Economic development strategic planning: Seven keys to success

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” — Benjamin Franklin

Investing in your staff is key to any successful organization. Having the wherewithal to be able to train a group of people, some willing and some unwilling, can be a daunting task. Yet, no matter how difficult to manage or how time-involving training is, it is an essential part of both a successful EHR go-live and maintenance of a system. No matter how technologically advanced the new EHR system may be, if an organization slacks on the training, it will never see the full return on investment of the cost of the system.

From years of implementation experience, I have compiled the five best practice methods to enable an organization to reach its maximal return on investment and user satisfaction with an EHR system.

EHR superuser training

A superuser doesn’t need to be the most technically savvy user, but they need to be able to be teachable and to transfer that learned knowledge to the other staff. These users should be the first to experience a new system. Oftentimes, some of these staff members would have been involved in the selection process. They are the organization’s first-line users and defenders of the new EHR functionality, and the ones that others turn to when they need help. Therefore, they are called super. For best results, there should be, at minimum, one superuser per specialty per every 15 users. At the time of go-live, these superusers need to be relieved of all their routine duties and focus on assisting the staff with the EHR adoption during the go-live dates.

EHR User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

It may say testing, but this is also a training method, and it should involve those already trained as superusers. UAT is time utilized as a field training exercise for your newly trained and specialty experienced superusers to test the system for proper process workflow in all fields of expertise. A testing script should be utilized for each process workflow and there should be room on that script for comments from the testers on improvements that need to be made prior to staff training. Each moment the superusers work on the testing scripts is a training exercise in navigating the system and making them comfortable with teaching their peers at the next venture.

EHR End User Training (EUT): The see, touch, and repeat approach

Training can be performed in many forms. As an organization, a decision on which format of training works best must be decided upon and then kept consistent. Methods of training could be in person, virtual, or online. The key to successful training, no matter which plan an organization chooses, is to involve the "see, touch, and repeat" approach to learning. Trainees should see the system in action, touch the keyboards or tablets and follow along with the instructor or through a written scenario, and repeat the processes multiple times at their own leisure in a testing environment. Implementing this method allows all generations of users in the organization to be properly trained on the new EHR.

In-person classes should be:

• Separated by specialty or process
• Involve manageable group sizes (one user per computer)
• Include a brief overview of the EHR
• Include a demonstration of the process workflow in action
• Be followed by the user repeating the process on their own device

If there are more than two hours of content to train on, the recommendation is to divide the training into smaller durations to maximize the effects of learning.

Virtual classes involve an instructor performing the same steps as in-person training, but the end user attends from their office or a designated learning area. These can be pre-recorded and the EUT can occur during the optimal time for the user to have complete devotion to the training. In these instances, logins to the testing/training site need to be given out in a separate communication, and these logins should be single-user available, as to avoid complications from locked accounts if many end users are training at the same time. A trainer needs to have availability for questions if this process is utilized.

Online classes involve pre-recorded demonstrations that are included with process workflow scenarios. In these, the end user goes to a training site and watches sections of demonstrations one at a time. At the end of each section, the user may rewatch the online demonstration as many times as they need to, but there must be a self-paced scenario that the user follows along to perform the touch and repeat portion of the learning. Additionally, there needs to be contact information for a trainer should there be issues or questions. Many organizations utilizing this method of training allow the end user access to these training videos for refreshers once the EHR implementation has occurred.

EHR Just In Time (JIT) and At the Elbow (ATE) training

The JIT/ATE training is essential during and post go-live. Once an organization implements the EHR, there is always going to be someone who did not complete the training. That is where the superusers become involved and train these individuals in their time of need. These short, microburst, JIT trainings may involve a superuser hovering nearby the new user as they navigate through a documentation for the very first time. ATE training involves a superuser reaching out to a user who has had training but may have forgotten steps involved to complete the documentation. These are the times that those superusers show how super they are.

