Vendor Management for Global Document Management System (GDMS)
Description of Project
With the utility already having been scoped and built prior to our involvement, our focus on the project was to implement based on the existing tool, as change requests to GDMS would not be considered.
The project covered all the elements of implementation from planning, requirements gathering and business analysis to process updates and creation. Our objective was to ensure that all the client’s differenc third-party vendors would have continued access to the appropriate documentation, once migrated into GDMS.
Chaucer’s scope
With the full scope of the vendor management work unknown at the outset, we began by undertaking a survey to ascertain the
With the full scope of the vendor management work unknown at the outset, a survey was undertaken to ascertain the number of legacy systems moving to GDMS, which were being utilised, and to what degree by third party vendors.
With this information, our team was able to establish stream plans, and include deliverables and milestones, continually tracking progress for delivery assurance.
We also added this activity to the existing deployment plans, augmenting their accuracy by including all related vendor management tasks.
Strategy development
Before a vendor strategy could be developed, a fact-finding session was required to understand the GDMS system and its capabilities, as this information was not clearly documented or understood. A system and functionality constraints summary was created from which a draft strategy was extrapolated, and an exercise of business requirements gathering was then undertaken for the in-scope systems – what vendors, with access to what content from which proposals were made - discussed and signed off by each of the in-scope business lines. A strategy was also defined in conjunction with the Business Change Management team for Vendor business stakeholder engagement.
Vendor Strategy Implementation
With the strategy and approach defined, the focus shifted to operationalising vendor management. Notably, this included the creation of vendor groups in GDMS, agreeing and updating processes, documenting new processes, creating job aids and vendor FAQs, ensuring vendor IT connectivity with GDMS and ensuring contractual agreements were in place.
Once in place, it was agreed that a pilot should be completed to test vendor management end to end, and the pilot was scoped, planned and executed. This allowed for an assessment and enhancements to be made to processes and the variety of documentation that had been created.
Issues and Risks
Our team managed and ran the risk process for Vendor Management, and also worked with project leadership and other work stream leads to highlight, manage, resolve and mitigate interdependent issues and risks.
Reporting Process
Information gathering and development of weekly reports for program leadership was key to keeping work-stream progress transparent. In addition to the internal reporting, a significant element of external reporting was required for key business stakeholders (e.g. MBT – Master Business Team), and this was managed through a series of update sessions. We also ensured that the Vendor Management SharePoint web page was kept updated with present status so that team members could access the latest information at any time.
Project Team Meetings
Complementing weekly reports, bi-weekly ‘touch-point’ meetings were held with program leadership to discuss the hot topics, key issues and risks to allow input and guidance on resolution. We also ensured that regular work-stream meetings were held in order to communicate progress and gain input into the next steps and hot topics.
Benefits
Our work with the client ensured that we left behind an implementable system and roll-out plan that staff knew how to execute going forward.
Providing the client with leadership and a can-do team attitude, we also delivered system deployments on target despite our staff overcoming sometimes highly technical problems, both virtually and face-to-face. Our team was also able to identify and mitigate international cross-project interdependencies, with the Change Management work systematically setting the stage for success.
Our client recognised the critical role we played in the successful implementation of GDMS, indicating that they greatly valued our objectivity, pragmatism and flexibility, as well as our seamless integration with the in-house project team.
Regarding the quality of our presentation and ability to communicate complex topics clearly and succinctly as first class, our team established new links and understanding between sections of the client’s organisation that had not enjoyed adequate linkage previously.
With outsourcing sometimes highly political and internally sensitive, the support of a trusted partner throughout the process was regarded as a critical success factor.
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