PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
Question 1: Who are the stakeholders in this case?
Ans. There were numerous stakeholders, who were directly or indirectly
involved in this project. For instance, Project Sponsor and Employees of the
First City Bank who had to deal with the ERP system are key stakeholders in
this project.
In addition to this, following were the stakeholders in the ERP Project:
a. Systems Integrator (SI) Sigma Consulting, LLC
b. Customers, who had to apply online through portal
c. Subject matter experts (SMEs) engaged for UAT
d. Jeff Barlow, the manager of the mortgage branch of First City Bank
PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
• Question 2: How do you define a successful project? In your opinion, was this project
a success or a failure?
• Ans. A project is successful:
a. When project met scope, time, and cost goals(fulfills triple constraint)
b. When the project satisfies the project sponsor/ customer
c. When the project achieves the desired goals
Initially it seems project was going to be failure because business processes and
processes were configured incorrectly, which prompted during User’s Acceptance
Testing sessions.
• However, on later stage scope was enhanced with change requests, which resulted
into rise in budget and time duration of the project. Ultimately, project was accepted
and become a success story.
PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
• Question 3: What went well in this project?
• Ans.
1. The most important thing in this project was to conduct third party validation of
business processes and configuration by the client through engaging subject matter
experts (SMEs) during UAT. They indicated incomplete and incorrect configurations in
the new ERP System.
2. In fact, it was the turning point of the project, which turned it into a successful
project. Without their involvement, it could have been a failure story owing to the fact
that all required stakeholders did not participate in the project.
3. The prompt reaction by the client First City Bank & SI Sigma Consulting and their
decision to go back to the drawing board.
4. In addition following went well in this project:
a. Preparing the Stakeholder register.
b. In the end project completed and achieved its objective.
PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
• Question 4: What went wrong in this project?
• Ans.
• 1. Requirement gathering sessions are very important in an ERP system implementation like this
project.
• Systems Integrator (SI) Sigma Consulting, LLC performed the stakeholder identification and
analysis and collected the stakeholder information in the stakeholder register. During Joint
Application Design (JAD) sessions, requirements were sought from stakeholders and blue prints
were prepared, which were incomplete and incorrect. The incomplete requirements resulted in
wrong solution specifications and hence incorrect configuration of the new ERP system, which
was initially rejected by the client.
• 2. The main reason for this roadblock or the major thing which went wrong was non
consultation of the SMEs at the stakeholder engagement planning & execution stages, which
would have helped to enhance the stakeholder engagement process and thus improved the
stakeholders’ participation during requirement gathering (JAD) sessions leading to complete &
correct preparation of ERP system’s blue prints.
PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
• Following went wrong in the project:
• a. The Systems Integrator (SI) Sigma Consulting, LCC failed to devise any plan for the
stakeholder management/engagement.( Lack of stakeholder management planning
leading to absence of important stakeholders in JAD sessions)
• b. Incomplete and incorrect requirement of the stakeholders were captured due to
lack of participation of all the required stakeholders during Joint Application Design
(JAD) sessions
• c. Scope of the project could not be defined properly.
• d. Subject Matter Experts were not consulted at the time of planning and execution
(i.e. Absence of SME’s during the JAD sessions).
• e. The Project time lines and cost over ran.
• f. The incomplete requirements resulted in wrong solution specifications and hence
incorrect configuration of the new ERP system
PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
• Question 5: What are some lessons learned from this project that can be
applied in similar project environments?
• Ans.
1. It is very important for a project like this to gather information regarding
existing business processes and rules of business so that to get actual
requirement for configuration of ERP System.
2. There are two main components in development of business blue prints
i.e. AS IS and TO BE. In simple words what are existing processes, what new
features system is offering, and with the merger of both, best practices
should be configured in ERP system to get maximum benefits from
integration and modular approach of the ERP System.
PLANNING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT-
CASE STUDY-4: First City Bank Implements an ERP System
• 3. In such projects, it is vital to conduct a third party validation of business
processes and configuration through engaging subject matter experts (SMEs)
during UAT to achieve realistic and unbiased results.
• 4. Stakeholder Register should be updated throughout the Project life cycle.
• 5. Incomplete requirements gathering in such projects will result in wrong
solution specifications and hence incorrect configuration of the new ERP
system.
• 6. Appropriate decisions at right times can save the time and cost on the
project.
• 7. Development & Implementation of effective Stakeholder engagement
strategy and plan leads to achieve stakeholders’ satisfaction and project
success.
