Warning! Implementation Trauma Ahead

Here I am, sitting in hotel room in Indianapolis, where the task popped up reminding me to write my weekly (okay, okay, sometimes not quite weekly) blog post.  And I have to admit I am a bit uninspired for some reason. Maybe it's just the natural slow start that comes off of a holiday weekend.  Or maybe it is a symptom of being in a training state of mind for an end-user training tomorrow.  Whatever it is, I hope our legions of fans will indulge me a bit :)

Lately I have been spending a fair amount of time training and conducting study halls on Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step.  The conversations in class and afterwards bring to mind the so-called "sins" that seem to repeat themselves again and again.  So, here is my list of implementation "sins", I have created two lists-- one for customers and one for consultants.  I know this is a bit self-indulgent (I warned you earlier!), and I am not suggesting that I have not committed each and every one of these sins once or twice (or more often!), but I thought I would share the list and see what else you all would add.  In no particular order...

Top 5 Consulting Sins

1. Assuming you are the sole reason for the success/failure of the project
2. Forgetting that customer service is important even during the heat of an implementation
3. Ignoring risks as a way to avoid difficult conversations and/or to not "rock the boat"
4. Forgoing proactive change management for many of the same reasons as #3
5. Losing yourself in the "weeds" and forgetting the reasons/goals for the implementation

Top 5 Customer Sins

1. Assuming that the consulting team is the sole reason for the success/failure of the project
2. Approaching the consulting team as adversaries instead of partners
3. Underestimating the organizational change associated with implementing software
4. Not placing value on the time spent by employees on an implementation
5. Inadequately voicing/sharing your goals, whether due to limited budget, resources, or time (or energy!)

Later this week, I will give you more background on each of these.  They are all common themes that come up in class after class, study hall after study hall, conversation after conversation.  Please share your own as well!

Christina Phillips is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Dynamics GP Certified Professional. She is a supervising consultant with BKD Technologies, providing training, support, and project management services to new and existing Microsoft Dynamics customers.

Sure Step Study Hall Fun!

Hey all you Microsoft Partners out there!  If you still need to pass the Implementation Methodology certification before May 1st, come join me for a Sure Step Study Hall at Convergence.

Sunday April 10, 2011
3:15pm
Room B216, Georgia World Congress Center (Convention Center)

Join me for tips and tricks to creating a valuable study plan to pass the exam. We will overview key concepts in Sure Step, and focus on tools and guidance available in Sure Step to help focus your study efforts.

Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations? Exam? EEEEK!

Partners! Do you still need to pass the Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations exam?  Are you still in denial?  :)  Join me for an online study hall on Friday March 25th.

Below is an abstract of the session....

Prepare for the Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementation exam (MB5-858) by attending this study hall. The session will include a review of key concepts important in studying for the exam. The exam preparation guide will be reviewed, and related components of Sure Step will be discussed to help focus your study plan.


And you can register here...

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=733895

There are other study halls planned, below is the communication from Microsoft:
Ask the Experts: MPN Study Hall Series

Join us for sixty minute study hall sessions for Sure Step, 2win, and Solution Selling that have been created to align core curriculum that comprises the sales and presales exams, but is intended as a high-level review for individuals who have already completed the courses. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask the subject matter experts questions in areas that they may be struggling to apply concepts or areas of weakness on the exam.

· March 25 at 9:00 AM PST – Sure Step
· April 1 at 9:00 AM PST – 2Win
· April 20 at 9:00 AM PST - Solution Selling (Part 1 of 3)
· April 21 at 9:00 AM PST - Solution Selling (Part 2 of 3)
· April 27 at 9:00 AM PST - Solution Selling (Part 3 of 3)

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/worldwide/northamerica/us_recent/asktheexpert.

Sure Step Certified, or Certifiable?

