As the healthcare industry transforms, organizations also need to transform their Enterprise Resource Planning, (ERP), or Human Capital Management, (HCM), systems to keep up with the competition, as well as source, employ, and retain the best talent. Many healthcare organizations today are running disparate technologies across different functions, which is inefficient and time consuming.
When a healthcare organization transforms core business systems, it’s important to prepare the organization to adopt the future state. “The benefits of the best technical implementation will be lost if the organization does not understand the change. Alithya’s change management advisory services, which focused on impactful communication and concise training, coupled with Oracle Guiding Learning, made our journey to the Oracle Cloud successful.”- Heather Sprague, CHRO, Adena Health System
At Alithya, we find it important to prepare the project team for a digital disruption with a pre-project checklist. This checklist has worked repeatedly for our clients.
The Checklist
Define Project Requirements
- Be willing to adapt business processes to system functionality - identify opportunities for change prior to project kick-off
- Lock down design for critical components early such as organizational structure, 3rd party integrations, or chart of accounts
- Sign off on each phase of the project with a given timeframe
- Assemble the correct team for requirements gathering
Assign Ownership of Functional Areas by the Core Team
- Choose the right SMEs that have time to fully engage in the project
- It’s important to include individuals with organizational knowledge. Contractors should not occupy decision-making roles for the organization. Backfill regular jobs of key SMEs with contractors if necessary
- Empower SME leaders to become the voice of the function by enabling decision-making with proper communication internally
- Prepare SMEs by completing some of Oracle’s free training before kicking off the project
- Define an informed and active steering committee
- An ERP/HCM project typically consists of CFO/CHRO/CIO/VP Finance
Focus on User Acceptance
- Understand the business outcomes you want to accomplish
- Regularly schedule steering committee meetings with enough time to fully cover all topics, active participation, and actionable results
- Set a collaborative tone by demonstrating respect, adjusting when needed and supporting the team through change
Short Interval Sprints – Not a Marathon
- Use agile Scrum based methodology with rapid prototyping and regular application review
- Make quick decisions, allowing the team to manage goals and timelines
- Spend enough time on testing and multiple data dry runs
Strong Change Management
- Assess training readiness and communication tools
- Build training and communication plans to address organizational needs
- Prepare early to ensure users have knowledge of changes to business processes and ability to execute system functionality
- Manage change proactively by ensuring impacted users have appropriate communication
- Dedicate resources to change management and connect change framework with the project plan
- Address resistance quickly
- Have one-on-one meetings with resisters to answer the question “What keeps you up at night?”
- Connect with clients who have been successful at managing change, or with Oracle directly.
- Identify changes in roles and responsibilities
Start Integrations and Data Conversion Early
- Don’t tackle it all at once – prioritize
- Allow extra time to work with software/3rd party vendors
- Data “clean-up” almost always takes longer than expected
Post Go-live
Post-Go-live is not the end of the road – it’s important to look at the project as a long-term engagement. This ensures that you don’t try to accomplish everything in a mad rush. Post go-live, there are enhancements, and a list of things to come back to in time. Remember, cloud-based systems always evolve with quarterly updates.
The Checklist in Action – Nemours Children’s Health System
Alithya customer Nemours Children’s Health System is a great example of a client who exemplified preparedness for their project. They had executive sponsors who were very supportive from the outset, with realistic expectations. The executive steering committee consisted of CIO/CFO/CHRO for the core, exec steering committee, and project teams from each functional area –supply chain, finance, and HR. They made sure to dedicate enough time for executive steering committee meetings and set up a partnership with Alithya’s consultants. If something needed to be escalated, they escalated. The team remained easy to work with, open, competent, and collaborative throughout, and the project was a big success.
Alithya successfully implemented Oracle HCM Cloud for Nemours Children's Health System to support its core human resource management, employee, and manager self-service, recruiting, onboarding, and analytics reporting. Nemours also deployed Oracle HR Help Desk Cloud and Payroll as part of this implementation.
"The successful implementation of Oracle Cloud HCM brings us closer to our longer-term digital transformation strategy by providing a single, enterprise-wide, integrated cloud system, while increasing efficiency and productivity through automation and collaboration and offering actionable insights at the right time to drive performance," stated Bernie Rice, Chief Information Officer, and Senior Vice President at Nemours.
With the implementation of Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud, Nemours automated repetitive tasks and can now focus on more strategic initiatives such as career development and workforce planning, quickly and easily hiring and onboarding new employees, and improving the employee experience through a conversational user interface.
About Nemours Children's Health System
Nemours is an internationally recognized children's health system that owns and operates two free-standing children's hospitals: the Nemours/Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., along with outpatient facilities in five states, delivering pediatric primary, specialty, and urgent care. Nemours also powers the world's most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org, and offers on-demand, online video patient visits through the Nemours App. Established as The Nemours Foundation through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, Nemours provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to families in the communities it serves.
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