In the past year, 80% of healthcare providers increased their IT budgets – This means increasing IT expectations with rising pressure for successful software implementations that meet expanding demands.
Achieving success in these projects requires meticulous planning and execution. Therefore, organizations must Plan to Deliver, then Deliver to Plan.
By establishing a clear, actionable roadmap at the outset and adhering to it throughout, you can navigate each phase from requirements gathering to vendor selection, execution, and testing. Skipping steps or rushing through them can result in costly setbacks.
Here’s a closer look at how to ensure each stage contributes to a successful outcome.
1. Gathering Requirements: Building a Blueprint for Success
The foundation of any software implementation is understanding the organization’s needs. This makes the requirements gathering phase critical. A project must deliver more than just a software product - It must provide a solution that addresses specific business needs.
For more information on clarifying business needs, see MAKE”s article “What’s your problem”. Projects that lack clear measurable requirements risk scope misalignment, costly revisions, and inability to deliver the necessary outcomes. (See “What’s in your Operational Governance” and “Right Thing - Right Time – Right Way” for insights on project selection and governance decision making).
Key Steps for Effective Requirements Gathering:
1. Engage Diverse Stakeholders: Involve departments across the organization to capture a range of perspectives on system requirements.
3. Define Testing and Acceptance Criteria Early: Outline clear validation methods for each requirement.
4. Prioritize Requirements: Classify needs as using a process such as Must-Have, Should-Have, Could-Have, and Won’t-Have (MoSCoW) to focus efforts on critical elements.
Outcome: A solid understanding of organizational needs at the outset helps ensure project objectives are met, minimizing rework and avoiding scope creep.
2. Creating a Project Charter: Laying the Groundwork
Before diving into project execution, it's essential to document the project’s scope, goals, and constraints in a Project Charter. This document provides a unified vision, aligning stakeholders, guiding decision-making, and ensuring every step supports the overall objectives.
Key elements of a Project Charter:
- Purpose: Define the problem to be solved and how the project aligns with business needs.
- Objectives: Specify what is expected in terms of outcomes.
- Scope: Outline the boundaries of the project, ensuring clarity on what’s included and excluded.
- Stakeholders: Identify who will be affected and who is accountable, clarifying key roles and responsibilities.
- Budget and Timeline: Estimate required financial, technical, and human resources, and outline the expected timeline.
- Risks: Anticipate potential challenges and outline risk mitigation strategies.
Why it matters: The Project Charter acts as a reference throughout the project, aligning stakeholders and setting the stage for successful project delivery. Additionally, a well-defined charter is especially crucial if the project requires outside vendor or contractor selection. Having clarity on goals and scope ensures you choose a vendor capable of delivering to your specific needs.
3. Finding the Right Partner: Vendor Selection
For projects requiring external partners, selecting the right vendor is pivotal. he ideal vendor should be a collaborative partner who aligns with your business objectives and offers more than just a technical solution.
- RFP (Request for Proposal): Outline detailed project requirements and invite proposals from qualified vendors that demonstrate how their solutions align with your project needs. An RFP document contains technical, functional, and support requirements, as well as timelines and budget expectations.
- Evaluation: Assess vendors based on their ability to meet project requirements, including budget, support, and scalability.
- Reference Checks: Speak with other organizations that have worked with the vendor to assess their experience. Ask critical questions about the vendor’s delivery and support, lessons learned from the implementation, and post live adoption.
- Final Selection: Use the gathered insights to select a vendor who aligns with the long-term project goals.
4. Charting the Path Forward: Developing a Detailed Plan
Once project scope, vendors, and funding are identified, and the project is scheduled within the organization’s broader portfolio (See “Project Harmony: Orchestrating a Sustainable Portfolio Roadmap”), the focus should shift to developing a comprehensive Project Plan. This ensures that timelines, responsibilities, and key deliverables are well-documented and organized.
