Project Commencement & Governance
Project Scope and Planning
Project Team
The project team should be made up of the following key roles, each role having key responsibilities. Sometimes each role is covered by a different person, on smaller projects some people will have multiple roles.
Role | Responsibilities | Held By |
|---|---|---|
Project Sponsor |
| |
Steering Committee |
| |
Project Manager |
| |
Project Office |
| |
Subject Matter Expert - Finance |
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Subject Matter Expert - Payroll |
| |
Subject Matter Expert - Quality and Compliance |
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Subject Matter Expert - Coordination |
| |
Subject Matter Expert - Scheduling | ||
Trainer / Super Users |
| |
Nominated System Administrators |
|
Project Methodology
The C.A.R.E.Vision Approach
The C.A.R.E.Vision project methodology has been established to provide a best practice, repeatable approach to software implementation. The structured 5 stage system allows CareVision to guide you through your software implementation process while ensuring there are milestone sign-offs to provide reassurance around project success.
CREATE
The CREATE phase is established as soon as a project agreement has been signed.
In this phase the project managers will work together to establish a baseline project plan and begin scheduling in project resources.
For the core project team we provide foundation training to ensure they understand how CareVision works and what impact design decisions will have on the final solution.
Our senior consultants will then lead the project team through phased system design workshops and assist in completing the CareVision configuration workbook.
At the end of the CREATE phase completed design documents are signed off by both parties and a phase completion form is signed by the steering committee.
ASSEMBLE
The ASSEMBLE phase is where our agreed design documents are configured within the system.
During this phase our consultants and your SMEs will work together to setup system configurations, create and test integration points and migrate test client and staff data into the system.
At the end of the ASSEMBLE phase completed integrations and configurations are signed off by both parties and a phase completion form is signed off by the steering committee.
READY
With the software configured and data loaded we begin the READY phase.
In this phase we complete our data migration and run parallel testing to ensure the accuracy of our information.
Communication and change management are critical at this point in the project and our change consultant can assist the project team with the creation of messaging and any communications plans you may wish to run.
Access to self guided learning resources are provided for staff to complete and instructor lead training sessions are then undertaken.
When the project team are satisfied with testing and all staff have completed their role based training the modules are signed off and a phase completion form is signed off by the steering committee.
EXECUTE
The EXECUTE phase is the culmination of the hard work of the project team.
The phase starts with the preparation of a go-live planning schedule and defined go, no go parameters and date. Project team members complete final tasks to ensure the software and users are ready for the big day.
On go-live day our consultants are on hand to support the business team.
Go-live support continues through the first major milestones. These typically include first billing run, pay period and month end processing.
At the end of this stage the project team completes a formal debrief to agree a path for any outstanding issues and create lessons learned documentation. A project completion form is signed off by the steering committee and we all breath a sigh of relief for another project delivered on time and on budget.
VISION
At CareVision the successful completion of your project is just the start of our journey together.
We provide a formal handover and introduction to our support team to ensure they understand your specific business environment and you understand how best to contact them.
The CareVision system covers many areas of management that you may not be ready to use straight away. Our consultants are available to assist in ensuring you get the most value for money out of your licensing spend.
Project Risk Assessment & Planning
The early identification and mitigation of risks can be the difference between the success and failure of a project.
As part of our project governance CareVision will establish both a risk and an issues register.
Risks
A risk is an event which has not happened yet. By adequately planning for potential risks we look to prevent them from actualising.
Risk identification is a standing agenda item in all project meetings from kick off until project close.
All staff involved in the project are responsible for bringing risks to the attention of the project managers.
All risks are to be documented in the CareVision risk register and will go through a standard risk management framework.
Identify
What is the risk?
Analyse
How might the risk occur and what impact would it have on the project?
Rank
Based on the analysis assign a priority.
Mitigate
Establish if there are any viable means to negate, reduce or transfer the risk.
Report
High risk items are immediately brought to the attention of the steering committee.
Low and Medium risk items are actively monitored for change and are available for review at regular steering committee meetings.
An owner is assigned to each risk identified.
