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Projects succeed and fail for multiple reasons. At MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA), we have executed similar processes to the ten-step project rescue process outlined by Gartner. We have learned that having a defined process is key to the success of any project. In this blog post, we will cover the steps we take when rescuing a failing project by rescoping, re-planning, and re-budgeting. Pause the Failing Project The first step is to pause the failing project. This means that no new project tasks can be started, and all current project tasks must be put on hold. Next, talk to everyone involved in the project, including project sponsors, project managers, project team members, and any other stakeholders. It is important to do this to get a full understanding of the project and what has led to its current state. Set Boundaries After talking to everyone, you need to set boundaries. This means that you need to establish clear expectations for the failing project going forward. It is critical to find the root cause of the project's problems. This is important to prevent the same issues from occurring in the future. Once you have identified the root cause, we assess the risks associated with the project. This helps you to determine whether the project is worth rescuing. Prepare for Battle If we decide that the failing project is worth rescuing, prepare for "battle". This means putting together a plan of action and getting all the necessary resources in place. Then re-engage key stakeholders and determine the project's "go-forward" status. This includes setting new timelines and objectives for the project. Also confirm responsibilities and reset expectations. By following these steps, we can rescue failing projects and help them to succeed. To summarize, programs and projects that are failing can be rescued if the proper processes have been implemented and the team has enough information to make an informed decision. At MSSBTA, we have a defined process for rescuing failing projects and utilize methodologies to rescope, re-plan and re-budget. We talk to everyone involved in the project, set boundaries, find the root cause of the problem, assess the risks associated with the project, and are prepared to help clients make an informed decision. If you have a project that is failing and needs rescued, or if you would like more information about our project management services, please contact us. We would be happy to help!

Pamela Barnhill offers her take on how IT alignment between the CIO and CEO can help businesses looking for growth opportunities in an evolving market. CIO and CEO communication and alignment are vital as each relies on the other for long-term value creation and optimized day-to-day operations. Below are eight ways the CIO, CEO (and even the Board) use alignment for value creation: 8 Ways the CIO and CEO Use Alignment for Value Creation: Agree upon terminology (jargon) Ask the right questions Align the short-term and long-term corporate goals and priorities Understand how the current and planned tech stack architecture aligns with the goals to prevent unplanned complications and change. Ensure a long-term commitment and support to the technology supporting corporate goals Implement employee benefits and a strong culture to make the business a magnet for technical talent Build up technical cross-functional training to empower and ease transformation Communicate and Deliver IT Progress through key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to evaluate the IT Team and showcase progress to the organization. Having these (potentially tough) discussions early allows for focused innovation, productivity, employee and customer satisfaction, and ultimately greater corporate value. This search for increased value presents interesting opportunities for highly functioning Executive Teams. Manage Alignment and Expectations Using a confidential consultant and an Audit helps businesses better manage alignment and expectations and drives them to their desired goals. Not being fully bound to corporate-political circumstances, consultants can engage Executives in a way that pushes them forward along the path to their intended goals. They are also able to maintain an open communications culture that does not get stymied by an aggressive focus on compliance or by competing agendas. You Are Not Alone When tackling the challenges of an evolving organization, which is true for leadership in any industry, you must be willing to ask for help. Remember: you are not alone. Some people have been impacted similarly through different crises. They know how to survive and thrive. Find people and consultants that understand transformation and people development and know what is needed to create success, even in adverse situations. Plus, it is worthwhile to follow and monitor market evolution. The growing gig economy creates additional opportunities for companies to pivot and try new ventures while keeping the tech stack in mind. MSS Business Transformation Advisory is here to help affirm your purpose, align organizational priorities, refresh your purpose as a thoughtful leader, and enable you to succeed in these challenging times. References: CEO-CIO Alignment Report | Info-Tech Research Group (infotech.com) What CIOs need from their CEOs and boards to make IT digital ready | McKinsey