Post implementation of the EHR, as the superusers resume their normal duties, there will still be a need for JIT/ATE training, and their expertise will be sought out after by their peers, further assisting in a successful adoption of an EHR. In addition to the superusers, if available, a dedicated informatics employee should be making frequent rounding, looking out for those who may be struggling with the EHR documentation processes and workflows, and performing JIT/ATE training at these discovered instances.

EHR training refreshers and audits

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills

This final stage of training is continuous. Once you have an EHR, there will always be a need for training. No matter how successful your training may have been, habits and shortcuts to documenting in an EHR are bound to occur, and then spread throughout the organization. For the most part, these shortcuts result in mis-documentation; audits must be performed to determine how detrimental to proper documentation they are. Once the issues have been identified, the organization must determine how to correct the issue. Sometimes this involves going directly to the end user whose documentation is at subpar levels and performing JIT/ATE training. If it is widespread, a refresher course for all end users may be required to correct the issues. Sometimes a communication of corrective action may work in substitution for JIT/ATE training.

“Don’t decrease the goal. Increase the effort.” — Tom Coleman

Regardless of the effort, all end users should have a contact to reach out to for assistance post EHR go-live and the ability to access a training site as needed. New hire training sessions should continue to be optimizable on documentation.

BerryDunn’s team of consultants is happy to assist you with creating a Request for Proposal, selecting the right EHR vendor for your organization, developing communication, change management, training plans, and project management for the system implementation.

Read this if your organization would like to elect to receive clean energy tax credits directly.

Many tax credits and their incentives have often been difficult for tax-exempt and governmental entities to utilize given their lack of taxable income. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) made several clean energy tax credits available to tax-exempt and governmental organizations under an elective pay option.

With the new election, tax-exempt and governmental entities will be able to treat certain pre-approved clean energy tax credits as an overpayment on a Form 990-T, resulting in a refund of the credit.

Who is eligible for the elective pay option?

Tax-exempt organizations including all entities exempt under IRS code section 501(c); state, local, tribal, US territories and political governments and their agencies and instrumentalities; the Tennessee Valley Authority; and rural electric co-operatives with valid EINs are eligible for the elective pay option.

What kind of credits are available?

IRS Publication 5817g outlines the credits available to these organizations under the elective pay option. This includes up to a 30% credit for qualifying renewable energy projects and up to a $40,000 credit for the purchase of commercial clean vehicles. Credits include:

Energy generation and carbon capture 

• Production Tax Credit for Electricity from Renewables
• Clean Electricity Production Tax Credit
• Investment Tax Credit for Energy Property
• Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit
• Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit
• Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration
• Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit

Manufacturing 

• Advanced Energy Project Credit
• Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit

Vehicles 

• Credit for Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicles
• Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit

Fuels 

• Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit
• Clean Fuel Production Credit

When to register the clean energy tax credits

IRS Publication 5817 outlines the steps required to claim any elective pay clean energy credits. Once the organization has identified the credit and qualifying project they would like to pursue, they will need to complete a pre-filing registration with the IRS online and obtain a valid registration number for each credit they would like to pursue.

The IRS recommends you register for the qualifying credit after placing the property into service but no earlier than the beginning of the tax period when you will earn the credit. Additionally, they recommend you register at least 120 days before the due date of the Form 990-T to allow time for review before issuing registration number(s).

How to register the clean energy tax credits

Registration for elective payment can be found on the IRS website at Register for elective payment or transfer of credits. An authorized representative of the organization may use the tool to complete the application. Your organization will need to start by selecting an authorized representative. This individual can be from within your organization, or your tax advisor may be authorized to file for you via completion of a Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative. 

The IRS site will require the authorized person to verify their identity with photo identification by creating an ID.me account. Using their ID.me account, the authorized person will navigate to Energy Credits Online where they will enter the entity’s EIN to create a clean energy business account. 

Once signed in, the authorized representative will be required to submit general information, credit specific information, and answer common as well as credit specific questions. Additional information on using the pre-registration tool can be found in the user guide, IRS Publication 5884.

