Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
The Broad Residency Capstone Project Overview:
Fulton County Schools’ Employee Self‐Service (ESS) and Manager Self‐Service
(MSS) Implementation
Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the residency by
Carice Anderson
TBR6
April 26, 2010
`
Abstract
Fulton County Schools implemented SAP’s Employee‐Self‐Service (ESS) and Manager Self‐Service (MSS)
with the expectations that the applications would:
a) reduce employee time spent on managing personal data
b) decrease the administrative burden on central office employees which would allow them to
refocus their energy on core business processes and improve customer services
c) assist with maintaining compliance with payroll best practices
My capstone paper will outline:
a) how well the expectations were met
b) how the team and I (district’s change management lead) addressed the cultural,
communication, training, and business strategy challenges that we faced during the roll‐out
c) lessons learned and the ongoing efforts to realize the full benefit of the applications.
Introduction
As the fourth largest school system in Georgia, Fulton County Schools (“Fulton”) has more than
12,000 full‐time employees, including more than 6,800 teachers and other certified personnel, who
work in 99 schools and 15 administrative and support buildings. During the 2009‐10 school year, more
than 90,000 students will attend classes in 58 elementary schools, 19 middle schools, 16 high schools
(includes two open campus high schools) and six charter schools.
Though not Georgia's largest school system in terms of student enrollment, it is, however, one
of the largest systems in geographic area. From its southern end in the City of Chattahoochee Hills to its
northernmost tip in Johns Creek, the county is more than 70 miles long. What is known as present‐day
Fulton County was formed by the 1932 consolidation of the former Campbell and Milton counties,
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making Fulton the size of three counties. Fulton County Schools is bisected by Atlanta Public Schools.
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Source: www.fultonschools.org
Situation
In 2006 Fulton signed a 5‐year, $28 million dollar contract with SAP for the implementation and
post‐production support for back office functions, ESS and MSS. Prior to implementing ESS and MSS
(Phase II), Fulton had implemented SAP for its back office functions (“Phase I”): Purchasing, Finance and
Logistics, Plant Maintenance, Investment Management, Payroll, Personnel, Time Management and
Organization Management.
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Through a competitive Request for Proposal process, Fulton selected Ciber as the SAP
implementer for Phase II. IBM protested Ciber’s selection as the implementer and the Board of
Education brought in Gardner to review the criteria and processes that Fulton used to select Ciber.
Gardner validated Ciber’s selection.
The Fulton Team conducted research on industry best practices (e.g. Accounting, Purchasing) as
well as speaking with representatives from school districts (e.g. Houston Independent School Districts,
Prince George’s County Schools, Orange County Schools) and governmental agencies (e.g. Pennsylvania
Turnpike Authority, State of Kentucky) to determine what went well and what didn’t work during their
large‐scale Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) projects. Fulton also conducted focus groups with
various school‐based and central office employees to determine what their pain points were and what
they would like a system to help them do. The pain points and “wish list” were factored into the
specifications and requirements that the project team ultimately developed.
After Phase I went live in January 2008 and as the project team was planning to head into Phase
II, there was a shift in district leadership with Dr. Cindy Loe’s arrival along with a new Chief Financial
Officer and Chief Information Officer. The new leadership questioned why Fulton had chosen SAP over
Peoplesoft (some assume that this was due to the fact that Gwinnett County had Peoplesoft) and there
weren’t a lot of districts that had implemented SAP so the unfamiliarity with the product also caused
resistance. Also, there was a lack of ownership of the project since the new leadership had not been
involved in the decision to move forward with SAP. The business blueprint outlining As‐Is and To‐Be
processes had been created for Phase II in March 2008 prior to Dr. Loe’s arrival in April 2008. Due to the
resistance from leadership, Phase II was shelved until September 2008.
Phase I training and communications were given mixed reviews. The project team decided to
allow participants to determine when they wanted to attend the training without giving them a deadline
by which they had to take it. Many employees did not believe that the implementation would actually
occur so many people waited until the last minute to take the training. Many employees who wouldn’t
have access to SAP also signed up for the training in an effort to make themselves more likely to get
promoted. When people realized that the implementation was actually going to occur, there was a mad
rush to attend training and the training spots were at a premium. Employees were also upset by the
fact that (unlike in the past) they had to pass an assessment in order to get credit for the course and to
get their user id and password to the SAP system. Principals did not understand the amount of daily
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functions that they would have to perform via SAP and thus they were required to attend extensive
training which took them out of their buildings for several days. The training was also delivered in more
of a lecture format and many employees felt that the training was not interactive enough for them to
truly learn the system.
In spite of the setbacks and delays, the implementation of Phase I was successful in it was
completed on‐time and within budget which is rare on projects of this scale. Fulton was recognized in
several publications as one of a small group of school districts that had the foresight to use its financial
resources implement a system as complex as SAP.
Contribution
This initiative was managed by the SAP Project Manager, a position in Information Technology
that reports to the Chief Information Officer (“CIO”). The CIO reports to Martha Greenway, the Deputy
Superintendent of Organizational Advancement. Martha reports to the Superintendent, Dr. Cindy Loe.
In April 2009, Martha (my Supervisor), mentioned to me that the district needed someone to serve as
the Change Management counterpart to the consultant’s (Ciber) Change Management lead.
Coincidentally, I had led change management activities for large technology implementations when I
was at Deloitte so I volunteered my services. After sharing my resume with Charles Sipos, (SAP Project
Manager), I was asked to join the project and I met briefly with Charles and Amy Tilghman (Ciber Change
Management consultant). As the district’s change management lead, I was responsible for creating and
executing a change management plan which included a training plan and communications plan for MSS
and ESS as well as working with my counterpart (Amy) from the consultancy that we engaged as our
partner on this project. The purpose of the Change Management plan is to outline the goals, purpose,
and strategies of a comprehensive Change Management plan (Exhibit A).
