By Linnea McNair, Senior Consultant
Once upon a time, CIO’s suspected that the fairy-tale-ending go-live was just that. Fortunately, because of several common characters (regardless of the vendor or the scope of the activation), “happily ever after” go-lives are possible.
Prince Charming comes in the form of abundant planning. Skimping on this will put a poisoned apple in the hands of all involved -- from end-users to support staff.
The following tried and true go-live advisories have been used to slay activation dragons and resuscitate entire IT kingdoms:
• Training should occur no more than 3 weeks prior to the planned activation. Should go-live date be delayed after education has occurred, review education must take place no further than 3 weeks prior to the new date.
• Crib-sheets, helpful for both staff and the super-users, readily identify the accepted protocols that staff should follow. Handy crib-sheets can curtail “creative” solutions that might not follow facility policy.
• Staffing & Support:
o Identify super-users in every unit for all shifts.
o Super-users should be available 24 x 7 for a minimum of two weeks for all shift and all floors.
o During the first go-live week super-users shall not be utilized as care-givers.
o After the first week (or once staff is fairly confident) super-users may take call or share floors for support. If a unit is struggling, full-time support should be sustained. Assess each unit and provide for its needs. Thou shall not pigeon-hole all units’ support needs.
o IT staff shall support 24/7 super-users and multiple floors during the first two weeks of go-live.
o The entire IT staff shall carry a beeper. If possible all super-users should also carry a beeper or mobile phone.
o Config guidelines for IT support staff.
o Staff a config person on the helpdesk that knows what’s configured, understands ramifications of changes, and has authority to make changes.
o 4 magic words: Third-party support staff. Use to enhance your staffing or free up IT staff. One caveat: Educate any third-party staff so each knows house processes, guidelines, and policies.
• Furnish a dedicated helpdesk and command center to give users a break area and support staff a food service and idea report/exchange area. Stake out ample space for tables and comfortable chairs.
• Grease the gears of inter-shift communication by notifying the go-live coordinator (GLC) of any arising issues and solutions, emerging challenges, discovered expedients. Having a single point of contact -- the GLC -- works best.
• If possible, set up computers on each floor with the training DB. This will provide a location where staff can “play” and reinforce their training.
• Supply Food!!! Hot food (other than pizza) for the night staff; snacks for breaks.
• “Happily Ever After” go-live – continue support and communication in the form of weekly to monthly rounding. This should last forever!
Of course, fairy godmothers can merely make suggestions about the path to success not guarantees. Merriweather warned Sleeping Beauty about the spinning wheel, after all. And while hindsight best determines what could have been improved during any go-live tale, the following five ogres will most assuredly devour your quest for a successful activation:
• Errant, inaccurate handouts
• Absent or gnarled communication
• A bound Helpdesk, unauthorized to fix problems
• A plodding Helpdesk, unable to remedy problems on the fly
• A remote and/or miniscule Command Center
More powerful than a wish, a prince and a squad of fairy godmothers working in concert, abundant planning will get your activation beyond the tolling bells of midnight and into “happily ever after.”
For more information on VCS's Allscripts/legacy Eclipsys solutions, contact us at 610.444.1233, email vcs@getvitalized.com, or visit www.getvitalized.com.
