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Developing and implementing a new software application is a long and arduous process. Despite the belief that it is the building, implementation and testing period that consumes most of the time, the gathering of system requirements actually swallows up most of the time and budget allotted for the project. Recent research suggests that up to 80% of a project’s allotted time is spent gathering the requirements of a new system. Developers have done their part in reducing the time spent by implementing tools such as Rapid Application Development and automated testing tools and have become well acquainted with such processes as multi-site rollouts, software rollouts and POS rollouts. But it is to no avail, as companies continuously face the challenge reducing their requirement gathering time.

Spending too much time on gathering requirements could ultimately kill your project. Recent research shows that of 8,500 projects conducted in the US, 31% were never completed. The factors contributing to these failures include lack of user input, incomplete and changing requirements and specs, and lack of executive support — all of which occur in the requirement gathering phase. This three part series I will discuss five major causes for the difficulties in gathering system requirements.

Part 3 of a 3-part series

Further Define Your Needs
After the demonstrations, you and your selection committee should narrow your choices down to 2 to 4 packages. At this time it is necessary to further define your needs based on the demonstrations. Each need should be rated as follows:

• Exceeds requirements
• Good fit with requirement
• Fits with a workaround
• Can be modified to fit
• Will not fit requirements

Technical Review
After evaluating your detailed requirement, you should find yourself down to one package. Conduct a technical review with your chosen package. A technical review should cover the following:

• Does it play comfortably with other software?
• How easy is it to build and interface?
• How customizable are screens and reports?
• What are bandwidth requirements?
• How much effort is required for the software rollout?
• What happens under load?
• How easy is backup and restore?

Final Steps
You are almost there. Before you sign the deal, it is best to do the following:

• Check Reference Sites
• Negotiate the Price
• Iron out any contractual issues
• Review implementation effort and cost

BigWave can help streamline your software rollouts. Contact us today for more information!

Part 2 in a 3-part series

Educate Yourself and Define Your Goals
Once your organization has committed to purchasing software, bring in an independent expert to teach you, and your selection team about the software you are looking for. Scan the market and identify all potential packages. Make a list of approximately 20 “must haves”. These requirements might relate to:

• Operating systems
• Cost
• Time to implement
• POS Rollouts
• Compatibility with other software
• Local support
• Access to source code
• Vendor size
• Functionality
• Multi-Site Rollouts

Scan the market and identify all potential packages that match your listed criteria.

Arrange a Software Demonstration
Have vendors demonstrate their software to you and your selection team. Prior to the demonstration it is imperative that you create an agenda that covers everything you want to see. At the time of demonstration be sure to do the following:

• Give a copy of the agenda to each member of the selection team.
• Let the rep know that you have an agenda, and be sure that he agrees to follow it.
• Tell that rep that all future contact is to be through you

Your organization is in need of new software, and although many people believe that the purchasing process is simple, you know better. A software purchase requires careful thought as a poor purchase can lead to such atrocities as mismanaged stocks, invoices or financials, and ultimately to an organization’s collapse. In this three part series, I will outline the necessary steps one should follow in an effort to avoid such a mishap.

Before You Even Begin Look at Software
It is imperative to check that the executives understand the complexity involved with implementing company wide software. Some concerns that should be addressed include:

• Software selection is a rigorous process and will involve a number of people.
• Implementation will probably cost more than the purchase.
• The current business process will need to change.
• Customization may turn out to be extremely expensive, and may still not deliver the desired results.
• Skilled personnel will likely be pulled away from multi-site project management during selection and implementation.

Once you convince your organization to commit to the software purchase, you can choose a selection team and begin to look at the needs required of the new software.

Part 3 of 3

Communication:
We all know the importance of communication. But it is often ignored in a large scale project such as a POS rollout. Project teams can be very busy, yet the executive management sees no progress. It is the Project manager’s job to communicate any progress, if only a little, to his or her executives. By doing so, a project manager will gain much needed support. Nothing good comes from keeping your employer in the dark, even if there is very little to share.

Skills:
Lastly, if you aim to be an IT Project Manager, make sure you are prepared to take on the responsibility. You may be an IT wiz, but remember that project management also requires excellent oversight, organization and communication skills. Finding a qualified IT manager is can be tough, but if a company finds someone with the winning combination who can avoid the problems listed above, there is no reason why a company’s growth should not continue.

BigWave can help you manage multi-site IT projects more efficiently so you can collaborate and communicate quickly and effectively both on and off site. With BigWave, project managers can focus on what they do best—managing projects.

Contact BigWave today to eliminate the chaos and streamline your multi-site project management.

Part 2 in a 3-part series

Goals and Objectives:
Staff members involved in IT projects often complain about unclear goals and objectives. In projects like software rollouts, project managers must develop and communicate clear objectives, while also minding the number of goals the projects might have. Although goals are a good thing, too many may ultimately confuse and distract a staff from the project at hand. It is also important to limit unexpected changes in user expectations and requirements as a project progresses. Changing expectations without clear communication will no doubt dissatisfy your customer, frustrate your employees, and add unnecessary costs.

