It’s an exciting time! You’ve got the vision, the strategy, and the green light to start your HCM Implementation. But recent events mean you do not have enough people to execute. It’s one of the most common and stressful challenges project leaders face: the implementation is ready to go, but the team isn’t. Whether you’re launching a new system, migrating data, or rolling out new processes, being short-staffed can threaten your timeline, quality, and morale.
Let’s explore the risks associated with being short-staffed during a system implementation project. Then we will explore what you can do when your resources don’t match your project needs.
The Risks of Being Short-Staffed for Your Implementation Project
When you work through your resource plan is usually when it becomes clear that with ongoing operations and the additional project work, you don’t have the correct number of people, or the right skillsets. Being short-staffed means you are facing the following project risks:
- Delayed Timelines
- Lower Quality of Work
- Increased stress and burnout
- Reduced Innovation and Creativity
- Compromised risk management
Ignoring the risks does not make them disappear, but you can adjust. Making the following adjustments can help you bridge the gap.
Reprioritize the Project Deliverables
Not everything needs to go live at once. Work with your project manager to look at what options may be available. Break your implementation into a manageable phased approach and focus on the high-impact deliverables first.
Staff Augmentation
You realize that you have some great team members and subject matter experts. The problem is that they are already stretched thin with day-to-day operations. If you match your star players with external client-side subject matter experts, you can increase your expertise and decrease your skill and bandwidth gaps.
No project manager available? Another way to move your project forward is to bring in an expert project manager (PM), someone with extensive experience in HCM projects, who can lead your team through the tasks and timelines needed for project success.
Adding to your team through staff augmentation is one of the quickest ways to progress without hiring full-time employees, and a fast way to bring extensive system implementation experience into your organization.
Outsource Specific Project Functions
Another way to stretch your project resources is to consider outsourcing parts of your implementation to experts from a trusted partner, such as HRchitect. Expert technical consultants can step in to assist with tasks such as testing, integrations to your other systems, and data conversions. These project consultants enable your core team to focus on learning the new system, understanding its functionality, and developing process improvements, as well as other areas where their expertise and knowledge are most valuable.
Some Final Tips
Finally, some tips I recommend that will help ensure your project’s success:
1. Be realistic with the timeline and the scope.
Look for ways to break your project implementation into manageable phases.
2. Start your plan with the team you have, not the team you wish you had.
Be realistic about your people, their skills, and availability. Don’t risk team burnout by ignoring the reality of your resourcing.
3. Bring on additional resources, and be sure to integrate them with your internal resources.
Get the full value of your project consultants’ expertise by having everyone work closely as a project team. Bring your consultants into your Teams or Slack channels, standups, and reviews meetings. Ensure that all team members, both internal and external, are part of a cohesive project team.
4. Keep your leadership in the loop.
Being transparent about resourcing challenges can help secure extra support or help to realign the expectations.
Having an in-depth and realistic understanding of your staff’s availability for project work and developing a resource plan means that being short-staffed doesn’t have to derail your HCM implementation. With a mix of smart prioritization, external help from a trusted partner, and strong communication, you can still deliver a highly successful implementation with a fully engaged internal team.
Let HRchitect help you with your resource planning. Contact us to find out how we can provide the right expert consultants to help you on the road to system implementation success.
Further Reading: The Value Your Integration Consultant Brings to the Project
About the Author
Christina Garza is a Solution Oversight Consultant with HRchitect. She brings over 11 years of experience in payroll, human resources, and HCM consulting to the HRchitect team. Before joining
HRchitect, Christina, worked as a Senior HCM Consultant specializing in mid-market and enterprise implementation projects. Christina has extensive payroll experience in the energy and manufacturing industry, where she held various roles such as a Payroll Accountant, Payroll Analyst, and Senior Payroll Specialist. She graduated from the University of Houston-Downtown with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Accounting. She regularly shares her strategic payroll expertise in webinars and blog posts. Watch a replay of her latest webinar with other industry payroll experts where she shared her expertise on payroll processes to an audience of over 5,000 attendees.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, I love watching my son play football, and we enjoy traveling throughout the US and abroad. I am an active member in my church where I love serving in the children’s ministry.
Learn more about Christina on LinkedIn.