In today’s trying times, embarking on a new and disruptive digital transformation journey might feel like you are setting out in rough seas in a leaking rowboat. To make matters worse, you might feel that you lack a clear destination, map, or compass and are accompanied by just a few key resources that have never rowed or steered or even seen this new ocean before. You have heard the horror stories and maybe even seen firsthand some less than optimal outcomes of well-intentioned initiatives in similar organizations. Navigating Digital Transformations Disruptive digital transformations, and well-planned ones, continue to challenge even highly skilled and accomplished executives, especially in the public sector. There is often both a clear need and a strong desire to automate routine processes with modern technology. However, public sector leaders have limited resources and lack sufficient internal staff capacity and knowhow to successfully navigate the process. Executive bandwidth has competing priorities that create strong head winds in a process that usually has waves crashing from all sides. Despite these impediments, there is often a strong business case or pressing requirement to begin the journey. If you are facing this situation, we have put together the “map” to help you start charting your course. Digital Transformation Strategy and Requirements The first set of major decisions for a digital transformation strategy revolve around which vendors you will partner with. We like to break this down into two steps: Strategy and Requirements, and Vendor Selection and Contract Negotiation Under Strategy and Requirements, we strongly encourage you to begin by creating alignment with the impacted stakeholders around goals and objectives of your initiative. Then, you gather requirements, which industry experts agree is the single most important critical success factor in technology projects. Use these requirements to develop the RFP and transition to Vendor Selection and Contract Negotiation. Vendor Selection and Contract Negotiation Getting the RFP out is a major milestone. It is worth noting that this only kicks off another intensive process involving vendor evaluation, due diligence, selection, and contract negotiation. Each sub-process deserves to be approached with equal rigor and requires a slightly different skillset. Your procurement team can likely help with the process part, but our experience is that it is never an “apples-to-apples” comparison of vendors. There is significant skill involved in making good and informed decisions. However, once you have finalized contract negotiation, you are finally ready to begin implementation! Download Business and Technology Transformation Lifecycle PDF Look for the next post that dives deeper into the Implementation Process. In the interim, now that you have the “map”, you may want to start thinking about the “compass” (hint: LGA) and a sturdy ship with a skilled crew that knows this ocean well (hint: MSSBTA). Share This Article:

Something disruptive is happening in sports and particularly in basketball. It’s called team ensembling and the Golden Gate Warriors are a prime example. In 2013, the Golden State Warriors had a mediocre record. In 2014, they hired Steve Kerr as their head coach and their winning percentage jumped to 85% (as of this writing) over two and a half seasons, they won one championship and lost another in the final game all while setting winning records along the way. The Golden State Warriors have tapped into something that allows them to perform at a much higher level than other professional teams. Most sports have a recipe for success. In basketball, the formula for winning has been a tall center, a power forward, a small forward, a shooting guard, and a point guard combined with predetermined plays that get the ball to star players through a series of set positions and picks. The Warriors disrupted this approach by emulating the way basketball is played in pickup games in gyms and on playgrounds around the country. The Warriors utilize a center and four, highly skilled players who are competent at multiple positions and can adjust their role depending on the conditions of the game. While players still have specific assignments, they can all take the lead or drop into support, as necessary. They understand the big picture and know how all the players fit into it. They know each other’s capabilities, can read, and react instinctively to one another, and recognize when one of them is hot or cold. Each member is responsible not just for their own success but for the success of others, they celebrate when other team members are successful, and they pick up the slack when someone else is having a difficult time. There are no set plays and no real “stars” on this team. For the other teams, this approach is a huge problem. We can imagine how challenging it is to prepare for a game against the Warriors. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses or identifying patterns of play is a grueling affair as each situation means a different response and the potential variations are infinite. The only way to play them and win is to become like them. Now, you may say, “That is fine for basketball, but how does this relate to my organization?” The answer is increasing, “In every way! “ In business, like basketball, traditional team structures can be debilitating. The team structures that most businesses operate under were built for the world that existed over hundred years ago (about the time basketball was invented). This was the time of management science where thinkers and doers were separated, and mass production was the focus. Today, the business environment is more demanding, more volatile, and operating at a much faster pace. Maintaining the hierarchical structures of the past is like running the traditional plays and expecting a win against the Warriors. The competitors are different now. They are fast and adaptive so traditional businesses must take a new approach. If we look through the Complexity Lens, we can see that the Golden State approach is absolutely required for driving high performance in the new reality. Team Ensembling At the risk of mixing a metaphor, let’s call this new high-performance group approach team ensembling because it reminds one of a jazz ensemble. In good jazz, each person has a role (the trumpet, bass, drum, etc.) and the music provides a framework, but improvisation is the mark of a talented group. The members of a great jazz ensemble play off each other and can take the lead of drop into support to make the experience better for the audience and much more fun for them. In different conditions, even the size of the ensemble can change depending who is on hand. Creating High-Performance Team Ensembles Building this team ensembling capability in an organization can be difficult but manageable through some simple steps. Here are nine