RISK MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT: YOUR GUIDEBOOK TO SUCCESS 7
CSFs = critical risk management needs
As soon as the contract is signed, our project management team asks our
own sales team and solution consultants: What does the client want from
this RMIS? What can you tell us about the client's critical success factors?
At the kickoff meeting, we ask the client: What are your challenges? What
do you want to improve? How will we know we've improved the ways you
handle your challenges?
We make sure the discussions are interactive and that all client
stakeholders, as appropriate, take part. By arriving at CSFs early in the
project we help ensure the system is developed, tested and accomplished
in a way that is aligned with functional needs and specific business goals.
With most engagements, clients tend to start with a master list of six or
seven CSFs; larger clients can have as many as 10.
When your organization faces an IT implementation, how do you
know the best place to begin? Identifying and developing the "critical
success factors" (CSFs) that will shape and guide the project is a great
first step. CSFs are the limited number of areas in which satisfactory
results from the implementation will ensure successful competitive
performance for the individual, the department and the organization.
In practice, CSFs often represent the three to five items that are the
reason the client purchased risk management software in the first
place. They are must-haves for a project and must be monitored,
visited and visited again throughout the implementation. Let's explore
how we determine CSFs and put them to work in helping to make
implementations successful.
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (CSFs)
