Successful Change Projects the Intent

Successful Change Projects

The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the relative magnitude of change necessary for each of the alternatives listed to be achieved. As this is a study of change management, each of the alternatives is evaluate din terms of the level of effort required, relative ambiguity of success, and indications of short- versus long-term wins. The following are the seven projects being evaluated as part of this exercise of change management. They are all from the company Cincom Systems, one of which is a leading provider or channel management, call center and specialized ERP systems globally. The seven projects included in this analysis are listed here:

Integration of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system to Quota, the previous generation CRM system that runs on a mainframe in Cincinnati.

Product introduction plan for the next generation of Cincom Acquire 2010 that coordinates with Europe and Australia

Integration of Cincom CONTROL 2010 with SAP ERP System

Cincom Call Center legacy system integrated to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

5. Development of Oracle database integration for CONTROL 2010 and Acquire 2010.

6. Development of a reseller strategy in the U.S. that generates over 30% of total revenue

7. Real-time analytics that show the performance of Web-based marketing campaigns across all five product divisions

Analysis of Projects

Integration of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system to Quota, the previous generation CRM system that runs on a mainframe in Cincinnati

Realistically to integrate the Microsoft Dynamics CRM to Quota, it would take nearly nine months to a year as there is no integration technology in place as of right now. A connector would have to be created specifically for this purpose. The Qualitative Assessment Score for this project is 9, and the unambiguous success rating is 10 as it would be instantly visible if this was accomplished. No longer would entries need to be re-typed into Dynamics CRM or Quota. It would be viewed as highly significant and a signal that the culture was embracing the integration of non-Cincom CRM applications. As a result this would signal a shift in how change was being handled within the company as technology not invented there was being used for a mission critical task (Smollan, Sayers, 2009).

Product introduction plan for the next generation of Cincom Acquire 2010 that coordinates with Europe and Australia

This project could realistically be done within six months and would have a qualitative assessment of eight to be accomplished, yet would generate an unambiguous success level of 10. The visibility of the win would also be 10 as the revenue generated as a result of the launch would be very significant. The CEO of Cincom systems would see this as influential as would the General Managers of specific divisions. As knowledge transfer between countries has been a very difficult task the ability to synchronize this product introduction globally would signal the company had overcome this weakness and was able to change the cultural mindset to more effective information sharing (Mueller, 2009).

Integration of Cincom CONTROL 2010 with SAP ERP System

At present the majority of sales for CONTROL 2010 are in companies already running the SAP ERP system. The effort to make this project successful would be a 10, with the unambiguous success being 10 and the visibility and meaningfulness being 10 as well. CONTROL 2010 continues to be an island in the ERP industry, needing more integration to sell more.

Cincom Call Center legacy system integrated to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

The development of Cincom Call Center legacy system integration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM would take realistically over a year but not 18 months. The effort and expense would be an eight on a scale of ten and the unambiguous nature of the project would be a 10. The project would be viewed as visible with a score of 10 and a meaningfulness ranking of 10. This is another project that would be significant in that it would show the culture of the company changing significantly to adopt 3rd party technology (Mueller, 2009).

Development of Oracle database integration for CONTROL 2010 and Acquire 2010

As with other Cincom products, there is a lack of integration with them that severely limits their salability. The timeframe to make CONTROL 2010 and Acquire 2010 compatible with Oracle databases would be less than nine months and have a qualitative assessment of 10. The unambiguous success of the project is 10 as is the visibility and meaningfulness.

Development of a reseller strategy in the U.S. that generates over 30% of total revenue

Cincom has for decades struggled with creating a reseller channel and the current effort will take at least three years to see fruition. The qualitative assessment of this effort is 10 and the unambiguous success however is 5, there are many factors in any reseller relationships the company cannot control. The visibility and meaningfulness of the win is 9 as the company has significant investments in its installed base of direct sales-based accounts.

Real-time analytics that show the performance of Web-based marketing campaigns across all five product divisions