System Changes Are Really All About Process Change

Our client, a Fortune 500 utility company, implemented Autodesk Inventor to introduce new design system capabilities and build the foundation for future process automation. ChangeStaffing was engaged to provide organizational change management (OCM) support. We recently sat down with one of our consultants, Ricky Mathis, to discuss the criticality of process work to the success of this seemingly simple software upgrade.

Project Highlights:

·      Implemented Autodesk Inventor to support substation 3D design

·      Scope included drafters and designers of substations

·      Client had tried to update design tools previously…it was just a desktop software replacement…why was it proving to be so hard?

OCM Lesson Learned: Processes Are Key to a Successful System Implementation

The team recognized early on that this project was not just a software change, but rather a major shift in how people approached design and drafting. This became clear to the entire project team and the business following a first round of training.

Like many system implementations, the statement of work for the software consulting included training. In this case, this resulted in out-of-the-box, process agnostic software training, that happened to be delivered too early. Initially, the content and timing of the software training presented a change management problem; but ultimately, it highlighted to all stakeholders that the new design tools would not work with existing processes and gave the project an opportunity to respond.

The project and business made a collective decision to pause the project and take the time to do a process redesign effort to align with the new system. Subject matter experts (SMEs) were engaged from throughout the business to carry out this work. During this time, the change management team also worked with the business to understand the value of a second round of training to educate users about the new software in conjunction with the new processes.

The change management team leveraged the SMEs to create and deliver the integrated software and process training just before go live. Through this work the SMEs not only gained knowledge about the new software and processes, but also developed a sense of ownership for the training content. This knowledge and sense of ownership positioned them to leverage additional automation functionality and to sustain the training beyond the initial software launch.

By recognizing the importance of process to a software’s success, this project team was able to overcome previous barriers and achieve the launch and adoption of the new design system.

Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how our organizational change management consultants can help your organization navigate system and the associated process change. 

A special thanks to Ricky Mathis, change management consultant, for his thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog.