7 Ways to Set Your Project Up for Success

By Bronyck Stokes Horrigan

At Aramar, we’ve had the pleasure of working with many different organisations to implement IBM Business Analytics solutions, from Planning Analytics to IBM Controller and Cognos Analytics. Over the years, we’ve seen what makes a project run smoothly, and just as importantly, what can cause unnecessary stress.

In this blog, I’ve outlined the seven golden rules that consistently lead to successful projects, regardless of industry or team size.

1. Support your team

Some customers can dedicate time and resources to a project, while others must work around their day job. Occasionally this works fine, especially if the project is small or it’s a quieter time of year. But the greatest successes always come from organisations that:

Put a clear project team in place
Define roles
Make sure people support each other
Ensure managers actively support their teams

Trying to juggle daily responsibilities alongside a new planning, budgeting, or forecasting system can lead to long hours, frustration, and a tarnished experience.

Smaller teams may not be able to step away from their daily tasks entirely, and that’s ok, many customers spread their project across a slightly longer timeline, focusing only two days a week for example or scheduling the project during quieter financial periods. The key is giving people enough time to do their day job and the project work without burning them out.

Implementing new tools like IBM Planning Analytics or Controller is an investment in your future efficiency, but it requires investment in your people now.

2. Break it down

There is always a temptation to pack too much into the first phase of a project. When that happens, people quickly become overwhelmed, deliverables take longer, and enthusiasm dips.

Often, 80% of the benefit can come from delivering just 20% of the scope.

Break the project into small, achievable phases. Focus on early wins that build confidence and demonstrate value. Be realistic about what can be delivered and crystal clear on what success looks like.

One of the biggest causes of project overruns is poor scope management. Before you start:

Agree what’s in
Agree what’s out
Set up a simple, controlled process for change requests

Risk management matters too. No one enjoys talking about what might go wrong, but ignoring risks doesn’t stop them from happening. In our experience, data quality issues are both the most common and the most impactful risks on IBM analytics projects, and they can delay everything if not identified early.

3. Make time for learning

Give your team the best chance of long-term success by making sure that they have the skills to understand the tool. Your team will only get long-term value from IBM Business Analytics if they understand how to use them confidently.

You don’t need everyone to be a super user. But you do need at least one internal “champion”. Someone who understands the data, the logic, and the day-to-day tasks. The more users can feel empowered by the tool, the more they’ll adopt it, and the more value you will see.

Training and knowledge is something we strongly believe in and can help your team gain confidence in their knowledge with our expert-led courses.

4. Engage all stakeholders

Who is this project for, and what do they expect to gain from it? For some, the goal is more accurate data. For others, it’s calmer planning cycles or avoiding working long evenings and weekends to get the job done. Once you understand what people are hoping for, focus on delivering an early ‘quick win’ that helps bring everyone on board and proves that progress is being made. At the same time, be mindful of out-of-scope requests; trying to deliver everything at once often results in delivering nothing at all.

5. Test, test and test some more

It’s a good idea to think about your testing plan right at the start of the project, so you can build in the time needed to complete it properly. Testing doesn’t need to be complicated; one of the most effective approaches is simply to run your usual tasks in the new software. This allows you to check that the system works as expected and that your team understands how to use it. As with all testing, it’s important to involve different users and try a variety of scenarios to make sure everything has been covered.

6. Debrief

Once a project goes live, it becomes the centre of your world. Then, almost immediately, everyone moves on to something else. But skipping the debrief means missing valuable learning.

Both customers and Aramar benefit enormously from spending time reflecting:

Did you achieve what you intended to?
How did the project compare to your expectations?
How will you review and optimise the software moving forward?
What additional support does your team need?

Debriefs help teams grow, close off the initial project phase properly, and set the foundations for future improvements.

7. Document

Successful projects rely on good documentation, yet it is often the first thing to be pushed aside as people start focusing on whatever comes next. Teams change over time, people move roles or get promoted, or leave and without proper documentation, the knowledge of how everything works moves with them. This can lead to confusion about when tasks should happen and in what order, creating skills gaps and causing the solution to deteriorate. Documenting the system as you go ensures that current and future users can understand and operate the software with confidence. It’s far harder to do once the project has ended, and in most cases, it simply never gets done.

Final thoughts

Although Aramar specialises in the IBM Business Analytics suite these principles apply to any project in any organisation. Customers who embrace these steps consistently achieve better outcomes, smoother implementations, and more value from their investment.

We also have some great Success Stories that showcase how we’ve supported customers through their projects. Bringing our expertise, coordination and guidance to help their internal teams deliver a solution that works for them.