An AM/FM Implementation experience: We’re done!

The beginnings
Union Gas first considered the potential of Automated Mapping and Facilities Management (AM/FM) approximately 15 years ago. Since that time, several studies were conducted with the assistance of outside consultants and industry experts, the last of which occurred in the late 80’s. The latest of these studies not only outlined the existing business problems that Union Gas faced regarding mapping and record keeping, but it also outlined the opportunities that such a system would provide. The conducting of these studies outlined the first of many critical success factors which we believe contributed to the overall success of our AM/FM project.

Use consultants where appropriate: External consultants are a great resource of experts in the industry that can help an organization identifi the initial feasibility of new technology such as AM/FM. Union Gas made extensive use of outside consultants and industry experts to help it identifi the needs and potential of this technology. This is a critical step, especially early in the process when the expertise within the organization is basically non existent.

Building on the various consultant’s reports and recommendations, Union recognized the need to complete its own internal review of the business problem. This was required to change the consultant’s terminology and general concepts into in-house terminology and specific processes that all employees could buy into. A small project team was assembled to complete a thorough review of the feasibility and scope of such a project including a detailed project plan and cost benefit analysis. This effort outlined Union’s second critical success factor.

Complete a thorough internal review of the projects feasibility and scope: In order to validate the business needs and potential of such a significant project, it is necessary to complete a thorough internal review of the project’s feasibility and scope. This requires the assemblage of a small team and a significant amount of effort to study the problems and resulting opportunities of such a project’s impact. Through this process, a detailed Feasibility and Scope Report must be created documenting all significant components of such a project including:

outline of the business problem and opportunities
detailed scope oftieproject identi@ing theproject objectives, inclusions, exclusionsad impacts on the organization
project risks
recommendation including alternatives considered
project strategy outlining the various phases of implementation
project schedule including identification of all major milestones
economics or cost benefit analysis

The creation of this formal report includes the identification of a detailed project plan which itself is the next critical success factor.

Create a well defined implementation plan: A large AM/FM project requires a clearly documented project plan with clearly defined objectives and well defined steps. At Union, our plan outlined all the key steps that we felt were required to successfully implement this technology. They included:

Feasibility and Scope
Prototype
Application Development
Pilot
Pre-Implementation
A Phased Divisional Implementation
Post Implementation

This step of completing our own internal Feasibility and Scope accomplished several key things. It educated and familiarized the project team with the key problems and opportunities of the project’s implementation. It also educated the clients by highlighting the problems and possible solutions of such new technology. After the creation of this detailed Feasibility and Scope Report, the project team must present their finding and recommendations to all affected executives of the company. This presentation outlines the fourth critical success factor.

Gain executive support for the project: Although some of your executive would already have been involved in the project prior to this point, especially the sponsoring department’s executive, it is imperative to receive unanimous support from all the effected departments via their senior management. If you do not receive support and approval for the project from the very beginning, you will certainly fail during many of the challenges and stumbling blocks that such a massive project implementation is destined to have.

Once that initial executive support is obtained, your work is not done in this regard. Continual executive support through ongoing communications is also important since a large multi-year project such as this is destined to experience executive changes throughout its life-cycle and when problems arise (and they will arise), you must feel certain that the companies senior management is totally behind the project’s implementation.

Assuming you have done all your homework and clearly identified the benefits of the project’s implementation, you will receive your executives support to begin your project. At Union, we were seeking approval for the first three steps in our implementation. Our plan was to prove the benefits and validate the costs associated with the project by running a pilot.