Your ERP / HRIS project is inching towards Go Live.

And a bazooka arrives.

It’s called Jack’s / Jill’s spreadsheet

Used extensively to drive process or reporting today.

Jack or Jill (noble souls) originally started it to fill a small limitation / gap with the existing process / system.

Over time, they’ve had to support more, so much that they form a parallel economy of business rules and sub-processes.

End users rely heavily on them, to do their jobs effectively.

Jack / Jill churn them out, every single time (even while on leave.)

Yet no one included / engaged them in building the new process.

They also hold valuable data, that is gold for your new process.

And yet they are a pain.

Drumrolls…migraine!

So what could you do about it? Especially closer to Go Live?

Here’s what I reckon:

– Now, that you’ve found out, talk to Jack / Jill and the users to understand what they do, how they do it and what breaks if they don’t have access to this after Go Live?

– Make an assessment of how your new process could service the needs of users, that Jack and Jill provide. And what’s the impact? Involve Jack / Jill in the discussions.

– If additional adjustments are required, agree on the timing and what additional support would be needed in the interim.

It is tempting at this stage to push on, as if this didn’t exist.

But it’s worth remembering:

Implementing technology is easy, using Excel – EASIER!

#projectjoyswithGI #process #enterpriseapplications

Photo by Nicolas Messifet on Unsplash