WINTER 2016

108 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
DENNIS R. COWHEY NEW SYSTEM - SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION from page 10
System Administrator
The System Administrator and his or her assistant
should be chosen before the new system arrives. This
person will be responsible for overseeing the physical
installation or the Cloud implementation. They will also be
responsible for supervising any data transfer or data entry
that is required to begin the setup of the new system. Finally,
they will supervise the step by step implementation and
training on the software. This person does not need to be a
technical expert, but they should have a detailed
understanding of the company and a direct line to the
President or CEO so that they can speak with authority. Some
people are going to have to change their ways. They may
have to do more in certain cases, so that other departments
can have the information that they need. The System
Administrator is the one who irons out all these issues.
Timeline And Goals
A timeline for training and testing should be established.
This timeline is critical because the new system will affect
every part of the business. All the people involved need to
know when their part is going to happen so that they can plan
for it. The timeline can be flexible, but if it changes, those
changes must be communicated to all concerned.
Regular Review
The System Administrator should have regular meetings
with the staff and the software vendor to review progress and
determine where you are on the timeline. The timeline is an
important guiding document, but it should remain flexible and
be revised as the implementation moves along. If the go live
date is a month later but everything is done correctly; it is way
better than hitting your proposed go live date and having so
many loose ends that it takes three months to work out the
kinks. Those should all be dealt with during the training and
initial implementation.
System Output
As the training is in process, the System Administrator
or a designated subject matter expert should be given the
task of specifying and approving the design of each of the
forms that will be produced by the system. The way your
employees, customers and vendors perceive the system will
be greatly affected by the forms that the system produces. If
they are easy to read and a modern format, everyone will like
it. If they are confusing and full of unneeded information, the
system will be judged to be poor. Be sure that all the forms
are reviewed and approved prior to going live on the system.
Training And Sample Company
The training should take place in a small Sample
Company. This company should have all the actual data that
has been converted from the old system, but it should be in
a “safe” area on the server so that people can experiment
and learn the new system without the fear of corrupting data.
The training should be scheduled in 2 hour time segments
because studies have proven that is the way adults learn. An
ideal arrangement is two hours of training and a week of part
time practice. A follow up meeting a week later should be
scheduled to answer any questions that have come up. We
conduct all of these meetings online with our instructor
explaining what to do and the client actually doing the work.
Real Situations
An important distinction between using a Sample
Company as described and using a “Sandbox” to “play” with
the system is the fact that in Sample Company, you use real
data and you experiment with real examples of the way that
you want your company to work. This method is so effective
that our clients never run “dual systems” and they are able
to go directly from Sample Company to a live system on the
cut over date.
WITH A GOOD PLAN, A GOOD VENDOR, AND GOOD CO-OPERATION,
SUCCESS CAN BE ASSURED
Communication
Communication among your key people and just as
important, communication with your software vendor, are
critical to the success of the project. With the proper system,
proper management attention and proper cooperation from
you vendor you too can have a successful transition to your
new system.
DENNIS R. COWHEY