Time estimates:
Time is of the essence – especially for project managers. When planning a project, a well calculated time frame is imperative to an accurate budget. Project managers make the common mistake of assuming the total time needed for a project’s completion is equal to the time on task. However, this does not account for interruptions. Project managers need to focus on the total duration of time needed (which includes interruptions), rather than the time on task.

More to come in the next and final post on this topic… in the meantime, BigWave can help eliminate many of the causes of IT project failure. Contact BigWave today for more information.

Part 1 in a 3 part series

As the demand and size of a company grows, the role of the project manager becomes increasingly important. In an ever increasing technology-based world, multi-site project management is becoming the norm, and thus our project managers find themselves carrying much of the weight of a company’s success on their backs. Despite the fact that technology clearly improves productivity by streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, many IT projects are failing. Why? There are several causes for failure. In this three-part series I will provide advice on how you might avoid them. They include:
• Poor planning
• Unclear goals and objectives
• Changing objectives during the project
• Unrealistic time estimates
• Lack of executive support and user involvement
• Failure to communicate and act as a team
• Inappropriate skills

Planning:
Project managers often plan poorly for IT projects, especially in multi-site rollouts. Unfortunately for them, they are not often given enough time to plan, or worse, the project is already on its way before it is defined. Taking a step back and planning multi-site rollouts, even if it has already started will save time and money in the long run. It is important to define a critical path, as many activities can only start once another activity is complete. Risk calculations must also be completed and taken into account.

More to come in the next post… in the meantime, BigWave can help eliminate many of the causes of IT project failure. Contact BigWave today for more information.

Continued from my previous post…

MS Project 07 employs a complex matrix to license their product through a mixture of CALs, existing MS Office licenses and Project Server licenses. MS Project Server requires licenses to many other MS products including MS SQL Server, MS Windows Server, Sharepoint, etc.

BigWave Software provides state of the art, web-based project portals to manage multi-site project rollouts and installations. BigWave technologies integrate project communication, reporting, and management, service/work-order management and vendor management into one easy-to-use application.

A bold, new structured way to run your multi-site rollouts, BigWave is like a spreadsheet on steroids. It streamlines the project and reduces costs while saving time, and this plug-n-play system can be up and helping you run your projects in just one week.

The benefits of BigWave’s customer-centric solutions are so solid for a very simple reason – it was built by a consortium of Project Managers. It was designed by people who know how essential it is to collaborate and communicate quickly, efficiently, and effectively both on and off site – and know the toll it can take on a project and team when the chaos of spreadsheets and other internally developed tools combine with the fear and frustration caused by a lack of communication.

So are you ready to start communicating more efficiently in your multi-site projects? Contact BigWave today.

Keeping with the building renovation analogy, MS Project requires a patchwork of products the same way some General Contractors need a lot of subcontractors. (And a full-time person is needed to administer MS Project Server EPM, Windows Sharepoint Services and EPK Suite.)

But BigWave can do it all – right out of the box – giving an organization unlimited access to the product with an easy-to-understand framework and implementation process.

The mission of BigWave Software is to help Project Managers be successful, by allowing them to focus on managing the project rather than administrative and coordinating tasks. The advanced technology and exceptional support of BigWave helps PM’s to eliminate the chaos and streamline multi-site project management.

MS Project, which focuses mostly on scheduling, is cumbersome to use for multi-site projects. So MS Project Server was created – seemingly as an afterthought to fill the gap.

While BigWave can handle scheduling, its focus is on maximizing communication to foster collaboration (which is what most project managers really require) throughout the implementation process of multi-site projects.

More to come in my next post…

What is the price that organizations – and their projects – pay for poor communication? It can be significant. An analogy to something that all of us have heard stories about might help illustrate the situation - we have all heard about landlords and property managers. Their situations can be very similar to multi-site project managers, tasked with successful implementation of multi-site rollouts.

Imagine you’re a landlord (Project Manager) that owns an apartment building with old, inefficient appliances (software). You have plenty of tenants (project team members), but at times some of the apartments are empty (not optimized).

It seems like you (and your team) are always being called upon to fix something, and despite the vacancies and repair expenses, your tenants seem happy and you’re in the black every month.

But you know that updating the appliances (software) and renovating all of the apartments (multi-site rollout) will result in greater efficiency and increased economy.

As with the renovation of an apartment building, the key to successful multi-site project management depends upon a commitment to strong communication from the outset.

Ask your tenants to find another place to live while the building is being renovated, and perhaps they’ll never come back. Share your plans and goals with your project team and cooperation and true collaboration are more likely. Keep them in the dark and the uncertainty created just might stick around for the entire life of the project.

Just as in the example of an apartment’s renovation, when a landlord (Project Manager) upgrades the accommodations (software), once the construction (software rollout) is complete costs are likely to increase. But if life is improved and other expenses are offset by increased efficiencies, then the tenants (project team members) should be on board.

Open communication from the outset means that more people will be on board sooner – and that’s good news for the Project Manager AND the project.

BigWave can help you not only manage your multi-site projects, but also provide efficient, solid communications to all constituencies involved. Contact us today for more information, and start saving money today!