The working team (by my definition) is comprised of the individuals that were actively and
regularly involved in making this implementation a success and I’ll put them into four (4) buckets:
8 Steering Committee – This team met on a weekly basis prior to, during and after the implementation
until March 2010. This forum is where critical issues were brought up and decisions were made that
had far‐reaching impacts for the project. The team includes many of the Superintendent’s direct
reports Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Facilities Officer, Deputy
Superintendent of Organizational Advancement, Chief Information Officer, SAP Project Manager and
Change Management Lead (me), Area Superintendent, Ciber Project Manager and Change
Management Lead.
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8 Human Resources, Payroll and Benefits – The teams from these departments worked with Ciber to
document the current state and future state business processes. They also worked with Ciber to
determine what system customizations needed to be made to fit FCS’ business processes. They
executed test plans to ensure that the system was working prior to and during implementation and
they often times troubleshoot issues that arise.
8 Information Technology – The IT team helped us set up employees in the system with the
appropriate security access and email addresses so they could use the new ESS and MSS system.
The IT group also houses the Help Desk which employees call when they have questions about any
of the district’s software or hardware.
8 Change Management Team (made up of Ciber and FCS resources) were responsible for developing
and delivering training materials, coordinating training logistics, managing the Change Agent team
communications troubleshooting issues when contacted, and communicating to employees about
training and Go‐Live dates.
There are five major steps in any technology implementation:
8 Project Preparation – Project Management and Change Management teams begin working during
this phase. High level executive buy‐in should be built around this time as well. Towards the end of
project preparation, there should be a team kick‐off which will focus on building team effectiveness
and buy‐in as well as discussing project processes and logistics (e.g. weekly team meeting, where
the project plan will be housed),
8 Blueprint – As‐is and To‐Be processes should be mapped and department head/mid‐manager level
buy‐in should be built during this phase. Individuals who thoroughly know current business
processes should be included in the blueprint sessions.
8 Realization – The system should be developed during this time and the project team should be unit
testing. Integration testing should be conducted by individuals who understand business processes
and were involved with building the blueprint. Individuals who have had no involvement with the
project will conduct testing via test scripts (i.e. User Acceptance Testing). A final push of
communications about process changes should be communicated to end users.
8 Final Preparation – Testing should be almost completed during this time so that accurate training
materials can be finalized and delivered to the training audience.
8 Go‐Live and Support – Troubleshoot any new issues and provide phone and email support (e.g. Help
Desk) and ongoing communications to answer end user questions.
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From my experience in Change Management consulting, the term “Change Management”
means different things to different people so I thought it was important to make sure that Amy and I
were on the same page. I also thought it was important to take the time to help others understand
what Change Management is so they would know our perspective and when we would need to be
included in various discussions. Martha asked me to begin attending the weekly Steering Committee
meetings and I invited Amy to join the discussions as well. The Steering Committee is comprised of the
Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Information Technology Officer, Chief
Facilities Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Organizational Advancement (Martha Greenway, my
Supervisor) along with the Ciber project manager. I knew it was important for Amy and I to be in the
room to provide our perspectives and it also helped if we were getting the same information at the
same time. We also were able to provide valuable input that we had heard from end users to the
Steering Committee as they were making critical project decisions. For my first Steering Committee
meeting, I brought a document that outlines why large scale implementations fail and 10 out of the 15
reasons were related to the “soft” or “people” side of the implementation. I also asked the Ciber
Project Manager if I could have a few minutes on his team’s weekly agenda so that I could share this
document, describe what Change Management is and discuss the role that I would be playing on the
project. I wanted his team to also know that they had an “advocate” in me so that if they felt that
something wasn’t right that they could come to me. During subsequent meetings, Amy and I tried to
bring in feedback from Change Agents or end users that we had interacted with during facilitated labs
and training.
Amy and I worked very collaboratively throughout this process and we thought it would be a
great idea to utilize a Change Agent network and to have a weekly meeting with other key members of
the Change Management team. The Change Agent network would serve two (2) purposes: a) provide
feedback from departments and schools to us prior to and during the ESS and MSS implementation to
help us shape communications and training, b) provide feedback on communications that we were
sharing with employees, and c) to share information with the staff that they worked with everyday. We
met with the Change Agents monthly and found this to be a valuable way of communicating with
employees in various departments and schools. During the weekly meetings, the team had a set
agenda, got updates on, and brainstormed ideas on training and communications.
I also created several communications (e.g. Frequently Asked Questions, Tips ’n’ Tricks,) that
were sent out to 12,000+ employees as well as creating presentations that were shared with principals
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and central office employees during our monthly AdStaff meeting to provide updates on the roll‐out as
well as clarifying system questions that still continued to arise. Amy and I presented at the larger
general session meetings as well as during the level (elementary, middle, and high school) breakout
sessions. I also worked very closely with the Director of Communications to develop several district‐
wide communications.
During the course of the phased roll‐out, I also served as a 4th member of the SAP Help Desk
from July through September. I sent out all of the emails to all employees informing them about the
online training and that the system was live. Due to that, when employees had questions, they emailed
and phoned me. This interaction with the end user gave me a tremendous amount of insight into what
topics we needed to address further in subsequent communications (e.g. Tips’n’Tricks, FAQs, AdStaff).
I also served as a lab facilitator for computer lab sessions that we held for employees to
complete the online training for ESS. Some supervisors mandated that their employees attend
facilitated labs so that a trainer could assist them and answer their questions as they went through the
online ESS training.
I continue to serve on the Steering Committee and I also attend the Ciber Project Manager’s
weekly meeting with Martha and the Business Process Owners (BPO) meeting. The BPO meeting is the
weekly meeting where the owners of the back office functions and applications meet to discuss system
upgrades and issues, training, and upcoming changes.
