I ask you, how can you know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been?  Do you know who is doing what and what role that is in the organization no matter who sits in the role?  Do you know where your manual processes are and how you might achieve efficiencies with system support?  Do you know what rules are necessary to ensure when you follow the process that you are in compliance?  Are you aware of the boundaries and how the HR process may be impacted by the Recruitment process, or how the supply chain process may be impacted by procurement. 

It is always amazing that there is someone who indicates process is not important, or we don’t need to do that until we get into designing the system and writing the specs.  Process Analysis needs to happen up front to determine where the opportunities are for change, how change will be instantiated and communicated, what training will need to take place, does the system support the process or not?  Are there other systems that are integral to the process?

Here are some questions to ask yourself and ensure you have the answers and your processes analyzed to provide a framework and foundation for everything else in your implementation.  The foundation will be there for testing, training, security, roles, compliance and ultimately change and communication. 

Questions;

What is the purpose of the process, outcome and result?

What are the Roles and how will they change?

What are the steps?

What are the business Objects?

What are the rules?

What is manual and where does the system support the process?

What training and testing will be necessary to ensure the process is working as planned?

What are the boundaries between processes and what is the impact on pre and post process?

How will all the changes be communicated and managed?

So if you think process is not important, look to those implementations where you have been involved and determine points of failure.  And on those that were supported by Business Process or Use Case Analysis how they had an impact on success. 

I remain amazed that there are still consultants and professionals who do not understand the value of understanding and anlyzing process at the beginning of an implementation…not in design, not in construct, not in transition, not in deploy but in the beginning to provide a foundation for all stages, phases and tasks involved in an implementation.

Communication is something we all talk about but are sometimes remiss in doing. A family member changes plans and forgets to let you know so you are left anticipating one outcome and another occurs. A team member fails to communicate a key factor in a project which leaves information and results falling through the cracks. A conference attendee fails to notice a change in venue and shows up for an event that is at another time or place.

We are all guilty at one time or another of failing to communicate. Communication also may mean one thing to you and another to someone else. You like detail, detail, detail, and they think they have communicated by osmosis. How can this be rectified? One way is to make it clear when someone fails to communicate up to your expectations. If you don’t tell them they may go merrily on their way thinking all is well.

Sometimes communication is manipulation. We see that in politics, family and business on many occasions. I communicate one thing about a health care plan, while supporting another. I talk of no tax while imposing tax, families talk of love and demonstrate manipulation by pretense, businesses post signs about their cleanliness and you find untoward imaginings in the back room or behind the counter. Clear, honest communication is critical to any relationship, project or business.

A clear plan at the beginning of a project that is communicated to all team members is critical to success. It doesn’t have to be a Microsoft plan with all the bells and whistles, but even a basic excel plan with the results expected and timelines provides a good foundation for success.

Ask yourself, where have you failed to communicate and how might you change this in the future? Family, Friends, Teammates? Look around and see where you can improve and then make a plan to do it. That’s it a communication plan, hmmmm why didn’t I think of that?