Who should be in the implementation team for your new solution?

Implementing a new business management solution within your organization involves more than just your provider. In average, the client has to invest as many hours as their implementation partner throughout the project, mostly to manage the project, complete the analysis, and train users.

But who should you pick for your implementation team? It’s important to choose people who will be available throughout the project to quickly provide the information and make the decisions required by your partner. They must also take their role seriously and commit to it for the duration of the project for it to be a success and to ensure a high adoption rate of the solution by users.

Here are the key roles needed for any implementation project:

• Senior management: The members of senior management are responsible for putting in place a vision for the whole project team and for managing priorities and objectives. They also have to communicate clearly to the rest of the organization so that everyone understands why this change is taking place and how they will benefit from it.
• Business analysts: These resources bridge the gap between the various groups involved and have to identify which features are a priority. Their role is essential in ensuring the system meets the expectations of both senior management and final users. Analysts also have to be familiar with the current situation and objectives to give their final approval for the solution.
• Project managers: Project progress depends largely on project managers as they are responsible for decisions and communication between the various parties involved. They track the project evolution and make recommendations to ensure that deadlines and budgets are met.
• Super users: Super users are resources chosen to learn how the new solution works and transfer this knowledge to final users. They have to be sufficiently available to test the solution and identify errors and possible improvements, while also ensuring that users properly understand how to use the system.
• Power users: Power users may not be part of the initial implementation team, but they understand the processes specific to their department. These people are naturally curious and embrace chance. Unlike super users, they work in the same teams as final users, and are available to answer their questions and keep them from returning to their old habits. In a way, they’re the ambassadors of the new solution to their peers.

It’s not only important to choose people who are sufficiently available, but who can work in team and have good communication and leadership skills. Some of these roles, for example super users and business analysts, also require technical skills. Your implementation partner should be able to tell you in more detail what should be taken into consideration when choosing the members of your implementation team.