ways to start creating high performance teams: Identify the Real Structure: Even if you follow a traditional structure officially understand that there is an underlying shadow structure that is enabling your organization to operate efficiently. Identify it and utilize it. Invest the Time & Energy: While some leaders may not see the value of it at first, the return will become quickly apparent. The time can be reduced by utilizing some of the tools out there for this purpose. My organization has a technique called ASAP High-Performance Team Development (powered through a tool called Sociomapping) that helps make fantastic progress in a few short sessions. Value Relationships More Than Structure: Knowing the relationships and organizing in a way to promote this among team members is key to successful team ensembling. The better people know and interact, the more intuitive they can be about how the others will perform. They can adapt to each other and raise their performance as a team. Train for It: In the book Team of Teams, New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, the authors describe how Navy Seals teams are dropped in the rough seas with nothing but a raft. The team members are all highly skilled and in great physical shape but to complete the exercise they are utterly dependent on each other. No one person can get into the raft without the help of the others, nor can they control the raft. Without working together, the whole team ends up back in the ocean. Organizations do not have to be so drastic in their team building efforts, but there are ways of achieving a similar effect with some simple exercises. Make the Big Picture Accessible: If the team members know and understand the strategy and what it takes to win, they can adapt what they do to make it happen. Information is gold. Don’t believe that the “need to know” approach somehow protects your business. This only means you are putting blinders on your players and forcing them to see only what is in front of them. Make Individual Professional Development a Team Effort: Making individual development goals transparent will increase performance. This is like posting player statistics for a sports team. If your team members know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and what each member is working to develop, they can help and support each other. If they are not aware, they make poor assumptions which can create misunderstandings and resentment. Pick People with the Right Attitude: Like the best sports teams, do not assume the star players are the ones that work best in your system. The ability to gel with others and suspend ego is much more important. If members of the team cannot respect others, they should be dropped for those who can no matter if they are the “stars.” Eventually, ego driven players destroy the rhythm of the ensemble. Avoid Complicated Structures: This is not to say that structure is not important. It is! But complicated structures tie the hands of the players and give them excuses to fail. Focus on simple rules and enable them the ability to make tactical changes as they engage. Lead and Believe: Recognizing the need for high performance teams is one thing. Believing and having the gumption to carry forward in the face of adversity is true leadership. Your teams will resist at first. Management (the most threatened) will tell you are crazy. Mistakes will occur. But, if you believe and carry forward, it will pay off dividends, and you will win your version of the championship game not once but again and again. Inspired by new corporate structures, savvy business leaders are shedding their corporate powers for new paradigms. More than one-third (37%) of leaders say they are transforming their business by reorganizing reporting lines and replacing old hierarchies with more flexible arrangements that encourage collaboration and empower employees. – Forbes Challenge or Be Challenged in Association with GAP International The Counter Argument – the New Zealand All Blacks The most successful professional sports team in the world is the All Blacks rugby team out of New Zealand. The All Blacks played their first rugby test in 1903. As of November 2015, they have achieved a success rate of 79% since inception. In 2016, their winning percentage is 100% (to date of this writing). Rugby is a game where size and position matter a lot. The prop forwards need to be big and strong, the hookers need to be smaller and lighter, and the backs need to be fast and elusive. This would seem to be the best argument against the application of team ensembling in every situation. Sometimes, specialization is essential. One would be hard pressed to see a player move from prop to hooker to back. Still, the success of the All Blacks can be attributed to their ability to apply these techniques even in a highly structured organization. This excerpt from an article by a former captain of the All Blacks provides evidence. World-class teams take this trend [generalization of player capabilities] as far as it can sensibly go. Their members are experts in their specialist tasks but able to turn their hand to other members’ tasks as well. This brings the team enormous benefits in flexibility and responsiveness, but more importantly, it allows for the coherence and wholeness that only teams whose members really understand the nature of other members’ contributions can achieve. These physical benefits are reinforced by psychological benefits. High-performing team members generalize their attitude to team performance. They see the big picture and how they fit into it. They feel responsible for their performance, for others’ performance, and for team performance. They become leaders. – David Kirk, Former Captain, New Zealand All Blacks via McKinsey Quarterly 1992 Mind you, this was published in 1992 before many of the concepts we are discussing made their way into organizational thinking. Still, the universality of team ensembling techniques is clear for those who using the complexity lens. The All Blacks have implemented team ensembling for decades, and this has contributed to making them the best team in all professional sports.

