the doctor was quite disappointed with this article over on the WorldBank Blogs on 10 success factors for implementing [an] e-Procurement System because all of these “factors” were generic success factors for the implementation of any technical system. Let’s look at them at a high level (and direct you to the article for a description of what the requirements are if they aren’t immediately clear to you):

Governance Principles

all projects need to be managed and governed, so this is pretty much a “d’uh!”

Transparency on Legal and Regulatory Frameworks

any platform that processes any personal, payment, or classified data HAS to adhere to Legal and Regulatory frameworks of ALL countries the corporation operates in, so this is obvious for any platform that requires it

Strategy Ownership and Sustainability

it’s classic project management, no owner, everything goes to cr@p

Implementation and Integration Challenges

preparing for this is just a given

Technical Infrastructure and SaaS-based Systems

all technology implementations need to integrate with the current infrastructure and SaaS systems that contain the necessary data, so this is pretty much a “d’uh!”

Training & Capacity Building

well, you need the capacity and the training regardless of the system being implemented

Engage Stakeholders Actively

without stakeholder support, it will be hard to get the resources for a timely, successful implementation of any technology

Align with International Standards

technology should always align with any regulatory standards in place

Clear Communication and Change Management

necessary for the success of ANY project, not just a technology project, so this is pretty much a super “D’UH!”

Data Security and Privacy

if the data is personal, payment, classified, trade secret, etc. etc. etc. then security and privacy is of more concern than the tech, so, another ‘d’uh!”

e-Procurement success goes beyond the basics. There are too many six, seven, and, for some multinationals locked into 5-year contracts, eight figure acquisitions that have failed to deliver on the promises made. This is because the selection, implementation, and utilization of such systems goes beyond most back-office tech to get right.

Selection

In our recent article on The Key to Procurement Software Selection Success: Affordable RFPs!, we noted that selecting the right vendor was paramount to success, and a critical requirement in this selection process was a GOOD RFP.

Furthermore, that RFP needed to specify, among a host of requirements:

• typical use cases
• target processes
• globalization requirements
• data migration requirements
• integration requirements

Why are we calling these out? Because these define the key factors for implementation success!

Implementation

Key Factors are thus:

Primary Components / Modules

… that are needed to support the critical use cases and target processes, that need to be implemented and demonstrated first

Test Cases

that must be passed, in priority order, to ensure the use cases and target processes can be accomplished

… including multi-lingual use cases

that support not only the customer organization requirements but the supplier requirements

Data Migration Requirements

spelled out in detail, as well as cut-over requirements

Cross-System Bi-Directional Integration Requirements

spelled it in minute detail, not just push to the ERP … and considerably more than just a high level holistic strategy … when it comes to tech, the devil truly is in the details and chaos emerges when you overlook even one

Utilization

A system not utilized is a failed system, even if the implementation and integration goes as well as can be reasonably expected. Utilization is critical, especially early on, or widespread adoption will never be reached. This is why it’s paramount that the functionality required for the critical use cases be implemented and tested first so that utilization of key capabilities can begin as soon as possible, leading to adoption.

In other words, the basic checklist for technology implementation is nowhere near enough for the successful implementation of procurement technology — that success requires going deep.