How to claim the clean energy tax credits

Once the project is approved, your organization must satisfy all requirements of the tax credit. For example, most credits are claimed in the tax year the qualifying project is placed into service. 

Many of the clean energy credits increase in percentage of expenditure if certain criteria are met. For example, both the Investment Tax Credit for Energy Property and Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit start at a base of 6% of the qualified investment but increase five times to 30% if the project pays prevailing wages and uses registered apprentices. 

Tax-exempt and governmental organizations should consult with their project vendors to ensure their projects will qualify for the credits they intend to pursue. 

Finally, the tax-exempt or governmental organization will file an original, on-time Form 990-T and make a valid elective pay payment election using Form 3800 in the appropriate tax period to receive the direct payment. The election will not be permitted on a late or amended Form 990-T.

If your organization is interested in pursuing a clean energy credit made available under the IRA, please contact Scott Davis. BerryDunn is here to help you maneuver this new path forward for tax-exempt and governmental entities in clean energy tax credits.

Many organizations implement well-being strategies to advance culture, engagement, and business performance. They recognize that successful well-being strategies combine work design, benefit and program offerings, and the built environment (physical workplaces and virtual capabilities) to address a myriad of human capital challenges and opportunities. Yet, many organizations aren’t clearly connecting their well-being strategies to their risk management programs and Environment Social Governance (ESG) reporting.  

Reporting on the social component of ESG brings transparency to how an organization is managing human capital-related risks, the most prevalent in current ESG reporting standards being employee turnover. It also gives organizations the opportunity to share how they are supporting a workforce that can thrive both in and outside of work. 

Here are five ways an organization’s well-being strategy fits into their ESG reporting:  

1. Promoting healthy behaviors. The workplace is a recognized social determinant of health and can shape health behaviors for many individuals. Work shifts can influence sleep schedules, available food and beverage options can influence eating patterns, the nature of work and workplace features can influence safety and activity levels, health plan design can influence proactive and preventive healthcare decisions, and the culture drives many health-related behavioral norms. Workplaces that cultivate healthy behaviors not only see benefits to productivity, retention, and engagement, but also make a positive difference in helping to address local and national health challenges.

2. Cultivating social connection and belonging. The workplace is an important source of social connection for working adults. Yet 36% of Americans report feeling “serious loneliness.” Loneliness carries real consequences for individuals and workplaces. For instance, social isolation (even if only perceived) can increase inflammation in the body to the same degree as physical inactivity. Additionally, high belonging in the workplace is linked to a 56% increase in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover risk, and a 75% reduction in sick days. Organizations that emphasize the importance of connection right from the beginning of an employee’s onboarding journey, deliberately build in opportunities to connect as part of the work experience, and encourage workplace friendships can dramatically reduce feelings of loneliness among workers.   

3. Reducing mental health stigma. The quality of mental health in the US is a recognized national health crisis, with one in five adults living with a mental health condition, and mental health conditions on the rise in children and young adults. Unmanaged depression and anxiety have been shown to impair cognition, including problem solving, creativity, memory, and executive functioning. Organizations have the opportunity to bring visibility to mental health challenges, reduce stigma, and improve access to and quality of mental health resources for individuals and families.  

4. Educating employees to make sound financial decisions. Four out of five employers report that their employees’ personal financial issues impact their job performance. At a baseline, organizations are responsible for providing fair living wages to their employees. Organizations seeking to be employers of choice will pay competitive wages. Beyond how much employees are paid, organizations can equip employees with the knowledge and resources to make sound financial decisions in support of long-term financial independence. 

5. Supporting inclusion with flexibility. Flexible work schedules, “work from anywhere” arrangements, and alternative work schedules are all ways employers can support retention among talented employees who might otherwise leave the workforce or seek different job paths. Examples of employees who benefit most are those with caregiving roles (for children, elders, or other dependents) or who simply cannot afford to live near the office. Executed effectively, more flexible work arrangements can lead to improved retention and increased diversity.  

