Learn how to create an Effective Transition Plan

Over the past few years, the outsourcing industry dynamics have changed quite a bit and Hexaware BPS has adopted well to these changes. Hexaware has made significant contribution in disrupting the industry norm and has successfully stepped into the area of Robotics to meet the customers’ needs.

Transition team has played a key role in Hexaware’s BPS journey over the last few years supporting projects right from the proposal stage up to execution. The team has been able to deliver Business Transition projects seamlessly, and consistently.

Some of the key factors to Hexaware Transition team’s success are:

• Robust Transition framework (TransX)
• End-to-end Project Ownership
• Efficient Collaboration with cross-functional teams
• Effective Project Governance
• Diligence in tracking critical project milestones

The success of a project transition is dependent on a key deliverable in TransX – ‘How effective is your Transition Plan?’ A good Transition Plan can lay the foundation for a seamless & successful project along with higher levels of client satisfaction. Here are some of the key factors to be considered in the process of creating an effective Transition Plan that would define the overall success of a project.

• Structure:

  Transition Manager (TM) needs to have complete clarity of the project objectives & deliverables before he starts planning for the Transition. The RACI (i.e. Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix provides a list of deliverables, in each phase, needed to complete a Transition. At Hexaware, the Transition Plan is created in-line with the distinct phases a project would undergo and will sync up to the RACI matrix. This enables the TM to cover all critical milestones and deliverables starting from the Inception phase, right up to the Project Handover phase. Key activities in each phase are planned meticulously, keeping in mind the overall project goal & timeliness.

• Planning:

  The Transition Manager kicks off the project by meeting stakeholders, understanding their requirements, expectations and their needs. He also baselines the project scope, budget and timelines. This is further documented in the Business Requirement Document and agreed with all stakeholders (internal & external). This helps getting everyone on the same page and reduces the chances of costly miscommunication.

• Risk Assessment & Management:

  There are also opportunities to look beyond the stakeholder’s stated needs to identify the underlying desired benefits. These benefits are the objectives your project should deliver. No project is risk-free, so Governance should be setup in place to ensure that risks are discussed and closed prior to finalizing plan else there will arise a need to factor-in additional buffer on timelines and the overall project timeline will stretch. Key deliverables and those with high risks of delay should be prioritized in the plan. It is critical for your plan to be flexible and adaptable to encompass these risks.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration:

  At Hexaware, every member of the project team is an individual contributor to the project goal. His / her contribution to the overall project is appreciated and supported by the Transition Manager. It is TM’s responsibility to identify and cascade deliverables to the project team, discuss and agree timelines with all stakeholders involved. The success of a project Transition depends on how well the TM is able to collectively work and collaborate with all the other teams at various stages of the project. The accountability of deliverables for Hiring, Training, Operations, HR & Technology Teams lies completely with the TM handling the project, for the transition manager must ensure there are no slippages on any front. This will avoid Red Flag situations and would ensure a smoother transition. Key aspect here, is to communicate clearly and make sure that your stakeholders know exactly what is expected from them.

• Diligent Tracking of Deliverables:

  All activities captured in the high-level milestone plan are broken down to detailed activities and captured using MS Project. There are definitive timelines defined for each of these detailed activities with resources allocated basis RACI matrix. Any deviation in any of the sub-activities helps in anticipating slippages at the onset of the high-level activity thus negating any impact, it might have to the overall project timeline. The Transition Manager is at the wheel, and is responsible to get the cart back on track in case of any deviation from course.

Hexaware transitioning an entire back-office Operations for a leading European telecom company is an ideal specimen showcasing the power of effective planning (Ref Case Study: Transition of Back Office Operations for a European Telecom Company). Migrating 100+ back-office processes with 200+ sub processes and 200+ FTEs spread across Europe can only be seamlessly transitioned once you have a robust Transition plan in place. Multiple sub-processes with business similarities were clustered together to form a Phase and entire Transition was carried across in Phases. Risk identification and mitigation impact was done at every stage. Deliverables in each phase were tracked diligently across teams from both sides.”

All in all, effective planning is a very time-consuming process. However, the success of a project is dependent on how meticulously & diligently the entire planning & execution of the Transition is done. Stakeholder & client satisfaction will follow eventually as an output of a successful project Transition and would definitely result in profitability of the project in the long term.

To conclude with a famous quote by Abraham Lincoln “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I would spend four hours sharpening the axe”. It clearly articulates the importance of focussing on effective planning before teeing off any task. This is especially the case when dealing with swift and complex business transitions, where creating an effective transition plan is critical for its success.