In our previous post, Charting the Course for a Successful Digital Transformation Part 1, we introduced the “map” for a successful digital transformation journey. We also discussed the first two steps in this journey, culminating in selecting your vendor(s). Once you have selected your vendor(s), you will soon be ready to start implementation. The major steps in implementation include: Initiate, Analyze, Configure, Test, and Deploy/Optimize steps in transformation lifecycle Initiating the Digital Transformation Implementation In the Initiate phase, you will build your project organization and establish the governance structure and process. The Initiate phase includes defining roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities within your project team, and building/validating the Project Work Plan. You can think about the Initiate phase as building the infrastructure or foundation for project success. Analyzing the Technical Aspects of the Digital Transformation Implementation After you have built the digital transformation infrastructure and foundation, your project team can begin to address the more technical aspects of the project in the Analyze phase. Here, the project team will review your existing processes and decide on any required changes or enhancements. The team will continue to refine requirements and make decisions on specific configurations, customizations, and integrations. This phase is often referred to as the Discovery and Design Phase by vendors and systems integrators. Configuring the Implementation Requires Specialized Technical Skills Once the design is finalized, your vendor(s) will work to configure the software, build the integrations, and write any custom code needed for the transformation implementation. The project team will also develop test plans and training materials, as well as conduct data cleansing in preparation for data migration and cutover. This is the most technical phase of the project and will involve specialized resources from your vendor(s) preparing your new system for deployment. Reaching Functional and Integration Testing Milestones Once the system is configured, it must be tested prior to deployment. This includes both functional testing and integration/system testing, as well as end user testing, which is often referred to User Acceptance Testing (UAT). The Business Unit sign-off following UAT is a major milestone for the implementation of any new system. There are certainly some critical success factors to think about when planning for a successful digital transformation. In our experience, the most important factor is to ensure you provide good Transformation Oversight (clear and consistent leadership, governance, and accountability) for both your vendor(s) and your internal project team. Learn more about Transformation Oversight. One last thing to think about as you begin to plan for your digital transformation journey is setting sail with a solid ship and experienced crew. Digital transformation is likely not your organization’s core competency and there will almost certainly be gaps in knowledge, skill, and capacity. Your journey can also benefit from “accelerators” (proven and structured methodologies, tools, and templates) that will allow you to implement faster, obtain the benefits sooner, and release internal capacity to perform your organization’s core functions. Share This Article:

Without question, the world-wide pandemic has accelerated the need for the Public Sector to more immediately deal with challenges that have been mounting for many years. These challenges include how to engage citizens digitally, how to collaborate across organizations, how to maximize internal productivity, how to secure data, and how to control costs. While there are countless vendors touting shiny new software applications that will undoubtedly help you meet these challenges and simultaneously revolutionize how your organization performs its work, we’d like to encourage you to explore something much more pragmatic – namely, Application Optimization. Making the Most of Application Optimization What is Application Optimization? In the simplest terms, Application Optimization is understanding what you have and making the most of it. More specifically, it is about taking a hard look at your requirements, mapping them against the capabilities of your existing technology stack, understanding any gaps in these capabilities (or lack of user adoption), and taking concrete steps to close these gaps. It is about looking at all three legs of the People, Process, and Technology triangle and ensuring you are fully capitalizing on your current investment. Often, we find that Public Sector organizations do not have a clear understanding of their requirements or what their current systems can and cannot do. Even when they do have this understanding, they are unable to effectively articulate what gaps exist and where their current tools are falling short. Sometimes, we find these organizations have a robust tool set at their disposal, but employees lack knowledge of existing capabilities. Occasionally, we even find these capabilities are not leveraged simply because leaders lack sufficient bandwidth to provide expectations on system use or to dedicate resources for training initiatives. Download Optimized vs Outdated ERP PDF Benefitting from Application Optimization The benefits of Application Optimization are plentiful. It is almost always significantly less expensive to leverage existing technology than to purchase and implement new applications. By identifying and articulating