One of the frequent questions I get from our prospects is what we think is the most important aspects of ensuring a successful CRM implementation?  Although there are many components in a CRM implementation, our experience shows that the initial needs assessment and development of a comprehensive statement of work is the most important aspect of ensuring a successful CRM implementation.  It is the blueprint and foundation of your system.  The Harvest Solutions Methodology refers to this as the Visualize Phase.

Visualize
The Visualization Phase consists of the following seven activities:

• Perform needs assessment – Define and refine the customer’s needs and requirements, identify their “pain points”, determine goals and objectives and collect all other essential information.
• Finalize deliverables – Finalize and document all of the deliverables that will be components of the solution to satisfy the customer’s goals.
• Manage customer expectations – Manage the expectations such as perceived resource skill levels, number of hours worked, format for documentation, communications, etc.
• Evaluate Risks – Review the risks associated with the project and determine the impact on costs and achievement of the objectives of the project.
• Hardware Needs Analysis - The Hardware Needs Analysis form is used to identify the type of software and hardware the customer as well as general questions about the customer.
• Complete Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – Use the WBS form to finalize the resource requirements, calculate project costs and help develop detailed project plan.
• Finalize scope statement – Finalize the business requirements, the solution, the project deliverables and the assumptions that the deliverables are based on.
• Modify Proposal (if necessary) – Make any necessary changes to the proposal based on the finalization of the deliverables, needs assessment, scope statement, risks and WBS.

It is vital that all of the appropriate people within the organization participate in this process including the executive, management, and staff members from the sales, marketing, customer service, and information technology departments.   Each person and each department will have their own requirements that need to be gathered and prioritized.

Through this process, expectations need to be set and managed in respect to deliverables, time frame, and budget.

The end result of this process is a statement of work, a blueprint, of what your system will look like.  This document must be thoroughly reviewed and approved by management before you start the configuration and development process.

This document should be used to monitor the progress of your implementation to make sure that the requirements that were identified and documented are being addressed by the CRM system.