Describe a project in which you transitioned from implementation to support.
Project support transition, also referred to as transition to support, requires planning early on in the project work. The interviewees talked about various types of approaches, tools and interventions that assist in this dimension of project management.
Using a support transition checklist for details, transition to support questionnaire, documentation and implementation of plans, implementation diagrams, preparation of a training plan for the client support team, publishing documentation, including project support transition items in weekly status
Transcripts: Qualitative Analysis
112 meetings are the tools and techniques used by these participants to manage project support transition. Listing all documents, training and troubleshooting techniques for all known issues is also useful.
It is important to discuss with and get the approval of team members for the transition plan and to add tasks to the transition to support plans when needed and as the project advances closer to the transition phase, and having the deliverables checked by the support team. The transition to support requirements needs to be part of the project requirements.
Several participants indicated the need to have a support consultant on the implementation team; this consultant can perform documentation, troubleshoot, and provide and document training (see participants #1, #5, #10).
One participant explained the following steps in his/her approach to project support transition
: detailed documentation of functionality is done; the client is asked to validate the documentation; a consultant is involved to document functional and technical training for the client team; the consultant trains the client support team; six weeks before the go-live date, the client team shadows the consulting team; three weeks before the go-live date, the client support team takes over support; the client team provides their transition to support list. For this participant, using this process was smooth with fewer problems (participant #7).
Another interviewee gave the following details. Use implementation diagrams early in the project; consistently keep detailed documentation; have meetings with the implementation team and the support team; ramp up knowledge transfer by the support team in the later stages (participant #9; related comments were made by participants #10 and #12).
A third participant talked about transitioning through three levels of support (participant #25).
Participants also commented on what would make managing this project dimension easier. Predefined processes and tools would help. Some participants think that there are no well-defined tools on a generic level even though each organisation has their own tools. Documentation of practical experience and a framework are needed to improve project management resources for the project support transition dimension.
Transcripts: Qualitative Analysis
113 Quotations:
“We usually involve our support team in project planning to help define the transition process and support transition requirements. Usually, we have a support transition list defined, but during planning the support team elaborates on it per the project.” (Participant # 15)
“I really follow a practice I found helpful 10 years ago; I ask for a support consultant to be part of the implementation team. That support consultant is always responsible for reviewing team documentation and adds to it what would be helpful for support team…He/she is always asked to provide the training. (Participant #1)
“Involve support team [from] the inception of the project to provide feedback about their requirements to successfully transition the project after completion…Plan support requirements with the overall project plan and assign tasks to the project team. At the time of the specific support task deliverable, meet with the support team to validate the deliverable and get sign off from the support team.” (Participant # 10)
Analysis
1. The professional perspectives of the participants indicate that project support transition should be planned early and included in the project planning phase. 2. Project management tools, such as a project transition checklist, are very important to facilitate project transition at the end of the project implementation phase.
3. Involvement of the support team in project implementation helps facilitate project transition to support.
4. Maintaining project documentation helps support smooth the process of project transition to support.
5. Defining project transition to support helps facilitate implementation of transition to the support team.
Comments
The author attended the PMI Global Congress conference in October 2014 in Phoenix, AZ, USA. One of the topics was project deployment and project transition to support. The presenter was Tom W. (Appendix F7), Vice President of program management at a major food supplier in the US. Tom’s entire discussion
Transcripts: Qualitative Analysis
114 revolved around the fact that project transition to support needs to be planned within the overall project plan. The project team needs to pay attention to project documentation and make sure that project documentations are detailed to the level that will facilitate project transition to support. Tom suggested to engage the project support team in the implementation to make sure they understand the project objectives, deliverables, technical architecture and detailed design, which will help facilitate project transition at the end of the implementation. Again, the participants comments reflect the concerns of many others in the field.
4.3.6 Needed Changes to Facilitate the Success of New Project