requirements (and any capability gaps that might exist), Public Sector organizations can more effectively negotiate with current vendors; and new requirements might be incorporated into future versions or product roadmaps. Application Optimization can also be performed on an accelerated timeline. Additionally, support requirements are usually much more predictable and the impact on end-users is typically much smaller than implementing an entirely new system. Although performing Application Optimization sounds like common sense, many Public Sector organizations just do not do it. Why? Sometimes, it is a lack of internal capacity as key employees are already stretched thin performing their daily jobs. Sometimes, it is a lack of technical “know-how”. Most often, it is a lack of leadership bandwidth to organize and drive the effort or a perception that the effort might conflict with other organizational priorities. As a leader, if you are receiving signals from your team that you need to replace a current application or augment your existing technology stack with a new application, you are probably already thinking about Application Optimization. Getting Started But where do you start? At MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA), we suggest you start with an Application Optimization Assessment. This Assessment will look at the goals and objectives of your organization and formally articulate your requirements existing gaps in your current technology stack. During the Assessment, you will develop a plan to guide you through the optimization process. Share This Article:

Aligning People, Process, and Technology If you have been following our series of articles on driving positive business outcomes and achieving transformation goals, you know that we have covered a variety of topics around strategic planning, business-IT alignment, and effective project oversight using Leadership, Governance, and Accountability (LGA). We also acquainted you with our comprehensive and proven approach to gathering future state business requirements that can fulfill or exceed agency goals. Successfully implementing and sustaining the desired business outcomes requires addressing the People, Process and Technology aspects of the transformation with equal rigor. To fully achieve business outcomes, you need repeatable and well-performing processes, technology that can effectively support business requirements, and people that are able to utilize the technology as it was intended to be used. “Random acts of investment and improvement” in processes, technology/tools, and people will most likely NOT deliver the breakthrough improvement you are looking for. You need a coordinated effort that integrates and synchronizes investments in each of these pillars. Application Optimization Technology infrastructure and business applications are “strategic assets” that need to be current, effective, and evolve continuously to support agency requirements. Unfortunately, while many solutions meet requirements at implementation, they fail to adapt to changing needs and become irrelevant within a few short years. State and local governments run numerous applications that are built on outdated technologies, using hardware and software platforms that are no longer supported. This creates Shadow IT, elevated support costs, redundant workarounds, employee and citizen dissatisfaction, application sprawl, and overall inability to meet agency goals. In the last decade, there have also been major technology transformations such as Cloud computing and Virtualization that can produce significant benefits, but most agencies cannot utilize these due to the patchwork of purpose-built legacy applications currently in use. If you believe that a disproportionate amount of your agency’s budget is allocated to IT maintenance and support, we can conduct an enterprise-wide infrastructure and application portfolio assessment. We use our proven methodology to help state and local governments achieve near-term and long-term cost savings while also reducing risk. However, we realize that most agencies simply do not have the time and resources to do a complete infrastructure and portfolio assessment. It is reasonable, then, to argue that every major investment in technology should be utilized as an opportunity to assess the suitability of in-house technology against alternatives in the marketplace. Our Application Optimization is a rigorous and strategic approach to analyzing your current state application, along 5 key areas: Strategic alignment to organization goals and objectives Ability to fulfill functional requirements Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) End-user and customer experience Technical fit/value of vendor and application Download Application Optimization PDF This analysis will give you the objective information needed to develop a roadmap to a technology optimized to deliver maximum value to your agency. Business Process Improvement Without a disciplined approach to Business Process Improvement (BPI) and a solid foundation in leading research, your projects are likely to become part of the staggering 54% of improvement projects that fail. Whether you are designing a process from the ground-up or re-engineering it, the challenges are similar and can be alleviated by following the BPI Best Practices below: Never make improvements at random or in isolation. Integrate and synchronize. Prioritize and select processes that are strategically aligned. Conduct fact/data-based analysis to ensure true root-causes of issues are identified. Do