Well my first day back from vacation did not disappoint. I tried extremely hard while away to never think of work; I think I succeeded about 98% of the trip. I had planned to come back and even had blocked off 3 solid days to just click through every single screen of my LMS.
I’m now at the MAKE IT HAPPEN OR ELSE stage of the implementation project. Now realizing I have little choice (economically) for any change to a new system and now need to focus in on every detailed aspect of the system from both a user perspective and an administrative perspective. My goal is to create a list of everything I want to change and prioritize the changes needed with respect to being able to launch the LMS. Is the change a must have, nice to have, can make do with out if necessary? This list of changes will then be presented to the vendor along with my posse (the initial project lead, representative from purchasing – we’re still in RPF, and perhaps my director) for discussion on whether any of the requests are possible.
At first I was getting responses from my vendor rep. “yes we can look into that”, then it turned to “I’ll see what the IT guy suggests”, to finally “no”. I didn’t like the no’s and so the new strategy of a list and meeting with the CEO of the company will be our next step. I believe most of my ideas won’t require too much change, but I know this is the way every end user thinks.
So my first day back, as I said, was to be the launch of the great little new plan. Of course the “work gods” had different ideas for me and of course our Organization Chart needed to be produced instead. I’m not sure why suddenly so many people want this particular document. I’m also not sure why I’m the one creating it….oh yes, let’s thank my former boss for that one (she’s lucky I like her so much or I would track her down). One full day of work was all it took me to produce half of the chart. Yes one full day = half an org. chart. I’m hoping a have system down now and the second half will come more quickly so that I can move forward with my LMS must haves.
Great to be back.
Top management might not be in a position to say ‘yes’, for a new system now(as you said due to to economic conditions). But there are ways of achieving what you want without changing the whole system. Consider vendors who understand your deep rooted issues and provide customized solutions for you and not just sell their LMS to you. Because the challenges faced by each organization is quite unique and subjective to their industry vertical.