Implementation of Automation Solutions
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June 10, 2020Implementation of Automation Solutions
Implementation of automation solutions is where the rubber meets the road and success is measured. CedarCreek’s implementation process is customer-centric and governed by our mission to grow “referenceable” customers. Timing is the starting gate. Determine when you want to begin using the products, because it will determine when you need to begin implementation. A typical CedarCreek deployment takes between two to four months. If you want to be live in October, we need to start between June and August. Your sales consultant will help slot your project.
There are eight (8) essential stages of our implementation process: Discovery, Transition and Resource Planning, Stakeholder Engagement, Data Collection, Configuration and Development, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Training and “Go-Live”.
1. Discovery
Before a Customer signs a contract with CedarCreek, the sales consultant engages with the project management team to discuss the customer expectations and requirements, including their objectives and desired “timeline”. This internal discovery lays the foundation for the introductory call between the project management team, the Customer, and the Sales Consultant. During this introductory call, further discovery occurs for all the stakeholders, to align with the customer expectations. Discovery is the foundation of all successful implementations.
2. Transition & Resource Planning
Every instance of new automation or software that is designed to improve processes, by definition, begins by ending a current process. This critical transition is the period where employee absenteeism, termination, and failures begin. Asking people to stop or end what they are currently doing and have been doing is stressful and brings about resistance. A plan to address this transition requires resource re-allocation and resource planning. The CedarCreek team will provide guidance to this process to ensure that everyone is being “heard” and issues are addressed before the project is started.
3. Stakeholder Engagement
One of the keystones that holds projects together are stakeholders that are aligned. While the BOD or Operations Executives make the decisions, CedarCreek engages the team of staff that the decisions directly impact. This process to train and align staff contributes to a successful deployment.
4. Data Collection
This essential step can be time-consuming and somewhat laborious. Location and user datum are required to configure a technology solution. Timeliness and accuracy are required to achieve a successful and on-time deployment. CedarCreek takes on as much data collection as possible from system reports, invoices, and operational reports as possible to reduce resource demands from the Customer.
5. Configuration & Development
In implementation processes, the vendor must configure their site for your usage. At CedarCreek, this is the process that includes building a unique user environment and is completed by our project management team and their supporting departments. This stage of deployment may include simple configurations through complex approval workflow and integrations. Because of the complete engagement with a Customer’s stakeholders, including third-party service and integration partners, the configuration is completed and tested before the user acceptance testing is complete and a user interface provided.
6. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
The completion and provision of the UAT site is a sign that the implementation is nearing an end. Project management and location stakeholders both work together for about 2 weeks in a UAT environment to ensure the system is configured to the exact specifications required to achieve the Customer’s objectives.
7. Training
Teaching is actually a better description of what CedarCreek accomplishes for our Customers. If our customers don’t learn how to use the System, we have failed at teaching. We require a proctored teaching environment and use a combination of computer learning, remote webinars, and on-site training depending upon the customer requirements.
8. Go-Live
Go live is a time to celebrate! At this point, your project manager will remain your key support contact for 90 days post-go-live. Go live is when the system is providing the automation services that the Customer selected and were trained to use. It is the final transition from the old to the new. It is a time to begin to measure the KRAs identified by the Customer in the discovery phase.
Conclusion
Successful implementations are not accidental: they are planned and delivered by a team of experts to a team of experts. CedarCreek has extensive experience and expertise in deploying their solutions.