NOT depend on subjective analysis or opinion. Select approach (Lean, Six Sigma etc.) based upon need. Choose fit over standardization. Manage each improvement initiative as a project with effective sponsorship, communication, and Project Management/Oversight. Organizational Change Management Organizational Change management (OCM) is all about people—communicating with them, getting their feedback, and providing consistent explanations and directives to them. It involves answering the questions: How do we move the entire organization, including our culture and our employees, to the desired future state? How do we remain a cohesive organization in the process? A large part of the answer to those questions is getting employees to buy into the change and the keys to gaining this support are alignment, accountability, engagement and communication, and measurement. Consider this: Lack of user adoption is the main cause for 70% of failed projects. OCM has been the Achilles Heel for IT departments and business units, putting projects and programs at risk – especially complex, transformational projects. We believe that the root of this problem is twofold: 1. Project planning tends to fixate on technology and neglects the behavioral and cultural factors that inhibit user adoption. To complicate matters further, Change Management is often (incorrectly) reduced to a single activity in the Project Plan: “Training”. Training is just one facet of managing the people side of change. This challenge can be addressed by gaining senior leadership support early, ensuring a seat at the table starting at project initiation, allocating adequate CM resources, and effectively communicating change activities. 2. Accountabilities for managing change and helping to realize the intended business outcomes post-project are not properly defined. In project ecosystems where there is no clearly defined accountability for OCM, it makes perfect sense for the PMO to be the organization-change leader and realize the benefits and accolades that will come from driving successful project outcomes. MSSBTA’s approach to OCM is a practical/tactical adaptation of Prosci’s comprehensive ADKAR model, and is customized to each specific initiative, timeline, and other constraints. Our Approach to People, Process, Technology Successful transformations require an integrated, cohesive approach to managing the impacts to people, process, and technology. It pays to have a trusted advisor like MSSBTA that understands the challenges inherent in each and has the experience and the best practices to deal with them. MSSBTA has decades of experience assisting government entities and private organizations modernize their technology infrastructure and applications, rationalize their IT portfolios, re-design business processes, and mange organizational change. Let us show you how we can help you do the same. Share This Article:

Most companies understand the imperative to undergo a digital transformation. The most forward-thinking go beyond merely modernizing their operations and processes to introduce efficiencies and accelerate or even invent new responses to ever-dynamic signals from customers and competitors. Completing a large-scale operational and cultural makeover leveraging technology is crucial. Customers in most industries and sectors increasingly expect products and services delivered ever more rapidly, cheaply, and seamlessly in ways they desire and on-demand. Customers will readily replace businesses that fail to adapt to their dynamic needs with those that are more adept in this effort. Still, many companies struggle through the transformation process itself. Why? Because often the focus is exclusively on technology; companies often overlook or neglect the human aspects of transformation – from employees to customers. Additionally, the blueprints for a 12- to 24-month rollout can often be rendered obsolete by the ever-increasing speed of change in the marketplace. To enhance the potential for succeeding in a strategic digital transformation, start by fostering a culture of innovation in its people, regardless of where they sit in the organization. Why culture? As Peter Drucker famously proclaimed, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s an important component to ensure long-lasting success that is increasingly needed to provide the organizational flexibility and agility to meet a dynamic environment that accelerates daily. Here are three considerations for instilling a culture of innovation to drive a meaningful digital transformation. Align a culture of innovation to a clear vision and process Understand that innovation can be incremental as well as monumental Embed an innovation mindset across the organization so innovation can happen with anyone, anywhere, at any time Link to the full article from The Enterprisers Project

