3 Problems That Lead to Late, Over-Budget Implementations

business growth

3 Problems That Lead to Late, Over-Budget Implementations

These Common Project Management Flaws Can Derail Any Business Goal

 

Problem #1 – The lack of detailed deliverables

 

Businesses face complex and challenging goals every day. They provide complex services. They fulfill difficult product orders and support. To execute on all these things, the success is in the details. It’s easy to oversimplify. It’s easy to forget that projects require set-up processes, approval processes, project manager oversight and many other tactical attributes to be successful. Many companies set a very high-level goal – too high level – and lack the detailed scope of work required to achieve their goal. It’s not always the case. Yet, taking steps to ensure deliverables are pre-built for a project will often eliminate this issue.

 

We suggest following best practices wherever possible. When it comes to our business products and services, we’ve built pre-defined (templated) deliverables for each offering. This provides us a model for each of our deliverables, eliminating the possibility that we hadn’t planned enough in the details for each deliverable to be successful. At SMB Suite, we follow a defined methodology.

 

Creating deliverable templates for your project will help reduce the likelihood of poor or over-budget execution.

 

Problem #2 – The lack of an objective project manager

 

Picture a major, ongoing project, but everyone involved has either consulted or is responsible for execution. There’s not a project manager who is responsible for the oversight of the work. This naturally creates a problem. Someone always needs to operate as a sort of outside authority to help provide objective management. It’s key that the project manager is not actually performing the work.

 

From our point of view, SMB Suite makes sure that there is a dedicated project manager assigned to any project that is not responsible for the tasks. An important point here is that the person needs to have enough authority to be able to direct resources, i.e. change the deliverables schedule, reassign task priorities, make connections and communicate with clients.

 

Ensuring there is a project manager who is not responsible for the work will increase the likelihood that the project will be done correctly, on time and on budget.

 

Problem #3 – Scope creep

 

Scope creep is typical in scenarios where customers request work, or consultants ask for work, outside the defined deliverables during a project. It can also come in the form of requests for additional functionality that wasn’t originally planned for or included in the budget. Other examples include adding wish list items instead of needs within the budget or deliverables. Scope creep is common. It’s easy to expand on deliverables going over budget as a team goes further into a project and is developing the full spectrum of tasks to initiate new tasks. Scope creep can have huge consequences.

 

SMB Suite follows a methodology that provides customer sign-off at every stage. This means we don’t move forward with a project until we get approval from the customer at every major stage of the project. This ensures that the project stays on track and doesn’t balloon into more and more tasks as a result of scope creep. Seeking approval throughout milestones during a project ensures the project doesn’t move in the wrong direction, and issues are addressed proactively.

 

We use a “fixed bid” model for our product and service execution. This means that we have created a pre-packaged solution where there are fixed deliverables (see problem #1) that prevent scope creep.

 

Ensuring that the customer approves the project deliverables to their satisfaction at every stage of the project will help reduce the likelihood of scope creep and ensure a successful project.

 

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Steve’s been with SMB Suite since 1998 and has been involved with nearly every aspects of the Company’s business as a strategist, professional services executive, cloud solutions architect, and senior consultant. In his current role, Steve is responsible for SMB Suite’s revenue and oversees the execution of ERP, CRM and BI projects for customers across a broad range of industries. Steve combines his expertise in MS Dynamics GP, CRM and other Microsoft products with a strong foundation in accounting and business to identify gaps and streamline customers’ processes. Prior to co-founding SMB Suite, Steve was previously Corporate Controller for MEHLE Behr and, prior to that, Audit Senior for Ernst & Young. Steve holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Jeremy is responsible for SMB Suite’s technology vision, strategy and implementation and is the architect of the Company’s Dynamics Cloud Platform. Highly adept in every facet of managed services, ERP systems and e-commerce platforms, Jeremy’s expertise spans the implementation and support of business and financial software solutions, as well as the customization and integration of SMB Suite’s cloud ERP technology stack. He holds numerous Microsoft and industry-related certifications, and was primarily responsible for designing the Company’s progressive business services platform in the early days of the Cloud. Prior to SMB Suite, Jeremy served as the financial analyst, systems administrator, and information systems liaison for a $2 billion financial services corporation.

Monty is responsible for SMB Suite’s day-to-day operation and, most importantly, its customers. As a leader, motivator and mentor, Monty creates loyal high performance teams willing to “walk through walls” to accomplish their goals. Prior to SMB Suite, Monty served as President of The Bradshaw Group (TBG), a global distributor, manufacturer, and repair facility for digital printers. In this role, he was the Company’s ambassador to its most important domestic, European and Latin American customers and TBG achieved a best-in-class Net Promoter Score of 74 for its superb customer satisfaction. Prior to TBG, Monty served as the General Manager of Sam’s Clubs three highest grossing U.S. stores and was named Regional Operator of the Year in 1999. Monty holds a BBA in Marketing from Texas Tech University and is an active member of Business Navigators. He has been active in Vistage International, Executives in Action, the Dallas/Fort Worth Retail Executives Association, as well as, A.P.I.C.S., the leading professional association for supply chain and operations management. Monty also volunteers with Hunger Busters and ManeGait, a therapeutic horsemanship organization.

David is a proven financial and information technology professional with expertise in providing business accounting software and computing solutions. He began his career by starting and managing a successful independent consulting practice for several years. He then launched the local systems consulting unit of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurial Services Group, leading the office into the hi-tech consulting arena. After successfully developing the unit for Ernst & Young, David founded NextCorp (which became SMB Suite in 2013) to serve the business software needs of clients throughout the US. David has made SMB Suite one of the best cloud ERP providers in the industry. In addition to being a successful entrepreneur and leader, he is a software and technology specialist, holding certifications in various Microsoft and other technologies.