Appointing a Project Manager

It is not a surprise, then, that the decision on filling that post is up to the management board of the company. Due to the impact and priority of the implementation project, the management board also sets out the scope of the Project Manager’s (PM) activities – ranging from their prerogatives to their future role in the company.

What criteria should the management board consider when selecting the PM? What knowledge should the future manager have? What type of personality should they have? What prerogatives should they have during the implementation? What role would be the most appropriate for that person after the project’s completion?

In order to make this a well informed and easier decision, we identified 10 key aspects that should be taken into consideration when appointing a project manager. They are based on experience gathered during hundreds of SAP implementations and drawn from observations collected from different perspectives (that of team members, project managers, and members of the steering committee).

The elements that should be considered when appointing a project manager include:

• The organisational culture of the company
• The informal position of the PM in the company
• The PM’s formal role in the organizational structure
• The PM’s experience as a manager
• The PM’s department/division in the organization
• Their knowledge about the organisation
• The PM’s personal characteristics and skills
• The consequences of delegating the PM to the project
• Assigning prerogatives to the PM
• The PM’s role after the implementation.

Organisational Culture of the Company

Let us start from an objective assessment of the company’s organisational culture in terms of promoting employees and the degree to which managers are accepted by the employees. Each company is different in that respect and it is difficult to come up with one, universal rule. However, it is important that the management board is driven in its decision by the company’s system of values (not necessarily a formal one). That approach makes the final choice more acceptable for the staff, by providing stronger sense of confidence that a given person is the best candidate for the PM position.

Michał Rączka, PMO Manager in Allegro Group, a member of PMI Poland for 7 years

In what way can knowledge and experience be verified if a new project manager is to be appointed?
One good criterion for the assessment of a CV from a potential PM candidate is a certificate from an organisation that promotes project management standards. Currently, the largest such organisation in the world is the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMI offers several certifications, among which the most popular is the Project Management Professional (PMP). Obtaining that certificate not only requires passing a difficult exam, based on extensive theoretical materials, but also having at least 3 years of active participation in projects as a manager. The certificate is not awarded “for life”; it must be renewed every three years. It is an additional benefit, both for the employer, who is guaranteed that the person hired has “fresh” competencies, and for the employee, who is motivated to keep reinforcing and deepening their knowledge.
Michał Rączka, PMO Manager in Allegro Group, a member of PMI Poland for 7 years

If the choice made is perceived as “unacceptable”, then despite high prerogatives, the PM will usually face trouble in building the necessary authority when assigning and assessing delivery of project tasks. They will also face significant trouble in driving decisions related to the implementation, or when persuading managers responsible for the particular streams of the company’s operations (who, outside of the organisational structure of the implementation project, are often higher up in the organisational hierarchy).

The Informal Position of the PM in the Company

Each company has employees, who, regardless of their position in the organisational structure, are highly valued and respected by their colleagues. Their opinions are taken into account when making decisions, including decisions made by managers or executives.

Tomasz Górecki, Project Manager/Interim manager, coach

What can be done if an in-house candidate for project manager cannot be found
First, I would propose a second round of internal recruitment. It might turn out that a person can be found, who could fill the role with additional conditions met, which should be identified and translated to decisions and tasks. An internal manager knows the company from practice rather than from descriptions and procedures, understands team members, as he/she has been communicating with them for a long time, has personal relationships within the company, it is easier for them to arrange many things.
Sometimes, however, in-house recruitment is unsuccessful. It may turn out that some of the advantages mentioned above impede the project’s delivery. In such cases, hiring an external manager for the project’s duration is worth considering.
An external manager will not know specific details of the company on the first day at work, but if we ensure it is a person with experience, who is open, willing to learn, and able to create good chemistry within the team, then we can leverage the strengths of such an arrangement. An external manager will surely be more prepared content-wise for managing the project; they might be more resilient to uncertainty and risk. Being hired with a specific goal in mind, they will surely be more determined to achieve it.
It is also important to ensure such a manager has enough authority, which will allow them to effectively cooperate with the management, the steering committee and the project team.
So it is about finding the right person. During recruitment, I would especially notice the questions about the project from the candidate. I would also ask the candidate to present a vision of management, taking into account the individual character of a specific project that is about to start.
Tomasz Górecki, Project Manager/Interim manager, coach

These people represent the company values adopted by the employees, and co-create the organisational culture. These elements result in natural authority and leadership. Consequently, such people have the power to persuade employees to make difficult and unpopular decisions.