Client Detail: The client is accountable for protecting the financial assets of the entire organization. They are responsible for licensing, supervision and regulation of financial institutions and enterprises. The Challenge: The client engaged MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) to conduct a Project Assessment of an in-flight project to find and document issues and risks of the technology, staffing, and vendor partner capabilities, with that analysis the client was seeking recommendations for course correction where needed. Our Solution: MSSBTA conducted a detailed assessment of best practice project elements and completed the review of project processes, infrastructure, staffing, and user functions in two weeks. Included in that review were: Current and future state requirements of the selected technical architecture, software, and vendor partner Project management and governance practices Data migration, project communication, and deployment strategies User training and system adoption plans Vendor capability risk and probability of success review With information gained in the assessment, MSSBTA developed corrective action plans and recommended a plan to move forward. The consulting team found that the selected solution and vendor partner was incapable of meeting the organizational need to deliver the desired technology future state. Further, the implementation statement of work did not include all necessary components to support the organization’s long-term vision. Their Results: The MSSBTA and client goals and expectations were clear and managed throughout the assessment. The status and issues were often communicated to client leadership concisely, in turn the client was pleased with the comprehensive assessment, the quality of deliverables, and the final recommendations. They appreciated help in deciding whether the current vendor and their project approach would meet their needs in the short and long term. Deliverables: Data Migration and IT Infrastructure strategies Staffing – Internal and External Analysis of issues affecting project, focusing on people, process, and technology Final Project Recommendations Corrective Action Plans – people, process, and technology Documented Project Recovery Plan Documented Adoption and Deployment Risks Documented new timeline Final Project Recommendations

Client Detail: The client handles support of Arizona public programs by maximizing the organization’s net revenue. The Challenge: The client implemented a new system to support the back-office business functions (Accounting. Billing, Customer Service, et al). They faced challenges in system testing, organizational change management, user training and adoption. The implementation of the new system was critical, and the existing project challenges threatened the expected “Go Live” date. Replacing the 30-year-old, AS400 system that was at end-of-life without a system to manage their business posed the greatest risk to the client. Recognizing the risky situation, the client engaged MSSBTA to evaluate the situation and implement the necessary structure to ensure project success. Our Solution: MSSBTA assigned a transformation project manager to lead the effort and provide leadership, governance, and accountability. Plans for managing project tasks, communications and organizational change were quickly built. The transformation project manager assumed responsibility for the management of the effort, including management of the vendor charged with the software implementation. Tasks critical for success were planned and executed. They included: Complete documentation of business requirements Internal and external team accountability for work tasks, reporting status, naming risks, and communicating issues requiring resolution Complete user acceptance testing (UAT) Incomplete functionality identification and work with the vendor and internal staff to complete those items Created a software release schedule to allow software changes as soon as they are ready With the number of issues that existed, the client leadership decided to push the live date to allow for the correction of software defects, to conduct added system and UAT testing, ensure adequate user training and to address the organizational change needs. client expectations were managed through regular formal and informal communications. The MSSBTA project management method supplied leadership, governance, and accountability throughout the project to hold the vendors and the client accountable for their assigned tasks. MSSBTA also became the client advocate when dealing with client partners. Their Results: The client was incredibly pleased with MSSBTA during the project and continues to engage MSSBTA to assume an ongoing support role. They recognized their own resource limitations and inexperience in managing software vendors, testing vendors, and internal resources effectively. They appreciated the guidance and advocacy MSSBTA provided during all phases of the project. Deliverables: Project Work Plan Risks and Issues Log Decision Log Weekly Status updates Project completion to agreed plan Organizational Readiness - Adoption & Deployment Organizational change management plan Training plan

Client Detail: The client is a higher education institution. For more than seven years MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) has worked with their Information Technology department to support their systems and infrastructure. The Challenge: The client was operating unsupported legacy versions of their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to operate their organization. To avoid losing maintenance and support from their software vendor, the client embarked on a major upgrade to their mission critical student application. This application is primarily responsible for the management of all student and faculty data including, but not limited to, class scheduling, integrations to payroll, and academic financial aid. This was a full-scale upgrade that would require multiple changes and would significantly impact the organization. The goal of the update was to increase connectivity speeds for student-teacher interactions and allow more users to log in to the system simultaneously. This upgrade needed to withstand system peak loads: 2 weeks of class