Aon esolutions. Great news: You re planning to deploy a new risk

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2 Introduction Contents Great news: You re planning to deploy a new risk management information system, or RMIS. Today s risk management software can contribute to transformational change across the organization from the risk manager s own desk, right up to the C-suite. Chapter Pages One: Managing the Project Collaboratively Two: Defining Critical Success Factors But before you get started, we recommend you explore the key factors that make for a smoothly executed and successful implementation. Our Aon esolutions professional services team has been involved in more than 300 implementations, and through this experience we have developed some keen insights into best practices for effectively transitioning to a new RMIS. In the pages to follow, we offer eight guidelines for success to help you greatly improve the odds of an efficient, successful RMIS implementation. As you proceed, you ll notice a consistent theme that emerges in each of these guidelines: the importance of establishing structure while also remaining flexible. Though it might seem like a paradox (structure and flexibility?) you ll soon learn that it is an important mindset to understand and adopt. Three: Four: Five: Six: Seven: Eight: Shaping Organizational Hierarchy and Reporting Structures Focusing on Data Mapping and Data Integrity Building Your RMIS for Growth Implementing the New System in Phases XX Encouraging User-Acceptance Testing XX-XX Sticking to the Plan, but Remaining Flexible XX-XX

3 Chapter One Managing the Project Collaboratively Successful implementations are collaborative in nature. This means that from day one they have a project lead and resources from the RMIS vendor as you d expect, and a project lead and support personnel from the client, which you may not expect. This chapter focuses on best practices in project management. 1

4 Chapter One Managing the Project Collaboratively Remember how, in grade school report cards, our teachers evaluated us on how well we worked and played with others? Well, this chapter may take you back as we address the best ways to ensure collaboration between a RMIS provider and the client s project team. All implementations will have a formal statement of work and generate project plans. But in bringing risk management software successfully online, collaboration is certainly a most vital component. Collaboration is something of an intangible factor, but you ll likely find the following points useful in continuously promoting cooperation: Plan communications to meet stakeholder needs: How do we know exactly what should be communicated? A good place to start is getting knowledge and understanding of exactly who your stakeholders are and how and when it s most effective to communicate with them. At project kickoffs, we on the Professional Services team develop a formal communication plan. We base this plan on a detailed stakeholder analysis that we perform together with the client team during the planning phase. We make sure the plan reflects the level of detail required by each shareholder or group. Address risk and issue management within the project itself: Just as risk management is a critical function in a business, it s also one of the most important factors in a successful project implementation. The practice of risk and issue management starts during project inception. Once you ve recorded the issue/risk, it s important to evaluate the potential impact and apply mitigation strategies. That means discovering what needs to happen to gain buy-in from end-users who are happy with the current system. Keep revisiting the issue until you ve eliminated that risk. Many project managers also have risk logs, which are valuable tools for all team members to reference frequently as a resource that enhances collaboration. Manage schedule, cost and scope: Project managers know it as the triple constraint: schedule, cost and scope. If one of those variables changes during an implementation, the others must also change, because the variables naturally self-balance, or recalibrate themselves. Imbalances in the schedule-cost-scope relationship can be a major contributor to IT-project failure. Positioned in positive terms, and if communicated correctly, the triple constraint provides a way for project managers to communicate this paradigm with 2

5 our stakeholders. The provider and client must work together to avoid adding features that are not critical to the business. They must agree and stay true to the project plan to meet objectives they ve jointly defined. But often change is unavoidable; the important thing is to analyze the change (scope) and understand the effect on cost and schedule. Managing workloads: the human element: We have found that a crucial, and often overlooked, step involves managing employee workloads. On a RMIS implementation, nearly every employee also has a day job, and the implementation is an unplanned addition to her or his workload. Both provider and client should be realistic about time constraints, both foreseen and otherwise, for participants. Managers should build in breaks for vacation and holidays, and allow for potential emergency projects to arise. And they can celebrate milestones, hold team-building activities and build RMIS project activities into overall performance goals. Some clients simply want their RMIS provider to do the job. But we continue to encourage a collaborative implementation since one of the key ultimate goals of adopting a RMIS is to improve the organization s working environment and work product. Put in that context, it s a bit easier to understand why a collaborative implementation should cross all levels of users, business units and departments that will ultimately touch the product. 3

6 Chapter Two Defining Critical Success Factors Clearly defined success criteria allow the team to define the project plan around key stakeholder objectives. This chapter discusses in detail how the implementation team should build on the objectives set forth in the statement of work. fig. 03 4

7 Chapter Two Defining Critical Success Factors When your organization faces an IT implementation, how do you know the best place to begin? Identifying and developing the critical success factors (CSFs) that will shape and guide the project is a great first step. CSFs are the limited number of areas in which satisfactory results from the implementation will ensure successful competitive performance for the individual, the department and the organization. In practice, CSFs often represent the three to five items that are the reason the client purchased risk management software in the first place. They are must-haves for a project and must be monitored, visited and visited again throughout the implementation. Let s explore how we determine CSFs and put them to work in helping to make implementations successful. CSFs = critical risk management needs As soon as the contract is signed, our project management team asks our own sales team and solution consultants: What does the client want from this RMIS? What can you tell us about the client s critical success factors? At the kickoff meeting, we ask the client: What are your challenges? What do you want to improve? How will we know we ve improved the ways you handle your challenges? We make sure the discussions are interactive and that all client stakeholders as appropriate take part. By arriving at CSFs early in the project we help ensure the system is developed, tested and accomplished in a way that is aligned with functional needs and specific business goals. With most engagements, clients tend to start with a master list of six or seven CSFs; larger clients can have as many as 10. 5