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If you’ve landed here, then you’re probably an operations, facilities, workplace, IT or human resources professional who’s thinking about deploying an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) or a Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) system within your organisation.
Perhaps you have some previous experience implementing similar enterprise software and it didn’t go too well. Or maybe you were lucky and it went without a hitch!
Whether you’re completely new to this kind of project or an implementation veteran, you’ll have the same concerns about negative surprises, and you’re seeking reassurance that your implementation will be successful. You want to be well prepared with knowledge about the best practices to make it a success.
We’d like to share our experiences of implementations at hundreds of customer sites worldwide, and discuss the biggest challenges organisations face when implementing an IWMS. We’ll elaborate on the human and technical challenges, and give you our advice and tips for a successful implementation.
People: the key to successful implementation
Although implementing a complex enterprise system like an IWMS sounds more like a technical process than a human endeavour, you will find that several human challenges arise when the project kicks off. After all, the system integrates business processes involving different disciplines across an organisation, requiring substantial alignment and communication between multiple stakeholders. Let’s walk through some of the most common people-related challenges
People challenge 1: Selecting the project team
Selecting the right people for your project team is crucial for a successful IWMS implementation. Be aware that the level of involvement of each person will change throughout the different stages of the project. Decisions will need to be made throughout the process and if the right people aren’t available at the right time, then delays will occur, resulting in more project costs. People with the authority to make decisions must be available as required. On the flip side of this, a large group can make it harder to reach quick decisions. Carefully consider the makeup of the project team, and make sure all the different disciplines are sufficiently involved and informed.
People challenge 2: Assigning key roles
To prevent delays, it is important that there is an active project sponsor to champion the project and provide overall strategic direction. An engaged project sponsor can make critical, timely decisions to enable success of the project and helps to keep the team’s motivation levels high.
You need to assign a dedicated project manager who can ensure the availability of the right subject matter experts at the right time and ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the project scope. It is common for a single person to fulfil more than one role.
Furthermore, we advise customers to assign a dedicated system administrator. This doesn’t have to be someone from the IT team, but it should be someone who understands the business value of the IWMS. This is frequently a member of the Facility Management or Real Estate team. The system admin feeds into the decision-making, knows what decisions have been made, and understands how the system has been configured. They’ll be involved in the implementation from the start and be among the first small group that is trained to use the system. This initial group can then train a bigger group after the implementation. This ‘train the trainer’ approach will not only save you money by enabling you to use in-house resource for training, but it will also help drive adoption of the system throughout your organisation. This will be important for the long-term success of your implementation.
People challenge 3: Agreeing the project scope
A successful implementation depends on clear preparation, with a well-described scope. You’ll probably have started to formulate the scope when you started looking for a vendor. Once you’ve found your vendor, describe the requirements and expectations in detail so that both you, your project team and the vendor know what to expect from the system and the implementation.
The project scope needs to be very well understood by all stakeholders. For example, if the project team implementing the system was not involved in the purchase process, it will make the implementation more challenging.
We recently worked on a project where a senior stakeholder in the customer team pushed back on several additional requirements that came up during the implementation but were outside the project’s initial scope. He wisely said, ‘We have to learn to walk before we can run’. In other words, always start with the basics and save additional wishes for the next development phase.
Technical challenges
Understanding how to handle data and figuring out how your IWMS integrates into your tech stack is not always as easy as it may seem at the start of the implementation.
Technical challenge 1: Integrating with your existing technology stack
The most important technical aspect of an IWMS is the integration with your tech stack. For the system to deliver the promised benefits, it must integrate with other systems. If the implementation is carried out in its own silo, it will result in a lack of data sharing and the system will not be used optimally.
Map out all the interfaces with other systems and understand how it will all fit together - for example will it be through APIs, or automatically triggered file uploads? Manual data entry might even be the most convenient option in some cases.
Almost every Integrated Workplace Management System is linked to various other IT applications, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Resources (HR), Building Management Systems (BMS) or smart meters. It’s likely that several third parties will be involved in the integration. Alignment between the different internal and external parties and systems is therefore a crucial part of the project. Customers are often hesitant to fully involve third parties when it comes to implementing software systems. However, your third-party vendors can support and advise on optimal integrations at any stage of the implementation process, so we strongly recommend you involve them, and keep them informed right from the start.
Technical challenge 2: Understanding your data (and we mean really understanding!)
There are many types of relevant data that are essential to have in your IWMS. Operational data and information about your buildings, spaces and their usage are essential to analyse the actual occupancy, identify vacancies and benchmark the performance of properties. Knowledge of your technical building installations and their specific maintenance allows maintenance costs to be predicted when setting your long-term maintenance budgets. Besides getting the system in place, data collection within your organisation and accurate data input are the most important factors for success. Often, customers tend to think that feeding the system with data is just a push of a button. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Best practice implementation: reaping the benefits
In conclusion, we can say that thorough internal alignment of the requirements and project scope provides the best start for a best practice implementation. In fact, you should get started on this, even before you’ve selected a vendor. Not only will it help you shortlist potential vendors, but it will create clarity throughout all stages of the implementation. The most successful implementations start with a standard base configuration, containing simple to follow processes. The project will focus on validation and fine-tuning instead of starting from a blank canvas. This ensures a fast and low risk implementation.
The project team requires a fully committed stakeholder to drive the process forward and ensure the project scope. Decisions made at the start of the project (usually for good reasons!) are respected. A dedicated team on both the customer side and the vendor side will work together. The core team fully supports the scope and team members joining the team in the different stages of the implementation should be well informed on the scope as well, to avoid deviations. Your vendor should become your trusted advisor, guiding your decisions through experience of dozens of previous implementations.
Selection and implementation of an IWMS are the first steps in the life cycle of an IWMS. Would you like to know more about the benefits of an IWMS or how Planon can support the improvement of your real estate and facility management? Please contact one of our experts for more information.
