By Geralyn Cassone
When planning to implement a new treasury system, it’s always good to remember that a failure to plan is a plan to fail.
Treasury implementations, whether product or systems or both, can get off track quickly. And with momentum lost, time to completion is often longer than originally targeted; thus the myriad reasons why a “go live” date is pushed out. The following is a look at what can make or break a treasury implementation and provides a useful checklist to ensure your efforts lead to success.
Stick with the plan
Once the decision is made to embark upon a new system or service, the implementation planning process should begin quickly. The plan should be fully developed: set objectives, identify resources needed and detailed requirements; nail down the timing of key milestones and have a plan to stay on course.
But despite some companies’ best efforts, experience has proven that sticking to the original plan and its timing presents a challenge for even the best treasury organizations.
According to Paul Bramwell, senior vice president, treasury solutions at SunGard’s AvantGard, adequate planning is “the single most important point” and is vital to any implementation project. Inadequate scoping and miscommunications can be avoided by having a developed plan which states objectives, time frame and resources required and provides a framework for the process.
In addition, a “strong internal owner,” one who can lead the changeover through to completion, is key. Mr. Bramwell suggests that the owner include others on the team early on, “so they feel they have a buy in, and will roll up their sleeves and get involved.”
Details details
Whether it is a 3- or 12-month implementation process or small or large scale, the approach you take and the attention given to details will make a difference in your outcome. Here we take a look at what has been learned through experience that will assist treasury operations with getting the job done expediently.
Internal or External?
Depending on company resources or competence, companies stay in-house or they rent the talent.
Utilizing primarily in-house resources and selecting your project manager from internal staff does have benefits of company familiarity. This “go to” person will interface with IT, accounting and other internal departments as needed, as well as the vendor, and otherwise see the organization through the process.
If you do have the resources, it might be better to engage an outside consultant with the know-how in the particular system or product you are integrating. For larger scale implementations, you may also require an experienced PMO, and possibly have one on staff.
Although outside consultancy clearly adds to implementation costs, in the long run, their knowledge might give this approach the edge. External consultants can help expedite the tailoring of a product/system to your company as they bring to the table experience in implementing it for other organizations. They have the advantage of hindsight. They collaborate with the in-house staff and manage the vendor resources in seeing the project through to completion.
One piece at a time
A staggered approach may work best for large-scale implementations, whereby the implementation is broken down into stages and resources adjusted according to specific requirements at each stage. The project owner manages the internal costs of time and resources against the implementation plan to ensure the project keeps its forward momentum.
The vendor’s product specialist assigned to your company’s implementation is another resource and is typically provided at no additional charge. However, the wild card is the experience of the product specialist. How seasoned are they? How many other implementations are they currently involved in? Try to assess the specialist’s pull in the company and whether they are adept at internally networking. Can they push buttons to move your implementation forward if there is a vendor delay?
Generally the more valuable your relationship is to your vendor the more likely you will be provided a more seasoned product team, but be sure to ask. Vendor support both for implementation and on-going service maintenance can vary and make quite a difference in the outcome.
Cover All Your Bases
Another key to a successful implementation is to map out the processes impacted and engage each process owner. For instance, accounting, shared-service center as well as treasury may be affected by a new system for the consolidation of regional cash. Engaging other departments as part of the planning process is extremely beneficial and often is critical in order to avoid hiccups in the process.
Consider and research all valid objections raised. Put together cross-functional teams to provide added know-how, reduce silo-thinking and prepare the way for seamless adoption. Also set minimal requirements for internal resources early in the planning stages.
Process managers should commit departmental resources and agree on expectations, including piloting or parallel testing as needed. With treasury working collaboratively you keep the implementation on course and reduce any
internal friction. Be sure treasury is the key responsible. For example, letting IT lead a systems change may result in shifting priorities and the risk that the implementation does not stay on course. Keep the lead.
Internal users who are migrating to the new product often get annoyed with integration issues, and this can delay the staff’s readiness to adopt it. Rather than placing blame take quick action to cure any bottlenecks, and work to relieve staff pressures inherent with change.
In addition, the staff will need to be educated, so plan on adequate time for training to get people up to speed as necessary. For optimal results, any system or product change needs to be managed so it is not merely used as a replacement. Communicate the reason and objectives that led to the new system or product that is being implemented—motivate staff and create an environment of change.
Post-Implementation
Remember that implementation does not end with the “go live” date. Ongoing monitoring is required to get the kinks out and to ensure full adoption and operational efficiency.
Mr. Bramwell points out that SunGard AvantGard offers a post-implementation audit, performed 2-3 months after the handover to their general support desk. This is a look at the new process as compared to the plan’s objectives. Incorporating measurements to track progress can aid in assessing the success of the new product or system.
Also during the post-implementation stage, new controls and procedures require updates to documentation and other internal compliance requirements specific to your company.
Lessons Learned
It would be hard to find a treasury implementation process that did not have rough sailing at some point. Why? Because the unexpected does occur and predicting all the “What if?” and “How to?” scenarios is nearly impossible. Unforeseen issues can slow down or sabotage even the best-planned implementation projects.
“Understand your current state” in its entirety, suggests one treasury manager who is seasoned in leading various bank-related implementations. Dealing with one-offs later in the process presents a big problem, especially when you are two-thirds of the way through an implementation and realize it needs to be revamped. Figure out the unusual items as soon as you can; involve the “doers” and translate them into the future state in the planning phase.
Another common bottleneck is data file integrity. Outdated master data can hinder new applications from performing optimally until cleansed. One US-based company that went through a major ERP consolidation dealt with their data quality issue by creating and staffing a separate department—Data Quality—whose sole focus was to clean up the mound of poor data accumulated and to establish controls around new data entry.
Experience has also shown that testing critical applications in small increments can help avoid larger disasters, and moving forward only after successfully piloting or parallel testing the new process is paramount to the implementation.
Temper great expectations
It is important to be realistic, as some problems are bound to surface. Even the most determined and best-planned implementations don’t proceed without bottlenecks. Each corporate environment brings with it specific needs and customization, and it is not easy to know all the determinants up front that will ensure a smooth rollout. And if the issue is on the vendor’s side then it is even more difficult for treasury to control and fix.
The checklist below was developed from discussions with treasury practitioners and providers that have experience with implementations of product and processes. It offers suggestions that will guide you toward a smoother implementation process.