registration and scheduling for each Spring and Fall semester. Our Solution: MSSBTA was responsible for successfully implementing projects, creating process improvements, and providing advisory and mentoring to the Information Technology (IT) team. Through Leadership, Governance, and Accountability (LGA), vendor management, and project management, MSSBTA conducted thorough testing of the new system upgrade. The system testing covered two overarching categories: functionality and performance. Functionality testing included walkthroughs of the software platform where testers performed daily tasks using teacher and student personas. This effort also included testing of 50 concurrent working connections to the in-scope software platforms. For example, to make a payment, students would need to use the financial services system. This meant the integration connection to and from the financial services system needed to operate at full capacity for testing to be successful. Performance testing also measured the bandwidth that the applications could hold during hours of heavy usage. MSSBTA conducted testing by placing a load on the system to see how the application would perform. When performance testing failed, MSSBTA worked closely with the ERP vendor, handle escalations, and implement major changes. Performance testing indicated the response time was unacceptable, and the ERP vendor needed to make major changes to ensure the system performance could handle the peak load. These performance issues had to be rectified prior to going into production. This engagement involved daily meetings managing the ERP vendor and continuous daily testing until the ERP vendor added enough hardware to ensure the software passed the testing with successful results. Due to the oversight (Leadership, Governance and Accountability) MSSBTA provided, the client was able to go live within two weeks of the original projected go live date but with the acceptable required performance results. Their Results: Leveraging MSSBTA, the client aligned the vendor to their goals, objectives, and system performance expectations. The result was the deployment of a system with significantly improved speed/load times and an increase in the number of simultaneous system users. The system upgrade was deployed successfully at the next peak load time for Spring and Fall semesters and supported the organization as expected. Deliverables: Project Implementation Process Improvements Vendor Management Functionality Testing Performance Testing Advisory Services

Client Detail: The client is a moving equipment storage rental company operating in both the B2B and B2C spaces. It serves its customers with their flexible, rental transportation and storage needs. The Challenge: The client had spent several years implementing SAP throughout its organization, with mixed levels of success. Due to the client’s unique structure, “standard”/leading practice SAP structures could not be implemented or leveraged, leading to a significant loss of functionality, as well as a sizeable amount of workaround processes, custom programs, and ongoing maintenance. A particular pain-point for the organization was the impacted effectiveness and lack of visibility into the Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable organizations. The teams encountered significantly delayed processing times in the new system, and consistent breaks in the custom programs related to their efforts. This had resulted in considerable tension between the AP/AR and IT teams, with the working relationship at a virtual stand-still. Our Solution: MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) (partnering with an external SAP contractor) was tasked with helping the organization perform a root cause analysis on their issues, as well as identify a tangible path forward for the organization. MSSBTA conducted discovery sessions with each of the teams (AP, AR, and IT) to define, categorize, and prioritize the current issues faced by the organizations. Coming out of these discussions, MSSBTA identified the root cause of many of the high priority issues and worked with the business and IT organizations to define potential solutions to address the root cause. From these potential options, the consulting team facilitated design sessions and oversaw the development and testing efforts to iteratively create, validate, and revise the solution to meet the needs of the organization. Through these efforts, the MSSBTA team aligned the organization (including company leadership) to the efforts, held all parties accountable to timelines and objectives, and ensured the development efforts were in alignment with overarching objectives. Their Results: Through this project we were able to construct a clear, tangible path forward for the organization to resolve most of the system processing issues, relieving a considerable amount of pressure on the organization’s processing abilities. Perhaps more importantly, the internal dynamics of the teams were able to shift from an unproductive working relationship between IT and business teams to a more sustainable, collaborative dynamic with a shared vision for the future state. Coming out of these efforts, the client was able to significantly improve its supplier and customer management processes, as well as create improved, holistic visibility and control over the company's payments and collections. Deliverables: Leadership, Governance, and Accountability throughout project efforts Facilitation of Discovery, Design, and Testing Sessions Root Cause Analysis Organizational Alignment