Services
Services Stage 1
Digital Integration invariably involves multiple vendors. DAD can manage them leaving you to focus on running your business. DAD becomes your single point of contact. We can help you with budgeting, timelines, governance, organizational structure and business readinness. We can manage your vendor evaluation process from initiating the RFI to vendor and product selection.
IT SME & Advisory: With over 40 years in the Information Management and Technology space DAD are ideally placed to be your IT/Business partner whether you are simply looking for some guidance or want to engage with us on a full Transformation Program: Starting up again after COVID-19; Abandoned project remobilization; Digitally transforming or just need help.
Single point of Contact: The Single Point of Contact is generally the Transformation Program Director, with ultimate responsibility for managing all contributors to the Project or Program, ensuring all are aligned, messaging is clear and delivered in a timely manner according to the governance rules and procedure and methodology being followed. DAD provide the Single point of contact and can manage all other parties.
Organizational Structure Management: It is important to understand the Company organizational structure to decide on what the input and commitment from the company resources will be during all stages of the transformation. A Transformation Program Organization Chart should be drawn up and agreed by all key stakeholders. On larger transformation programs it is often necessary for key resources from the company to be assigned to the program on a regular or full-time basis thus creating the need for backfill. Even when large portions of the transformation program are outsourced there is a need for internal commitment from both IT and Business departments. The overall Transformation Program Organization Chart should include those from all involved parties and be governed by the transformation director. A clear set of Roles and Responsibilities should be defined and agreed so that all parties are clear on what their role is and what is expected of them. Individual Project Organization Charts should be agreed with all involved parties with Program and Project Managers reporting to the Program Director.
Reviews and Approvals: It is very important to have the correct Governance process in place. A Program Organization Chart is used for delivery of the Program but there could be other internal and external resources responsible for reviewing and approving deliverables. There should be levels of approval depending on the type of document, solution, change request or other material requiring sign off. Sometimes when there is conflict between parties the approval hierarchy should deal with this if it cannot be resolved at the lower level a higher level in the approval hierarchy should decide.
Requirements Gathering: A clear definition of what the company does is key to a successful transformation. It is important to note that this is not what IT Solutions the company uses; it is what the functions are that each of the business units within the organization perform. Often this can be carried out by an Enterprise Architect though this is often already defined by the company.
Business Process Design: With a clear set of Business Functions, the next step is to define the processes within those functions and how those steps relate to each other forming business processes that are in scope for the transformation. This is usually carried out by the Business Process Design team.
RFx Process Management: Engaging with Suppliers, Vendors, Integrators, and other niche product suppliers often requires research and/or knowledge of key services and solutions providers. Information can be gathered by examination of company white papers, glossy sales material or as is often preferred, by engaging with them to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) or Request for Proposal (RFP). Once these are received processing them is done through a scoring system, which DAD can derive for you, with key stakeholders invited to give their feedback on each of the offerings. This can include business functional areas, financial, HR and other company departments. To make a final decision on the products and/or services required product demonstrations can be asked for. These could be done at the time the respondents prepare and send in their responses to the RFI and/or RFP, or after initial evaluation once responses have been received. Final review sessions with all key stakeholders can then be held for selection of products and/or services.
Contract Management: Closely linked to RFx Process Management and before implementation services should start contracts need to be put in place. This will involve working closely with several company business units such as Legal, Finance, HR and possibly others as well as the selected product and/or service providers. With large organizations this can be quite complex with negotiations on contract terms and conditions. Understanding what suppliers are proposing and offering is critical but just as critical is understanding what they are not providing, and this must be made very clear and understood by all key stakeholders.
Services Stage 2
DAD can manage your Program or Project through all stages of its lifecycle using any of the industry standard methodologies, providing documentation throughout. We can advise on specifics such as T&M versus Fixed Price providing Pro's and Con's of each. We can provide Functional and Technical teams to assist you and your vendors as required.
Portfolio Management:
Planning your Portfolio of Projects and/or Programs is an integral part of annual Budgeting and may often involve early engagement with Vendors and Suppliers but equally as is often found, Projects spring up outwith the Budgeting cycles and need to be accommodated.
Business Analysis:
Understanding the needs of the Business is critical to the success of any Project. DAD can work with your Business and define these requirements, conducting workshops where necessary and defining the Gaps between the requirements and any preferred solutions.
Project Planning: Preparation of individual project plans using suitable tools such as MS Projects, is done by the Project Manager who will work closely with a Program Manager or the Program Director. The Program Manager may be responsible for several Projects within a specific Program. DAD can work with Integrators, Vendors, Niche companies and Offshore resources to collaboratively plan resources for the Project or Program. Understanding the customer’s resource commitment, budget, required timelines, scope and that of integrators, vendors or suppliers all need to be considered, understood, and aligned during Project Planning.