I just wanted to share a great blog post by a fellow Sure Step trainer in Europe. Some great hints on prepping for the Sure Step exam if you haven't already passed it :)

Also, I encourage you to read the comments on the blog as he has some great responses to common complaints/issues with Sure Step that I hear in classes and conversations. As always, I think we all have room for improvement in our approaches and Sure Step has a variety of tools to assist you. I tell students in all of my classes that you shouldn't feel pressure to adopt ALL of Sure Step at one time, but to look critically at your organization and find the areas that you could improve. Then look to the guidance in Sure Step to help you. Not to be sappy, but in the end, we all want happy customers right?

Trouble with proposals being "off" from the real project? Look to the Diagnostic phase guidance, including Decision Accelerators to reduce your risk and increase the customer's confidence in your solution.

Development projects don't seem to meet the customer's needs the first time around? Look to the design document guidance in the Design phase in Sure Step.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Give it a chance with an open mind, and you might be pleasantly surprised :)

Sure Step Myths Debunked

I have been teaching Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step curriculum for a couple of years now. And with the changes in the partner program, the past 6 months (and even the past year) have seen the fullest classes I have taught in a long time. I definitely enjoy hearing the different experiences from a variety of Dynamics partners (AX, CRM, GP, NAV, SL). Contrary to popular belief, it is not only the "large" partners who have found benefit and efficiency by implementing Sure Step in their practices. I have heard just as many success stores from small to medium sized partners as well, who have one to two offices at the maximum.


But, of course, it's not all success stories and I thought I might take some time to debunk some of the most popular myths or confusions surrounding Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step.


"It's all about the documentation"
During the first day of class, I find that students are repeatedly flipping to the documents tab in Sure Step to locate information. But the real value in Sure Step is in the reference tab, where you can locate valuable guidance on project activities and project management disciplines. The templates and other resources are linked directly in to the guidance in the Tools, Templates, and Links pane at the top of Sure Step.

"It only applies to large implementations"

I think this, too, tracks back to the misunderstanding that Sure Step is only about documentation. It is equally about process. Activities can be conducted formally or informally or not at all, based on the scale of the project. Use the project type filter in the upper right hand corner of Sure Step to filter the project activities. For example, pick Rapid to filter to the simplest list of activities or Standard for a step up in complexity. And, again, it doesn't have to be about completing ALL of the templates. Focus on the process, and use the documentation that supports your project goals and plan.

"I don't know where to begin"

Okay, fair enough. But here are a couple suggestions. First, in Sure Step, under Additional Resources, select Information Flow- Key Documents. These documents and activities (yes, the image of the flow is hyperlinked to the appropriate activities and guidance in Sure Step) are a great starting point as they represent the "spine" of the Sure Step process. I suggest to students to review this flow, and then think critically about the failures in their organizations. Pick a failure (or something you could do better if failure is too strong of a word), and start with that activity/guidance/document. Nothing says you have to adopt ALL of Sure Step at the same time. Pick your battles, and pick the ones that are the easiest wins for your organization. Consistently have issues with customizations not being quite what the customer wanted? Look at the design documents highlighted in the design phase. Requirements not clear enough in the diagnostic phase to create a reliable high level budget for the project? Look in to the available decision accelerators to assist with the requirements gathering and scoping process during pre-sales.

"My customers won't pay for this"

I do truly appreciate this perspective, and there are challenges. But I think we have to acknowledge that as consultants, project managers, companies, that customers are not only buying software (which is generally a fairly fixed cost from partner to partner) but they are also buying our approach. Prove that your approach will lower their risk, their cost, while increasing their satisfaction with the implementation process and ultimately the software, and I think the argument becomes easier. The flip side of this, is that a reliable process also generally leads to better morale internally as well. Again, I am not saying it is always easy, but that it can be easier when you have a repeatable process that is consistently successful and you can demonstrate this to your customers and prospects.

For those of you thinking about attending the GP Partner Connections conference in October in Orlando, definitely check out the Sure Step 101 workshops and roundtable for even more info on Sure Step in general and adoption in particular!