The project plan should be regularly reviewed, updated, and communicated as new information is identified throughout the project lifecycle.
Key Components of a Project Plan:
- Scope & Objectives: Reaffirm project goals, ensuring they align with organizational needs.
- Stakeholder Roles: Define the responsibilities of each stakeholder, including the executive sponsor, project manager, vendor team, subject matter experts (SMEs), and end users. Document the ownership of tasks, approvals, and decision-making processes.
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): Break down the entire project into detailed tasks and activities, capturing all necessary steps for configuration, customization, testing, and deployment. Include dependencies and task durations. This is essential whether following a waterfall or agile project implementation methodology.
- Timeline and Milestones: Establish the project’s timeline schedule with critical milestones, task deadlines, and expected deliverables to ensure the project stays on track.
- Risk Management: Anticipate risks that could impact the project, such as technical challenges, resource constraints, or delays. Outline mitigation strategies and clarify escalation pathways for risks and resource challenges.
- Resource Allocation: Specify human and technical resource requirements. Clarify the knowledge and skills, number of team members, budget constraints, and equipment required based one the project’s work break down.
- Communication Plan: Create a plan for how project information will be communicated to stakeholders, team members, and leadership. In addition to planning or internal project communication such as key meeting schedules, reporting formats, and escalation procedures, include details for how communication will be used to prepare organizational stakeholders for the changes introduced by the project (See “Mastering Effective Communication: A Path to Stronger Connection”).
- Testing Plan: Outline how the system will be tested at various stages, including unit testing, functional testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing (UAT). Ensure testing plans align with the project schedule and that sufficient time is allocated for test script development as well as execution.
- Training Plan: Define the end user training approach, including timelines, modalities and materials, and the identification of role-based user groups that need different levels of training.
- Data Migration Plan: If applicable, plan how existing data will be transferred into the new system or archived, ensuring accuracy and integrity. Assign resources to manage data validation once migrated.
- Cutover and Go-Live: Develop a detailed plan for how the system will transition from the legacy system and processes to the new one. This includes building in production, go-live activities, support during the transition, and a contingency plan in case of critical issues.
- Post Go-Live Support & Maintenance: Plan the sustainment and maintenance strategy for the system after implementation including operational handoff and post-live support expectations.
Outcome: A well-structured project plan is a reliable guide that keeps the project organized, tracked, and aligned with its goals, providing coordination for successful implementation.
5. Defining Future-State Workflows: Setting Up for Success
Defining future-state workflows with input from end-users and subject matter experts (SMEs) is essential for ensuring that the software aligns with real-world processes. Involving these experts provides essential insights into how processes should operate, ensuring every step of the workflow is designed for efficiency, compliance, and usability. Collaborating with SMEs allows you to rethink how tasks are performed and how the system should support those tasks in real-world scenarios.
Why Future-State Workflows Are Essential:
- Efficiency and Accuracy: Clear workflows reduce confusion, minimize errors, and help ensure the system supports users’ daily operational needs.
- System Alignment: Mapping workflows before system configuration ensures the system meets actual requirements. Additionally, process workflows lay the groundwork for testing and end user training.
- User Adoption: Involving users in the workflow design leads to smoother training and increased adoption. The system feels more intuitive because it reflects the way users actually work.
Outcome: Well-defined workflows streamline system configuration, testing, and training, boosting user satisfaction, minimizing post-live issues, and ensuring achievement of desired outcomes.
6. Data Gathering: Configuring the System to Fit Your Needs
Once workflows are mapped, gather data to configure the system according to organization's needs. This step is essential for ensuring the software integrates seamlessly with existing processes.
