N A C T I O N 6.19 USER INVOLVEMENT IS CRITICAL IN SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION

DSS I N A C T I O N 6.19 USER INVOLVEMENT IS CRITICAL IN SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION

Managers at Frito-Lay made a critical blunder when collaboration (involvement) helped to significantly they developed a pilot knowledge management system

reduce turnover. Early involvement of users is essential portal but neglected to involve the sales team in the

for buy-in. If they have input in the design, it becomes design of the tool. This directly undermined user accep-

their tool. It is important for a development team to lis- tance of the system. Later, it was necessary to back- ten to their needs, in order to develop something to help

track, plug in missing features, and win back the support

the company's business processes. of the sales force, who suspected that even a revised tool would be a waste of time. For four months, the pro-

ject team worked closely with the salespeople. Better Source: Modified from Melymuka (2001a).

i m p o r t a n t a t all s t a g e s o f d e v e l o p m e n t ( s e e D S S i n A c t i o n 6.19). T h e p r o j e c t m a n a g e r m u s t h a v e g o o d c o m m u n i c a t i o n skills w h e n d e a l i n g w i t h u s e r s a n d m a n a g e r s . Melymuka>(2001a) r e c o m m e n d s 10 s e e m i n g l y s i m p l e s t e p s to get u s e r s i n v o l v e d in sys-

t e m s d e v e l o p m e n t ( s e e D S S i n F o c u s 6.20). P r o j e c t s u c c e s s c e r t a i n l y m a y d e p e n d u p o n p o l i t i c s t o k e e p all s t a k e h o l d e r s

i n v o l v e d . Politics m a y b e n e c e s s a r y t o m a i n t a i n p r o j e c t s u p p o r t ( s e e L e v i n s o n , 2002; K e m p , 2000). Trust m u s t b e d e v e l o p e d a n d m a i n t a i n e d ( G o n z a l e s , 2001). S u c h t r u s t i s s o m e t i m e s difficult t o o b t a i n i f o u t s i d e c o n s u l t a n t s a r e u s e d . S o m e t i m e s o u t s i d e r s a r e v i e w e d n o t simply a s c h a n g e agents, b u t a s p e o p l e w h o a r e a t t e m p t i n g t o m a k e c u t s rather than bring about true change.

Difficult situations may be managed by accurately identifying and prioritizing pro- ject iterations. O n e a p p r o a c h i s t h a t o f t h e D y s f u n c t i o n , I m p a c t , a n d Feasibility ( D I F ) M a t r i x ( G o n z a l e s , 2001). I t m a y p r o v e u s e f u l i n d e f i n i n g i n t e r r e l a t e d , o v e r l a p p i n g r e q u i r e m e n t s , prioritizing iterations, a n d p r o v i d i n g f o r n o n b i a s e d d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g .

A t r e n d to m a i n t a i n existing legacy s y s t e m s by e n h a n c i n g t h e m w i t h a W e b - b a s e d

f r o n t - e n d h a s d e v e l o p e d . W h i l e this is o f t e n a g o o d q u i c k fix, it is like installing a j e t

e n g i n e i n a c a r — e v e n t u a l l y t h e c a r will b r e a k d o w n . L e g a c y s y s t e m s m a y n o t s u p p o r t t h e c u r r e n t set o f b u s i n e s s p r o c e s s e s . I t i s i m p o r t a n t t o d e t e r m i n e t h e r i g h t t i m e t o