If you are interested in exploring how you can implement a well-being strategy for your organization and how you can integrate well-being into your ESG reporting, please contact our team.  

Start by assessing your organization’s well-being program 

Understanding the maturity level of your organization’s well-being program can help you benchmark, assess progress, and gain leadership support by showing a clear path to improvement. Our maturity model can help you assess where you are now.

We’ve all heard stories about organizations spending thousands on software projects, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Electronic Health Record (EHR), or Student Information Systems (SIS) that take longer than expected to implement and exceed original budgets. One of the reasons this occurs is that organizations often don’t realize that purchasing a large, Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) enterprise system is a significant undertaking. If the needs aren’t sufficiently defined, there can be many roadblocks, including implementation delays, increased cost, scope creep, and ultimately, unsatisfactory results (delayed or unfinished projects and cost overruns).

These systems are complex, and implementation efforts impact both internal and external stakeholders. Procurement often requires participation from different departments, each with unique goals and perspectives. Ignore these perspectives at your own peril. Here are key questions to consider for making the best buying decision:

1. Should we purchase software that similar organizations have purchased?
   As vendor consolidation has diminished the number of distinct COTS systems available, this question is increasingly common. Following this approach is similar to deciding to buy the car that your neighbor did, because they seem satisfied. How can you be sure that the systems purchased by similar organizations will meet your needs, particularly if your needs are undefined? One way to identify your organization’s needs—and to avoid costly mistakes down the road—is to identify requirements during the procurement process.

2. What are the functional and technical requirements of the system?Requirements are details that help describe a software system. There are two types of requirements and you need to understand and review both:
   
   Functional requirements. These define specific functions of a system to meet day-to-day needs of an organization or department. They describe the necessary system capabilities that allow users to perform their jobs. For example, “The vendor file must provide a minimum of four (4) remit-to addresses.” Functional requirements may also define the mandated state or federal capabilities required of a system, such as the ability to produce W-2 or 1099 forms.
   
   Technical requirements. These requirements identify criteria used to judge the operation of a system, rather than specific behaviors. They can be requirements that define what database the system must support. For example, “The system must support use of the client preferred database.” They may also describe security capabilities of the system, the ability to import or export data, or the ease of use and overall end-user interface.

3. Who should help define and document requirements for the new enterprise system?
   
   When it comes to documenting and revising requirements, work with your IT staff; incorporating technology standards into a set of requirements is a best practice. Yet it is also necessary to seek input from non-IT individuals, or business process owners from multiple departments, those who will use and/or be affected by the new software system.
   
   Help these individuals or groups understand the capabilities of modern software systems by having them visit the sites of other organizations, or attend software industry conferences. You should also have them document the current system’s deficiencies. As for those in your organization who want to keep the current system, encourage their buy-in by asking them to highlight the system’s most valuable capabilities. Perspectives from both new system supporters and those not so eager to change will help build the best system.
    
4. When do you revise enterprise system requirements? 
   It is always important to begin the software procurement process with a documented set of requirements; you need them to identify the best solution. The same goes for the implementation process where vendors use the requirements to guide the setup and configuration of the new system. But be prepared to revise and enhance requirements when a vendor solution offers an improved capability or a better method to achieve the results. The best way to approach it is to plan to revise requirements constantly. This enables the software to better meet current needs, and often delivers enhanced capabilities.

Be sure to document system requirements for an efficient process

There may be thousands of requirements for an enterprise system. To make the procurement process as efficient as possible, continually define and refine requirements. While this takes time and resources, there are clear benefits:

• Having requirements defined in an RFP helps vendors match the capabilities of their software systems to your organization’s needs and functional expectations. Without requirements, the software procurement and selection process has little framework, and from a vendor perspective becomes a subjective process — making it hard to get consistent information from all vendors.
• Requirements help determine specific tasks and activities to address during the implementation process. While applications can’t always meet 100% of the requested functionalities, it’s important to emphasize the requirements that are most important to users, to help find the system that best meets the needs of your organization.
• Requirements prove valuable even after implementation has begun, as they can help you test your system to make sure the software meets your organization’s particular needs before production use of the new system.

