ProcureTech Project Role Checklist

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Hi readers,

Don’t you just hate it when you forget to staff a key role for a project and only figure it out midway through that very same project…? Nobody likes to admit it but this happens all the time… And it sucks because it stalls the whole project…

“GET ME A DEVELOPER NOW!” 😅

I never want that to happen to you again. That’s why tonight’s share is a ProcureTech project role checklist. I hope it proves useful.

P.S. If Balthazar is not your first name, it’s because I don’t know you well enough yet. I’d love it if you would tell me your first name for the future :)

Onwards!

📰 In this week’s edition:

• 📋 5 procurement jobs that caught my eye

• 🏆 The Road to the ProcureTech Cup : Episode 13

• 🌙 The ProcureTech Project Role Checklist

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It helps me ensure I’ve not yet turned into a mad scientist…

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The Journey Continues…

Join me as Kodiak Hub comes on the show to demo their end-to-end Supplier Relationship Management platform for strategic, sustainable, and smart procurement.

Last Week’s Episode

Canopy demoed their Supplier Relationship Management platform last Friday.

I didn’t purposefully plan it this way but since you have 2 different SRM solutions providers showing off their solutions week over week, you’ll get to see how different people approach the “SRM problem.”

If you missed it, I’ve made ALL the replays available for you on YouTube:

What is the ProcureTech Cup? Start Here.

The ProcureTech Project Role Checklist

When running a procurement technology project that seeks to improve your procurement value chain, one of the worst things that can happen to sap momentum is finding out you’re missing a key resource for a key task mid-project…

Everyone starts to panic. Status meetings are in disarray. Departments start pointing fingers at each other. Negotiation and haggling to urgently secure a resource ensues…

I’d like to save you this painful experience with a simple ProcureTech Project Role Checklist.

When you start planning your next ProcureTech implementation project, refer to this list of roles to ensure you’ve got everyone (and everything) covered in your project plan.

Before getting to the list, please note that:

• This list is valid for: Spend Analysis tools, Sourcing tools, Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools, Procure-to-Pay (P2P) tools, Accounts Payable (AP) automation tools, Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) tools, Vendor Portals and any other tool/system that will support your procurement processes.

• Each role does not necessarily represent an individual. An individual contributor may be able to fill many of these roles at once depending on the scope of your project.

• Alternatively, some roles may require more than a single individual to be filled. Master data cleansing/conversion or training activities come to mind. Perhaps different back end systems are involved and you will require multiple functional analysts to get the job done.

• This list is meant to be exhaustive. You may not require all of these roles to run your particular project but going through them will allow you to explicitly document key assumptions about your project scope (e.g. you don’t need data cleansing roles in your project as you assume no data cleansing is needed to realize the benefits of your business case).

• Why approach this list via roles instead of tasks? Unlike tasks, which can shift or overlap, roles establish ownership for entire areas of responsibility, reducing ambiguity in a project stage (ideation) where ambiguity is rampant. Furthermore, it gets you immediately thinking about “physical bums in seats” — Who will be staffed on the project internally and where gaps exist. You can’t deliver a project without people.

  In short, it’s too early when planning a project to be thinking about tasks…

Alright… With that out of the way, here is the list of roles you should be considering when staffing your next ProcureTech implementation project, by domain of expertise:

Project Management

• Executive Sponsor. Provides overall project vision, approves business case, secures funding, is responsible for benefits, ensures alignment with business objectives and gets project roadblocks dealt with efficiently. (Pro tip: Never have more than 1 sponsor)

• Project Manager (PM). Oversees governance of the project: team, timelines, resources, budget, risk management and deliverables, ensuring the project stays on track. However, a good project manager is all about people. Not MS Project…

• Project Control Officer (PCO). Right hand to the Project Manager on bigger projects. Takes care of all the administrative work around project management (updating project trackers, budgets, processing timesheets, etc.). A great PCO frees up the PMs time from admin so they can deal with the “human/governance side” of the project.

• Integration Lead. Oversees the overall design/build of the solution from a techno-functional perspective. Ensures all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Coordinates separate meeting streams for the hardest, cross-functional issues that come up during the project (e.g. end-to-end processes spanning multiple business functions, systems and expertise).

Procurement Expertise

• Procurement Process Lead. Empowered as the main representative of the business on the project. Participates in delivery of all business deliverables and IT deliverables requiring business input. Gathers and validates business input from sponsor and SMEs. Needs to focus on reports needed as outputs from the solution. Takes the final calls for the business on the project.

• Procurement Analyst. Usually assists the team in gathering and analyzing ad-hoc data requests required to make decisions during the project (e.g. how many existing orders could realistically be converted to catalog orders in the future?).

