Crossing the Finish Line: What it Takes to Succeed in Digital Transformation

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After 15 months of meticulous planning, unwavering teamwork, and dynamic problem-solving, Project Pulsar has reached an incredible milestone—transitioning into the sustain phase of its digital transformation.

What began as a vision over a year ago is now a reality, powered by a dedicated team that embraced a proven process focused on delivering meaningful change. From setting clear goals and assigning roles to executing a seamless cutover and engaging stakeholders effectively, the project stands as a testament to careful preparation and adaptability in execution.

This article takes a closer look at the achievements of the Project Pulsar team, the lessons they learned along the way, and the crucial factors that drove their success. It’s also a moment to celebrate how far they’ve come while looking ahead to what lies beyond. The road wasn’t always easy, but their shared commitment has paved the way for a brighter, more connected future for Galactic Gravity Inc.

Turning Cutover Challenges into Lessons Learned

It was the Sunday before go-live. Jared Spinner—the Project Manager—cracked open the takeout containers and passed out utensils to Jesse Bowman, the Solution Architect, Barry O’Connor, the Business Analyst, and Erin Torres, Organizational Change Management Lead.

“How are the cutover activities going?” he asked as they dove into the food. “Any concerns as we approach go-live this week?”

“We’ve been checking in with the team twice a day the last five days and things have been going smoothly,” Barry reported. “The only snag we’ve encountered is that it’s taking longer than expected to get the in-process orders entered into the system. There are more of them than we anticipated, and there isn’t enough time to input all of them before tomorrow.”

Jesse added, “We’ve prioritized the orders by delivery date, and the remaining orders will be entered tomorrow morning.”

Jared sighed. “Well, it sounds like you’ve done everything you can. I tried my best to keep a realistic timeline, but it seems like we need to reevaluate assumptions during critical phases and next time build in even more margin around the cutover.” The rest of the room nodded and murmured agreements. They visited for a moment, enjoying the food and the break from the intensive cutover activities.

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During a lull in conversation, Jared directed a question to Erin, the OCM lead. “How does the team seem to be doing?”

“Pretty good overall!” Erin piped up with a smile. “We provided support FAQs during training and again on Friday via email to all users. I’ve spoken with all the BPOs and helped them prepare to support all users tomorrow. They’re aware of their team’s needs and how to meet them.”

“And Jesse, you’ll continue the twice daily checkpoint this week, correct?”

The solution architect nodded. “And then once a day for the next week, as well.”

“And I’ll be tracking the issues that are logged in the ticketing system and analyzing them for review,” Barry added.

“The plan is to reach out first to the designated SMEs, then if needed we involve BPOs, and finally the IT team,” Erin finished.

Jared leaned back and gave the group a warm smile. Their small team was a tightly knit group, and it had been satisfying to watch them all work together so efficiently. “Fantastic! I appreciate all your leadership and hard work, especially the last few weeks. I hope this coming week will be an exciting new start and time of celebration!”

The other two men smiled but Erin hesitated. “In hindsight, it would have been better to include more milestone celebrations along the way rather than waiting to do all the celebrating at the very end. It could have helped keep momentum up, especially with the couple of snags and setbacks we experienced.”

“Something to take with us into the next initiative, for sure,” Jared agreed, making a note. “If we don’t intentionally plan celebrations, they simply won’t happen.”

A Week of Gratitude and Team Spirit at Go-Live

On day one of Go-Live, only a handful of issues were logged. 95% were user errors due to a bit of nervousness and new processes, but were quickly resolved with the support from Jesse, Barry, and the training documentation. Every breakroom had bowls filled with candy bars and signs that said, “Thank you for your GRAND efforts!”

The next day had free sodas and baskets of single serve bags of chips with a sign saying, “Our team is all that and a bag of chips!” Wednesday each employee was given a package of Extra gum thanking them for their “extra” efforts, and Thursday ink pens were passed out with the inscription, “I survived Go Live 2025!”

The small gestures reminded the team that their efforts were noticed and appreciated, and a general air of excitement filled the workplace that week. Some people rolled their eyes at the cheesy signs, but everyone enjoyed the small gestures of appreciation and comradery while looking forward to the company-wide pizza party on Friday.