Our experienced consultants have led many software procurement projects and have firsthand knowledge about the challenges and opportunities associated with purchasing and implementing systems large and small. BerryDunn maintains an active database of requirements that we continually enhance, based on work performed for various clients and on technological advancements in the marketplace. Please contact us and we can help you define your requirements for large software system purchases.

There’s a good chance that your organization is in the position of needing to do more with less under the strain of staffing constraints and competing initiatives. With fewer resources to work with, you’ll need to be persuasive to get the green light on new enterprise technology initiatives. To do that, you need to present decision makers with well-thought-out and targeted business cases that show your initiative will have impact and will be successful. Yet developing such a business case is no walk in the park. Perhaps because our firm has its roots in New England, we sometimes compare this process to leading a hiking trip into the woods—into the wild. 

Just as in hiking, success in developing a business case for a new initiative boils down to planning, preparation, and applying a few key concepts we’ve learned from our travels. 

Consensus is critical when planning new technology initiatives

Before you can start the hike, everyone has to agree on some fundamentals: 

Who's going? 

Where are we going? 

When do we go and for how long? 

Getting everyone to agree requires clear communication and, yes, even a little salesmanship: “Trust me. The bears aren’t bad this time of year.” The same principle applies in proposing new technology initiatives; making sure everyone has bought into the basic framework of the initiative is critical to success.

Although many hiking trips involve groups of people similar in age, ability, and whereabouts, for your business initiative you need to communicate with diverse groups of colleagues at every level of the organization. Gaining consensus among people who bring a wide variety of skills and perspectives to the project can be complex.

To gain consensus, consider the intended audiences of your message and target the content to what will work for them. It should provide enough information for executive-level stakeholders to quickly understand the initiative and the path forward. It should give people responsible for implementation or who will provide specific skills substantive information to implement the plan. And remember: one of the most common reasons projects struggle to meet their stated objectives (and why some projects never materialize to begin with), is a lack of sponsorship and buy-in. The goal of a business case is to gain buy-in before project initiation, so your sponsors will actively support the project during implementation. 

Set clear goals for your enterprise technology project 

It’s refreshing to take the first steps, to feel that initial sense of freedom as you set off down the trail. Yet few people truly enjoy wandering around aimlessly in the wilderness for an extended period of time. Hikers need goals, like reaching a mountain peak or seeing famous landmarks, or hiking a predetermined number of miles per day. And having a trail guide is key in meeting those goals. 

For a new initiative, clearly define goals and objectives, as well as pain points your organization wishes to address. This is critical to ensuring that the project’s sponsors and implementation team are all on the same page. Identifying specific benefits of completing your initiative can help people keep their “eyes on the prize” when the project feels like an uphill climb.

Timelines provide additional detail and direction—and demonstrate to decision makers that you have considered multiple facets of the project, including any constraints, resource limitations, or scheduling conflicts. Identifying best practices to incorporate throughout the initiative enhances the value of a business case proposition, and positions the organization for success. By leveraging lessons learned on previous projects, and planning for and mitigating risk, the organization will begin to clear the path for a successful endeavor. 

Don’t compromise on the right equipment

Hiking can be an expensive, time-consuming hobby. While the quality of your equipment and the accuracy of your maps are crucial, you can do things with limited resources if you’re careful. Taking the time to research and purchase the right equipment, (like the right hiking boots), keeps your fun expedition from becoming a tortuous slog. 

Similarly, in developing a business case for a new initiative, you need to make sure that you identify the right resources in the right areas. We all live with resource constraints of one sort or another. The process of identifying resources, particularly for funding and staffing the project, will lead to fewer surprises down the path. As many government employees know all too well, it is better to be thorough in the budget planning process than to return to authorizing sources for additional funding while midstream in a project. 