Emerging from the Curriculum Caverns

So, I have to start out with an apology of sorts, as I have been heads down for the past 6 weeks working on curriculum updates for Microsoft. So this has become an orphan blog, which Steve so gently reminded me of. So here I am to give you a bit of an update and share what has been keeping me away for so long. I have been updating courseware for the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step 2010, primarily working on the courseware forProject Managing Microsoft Dynamics® AX, Microsoft Dynamics® GP, and Microsoft Dynamics® NAV Implementations with Microsoft Dynamics® Sure Step (which will be course 80199) and also doing some support around the Using Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step course (80047).

The Project Managing course is a case study based course, which I think is a great collaborative learning experience with students participating in the implementation of a fictional company and working with many of the key tools, templates, and guidance provided in Sure Step. I have experience teaching the course on earlier releases, and I found the shift in perception very interesting. Students often arrived in class aware of Sure Step and its capabilities, but unaware of how to apply the capabilities to their implementation process. After two days with the case study, however, the possibilities became clear and students would leave excited to take what they had learned and apply it practically (and quickly). As an instructor, I love to see that sort of return on the training investment!

The Using Sure Step course is meant to serve as a more general Sure Step training, great for those that need the nuts and bolts approach to understanding the components and benefits of the Sure Step model. This is the courseware we have used internally to train our team members, and I find myself referring to it regularly when I need to refresh my own memory :)

Being the geek girl that I am, I have to say that I came out of the project with a (even for me, an enternally enthusiastic person when it comes to new releases) surprising level of anticipation for the new release. For those of you not yet working with Sure Step, it presents a variety of additional touchpoints to engage you that I hope you will find immediately applicable to your business. And for those of you already working with it, I think you will find that Microsoft listened to the feedback and incorporated more tools and guidance to allow you to take the tool even further in to your implementation processes.

Some key new features (borrowed from the US Partner Executive Program News for Microsoft Dynamics - October 2009):

• Industry and Cross-Product Content - Positioning and deploying Microsoft Dynamics solutions in a given Industry or its related segments. Industry Pilots for AX Process Manufacturing and CRM Public Sector including the launch of an Industry Playbook for solution selling. Also available will be guidance on xRM platform due-diligence and deployment.
• Agile Project Type – The addition of this project type which will be especially suitable for implementations where the Microsoft Dynamics solution is positioned as a platform rather than as a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system.
• Organizational Change Management Discipline – New guidance on managing organizational change, to address this common challenge in any ERP or CRM deployment.
• ISV Guidance – New content that applies to ISV solution positioning and deployment and engagement with the VARs and SIs during sales and implementation. Also, introducing Certified for Microsoft Dynamics alignment recommendations.
• More collaboration and project tracking capabilities through enhanced SharePoint integration based on Sales, Implementation and Optimization engagements.
• Enhancements to the Diagnostic Phase including a link between Sure Step and Unleash Your Potential, an Industry Playbook to assist the Sales Roles focused on selling Microsoft Dynamics solutions catered to a specific industry/vertical, a consolidated set of Decision Accelerator Offerings, estimation tools and an enhanced ROI calculator.
• Enhancements to the Optimization Offerings including further alignment and integration to Support and Services from Microsoft and additional proactive and post go-live offerings.

If you are interested in checking out the upcoming release, I encourage you to check out the latest information available on PartnerSource under Partner Essentials>>Sure Step.

Also, don't forget about these resources for Sure Step as well:

• Sure Step Partner Adoption Roadmap
• Sure Step Partner Adoption Assessment

I would love to hear back from those of you who are using Sure Step, thinking about using it, or wondering how/if it can apply to your organization and implementation practices!

In the meantime, I promise more frequent posts in the upcoming couple months (at least until my due date, 1/7/10...it's a girl for those of you who don't already know).

Take care,

Christina