Best Practices in POS Pilot Project Planning

Transcription

1 ELEVEN or Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation Upgrade A white paper for retail executives in Canada

2 Contents Introduction...03 Best Practices in POS Project Planning Have a clear picture of the business goals and benefits establish your criteria for success Allow adequate time for initial planning give your team the resources to accommodate the project Be extremely specific in scoping the project set a realistic deadline, with some breathing room Clarify any blackout times...10 Best Practices for POS Pilot Projects run at least three pilots, with a few days between them choose pilot sites close to main depots choose pilot sites that reflect your typical stores After each pilot, adjust the project scope as needed...13 Conclusions...13 About Moneris Services Corporation (MSC) Moneris Services Corporation. All rights reserved. The information in this document is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal or other advice. MSC & Design is a registered trade-mark of Moneris Solutions Corporation used by Moneris Services Corporation under license.

3 Introduction: Plan Before You Do Point-of-sale technology is always evolving. Every three to five years, many Canadian retailers decide to upgrade or replace their POS equipment. These POS projects are not as easy as they look. Like any project, a successful POS upgrade or installation takes planning and preparation. To help Canadian retail executives plan an effective POS project, this white paper describes 11 best practices. Why should you follow them? A badly planned POS project can cost a retailer hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra fees, and slip months behind schedule. In the worst case, poor planning can lead to missing an entire shopping season, such as Christmas... or even shelving a planned upgrade entirely. This white paper is designed to help you avoid all that, so you and your POS partner can plan your project effectively, with a minimum of stress. The companion white paper called 9 Best Practices for Managing a POS Installation or Upgrade describes some additional best practices for managing a POS project during the implementation and afterwards. That white paper will follow next month.

4 Best Practices in POS Project Planning Time management expert Brian Tracy says that every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution (EAT THAT FROG! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, Brian Tracy). On a POS project, this payoff can be even more dramatic. Every minute you spend planning can save hours doing. Good planning can also save your company many thousands of dollars in additional servicing charges. Here are some highly recomended best practices that should be used during the planning stage of a POS project: Clearly define your business goals Create measurable criteria for success Set aside enough time and resources to effective complete the project Scope out the project in as much detail as possible Pinpoint any blackout periods when no installs will be allowed Set a realistic and flexible schedule The rest of this section explains each best practice in more detail. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 4

5 1 2 Have a clear picture of the business goals and benefits If you don t know where you re going, you might not get there. That quip is attributed to Yogi Berra, but it applies well to this tip. It s vital to articulate your business reasons for doing the POS project, and the benefits that will flow from it. For example, do you want to speed up checkout times by a number of seconds to create a better customer experience? Do you want upgrade your technology to minimize transactional errors? Do you need to comply with new governmental requirements? Develop a clear and concrete way to express the goals of your POS project. This gives you the key messages about the project to share with all stakeholders: store managers or franchise owners, shareholders or investors, and even customers. Establish your criteria for success How will you know if the project is a success? What will that look like, and what difference will it make? Working from your goals expressed above, create some specific criteria for success. For example, the project will be a success if everything is installed and improves average checkout times by 7 seconds. The 2 main project success criteria are the project is delivered on time and on budget. But another important criteria is that it s delivered with a quality fit for purpose; as such, other signs of success could be that the implementation did not generate more service calls or that less than 2% revisits were required throughout the project. The more specific and measurable you make your success criteria, the easier it will be to see if you achieved them. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 5

6 3 Allow adequate time for initial planning Investing in planning pays off handsomely with a smooth project, fewer delays and extra fees, and faster time to see the benefits you re hoping to gain. To reap all these rewards, make sure to invest enough time in planning. Consider all the other things your project managers (PMs) and IT teams have on their plates. Can you realistically work in your POS project in a short time as well? Does it involve purchasing? If so, you might need to consider lead time as a critical factor. Did you include a process for quality control? Is the project somewhat complex? (Involving many stakeholders, new technology, training of personnel, etc ) Then, you might consider an iterative process: part of the scope implemented in a first visit or phase and the rest in a subsequent one. If corners are cut on planning, you are guaranteed to encounter serious issues that you never foresaw... issues that will undermine your goals, challenge your success criteria, change the project scope, blow the schedule, and over-run the budget. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 6