Consider your possible outcomes

You cannot be too singularly focused in the wild; weather conditions change quickly, unexpected opportunities reveal themselves, and being able to adapt quickly is absolutely necessary in order for everyone to come home safely. Sometimes, you should take the trail less traveled, rest in the random lean-to that you and your group stumble upon, or go for a refreshing dip in a lake. By focusing on more than just one single objective, it often leads to more enjoyable, safe, and successful excursions.

This type of outlook is necessary to build a business case for a new initiative. You may need to step back during your initial planning and consider the full impact of the process, including on those outside your organization. For example, you may begin to identify ways in which the initiative could benefit both internal and external stakeholders, and plan to move forward in a slightly new direction. Let’s say you’re building a business case for a new land management and permitting software system. Take time to consider that this system may benefit citizens, contractors, and other organizations that interact with your department. This new perspective can help you strengthen your business case. 

Expect teamwork

A group that doesn’t practice teamwork won’t last long in the wild. In order to facilitate and promote teamwork, it’s important to recognize the skills and contributions of each and every person. Some have a better sense of direction, while some can more easily start campfires. And if you find yourself fortunate enough to be joined by a truly experienced hiker, make sure that you listen to what they have to say.

Doing the hard work to present a business case for a new initiative may feel like a solitary action at times, but it’s not. Most likely, there are other people in your organization who see the value in the initiative. Recognize and utilize their skills in your planning. We also suggest working with an experienced advisor who can leverage best practices and lessons learned from similar projects. Their experience will help you anticipate potential resistance and develop and articulate the mitigation strategies necessary to gain support for your initiative.

If you have thoughts, concerns, or questions, contact our team. We love to discuss the potential and pitfalls of new initiatives, and can help prepare you to head out into the wild. We’d love to hear any parallels with hiking and wilderness adventuring that you have as well. Let us know! 

BerryDunn’s local government consulting team has the experience to lead technology planning initiatives and develop actionable plans that help you think strategically and improve service delivery. We partner with you, maintaining flexibility and open lines of communication to help ensure that your team has the resources it needs.

Our team has broad and deep experience partnering with local government clients across the country to modernize technology-based business transformation projects and the decision-making and planning efforts. Our expertise includes software system assessments/planning/procurement and implementation project management; operational, management, and staffing assessments; information security; cost allocation studies; and data management.  

Read this if your organization is planning on upgrading or replacing an enterprise technology system.

It can be challenging and stressful to plan for technology initiatives, especially those that involve and impact every area of your organization. Common initiatives include software upgrades or replacements for:

• Financial management, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
• Asset management systems
• Electronic health records (EHR) systems
• Permitting and inspections systems

Though the number of considerations when planning enterprise technology projects can be daunting, the greatest mistake you can make is not planning at all. By addressing just a few key areas, you can avoid some of the most common pitfalls, such as exceeding budget and schedule targets, experiencing scope creep, and losing buy-in among stakeholders. Here are some tips to help you navigate your next project:

Identify your IT project roles and resources

While most organizations understand the importance of identifying project stakeholder groups, it is often an afterthought. Defining these roles at the outset of your project helps you accurately estimate the work effort.

Your stakeholder groups may include:

• An executive sponsor
• A steering committee
• A project manager
• Functional leads
• A technical team

Once you’ve established the necessary roles, you can begin reviewing your organization’s resources to determine the people who will be available to fill them. Planning for resource availability will help you avoid delays, minimize impact to regular business processes, and reduce the likelihood of burnout. But this plan won’t remain static—you can expect to make updates throughout the project.

Establish clear goals and objectives to keep your technology project on track

It’s important that an enterprise technology project has established goals and objectives statements. These statements will help inform decision-making, provide benchmarks for progress, and measure your project’s success. They can then be referenced when key stakeholders have differing perspectives on the direction to take with a pending decision. For example, if the objective of your project is to reduce paper-based processes, you may plan for additional computer workstations and focus technical resources on provisioning them. You’ll also be able to measure your success in the reduction of paper-based tasks.

