4 Steps to a Successful System Change

By Kate Caldecott

Good systems are continually updated to add new features, address problems and improve efficiency and effectiveness. SmartyGrants is preparing to release new features designed to make it easier to monitor progress and successfully navigate through the tasks required to manage your grants. As with any major system upgrade, you’ll want to have a plan for managing the change.

Step One: Accept that Change is Coming


When a system you feel familiar and confident with is suddenly changed, it can feel like having the rug pulled out from under you. Accept that change is coming. Most software upgrades are for the better (even if they sometimes doesn’t feel that way at first). Accept that it may take time to reorientate yourself and your team. Focus your energy on creating a plan to seamlessly adopt the new features and think about how you make the new changes work for you.

Step Two: Establish a Working Team

Who is going to be responsible for overseeing the transition? Identify a working group and a leader who will ensure that the system change is handled as an integral item in your workplan, not as an afterthought.

The working group should:

• Become familiar with the new feature. (In this case, SmartyGrants is separating tasks from stages in order to promote smoother workflow.) Consider the new feature(s) will impact your organisation. What you can do to optimise your processes and best take advantage of the new functionality?
  
  
• Take a close look at how the current feature is working (in this case SmartyGrants tasks and stages). Does your team use the SmartyGrants workflow features? How many pending tasks are there currently? 



Tip: Download a Task Snapshot report so you can see what loose ends can be tied up before the change takes place.


Step Three: Make a Plan

In creating a plan, your work team should consider the following:

• Does your organisation want to participate in Beta testing of the new feature(s)? Doing so not only gives you a head start on adapting your processes, but also allows you to have input into the product.
  
  
  
• Sometimes products change over to the new feature overnight immediately and other times they give you the ability to turn on the feature when you’re ready to make the transition. If you are given a window of time, use it. Waiting to the last minute will only make the change more stressful.


  
  In the case of the upcoming SmartyGrants upgrade, once the new upgrade is released, there will be a 90 day period when turning on the new feature is optional. This is intended to give you time to finish any outstanding tasks or assessments that are in progress. After 90 days, the feature will be automatically enabled on all accounts.

  
  
  
• Will you implement the new feature all at once, or in stages? Depending on the software, you may have the option to make the change in one step or to break it down into smaller bite size pieces. Either way keep the momentum going to ensure smooth adoption.


  
  With the new SmartyGrants upgrade, enabling the feature is across the whole account, and will not be available on a per program basis.

  
  
  
• Develop a plan training. How long will it take to get all staff trained to use the new feature? Who will conduct the training? How hard will it be for people to learn the new system? What training tools will you use (in person, webinars, etc.)?


  
  Use the resources provided by the software supplier. SmartyGrants usually offers webinars and has detailed, written documentation with diagrams.


Step Four: Review

Once you’ve successfully completed the upgrade, take a step back and review how the process went. Note any things that you would like to do differently in the future, or strategies that went well and should be repeated. Change is constant, so having an ever-improving way to deal with it will be greatly to your advantage.

If you would like assistance putting together an upgrade plan or reviewing your use of SmartyGrants workflow features, please contact me at Kate@katecaldecott.com.au or 0447 227 598.