Implementation Methodology - The five stage process
The impact of implementing a new Payroll or HR management system
such as miraclePAY, or miraclePEOPLE can be far-reaching within an organisation.
Miracle Dynamics has developed a five stage implementation methodology to help customers maximise their return on investment in the application and achieve project success.
The approach – called the System Implementation Model – encompasses the planning, design, deployment and review phases necessary for the successful implementation of miraclePAY and miraclePEOPLE. It also covers implementation of any additional software components – such as P11D, Job Costing or miracleTIME – and, where required, customisation and integration with other business systems.
The System Implementation Model addresses the business, operational and technical implications of implementing Miracle Dynamics applications within the organisation. It is practical, thorough and clearly defined, with customers receiving a pre-determined set of deliverables at the end of each stage in the process.
As a guide, a combined payroll and HR implementation as a single project, generally takes around 15 days spread over a period of time (excluding customisation/integration). This includes, on average, 5 days training.
The purpose of the System Implementation Model is to address the implementation of Miracle Dynamics applications in a structured, phased manner to ensure that the solution meets business objectives, achieves rapid payback and target ROI.
It is recommended that customers undertake all five stages within the Systems Implementation Model:
| Prepare | Planning workshop, project scheduling |
| Configure | Data migration & system configuration |
| Deploy | Installation and training |
| Confirm | Parallel running |
| Review | Post implemenation review |
Prepare
What's involved?
The Configuration Planning Workshop is a normally a two-day consultancy
service undertaken by a senior Miracle consultant. Its purpose is to:
- confirm the use of the selected Miracle Dynamics applications within the organisation;
- specify any customisation and/or integration;
- provide a detailed outline of the project including implementation timescales.
A senior Miracle consultant will spend a minimum of two days interviewing key staff; a third day is spent preparing a detailed report.
The Configuration Planning Workshop builds on the Project Definition report, from the Sales process, providing customers with a detailed description of how their payroll and employees willbe managed within the selected Miracle Dynamics applications.
The deliverables
Within two weeks of the interviews, the consultant will deliver a report
covering:
- Process for the migration of existing data (if applicable).
- Detailed specification of any customisation and/or systems integration required.
- Details of configuration requirements for each of the functional areas.
- Schedule for implementation, including names of customer’s staff who will need to be available and when.
- Any actions required from customer.
Configure
Configuration is a practical service designed to help new customers get up-and-running fast with your selected Miracle application.
Tailored to your needs:
The benefit
Customers who have taken advantage of this service have seen a significant increase in their productivity and rapid payback on their investment.
Deploy
Data Migration
Technical consultants ‘map’ data from the old system to Miracle
Pay, People and Time. Tests are carried out to ensure that the data mapping
process is accurate before ‘going live’. This process ensures
that organisations can switch systems as seamlessly as possible.
During this phase any existing data available electronically will be imported into the relevant Miracle Dynamics application. This stage of the project will usually involve customer staff to provide or manage extracting data from existing applications and to assist in the preparation of the Data Mapping report.
Installation
Installation involves physically
installing software on customer’s
network and workstations, installation of the data source, as well as
configuring and testing the Miracle applications both before and after
installation.
How long does it take?
This service is typically completed in one day, depending on the
number of client installations required. It also includes two hours
training on server administration requirements for one designated
employee.
Training
It is recommended that all staff within the organisation
that will be using your Miracle application undertake a three-day training
course prior to the ‘go live’ day.
The course will be held at the customer’s premises for up to 8 people. Additional courses can be arranged if there is a requirement to train further staff. If equipment is an issue then Miracle can offer a service to provide a training room kit comprising delegate PCs, a training room server, printer and wireless network.
The course provides a solid grounding in Miracle Pay and People, at the end of the course, delegates will be able to:
- set up a project and structure it effectively,
- create cost centres,
- allocate costs to tasks,
- track costs across a portfolio of projects,
- optimise resources across the project portfolio,
- report on resource utilisation.
If the customer has undertaken the project set-up stage, the training course will be based on the organisation’s template projects.
Confirm
Once the application is installed and any existing data migrated the customer is strongly advised to carry out a number of parallel runs to ensure that the results from miraclePAY are the same as those of the old payroll. At a minimum two full cycles should be duplicated; for customers with monthly payrolls this will mean that “live” Miracle only payroll generation will take place on the third month end after implementation.
Review - Post Implementation
Questionnaire
Immediately following the implementation of the Miracle applications,
the customer will be asked to complete a short questionnaire rating
the quality of service at each stage of implementation.
This is an important checkpoint and each questionnaire will be reviewed by Miracle, and responded to where appropriate.
Clinics
Measuring success criteria.
Once miraclePAY and miraclePEOPLE have been implemented, it is important to take the time to review whether it is delivering the planned business benefits.
This is the purpose of the Post Implementation Clinics – one-day consultancy ‘health checks’ designed to refine the usage of Miracle products within each customer’s organisation.
What's involved?
A Miracle consultant will spend half a day interviewing the same staff
who were involved in the initial workshops. The consultant will then
meet with the Project Sponsor and main user, to discuss the findings
and make recommendations for refining processes and/or systems.
Particular importance will be placed on the acceptance of the system by staff and any changes that can be made to facilitate improvements in this area.
Post implementation clinics are optional stages in the System Implementation Model. It is recommended that the first clinic is undertaken one month after ‘go live’ and the second three months later.