Lessons Learned and Key Questions
The lessons in project management, team dynamics, and leadership that I learned from this
project are invaluable. Below are just some of the critical lessons learned or reinforced and key
questions to ask during any project:
8 Ensure that the district or CMO has a strong project manager and executive sponsor that will
advocate for the district or CMO when a consulting firm has been engaged. It is critical that the
internal resource has the knowledge, executive level support and the courage to ensure that the
district or CMO is driving the project and not the consultant. The internal resource should be
adamant about ensuring that the system is designed to meet the organization’s business processes.
The internal resource will also ensure that a plan for knowledge transfer is developed and executed
from Day 1 of the project because the consultant has no incentive to leave the client if they are
continuing to generate revenue. Client and consulting resources should work in the same physical
space. Knowledge transfer should be a gradual process that occurs from the onset and one of the
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easiest ways to facilitate that is to co‐locate the resources in the same space. The client’s manager
should also constantly reinforce a deadline to the organization’s employees to let them know when
the consulting resources will leave the organization.
8 Make sure the project team is comprised of people who know the business processes, work well with
others and will speak favorably about the project. If you have to choose between a) those with
business process knowledge and b) those that are team players and have a positive outlook, always
choose the latter. A project manager can pull in the knowledge resources when necessary. Building
buy‐in through various levels of the organization is crucial and people with the right attitude can
help build buy‐in and serve as the “faces” of the project. Perception is reality so having positive
“faces” of the project is important to its overall perception and success. Devote time to making sure
that the project team is functioning effectively and having fun as well. Examples of activities may
include organizing team outings, open discussions (or anonymous suggestions) about how the team
can function more effectively, etc.
8 Bring in Change Management experts as soon as the project begins. Many of the reasons that large
scale implementations fail is because insufficient attention is paid to properly communicating and
training end users, transferring knowledge to the client to prepare for the consultant’s exit, and
making sure that the project team is working effectively. Experienced change management
consultants can make sure that the entire project team gives proper time and resources. They will
also make sure that key decisions are being made with the end user in mind.
8 Shift working responsibilities to free people up to devote time to the project. A project of this size is
a huge undertaking and it is going to be really difficult for people to complete their full‐time tasks as
well as their project tasks. Consider shifting some work to existing staff that aren’t involved in the
project so that project resources can devote sufficient time to project tasks in order to ensure an on‐
time, on‐budget project delivery. The project was always “battling” for resources because those
resources’ workload was not shifted to accommodate their project tasks. As a result, sufficient
systems’ testing was not always conducted due to the resource crunch and several issues that
should have been identified during testing arose after the system went live which negatively
impacted end user perception of the system.
8 Make decisions that take into account the end user and not just what will work for central office or
any one particular department. Major decisions about how the MSS system would work were made
without really considering how those decisions would affect the end user. For example, the decision
was made to only allow the principal to have MSS approval of leave and time for school‐based
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employees. In some cases, this means that a principal is approving leave for 100‐200 people and
this is a huge administrative burden for principals.
8 Be aware of the organization’s culture and take steps to reinforce new ways of “doing business.”
Fulton employees are accustomed to calling the Help Desk and having someone take them step by
step through troubleshooting and solutions. People are used to and like calling someone at central
office to manage their information as opposed to doing it on their own. They don’t usually want to
search for answers on their own or manage their own information. This culture of “handholding” is
a hard habit to break for employees and the Help Desk so inform the Help Desk to always point
people to the website to find the information as opposed to taking them through the steps.
Reinforcing the online help information and step‐by‐step instructions is crucial.
8 Segment users, determine each user group’s computer access and level of comfort and create
communications, resources, and training to meet each group’s needs. Many employees don’t use
computers in their everyday work and many don’t have access to a computer so their level of
comfort and access is low. Be very deliberate and thoughtful about developing training and
communications that meets the needs of employees with such a varying level of access and comfort
so as to ensure a smooth implementation across the entire employee spectrum.
8 Know how previous technology implementations have gone. The perception of Phase I was that the
training and communications was not well received so when people hear “SAP” they think of the
first implementation and training. You have to be aware of and overcome the negative
connotations of previous projects.
8 Institutionalize proper processes and procedures especially for support functions that are critical to
success. During Phase I a Ciber consultant worked closely with our Help Desk to implement some
standard processes and procedures but after the consultant left, the Help Desk reverted back to its
old ways so we had to help them reinstate more efficient ways of working. We also didn’t find this
out until we were beginning the implementation.
8 Think through the pros and cons of each major project decision. People need to realize the pros and
cons and short‐term vs. long term approach of decisions. For example, the decision to limit MSS
training to only 3 hours (due to the criticism about Phase I training) severely limited our ability to
provide hands‐on learning that would have enabled participants to feel more comfortable with the
system.
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8 Set aside additional financial resources for unexpected changes. Due to budget cuts, the board of
education decided to reduce the annual working days of certain positions. This was a costly and
time‐consuming project for which the project had not planned or expected.
The questions that should be asked before embarking on this type of initiative:
8 What is our decision‐making process? Is it a good one or do we need to revisit/revise it?
8 Do we have all the right people in this conversation or is it too one‐sided in any department’s or
person’s favor?
8 What are the pros and cons of certain decisions? For example, what are the pros and cons of taking
a phased approach to rolling out the new system vs. a big bang approach?
8 What is the “written” process vs. what is “really going on” on the ground?
8 What are we asking people to do differently than they do now?
8 Are we providing enough hands‐on learning during the training process?
8 What are the “real” skillset/strengths/weaknesses of the leaders sitting at the table making
decisions? When they are nodding their heads in agreement, do they really understand their role in
the success of the decision? And do they have the skill set to fulfill those responsibilities? If not,
what can someone do to fill those gaps so that the project doesn’t suffer?
8 If you have outside consultants, is someone from the client side actively managing consultant hours,
the budget‐to‐actual and ongoing knowledge transfer as well as the client’s dependence on
consultants?
