Starting your PMIS journey - Part 1

If you are a construction organization, most likely, IT is not your strong suit. Nor should it be; you need to focus on construction. You probably already know that trying to navigate the IT landscape can be both intimidating and frustrating at the same time. While there are many PMIS solutions on the market that all provide very similar functionality, by doing some up front planning, you can improve your chances of a selecting the right PMIS and ensuring a successful implementation. Below, I’ve captured seven lessons learned from years of deploying enterprise PMIS software. Hopefully, they will help make your PMIS journey to a little more “user friendly”.

1. Define the problem statement(s). What specifically are to trying to improve on by implementing new technology? Find out from subject matter experts within your organization, what is working and what is not. It’s amazing how most companies that look for a PMIS do not perform this step, the most basic and most important step. Perform a cost benefit analysis if possible. Fill in the blanks of this statement: If we do X, it will save us Y and/or improve our offerings by Z.
2. Develop As-Is requirements documents. Prepare business requirements processes, flow diagrams, risk areas, data dictionaries, and reports based on how you currently do business, not a future state. Hire a third-party consulting company to then challenge the robustness of your processes and identify where technology will help improve them. The exercise of uncovering how you do things is critical. You might find that you do not know your own processes as well as you would have liked. Also, you might have tools already at your company that can provide what you need with little to no modifications, or maybe your processes do not lend themselves to an upgrade in technology.    
3. Do not be made to feel inadequate because you use Excel to manage projects. Be aware that just because you use Excel for managing projects does not mean you are behind the times. In my experience of over 20 years in Project Controls, Excel is the defacto standard to manage projects regardless of what enterprise software companies claim they use. Believe it or not, multi-billion-dollar projects and programs are being run in Excel and it has been going on for decades. Do not be too quick to throw out your Excel files unless you have evidence of problems. Also, if you are using SharePoint, be aware that you can turn your Excel files into a web-based project management system. Contact LydonSolutions.com to find out how.
4. Avoid looking at software products until you follow steps 1-3. One of the biggest mistakes, companies make is to start looking at PMIS systems on the market before knowing what they actually need and have! When we started Lydon Solutions, we worked mainly with larger companies that could have upwards of 20 PMIS systems across the organization that they were paying for and were all under-utilized because they never actually solved the problem. Today, we are seeing even the smaller companies with the same dilemma. Do not be fooled by the salesman and how their software can generate pretty charts. Find out how (if) their software can solve your problem(s).  
5. Decide your level of involvement. Purchasing a PMIS system is a big undertaking. Regardless if a vendor tells you their product is an off the shelf product and you can hit the ground day one, there will be setup, configuration, and training which is often overlooked. If your organization is going to provide this service internally, then make sure you know your IT group’s experience level and availability to deploy and support the PMIS. If you do not have that internal team, then you need to understand the level of external support needed and the associated costs. Also, beyond just administering the system, you will need management oversight to support any PMIS. We recommend at least a Sponsor - someone who is ultimately responsible for the PMIS and at least one Subject Matter Expert (SME) - someone who knows your business processes, to be available from day one on your PMIS journey.
6. Change is inevitable, plan accordingly. There is no PMIS system that has not been “tweaked”, either through configuration and/or custom code, to address company or project changes that occur after the initial implementation. Make sure you have budget and/or resources to support such changes.  Also, be mindful that whatever PMIS you are considering, make sure it allows for your unique company specific changes and does not force you to change your business processes to fit how the system works.
7. Pilot a project. Way too many times I have seen the mistake of companies trying to roll out an enterprise PMIS systems across the entire organization without doing a pilot first.  In my experience, systems implemented in this top down fashion across the entire organization oftentimes fail and cost 2-3 times more than if they are strategically implemented on select projects. I encourage companies to start small with a pilot program with minimal functionality, get the win, and then expand. This approach minimizes your investment, obtains crucial buy in from your team, and If you have a bad experience with a vendor, you can write them off before making too large of a commitment.

Hope these lessons learned help you on your PMIS journey. As you can see, more up front planning on your part is needed before you put a PMIS RFP out on the street and/or start inviting companies to provide software demos. Stay tuned, in future posts, we’ll provide guidance on how to assess the right technology framework and lessons learned for implementing a PMIS. If you have any questions and/or are looking for an enterprise PMIS, go to LydonSolutions.com and submit a free consultation. Good luck!