Implementation projects involve multiple decisions. They can be related to organisational changes or adjustments to the company’s processes (and therefore are often difficult to accept). ERP implementation may, for example, result in a more centralized organization and increased transparency in the decisions made at the local level. Managers in the individual branches of the company may therefore fear they will lose influence or flexibility in managing day-to-day operations.

A person who is able to convince the organisation and its managers to make changes will be a perfect PM candidate. The informal status in the company is therefore often much more important than the formal position in the organisational structure.

Grzegorz Jaworek, Project Director in Żywiec Group

What is the role of a PM in projects related to organisational changes?
Implementing a new ERP system in a company is not an IT project. Information technology is, of course, an integral part, but it is the business side where the biggest challenges are, and it is these that need to be tackled so that, after the implementation, the functionalities of the new system may be utilised fully.
Managing a project team is not only about supervising the delivery of the project schedule, but also frequently challenging team members to prevent the repetition of “bad habits”. Such actions result in changes, which in turn often act as an impediment for a quick implementation. Therefore, a project manager also mediates between the project team and the leaders from the business. Often, mediation is required in relation to functions and departments in the organisation because the proposed changes in processes impact them all.
A project manager should have a good feel of the organizational culture of the company, the formal and informal mechanisms for information flow, and be able to ensure quick decision making from the company’s management board in the key points of project delivery.
Grzegorz Jaworek, Project Director in Żywiec Group

The PM’s Formal Role in the Organisational Structure

Knowing that formal position in the organizational structure, despite appearances, is not the most important element, one can investigate a broader spectrum of candidates for the PM role. Based on SNP experience of numerous implementations, the PM position in the customer’s organization can be successfully fulfilled both by members of mid-management and members of management boards.

Obviously an ERP system implementation (or another project of a similar scale, e.g. CRM or a large BW implementation) is a project that requires the involvement of a significant number of employees. The most exhaustive project phases in terms of direct involvement are the business blueprint, testing, training and data migration phases. Usually it is not possible to assign employees full-time to project work; therefore the project becomes an additional activity to their regular day-to-day tasks. For example: a chief accountant may act as a leader of a Record-to-Report Finance implementation team in an ERP project. Yet, every month they must also ensure the accounting period is smoothly closed in the legacy system. Consequently, project members report in parallel to their “functional" superiors within the company’s organisational structure as well as to the PM within the project structure (this work organisation is sometimes referred to as a “matrix organisational structure").

Considering these dependencies, one should consider if the PM will be recognized by other managers and directors – acting as a direct (and additional) superior for their employees during the project.

This recognition is crucial in the course of the implementation. Line managers and the PM are challenged to run for the same working time and availability of the same people who work on completely different tasks: regular duties and project activities. Plus, a PM will surely drive changes to the routine pattern of work of the individual departments involved in the system implementation.

As a result, in order to ensure efficient project execution, some companies decide to entrust the PM role to a person of a high position in the organisational structure. This strategy ensures that they have the necessary level of “natural" authority and autonomy in the decision-making process. However, from the content-related perspective of the PM role assignment, it is the practical management experience that is much more important.