8 How do we expect that people’s job activities will change as a result of the implementation? Have
we communicated these changes and do we need to shift work activities among employees or train
people on new activities due to the changes?
8 Does the client have the skill set to perform the duties that the consultant is performing? If not,
what is the plan to bring that skill set on board full‐time for the district?
8 Any additional questions on the document Planning for Successful Change (Exhibit B)
Outcomes, Next Steps, and Trends
The goal is to continually find ways to increase efficiency by automating paper/manual
processes which will allow employees that serve school‐based employees to focus on more strategic and
customer‐focused activities. We also wanted to have better data which would allow us manage risk in
terms of payroll compliance and to integrate the data from various departments. Better serving our
customers (district employees) will create more time for them to spend on efforts to raise student
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achievement. Raising student achievement is our reason for being and our core business. Our strategy
is to eliminate or reduce activities that distract us from our core business.
Phase II was rolled out in a phased approach from July through September and 12,000+
employees were live on ESS and approximately 400 principals and Supervisors went live on MSS as of
September 30, 2009. The implementation of ESS put us in compliance for time recording for non‐
exempt employees and it put the responsibility on building level administrators to approve time as
opposed to the Payroll department doing it which posed a tremendous conflict of interest. The ESS
data that we have and will have going forward is cleaner and more accurate because it is being entered
directly by employees. Better data allows the departments (e.g. Human Resources, Personnel Records)
to provide a higher level of customer service because they can answer employee questions better since
the data is more accurate. Employees are empowered because they can manage their own data real‐
time instead of having to spend time filling out paper work to make changes to their mailing address,
banking information, and benefits. There is less manual intervention since the data is no longer keyed in
and it has freed up approximately 15% of Personnel Records time due to eliminating manual entry of
employee data. This time can now be better spent on the department’s core business processes. In
terms of next steps, Fulton needs to focus some energy and resources on adding the functionality that
will allow employees to update their tax exemptions via ESS as well as providing more access to guided
procedures which takes an employee through all of the steps when there is a life event change (e.g.
marriage, divorce, birth of the child). Implementing ESS was a huge cultural shift for many employees in
that it requires that they were accustomed to calling someone to manage their information and they
were used to having their “hands held” and taken step‐by‐step through a process. ESS requires that
they manage their own information and utilize online resources to answer their own questions.
MSS is still very much a work in progress. Unfortunately, decisions were made prior to me
coming onboard the project that were based more on what would work best for central office as
opposed to what would work best for the end user and they were made without taking into account
what was actually happening on the ground. For example, The Human Resources policy states that
principals and Supervisors are to approve leave before it is taken. In actuality, no one is quite sure to
what extent this was happening. If it was happening (especially at the school level), the assistant
principals were managing this process. The decision was made to only give the principal at each school
the authority to approve leave and time via the MSS system. The implications for this decision are huge.
As I mentioned earlier, some schools have 100‐200 employees so that means that a principal is
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responsible for approving the leave requests and time worked for all of these employees so principals
had to learn the MSS system as well as add another responsibility to their already overloaded day. This
is still a decision that principals are pushing back on and the team may have to explore lowering the
span of control and giving “chief” access to assistant principals and possibly even department chairs so
as to lighten the administrative burden on principals. The team also needs to work on enhancing
functionality for and training managers on creating standard reports. This will make the data much
more easily accessible for decision‐making and auditing.
More government agencies, school districts and nonprofit organizations are implementing large
scale technology systems but they are slower to execute these types of projects than in the private
sector due to the high cost. These organizations believe these systems are important but they need to
understand that the projects are major investments and that the return on investment doesn’t occur in
one year but over multiple years.
Note: I conducted interviews with the following individuals for my Capstone paper: Charles Sipos, SAP Project Manager; Martha Greenway,
Deputy Superintendent for Organizational Advancement; Amy Tilghman, Ciber Change Management Lead, and Dawn Rose, SAP System Analyst
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Appendix A.
Change Management Plan
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FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS
SAP Project Phase II
Change Management Plan
Prepared by: Phase II Change Management Team
Carice Anderson, FCS
Amy Tilghman, CIBER
Issued: April 16, 2009
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 16
2. Purpose................................................................................................................................................ 18
Figure 1: Performance Curve ............................................................................................................... 18
3. Leadership Alignment.......................................................................................................................... 18
4. Communications.................................................................................................................................. 20
Figure 2: Communication by Audience................................................................................................ 20
Attachment: Phase II Training & Communications Activities Schedule .............................................. 21
Figure 3: Change and Commitment Curve .......................................................................................... 22
5. End User Training................................................................................................................................. 24
Attachment: Training Plan ................................................................................................................... 25
6. Organizational Transition (Impact) ...................................................................................................... 25
7. Project Team Effectiveness.................................................................................................................. 28
8. Capability Transfer ‐ Placeholder............................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
9. Change Management Roles and Responsibilities................................................................................ 30
Attachment: Phase II Project Organizational Chart............................................................................. 30
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1. Introduction
Fulton County Schools’ implementation (i.e., “Phase II”) of Employee Self‐Service (ESS), Manager Self‐
Service (MSS) and Enterprise Learning (EL) will provide the following benefits to employees of Fulton
County Schools:
ESS/MSS will:
• Improve service to employees
• Automate manual reports for various employee activities (e.g., Leave Requests, Changes in Benefits)
• Improve the accuracy of data that is entered
• Allow all employees to review real‐time data
Enterprise Learning will:
• Improve services to instructional staff as it will allow them to minimize the effort required to find
and enroll in classes
• Integrate professional development data and human resources data
• Allow supervisors to review information for direct reports
Phase II will adopt an approach that is founded upon best change management practices and known
factors in ensuring successful change. Change Management (CM) is a set of principles and activities
designed to prepare people for and support them through a significant organizational or technological
change, such as the Phase II implementation. The Change Management Plan outlines the Fulton County
Schools approach, guidelines, goals, and stakeholders that will drive activities for the Phase II
implementation. This document is iterative and will continue to evolve to address the most relevant
audience and issues as the project progresses.