Steps to Follow:
1. Engage Key Stakeholders: Work with department heads, subject matter experts (SMEs), and end-users to gather essential data for how system components should function. Key areas to consider include:
- User roles, permissions, and security requirements
- Data entry forms and field validation rules
- Reporting needs, including custom reports and dashboards
- Workflow automation and integration points with other systems
2. Identify Configurable Elements: Define system configurations to meet project objectives, such as:
- Access control and security settings
- Customized workflows for different departments
- Mapping for integration with third-party tools (e.g., billing systems, CRMs)
- Reporting needs
3. Validate: Ensure all gathered data is accurate, complete, and properly validated before moving into the build phase. Missing or inaccurate data can lead to costly delays or rework later in the process.
Outcome: Comprehensive data gathering prepares the project for a smooth configuration, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring the system meets the organization’s specific needs.
7. Turning Data into Action: Configuring the Components
As the necessary data is gathered, the focus shifts to building the system according to the specifications collected from stakeholders. Whether following a traditional waterfall implementation or a more agile methodology, this process involves translating data into working components that reflect the organization’s workflows and operational requirements.
Key Steps in the Build Process:
- Configure System Settings: Using the collected data, vendors, IT and Informatics teams and system administrators configure essential system components
- Develop Test Scripts: Ensure test scripts are updated or created to include the new technology and workflow processes, so they are ready and available for the project’s rigorous testing.
- Iteratively Validate and Refine: Configuration should be completed in stages, with each phase of the build tested to ensure functionality. This step allows for early detection of issues and ensures project outcome alignment.
- Document Configuration Changes: As configurations are made, document all changes thoroughly. This will be invaluable for future updates, troubleshooting, and training purposes.
Outcome: A meticulous build process produces a reliable system that fits organizational requirements and is adaptable for future updates.
8. Ensuring Quality: Conducting Rigorous Testing
Thorough testing is a critical phase verifying the system functions as expected. Multiple levels and rounds of testing ensure the system is ready for deployment.
Levels of Testing:
- Unit Testing: Test individual components or configurable items to verify they are built as expected.
- Functional Testing: Confirm the system components work as intended.
- Integration Testing: Ensure all system components work together seamlessly with existing and newly established processes and technology, and that data flows correctly between systems. See “Creating Integration Test Scripts: A How-To Guide For Health Systems” for more information on developing and maintaining effective integration test scripts).
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Engage end-users to verify the system meets their needs with real-world scenarios.
Why it matters: Investing in thorough testing significantly reduces the risk and cost of post-live issues, ensuring better end user training and adoption, a smoother rollout, and minimal disruptions to business operations.
9. Guaranteeing a Smooth Transition: Training and Go-Live
A successful go-live requires thorough training, communication, and careful planning. A clear cutover plan ensures that the transition from legacy systems to the new one is seamless.
Key Actions:
- Training: Tailor education to the audience, ensuring each user knows how to use the system as part of their daily tasks.
- Communication: Throughout the project a strong communication plan will have kept the organization informed and helped prepare the stakeholders for change. Continued communication is essential to maintain awareness, confirm readiness, and ensure acceptance.
Outcome: Proper training, effective communication, and a well-organized cutover and go-live plan ensure a smooth transition, minimizing disruptions and providing a system that is used effectively from day one.
Conclusion: Deliver to Plan, and Success Follows
Successful software implementation is achieved through careful planning and disciplined execution.
By following the Plan to Deliver, Then Deliver to Plan approach, organizations can ensure software implementations are well-adopted, deliver value, and meet the outlined goals.
How MAKE Solutions Can Help
MAKE’s operational excellence team specializes in optimizing healthcare IT project strategies, offering project management tools, consulting expertise, operational development workshops, and project management staffing.
MAKE’s TransIT tool supports the unique challenges of project planning and tracking, workflow to test script translation, and complex end user workflow and technology integration testing. With TransIT you can streamline project management and test script development, maintenance, and execution.
MAKE’s Testing as a Service (TaaS) provides services to guide, deliver, and maintain test scripts and testing execution.
For further insights and resources, visit MAKE Solutions. Explore our other articles under Assets-Insights and access our Resource Center for organizational discovery and assessment tools.
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