What is the role of a PM in international projects?
Why is managing a project in an international environment specific? A PM’s job is, most of all, communication, which in the case of international and multi-cultural projects is quite complex. The first dimension of that complexity is geographical distance; this makes many typical activities – like delegating tasks, or checking the status of their delivery – be done remotely. The deliverables must be measured in a way that is completely explicit (completed to degree x) and verifiable on an on-going basis by all stakeholders, without the need to contact the team members. The lack of physical presence, which often is required to efficiently solve project-related issues, should be replaced by a “virtual presence”, e.g. via video conferences, or messengers like Skype or Lync. This mode of communication requires more discipline from the PM in regards to planning the communication itself and also requires exceptional precision in setting, tracking and checking delivery of tasks. Virtual meetings may also give a false impression that “something was agreed”, while its participants will continue their business without any specific decisions being made. This requires the PM to be more cautious and support team members to make sure they approach the meetings through the lens of the goals to be achieved (why are we meeting here/have we reached the goal of the meeting?)
The second dimension is language and its accompanying issues. A PM’s message must always be understood by the project members, and people who do not use the foreign language everyday tend to use calques or phrases not understandable in English or German (e.g. “I will teach you” instead of “I will organize training for you” or “auf jedsten Fall” instead of “auf jeden Fall”). Proficiency and ease of speaking is very important for efficient communication with an international project team. On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the individual team members may use the project language with varying levels of proficiency or have a specific accent (typical of, for example, people from India or the Far East), which causes problems in understanding and causes frustration within the team. In such cases, the PM often acts as a translator, who makes sure something is clearly understood or asks for clarification of ambiguous statements. Therefore, efficient operation of the entire team is ensured.
Finally, a PM in international projects should be culturally open, be willing, and skilful in understanding differences, enabling them work better within teams comprising people from various countries or cultures. Bias, intolerance or simple ignorance of other cultures may cause unexpected conflicts and issues in delivering project work. For example, negotiations with someone from the Hindu culture would be completely different than those with a person from the Netherlands. A project’s success is largely dependent on the openness for cooperation with local partners and suppliers. This often allows for project goals to be achieved more quickly and at a lower cost.
It is worth mentioning that international projects are usually delivered between a triangle of stakeholders from corporations, the local organisation and an external project partner. This requires the PM to think not only in the framework of a specific project or programme, but mostly of the entire organization. This allows efficient operation in the local organizational, political or functional reality, and, as a result, the intended goals are achieved.
Artur Jankowiak, Project Manager, SNP Poland

PM’s Experience as a Manager

During the project, the PM will usually manage a team of people ranging from a dozen or so to several dozens for a period of several months to several years. During this period, they will be making difficult and unpopular decisions. She will have to motivate the staff to often work over the standard 8 hour period, resolve conflicts, and act as a skilful and diplomatic mediator and negotiator.

The implementation being a strategic initiative for the company (from the perspective of costs and expected business results) means it isn’t the ideal management classroom The person who leads the project should already have their own broad and successful experience in this respect.

Ideally, that background experience should have been gained while working on other projects in the company. In that case, the PM has a unique advantage of previous knowledge of the nature of project assignments that significantly differ from the on-going business operations.

However, one cannot underestimate past experience in managing teams or a business unit of an organization. Management background allows for development of ‘soft skills’, such as team motivation or communication. It also helps to better understand and utilize the informal dependencies and internal forces in the company (which, as it has been mentioned, may be equally or even more important than the formal structure from the organisational chart).

Kamila Wilamowska, HR SAP Implementation Project Manager, Animex Group

The PM’s Department/Division in the Organization

Often, the only question asked when appointing a PM is: should it be an IT person or someone from the business? In such case, usually the defining factor is the knowledge acquired when working in a particular department and position.

The history of many of SNP’s implementation projects shows that both people from IT departments and business divisions may be successful PMs. That is because in both IT and business departments there are people with characteristics essential to manage projects in an efficient manner.

