Print MIS  go live and you encounter a scenario you hadn’t considered

3 min read
21/01/22 09:36

No matter how fantastic a job you did during the implementation phase of your MIS project, you may still come across products or scenarios that you forgot about when setting up the system and testing it. Often, the temptation from users is to temporarily ‘fix’ the issue, using workarounds, and then carry on with the task at hand without sharing this information with anyone. But this just causes issues further down the line, when the product or scenario is encountered again.

To find out more about this, I spoke to Peter Short, one of our Implementation Specialists at Tharstern and asked him for some insight into the type of issues that might be encountered after go-live, and what the best way to deal with them would be.

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What might be causing these issues?

Here are 3 of the most common causes we see:

  1. Training knowledge is not retained – Issues encountered after go-live are sometimes indicative of gaps in learning – either because the user was absent during a particular training session, or because they didn’t dedicate the time to learn the knowledge shared during that training session.

  2. Knowledge transfer is not communicated – Sometimes in a training session, the Super User or MIS Manager may decide on a certain way to handle a specific scenario or quote for a particular type of job. It’s important that this information is then shared with other users, so that they don’t encounter these scenarios and then try to find a workaround instead.

  3. Not all equipment and processes are configured – If you have a press that’s only used once in a blue moon, it still needs to be configured within the software! We always ask our customers to check that they’ve thought of everything that needs to be included, but there are times when less-used machines or processes slip their mind. It’s better to ensure everything is configured initially, otherwise you might be facing a mad rush to set up a machine when an unexpected order comes in.

If you encounter something unexpected, report it

There are two things that you could do if you encounter an issue, which are...

  1. Report it to your internal MIS Manager or Super User and relay as much detail as possible. They should be able to help with any of the scenarios outlined above, because they’re trained to set up new equipment/processes and can provide you with training documentation.

  2. If you need further help, then reach out to your MIS partner who’ll be more than happy to help. Like you, they want to make sure your system is set up perfectly.

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The importance of communication when reporting an issue

When you're perfecting the set-up of your MIS system in these early stages after go-live, communication is key. At Tharstern, our Helpdesk sometimes get calls from customers reporting an issue that has already been reported to us by someone else in the business.

This is simply down to a lack of communication between users and something that’s easily corrected. The solution is to choose one user per department who has the responsibility of reporting issues to your MIS partner and creating a team from these people.

Reporting-issues-structure

If users A and B encounter an issue, they would both report this to user C. User C would then report that issue to the MIS partner and work with them to correct it. Once the issue has been corrected, user C would communicate this with users A and B and explain what caused the issue and how it was resolved.

These designated users from each department will then form a team who’ll meet every month to review progress. Taking this approach will improve communication and reduce the number of issues encountered going forward.

The key takeaway here is all about communication. Make sure to communicate any issues you encounter with either your MIS Manager or MIS Partner and communicate internally about any unexpected scenarios and what to do in that situation.

And remember - never be afraid of contacting your MIS partner with any queries, because they’re the experts in this situation and will want to work with you to find the best solution!

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