7 4 Give your team the resources to accommodate the project This best practice is similar to the previous one, with a slight twist. As stated above, your project managers (PMs) need enough time to plan the POS project well. They may also need extra resources such as: Planning/Communication tools, software or systems Support staff or associates to do communications Additional training or professional development A POS install or upgrade of hundreds of store locations is a complex project. Using Excel may not be enough to manage all those details. Your PMs may need to upgrade their planning tools or systems to stay on top of this project. Several of these best practices involve reaching out to store managers and franchisees through different communication channels. These channels must be in place, and your PMs must have associates who can develop the necessary materials, make the necessary phone calls, or send out the necessary s or faxes. Your PMs may be recent grads with the latest credentials. They may be seasoned pros who can handle anything you throw at them. Or they may be missing a few important skills critical to making your POS project a success (such as change management). Usually they can identify what they need. If your PMs ask for more training to help make the project a success, listen. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 7

8 5 Be extremely specific in scoping the project When you prepare the scope of work, your goal is to tell your POS partner exactly what your requirements are, using the best available information. But there are two major obstacles to achieving this goal: It s not always possible to foresee every last detail before running your pilots Most contracts are written by lawyers, not experts in POS Many items are hard to foresee. Not every site is the same; some use different building materials or different layouts. Some have more lanes than others, so the power and cabling requirements are not all the same. And some issues are seldom considered: Do you need your POS partner to pick up and return the decommissioned units? Do you want these to be refurbished, recycled or destroyed? Many POS install or upgrade contracts tend to be high-level, skipping over many details. And if the lawyers try to convey all the details for a project in a legal document, it s easy to miss details. On your POS partner s side, not all PMs are used to translating legalese into a viable project plan, schedule, and budget. Write the scope of the project based on the best available information, but make sure to leave the contract open so you can amend it during the pilot. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 8

9 6 Set a realistic timeline, with some breathing room Rare are the projects that run perfectly. It is important to consider the implementation team s learning curve as well as the impact of this change on your store management team. It is good practice to include ramp-up and ramp-down phases (see graph below). This will insure time for your teams to adjust as they are rolling-out: To adjust mass communications To adjust training manuals Identify new constraints Etc As indicated earlier, many items are hard to foresee. By following this bell curve approach, you will give your project enough room to mitigate any risks and define plan B s that won t affect your timeline Quantity Weeks 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 9

10 7 Clarify any blackout times Most retailers have daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal peaks in sales. If you don t want a technician in the store blocking a lane or creating noise and dust during your prime selling times, that s understandable. That s why it s a good idea to identify any peak periods when your managers and franchisees won t appreciate any disruption. But please be precise. When you say the weekend do you mean from noon Friday to 9 am Monday morning? Or do you mean from 9 am Saturday to 9 pm Sunday? Give an exact time of day, day of week, time of month, or time of year. If you don t want any installation during certain business hours, that can be arranged. Just remember: That means your store manager or franchisee must be available outside business hours to open the store for the technician. If no one is there when the technician shows up at 11 pm as you requested, that wasted trip can trigger an extra fee and add another delay to your schedule. Also, make sure you don t forget about periods that might impact your finance department such as month end or inventory time. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 10

11 8 Best Practices for POS Pilot Projects All POS upgrades or installations of any size involve pilot sites so your POS partner can do a practice run of the work. This enables everyone to time a typical installation, discover unexpected surprises, and give the schedule and budget a good reality check. Depending on the scope of your project, you may plan on several rounds of pilots, involving anywhere from three to 60 different stores. We recommend four best practices that will help you run an effective pilot project, test all the procedures, and give your projected schedule and budget a reality check. The rest of this section explains each best practice in more detail. Run at least 5-10% of your base during pilots Not all clients understand the benefits of running pilot installations. For your POS partner, these are essential. Like a dress rehearsal before opening night, a pilot gives your partner the chance to try out all the tools and equipment, hardware and cables that they ve prepared for your project. A pilot also gives you the chance to study the effect of the installation on a working store, and to gather some feedback from the manager or franchisee. Together, you can deal with the surprises that tend to crop up on-site, and work out any last changes to your project. For example, suppose you re projected that it will take about 15 minutes to upgrade each lane. But when you do your pilots, you realize it s more realistic to allow 30 minutes. That means recalculating the whole schedule and budget for the project. We recommend doing at least 5-10% of your base during pilots, at as many different sites as possible, with a few days between some of them to gather your thoughts and make any required revisions to your plans. And if your company runs stores with numerous banners that all need to be upgraded, run at least one pilot for each banner, and more if there are different-sized stores under each banner. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 11