Moreover, specific knowledge of either IT (servers, operating systems, databases, and programming) or business operations (finance, supplies, production, and sales) is useful, but not necessary for an effective PM. It is extremely rare for a PM to have knowledge on all areas related to ERP implementation. Each project manager will sooner or later need to look for expert support for a given area. Therefore, it is more important to have the ability to communicate and organize the work of project teams, rather than having detailed knowledge on specific aspects of the new solution. Certainly, the ability to create an agreeable team spirit, as well as an understanding of business and IT will be beneficial.

Maciej Gerke, Project Manager, SNP Poland

Is prior knowledge of the system an important factor when selecting a PM for a SAP implementation project?
Prior knowledge of the system definitely improves project communication and this not only applies to a Project Manager, but mostly project team members, whose task is to achieve, jointly with consultants, the correct system solutions.
This weight of this criterion – when selecting the correct person for the role of PM – should not be too high. If the PM focuses on micromanagement (and so, unnecessarily operating within the discretions of other team members) instead of managing the team or contacting project sponsors (the key functions of their role), then superfluous knowledge would be a hindrance. Such problems are managed in SNP’s implementation approach, which undertakes training of the client’s PM in SAP implementation methods, while the implementation teams are trained in relation to the individual functional areas. In other words, during the project, each of the project members receives the required dose of knowledge on the project and the system, supplementing the business competencies already held, so that the following stages of the implementation are completed smoothly.
Maciej Gerke, Project Manager, SNP Poland

Knowledge about the Organization

What are the business knowledge areas important for the PM? More specifically, what is the business knowledge that is expected from the Project Manager, rather than from an expert in a given area? In general, the areas of competence may be divided into two main categories:

• Knowledge of the company’s strategy and objectives. ERP system implementation should, on one hand, be driven by the strategy, while on the other hand its results should provide tools to achieve it. For instance, it is possible that individual solutions inspired by the employees as part of the implementation project are not aligned with the company’s strategic goals. The PM should be aware of the strategy so they can identify this situation as an issue and escalate it timely to the management board. That way, the organization is always able to align project implementation with its corporate strategy.
• Knowledge of the business processes. The PM should focus their attention on the dependencies and connections between the individual processes. During a project, most employees tend to focus on their functional area, leaving integration issues open and unaddressed. As a result, the solution will not be fully integrated and consistent. A PM should be able to identify these missing elements in order to plan in advance for fixed checkpoints, firstly – to address them, secondly – to prepare escalation procedures in case of issues arising. Interestingly enough, system implementation is often linked with strict technical knowledge of hardware platforms, operating systems, databases etc. Obviously, it is helpful, but it does not have to be key point of attention for the PM. This area of expertise must, however, be well explored by the members of the project technical team.

The project manager is a woman? Is that a typical role? What are the strengths and weaknesses of a PM in that situation?
Project management is a profession largely dominated by men; a female PM is still a rarity, although not so uncommon in IT projects. Both men and women are successful as PMs in SAP implementation projects. Everything, however, depends on competences, knowledge and experience. There still exists a stereotype that says that men typically work on technical projects (such as production) and women typically act as PMs in HR or accounting. Despite this, you can see men managing HR implementations and women supervising implementations of complicated logistics solutions.
Women are usually ordered, which makes it easier for them to control the formal part of the project. They are highly responsible and are more focused on the “good cause” than men. The strengths of a female PM include informal communication (sensitivity to any signals of issues in the project), getting to the point (no superfluous details and technicalities), and soft skills (empathy, motivating, paying attention, reducing internal competition and tension). Above all, perhaps multitasking is the key.
It is true that it is still more difficult for a woman to start as a PM; there are situations of suspicion and distrust, in which she must prove her competence. However, good self-esteem and a positive attitude towards the project help to overcome those initial obstacles.
Beata Niemiec-Siwek, Project Manager, SNP Poland

The PM’s Personal Characteristics and Skills

Since its people who drive an implementation project with actions and deliverables, when appointing a PM, the candidates’ personal characteristics and “soft" skills must be taken into account.