This methodology recognizes that each initiative/implementation is unique. As strategies are
determined, they then drive CM project plans, activities, and tasks. An integral part of this methodology
requires constant monitoring and assessing of CM effectiveness; as a result, these strategies are
dynamic and will be adjusted and revised to increase effectiveness along the life of the project. It should
also be noted that CM assessments will drive training strategies. (See the Phase II Training Plan for more
information.)
Change Management is comprised of six areas:
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1. Leadership Alignment – efforts to align leadership to the project vision, goals, and benefits
and provide them with an incentive and business rationale to champion the effort
2. Communications – activities to determine relevant audience, timing, and frequency for
communicating key messages, project progression, and impact and to provide audiences
with ample opportunities for feedback and input
3. End User Training – efforts to provide employees with adequate training, resources, and
support to perform their jobs at Go‐Live
4. Organizational Transition (Impact) – creation of new employee roles, jobs, and
organizational structures to support the new processes and technology
5. Project Team Effectiveness – support provided to the project team to improve team
efficiency, morale, and performance
6. Capability Transfer – activities to share information so that Fulton County Schools can fully
support and sustain the new system post Go‐Live without external assistance
Change Management is:
• intended to maximize achievement of desired business objectives while minimizing loss in
productivity
• structured to align with and support the broader technology and business process transformation
• designed to support and promote the “people” aspects of the project
• designed to lessen or eliminate the barriers to long‐term successful implementation
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2. Purpose
The ultimate purpose of this approach is to:
• Help mitigate the individual and organizational resistance to change so that the project’s benefits
can be more quickly realized. Refer to the standard Performance Curve (Figure 1) where the
green/upper curve represents the application of change management methodology.
Figure 1: Performance Curve
• Accelerate organizational acceptance of the new behaviors required as a result of the project.
• Help executives, management, and key change agents become aware of the dynamics, risks, and
challenges posed by resistance to changes and provide these leaders with guidance in actively
championing the changes.
3. Leadership Alignment
Leadership alignment is a change management process used to create a shared set of goals and
priorities for project leadership. By building strong support for the goals of Phase II initiatives, the
leadership alignment process ensures long‐term success of the Phase II transformation.
The purpose of Leadership Alignment is to:
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• present updates and status about various phases or rollouts
• engage leadership and get their buy‐in
• provide a forum for valuable debate amongst leadership
• provide tools that leaders can utilize to communicate with their employees
This document seeks to emphasize the special focus required of leadership in order for the project to be
successful. The responsibility for ensuring leaders understand, advocate, and communicate the change
falls on the project team and the leaders have a responsibility to ensure that they are equipped to
undertake the role required of them.
The leadership alignment process focuses on achieving the following objectives:
• Maintain a single face to key leaders by adhering to consistent processes and activities.
• Help build strong collaborative working relationships that are supported by mutual trust among all
the executive management and Phase II Governance members
• Create a climate of support and ownership for the Phase II Project goals.
Active sponsorship is one of the most critical elements of this CM approach. Within this approach, a
cascading sponsorship network is developed. Sponsors range from steering committee members to key
business stakeholders, middle management, and change agents. Once identified, these individuals are
charged with championing the change(s) within their organizations in various ways that demonstrate
commitment and conviction during all stages of the project, including post‐go live. Depending on the
individual’s sphere of influence, stake in the changes, and level in the organization, some responsibilities
of these change champions include: communicating and supporting cascading key messages (such as the
case for change and the initiative’s importance), issue resolution, resource allocation (dollars, time,
people), resource accountability, decision making, empowerment to representatives, and identifying
and acting upon change resistance.
The sponsorship approach is dynamic and is applied and repeated throughout the life of a project.
Sponsorship is driven by formal and informal assessments to help ensure that readiness and challenges
are addressed and sponsorship activities are effective.
It is critical that the Fulton County Schools leadership serve as Change Champions who understand the
business case for Phase II, support Phase II, and speak positively about Phase II with various
stakeholders throughout the district.
Change Management presence in the Steering Committee meetings will serve as the touch‐point for
leadership alignment and other change management activities. Key messages from Change Agents will
be conveyed; any messages received by Leaders will also be discussed and addressed. Results of these
discussions will be used to update communication and training plans.
19
4. Communications
Effective communication is an essential component of successfully managing the changes that will
accompany a project/initiative. Providing timely, accurate, and useful information can help build wide
spread acceptance of new processes and functionality.
The Communications element of the CM methodology is extremely adaptive and responsive to the other
CM elements (change readiness, organizational transition, and sponsorship). The plan and schedule are
iterative and will be constantly updated to remain effective. In addition to input from the CM elements,
the scope of the project/initiative and the culture/environment determine communication strategies,
activities, and vehicles. These factors and inputs drive and determine communication message tone,
frequency, timing for delivery and authors.
The goal of the Stakeholder/Communication Plan is to provide methods for communicating the
implications on processes and people to all levels of the organization. Effective, two‐way communication
throughout the project is vital to success. It is the first step to breaking down the barriers and functional
silos that may exist. Each audience needs information that means the most to them. See Figure 2.
Figure 2: Communication by Audience
Business Executives and Top
Related Management
Middle Management /
Process Owners
Process
Related Key Users /
End Users
Potential Communication Activities:
• Identify effective communication vehicles
• Identify key target audiences
• Develop communication matrix
• Design initial communication plan
• Develop key awareness messages – from change impact maps, change readiness inputs, etc.
