that considers:

• Legal mandates
• Immediate response needs
• Potential risk
• Workload volumes by CFS type
• Operational policies and training
• Alternative resources, whether or not they currently exist
• Community priorities and expectations
• Fiscal impacts

The cost of providing consistent and effective public safety services is one of the more critical reasons for considering CFS response alternatives. Although officer salaries vary by state, region, or department, the cost of staffing a non-sworn position is typically 40%-45% of the cost of a sworn officer.  

There is a common reason why the legal profession has attorneys and paralegals, the medical profession has doctors and physician’s assistants, and why many ambulance companies have moved to a paramedic and emergency medical technician (EMT) team, as opposed to staffing two paramedics in one ambulance. Cost is a driving force in these examples and the same circumstances are present in the law enforcement industry (among others). A well-trained non-sworn police staff member can handle a variety of CFS that do not require the presence of a sworn officer—likely at half the cost. Shifting the work burden from sworn to non-sworn personnel benefits officers by freeing them up to perform tasks that require an officer to respond, and it benefits the department and community by reducing costs. 

Beyond the issue of cost, there is also increasing conversation about the effectiveness and appropriateness of using police personnel to manage a variety of CFS types, including mental health incidents and those involving the unhoused, for example. Regardless of the CFS type, it is critical to use a process that involves influential participation by both providers and consumers. 

Making changes to the traditional police CFS response model is involved and it requires a thoughtful approach. BerryDunn has developed an Essential CFS Evaluation process that considers numerous critical factors to produce data that police staff, community and elected leaders can rely upon in making critical decisions about future public safety needs. 

If you are curious or have questions about our Essential CFS Evaluation process, our dedicated Justice & Public Safety team is available to discuss your organization’s needs.

We all know them. In fact, you might be one of them — people who worry the words “go live” will lead to job loss (theirs). This feeling is not entirely irrational. When an organization is ready to go live from an existing legacy system to a new enterprise system, stress levels rise and doubts emerge: What can go wrong? How much time will be lost? Are we really ready for this?

We’re here to help. Here is a list of go-live essentials to help you mitigate stress and assess your readiness. While not all-encompassing, it’s a good place to start. Here’s what you need:

1. A detailed project plan which specifies all of the implementation tasks
   A project plan is one of the most important parts of an implementation. A detailed plan that identifies all of the implementation tasks along with an assigned resource for each task is critical to success. The implementation vendor and the organization should develop this plan together to get buy-in from both teams.

2. A completed system configuration
   New system configuration is one of the most time-consuming aspects of a technology implementation. If you don’t complete the implementation in a timely manner, it will impact your go-live date. Configure the new system based upon the best practices of the system — not how the existing system was — for timely implementation.

3. External system interface identification
   While replacement of some external systems may be a goal of an implementation, there may be situations where external systems are not replaced or the organization has to send and/or receive data from external organizations. And while new systems have advanced interface technology capabilities, the external systems may not share these capabilities. Therefore it is imperative that you identify external system interfaces to avoid gaps in functionality.

4. Testing, testing, testing
   End-to-end testing or User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is often overlooked. It involves completing testing scenarios for each module to ensure appropriate system configuration. While the timing of UAT may vary, allow adequate time to identify solutions to issues that may result from UAT.

5. Data conversion validation
   When you begin using a new system, it’s best to ensure you’re working with clean, up-to-date data. Identify data conversion tasks in the project plan and include multiple data conversion passes. You must also determine if the existing data is actually worth converting. When you complete the data conversion, check for accuracy.

6. End user training
   You must train all end users to ensure proper utilization across the organization. Don’t underestimate the amount of time needed for end user training. It is also important to provide a feedback mechanism for end users to determine if the training was successful.

7. A go-live cutover plan
   The overall project plan may indicate go-live as an activity. List specific activities to complete as part of go-live. You can build these tasks into the project plan or maintain them as a separate checklist to promote a smooth transition.

8. Support structure
   Establish an internal support structure when preparing for go-live to help address issues that may arise. Most organizations take time to configure and test the system and provide training to end users prior to go-live. Questions will arise as part of this process — establish a process to track and address these questions.

Technology implementations can significantly impact your organization, and it’s common for stress levels to rise during the go-live process. But with the right assessment and preparation, you can lessen their impact and reduce staff stress. Our experienced, objective advisors work with public and private sector organizations across the country to oversee large enterprise projects from inception to successful completion. Please reach out to us to learn more about preparing for your next big project.

There’s a good chance that your organization is being forced to do more with less under the strain of budget constraints and competing initiatives. It’s a matter of survival. You need to present decision-makers with well-thought-out and targeted business cases for new initiatives. Yet developing such a business case is no walk in the park. Perhaps because our firm has its roots in New England, we sometimes compare this process to leading a hiking trip into the woods — into the wild.