Certainly, it will not be easy to find a person who meets all of the possible criteria. However, a successful PM should at least have most of the characteristics and skills listed below:

• The ability to analyse problems, and identify the potential risks for the project,
• The ability to make decisions in a timely manner, even if they need to be made based on incomplete or uncertain data,
• Assertiveness and the ability to express one’s opinions,
• The ability to communicate clearly and precisely,
• The ability to share knowledge and information,
• Negotiation and diplomatic skills,
• The ability to resolve conflicts,
• A formal and methodical approach to tasks,
• The ability to set goals, translating detailed goals into tasks (what, who, and when) and setting their priorities based on the primary goal (system implementation),
• Delegating tasks to assignees with relevant prerogatives,
• The ability to manage tasks, and identify cause and effect dependencies between them,
• An intrinsic motivation to learn, acquire new knowledge and experiences, and take up new and challenging tasks,
• The ability to identify people and elements of the organizational structure, relevant to efficient decision-making,
• The ability to work under high pressure,
• The ability to lead and motivate the team.

Consequences of Delegating the PM to the Project

When appointing the PM, their availability for the implementation should be assessed. Even the best candidate who has insufficient time for managing the project will not succeed in achieving its goals.

The most valuable people in the company often bear a heavy burden of different tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, when finally identifying a person that meets the criteria of a good PM, one should consider delegating their tasks to another member of the organization. Alternatively, the project can also be shifted in time to ensure that this person is available (e.g. they complete other projects that cannot be re-assigned to another PM at the specified point of time).

According to numerous studies, the risk of project failure increases significantly if the PM cannot allocate sufficient time to it. Typically, in cases of large and complex implementations, the PM’s duties require between 50 to even 100% of their standard working time.

Michał Szymaczek, Business Development Manager, SNP Poland

IT projects involving a partner – a consulting company is characterised by the fact there are two managers: one from the client’s side and one from the implementing company. How does that impact management of the entire project?
The model using two project managers in SAP implementation has been tested for many years. Both the implementing company and the client should select for these roles people who are efficient communicators, focus on problem solving, and are not toxic leaders. An ideal solution is the synergy effect – combining project experience with the client’s organisational culture and content-based knowledge. Both managers work towards a common goal, which is the delivery of planned actions, in line with the assumed budget and time objectives, and that should be their focus. Summing up, the model – using two managers who jointly develop solutions and overcome challenges – works perfectly in many companies.
Michał Szymaczek, Business Development Manager, SNP Poland

Assigning Prerogatives to the PM

To successfully deliver an implementation project, it is necessary to grant the PM with appropriate prerogatives. Steering committee involvement should be limited only to the most important decisions, such as essential changes to the project scope or plan. These need to be presented by the PM for decision along with the rationale and recommendations regarding the next steps. Otherwise, operational decisions will require frequent and unnecessary involvement of the management team, while the PM’s role will be limited to a “forwarding agent", only passing messages between project stakeholders, without adding value to the communication. This is not in line with project management practices and an clear waste of the PM’s skills. This will always be an inconvenient and ineffective way of working, for the PM, the people they work with, and the project itself.

Delegation of prerogatives is, however, only possible if the PM gained the trust of the company management.

The PM’s role After the Implementation

Last but not least, one element to be considered is the off-boarding strategy for the PM after the implementation is completed. Will this person be responsible for maintaining and further developing the IT systems that support the company’s business, or will they return to their position before the implementation? Will they be assigned another project (not necessarilyy IT-related)? At the launch of the project, these decisions might seem very distant, but it is the right moment to already start planning for the “return” of the PM (and other project participants) to previous assignments within the standard organisational structure of the company.

The fact is that the more attention the organization’s management pays to appointing the right PM, the less effort will be required of them to supervise and nurture the implementation project. Therefore, an apt decision regarding the PM simply pays for itself. This awareness and understanding will eventually contribute to the successful completion of the project – when one can state without hesitation: “Our PM proved to be the right person for the jobin the right place."