• Subject Matter Experts (SME). These are operational procurement folks (e.g. category managers, contract administrators, procurement analysts, etc.) that will need to be solicited periodically for key portions of the project (e.g. defining the “As-Is”, validating the design, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), etc.) — These people are easy to forget. Plan for their time!

• Super User(s). Act as a go-to resource for end-users during and after implementation. Best if they are resources who were involved in the initial design of the solution.

Information Technology Expertise

• Enterprise/IT Architect. Designs the technical architecture to ensure seamless integration of the ProcureTech solution with business objectives and existing systems while maintaining scalability and security.

• Business Analyst. Gathers and documents detailed business requirements, bridging the gap between the business and technical teams.

• [Insert specific tech] Functional Lead. In charge of leading the design, build and deployment of the specific piece of technology being implemented. Writes design/configuration documentation and, when needed, functional specifications for development. Obviously, the person needs previous experience doing this with the tool at hand.

• IT/Technical Lead. In charge of leading the design, build and deployment of the technical aspects of the implementation, including integrations, development, data structures, etc. This person works hand-in-hand with the architect to ensure the solution is part of a coherent whole in the organization’s IT ecosystem.

• Test Lead. Oversees the testing strategy, plans, and execution in coordination with other leads to ensure the solution meets functional, technical, and performance requirements before deployment.

• Data Analyst/Engineer. Handles data mappings, cleansing and migration to ensure accuracy, integrity and usability in the new solution. Sometimes also referred to as a “Data Conversion Analyst.” Responsible for defining the steady state data governance processes.

• Security Analyst. Handles the functional design, build and deployment of roles and permissions within the new application. Also in charge of determining, in partnership with the architect, how user access management will be handled in operations.

• Developer(s). If the project requires development (and not only configuration), responsible for writing technical specifications and developing code to meet functional specification requirements to extend application functionality to enable the new business process.

• Infrastructure/Network Analyst. Responsible for integrating the new tool into the existing technical environment (e.g. enabling single sign-on, opening ports, setting up certificates, managing upgrade pre-requisites to backend systems, etc.)

• AI/Automation/Reporting Specialist(s): Oversees implementation of advanced analytics, automation, reporting or AI features depending on your overall organization’s data strategy (e.g. migrating data to a “data lake”, ingesting data into a centralized Gen-AI assistant, building new “cubes” in your global data tools, etc.)

Other Functional Expertise

• Regional/Local Leads. Representatives from various business units or regions to ensure the global solution fits local needs and complies with regional regulations.

• Finance/AP Analyst or Process Lead. Similar to the Procurement Process Lead but for financial / AP processes impacted by the project. Not always applicable depending on your scope.

• Legal/Compliance Advisor. Ensures the system adheres to legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements. May act as a process lead or SME if the scope of the project impacts their processes.

• Sustainability Specialist. Ensures the technology supports organizational sustainability and procurement goals (especially crucial if sustainability is not owned by procurement in your organization).

• Risk Management Specialist. Identifies and mitigates risks associated with the technology implementation and supplier onboarding. Only required as a separate role when you have a dedicated risk management function.

• Budget/BCase Analyst. Reviews and approves initial project business case on behalf of Finance. Tracks ROI over time after initial implementation.

Change Management

• Change Management Lead. Manages organizational change strategy, deliverables, communication, and training to ensure user adoption of the new processes/solution. Acts as the “therapist” on the project 😂

• Change Management Analyst. Supports execution of change management plan when project scope requires it.

• Training Lead(s): Develops training programs and materials for users in support of the change management plan.

• Trainers. Deliver course material to students before “Go-Live” of the solution. If you use a “Train-the-trainer” approach, this role can be filled by the software vendor at first and super users subsequently.

• Supplier Engagement Lead: Coordinates with suppliers to ensure their alignment with the implementation, including onboarding to new platforms or processes.

Software Vendor Expertise

• Vendor/Implementation Partner. Provides expertise on the specific ProcureTech solution being implemented, including design configuration and best practices. Typically, your software vendor will either fill some of the roles above outright or work with a “two in a box” approach.

Other

• Consultant/Contractor(s). Offer guidance on aligning the technology with business processes and objectives. Can also fill any of the above roles for you depending on relevant expertise.

• Systems Administrator. Manages configuration, user access, system maintenance and continuous improvement when the project is over and you are running in “steady state.”

• Level 1 Support Team. This is the first line of support for all IT applications in your business before issues get to the System Administrator. You want to equip this team with as many tools and knowledge for “standard requests” to stem the flow of support tickets right at the point of contact with the end user.

Additional roles tied to specific governance or structures in your organization might be needed (program manager, service delivery manager, transformation lead, etc.) but I left those out as they are more a reflection of the org structure outside the project rather than in the project.

That’s it! That’s enough isn’t it? 😅

I hope this checklist proves useful when planning your next ProcureTech initiatve :)

Did I forget anyone? Let me know in the comments 👇

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