The company is planned to introduce SED? 10 recommendations to an IT specialist

Good day! My name is Michael. Having many years of experience in projects for the implementation of various automation systems (and workflow, in particular), I often encounter the fact that the company's unpreparedness for an implementation project at the outset entails significant difficulties in its implementation. I would like to share my observations and give a few recommendations to those who are planning to implement the workflow systems. I could give a number of recommendations to integrator companies, but today I will focus on something else: what you should pay particular attention to an IT specialist from the customer. Early detection of weak points (despite all their apparent obviousness) will help you avoid difficulties in the further implementation of the project.
I will cite a number of cases from my own practice (some readers may recognize themselves in examples - but all coincidences are random!)

1. "Automate us" everything "

Very often, the owner or top management sets the task for IT directors of companies in the formulation “I want electronic document flow”. I note that this formulation of the problem is quite correct, since the management of the company has the right to set any tasks, and subordinates must solve them. Why the management wants this - often not voiced at all. Maybe they saw with business partners, or maybe they really got enough to work with paper documents. In any case, the fact that the initial task very often arises on emotional grounds is a fact.

I recommend: try to identify and solve exactly the key tasks that will be valuable for your business, do not try to “automate everything” at once, which is likely to be utopian. Provide your management with a phased implementation plan with the mandatory designation of specific tangible (possibly measurable) intermediate results.

2. "We do not know how to organize the document flow"

Many believe that the workflow system will act as a wizard and organize all the processes itself. This is an erroneous opinion, since the system is just one of the means of streamlining and optimizing processes. In order to optimize something, the process itself must first exist. Before embarking on a project for introducing an electronic document management system, you need to make sure that this process is ready for automation.
It is quite logical for implementation consultants to expect the use of their expertise in organizing business processes, but you need to understand that this is a separate activity, generally outside the scope of the project itself.

I recommend: attract specialists for a pre-project survey of the company. Its result will be, at a minimum, proposals for the organization of such a process model that would meet business objectives and be suitable for further automation. By the beginning of the survey it is not at all necessary to choose one or another SED, it is precisely the requirements for it that may arise from the results of this zero stage.
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3. "Embed, I have an hour"

In one of the organizations (with more than 1000 employees), we decided to just use the previous advice and begin with a survey of document flow. The CIO, with whom I had the honor of going to specialists, knocked cautiously into each office and asked the staff to select at least some time for a substantive conversation. From the half of the offices, he was just politely (and sometimes not very) asked to retire and not distract ... A situation that is completely unsuitable for normal work.

I recommend: if you are an IT specialist responsible for the project at this stage - try to get official permission from the company's management to do this work during working hours, notify employees in advance (by order or simply by letter). It would seem a trifle, but everyone will understand what is happening and you will save time and effort.

4. “Let's see what to do during the project, they are professionals!”

As Napoleon said, "On s'engage et puis on voit", that is, "get involved, and then we'll see." Where Monsieur Bonaparte got involved, and what he saw there is well known ...
A lot of projects failed due to the fact that at the time of their commencement, neither side understood what it would do within its framework. After all, it is obvious that, without understanding the essence of the project, it is impossible to correctly evaluate and plan it. It’s likely that you, as a customer, will make such demands that the contractor simply cannot fulfill within the framework of a previously defined budget and time frame. And everyone will be unhappy.

I recommend that it is possible to carry out the project of implementing the SED on the basis of framework agreements, but practice shows that even in this case, each “episode” should be clearly defined in its functional part.

5. "WOW, you can rearrange the column in some places!"

I once conducted training for top managers of one of the large Russian factories (the scale is more than 5,000 employees). Serious men for an hour away from their main job. Natural anxiety before showing the system of such an audience abruptly disappeared when the Most Important in this organization with genuine admiration began to change the columns in the views on the documents ... Surprisingly, all his fellow tops were inspired, and later the suspicious attitude to the project was replaced by its active support.

I recommend: enlist the support of senior executives. Then, believe me, the entire company’s enthusiasm for supporting and mastering the new system will grow.

6. “Everything will be as I said”
I somehow did a project in one fairly bureaucratic organization (about 500 users). The project went on as usual, trial operation was carried out, nothing foreshadowed problems. Suddenly, at one of the meetings, we were presented with a person who, on the part of the customer, will finally accept the work. Carefully looking at the next day, the presentation of our system, the distinguished representative of the customer was laconic - handed us a maroon book titled "Instructions for office work in company X" under his authorship and said that the system should work as it is written there, and nothing else . To say that the project team was shocked - to say nothing. In fact, the project was completed thanks to pure luck (namely, the transfer of the aforementioned colleague to another job).

I recommend: not so much the CIO, as the head of the organization: if you want the project to be successful, you should not introduce new figures into it, especially at the final stages, even if they have enormous experience in the subject area.

7. “The director will create documents in the system himself”

In almost half of the cases at the pre-project meetings, customer representatives say that the management of their companies will necessarily work in the system, initiate documents, issue instructions, etc. The key mistake here may be that the entire system will be designed based on the fact that the managers really work in the system fully. Often it turns out that managers simply do not have the time to fulfill all the functions planned for them.

I recommend: prepare a description of specific cases of using the system by your supervisor with a choice of specific ways of working with it and receive confirmation from the supervisor.

8. "However, the doggy could grow up during the journey!"

Of course, all parties to the project would like the immutability of the requirements for the functionality of the electronic document management system being created. But miracles do not happen, and even with the most qualitative pre-project examination, moments will surely come out, about which everyone will say "we never imagined that such a thing could be." In my practice there was even a case when during the project the automated division was simply eliminated ... But now I already understand that it is not the divisions that are to be automated, but the business processes.

I recommend: to form with my team an understanding that change is a normal situation that needs to be responded correctly, finding a mutually acceptable solution.

9. “It's not like that at all! Where did you get this?

The project usually provides user training. Often, many users find out for the first time that a new system is being introduced, directly on the training. It is clear that the majority of trainees were not part of the project team on the part of the customer, and, therefore, did not participate in the process of forming requirements. Here the key role is assigned to the project manager by the customer. There were cases when I was alone in front of a perplexed public, and the discussions that arose turned the training into another non-constructive discussion about the functional content of the system.

I recommend: it will be good if the IT specialist of the client company sets up and prepares students for the training, tells why the system was done this way and not otherwise, what was the procedure for making certain design decisions.

10. “Do not get in - kill!”

Of course, the views of all employees are valuable for the project, but not always the degree of possible participation in the project coincides with its needs. It happens that specific middle managers refuse, in principle, to talk about any kind of automation with the participation of its employees, despite direct orders from top management. Here you need to show wisdom - if you do not want, then do not. It is much more profitable to pick a few people interested in the results in the project team, rather than anyone who can (even theoretically) benefit him.
Actually, in one project it happened. One of the units had to be completely excluded from the automation circuit. After the end of the project there was only one question from them: “What about us ?!”

I recommend: at the stage of the formation of the project team from the customer, it is important to choose the right composition.

Of course, the recommendations can be much more, but for a start I highlighted the situations that are most often encountered and have a strong influence on the project and its results. If you need advice on the organization of competent preparation for the project of the introduction of the SED - you know who to contact!