Enterprise Performance Management process is a comprehensive approach that organizations use to align their business activities with strategic goals, optimize business performance, and ensure continuous improvement.
EPM encompasses a wide range of methodologies, tools, and practices designed to enhance organizational efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.
1. Project Preparation
Objective: To lay a solid foundation for the project, ensuring all necessary groundwork is completed before the actual implementation begins.
Activities:
Stakeholder Interviews: Conduct in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, including executives, department heads, and end-users, to understand their perspectives, expectations, and specific requirements. This step helps in aligning the project with the organization’s strategic goals and ensures that all key voices are heard.
Onboarding Project Teams: Assemble and onboard the project team members, including project managers, business analysts, developers, and quality assurance specialists. Provide them with the necessary training and resources to ensure they are well-prepared for their roles.
Current State Questionnaires: Develop and distribute comprehensive questionnaires to gather detailed information about the current state of enterprise performance management. These questionnaires should cover various aspects such as existing systems, processes, and pain points.
Recording Current Status Details: Document the findings from interviews and questionnaires in a structured format. Create a detailed report that outlines the current state of the organization’s performance management, including strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
Crafting a Detailed Plan: Develop a detailed project plan that includes timelines, milestones, resource allocation, and risk mitigation strategies. The plan should be clear, realistic, and aligned with the organization’s overall strategy.
Securing Approvals: Obtain necessary approvals from key stakeholders, including senior management and department heads, to ensure buy-in and commitment to the project.
Checking Resource Availability: Ensure that all required resources, such as personnel, technology, and budget, are available and committed to the project. This includes confirming that team members are available during the project timeline and that all necessary tools and technologies are in place.
2. Requirements Gathering
Objective: To gather and document detailed requirements for the EPM solution, ensuring that the final product meets the organization’s needs and strategic goals.
Activities:
Analyzing Current Vendor: Evaluate the current enterprise performance management vendor and its capabilities. This includes assessing the vendor’s market position, product features, and support services. Identify any gaps or limitations in the current solution that need to be addressed in the new system.
Gathering Detailed Requirements: Collect detailed requirements from stakeholders, including key performance indicators (KPIs), value drivers, and specific business needs. Use techniques such as workshops, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews to gather comprehensive input.
Mapping KPIs to Value Drivers: Align KPIs with business value drivers to ensure that the solution is designed to meet strategic objectives. This involves understanding how each KPI contributes to the organization’s overall performance and how it can be measured and tracked.
Defining Data Sources: Identify and document the data sources that will be used for performance metrics. This includes internal and external data sources and ensures that the data is accessible, reliable, and meets the required standards for quality.
Documenting Findings: Secure sign-offs on documented findings to ensure that all requirements and data sources are agreed upon before moving to the Solution Design phase. This step helps in maintaining transparency and accountability throughout the project.
3. Solution Design
Objective: To design a feasible and aligned EPM solution that meets the organization’s business needs and technical requirements.
Activities:
Feasibility Analysis: Conduct workshops to assess the feasibility of the proposed solution and align it with business needs. This includes evaluating different design options and considering factors such as cost, time, and technical complexity.
Refining Requirements: Refine and clarify the requirements gathered from stakeholders to ensure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). This step helps in creating a clear and actionable set of requirements.
Creating User Stories: Develop user stories to capture functional requirements and user scenarios. User stories should be detailed and include acceptance criteria to ensure that the solution meets user needs.
Designing Dashboards & Wireframes: Create wireframes and initial designs for dashboards and user interfaces. This step helps in visualizing the solution and gathering feedback from stakeholders to refine the design.
Documenting Customizations: Document any customizations needed to meet specific business requirements. This includes custom reports, dashboards, and integrations with other systems. Ensure that all customizations are well-documented and agreed upon by all stakeholders.
Establishing System Architecture: Define the system architecture, including technical and functional designs. This involves creating detailed diagrams and documentation that outline the system’s components, data flow, and integration points.
Securing Sign-offs: Obtain sign-offs on the functional and technical designs from key stakeholders, including project sponsors, business analysts, and technical leads. This step ensures that the design is approved and ready for the build phase.
4. Building Phase
Objective: To construct the EPM system with high quality and seamless integration, ensuring that the final product is robust and meets all requirements.
Activities:
Thorough Data Examination: Examine the quality of the source data, ensuring it is complete, accurate, consistent, and standardized. This step involves conducting data audits and quality checks to identify and address any issues.
Data Cleansing: Perform data cleansing to prepare the data for integration. This includes removing duplicates, correcting errors, and standardizing formats to ensure data integrity.
Implementing Integrations: Integrate the system with the source data systems to ensure seamless data flow and functionality. This involves configuring APIs, data connectors, and data transformation processes to ensure that data is properly integrated and accessible within the EPM system.
5. UAT and Training
Objective: To ensure the system is thoroughly tested and users are well-prepared, promoting a smooth transition to the production environment.
Activities:
System Integration Testing: Conduct system integration testing to identify and resolve any integration issues. This step involves testing the system’s interactions with other systems and ensuring that all components work together as expected.
Issue Resolution: Address and resolve any issues identified during testing. This includes both technical issues and user experience issues, ensuring that the system is stable and user-friendly.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Perform user acceptance testing to ensure the system meets user requirements and expectations. This step involves testing the system with end-users to gather feedback and make any necessary adjustments.
Transition to Production Environment: Transition the system to the production environment, ensuring that all configurations and integrations are correctly set up. This step involves a final round of testing and validation to ensure the system is ready for live use.
Tailored Training: Provide customized training sessions based on user feedback and integration. This includes developing training materials, conducting training sessions, and providing ongoing support to ensure users are comfortable and proficient with the new system.
Promoting Knowledge Sharing: Facilitate effective knowledge sharing and readiness among stakeholders. This involves creating a knowledge base, conducting training sessions, and providing ongoing support to ensure that all users are well-prepared and supported.
6. Go-Live and Ongoing Support
Objective: To ensure a smooth transition to the new system and provide continuous support to maximize the solution’s value.
Activities:
Smooth Transition: Facilitate a smooth transition to the new EPM system, ensuring that all users are prepared and the system is fully functional. This involves a phased rollout, user support, and monitoring to address any immediate issues.
Hypercare Support: Offer hypercare support immediately after going live to quickly address any issues and ensure a smooth start. This step involves providing dedicated support resources to handle any urgent requests and issues.
Issue Resolution: Resolve any issues that arise post-launch, ensuring that the system remains stable and functional. This involves a structured process for issue tracking, resolution, and communication with users.
Gathering Feedback: Collect feedback from users to identify areas for improvement and areas where additional support is needed. This step involves regular surveys, feedback sessions, and user forums to gather ongoing input.
Conduct System Reviews: Perform regular reviews of the system to ensure it continues to meet business needs and is up-to-date with organizational changes. This involves periodic assessments, updates, and enhancements to the system.
Additional Training: Offer additional training sessions as needed to maximize the value of the solution. This includes refresher courses, advanced training, and custom training for specific user groups.
Continuous Post-Launch Support: Ensure ongoing support to address L1, L2, and L3 requests, providing a high level of service to maximize the solution’s value. This involves a dedicated support team, a structured support process, and regular communication with users to ensure their needs are met.
Conclusion
The Enterprise Performance Management process is a comprehensive and structured approach that ensures the successful implementation and ongoing effectiveness of performance management systems within an organization. Each phase—from project preparation to ongoing support—plays a critical role in laying the foundation, gathering requirements, designing the solution, building and testing the system, and ensuring a smooth transition to the production environment.