A hiking analogy may be a well-traveled path for some and brand new — and somewhat daunting — terrain for others. Relax. Success in developing a business case for a new initiative boils down to planning, preparation, and applying a few key concepts we’ve learned from our travels.

Consensus is critical. Before you can start the hike, everyone has to agree on some fundamentals:

• Who's going?
• Where are we going?
• When do we go and for how long?

Getting everyone to agree requires clear communication and, yes, even a little salesmanship: “Trust me. The bears aren’t bad this time of year.” The same principle applies in proposing new initiatives - making sure everyone has bought into the basic framework of the initiative is critical to success. 

Although most hiking involves groups of people similar in age, ability, and whereabouts, for your business initiative you need to communicate with diverse groups of colleagues at every level of the organization — for a business initiative, gaining consensus among people who bring a wide variety of skills and perspectives to the project is an additional layer of complexity.

To gain consensus, consider the intended audiences of your message and target the content to what will work for them. It should provide enough information for executive-level stakeholders to quickly understand the initiative and the path forward. It should give people responsible for implementation or who will provide specific skills substantive information to implement the plan. And remember: one of the most common reasons projects struggle to meet their stated objectives (and why some projects never materialize to begin with), is a lack of sponsorship and buy-in. The goal of a business case is to gain buy-in before project initiation, so your sponsors will actively support the project during implementation.

Set your goals. It’s refreshing to take the first steps, to feel that initial sense of freedom as you set off down the trail. Yet few people truly enjoy wandering around aimlessly in the wilderness for an extended period of time. Hikers need goals, like reaching a mountain peak or seeing famous landmarks, or hiking a predetermined number of miles per day. And having a trail guide is key in meeting those goals.

For a new initiative, clearly define goals and objectives, as well as pain points your organization wishes to address. This is critical to ensuring that the project’s sponsors and implementation team are all on the same page. Identifying specific benefits of completing your initiative can help people “keep their eye on the prize” when the project feels like an uphill climb.

Timelines provide additional detail and direction — and demonstrate to decision-makers that you have considered multiple facets of the project, including any constraints, resource limitations, or scheduling conflicts. Identifying best practices to incorporate throughout the initiative enhances the value of a business case proposition, and positions the organization for success. By leveraging lessons learned on previous projects, and planning for and mitigating risk, the organization will begin to clear the path for a successful endeavor.

Don’t compromise on the right equipment. Hiking can be an expensive, time-consuming hobby. While the quality of your equipment and the accuracy of your maps are crucial, you can do things with limited resources if you’re careful. Taking the time to research and purchase the right equipment, (like the right hiking boots), keeps your fun expedition from becoming a tortuous slog.

Similarly, in developing a business case for a new initiative, you need to make sure that you identify the right resources in the right areas. We all live with resource constraints of one sort or another. The process of identifying resources, particularly for funding and staffing the project, will lead to fewer surprises down the path. As many government employees know all too well, it is better to be thorough in the budget planning process than to return to authorizing sources for additional funding while midstream in a project.

Consider your possible outcomes. You cannot be too singularly focused in the wild; weather conditions change quickly, unexpected opportunities reveal themselves, and being able to adapt quickly is absolutely necessary in order for everyone to come home safely. Sometimes, you should take the trail less traveled by, rest in the random lean-to that you and your group stumble upon, or go for a refreshing dip in a lake. By focusing on more than just one single objective, it often leads to more enjoyable, safe, and successful excursions.

This type of outlook is necessary to build a business case for a new initiative. You may need to step back during your initial planning and consider the full impact of the process, including on those outside your organization. For example, you may begin to identify ways in which the initiative could benefit both internal and external stakeholders, and plan to move forward in a slightly new direction. Let’s say you’re building a business case for a new land management and permitting software system. Take time to consider that this system may benefit citizens, contractors, and other organizations that interact with your department. This new perspective can help you strengthen your business case.

Expect teamwork. A group that doesn’t practice teamwork won’t last for long in the wild. In order to facilitate and promote teamwork, it’s important to recognize the skills and contribution of each and every person. Some have a better sense of direction, while some can more easily start campfires. And if you find yourself fortunate enough to be joined by a truly experienced hiker, make sure that you listen to what they have to say.

Doing the hard work to present a business case for a new initiative may feel like a solitary action at times, but it’s not. Most likely, there are other people in your organization who see the value in the initiative. Recognize, and utilize their skills in your planning. We also suggest working with an experienced advisor who can leverage best practices and lessons learned from similar projects. Their experience will help you anticipate potential resistance and develop and articulate the mitigation strategies necessary to gain support for your initiative.

If you have thoughts, concerns, or questions, contact our team. We love to discuss the potential and pitfalls of new initiatives, and can help prepare you to head out into the wild. We’d love to hear any parallels with hiking and wilderness adventuring that you have as well. Let us know!