Estimate your IT project budget accurately

Project funding is hardly ever overlooked, but can be complex with project budgets that are either underestimated or estimated without sufficient rationale to withstand approval processes and subsequent budget analysis. You may find that breaking down estimates to a lower level of detail helps address these challenges. Most technology projects incur costs in three key areas:

• Vendor cost: This could include both one-time software implementation costs as well as recurring costs for maintenance and ongoing support.
• Infrastructure cost: Consider the cost of any investments needed to support your project, such as data center hardware, networking components, or computing devices.
• Supplemental resource cost: Don’t forget to include the cost of any additional resources needed for their specialized knowledge or to simply backfill project staff. This could include contracted resources or the additional cost of existing resources (i.e., overtime).

A good technology project budget also includes a contingency amount. This amount will depend on your organization’s standards, the relative level of confidence in your estimates, and the relative risk.

Anticipate the need for change management

Depending on the project, staff in many areas of your organization will be impacted by some level of change during a technology implementation. External stakeholders, such as vendors and the public, may also be affected. You can effectively manage this change by proactively identifying areas of likely change resistance and creating strategies to address them.

In any technology implementation, you will encounter change resistance you did not predict. Having strategies in place will help you react quickly and effectively. Some proven change management strategies include communicating throughout your project, involving stakeholders to get their buy-in, and helping ensure management has the right amount of information to share with their employees.

Maintain focus and stay flexible as you manage your IT project

Even with the most thought-out planning, unforeseen events and external factors may impact your technology project. Establish mechanisms to regularly and proactively monitor project status so that you can address material risks and issues before their impact to the project grows. Reacting to these items as they arise requires key project stakeholders to be flexible. Key stakeholders must recognize that new information does not necessarily mean previous decisions were made in error, and that it is better to adapt than to stick to the initial direction.

Whether you’re implementing an ERP, an EHR, or enterprise human resources or asset management systems, any enterprise technology project is a massive undertaking, involving significant investment and a coordinated effort with individuals across multiple areas of an organization. Common mistakes can be costly, but having a structured approach to your planning can help avoid pitfalls. Our experienced, objective advisors have worked with public and private organizations across the country to oversee large enterprise projects from inception to successful completion.

Contact our software consulting team with any questions.

On the first episode of the Let’s Talk Parks with BerryDunn podcast, we spoke with Shane Mize, the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Pflugerville, Texas, and members of the BerryDunn Parks, Recreation, Libraries team about innovative ways to plan, engage, and serve their communities.

For those not familiar with Pflugerville, the city is situated between Austin and Round Rock, Texas. It has been listed as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. They have a population of roughly 80,000 and their parks and recreation system is made up of over 55 miles of trails, with over 900,000 visits to their park system annually.

On the podcast, Shane talks about the challenges and opportunities of being surrounded by cities that have great parks and recreation departments. Never one to be upstaged, Shane uses innovation in his program, to increase community engagement and ensure the highest level of service to Pflugerville. The end goal: Being the best parks and recreation department in the country.

So let’s take a look at five innovative things the department is doing:

1. Rethinking the master plan

Shane told us that he's not a huge fan of how typical master plans are done. When he realized that he needed one to qualify for grants, he agreed, but on his own terms.

Shane shared his experience in seeking a consulting firm to help with the process, “I just decided that we were going to do things differently and was fortunate to find a firm [in BerryDunn] that … had enough park and rec professionals on it …and was young enough in some of their philosophies.”

He continued, “I think I was in the right place at the right time to push my agenda, which was to have a master plan that looked 100% different than any of the master plans I'd ever seen, and to feel confident and comfortable, not only standing before council, but standing before anybody in my industry.”

BerryDunn’s Jason Genck, the project manager on the master plan project, said, “They expect a high level of service, and they want us to push the envelope quite a bit, and I'm particularly excited about this project because I tend to be attracted to projects that are really creative, certainly innovative, and pushing the envelope.”

