Surviving Software Upgrades

Computerworld - Today's weak economy makes upgrading major business systems harder than ever. Management has little patience for IT projects that go over budget or don't deliver the promised savings. Users doing their own jobs plus the work of two or three laid-off colleagues have little interest in cooperating with an upgrade effort, especially if the new system might eliminate their jobs next.

But the economic crunch that is making software upgrades so painful right now is also increasing the pressure to do those upgrades quickly and well. Companies desperate to squeeze out costs and improve profits are upgrading to newer, Web-based versions of ERP systems that allow them to fine-tune pricing and reduce costly inventory . Other companies are looking to migrate from proprietary systems to less-expensive, open-source software such as Linux.

If you manage an upgrade well in these trying times, you can earn points with your employer, improve your marketable skills and at least make life easier for yourself and those around you. The keys, say veterans of the process, are to dump the arrogance regarding users, divide the painful changes into manageable chunks, and underpromise and overdeliver.

Credit: Josef Gast

Smaller, incremental upgrades are more likely to meet everyone's expectations than "big-bang projects," says Bean. And because they involve less change at any given time, incremental upgrades generate less resistance from skeptical users or managers.

No More Arrogance

One of the biggest obstacles to successful upgrades is users' negative experiences with previous upgrades, says Catherine Walters, an independent project management consultant in Worcester, Mass., who has managed many upgrades for an East Coast financial services firm. She says users remember upgrades when key systems were unavailable for days, causing them extra work. When they hear of a new upgrade, she says, their response is, "[IT is] going to do it to us again."

Walters advises that you acknowledge past failures but stress how much the upgrade team has learned since then and point out that users can play a positive role in creating a successful outcome this time.

"They have a contribution to make if they can get their hands dirty and be involved in testing and helping to write the user manuals," she says. Talking down to users or keeping technical details from them is counterproductive, she adds, because many users are far more technologically savvy than they used to be. If some users need hand-holding, give it to them, if you can afford it.