In a previous post I talked about the importance of governance for a PLM implementation and mentioned that overcoming issues related to management of change (MOC) is an important consideration. In this post I’d like to drill into that topic a little deeper. To me MOC in the context of PLM is about people in an organization understanding the value of their PLM solution and accepting it as an improvement over the processes they were previously using. You can’t necessarily depend on “if we build it they will come” with such an important undertaking; human nature is to want to continue to do things the way they have been done in the past.
Using a PLM system helps break down the silos that separate organizations. Working with a “single version of the truth” is an extremely powerful advantage to your organization but often business processes are affected when a PLM implementation occurs. Your implementation team should consider the impacts to the business processes, organizations and the people in them.
I shared the graphic below when discussing an overall governance model for a PLM implementation, note the Business Readiness aspect this model includes.
Recommended Governance Structure for PLM Implementation
The idea is that the Business Readiness Team leads the communication, organizational change and training efforts of the PLM implementation. This team establishes processes for effective, consistent communication across all lines of business and stakeholder organizations. They are responsible for managing and planning for any organizational changes resulting from the PLM implementation. They also manage development of training materials and develop processes and plans for execution of training.
Site or Functional Leads in this model are representatives of a line of business, a division or a geographical site. They are empowered to drive the necessary changes through their respective organization. The idea is that they can tune efforts based on the local needs.
One of our clients deployed over a dozen QMS processes worldwide and they successfully employed a number of techniques to broadly communicate including actually branding the deployment. They implemented “voice of the customer” feedback sessions to ensure that concerns were addressed in advance of go-live and skillfully linked to existing corporate communications mechanisms.
We’ve learned from our clients in Japan about very structured organizational units with strong influencer-stakeholders that need to approve before a successful adoption can occur. In many cases for deployments in this work culture, a tremendous amount of time is required up-front to gain understanding and alignment.
The level of effort that will be required to successfully address MOC for your implementation will vary based upon the size and scope of the implementation, your corporate culture and the geographies involved. Different implementations will have different issues to address but experts in this field point to a handful of key success factors: effective communication, full executive support, employee involvement, organizational planning, and a perceived need for the change.
We recommend that the business readiness deliverables include:
- Business readiness checklists/scorecards
- Sponsorship plan
- Communications plan
- Business readiness transition plan
- Training plan
- Training curriculum and course design
- Training materials and job aids
- Training logistics plan
- Developed and delivered communications
- Business simulation plan
- Business simulation results & sign-off
Your business readiness assessment will determine what you need to focus on for your implementation. But proactively addressing MOC issues as part of your PLM implementation will help ensure you get the full value of your PLM implementation investment.
