Managing engineering processes usually requires change.  Your user community will be made up of some people that like change and others that don’t.  Any one person from the group that doesn’t like change can kill the project, so it is important to work with that group to minimize the impact of change.

A typical BPM implementation can present your users with several changes like:

• It can change how they do their work.
• It may change the processes in which they are involved.
• It will definitely involve some compliance [rules will need to be followed] on the part of the user.
• It will increase visibility into their work.

These changes can be difficult for some people.  This is where a strong champion can be extremely helpful.

The role of the champion is to sell the story to management and to sell the story to the user community.  Think of them as a pied piper.  The story to management should paint a picture of how good things will be when this project is completed.  The story to the user community should paint a picture of how this will make life better for them.

These stories will create expectations.  The champion needs to make sure that the expectations remain achievable.  This is an ongoing activity – it is real easy for people to ‘grow’ their expectations.  Communicate often to minimize expectations growth.

The successful BPM project will benefit the company and the user community, so it is well worth the effort.

Follow