Author: Karry Schupp, Senior Financial Analyst for DH Pace Company and Community Captain.
The setup process for Board can be daunting. Board and your Partners are relied upon extensively during the setup process; however, they only understand your expectations based on your communication with them. After experiencing the setup process, we found some things we did well and others we wish we would have spent more time on. The five tips below are what we felt are important enough to aid with a successful setup. Hopefully, this list will provide you with guidance and/or spark more ideas for your setup process.
Know What You Want
Before anything can be done, new Board users need a clear understanding of what your company needs. You need to understand everything about your company; and, when you think you are an expert - learn more. Prepare yourself by getting a good understanding of what Board can do by watching and reading materials provided by Board or your Partners. Be sure to look at how Board can be a vehicle to aid in the growth of your company. You need to understand everything about your company; and, when you think you are an expert - learn more. Without a clear vision, you will be forced to complete changes that are time consuming and can be expensive.
Gather Information
As you are working toward the setup, include communications with other stakeholders. It might seem like overkill to include too many people in the discussion; however, this will incorporate ideas you may not have thought about. Executives will have different expectations from Board than managers. Tenured employees will have a different view than those who are new. Department managers will have different ideas than accountants. This does not mean that you must incorporate all the ideas, it just means you have more information to make better decisions.
Document
Keeping documentation is particularly important. During the setup process, things go fast. Simple tasks set up at the beginning of the process may be questioned later. Changes occur in the blink of an eye. Eventually, reports will need upgrades, or added information will need to be included. Keeping notes will make it easier to go back and review. The notes should be kept in a place where the entire Setup Team can access - in case the team lead wins the lottery and decides to stop working.
Utilize the Sandbox Environment
An exact replica of the Board environment is important to evaluate new ideas before adoption. In many cases, the Administrators need to receive approval before a new report can be placed in the live environment. It is a good place for new admins to learn and practice as well. Be sure to take the time to learn how to backup, save, and overwrite the sandbox as there will be situations where it is needed.
Expect Change
Board, as we use it, is expected to be a living document; always growing, changing, and adapting. The only way to achieve change is to know what to expect and plan for transformation while keeping the users’ flow seamless. As the business evolves, the need to anticipate and apply changes to Board is very important. Be sure to understand how changes can be made in Board and how to apply them as they develop.
These five tips could have easily been expanded to ten or more, but these were the most important that we found during our setup process. The idea is to use the resources you have and be willing to ask questions. Board and your partners have the knowledge and resources to help make a successful setup.
What tips would you recommend to optimize and maintain your Board setup?
