Investing in Relationships The Alchemy of Strong Working Relationships in Enterprise Projects
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Historical Working Relationship Historical relationship was a Service Bureau Model inhibited by different divisional cultures ITD IA
Disadvantages of Service Bureau Model Silo structure created an “us / them” mentality Encouraged piecemeal response versus collaborative strategic planning Arms length relationship diminished –Full participation –Feeling of ownership –Feeling of accomplishment
Why Change? How and why did Emory change this paradigm? –Work was being accomplished –The model was firmly in place –No one specifically requested a change in the working relationship –There was no business driver forcing a review of the situation
The Challenge An aging home grown Advancement legacy system written in a language no longer supported by IBM Institutional Advancement customers had grown more sophisticated technically and functionally, and were demanding more from the system The central I.T. division had made a strategic decision to move from DB2 to Oracle An up-coming “Comprehensive Campaign” was being discussed – THE BUSINESS DRIVER!
Catalyst for New Relationship We knew we needed to forge a new partnership that would add greater value than the sum of the parts Enterprise projects historically placed enormous demands on people and resources The decision to implement a new Advancement application created the opportunity for a new working relationship between IA and ITD
First Concrete Actions…. IA and ITD worked together to define the functional and technical criteria to use as a standard to judge each vendor We invited the top three candidates to present their systems After each presentation IA and ITD members scored the vendors based on the jointly developed criteria After vendor selection, the management team developed a project budget A physical work space was created where all primary project team members could be in close proximity A functional project manager (Ginger Kane) was selected to have overall authority to supervise the project and a technical manager (Scott Swann) was selected from ITD to oversee the technical infrastructure
What Approach Did We Take? Most critical: Senior management in both divisions provided strong executive sponsorship Replaced the service bureau model with a collaborative decision-making approach Removed the silo mentality from both divisions Created a joint implementation team with shared accountability – where success was measured for the group, versus individuals Properly chartered the team and the project so that expectations would be known and understood Selected team leaders with the proper maturity to “focus on the goal and not the glory”
Improving Communications ITD personnel stepped out of traditional technical roles to participate in functional “work groups” to drive policy and client usage guidelines IA division included technical team in all IA-wide functions to ensure that the team felt it was “part of IA” and aware of the current business environment Project status was communicated to entire IA division on a monthly basis, via a newsletter to build broad user support for the new system
How Did ITD Help? By adapting technical resources to assist with changing project requirements –Data Warehouse implementation –Citrix infrastructure addition By going above and beyond with resources –Additional unfunded Business Analyst Support –Assistance with recruiting contract help –Good communications with project team about initiatives that might impact project success
How did IA help? Provided functional representatives to participate in work groups for each module –Involved functionals in technical discussion and planning, improving understanding and expectations Supported broad changes to policy and procedure within offices, in support of use of the new system
Additional Alliances Enterprise systems involve the whole enterprise! We ended up having “mini-projects” with several additional administrative systems: –PeopleSoft Student System –General Ledger System –Bursar’s Office –Financial Aid –Technical Services (ITD) expanded scope and infrastructure Citrix installation Windows web support
Did It Work? It depends on how you measure it! –Finished phases on time –Finished phases within budget –Client surveys indicated high level of satisfaction with rollout and new system –Structures are in place to continue gathering user feedback and new requirements –Team is still speaking to each other!
Where Do We Go From Here? System Oversight Committee Vital Input from Professionals (VIP User Group) IA-Assigned representatives within ITD for ongoing relationship-building Regular ITD / IA meetings Ongoing joint outings to maintain “team” mentality
Investing in Relationships QUESTIONS?
Contact Information Ginger Kane – Scott Swann – Jane DiFolco Parker –