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Celebrating the Finish Line: Uniting Through Success

Lucy Wilson, the Procurement Manager, entered the large conference room on Friday at noon and spotted Maggie almost immediately. The VP of Operations and Project Sponsor for Project Pulsar buzzed with energy, greeting people, directing staff on setting up the food table, and laughing effortlessly.

Lucy approached her and gave her a big smile and hug. “Congratulations, Maggie!” she exclaimed. “You did it!”

Maggie laughed. “We did it,” she corrected, giving Lucy a big squeeze. “I couldn’t have done this without you and all the extra work you and your team put in.”

“It was a lot of work, but thanks to you and Jared, I know it will be well worth it,” Lucy replied with a smile.

The conference room filled up quickly, the whole of Galactic Gravity Inc. showing up to celebrate and enjoy the well-earned pizza and festivities. There were goodie bags and photo ops, and even a raffle for prizes. Before too long, Maggie took the floor.

“Project Pulsar has proven that GGI has what it takes to tackle large, complex projects and deliver stellar results. I am proud of this team and the dedication, persistence, and integrity all of you have shown.” She paused, smiling, as the room applauded and cheered.

“I know some of you had reservations about this project,” Maggie continued. “At the risk of saying ‘I told you so’ — How’s it feel to be proven wrong?”

The room swelled with laughter and Lucy turned in time to catch Jane Maxwell, the VP of Account Management, smile ruefully. Even Doug Pallegio, although not quite cracking a smile, nodded good naturedly.

“I want to take a moment to look back and identify some key driving forces that I believe led us to the success we’ve experienced this week and will continue to experience for years to come,” Maggie continued, launching into a quick summary of the past 15 months.

Key Drivers of Project Pulsar’s Success

Clear Goals and Roles

The first step was setting distinct goals with measurable objectives. Team members were carefully assigned roles that aligned with their skills, supported by targeted training to ensure clarity on responsibilities. While the team faced some bandwidth challenges, overall engagement remained consistent.

Comprehensive Planning and Tracking

A robust project plan was developed, outlining high-level components alongside task-specific details. All activities were diligently tracked using an online project system to maintain transparency and oversight.

Prioritization of Organizational Change Management

A tactical change management plan mobilized change agents, monitored concerns, and empowered the team to come together and achieve the project goals. A thorough communications plan was developed and followed to improve transparency and break down silos.

Stakeholder Engagement

From a well-received kickoff to active participation by stakeholders and a steering committee, the impact of collaborative input was evident.

Iterative Design and Requirements Gathering

Requirements were meticulously gathered, validated, and integrated into iterative design sessions to refine business processes, ensuring alignment between system functionality and business needs.

Data Transformation and Testing

Data from the legacy system was cleansed, extracted, transformed, migrated, and rigorously tested. The team conducted several types of testing, including functional tests, business simulations, user acceptance, and more—all critical for identifying and mitigating potential issues.

Comprehensive Training and SOPs

Revised processes and new system functionalities were supported with well-received training documents and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Cutover and Beyond

A detailed cutover plan ensured an organized transition, complete with twice-daily check-ins and an escalation path, though fortunately, it wasn’t needed. Triage and support processes were implemented to assist users post-Go Live.

Maggie finished her message by urging the team to continue to support the efforts of this project, because although they’ve made it through go-live, it’s only just the beginning.

Looking Ahead: Ongoing Efforts and Hypercare

While Project Pulsar has successful made it through Go-Live, the project has entered hypercare, where continued focus is placed on stabilizing the system, addressing unforeseen issues, and ensuring that users are fully supported during the transition.

Dedicated support teams remain actively engaged, monitoring performance metrics and user feedback to swiftly resolve any concerns. Regular communication channels have been established, ensuring that updates, solutions, and best practices are transparently shared with all stakeholders.

This phase is critical in reinforcing user confidence and achieving operational stability.

Sustain the Change for Long-Term Impact

Now it’s time to say goodbye to our team at Project Pulsar and shift our focus to the last stage of Victoria Fide’s proven Process for Transformational Change: Sustain. Over the next few months, we will examine the critical and often overlooked actions that enable organizations to increase their ROI and see long-term results from their transformations while setting themselves up for continued improvement and future initiatives.

If you have questions or would like to see us cover a certain topic, please reach out to info@victoriafide.com and we would be happy to discuss. Don’t forget to like, share, and follow for more expert advice on ensuring digital transformation success.

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