• Design high‐level communication strategy and plan and align this with training plan/strategy
• Develop communication tracker in alignment with communication plan and strategy to manage
communication activities
• Revise communication strategy to increase effectiveness based on feedback, readiness, and
organizational transition assessments and actions
20
The Guiding Principles for Communication are:
• Be targeted and tailored to the appropriate audiences and where they are in the Change and
Commitment Curve (see Figure 3 below)
• Be “short, sweet and to the point”
• Answer the five “W”s…what, who, where, when, and why
• Be person‐to‐person, when possible
• Precede key events and milestones
• Be consistent, regardless of the source or the media used
• Always highlight the actions required of the audience
• Provide opportunities for feedback (e.g., all outbound communications include a contact number or
feedback mechanism)
• Simplicity: Eliminate all jargon and techno babble
• Metaphor, Analogy, and Example: A verbal picture is worth a thousand words
• Multiple Forums: Big and small meetings, memos and newspapers, formal and informal interaction
• Repetition: Ideas sink in deeply only after they have been heard many times
• Leadership by Example: Behavior from important people that is inconsistent with the vision
overwhelms other forms of communication
• Explanation of the Seeming Inconsistencies: Unaddressed inconsistencies undermine the credibility
of all communications
• Give and Take: Two‐way communication is always more powerful than one‐way communication
For more detailed information, please see the attached Training & Communications Activities Schedule.
Attachment: Phase II Training & Communications Activities Schedule
21
process, the extent to which they are directly impacted by the change process, or the extent to which
they can influence the change program and its outcomes. The goal for change management is to
increase stakeholders’ level of commitment from contact and awareness to commitment and advocacy
as indicated below on The Change and Commitment Curve.
Figure 3: Change and Commitment Curve
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Copyright © 2004 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Stakeholder management is the series of activities that the Change Management team will engage in to
move stakeholders through the various stages of the Commitment Curve. Stakeholder management
includes three processes: Identification and Analysis, Inquiry, and Engagement.
Stakeholder Identification and Analysis includes:
• Identifying stakeholders: those individuals and groups, both inside and outside the organization,
who have a stake in the project and who can either help or hinder its successful implementation
• Segmenting the stakeholders into meaningful clusters of individuals and groups.
• Identifying the type and degree of support that will be required from each stakeholder.
• Assessing the current level of stakeholder commitment and identify the most significant gaps.
• Outlining the approach for closing each gap and encourage the needed stakeholder support.
Stakeholder Engagement
Engagement consists of “a series of interactions” that are well‐planned and executed, to systematically
draw all levels of an organization into the implementation of the project. It is through the Engagement
Process that the stewardship for the success of an initiative is transferred from the Project Team to the
people in the organization who manage and do the work. It is through engagement that the
22
Implementation Team can create alignment with people in the organization. The basic premise of
engagement is that all levels of the organization have the opportunity to dialog with each other in order
to understand what they need to personally do to ensure successful implementation.
However, engagement is not the same as communication. Where communication involves imparting or
transmitting messages through letters, presentation or other means; engagement involves dialog and
taking personal action.
Engagement is a continual process that ensures that the people most affected by the implementation
are given opportunities to:
• participate in planning implementation
• visibly lead the implementation
• develop a personal understanding of what is being proposed
• discover the source of their own resistance
• identify and remove barriers hindering implementation
• decide how to monitor, measure and reinforce behaviors
The Change Management team will need to continue to:
• understand the need for information and involvement within and outside the organization;
• ensure the right people receive the right information, at the right time, in the right way;
• ensure the right people participate at the right time, in the right way;
• proactively manage the pace and amount of change that each stakeholder group must undergo to
avoid “change overload”;
• build organizational buy‐in, commitment and capacity for change; and
• maximize the potential for successful transition to the future
23
This CM element is focused on ensuring that sponsorship, communication, and organizational transition
strategies and activities are effectively preparing end‐users to quickly move toward accepting and
owning the changes ahead.
Change readiness assessments are done by surveying or meeting with key focus groups to: measure
effectiveness of sponsorship, determine level of awareness, gauge the perceived priority of the project
as it relates to other initiatives and their daily work, and identify competitive initiatives (barriers),
training success factors, communication success vehicles, system competence, and other unique
departmental barriers or drivers that may need action or leveraging. These sessions are also held to
manage user expectations, communicate change impacts, and gather information on perceived impacts
that may need action.
Potential Change Readiness Activities:
• Conduct an initial Change Readiness Assessment with project team
• Identify key target audiences representing impacted groups
• Based on Change Impact Maps and initial Change Readiness Assessment, establish assessment
topics/questions for key stakeholder assessment
• Conduct Change Readiness Assessment for key stakeholders
• Analyze, assess, and report on readiness state
• Develop actions and revise strategies to increase readiness progress (e.g., revise communication
and/or training plans)
5. End User Training
Training will be a crucial component of your Change Management Plan. Especially where business
process is changed or new skills are required, it is paramount that employees be fully prepared before
they are expected to perform new duties.
The Guiding Principles for Training are:
• Align the Training plan with Fulton County Schools’ and Human Resources strategic goals.
• Build Employee Competency and Capability ‐ Ensure that employees understand the performance
requirements and can meet those performance requirements.
• Build a foundation for ongoing education and training ‐ Establish a sustainable training and
performance support infrastructure which will continue to support the organization.
The goals for training are:
• Training in the new technology must equip both employees and managers with the skills and
knowledge to properly utilize and integrate the new technology into their work processes.
• Provide employees with clear and meaningful performance objectives that are related to their
performance measures.
• Ensure employees are capable and confident in their abilities to use new system as part of their
business responsibilities
24
• Ensure that employees display competency in their areas of responsibility by meeting pre‐defined
performance and learning objectives.
• Provide employees with a foundation for continuous skills development and improvement.
• Ensure appropriateness and cost effectiveness of the End User Training program by concentrating
on the critical and essential training required for startup, and developing a plan for ongoing training
needs.
The following training and documentation objectives have been identified to ensure a successful training
effort:
• End‐user‐focused (i.e., user friendly)
• High‐quality
• Comprehensive
• Role‐focused
• Just‐in‐time (training should occur as close to go‐live as possible)
Please refer to the Training Plan document for more details about the training strategy, delivery
methods, and risks.
