Project success depends on the quality of planning and analysis.  Remember, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

The benefits of a new software implementation project, most notably efficiency, increased performance, and reporting, are usually easy to imagine.  However, we normally find that not enough attention is paid to how you get from contract signing to going live.  Good intentions and well meaning aspirations do not translate into a meaningful and successful implementation.  There must be a plan and there has to be mechanisms in place to support and execute the plan. 

Through numerous implementations in businesses of all sizes and types, BMI has learned that there are many similarities between implementations and there are vast differences.  The differences are what make these businesses unique and our overall project approach is particularly suited to identifying and addressing the unique aspects of your business. 

The overall plan is broken down into phases.  Each phase has various task components.  While we believe that every project should incorporate each of these phases, your business may or may not need all of the listed component tasks of each phase.  In conjunction with your project team, we will develop a plan, which gives all of us the best chance of meeting your project objectives and functional business requirements.

While it is usually the objective of BMI and its clients to avoid project risks, we nonetheless must consider the management of risk to be a top priority of both our organizations.  Since we need to be cognizant of risk management issues in all phases, it is implied here that risk management is a tenet of our overall project management strategy.  Risks need to be identified and evaluated since they could adversely affect the attainment of the project objectives and the corresponding timeline.  In the Planning Phase, strategies will be created to plan and implement measures that will avoid, overcome, or compensate for the element of risk.

After reviewing our implementation method, you should be able to see how your business will progress through each of the phases that will make up your total software system implementation.  Remember to keep in mind that while we have outlined many different aspects of the implementation, we will tailor your plan to your exact requirements.  The end result will be a professionally implemented solution that meets or exceeds management and end-user expectations.

Implementation Plan Overview

     • Project Phases

               • Phase Elements
               • Phase Details

     • Project Execution Elements & Definitions

               • Team Organization
               • Communication

     • Post Implementation

               • On Going Support
               • Additional Requirements

Project Phases

The six phases listed below are intended to encompass all of the activities required to successfully complete your project.  As stated in the executive overview section, we may not use all the tasks in a given phase or we may add tasks to a given phase depending on your situation and your requirements.  The six phases are listed below. Details of what comprise each phase are defined in the next section.

•  Phase 1 - Planning, Preparation, Scope Definition
•  Phase 2 - Training
•  Phase 3 - Standard Software Installation and Usage
•  Phase 4 - Customized Software Installation and Usage
•  Phase 5 - Simulated Live Operational System
•  Phase 6 - Production Rollout / Go Live

 Phase Elements

Phase elements are broken down into three categories.  Within these categories are the tasks and objectives of each phase as well as criteria for when and how these phases should be considered complete.

• Activities
• Deliverables
• Completion Criteria