Hi, everyone. Welcome back to lesson three. With the basics of the way in our first two lessons, I want to talk about how to initiate your LRP project. I'm Jennifer Nicholson. First of all, putting in a new air p system is a giant process. It will require a lot of time, lots of resources and a lot of money.

It is like renovating your kitchen, it always costs more and takes longer than you think it will. And I think that gets a needs to run out. Even relatively simple implementations can be very expensive and time and resource consuming. Do not underestimate it. There are many steps in factors that need to go well to achieve a successful MRP implementation. But I believe that a strong dedicated project manager is the most important a long term employee with an in depth knowledge of the company's processes and systems is best if possible.

This person should be psychotic for as long as it takes to get the job done properly. This question means that he or she will have to be backfilled at a cost. This approach is usually better and cost less than hiring an external consultant to manage the project. Using a mid level employee who knows where all the skeletons are hidden, knows all the people involved and the personalities that they have to deal with. likely you'll get better results at a lower cost than an external consultant. Having a committed executive group is extremely important to your earpiece success.

If everybody in the organization can see that the sea level are aligned around a successful LRP launch, they will behave the same, which will allow you to focus your attention on other key success factors. Everyone fears change an earpiece implementations have a reputation for being high risk, frequent, consistent communication and clear messaging about the thought process behind your decisions will increase the likelihood of gaining support. I've been there and without executive support and commitment It makes it very difficult to move the process forward. It does not require an enormous effort to achieve and maintain leadership commitment. But as we all know, some executives like to get their way and it could be hard to achieve consensus on the must have versus the nice to have features and modules, everyone's area of responsibility becomes the most important. strong leadership and project management are crucial to keep the project from going out of control.

The fact that there is an AARP project in the first place, means that there was sufficient interest and commitment to fund the strategically important initiative in the first place. So hopefully, the needed support is there to ensure that leadership remains confident and supportive of the ESOP effort, you should take these proactive steps. Number one, try to be the first to communicate process change decisions. This is not always easy, especially if you're on a routine monthly or bi weekly review cycle. Make use of emails during the intervals. The critical point is To make certain that decisions are explained in terms of sound business judgment.

If your explanation is not compelling, it may not be a good decision. Number two, try to always present executives with the bigger picture narrative. When possible, to the extent that you can arrange numerous tactical earpiece decisions into a strategic picture. With implications, you will engage executives in their comfort zone. Number three, solicit executive feedback and do not be defensive if you receive it. Your goal is to remain tightly aligned with the executive leadership.

And that will only happen if they are confident that you can listen to and respond to their concerns. Also, this keeps them involved in decision making. You want to think of these as our decisions, not your decisions. If your executive leadership remain steadfastly committed, committed to the project, everyone else will follow along. This in turn allows you to focus your time on more productive tasks. Keep your leadership group aligned around and through throughout the project, and your probability of success goes up significantly.

With the right project management and the executive on board. We are now ready to start talking to vendors.