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Don’t Automate Chaos

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I came across an interesting article by Roy Altman: Avoiding “Gotcha’s” - Tips and Techniques that Drive Successful Implementation Projects.

Roy describes some of the common pitfalls that can undermine an HR System implementation project, including the importance of getting buy-in, of planning early, of knowing your organization, of not reinventing the wheel, etc.
There is one point which I haven’t talked about on this blog so far: Don’t Automate Chaos.

If your processes currently result in chaos, and you automate them, you end up with automated chaos.

That’s something a lot of companies implementing EIM solutions don’t always seem to understand. Many Compensation System implementations are subject to delay, budget issues or even failure because processes are not re-examined. Implementing a new large-scale system should be seen as an opportunity to redefine and improve these processes.
In a typical Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation such as SAP or PeopleSoft, business processes generally have to change to be in line with the application. However in the case of an EIM solution, it is easy to make the mistake to try to implement the system in the same way it is currently working… and that can result in automated chaos.
When planning your implementation, set some time aside to map out existing processes and logic to assess if/how they can be improved. Better processes should result in a higher quality implementation which will fulfills business requirements.

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1 Response to “Don’t Automate Chaos”


  1. 1 Elliot Ross

    As a technology manager - I could not agree more - I did a post a while ago on how not to try and automate broken processes.

    http://elliotross.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/dont-automate-broken-processes/

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