Projects are difficult. They are much more difficult when they start before your organization is ready. To evaluate readiness, we suggest five areas of focus: data, process, people, policy and capacity. In this post we will share how to assess readiness and give steps that can be taken to improve readiness. We will also consider how readiness can help enable transformation in each of these focus areas.
Before we jump in, it is important to note that there is only so much groundwork that can be done in advance of the project. A project is inherently transformative and often provides a unique vehicle for broader change. However, there are steps that can be taken to lighten the burden of the project while also enabling the transformative change you hope to see through the process.
Data
Data streams in the nonprofit sector run both deep and wide. Many organizations keep records of every donor who has ever given — even those who have not given in decades. Many organizations store every appeal, activity or outreach effort going back to the very first interaction with a constituent. Past addresses are archived in perpetuity. Names of spouses, past employers, interests – even pets – are all indefinitely retained. Data are vast and complex in this sector.
It is also common for data to have issues of integrity and duplication. Integrity issues may have root causes in staff turnover or poorly integrated systems, or simply be outcomes of a legacy system that does not provide adequate tools for maintenance. Duplicate records may happen for the same reasons, then be further complicated by lengthy data retention strategies. For example, you may have five BJ Cortis-es in your system, even through they all refer to the same person, with residences in DC, Seattle, Boulder, Boston and Vermont. The data might resist de-duplication. even though all five BJs are the same person just moving around over the course of 20 years.
Spending time with your data in advance of a systems project is a critical early step. Understand the shape and size of your data. Take stock of integrity and duplication issues. This understanding will be a critical input for scoping the project appropriately.
You should certainly make efforts to clean up data where possible, though possible cleanup is often limited. The wholesale transformation to a new system may be necessary to make substantial progress. We recommend prioritizing developing or refining a Master Data Management Plan. Time spent on the plan will help ensure that the problems of today are not replicated in the system of tomorrow.
See also – Ingredients of Thoughtful Data Management Plan
Process
A project that simply replicates old processes using new technology is a project set to fail. Before starting a project, we recommend mapping core business processes by major functional area. The Process Map will be an important input to requirements gathering. It will also identify critical process concerns in need of attention as part of the project.
For the purpose of readiness, we define a core business process as a set of activities central to the regular operations of your organization. Fundraising organizations would map gift entry and reconciliation processes, pipeline and moves management for strategic gifts, and other workflows by fundraising strategy. Customer service-oriented organizations (i.e. most of us) might map all constituent interaction points and how responses route through the organization (for example, via case management). Higher ed organizations may map the entire student experience from application to graduation.
This early work can help ensure you do not simply recreate business process with a new tool. It can also provide important input to estimating. And, it can help you identify process ownership as an input to stakeholder analysis.
See also – Business Analysis & Process Streamlining
People
People complicate everything. Even the best technology can fail to deliver if the staff or stakeholders resist or outright reject the technology. Outright rejection is clearly a sign your project has failed. We would also consider resistance as a signal of a risk of failure. Project resistance can slow schedule, increase budget, deviate from scope or otherwise undermine your efforts to realize the project objectives.
The first step is to inventory the people or stakeholders involved in the project. A stakeholder is broadly defined as any person affected by the project. A comprehensive list of stakeholders is likely to include internal staff, vendors and other interested parties.
The next step is to assess the current position of each stakeholder in relation to the project. Where possible, identify those individuals that are generally supportive or averse to the project. For example, your project sponsor is likely supportive whereas the legacy vendor (who is about to lose your business) is likely averse.
The stakeholder list will inform a broader stakeholder management strategy. That strategy will seek to move as many people to supportive or at least neutral position to the project. This will also inform how project governance is constituted, communication managed and risk understood on the project. Early analysis will help you wrap your arms around how people will support or complicate the project ahead.
Policy
In advance of the project it is worth considering policies and practices that will be maintained or newly adhered to as an outcome of the project. Taking inventory of these policies is an important input to tool selection, scope development and (eventually) will directly inform the quality management plan.
Data is a common place to start your search for policy. Most organizations will cite HIPAA and COPPA for privacy, PCI-compliance for handling credit card information, and financial compliance criteria as a few of the policies that must be strictly adhered to. Documenting all such policies or regulations is a first step.
Once you have compiled your list, step through your data to see how closely compliant your organization is today. You are likely to find the occasional credit card number filed in a note field inconsistent with PCI-compliance. Or, you might realize that an online registration for a summer youth program routed data into the database, potentially counter to COPPA. Or, you might see protected health information managed in such a way that could violate the spirit if not the letter of the law of HIPAA.
The goal of this early assessment is to fully document any policies that should be adhered to as an outcome of the project. The assessment will also provide a realistic baseline for how compliant the organization is today – an important input for the Quality Management Plan – helping you understand and prepare for an important dimension of the work that lies ahead.
See also: Converging Culture, Compliance and Project Activity
Capacity
Projects take time. Too often, we see organizations manage projects with staff who have full-time duties elsewhere. The project becomes activity for the 41st (or 51st) hour of the week – and the strain of long nights and weekends immediately put the project at risk. It is better to take a realistic look at your internal capacity and build that into the project baselines than to attempt to push forward with the limited resources you have on hand.
When assessing capacity, create rough estimates of project hours, required skills, and your organization’s calendar. Early estimates are difficult to determine with precision, though by identifying the core team (project manager, technical lead and business lead) you can start to establish the level of effort required for key resources. Once you have the core team in place, you can further refine estimates and gain a clear picture of hours required across the organization. Of course, your core team members must also have the skills required to complete the work; otherwise you will need to build in time for them to acquire necessary skills. Ultimately this should all be paired against the organization’s calendar to account for those times when “all hands” will be required to manage peak activities.
See also – 5 Critical Project Timeline Variables
Summary & Conclusion
In this post we looked at five focus areas for readiness: data, process, people, policy and capacity. Early work around data can ease the migration and ensure the conversion aligns with your intended data management strategy. Mapping core processes can help identify the current baseline and highlight those areas that will need significant work. The people involved in the project need to understand and be accounted for to ensure the change takes hold. Policy considerations ultimately shape the compliance framework within which the project must operate. And, your organization’s capacity will determine if the project is viable as it has been resourced.
There are few quick wins or quick answers to these topics, but time spent prior to the project is time well spent. It will put you in a stronger position to better understand and estimate the level of effort ahead. And, it will ultimately help you fully appreciate the transformation required at your organization.