Healthcare Information Technology Research & Analysis : Coplan & Company : IT Procurement Management, Project Management, System Acquisition

My previous posts defined specific ways to address change management. Now it's time to identify ways to integrate them into the five the Project Management Institute (PMI) Process groups so project managers can use them in HIT project, as follows:

Vision includes:

• Providing a plan for the future with the project as a strategic focal point
• Establishing stakeholder commitment before, during and after the project
• Defining objectives and measurable outcomes to be achieved during and after the project
• Assigning objectives to accountable senior executives
• Measuring executive performance by achievement of objectives

• Understanding that an organization structure is a social construct
• Knowing that people instill this structure with ethical order, e.g., rules and relationships
• Realizing people resist change to this ethical order
• Recognizing that crisis, such as a new system deployment creates an opportunity for change
• Being an ardent project supporters or champions of this change
• Focusing energy to take advantage of opportunities provided by crisis
• Offering a new ethical order facilitating change in a nonthreatening way

Consensus includes:

• Involving stakeholders from all levels of the organization
• Requiring teamwork for project tasks, e.g., scope, time, budget, requirements, issue, risk definition
• Involving members from all parts of the organization to increase their personal stake in successful project outcome

Training includes:

• Providing individualized support (e.g., designate “barrier busters” to work with those having a tough time adapting to the new system)
• Using individualized “impact sheets” showing the before and after impact of the system on a particular person’s work. This includes designing individualized impact sheets demonstrating what will and what will not change like the following:

• Creating ongoing workflow improvement teams
• Selecting improvement areas
• Conducting system demonstrations
• Preparing draft workflow improvements
• Obtaining Subject Matter Expert (SME) input
• Encouraging widespread stakeholder review to confirm SME input
• Updating and implementing the improvements
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