12 9 10 Choose pilot sites close to metropolitan areas For the initial round of pilot sites, always choose your locations carefully. Obviously, choosing pilot sites that are closer to your head office (or wherever your key resources (and PMs) work) makes it faster and easier for them to attend the pilots. Consider where your POS partner s main service depots are located, and ideally choose pilot sites within a easy travel distance from those depots. This will save travel time, and make it easier for POS technician(s) to return to the depot for any extra tools and supplies if needed. Choose pilot sites that reflect your typical stores Some retailers chose their latest and greatest sites for their pilots. You may be tempted to pick your showcase locations. After all, your newest stores feature your latest layouts, with the most modern materials and the best lighting. Why not put your best foot forward? Unfortunately, choosing your best locations can undermine the effectiveness of your pilot. Don t choose only your newest, shiniest locations. Instead, choose locations that represent your typical site, or a range of your typical sites. Choosing a mix of bigger, smaller, older and newer stores will strengthen the pilot by giving your POS partner a more realistic idea of what they will likely encounter in the field. That s the whole point of the pilot phase. Here s a list of factor you might consider: Province/State Size (revenue, square footage, lanes, ) Type of store (Drive-Thru, 2 stories,, ) Location (mall, street, ) Personnel (new, experienced, ) Age of store 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 12

13 11 After each pilot, adjust the project scope as needed You will likely want to run with the new equipment for two or three weeks to make sure it performs well under all conditions and to uncover any latent impacts. After getting a good hands-on reality check from the pilot, you may need to revisit your scope, schedule, budget, and even your high-level goals for the project. And that s a good thing. An effective pilot is supposed to turn up gaps in your plans and punch holes in your schedule. Don t worry if that happens. (You should worry if it doesn t!) It s far better to adjust your plans early on than to when you re deep into your project. When your plans don t cover what you saw in the pilot, revise your plans accordingly. You may need to reset your expectations for how long and how costly the project will be. Conclusions This white paper describes 11 best practices that are highly recommended to help plan for an effective POS installation or upgrade. This white paper is a companion to 9 Best Practices for Managing a POS Installation or Upgrade available next month. Together, these two papers provide a framework of best practices you can apply before, during, and after a POS project. To find out more about our project management service visit our website or contact us! For help selecting the ideal POS hardware service partner for your firm, see the white paper 11 Critical Questions to Ask as You Build Your Shortlist of POS Service Providers available here. 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 13

14 About Moneris Services Corporation (MSC) MSC is a leading service and hardware provider of POS solutions for Canadian retail markets. With more than 30 years of experience, MSC offers complete, customized solutions across Canada implementing, managing and supporting cutting-edge secure solutions that ensure businesses run at optimal performance. Working with MSC enables merchants to maximize uptime, get the best ROI on equipment and have access to 24/7, on-demand support. For more information, visit. Contact information Gilles Landry Vice-President, Business Development for Central Canada Tel: Fax: gilles.landry@mscservices.ca Normand Duplessis Vice-President, Business Development for Eastern and Western Canada Tel: x1287 Cell.: Fax: normand.duplessis@mscservices.ca MONTREAL OFFICE 7350 Transcanada Highway Saint-Laurent QC H4T 1A3 toronto OFFICE 3300 Bloor Street West 5 th Floor West Tower Toronto ON M8X 2X2 calgary OFFICE nd Avenue SE, Unit 13 Calgary AB T2C 4X7 11 Best Practices for Planning and Piloting a POS Installation or Upgrade 14