Attachment: Training Plan
Phase II - Training
Plan - v3.doc
6. Organizational Transition (Impact)
Organizational Transition (Impact) is the change management element that ensures that an
initiative/project is not considered “just a technical change.” It considers and prepares the organization
for all other impacts, including changes to: processes, policies, systems, organizational structure, and
individuals’ job responsibilities. Organizational transition activities provide valuable input to the
comprehensive development of targeted strategies and activities for all other change management
elements. These activities foster the partnership of business and team members as a key ingredient in
implementing Phase II initiatives/projects that are connected to business goals and provide value with
an optimized and supporting infrastructure.
Impact assessments are used to determine the degree of change and risk that will need to be managed
throughout an enterprise transformation. This process is critical to leading and managing a change
process that is effective at maintaining workforce productivity during a change, and elevating
productivity following a major organizational change. Impact assessments provide a foundation for
stakeholder relationship management, risk management and communications.
The organizational impact assessment process for Fulton County Schools will deliver the following
benefits:
• Provide the Project Teams and other key stakeholders with a consolidated view of the anticipated
business impacts that will result from each process area
25
• Provide a mechanism to engage Fulton County Schools leadership and other key stakeholders in
meaningful conversation about the planned changes, the benefits anticipated from these changes,
and approaches to managing organizational risks
• Focus the Functional and Technical Teams on those areas most in need of change support
• Provide input into several change program areas, including communications, executive and
stakeholder alignment, end user training, organization/team/role redesign, and HR Transformation
integration (workforce transition planning and human resources program changes)
All organizational impacts are categorized in the following dimensions:
Impact Dimension Description
Work Changes in new or shifting work processes/activities, primary
Design/Responsibilities responsibilities and job tasks by role
Skills/Training Changes in key skills and knowledge required/changes in types of
training required to re‐skill/re‐tool existing employees
Decision‐Making and Changes in scope and types of decisions employees and managers
Information will make; changes in types of information required by employees
to make decisions
Internal Relationships/Org Changes in layers of organization structure, types of work groups
Structure and interactions, reporting relationships
Staffing Changes in size of workforce (additional staff, number of
outplacements, site consolidations etc) for each functional area
External Relationships Changes in relationships that extend across the enterprise
Goals/Objectives and Changes in the goals/objectives and corresponding performance
Performance Measures metrics (including accountability) of those doing the work
Rewards and Changes in compensation and rewards that support the newly
Compensation designed processes and structures
Culture Changes in culture (teamwork, political power, discipline, protocol,
vision and goal alignment etc.) required to support, drive and
sustain desired employee behaviors
Facilities Changes in facilities (new locations, integrated work areas, key
workflow tools etc.) required to support, drive and sustain desired
employee behaviors
Policies Changes in existing policies (or creation of new policies) required
to support or regulate newly designed processes
Once the To‐Be processes are finalized the Functional and Change Management teams need to facilitate
organizational transition workshops (if necessary) with and provide resources to key management to
determine the level of impact and how best to manage the impact of the Phase II project.
26
The process design work provides the foundation for completing the impact assessments. The impacts
can be thought of as the “gap” between the existing workflows, and the workflows that will result from
the proposed, redesigned core business processes and technology changes.
27
Approach steps for completing this work include:
• Engage the Team Leads by providing an overview of the Impact Assessment process and value to be
derived. Review impact assessment templates.
• Provide the Impact Assessment template to teams for use.
• Teams capture key impacts as part of the visioning process.
• Document initial impacts using the impact assessment worksheets.
• Get additional review and input as needed.
Potential Organizational Transition Activities:
• Help Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) create Impact maps that identify the impact, persons affected,
and risk level for each business process change associated with the implementation
• Using Impact worksheets, work with SMEs and Change Agents to identify activities and owners to
help mitigate the reaction to each change
• Align communications strategy/activities and training strategy/activities/materials as appropriate
• Conduct periodic risk assessments of high change impacts and ensure there is an effective migration
strategy being applied
• Conduct periodic Stakeholder/Steering Committee check point sessions to ensure business
alignment with team and develop action plans to address opportunities, challenges, and issues
• If needed, develop job maps to identify changing/new job responsibilities and skill requirements and
develop an action plan to address these changes prior to go‐live
• Monitor and revise change impact maps throughout the project
• Develop go‐live support plan and identify structure and responsibilities
• Implement go‐live support plan
• Post go‐live, conduct project learning session(s)
7. Project Team Effectiveness
Team effectiveness refers to the system of getting people in a company or institution to work together
effectively. The idea behind team effectiveness is that a group of people working together can achieve
much more than if the individuals of the team were working on their own. Team effectiveness is
determined by a number of factors, such as:
• The right mix of skills. Team effectiveness depends in part on bringing together people who have
different skills that somehow complement each other. This can mean different technical abilities
or communication skills. In fact, teaming up people who share the exact same characteristics is
often a recipe for disaster. Team effectiveness depends on people taking on different roles in a
group setting. If there is no agreement on who does what in the group, it is unlikely that the
team will prosper.
• The right motivation. Team effectiveness is directly linked to the interest that the group has on
the project. If the job is too easy or too difficult, or if the rewards for achieving the end result do
not seem worth the effort, the team may end up working half‐heartedly in the project. The task
should also have a clear outcome. Working towards a specific goal enhances team effectiveness
significantly.
28
• The ability to solve conflicts without compromising the quality of the project. Team work has
one major downfall. Sometimes groups end up making decisions they know are not in the best
interest of the project, just so they can keep the process moving. Conflict is innate to any work
done in groups, and should be taken as part of the challenge rather than as something to be
avoided by compromising. Team effectiveness should be increased, not compromised, through
conflict.
