Operational readiness is the key success factor for project management

In many studies and reports, project successes tend to be measured against the prescribed schedule, cost and performance. In reality, project success measurement should be against projects constraints and the operational readiness status of the business environment. The combination of the two will assist in efficiently using the product or service as intended.

What is operational readiness?

In definition, operational readiness is a support and integral tool between the project management environment and the business environment. It is a support tool for a project manager to utilise in the business environment for effective change management.

Its main function is to prepare the business environment to achieve the desired benefits by using the best management practices for the identified risks and changes required.

(See Figure 1 above):GPM readiness indicator tool

The GPM readiness tool on the left assists in indicating the READINESS status in the business environment resources (human, information, financial and physical resources).

Is the business ready for the project, or is the project ready for the business?

The answer to this question should be “yes”, going both ways to guarantee a successful project.

The “yes” would mean that the project has been delivered according to specification and the business environment resources have been prepared to accept the changes.

The benefits of using operational readiness are as follows:

• Detecting the changes that are not planned;
• Predicting and capturing the impact of change; and
• Understanding the risks related to the change.

Operational readiness manages and integrates changes from both environments to ensure compatibility when the project is fully rolled out (see Figure
2 above).

Alternatively, if the answer is “no” to either way of the question, then the project will probably be unsuccessful.

Remember that the success of a project is about making the projects delivery match the business environment. In other words, making ends meet.

The disadvantages of not using operational readiness tool are as follows:

• No project ownership in the business environment;
• Business benefits will be compromised (e.g. operations efficiency and turnaround time); and
• Increase in maintenance costs.

The message to professional project managers

In definition, a project’s success is about realising the benefits manifest in the business environment.

“You reap what you sow” is a perfect parable for project managers to take full responsibility for a project’s success.

In general, operational readiness is mostly the ultimate missing link in post-implementation reviews among the unsuccessful projects. Ideally, project managers should include operational readiness in their plans because it will bring them closer to delivering a successful project that works in the
business environment.

There are a number of complex projects that have benefited from the operational readiness tool, including infrastructure projects that are mostly worth millions of rands.

The investments are for increasing the production efficiency, which will in turn improve the reliability status in a
maintenance workshop.

In this case, a project manager will be concerned about the cost of the project, whereas an operational readiness tool will be used to concentrate on the capability and readiness of the business environment.

This type of project will require an operational readiness tool to prepare the maintenance resources – people, information, physical and financial – in achieving the production efficiency target prior to the launch opening.

On the other hand, if an operational readiness tool were not to be implemented, it would mean that the return of the investments would be difficult to justify and realise.

Evidently, the production efficiency increased above expectations as planned, which induced customers to do more business with them.

This became possible because the team adhered to the operational readiness tool by delivering on time and always forecasting and controlling any changes that may compromise the realisation of the target.

Remember that success is not about looking at the glass half empty or half full, but rather making compatible ends (project environment and business environment) meet.

Every successful business knows that the readiness of the environment is as important as the product or service that you are delivering in your project. 

Galetlolwe Moeketsi