When starting the process, Shane told Jason that he wanted the plan to be “the most creative and engaged master planning process the country has ever seen.” Jason and his team completely agreed with this philosophy for Pflugerville and could see applications for other cities and towns.

Jason said, “I think this planning process is disrupting the traditional way of planning because the entire project team is constantly adjusting and re-thinking approaches to maximize the benefits to the Pflugerville community. Yes, we have our standard practices, but, we are having a lot of fun while being inspired to really push innovation in everything we do. While the Pflugerville team and the consultant team are true partners and everyone has such great expertise, we are also learning together how to help create the most vibrant future possible for the community.”

2. Going beyond benchmarking

Shane’s vision for the plan included local feedback as well as feedback from around the country. Jason Genck explained how this is different from what is typically done, “It's not just doing benchmarking, for example. Benchmarking is very common in a planning process, to look at how one organization might be performing against other, similar size, similar scoped organizations—and of course, we do that, and it's always an interesting discussion to reflect on what that is—but in the case of Pflugerville, that wasn't enough.”

“It was, 'Hey, let's take that benchmarking, let's get a think tank together. And you know what? We don't want a think tank of just local leaders. We’d also like you to do a think tank of regional and state leaders. Oh, and by the way, let's actually do a think tank of the best minds of the nation.' And that's just one example of many instances throughout the team's planning processes that are really just taking the traditional services that you might expect to another level.”

3. Constantly evaluating satisfaction

As the team started the master planning process, at the top of the list was getting feedback from the community, which was nothing new to the Pflugerville team. Proactively seeking customer satisfaction is something they do regularly. Another creative example:

Shane shared, “I actually have a staff member that pulls Yelp, Google, and Wedding Wire [reviews] for our wedding event site, and they pull those numbers quarterly and we can see if we've dipped up or down in every single park in the last quarter and any new comments are captured.”

4. Bringing in celebrity voices

This one is for all the fans of the TV show Parks and Recreation. As a way to gain visibility for the master planning process and to get the attention of their constituents, the Pflugerville team had a creative idea. Using the social tool Cameo, they hired actor Jay Jackson, who played character Perd Hapley on the show, for a brief “in character” video message (which you can see on Pflugerville’s Facebook page here). Here’s the message:

Perd: And hello there everyone. Jay Jackson here, aka Perd Hapley. And welcome to, 'You Heard with Perd!' We have some breaking news right now. And that news that is breaking is this: Right now, Pflugerville wants to hear from you as they develop a 10-year parks and recreation master plan. Your participation is very important, so go to pflugervilletx.gov/parksplan to learn more about it. And now that you heard, get involved. I'm Perd Hapley.

The video was widely shared and gained nearly 10,000 views—getting the master planning message out to potentially new audience members.

5. Meeting people where they are – on the road or online

On the podcast, BerryDunn’s Jason Genck described one of his favorite outreach vehicles (literally) that Pflugerville is using to engage citizens all over the city. “Let's pull a 15-foot-wide chalkboard all over the community, which has logged over 120 miles to date, to get into every nook and cranny in the community to make sure everyone knows what's going on with the future parks and recreation and has the opportunity to provide input.” Community members were encouraged to finish the sentence, “Parks matter because…” on the mobile chalkboard as a way to gather feedback on what was important to park users.

The chalkboard is just one way that the team is gathering feedback. Their website has a master planning section, linked to an engagement platform hosted by BerryDunn, where community members can provide ideas and vote for ideas from others. Meeting constituents where they are is helping make this project one of the most engaged planning processes the BerryDunn team has seen.

What’s next? Robots?

Well, maybe! The Pflugerville team has been looking at robots for lining their sports fields, so it can save their staff time and their employees can get back to doing what they do best. Nothing is off the table!

Shane explained that to be successful at innovation, you have to take some risks. He said, “If you're waiting until it's somewhat successful in the public sector, you've missed the mark of innovation. You've missed the mark of doing anything new.”

Listen to the full podcast here: