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  • Chapters
    • Introduction
    • The Stages of a Project
    • Chapter 1. Sponsorship and Leadership
    • Chapter 2. Defining the Objectives and Benefits
    • Chapter 3. Planning the Project
    • Chapter 4. Ensuring the Project is a Manageable Size
    • Chapter 5. Defining the Budget
    • Chapter 6. Managing the Risks
    • Chapter 7. Getting the Right Project Manager
    • Chapter 8. Getting Customer Representation
    • Chapter 9. Defining Roles & Responsibilities
    • Chapter 10. Getting the Right Resources
    • Chapter 11. Monitoring and Reporting Progress
    • Chapter 12. Communicating Progress
    • Chapter 13. Consultation and Leadership
    • Chapter 14. Getting Realistic User Requirements
    • Chapter 15. Defining Your Approach
    • Chapter 16. Conducting Structured Testing
    • Chapter 17. Creating an Implementation Plan
    • Chapter 18. Conducting a Post Implementation Review
    • Chapter 19. Realising the Benefits
    • Chapter 20. Learning the Lessons
    • Chapter 21. Celebrating Success
    • Checklist
  • About Us
  • FAQ
  • 21 Ways to Excel at Project Management

Getting Customer Representation

Question 8: Do you have experienced and effective user representation?

Good Practice: An experienced user representative should be appointed to work with the project manager. The user representative will lead the user group and be responsible for all business information for the project.

It is essential to keep the process user-driven, and ultimate project ownership must rest with the business. You must ensure you have enough user resources to drive the project forward. If this is not available, you should stop the project. Follow a no surprise approach with the user group. This approach requires regular communication and telling it like it is.

Two businessmen shaking hands in front of a document on the desk in front of them

Common Mistakes

  • Insufficient user resources made available.
  • User representative made available part-time.
  • Underestimating the amount of user information needed during all stages of the project.
  • Business information ending with a User Requirements Specification.

Note: As the project moves into the design, development and user pilot stages, considerable and continuing business information is needed to define requirements at a lower level of detail and to answer the many questions that arise.

Warning Sign: When users are not willing to participate in the project team.

Getting Customer Representation

Question 8: Do you have experienced and effective user representation?

9
Defining Roles & Responsibilities

Question 9: Have you clearly defined the project roles and responsibilities?

10
Getting the Right Resources

Question 10: Do you have enough experienced resources?

11
Monitoring & Reporting Progress

Question 11: Are you monitoring progress regularly?

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