Successes and Failures in IT Systems Implementation An Industry Insight Lecture Ray Dawson Loughborough University

My Pathway to Industry Insight Nottingham University/PAFEC –Software Development Research Plessey Telecommunications –Software Engineer –Software Lecturer Loughborough University –28 years collaborating with industry –Research students working in the company –Company employees as part time PhDs –Knowledge Management Research Group

An Early Case Study An office equipment supplier based in the UK Medium size. ~1000 employees. Research task: 1.To examine the role that Knowledge Management can provide in the company 2.To recommend means of improvement Need to start with a Knowledge Audit Danwood Group

Where do we start? The Knowledge Audit If you want to know how to get somewhere you need to know where you are starting from. Discovers inefficiencies and ineffectiveness What knowledge do we have? What form is it in? Who uses it? Where is it kept? Where does it “flow”? Finds problems in existing systems

A Promising Early Discovery Customer Relationship Management System Customer Query Logging System Potential cost savings! An obvious overlap

Proposal GLUE Cost-benefit justification based on: Measured costs of current operation Estimated costs of merged system development and operation Merge the systems to produce a more efficient system!

Result The company board accepted the proposals A successful knowledge management initiative.... because we did everthing right!

… but was it really a success? After 6 months nothing had been done.... After 1 year nothing had been done.... After 2 years nothing had been done.... The company eventually admitted it was never going to happen What has gone wrong?

The Reason for Failure – Problem Ownership The company knew it had many problems but this wasn’t one of them It was not a problem they were even aware of before. They had managed to function OK without this change. So the proposal was accepted, but it had the lowest priority No-one really cares!

Was our starting point wrong? Why find new problems? the users “own” plenty of problems already! Better to start with a “Problem Audit” Find what is bugging people the most!

8 Steps Before Implementing an IT Solution Step 1: To work out what problem we need to solve, do a problem audit to find a recognised problem. Successful IT System Implementation The first step:

Step 2 – Just how bad is the problem? Step 2: Find how bad the problem is ie. How much does it cost? Case study: Finding configuration data at a large engineering company £ £ Rolls-Royce £5¼ million each year!

Steps 3 and 4: Find a Cost Effective Solution Step 4: Calculate the cost of the solution R.O.I. Step 3: Find IT solutions in the context of the problem Be prepared to think “outside the box” Case study: A Swedish – Indian collaboration Virtual Reality

Step 5: What’s in it for me? Step 5: Check the value for each individual:  Information providers  Information receivers £ Case study: Knowledge sharing incentive scheme AstraZeneca Knowledge miles!

Step 6: Get “Buy-In” for the Solution Step 6: Get buy in from management and individuals based on the business case for the identified problem alone £ Case study: Finding configuration data at a large engineering company Rolls-Royce

Step 7: Involve the Users Step 7: Involve the users in the implementation Case study: A military administration system “the most-quoted reason for malcontent in the armed forces today”

Step 8: Plan the Change Management and Support Step 8: Create a plan to support the system change and the new system operation as well as the implementation Over 1000 complaints.... about the helpdesk alone! Case study: A military administration system

Then finally ….. Step 9: Implement it!.... but don’t forget to properly evaluate your solution afterwards.

A Case Study Exercise A company providing computer solutions A case study of a real problem What problems can you see? What solutions would you suggest?

Scenario A customer facing department of ~ 100 analysts Recommending the ideal configuration of hardware and software for each customer Much expertise and experience goes into each solution Problem: How do we share the expertise of experienced analysts with their colleagues especially newcomers?

The Company Solution A new IT system to be introduced to: 1.Capture details of the requirements 2.Capture the recommended solutions The system would be connected to the sales database. Analysts would only need to input requirements details. Building the system would incur manageable costs be well within company capabilities

Question 1 Will it work? What do you think?

Alarm Bells! The size and scope of the problem was undetermined Just how bad was the problem anyway? There was no validation of the proposed solution Would it solve the problem? No alternative solutions had been considered What about further training or mentoring? The return for individual’s effort had not been considered No-one had asked the users!

8 Steps Before Implementation 1.Recognised problem? 2.How bad is it? 3.What IT solution? 4.Cost of solution? 5.Value for individuals? 6.Management buy-in? 7.Users involved? 8.Change support plan?    ½    Doomed! ½

Problems with the Proposed Solution ALL solution cases were to be recorded, including: Solutions which were never likely to be relevant elsewhere Time wasting. Good solutions harder to find Bad solutions as well as good ones Bad practices would be spread and reused Also Without the alternatives considered and the reasons for the eventual decision would the data be re-usable?

Assessment of the Proposed Solution It would fail to meet the needs of experienced analysts Too cumbersome to use Too time consuming to use Insufficient motivation to use it It would fail to meet the needs of inexperienced analysts Too much redundant data Insufficient data on relevant cases Much of it would be missing! (experienced analysts would not have bothered!)

Assessment of the Proposed Solution It would fail to meet the needs of experienced analysts Too cumbersome to use Too time consuming to use Insufficient motivation to use it It would fail to meet the needs of inexperienced analysts Too much redundant data Insufficient data on relevant cases Much of it would be missing! (experienced analysts would not have bothered!) FAILURE

So what would you do? Question 2

So What Did We Propose? Record the detail of a limited number of exemplar cases Maybe only 20 – the company to decide So that: Simple technology could be used eg. HTML with Google search More detail could be recorded eg. alternatives, reasons for decisions Incentives would be possible and affordable They could also become the basis of a training package

A Forum for Each Case This would: Enable novices to ask questions Enable experts to answer questions easily give short comments on variations they have used Enable outcomes to be recorded well after implementation Identify areas for improved training A comment / discussion facility for each recorded case

A Rating Facility A rating for the exemplar cases would: Help users identify best practices Help identify case examples that needed replacing Help identify areas for improved training Could also rate the discussion & added comments How helpful did you find this example?

Maintenance and Support This simple system would still require attention to: Track use Make updates as required Monitor and clean up comments where required A dedicated person should be allocated to ensure the system quality is maintained.

The Company’s Reaction A new department manager had been appointed who had already recognised: Throwing technology at the problem would not work There was no need to record every case A discussion forum was needed to share knowledge Incentives would help (but only recognition, not money) Improved training was needed Careful maintenance was needed ie. Near complete agreement !