One way to enhance team effectiveness is to agree beforehand on a code of conduct. As conflicts arise,
it is important to know how to deal with them. What is allowed and what is not? How will the team deal
with disagreements? Is open discussion favored or will the group vote on major decisions? Knowing
what to expect and having the plan will make the process of working in group much easier.
Research has shown that the variables to measure group effectiveness are:
1. Goals: Does the project team know what needs to be accomplished and when? Do team
members know what the firm is trying to achieve?
2. Participation: Do team members have an opportunity to contribute in team meetings? In team
meetings are all team members listened to?
3. Feelings: Architects and engineers usually prefer to deal with content, rather than with feelings.
Nevertheless, members' feelings can play an important role in the effectiveness of the team.
Can team members express their feelings? If they do, do they get empathetic responses?
4. Diagnosis of team problems: When process problems arise, are causes addressed, rather than
symptoms?
5. Leadership: Does the team depend too much on a single person? Do team members other than
the nominal leader feel free to volunteer to meet group needs?
6. Decisions: Is consensus sought and tested? Are deviations appreciated? Once made, are
decisions fully supported by the team?
7. Trust: Do team members trust one another? Can they express negative reactions without
fearing reprisal?
8. Creativity: Does the team seek new and better ways to do things? Are individuals changing and
growing? Since more effective groups produce better outcomes, both quantitatively and
qualitatively, it is obvious that making groups more effective is very important. A particularly
good way is to monitor and measure their effectiveness in the various aspects of group activity.
Schein has suggested the use of a diagnostic instrument to help monitor and assess effective
group behavior, which we have adapted for application to architectural and engineering teams.
By keeping in touch with those characteristics and qualities that improve team effectiveness, the
changes necessary to improve it can be made. The result of improved team effectiveness will be better
outcomes. The payoff—the desired outcomes—are powerful and achievable: project profitability and
quality, client satisfaction, and individual professional development and growth.
29
8. Change Management Roles and Responsibilities
Below are a few core change management roles and responsibilities. (The full description and analysis of
stakeholder groups are contained in the Stakeholder/Communication Plan in Section 4.) Depending on
the needs of the project and the resources available, there may be more or less responsibility and roles
may shift. The key to success is the recognition that everyone involved in implementing Phase II has a
role in Change Management. The responsibility for managing the human impact of change does not fall
solely on the identified Change Management Team. Everyone plays a part.
The project team organizational chart has been attached for reference.
Attachment: Phase II Project Organizational Chart
30
• These individuals will be selected on a volunteer basis as they were in Phase I. A group of 10‐12 STSs
will be Change Agents, along with representatives from administrative departments based on
recommendations from department heads.
Area Superintendents
• Lead department change management efforts by providing ongoing communications with staff,
principals and fostering participation and cascading messages
• Actively partner with the team to ready the organization for change and address areas of resistance
Operations Department Heads
• Lead department change management efforts by providing ongoing communications with staff and
fostering participation and cascading messages
• Actively partner with the team to ready the organization for change and address areas of resistance
31
Appendix B.
Planning for Successful Change
32
Owner
Name, Title and Organization
Project/Initiative Description
Title and Brief Description
Parameters
1. When did this project begin and when did you get involved?
2. What is the stage of completion? (estimate % complete)
3. What percentage of your time will be spent on this project?
Project Climate
1. Why is this initiative critical to the organization’s success? What is the level of urgency
behind the project at this time in the organization’s history?
2. How does this initiative align with the district’s overall strategy, and how do you know it is
a priority for senior leadership?
3. Who are the primary supporters of the change?
4. Who are the key detractors and what are their arguments against change?
Supportive Reading:
“The Hard Side of Change Management,” Harold L. Sirkin, Perry Keenan, and Alan Jackson,
Harvard Business School Press, 2005 (see http://dice.bcg.com/ for more information on the
DICE calculator)
Use the DICE framework set out the article to analyze and assess the likelihood of success for
your change initiative. The essential questions for your evaluation are extracted in the
following tables. You will need to refer to page 6 of the reading to assign scores to your
analysis below.
33
For some of these questions, a general response may not be meaningful. Instead, Residents
may need to differentiate between certain individuals or groups whose experience with the
change effort varies significantly. For instance, “is the team leader capable?” may warrant
only a short commentary on an individual’s strengths and weaknesses as it relates to this
project However, the answer to the question “Are [affected employees] enthusiastic and
supportive or worried and obstructive?” will likely require a description that varies for
particular resisters or supporters of the change.
* Denotes a question where Residents will likely need to differentiate between different individuals or
groups.
Duration
Reflect on the key milestones for the project and answer the following questions.
1 Do formal reviews occur regularly? Gut Check – is this frequent enough given the
scope and scale of the project?
2 If the project will take more than two months to complete, what is the average
time between reviews?
Duration Score:
Integrity
Reflection
1 Is the team leader capable?
Integrity Score:
34
Commitment
Senior Management:
Reflection
1 Do senior executives regularly communicate the reason for the change and the
importance of its success?
3 Is the message consistent, both across the top management team and over time?
What is inconsistent about the message?
C1 Score:
Local-Level:
Reflection
1 Do the most affected employees understand the reason for it? *
C2 Score:
35
Effort
Reflection
1 What is the percentage of increased effort that employees must make to implement
the change effort? *
Effort Score:
36
DICE Score
Directions: Calculate your total score based on each element’s score above.
ELEMENTS SCORE
Duration [D]
Effort [E]
37
Building Project Success
In this section you will determine steps to improve success of your project or initiative.
1 As you reflect on your DICE calculation, what project risks really “hit home” with
you?
2 With this focus in mind, how might you mitigate those risks (1) individually and (2)
as a project team?
3 How might you employ your strengths to help you enhance the likelihood of success?
.
4 What skills will you need to further develop to maximize project success? Consider
your Resident Annual Plan and your development goals and necessary supports.
5 What support will you need? (e.g. from your supervisor/organization, coach,
advisory team, or staff adviser)
38