“Shovel ready” is a phrase used to describe a construction project that is considered to be at an advanced enough stage of development for building to begin.
The term is mainly used when referring to projects that, if given stimulus money, will have the most immediate impact on employment and the economy.
Business Solutions Projects
To deliver a business solutions project requires a process of analysis and design, configure, testing, training and deployment to live. There will be initial discussions around the scope of the work, estimates given for software and services and a contract agreed. Internally the organisation will have to approve the capital expenditure and confirm resources for the delivery of the system or systems. All of this requires the alignment and agreement of a number of stakeholders.
Covid-19 and the economic outlook is unclear, what then?
In these uncertain times, organisations want to hold on to their cash and are unlikely to have a desire to commit to significant expenditure. Yet the need to change is still there; business processes may be failing, there may be inefficiencies in the organisation that require addressing, legacy systems could be going out of mainstream support, the risks to doing “business as usual” are rising, competitors are entering the market, and so the list goes on.
So how do I become ‘Shovel ready’ for my business improvement project?
The first element of a business improvement project is a period of analysis and design. The analysis of the requirements for a new solution, the benefits that will be delivered, and the design of how that would be configured. Combined with this is refinement of the overall project delivery timeline, stakeholder analysis, risk assessment, training requirements and data migration considerations.
TouchstoneFMS offer a ‘shovel ready’ service. It consists of one or more design workshops, preparation of design documentation, and detailed project planning. The outputs will provide you with the baseline documentation from which a project can be delivered.
Why should I use this service?
Being able to move and adapt quickly is a key advantage in these challenging times. By completing the project planning, analysis and design in advance, the timelines for delivery will be significantly reduced when the project can start. You will be ‘shovel ready’. The benefits of process improvement, risk reduction, legacy systems decommissioning, improved management information, and more will be realised quicker.