Project Execution: Project execution can follow a method that is preferred by Vendors or Integrators who commonly follow traditional Waterfall or Agile methodologies. For a Program, a mix of methodologies can be used but should roll up to the overall Program Execution Plan. Controls at the beginning and end of each of these phases ensure governance and procedures are adhered to, with entry and exit criteria defined for each Phase, usually referred to as Gate Processing. For a Program with multiple projects it is often the case that not all Project Phases are aligned with the same Project Phases of each or any of the other Project Phases so it is important to include Dependencies both within Projects and between Projects when Planning to ensure accurate reporting.
Project Control: The success of any Program or Project relies on tight control throughout all Stages and Phases of the Implementation. Defining the Exit Criteria from one Phase and the Entry Criteria to the next allows for solid governance to ensure all key stakeholders agree to progress.
Risks, Issues and Requests for Change can be identified by anyone and reported to the Project or Program Manager to ensure these are logged, assessed and mitigated with minimal impact to costs, timelines or budgets, assessed if necessary through Governance Procedures, typically by Working Groups, Steering Committees or any defined higher authority.
Services Stage 3
Key to the success of any Program is Change Management. DAD can manage tour change process in cooperation with your business throughout the project ensuring that communication is targeted at the right audience, at the right time and with the right level of information. DAD can ensure that all your Vendors and your business are aligned. We ensure that you are prepared for transition to production and into your digital world with Business and IT Continuity Plans.
Business Awareness & Involvement: Fundamental to the success of any Transformation Program is the Change Management functions. The Change Management Team should be aligned at the outset of the Program as they are key in understanding the change from the As-Is state to the To-Be state. The more they are involved in the Requirements Gathering and Business Process Design stages the better for the program. Often this will involve resources from the Company who will require their roles to be backfilled for all or some of the Program duration. Subject Matter expertise can come from Vendors or Suppliers though this is usually more product specific. The Company will need to identify their subject matter experts to become the Super Users who will be involved throughout the Program.
Communications: The Communications Service is extremely important. Internal Stakeholders, Users and generally all the company employees have a vested interest in knowing what is going on and what is happening when. They may well all be impacted. Equally as important is the need for external Customers, Partners, Vendors, Suppliers, or anyone with an interest in the Company. Communications can be delivered in many ways and not limited to: Internal Email; External Email; Publications; Posters etc. Most important is that the messaging is accurate and timely and to the correct audiences, most often in business language not Technical.
Testing Strategy & Plan: It is extremely important to have a Test Strategy for the Program, often supplied by Implementation Companies. There are several stages of Testing with various resources involved at differing stages. The Change Team should be responsible for this. The Test Strategy will define how the testing is to be executed, usually Unit, Integration and Acceptance Testing, all with entry and exit criteria pre-defined. The Test Plan(s) will follow the Strategy and be build around availability of required resources and project timelines so this should be flexible and have contingencies like any plan to accommodate change, delay, absence, illness, holidays etc.
Training Strategy & Plan: Training has many forms and takes place at several stages and to differing resources throughout the Program. It is therefore key to have a Strategy in place early in the Program, for each Project, so Training is not missed by key resources, such as Subject Matter experts or Super Users. Training Plans should also accommodate the differing types of Training required. When implementing Vendor solutions, the Vendor will generally conduct some initial Product Training at the outset of the Program: This ensures that key resources entering Design will understand what the Product(s) can offer. Knowledge Transfer is often the most important Training that Key Users can obtain and takes place throughout the Design, Build and Test stages of each Project and generally during any meeting or consultation between Implementers and Users. Final Training is delivered to End Users of the System and should be delivered by the Trained Super Users with Support from the Vendor Company.
Data Management: Data Management should be addressed early in each Project as contribution is required throughout. Data will be required for each stage of Testing, not just for Production Systems and Cutover. Companies may have good clean data but more often a Data Cleansing exercise is required. Data needs to be extracted from existing systems, data sheets or manually created, verified, and provided as input to new systems.
Cutover Management: Cutover or Transition Management is the process of preparing the business for operating in the new environment(s): Building the Production Environment; Loading Static Data; Loading Transactional History (If Required) and Planning for the actual cutover from existing system or manual processes to the new ones. This may involve business operations halting for periods of time whilst the cutover is executed.
Post Go Live Support: Post Go-Live Support should be supplied by the Vendors for each Solution or Product for an agreed period. A combination or resources is usually used for this with the Vendors keen to move on. The Super Users would provide first line of support with Vendors having reduced teams available on and agreed basis.
Business Continuity Planning: Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is often overlooked by Companies, especially during Transformations as focus is elsewhere. BCP is required by Business regardless of IT Solutions and is also required because of IT Solutions so Companies need to prepare both.
Contact Info
Telephone:
+44 207 101 3219
Email: digitalappsdelivery@gmail.com
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