In most projects the point at which a system change counts as finished is go live day. In fact that is where the part begins that decides success or failure, and it is rarely accompanied.
That is understandable: the project has a budget up to rollout, after which it is day to day business. Yet the weeks that follow show whether the new way of working is adopted or whether the old one quietly continues alongside.
Why the usual numbers do not serve
After a rollout, the numbers reported are usually the ones most easily available: logins, records created, training attendance. All three can rise while nothing about the workflow changes.
- Logins measure presence, not work.
- Records created may come from a one off migration.
- Training attendance says somebody was in the room.
Three numbers that actually say something
- 1.Share of cases handled end to end: how many run from start to finish in the new system, without a detour via mail or spreadsheet.
- 2.Share of active roles: not how many people, but which roles use it. A missing role usually means a missing step in the system.
- 3.Frequency of workaround: how often the old route is still used. This number does not fall by itself, it falls when the old route is closed.
The third number is the uncomfortable one. As long as the old route is open, every person decides again under time pressure, and under time pressure the familiar wins. An end date for the old route therefore belongs in the plan, not in hope.
What to do with the numbers
The purpose of measuring is not control but correction. If a role does not use the system, the first question is not why they refuse but which step for that role is missing in the system or more cumbersome than before. In most cases we have seen, the answer to that was concrete and fixable.
A rhythm that works: a first look with those involved after four weeks, a decision on remaining workarounds after eight, closure after twelve. Skip that and you learn about the problem next year, when a report does not add up.
We accompany this phase after go live and record which roles have actually moved across. The adoption report is the outcome that ends the discussion about whether a system is being used.