September 2011 Insights newsletter

Insights - A monthly edition of best practices and thought leadership concepts

September 2011 best practice

The Decision Analytics team is pleased to share this month's edition of the Insights newsletter, a forum for sharing best practices and thought leadership concepts with our clients. Each month this newsletter will contain one or more of our best practices or a forward-looking, thought leadership strategy.

As a client, if you have a best practice or strategy to contribute, please submit it to Joel Pruis, principal consultant, Experian Decision Analytics, by e-mailing joel.pruis@experian.com.

 Sleeping better before, during and after your system conversion

-- by Sabrina Robbins, 
  Senior Business Process Specialist
 

Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you wake up in a cold sweat?  We’ve all had some sort of bad dreams and if you’ve ever been through a technology conversion you just might have experienced nightmares during the day and at night.

Technology conversions can be nightmarish.  When you couple a conversion with cultural change it can be even more difficult.  However, it doesn’t have to be.    There are a few key steps to consider that can make your technology conversion far less stressful.

1. Understand the vision.  What is the overarching reason for the change?  Did management make the decision to purchase the new technology to replace outdated programs or was the need to improve other business/regulatory needs a primary factor – remember the Y2K rush?


2. Planning and strategy.  Understand not only where you’re going (vision) but how you’re going to get there.  When planning it’s always best to begin with the end in mind.

• Who will keep you on track?  Do you have a project manager to coordinate the time management and assignment of resources?  Best practices include having an internal project manager as well as a vender project manager when applicable.
• Have you done a thorough gap analysis?  What are the differences in the systems you’re using today and the one(s) you are migrating to? 
• Do you know how best to move your data from one system to the next?  Mapping is a key element and unless you understand how data is being populated and reported on today, as well as your future needs, you can’t properly convert data. 
• What are the desired outcomes?  In most cases replicating the process and reporting that you already have is either a) not possible, or 2) not buying you potential improvements.  In other words, don’t fall into the “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” trap.  During conversions there are going to be differences – even if the technology is from the same vender.
• How are roles changing and what impact will that have on your employees?  A conversion will inevitably change the way you do business. Make sure you understand your organization’s change management strategies to soften the impact on your team.

3. Testing and training.  Do not discount the importance of testing and development.  It is not uncommon to have slippage in projects.  We have seen many institutions shorten their testing period to hit the “go live” date for a new solution.  Inadequate testing and training can have a huge impact on the successful implementation of new technology and processes.

• It is important that you allocate adequate time to test not only the mapping and interface(s), but the process itself.  Strong user acceptance testing will increase end-user acceptance and minimize disruption in your day-to-day business.
• The type of training you offer is important.  For migrations affecting multiple roles and business units, training should be role based.  Systems like Baker Hill Adviser and OnePoint have multiple components that are used by different groups as well as “shared” information.  In the case of the Baker Hill solutions, the user acceptance testing group and the institution’s internal trainer should be trained initially on all system capabilities.  Then pare back the training so each individual role understands exactly how they will be using the system, including key reporting elements that they will need to create in the system.

4. Measurement.  How do you gage your progress and acceptance?  Understanding how you’re doing affects not only management, but the organization as a whole.   If you haven’t defined where you’re going and where you want to be, users can sometimes feel like they’re spinning their wheels.  They may begin to question whether or not they’re truly meeting their objectives.  Take away some of the frustration by helping them see the value in their work through periodic reviews and progress reporting.  In some cases, it is beneficial to have an outside expert assess where you are and what needs to be done to move to the next level.  

The good news is that success can be obtained, and nightmares avoided, if you keep the end in mind and follow basic steps in both your strategic and tactical approaches to your project.

If you need help developing your migration or other change management strategy, Experian Advisory Services is here to help. I encourage you to contact your Experian Account Executive to learn more.

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