It is the responsibility of the steering committee to consider the risks and decide on a course of action based on the recommendations of the project managers.
Issues
An issue is an event which has already occurred and, in this context, may potentially impact the outcome of the project.
All staff involved in the project are responsible for documenting issues in the CareVision issues register and bringing them to the attention of the project managers.
All issues identified should be thoroughly documented and contain the process by which the issue may be replicated.
All issues are to be given a nominal impact rank:
HIGH - The issue has a serious impact on the project with no available work around. No progress can be made until the issue is resolved.
MEDIUM - The issue has a serious impact on the project but a work around is available. Work on the project will continue but the issue must be resolved before go-live sign off.
LOW - The issue has a low impact on the project and will not impact the project timeline. The issue will remain on the register but may be resolved after go-live.
ENHANCEMENT - An issue has been identified which may improve the workflow of the users but was not agreed within the project scope. The issue will be raised in a project meeting with both parties to agree on if the enhancement should be brought into scope or added to the software feature request catalogue. Any enhancements brought into scope may have an impact on the project timeline and budget.
The project managers have the authority to change the rank of an issue at their discretion.
Unless otherwise agreed it will be the responsibility of the staff member who identified the issue to sign off on its resolution.
As part of the go-live preparations the project managers will prepare a list of all outstanding issues and agree on their impact to go-live and a proposed resolution. Go-live should not proceed without this list being signed off by both parties.
Project Governance Approach
It is proposed that this document act as both the project scoping document and project charter and will include details on:
Business Objectives
Project Scope
Project Structure
Project Responsibilities and Key Stakeholders
Project Team and Project Steering Committee
During the project it is the responsibility of the project managers to ensure resources are appropriately scheduled, work is completed to an acceptable standard and the project remains on budget.
This will be achieved through weekly project meetings and maintaining open communication channels between all parties.
It is the responsibility of the project steering committee to ensure the project has sufficient resourcing to accomplish its objectives. A further responsibility of the steering committee is to ensure all matters escalated to them are dealt with in a timely manner and that any external commitments do not impact on the project.
It is proposed that this be achieved through regular steering committee meetings. These may be as frequently as fortnightly during busy periods of the project but would more normally be held monthly. If an urgent matter arises steering committee members must make every effort to make themselves available or agree to allow a decision to be made in their absence.
Establish a BAU System Admin Committee
It is recommended that with any complex CareVision implementation an ongoing Business As Usual (BAU) System Administration Committee is established.
This committee should be comprised of CareVision superusers or administrators, a compliance\quality SME, an IT integration resource and an SME for each integrated system.
During the project it is the responsibility of the committee to gain an in-depth knowledge of the CareVision configuration components, their impact on integrated systems and the means by which those systems are integrated(API’s, Middleware etc).
After go-live it is the responsibility of the committee to act as gate keepers to any requests for changes in configuration or system functionality. It is important that they assess the impact of each request against legislative requirements, systems integration points and overall system usage.
Change Requests
Changes to project scope, schedule and budget can arise during the implementation of any system. Changes can arise from gaining a better understanding of the functionality of a system, workflow review, risk or issue management or for any number of other reasons.
A change request may be initiated by any member of the project team by completing a CareVision change request form but should be reviewed by a senior member of the customer project team before final submission. Once a change request form has been submitted CareVision will assess and document the effort, cost and impact of the change on the project and discuss their findings with the business team.
All costed change request forms must be approved by an authorised member of the customer project team before any work can be undertaken.
Agreement to a change request signifies agreement to a change in overall scope, costs, functionality or schedule as documented in the approved change request form.
Assumptions
All CareVision projects are undertaken under the following assumptions:
Business team members are made available to work on the project.
SME availability is crucial to project success.
Commitment to change from key stakeholders.
Change is hard so it’s important that all parties are onboard.
The project scope has been agreed.
Changes to scope will impact the project schedule and budget.
System functionality is as demonstrated.
Customisations must be agreed to by both parties.
Open communication.
We’re all here to make this work. Speak openly and honestly always.
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